Quy Dat to Phong Nha

Today’s ride on Komoot

I was tired when I woke up, but I knew that it’s less than 70kms to Phong Nha with only one decent climb. The best thing is that there’s a rest day waiting for me, along with an Indian restaurant over the road from the hotel that I booked. Please don’t be closed 😁

I asked the old guy at the hotel where I should get some breakfast – across the street. So I got two Banh Mi from some lovely old ladies but having had one, I’m not so sure about the next one. We’ll see.

Another 100m down the road is the best looking coffee shop in town, so I stopped for a Cafe Sua which was so nice, I had another. I’m going to regret this because there’s some big rain predicted this morning. But this is possibly the last sustenance before the end of the ride, and every day is a holiday (right Martin ?), and the second coffee was as superb as the first.

You can’t have a quick Vietnamese drip coffee. Every one is an exercise in calmness and restraint as you watch each drip. It’s literally drip by drip. Funny though, after the zen of watching it slowly come together, you fill yourself with caffeine and sugar and the zen disappears immediately. I swear the second coffee took longer for the water to drip through. 😁

I’m enjoying the later starts at the moment because the weather is cooler – probably due to the rain. The days are noticeably shorter as well, with sunset now before 5:30pm.On the way out of town, I saw a bakery that did banh mi, so I got another two. The ones I got earlier tasted a little dodgy.

After 11kms of great riding, I luckily made it to a village where I sheltered under an awning just as the misty drizzle turned into rain and then hard rain. Very soon the road was covered in water, so I couldn’t have been luckier. I had one of the banh mi, and waited.

When the rain died down a bit, I set off. After a while, the poncho went, not to be seen again today. The rain was never far away though, so it was a cool, misty atmospheric ride. I was surrounded by Karst peaks and I crossed fast flowing creeks and rivers all day. Lots to see, the whole time.

I’d booked the Paradise Hotel in Phong Nha for two nights expecting a sleepy, restful time. By the time I arrived, I felt like I’d started sleeping already. The last thing I needed was to walk up the stairs to Level 4.

That was the last straw.