Day 14: Kham Duc – Dak Glei

Distance: 37.45 miles

Time: 4:51

Average Speed: 7.7 mph

Gia, the host at Guesthouse 21 was back into top gear this morning, making a call before disappearing off on her moped to pick up Banh Mis for breakfast, then, before heading off to the market, she made another call to someone else to bring some ice coffees along. When she came back from the market, she rushed back off on her scooter to pick up breakfast for someone else. Unbelievable energy, she was a great host. She wouldn’t make much of a cycle tour guide though, the hills to come were ‘not too bad’, apparently.

Still riding with Pierre, we set off shortly after half 8. Leaving Kham Duc, at just under 400m, the tarmac soon disappeared, and was replaced by our favourite energy-sapping concrete. We cycled alongside the river as it worked its way higher, but every climb was followed by a rapid bone-shaking descent when we flew as fast as we dared on the rutted, fractured, surface. Gradually, during the morning we managed to push over 500m and it was passed 12 before we conquered 600m after 19 miles of riding.

But, the worst was still to come, as the 10% gradient for 500m sign ahead alluded to, it was a viciously steep introduction to the real beginning of today’s climbing and when the road started to curve steeply uphill subjecting me to the full force of the sun, I took every opportunity to zig-zag across the full width of the road, listening out for trucks as they crawled up behind me before scampering back to the edge of the road and forcing myself straight up the steep, unforgiving surface. Gradually, I made it to 900 metres, 1000 metres, 1100 metres, the final steep ramps as brutal as the first.

At first, it was pleasing to reach a high plateau, but then bewildering to find a small town perched on the summit of the pass, then infuriating to descend steeply down below 900m, on the same rutted surface, and ultimately satisfying to reascend to over 1000m once more, and all day, the most wonderful scenery, the equal to anything Vietnam has had to offer so far.

During the last 5 miles, as the sun dropped lower in the sky, the tarmac returned and we rolled down to the hill town of Dak Glei, a busy little spot, with countless seemingly out of place Electronics shops.

We wandered the Main Street, stopping for some fried chicken and rice, before selecting somewhere else for a coffee and a third place for some beers. I also managed to pick up some sun-tan lotion, a rarity in these parts. I’m hoping not to add to the sunburn I sustained on the beach in Danang.

Tomorrow, I’m hoping for less coaches: whether in preparation for this week’s Tet festival or just a normal occurrence, the roads on this route have been overrun with them for the past couple of days, travelling fast, and, it would appear, not necessarily installed with any brakes.

Day 13: Thanh My – Kham Duc

Distance: 35.84 mph

Time: 4:00

Average Speed: 8.9 mph

It was nice to get back into the way of having Pho for breakfast again, after a run of hotel buffet breakfasts on the coast. Spotting cans of Pepsi in a display case, I soon regretted asking for one, as it seemed they were impossible to retrieve without the use of kitchen utensils and a lot of ingenuity.

Hitting the road with Pierre, at 9 o’clock, we quickly realised that Thanh My was bigger than we’d realised and perhaps our dinner options weren’t quite so limited as we’d thought. We were back on the Ho Chi Minh Highway, and were wending our way along the side of a river gorge. The day started with rolling hills, but we soon realised that, as the river was flowing in the opposite direction to us, the chances were that the road would be gradually working its way upwards.

Probably thanks to the hilly terrain, the scenery was fantastic, with green-clad peaks all around, and too many spots to stop for photos.

Early in the day, the roads were great, but after 10 or 12 miles, the tarmac disappeared to be replaced by concrete slabs, the rolling on the road being so bad that I checked my tyres for punctures.

We stopped and chatted to a motorcyclist from Michigan, for a while. He worked in the US for 6 months of the year and spent the rest of the year floating around South-East Asia, he was fairly certain, Vietnam was best! He was also fairly certain, the road ahead wasn’t going to get easier for us, so we pressed on.

The road climbed, and climbed with steepening gradient, to 370 metres, before a fast descent back towards the river. Then, while I was waiting for Pierre at the side of the road, a couple in a car pulled up. The female passenger wanted to know if I was looking for Guesthouse 21 in Kham Duc. ‘Yes’ I responded, slightly confused. It turned out that this was the owner of the guesthouse we were aiming for, and she’d stopped to ask Pierre if he needed somewhere to stay, even more fortuitously, we got the last two rooms.

Unfortunately, the guesthouse was still 5 kilometres away, and there was a 10% gradient climb to get out of the way first. Luckily the cloud was hiding us from the full force of the sun, and it was cooler than previous days, so we soon rolled into Kham Duc, to find the guesthouse owner waiting to guide us on her moped. Then, when she walked us to a great little restaurant and ordered our dinner for us as well, she’d really gone above and beyond.

Day 12: Danang – Thanh My

Distance: 43.96

Time: 3:47

Average Speed:

Although I’d been keen to see Hoi An, I decided that it would have to wait for a future trip. It was only 15 miles away and I couldn’t really justify such a short day. Also, if I went to Hoi An, and started the journey inland from there to the Ho Chi Minh Highway, it would be a huge day. I decided to head west from Danang to Thanh My, a day of just over 40 miles that would get me back to the Ho Chi Minh Highway in one go.

Over a leisurely breakfast, with Flo and Marie, we discussed our respective plans. They were covering the short distance to Hoi An, along the coast, and I had a relatively short day as well, so we headed for the beach before checking out. The sun was pleasantly warm, and the sea was cool and refreshing. Grabbing a few hours on the beach almost made the trials of the ‘coastal’ route seem worthwhile.

After saying our goodbyes, I set off alongside the beach for a few miles, passing some enormous new hotels. Soon I turned inland and hit some beautiful wide roads with minimal traffic. I stopped for a passion fruit milkshake, in a cafe which was elegantly perched over a small lake. Continuing on, I wove through several small villages before finding Highway 14B, the main highway west.

Shortly, as I whizzed through flat farmland, I came across another cyclist stopped at the side of the road. Pierre, from Newfoundland, Canada, but currently a teacher in China. He had just left Danang, on day 1 of a month long trip to Cambodia, and was trying to remember a route he’d been on 4 years ago, on a motorbike. He came to the conclusion that it probably wasn’t practical to head along a dirt track to a village that may not include accommodation, and was in the opposite direction to that in which he was headed, so I told him I was aiming for Thanh My, and as that was his alternative destination, we set off together.

The route was pleasant with rolling hills. Later, as we travelled along, Pierre had a moment of recognition, he was sure that he had been this way and there was worse ahead. So, when the road started to ramp up with 3 kilometres to go, I feared the worst, but the gradient was kind, and the route was shaded, so the 150m of ascent was fine, certainly nothing compared to yesterday.

Rolling down the other side of the hill, we reached the quiet backwater of Thanh My.

There seemed to be a blaring Karaoke bar across the road from the hotel, so we walked the length of the Main Street before finding that the caterwauling Karaoke singing was coming from the only half reasonable restaurant. The racket was incessant so it was impossible to make ourselves heard, but after a massive struggle to order some food, we lucked out with special fried rice and king prawns. Great success.

Day 11: Hue – Danang

Distance: 68.76 miles

Time: 5:49

Average Speed: 11.8 mph

Today I was eager to get moving, so I was on the road by half 8. I was hoping that it would be a nice flat ride to the 500m Hai Van pass, and once over that, more flat running to Hoi An, some 80 miles away.

It was certainly flat riding for the most part, and I was delighted to be through the first 14 miles in an hour, and 35 miles by 12 o’clock. I had read motorcyclists’ reports of the route, and what they didn’t let on, was that, as well as the Hai Van tunnel not taking bikes or motorbikes, there were also two other tunnels that didn’t allow bicycles. Both of these required climbs of 60 or 70 metres to avoid the tunnelled section, and on both occasions, I had reached the tunnel before having to turn around and find an alternative route. It was sweltering during the heat of the day and I had to stop during the climbs to keep from overheating.

Finally, at 1 o’clock – and after 45 miles – I reached the foot of the Hai Van pass, known as ‘one of the best coast roads in the world’ (Clarkson, J., 2008). Setting off on its lower slopes, I soon had to stop for a train to cross the road.

The early stages warned of 8% gradients, and it was steady rather than steep, but through the middle of the climb there were sections where it got steeper again. It was tough going, and the road was busy.

Motorcyclists and cyclists weren’t the only vehicles barred from the tunnel, as the steady stream of tankers attested to. I took it in stages, needing time to cool off for every hundred metres of ascent or so. Getting mimed applause and thumbs up from the endless stream of moped-riding backpackers helped spur me on, I wondered if I was the only cyclist to tackle the Hai Van pass today. Making it to the 500 metre summit, I instantly took off down the other side to avoid the sizable gathering of coach tours. The views were much better this side and it was a fun twisty descent, I’d instantaneously gone from the slowest vehicle on the mountain, to one of the fastest.

Back approaching sea level again, the heat was intense and it almost took me by surprise to be back from the relative wilderness of the mountain pass to a bustling Vietnamese town. A few kilometres later, I spotted two cycle tourists at the side of the road, and it took me the couple of seconds of braking time to decide that, if I stopped, I probably wasn’t going to make it to Hoi An, and that was fine. I’d have gone far enough, so I pulled over.

They were a French couple, Flo and Marie, and they were travelling around South East Asia for 4 months, and had already completed two. They’d started in Bangkok, moved north to Chiang Rai, then they’d crossed into Laos and along the Mekong before traversing into Vietnam. Flo had been trying to fix a puncture for an hour, and there was still a problem. It appeared they’d started slightly south of Hue today and were heading for Danang, so I guess I wasn’t the only cyclist to cross the Hai Van Pass today after all.

I’d been chatting to them for a while when Flo managed to sort his bike, so he suggested we pedal into Danang together. I quite enjoyed cutting through the manic city traffic, but there was almost a slight mishap, when a girl on a scooter came flying off the kerb onto the road, with Flo taking evasive action just in time.

Managing to acquire accommodation in the same hotel as Flo and Marie, we had a drink at the rooftop bar before relocating to a nearby Indian restaurant for dinner. Marie remarked that it was strange to be having dinner in an Indian restaurant, in Vietnam, with a Scot. Yes, but why not as Flo replied.