Day 9: Dong Hoi – Dong Ha

Distance: 64.71 miles

Time: 5:44

Average Speed: 11.3 mph

Enjoying a pleasant evening with a swim and a film in the hotel, it was 11 o’clock before I made it out on the road, and not before I’d picked up another Banh Mi from the place around the corner.

I headed over the river towards the sea, reaching a deserted stretch of beach beside a huge new hotel construction site. Looking out to sea, I suddenly remembered that it was the South China Sea, part of the Pacific Ocean. I was about to cycle down the Pacific Ocean, again!

Heading south, the whole area was a giant construction project and the road was already built. A dual carriageway with an extra lane each side for scooters, or on this occasion, for a bike as there was no other traffic.

Unfortunately the super-Highway didn’t last, petering out to a dirt track a couple of miles later. I gave it a go for a few miles, but the going was too slow to continue on the red dirt indefinitely.

It was a few miles west to the highway so that’s where I headed. Finally reaching the Highway, I headed south along the Pacific Coast on Highway 1. Erm, sorry is this the right blog?

From there it was a slog along the Highway, there was plenty of shoulder and the surrounding landscape was one of endless rolling sand dunes and scrub land. It wasn’t particularly appealing and I was glad of the chance to phase out a little and take some mental respite from the frenetic pace of the journey so far. This was a day for getting some miles done to set me up for the days ahead, through Hue, Danang and Hoi An.

The trucks were passing in a steady stream and their blaring air horns were a constant source of irritation. I spent some time trying to decipher the use of horns in Vietnam, most of them from trucks so noisy and large you couldn’t possibly fail to hear them a mile off, and are: to warn people on a side road they’re about to turn onto it (in lieu of indicating), to warn a vehicle entering the roadway that they’re coming (because the person entering the roadway never looks behind to check it’s clear), to warn everyone (things, animals etc.) that they’re coming, to warn you that they’re about to overtake you, and to warn you that you’re being overtaken (usually while they’re right beside you and it would be impossible to have missed that fact!). That’s all I’ve come up with for now.

Later in the afternoon, heading across open farmland for miles into a strong headwind I started to suffer from the relentless pedalling. I passed the result of a crash where a moped driver must have slid down a 10 foot embankment beside the road, he was groaning in pain on a stretcher, hopefully he’s ok.

The roads got busier as I reached Dong Ha, a busy little town, but lacking the character of Dong Hoi, and, after a strong headwind all day, I was delighted to make it 65 miles in 6 hours between 11 and 5.

Day 8: Phong Nha – Dong Hoi

Distance: 32 miles

Time: 3:12

Average Speed: 10 mph

I had a big decision to make today, I had reached Phong Nha right on schedule after 7 days cycling from Hanoi. I was fatigued after some hard days and thought about the possibility of staying in Phong Nha for another night. I knew the people I’d met on the road up until now were staying here for at least an extra day, and that seemed appealing. Thinking about future days, I was aware that the best parts of the inland Ho Chi Minh route lay ahead, but would require a big commitment. There was a 100 km stretch with only one guest house. I would need to do a 60 mile day, followed by an 80 mile day, and I was very sure that what constituted the most scenic, remote, part of the route would not necessarily mean easy cycling. I’d probably need a day off to recover before that, and I wasn’t sure I had time for one. The alternative, and my original plan, was to head directly to the coast at Dong Hoi and head along the coast towards Hue. That seemed like the option to go for, I was at the closest point between the Ho Chi Minh Highway and the coast, and it felt like a natural transition in the journey to head for the coast now. The problem with that was, the only accommodation I was aware of was at Dong Hoi after 26 miles and then at Dong Ha after 80. I was tired and needed a rest, and some clothes washed, so Dong Hoi it was.

I awoke at 8 and headed down for breakfast, the couple from Yorkshire were already there, so I joined them.

Both chefs, her originally from Australia, they work hard all summer and spend the winter holidaying. They’d spent 2 months cycling around Spain and Portugal, and now were spending another 2 months in South-East Asia. We talked about their previous trips in New Zealand and Tasmania and also about hiking in the Himalayas which they’d done on several occasions. By the time we’d finished breakfast, it was 10 o’clock. I was definitely heading for the coast.

Worried about my soft back tyre, I looked out the £6 pump I’d bought in Hanoi and set about pumping up my tyres with trepidation. Luckily the pump worked brilliantly and even had a tyre pressure gauge which my previous pump didn’t have. As I loaded up my bike, Matthijs who I cycled with yesterday stopped to chat as he walked passed the hotel. He was staying in Phong Nha for 3 or 4 days before heading for Laos, so we wished each other well.

Finally setting off, I undertook a lap of Phong Nha, heading along to the river, passing numerous backpackers flying about on mopeds as I went.

Back out of town I was heading south-west for the coast, exactly the opposite direction the 13 mph wind was travelling. It was a slog, up and down little inclines into a brutal headwind. Not only was I feeling physically tired, mentally I’d written this off as an easy day, and this wasn’t as easy as I’d hoped.

Reaching the outskirts of Dong Hoi, 20 miles from Phong Nha, I turned off the main road and onto some awful backstreets. I was wishing I hadn’t been quite so enthusiastic with the pump this morning as every lump and bump was forced through the rock hard tyres.

Arriving at the riverfront, it was an array of colour as a huge market was underway, with stalls selling all sorts of produce and wares, and some on-site butchery taking place.

My hotel, the colossal 5* Vinpearl Hotel was just feet away. It was a classy place, as you’d expect for £35 pounds a night, and the views from my room on the 20th floor were astounding.

Heading along the street to get a late lunch I had the best Banh Mi to date, filled with pork, cucumber and chili paste amongst other things, it was an intoxicating mix.

Then I retired to the hotel bar where I spent a while talking to a coach party of tourists from California. I was able to tell one couple that I’d enjoyed a great Milkshake in ‘Ruby’s Diner’ in their home-town of Corona Del Mar.

Day 7: Bai Duc – Phong Nha

Distance: 66.98 miles

Time: 5:31

Average Speed: 12.1 mph

With all the rain yesterday, I forgot to mention, I got a judgemental look from a man on a moped, with a pig strapped to the back.

After I stood and puzzled over the restaurant menu for a while with my phrase book, I ended up with a breakfast that seemed to be very much like beef and noodle soup. Beef and noodle soup washed down with a couple of shots of something from a group of locals.

Packing took an eternity and most of one pannier was filled with sodden clothes as a result of yesterday’s deluge. I finally set off, at some point after 10, yesterday’s tailwind had gone and been replaced by a warmer wind from the south.

Into the headwind, the going was tough and the road was hilly, with several long 8% ramps on the winding 18 mile road to Khe Ve. To slow things down even more, the scenery was fantastic and I kept having to stop to take photos.

It was quarter past 12 by the time I got to Khe Ve and I was disheartened to see a sign saying it was another 82 km to Phong Nha. Feeling weak, I stopped for lunch, at a restaurant beside a service station, having a pork and rice dish.

Afterwards, when I set off, I still had 50 miles to go, and it was already nearly one o’clock. The road was even more spectacular and I was busy taking more pictures when the three English motorcyclists appeared. Their spirits were high after a great morning on the road, and no doubt helped by a day off at a beach resort yesterday, completely avoiding the rain. They were headed to Phong Nha too and would be quicker than me so I pushed on.

Shortly after I left them, a cyclist came alongside me, the American from yesterday, Matthijs, who was actually Dutch! He was bikepacking, with extremely minimal kit, from Hanoi and soon would head west into Laos and then over into Thailand. He’d done the South Vietnam Coast before, and used to be a cycle racer. After pedalling with me for 10 or 15 miles, he said there was a hill coming up as we approached a rise in the road, and he’d take it at his own pace, so he’d ‘see me in Phong Nga!’ It wasn’t the hill, about which I was now concerned, but it was a great boost to cycle with him and my pace had risen too, so hopefully I’d make it to Phong Nha before dark.

When the hill did come along, I knew about it. Over two miles, maximum elevation of 500m, an average gradient of 5.8% with large stretches reaching 10%, 90%+ humidity and the beautiful road surfaces of earlier had disappeared, to be replaced with some form of corrugated concrete slabs, rutted and bumpy. I took it in stages, just to avoid overheating.

The descent wasn’t much better, with brakes on the whole way, and the bike being shaken to bits by the corrugations on the road. The back tyre started to feel a little soft too, but thankfully it got me the last 20 miles to Phong Nha, a spectacularly positioned little backpackers’ haven on the edge of the Phong Nha Khe Bang National Park, arriving just as the sun was setting.

On looking for a hotel, I was recommended one by one of a couple from Yorkshire, who are cycling around Vietnam for 8 weeks. They’d been staying in the same accommodation as me last night but I’d only seen their bikes, and clearly he recognised mine. He did also mention there was an Indian restaurant across the road, now that sounded good…

Day 6: Thanh An Tea Hills – Bai Duc

Distance: 71.26

Time: 5:40

Average Speed: 12.6

I awoke with a start, at half past 3 in the morning. There appeared to be a strange whooshing noise coming from the air conditioning unit, so I quickly turned it off, and without the glow of its control panel, was now in complete darkness. The incessant, ferocious noise continued and seemed to be getting louder and louder, to an almost apocalyptic extent. Suddenly, I realised what it was, a huge rain storm on a glass tile roof. I worried about my bike which was leaning against a post outside, but I wasn’t going to check on it. The storm raged on for hours, so I didn’t get much sleep. Trust it to rain when I was stuck half a mile along a dirt track.

After trudging back along the sodden track, I started pedalling along the Highway at 10 o’clock. The storm had abated, but the rain was an ever-present. A few miles in, I carried on at a junction and the road started to climb through the forest. The road had narrowed and it looked like it would be climbing for some time, when, all of a sudden, a woman and child on a moped stopped beside me and pointed back down the road. She said a few words of which the last one was unmistakably ‘Laos’, I’d gone the wrong way. Relieved of the kindly advice, I turned to retrace my steps, straight into a fierce biting wind, and soaked as I was, I started to get very cold.

Returning to the junction, I realised that I’d missed it because my GPS data was as up to date as ever. It hadn’t bleeped to tell me to go left, because it didn’t know the Laos road existed. After a couple of miles, my waterproof trousers were getting caught in the gears, and by this point I was freezing, so I stopped at a cafe, to look out my trouser clips, and put on the one item of clothing I didn’t think I’d be using until the way home, my fleece.

Back on the bike, I noticed that the change in the wind that had brought the bad weather from the North, was also providing a fantastic tail wind. Although I was soaked through, I was warm enough and because the roads were generally kind gradients, I wasn’t overheating. I had been considering cutting the day short at Pho Chau, after only 24 km, but by the time I got there, it was just after 12 and I was flying along. So I figured, seeing as I couldn’t get any wetter anyway I might as well commit to another 52 km to Huong Khe.

Shortly after, the road ramped up and I was thinking I’d made a mistake.

Of course, just as I stopped to take the picture, an American cyclist in full Lycra appeared behind me to ask if I was ok. I managed a startled ‘fine, thanks’ as he punched on up the hill.

Fortunately, the hill wasn’t long and soon I was back up to speed on several long flat stretches. Sometimes time seems to stand still when you’ve got a particularly good tailwind, and I couldn’t quite believe it was only quarter past 3 when I reached Thuong Khe. I was at a pleasant lake in the centre of a very busy little town, I knew where a recommended hotel was and it seemed like a good place to spend the night.

But, I was making such good time that I knew I should carry on, and if I could make it to the guest house in Bai Duc, 12 miles further on, it would mean the difference between 68 or 80 miles tomorrow…