Day 17- 'Dak Kum' to 'Dak Glei'

An unwelcome sense of nerves drifted through the camp during our morning ritual of small talk, groin stretching and luke-warm ‘porridge.’ This was because we were fully aware that this was to be our toughest day yet- even taking into account our 120k the day before.....

On we pedalled, towards the ‘Ho-Chi-Minh Highway,’ and were approached with the refreshingly beautiful sight of green-rolling hills. However, these picturesque hills soon took on a much more ugly shape- in the form of a 1,300m mountain- with nothing but our lonely dusty trail to guide us over the 12% gradient. The views were indeed stunning the higher up we climbed; and the number of rest stops (cleverly disguised as ‘picture stops’) also increased.

Over 2 hours of constant climbing later, we reached what we believed to be the ‘top’, only to find the 'distance signs' had lied to us, and as we went round the next bend, we discovered we had a further steep climb until we finally reached the true summit.

The 2 hours hard work of climbing was duly rewarded with a rapid 10 minute downhill pursuit, where the unique scent of brake-pads melting was clear to smell. This beautiful road, however, led us straight into a valley floor- where the only way out was up another 10% climb over an equally impressive mountain. This tested our mental strength to the limit, and the many passing lorries made it a very dangerous riding on some very testing terrain. Again, the views from the top were stunning- and we could see our road stretching out into the mountains.

An enjoyable 10k decline gently bought us into the small mountain-town of 'Dak Glie' -  a tiny settlement inhabited by some very interesting people. The receptionist (an absolute behemoth of a woman, who clearly struggled with the concept of good manners - or any manners for that matter) at one point even tasted some of our pasta, only to spit it out back into our bowls! So we filled our bellies and settled in for an eventful night’s sleep - where we were introduced first hand to the ancient Vietnamese art of karaoke, conveniently happening next door... either that, or the dying cat parade was passing through town! www.justgiving.com/ride4education

Photos from Day 16

Standard Vietnam.........

The boy we gave the pens to

View from one of the many dams used to generate some of Vietnam's electricity

Two little girls racing Callum to thier house.

Day 16 - 'Hoi An' to 'Dak Kum'

Rested, Relaxed and now equipped with suits, we were ready to set off from 'Hoi An'- Vietnam’s answer to Savile Row.

Our first proper breakfast since our arrival in Vietnam spurred us on through the morning covering the first 70km in record time, yet by mid morning temperatures were searing into the 40’s once again.

As we stopped, once again, to fill our empty water bottles, a little Vietnamese boy came to say hello. We were so impressed by his fluency and interest in our journey that we decided to buy him a batch of pens to accompany the handful of school books he was carrying. We watched on with amusement and a great sense of well being as the boy gave Callum a 'high-five' and sprinted down the street shrieking with joy to passers-by. I can only imagine the joy that the close to £15,000 we have raised so far for 'Saigon Children's Charity' will be bringing to the children and young adults that we’re supporting around Saigon, so thank you, one and all, for your support!
 The afternoon granted us no cloud cover as we began climbing steep tracks that lead back onto the 'Ho Chi Minh Trail' - the road we’ll be taking for the next 12 days or so. We battled through the mighty ascents and rattled nervously on the gravelly descents barely daring to mutter a word to each other -  120km, 24 litres of water, and an impressive 8 hours later we had reached Dak Kum! All that was left was for Sam  to fall asleep at 5pm, George to throw-up on dodgy noodles and Cal to lose a game of darts meaning he has to carry the magnetic darts board for another day!  

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Photos from Day 14 & 15 - 'Hai Van Pass' & ' Hoi An'

Eyeing up the 500m 'Hai Van' Pass

Jamie & George on the 10% incline

Sam, with 'Lang Co Bay' and the 'South China Sea' behind

Jamie & callum with 'Da Nang' behind

'Da Nang' madness...........

Enjoying our trimmer waistlines after 1100 km in the saddle

Sorry, this is all we're showing you of our suits until England!

Day 14 & 15 - 'Hai Van Pass' & 'Hoi An'

After Hue we chose to stay at 'Lang Co' due to the fact that we thought it would give us about 10 km of cyling in order to stretch off our very stiff legs from the previous days, before attempting to climb  the 'Hai Van Pass'. However, as we set off, our driver told us that we only had 2 km until the climb was to due to start - this wasn’t great news, as Callum was suffering from knee pains from, believe it or not, a bouncy castle accident from the day before, and Sam and Jamie were feeling particularly stiff (George being in tip-top shape as usual!).

We eased our way through the first few km in the shadow of the 'Hai Van pass' before the road started to move up quite steeply. Over the 10km the road hugged the mountain side, and as we arduously climbed, we were greeted with stunning views over the South China Sea.

We were met with the stunned faces of motorcyclists and drivers as we ascended the mountain, as it is not a climb for the faint hearted. As signs indicating a steepening in gradient came into view round every bend we all let out a muttering of discontent as we cranked into yet another gear to prepare ourselves for what was to come.

Fortunately the tour photographers (Sam and George) were on hand to capture every moment of the climb as Jamie was in too much pain to stop and get his camera out! After about an hour we all converged on top, to be greated with sensational views over the sea to our left and 'Da Nan'g to our right.

What followed was a glorious decent which we managed to prolong by taking yet more photos and admiring the incredible views. Although the pass was finally behind us, we still had about 45 km left to 'Hoi An', which although not far, was into a very strong headwind, and combined with the fact that we had missed breakfast, made for a tough few hours in the saddle along an extremely irritating and boring road as it was lined with 5 star hotels that we knew we would never have the pleasure of staying at, and no doubt would be in the B&B down the road which would be missing the last ‘B’ and have a questionable first ‘B’!

 Having arrived in 'Hoi An', we had two things on our mind, firstly to stock up on western food, and secondly to get to the tailors to be fitted for suits, jackets, blazers and shirts!

Having had a busy afternoon, we settled down for what would be Jamie's last meal with the other guys on the trip. It was certainly a fitting evening to what had been a very eventful and enjoyable few weeks, and I wish the guys the best of luck for the last stage down to HCMC!

If you haven’t donated already please do, the boys have a gruelling 2 weeks through the Annamite Mountains and could use your support:

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Photos from Days 12 & 13 - 'Hue' & 'Lang Co'

Callum with our legendary driver, Carn

'Hue' lights up at night 

Setting off after a water break 20 km from 'Lang Co'

Callum eyeing up tomorrow' climb.......                   the 500 metre 'Hai Van Pass'

Sunset from the back of our hotel in 'Lang Co'

Day 9, 10 & 11

After having decided to spend a rest day recovering from our food poisoning,
 we finally shot down to our next location, looking somewhat 
like a bunch of infected hospital inmates commandeering a rogue DHL 
van. We stocked up on much needed supplies and hit the pillow at the aggressively 
late hour of 9.30pm, ready for our glorious return to the saddle in 
the morrow. ‘Glorious’ seemed like a rather hyperbolic way to describe 
the meandering and drunken ride which actually ensued... The lack of 
quality food and obvious dehydration made the surprisingly favourable 
road and weather conditions on the A1 highway seem arduous and 
hard-work. However, after 2 hours (and roughly 40k) later we stopped 
for a necessary break- where various fluids were taken on... whereas 
others were rejected and sent back up! In a gesture of good team 
spirit, Sam decided to get a novelty hair cut as well- to top off a 
morning that, in truth, nobody fully remembers! The afternoon’s ride 
got underway in much higher spirits- and we quickly made up the miles, 
flying down the A1, and into ‘Dong Hoi City’ - after passing through 
the apocalyptic rainstorm that lay in wait.

The decision was made to have an additional rest day the following 
morning, to recover in time for the 115k ride to come; where the day 
was spent catching up on the Euro World Cub, and admiring Brad Pitt’s acting 
prowess- both crucial steps in this hearty marathon!

The team awoke fighting fit; and even the car-honking orchestra or the 
questionable smells that seem to follow us everywhere, were not enough 
to put us off one of the best days cycling yet. We cycled out of 'Dong 
Hoi' and onto the ‘Ho Chi Minh Trail’- a mountainous pass that 
stretches the length of Vietnam, where we saw the Vietnam we’d all 
been waiting to see....... Endless rolling green hills, gorgeous 
cloud-tipped peaks and smooth riding were the order of the day- with 
fewer cars seen all day than we had  seen during an hour on the much more 
crazy ‘A1 highway’

. This truly lifted our spirits; as did the hoards  of school-children that chased after us- even the stoic Callum Ewing  lifted a smile at one point today (a skill that this horrific food  poisoning has robbed of poor Callum). We arrived at our destination of  ‘Cam Lo’, and were extremely
  surprised to hear that we had travelled 101k. With the beautiful scenery and milder temperatures seemingly distracting us from what would normally be a mammoth distance. Buoyed by this new sensation of contentment, we decided to cycle a further 15 k to                ‘Dong Luong’, and prepared for tomorrows 80k trip to ‘Hue’ - bring it  on! -
Thanks for your support and keep donating at  www.justgiving.com/ride4education