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| A River village |
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| Smiling faces |
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| George navigating through the busy traffic |
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| Within touching distance to Ho Chi Minh City - only 45 km to go! |
On 5 June 2012, Ride4Education (Sam Wilson, Callum Ewing, Jamie Richards & George Blurton) will be flying to Vietnam to cycle 2400km from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City. The Cause: Saigon Children’s Charity aim to ‘Eliminate Poverty Through Education’. By raising £15,000, we will have enough money to sponsor 15 students through their 4 years at university in Vietnam.
Wednesday, 4 July 2012
Photos - Day 28
Photos - Day 27
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| In awe of the mystical mountain |
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| Sam posing for the camera |
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| Callum giving an elephant branded rucksack to a school child on his way to school |
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| Happy to have a school bag like his friends |
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| The mountain we descended from |
Monday, 2 July 2012
Photos - Day 26
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| Ominous clouds ahead...... |
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| Not long until the rain hits us......... |
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| One of the many obstacles we faced |
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| Progessing well toward 'Bao Loc' before the mighty climb |
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| The end is in sight - only 202 km to Ho Chi Minh City |
Day 26 - 'Lam Ha' to 'Bao Loc'
Stiff legs and tired bodies were the main moans of the day as we assembled around the daily stew of porridge, beautifully prepared by George - a task he will have to complete for the next 3 days, after losing a fatal round of magnetic darts.
The plan we were discussing was to cycle a shorter distance than we had originally intended to a closer settlement called 'Di Linh' - (Callum had said after yesterdays 120 km, he's rather shit in his hands and clap) which was only 60k away.
Spoiler alert... we didn’t end up cycling 60 k and thankfully for Sam and George, neither did Callum...........
The Vietnamese Gods were smiling on us, however, and we made stunningly good (and unexpected) progress down the Ho Chi Minh Highway covering 28k in the first hour - a stretch which was mostly uphill. Thus prompted the inevitable conversation which always seems to pop up on our ‘shorter’ days:
‘Shall we cycle a further 80k, to get to Bao Loc?’ Still obviously half-asleep, we were tricked into this devious trap, and decided to 'go for it' knowing that the extra cycle today would leave us a much easier journey for the final three days.
The plan we were discussing was to cycle a shorter distance than we had originally intended to a closer settlement called 'Di Linh' - (Callum had said after yesterdays 120 km, he's rather shit in his hands and clap) which was only 60k away.
Spoiler alert... we didn’t end up cycling 60 k and thankfully for Sam and George, neither did Callum...........
The Vietnamese Gods were smiling on us, however, and we made stunningly good (and unexpected) progress down the Ho Chi Minh Highway covering 28k in the first hour - a stretch which was mostly uphill. Thus prompted the inevitable conversation which always seems to pop up on our ‘shorter’ days:
‘Shall we cycle a further 80k, to get to Bao Loc?’ Still obviously half-asleep, we were tricked into this devious trap, and decided to 'go for it' knowing that the extra cycle today would leave us a much easier journey for the final three days.
The Ho Chi Minh Trail- normally such a savage instigator of stiff bums and poor road surfaces, was not up to its usual tricks. However, the improved road surface was not all plain sailing as there were a number of extremely steep hills to contend with but we did have stunning scenery which help us all going. We cycled on, climbing from 750m up to 975m- barely a scratch on the surface of the previous day’s exertions, but hardly a walk in the padi-field!
So caught up with the beauty of the scenery and enjoyable downhill stretches, Callum finally managed to pass wind aloof the bike saddle for the first time (an achievement Sam and George managed barely a couple of kilometres outside of Hanoi all those weeks ago)!
High spirits accompanied our speedy journey into the outskirts of 'Bao Loc' - so did some rather menacing rainclouds. Of course, no days ride is complete without an unexpected, spirit-dampening, 12% incline - and this was exactly what was waiting for us leading us into 'Bao Loc'.
Having waited 3 hours in our hotel room for the power to come back on, we had time to reflect on 2 pretty painful days work, but also how much we are going to appreciate the extra effort- which leaves us with a much lower distance of 202 k to do in 3 days, before we reach Ho Chi Minh City. Can’t wait!
If you have not donated already.... it is not too late! It certainly keeps us going to see our 'Just Giving' total steadily increasing.
Photos - Day 25
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| 5 km of this road surface wasn't helpful for our bums! |
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| More navigational trouble...... |
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| The start of the climb......what lay ahead of us was beyond our wildest dreams.....steep or what! |
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| Powering up the mountain |
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| Finally at the summit! |
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| Descending from the roof of the world - |
Day 25
We awoke with the prospect of 70 km of fairly straightforward riding with one large climb at the end of over 1000 metres. As we assembled in usual dazed fashion by the van in the morning, we attempted to explain to the driver where we wanted to stay. He did not agree with our suggestion as he pointed out that there was no civilization where we had proposed to stay which was a fair point!
What wasn’t fair enough was the fact that we had to now cycle 120 km....... including another 1200 metre climb. The previously lackadaisical stretching had turned into an intense session. No words were said..... the task that lay ahead of us would surely be our hardest day yet.
It begun.... the first stage of the ride started with undulating hills that had not appeared on our gradient map, which didn't bode well for us as if they hadn’t shown up on the map, the mountains to come must be gargantuan in scale. The hills, however,were enjoyable throwing up spectacular scenery at every turn.
After 20 km or so, we decided to take (in hindsight) a premature stop and sat in a road-side house, quenching our thirst. To our huge surprise, we saw our driver casually cruise past us without a backwards glance. Believing him to have seen us and our bikes, we thought he was pretending to have not seen us and would be waiting round the corner, so we thought nothing of it.
As we set off again worries grew into fears and fears then turned to reality as 30 km on from our stop, there was still no sign of our driver. He obviously had not seen us at all and was still expecting us to still be ahead of him!
As we set off again worries grew into fears and fears then turned to reality as 30 km on from our stop, there was still no sign of our driver. He obviously had not seen us at all and was still expecting us to still be ahead of him!
Fast running out of water and food in the scorching 38 degree heat, we started to grow desperate and use our supplies sparingly, mentally preparing to ‘Bear Grylls’ the day through.
To our immense relief, we saw the comforting sight of our yellow DHL van heading towards us - we were saved..... and not a kilometer too soon. The climbing was about to begin.....
Before us lay a climb starting at 300 metres spanning the dizzy heights of 1200 metres, with gradients of well into double figures. As we fought our way up the mountain, our muscles started to rebel and we really felt the affects of the 20 days of cycling we had done so far. Still we battled on. Barely any motorists passed us, as this was even too great a challenge for them. The one of two that did, drove by in stunned silence or gave us the thumbs up - they must have all thought us to be totally mad!
We finally reached a plateau where we rested and replenished ourselves. Another climb loomed in the distance, its peaks covered in thick cloud. We climbed again, mist fogging up our glasses making it hard to see. We were running on reserve fuel now. Each turn of the pedal warranted a medal. After what seemed like a lifetime, we were greeted with the sight of the top. A lifeline of a downhill followed taking us into our stop of 'Lam Ha'. We had done it. By far the hardest day of the tour and another day closer to our finishing point of HCMC!!
Photos - Day 24
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| Making our way through the mountains |
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| Callum refuelling - the width of this banana is something else |
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| A typical paddy field |
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