Day 11 - Hoi An to Kham Duc
The Lasenta Boutique Hotel in Hoi An was superb but at 1.5mil vnd ( £ 50 ) it was our most expensive so far, but with Hoi An being a major tourist destination it's only natural the prices reflected. We woke at 6am after a superb sleep on the softest bed ever and got up right away as we knew we had a fair ride ahead of us today with some climbing to do also. We took advantage of the sumptuous breakfast on offer then checked out of the hotel and we were on the road at 07.55.
Because Hoi An wasn't on our planned stop off point originally the route today wasnt preloaded on my Garmin so we relied on Google maps. Our destination was Kham Duc which was located around 110ks to the south west of Hoi An and this would put us back on the HCM trail and back on our set routing all the way back down the HCM trail to Ho Chi Minh City. The route took us south from Hoi An and then we cut west through small villages before we crossed the main highway 1 at Thanh Binh which was a large bustling town with plenty of shops and outdoor markets selling produce. We got caught at the train lines but once we cleared these the QL14E was a single track road that took us the remaining 75ks south westwards towards Kham Duc.
The road cut through villages with very thinned out traffic and it was back to the usual children bolting out of there houses or the road side shouting hellooooooow again, and being joined by them on bicycles running us out of there village laughing. After being in the City of Hue, Danang & Hoi An for a few days it was really refreshing to be back on light traffic roads, better scenery and what seamed like more friendlier people who wanted to engage with you at every opportunity. We stopped for coffee after 50ks and replenished our water supplies because it was very hot and was reaching 35 degrees today at times with the sun beating down on us.
Further inland the scenery was getting more beautiful and very remote by the kilometre. We passed lots of rubber plantations and there was also quite a bit of deforestation around us with the occasional truck passing us fully loaded with timber. Rivers and large lakes were at the side of us for a lot of the way with the occasional hydro plant at the end of lakes. We crossed back and forth on bridges which spanned the rivers which made for excellent photo opportunitys with the stunning scenery backdrop while maintaining 2 / 3% upward gradient which we hoped would last to Kham Duc, but unfortunately it didn't.
90ks in we hit the climbs with ramps of 11 / 12%, there was also no let up with the sun & heat and despite praying for a cloud to cover us our prayers were not answered and we had no option but to press on. A short let up in the gradient allowed us to actually have a conversation of any sort of meaning full words and we discussed that the first week out of Hanoi we were covering in excess of 120 / 130ks a day and felt fine, but this was in Northern Veitnam and it was 22 degrees with cloud and rain, it was easy in that weather but it's a totally different dimension over 1000ks southwards riding in this heat, it drains you.
A short section down hill led us to a huge hydro plant that we crossed over the top of. The scenery was stunning and we stopped for photos as well as grabbing a quick rest. Just after this we reached the HCM trail and turned left with Kham Duc 7ks in our sights, however the 7ks were climbing again with ramps of 8%. Both of us carried on, struggling a bit, knowing a hot shower was not long off. 3ks out I could feel myself hitting the wall as we only had a couple of bananas and some ice coffee to fuel us thinking stuffing our faces at breakfast would suffice. I stopped for a gel and combined with the quick rest gave me the strength to do the last uphill section. We rolled in to Kham Duc dripping wet through with sweat and found the hotel we had our sights on, the Khach San Be Chau Giang. The owner pulled up on his motorbike the same time as us and helped us with our bikes which we stored in the hotel, he also helped us with our panniers, I think he knew we had enough cycling for the day!
Because Hoi An wasn't on our planned stop off point originally the route today wasnt preloaded on my Garmin so we relied on Google maps. Our destination was Kham Duc which was located around 110ks to the south west of Hoi An and this would put us back on the HCM trail and back on our set routing all the way back down the HCM trail to Ho Chi Minh City. The route took us south from Hoi An and then we cut west through small villages before we crossed the main highway 1 at Thanh Binh which was a large bustling town with plenty of shops and outdoor markets selling produce. We got caught at the train lines but once we cleared these the QL14E was a single track road that took us the remaining 75ks south westwards towards Kham Duc.
The road cut through villages with very thinned out traffic and it was back to the usual children bolting out of there houses or the road side shouting hellooooooow again, and being joined by them on bicycles running us out of there village laughing. After being in the City of Hue, Danang & Hoi An for a few days it was really refreshing to be back on light traffic roads, better scenery and what seamed like more friendlier people who wanted to engage with you at every opportunity. We stopped for coffee after 50ks and replenished our water supplies because it was very hot and was reaching 35 degrees today at times with the sun beating down on us.
Further inland the scenery was getting more beautiful and very remote by the kilometre. We passed lots of rubber plantations and there was also quite a bit of deforestation around us with the occasional truck passing us fully loaded with timber. Rivers and large lakes were at the side of us for a lot of the way with the occasional hydro plant at the end of lakes. We crossed back and forth on bridges which spanned the rivers which made for excellent photo opportunitys with the stunning scenery backdrop while maintaining 2 / 3% upward gradient which we hoped would last to Kham Duc, but unfortunately it didn't.
90ks in we hit the climbs with ramps of 11 / 12%, there was also no let up with the sun & heat and despite praying for a cloud to cover us our prayers were not answered and we had no option but to press on. A short let up in the gradient allowed us to actually have a conversation of any sort of meaning full words and we discussed that the first week out of Hanoi we were covering in excess of 120 / 130ks a day and felt fine, but this was in Northern Veitnam and it was 22 degrees with cloud and rain, it was easy in that weather but it's a totally different dimension over 1000ks southwards riding in this heat, it drains you.
A short section down hill led us to a huge hydro plant that we crossed over the top of. The scenery was stunning and we stopped for photos as well as grabbing a quick rest. Just after this we reached the HCM trail and turned left with Kham Duc 7ks in our sights, however the 7ks were climbing again with ramps of 8%. Both of us carried on, struggling a bit, knowing a hot shower was not long off. 3ks out I could feel myself hitting the wall as we only had a couple of bananas and some ice coffee to fuel us thinking stuffing our faces at breakfast would suffice. I stopped for a gel and combined with the quick rest gave me the strength to do the last uphill section. We rolled in to Kham Duc dripping wet through with sweat and found the hotel we had our sights on, the Khach San Be Chau Giang. The owner pulled up on his motorbike the same time as us and helped us with our bikes which we stored in the hotel, he also helped us with our panniers, I think he knew we had enough cycling for the day!
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