Day 5 Hanoi to Nam Danh







 Well what can I say- leaving Hanoi by bike was an experience to behold, scary, exhilarating and absolutely bonkers. You just had to trust that others would avoid you- no time for looking at the sights or to simply daydream, manic concentration was the order of the day. For you older people and those of a northern persuasion, cast your mind back to British Bulldog and a whole school dashing to the other side of the playground whilst the neighbouring school is coming in the opposite direction. That is what every junction, traffic light or intersection was like, but instead of children it was millennials on their small scooters. Thrown into the mix was persistent. ‘Cornish mizzle’ and puddles everywhere. 

Anyway we got out in one piece and were

 feeling rather pleased with ourselves, navigating our way onto superb tracks and small roads. It was lovely when we found a road not far out of Hanoi that was almost traffic free after a few miles we realised why- it had been closed off to all traffic further up the road with security guards barring the way. After a bit of toing and frowing we decide to rest pushing our bikes under the motorway underpass which was flooded. Pete went first (where there’s no sense there’s no feeling) and the water came up to the shins and over the chainset. Jenny went second but unbeknown to me she’d taken off her shoes and socks to wade through. Which I thought was poor form and when the hashers back home get to hear of this she’ll surely be punished for such a misdemeanour.

The day was mizzle all day so Jen still finished up with wet feet and everything else of her attire. It was a very flat landscape and the route on the whole was extremely good, but we were glad we had big fat MTB tyres for some of the rough tracks. Once away from the conurbation of Hanoi we travelled pass well manicured veggie fields and of course manny many paddy fields. Did you know that Vietnam is the second largest exporter of rice?

Anyway we are now in our hotel having washed all our muddy wet clothes, showered and demolished all the snacks that the hotel had left on the dressing table.

Comments

  1. B&MJanuary 11, 2024 at 7:33 PM

    Finally sorted out the techno bollocks to get access to your somewhat hair raising expedition, but will if you survived a Spoons brekky that should be good training for any
    future trials.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJanuary 12, 2024 at 3:20 AM

    That is nothing dear boy compared to the far we had last night- read on

    ReplyDelete

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