Vietnam Velo Vacation

   A day of rest- well off the bikes. Still managed to do 19400 steps. Morning saw us strolling around Hoi An old town- quaint little streets with a busy thriving market. We searched out a bike shop as Pete wanted to buy a spare chain for crossing over into Cambodia. Turns out the market was the place for this, and yes a stall selling everything bike related and a chain was purchased. Next stop - one of the many tailor shops which Hoi An is renowned for. I opted, after a bit of haggling on a pair of shorts (modelled in the photo) and Pete just wanted a pair of trousers turned up. Deal done we headed to a cafe for a drink- loads of fresh fruit combinations- all related to some part of body and soul and then for a vegan bang mi (french bread sandwich). From a road side seller which came with great reviews on trip advisor- and it certainly lived up to the reviews. Delicious and all for 50p each. Back to the homestay for a nap and then a swim followed by a walk back to the tailors...

With the prospect of three full days out of the saddle the 15 miles to Hoi A was so enticing and we completed the rather dreary miles in the time it takes for Man City to win a game. The accommodation is less grand than last night but lovely and homely and much more to our liking. We actually unpacked our panniers for the first time and placed in the wardrobe, I say placed, mine were thrown in and Jenny’s were placed. We went into the old town in the evening which was a buzz of activity- a huge street market, where I managed to haggle for a bush hat with a Vietnamese 🇻🇳 logo. It started at around £12 and I got for a £5, I was pleased but I reckon she was still laughing all the way home. We explored and soaked up the atmosphere before enjoying a lovely meal at the Morning Glory Vegetarian Restaurant. It was the best meal I’ve had since coming here and the £11 was well spent. Jenny was not satiated so we had to stop for a banana and Nutella pancake on our way hope.  A lovely day, t...

 Well if we were to label today it would be ridiculous to the sublime. We left more or less as soon as we woke up and were on the road by 7.30- the place was so depressing and the rock hard mattress made for a very uncomfortable sleep. We passed through the shabby town after first buying a brioche loaf for breakfast on route.  Nice quiet roads which ran along the waterfront in places. However our speed seemed to drop as we approached what we knew to be a killer hill and the sun for the first time since Hanoi began to beat down on our backs. The Hi Van pass is just under 10km, around 6 miles all up hill with some very serious steep sections. It was our first series test of man/women and our £150 bikes. All went well and apart from lower back pain the task was completed successfully by man and machine. Nearing the summit we were passed by Brad our American friend from New Jersey.He sped past me with a mere wave and attached himself to Jen 20 metres up the road- I think she has a...

 Some days are about the landscape others about the journey but today was about the people. With a relatively easy day ahead and the sun trying to shine, we navigated out of Hue- the traffic almost as outrageous as Hanoi, we left with a degree of optimism, having enjoyed our short break in the city. Another busy road with lots of trucks but in our favour was a good surface and the wind at our backs. We made rapid progress and were on a roll, Jen was the first to give in and request a drink stop, we'd done over twenty miles in just under two hours. I took the request literally and pulled up at the very next watering hole. It looked rough and the three women sat waiting looked intimidating - we asked for just drinks and they said no only food, all communicated through gestures. They kept asking the same question of me, which I did not understand, so out came the phone and the Google translate. They were asking me my age, to which I typed 21, there was a slight smile on their lips, I ...

 Today was a day of rest! Well,l off our bikes anyway. Still walked miles around the city of Hue. We are now in what was classed as Southern Vietnam when the country was split. We walked to the Imperial City - a residential palace of the king, begun in the 1800s. The walls were later built high and cannons added to defend the city. At this time, Hue was the capital of Vietnam and this lasted until 1945 when the country was divided into North and South. The city walls are over 10km in circumference with a moat all around and within there are residences of past royalty, gardens, temples and plenty of fancy entrances. Tired from all the walking we stopped for lunch at a lovely vegan restaurant that we had frequented the previous evening and on returning to the hotel, promptly both fell asleep.  We found another vegan restaurant this evening , had a walk by the river with bridges all lit up and headed back to the hotel, coming across what we thought was the 'westerners' party area...

 Started and finished our journey in mizzle but middle part was dry! After a scrumptious breakfast of fried eggs in mini baguettes, we set off at the same time as the Americans and although heading to the same place- Hue, which was once the capital, we had different routes planned. After a few miles on the main noisy road I asked Pete if we could change to a more coastal route!! This meant finding a cafe with WiFi so Pete could load it onto the nav gadget! Black tea is free in cafes and although that's all we wanted, I thought I'd better order a ca phe sua .(milk coffee), although instead of milk they use condensed milk! Strong and sweet!!! New route sorted, we set off and soon bumped into 2 of the Americans so swapped numbers to be able to meet up later today or tomorrow. I soon got bored of the road we were on as it wasn't the one right next to the sea I had spotted on the map- Pete wasn't best pleased but we got to this little road which although good, had no sea vie...

 A short one tonight as I have had a few beers in the hotel where we are staying and got chatting to a group of American cyclists and a young German fellow. The American group of 10 all responded to an add in a paper and met for the first time in Hanoi, real mixed ability group and mainly senior in years. Anyway, as you can imagine our world views differed slightly- though unlike me they were too polite to say so! Anyway as for  today, we again had a lovely tailwind, pleasant roads and for a brief period a deluge of rain which involved a number of brief stops to change to appropriate clothing - too hot, too wet, too cold, it was fun. We stopped at a place called Vinh Moc tunnels which was fascinating, moving and inspiring.These are a network of tunnels  constructed during the Vietnam war with the States. A whole community lived and constructed these to avoid the bombing of this region by the US. This was an area that was on the front line between North and South Vietnam a...

 A nice leisurely start with a mere 44 miles to do, and without the expected rain our spirits were high. The concierge wanted to take a photo of us leaving as she had enquired about our journey. She had also asked me my age and I was taken aback when she informed me that most men in her country were dead by my age!! Isn't that a comforting thought. We wanted to visit the citadel in Dong Hoi  first so we headed in that direction. We followed our dear friend Google but on our passing through the ceremonial arch, there was no clear evidence of an ancient fortress - so we visited the somewhat newer museum. Though we couldn't read much of it what we could read told the story of the Vietnam war. It was story of good over evil and the oppression of a population by a foreign power. It was also a testament to the will of the people and a true David and Goliath success. Looking at the photos, many areas were backward and had been razed by years of US bombing- truly horrific. I can hones...

 A short day today as we were anticipating rain all day. Our first stop was in the market in Phong Nha to buy some plastic capes that all the locals seem to use. Purchased for the princely sum of 60p. Talking of money our accommodation for 3 nights, was really very lovely, excursion and hire of motorbikes was £130 for the two of us- a real bargain. We set off in fine mizzle and the capes worked a treat keeping the mud off our butts and the rain off our torsos- only problem was after a short while we started to steam! After a number of brief stops and amendments to our outerwear we had it sorted- then the rain stopped and we were back to normal attire. We had a quite strong tailwind which moved us along the highway relatively swiftly and by 12:30 we were at our digs. The journey was uneventful and apart from a very muddy and boggy section where we had to push and we got our shoes filthy with a clingy sandstone mud. We did pass by some dramatic sand dune coastline as you can see in t...

 Our last day in Phong Nha before our bottoms sit on our seats of torture and our thighs push those intrepid velocipedes in the burning heat. Actually it is rainy at the moment and it is also predicted for tomorrow. C'est la Vie.  We decided to hire a scooter for the day and go back to the botanical gardens and would you believe it a Duck stop (more later). We took the scooter from the hotel and handily it had a phone holder fitted,which helped navigation no end. We drove to the petrol station to fill up and then  headed the 13km up to the botanical garden (really just a walk through native jungle). As we  climbed towards our destination we rode across a very rutted and uneven section of concrete where my Doogee (What the hell is a Doogee phone I hear you say)  phone decided to escape its cradle and bounce down the road. A quick applying of the brakes and Jen lept  from the scooter to pick up what we thought would be a dead or smashed phone. Nope, they are ...