Our trip around The Golden Loop had started as an idea of riding the Hai Van Pass, a pass made famous by Top Gear and one which Jeremy Clarkson said was “the best coastal pass (pause for dramatic effect) in the world”. And today was the day to ride this to get from Hue back down the coast to Danang.
We decided to follow a coastal strip which apparently has perfect feng shui (flow of energy from water and air) and so it is covered in graveyards and mausoleums (some like temples). In some areas people live among the graves and it seems strange to see their washing drying in among the graves.
We skirted around Tam Giang Lagoon and could see how reliant the locals were on the fishing and water supplies.
We then met a guy called Will, or Supercycling Man, that Pete has been following on Facebook for three years. Supercycling Man came to the IOM three years ago on his UK warm up cycle and has since cycled over 200,000 miles to raise money for Parkinsons UK.
m.facebook.com/supercyclingmanfacebookpage
He plans to cycle all 7 continents and wants to raise over £1 million.
We bought him some lunch, gave him our Chocca Pies, restocked his water and sent him on his way. It was a really hot humid day so we hope the ORS that we made him drink helped him reach his target that night, to get to Hue.
And then we started to climb the Hai Van Pass. There is now a tunnel through the mountain so most traffic goes that way leaving the pass to be enjoyed by tourists and the odd crazy truck driver.
Oh and the odd newly wed couple having their photos taken at the top! They go to the most strange places before the wedding for a full day wedding shoot -it must cost a small fortune!
And now for the amazing descent into Da Nang which looks incredibly built up and modern now.
Time for a shower (well after that ice cream pete had been dying to try but only when back to civilization) !!!!!!!
