07/02/2020 – Racing to meet the Boys

Cat Ba island is stunning. The hostel I stayed at was right on a quiet secluded beach with perfect sand and barely a wave in sight.

I decided to stay for a few days after having a tough ride on the Ha Giang loop.

Strangely after time off the bike I was really looking forward to getting back into it. When the time came to leave I said goodbye to the friends that I’d made who I’d travelled with essentially since the start of the Ha Giang loop and headed for Ninh Bình.

A quick ferry ride over to the mainland and ahead of me lay an uneventful 150km ride with barely 100m of elevation gain which meant I zipped along at a decent pace.

After several people recommending the same place I checked into the Banana Tree hostel which was fantastic.

It was right on the edge of the mountains and I took a day off to explore and walk around them.

This included a walk up some stairs to a dragon on top of one of the mountains. Sadly it was quite cloudy that day but it didn’t make the view any less impressive.

That evening I went out for food and found the most amazing Banh Mi cart. It was so good in fact that the next morning I had 4 for breakfast.

The reason for stocking up on food was that I had 3 days to do the 700km to Hoi An where 2 of my mates were flying out to see me.

I’d left it this late partly because I wanted to spend time on the beach (sorry boys) but also to give myself a bit of a challenge.

The first day went well and I managed 240km before finding a hotel and turning in for the night.

Again, sadly, it was just along Highway 1 which is incredibly flat and boring so my day was spent listening to Ant Middleton’s audio book which I would highly recommend.

Day 2 was much the same however I wasn’t able to get as much food in as I needed so ‘hit the wall’ and called it a day at 187km

Day 3 was the big one. With over 260km to go to the airport, I needed to step on it. I left before 7 and had calculated that I’d have plenty of time and would be able to surprise them and meet them at the airport.

The only interesting part of the first half of the ride was riding through Hue which seemed like a really nice city.

With the sun starting to set and the deadline of their flight arriving soon I reached a slight hiccup. The bike Route was taking me through a tunnel which the police said I couldn’t cycle through.

This meant I would have to cycle the Hai Van pass. Now, I was planning on cycling it anyway but during my week off when I didn’t have such a time pressure. There was no convincing this guard so the 1 hour safety buffer I’d left myself was having to be used up and it would be touch and go as to whether I’d make it or not.

The pass was stunning and Top Gear we’re right in their review of it in the their Vietnam Special.

It was tough going and the temperature of Vietnam rises significantly the further south you go so I was not accustomed to this heat.

Upon reaching the top and seeing the city of Da Nang lit up was fantastic. I didn’t have time to admire it and sped downhill towards the airport.

Their flight arrived at 19:15 and it looked like I would get there around 19:10 so I stopped for some water and an ice cream.

Upon arrival at the airport I was sent on a wild goose chase to find the bike parking but eventually found it and then ran to the terminal.

I don’t really know why I was running as their flight would only have landed 5 minutes ago but I really wanted to catch them coming through the arrivals gate.

As I was running to the terminal I see 2 familiar faces waiting at the taxi rank. My heart starts racing and I pick up the pace hoping to catch them before they got in a taxi.

It transpires that their flight landed half an hour early and they were only still there as they spent ages messing about getting cash and a SIM card.

After surprising them and sending them on their way to the hotel, I had a 30km ride to finish off the day taking the day up to 265km with 2,241m of climbing with 11 and a half hours in the saddle. The week off couldn’t have come at a better time