Day 3: Mai Chau – Ngoc Lac

Distance: 60.94 miles

Time: 5:23

Average Speed: 11.3 mph

I had a very pleasant stay at the Mai Chau Sky Resort. My dinner of Vietnamese spring rolls, beef with ginger, and fried rice was great, and I spent a while chatting to Mark and his two friends who were motorcyclists from near London. They had just left Hanoi that morning so we pondered the implausibly chaotic road conditions and how it was amazing we hadn’t seen any crashes. I had probably seen the aftermath of one mind you, as some men gathered around a bicycle stopped in front of a truck, clearly trying to straighten the front wheel!

I set off at half 8 as I had a long day ahead, and was pleased to get 7 or 8 miles on the flat before the sun started to emerge from behind the mountains. The road began to undulate along the side of a picturesque river valley and it was hard to get much of a rhythm going. I stopped at around the 10 mile mark to stock up on supplies, including some cans of a rather good bit-filled mango juice.

Shortly after, passing through a small town, the road turned to slurry and I just about toppled over as my front wheel disappeared into the mud. I became slightly alarmed when I left the town to discover the road ahead looked much the same. Fortunately it was the result of a nearby quarry and it didn’t last for long before transforming into a brand new section of tarmac.

Soon, I bumped into the three motorcyclists from last night’s accommodation, in a lay by. They’d been waylaid, helping a local who’d run out of fuel at the side of the road. Fuel wasn’t the only thing he’d run out of, it would seem, as when they got to the ad-hoc syphon-based filling station he’d also mislaid his money.

The sun was beating down through the middle of the day, but I took few breaks as I was keen to get through the miles and find a bed for the night. As I pedalled along I saw a black squiggle on the tarmac, and looked back to see the unmistakeable shape of a snake sunning itself on the road. Don’t worry, only 30 of Vietnam’s 140 snake species’ are poisonous…

The road continued to rise and fall passed terraced paddy fields and quaint villages with endless streams of excited children shouting ‘hello’ from the roadside.

Gradually, the miles added up, until finally reaching the 60 mile mark, and soon after, Ngoc Lac, and ‘The Gold Time’ Hotel. It’s fairly average as hotels go, but it is only £9 a night. At dinner, I misread the menu in a local restaurant and ended up with a pizza that serves 4. Not on this occasion it didn’t, not after I’ve missed my lunch.