Day 19 Ha Xo to Dong Ha

 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 and was the epicentre of much of the conflict as the Vietnamese began their war of independence. The Americans wanted to clear this area of inhabitants in order to secure this region from threat- the locals were determined to stay so rather than move they went underground. Their defiance was instrumental in resisting the might of the US and inspired the North Vietnamese to their eventual victory and liberation from western control.

Anyway, a good day and many boxes ticked, good cycling, good learning and good conversation as well as a few more beers than normal. What more can you ask for out of 24 hours!