Day 8 - Dong Ha to Hue

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We woke at 6.20am and answered mails and read the Internet and we received confirmation from the hotel in Ho Chi Minh City that both of our bike boxes had arrived which was great news because that would of been an issue if they had not of shown up. The hotel we stayed in yesterday evening had a pool and gym so we decided to go to the gym at 7am for an hour lifting weights. After a quick shower we went for breakfast and fuelled up for our shorter ride today down to Hue.

The ride took us down highway 1 which runs the complete length of the country near the coast connecting the major cities. We briefly travelled down it yesterday late afternoon through Dong Ha but today we had around 70ks of it to travel on. It's a dual carriageway with a small shoulder just over a meter wide were all the motorbikes and cycles travel. It's a very busy road with large trucks and buses  commuting locals and tourists along the coast. The ride was uninspiring, noisy and polluted but it was pretty much the only direct route we had to take today to get to Hue. Along the way we passed quite a few war memorials and also we so the first sign for HCMC which was 1106km away, however we have further than this to cycle because we eventually head back inland to the Ho Chi Minh trail and travel downwards towards Ho Chi Minh City.

Severn kilometres out of Hue my bike started making creaking noises but we hadn't cleaned the bikes  for around five days or lubricated the drive train. On arrival into Hue we crossed the bridge over the Perfume river and we headed for the K Cycle store and cafe and bought chain degreaser and some more chain lubricant. We cleaned our chains and front / rear mech while we chatted with the staff about our trip so far and drank coconut ice coffee. The staff were intrigued about our trip and  took pictures & are now following our blog. The ladies in the shop recommended a hotel for our stay in Hue so we paid our bill and made for the Moonlight Hotel which was just up the road. After eight solid days of riding covering 839ks and sat on our saddles for 38hrs 45 minutes we are looking forward to two nights in Hue with tomorrow taking in the sights and resting. Our next ride is Saturday morning which will take us to Da Nang over the scenic Hai Van Pass.
















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