Destinations

Ride day 9: Ride to Thành nhà Hồ to Xa Te

937

June 4, 2016

26 May 2016

An early Nha Nghi start to the day (out before 8.00 a.m.) and nipped up the street past the buzzing markets to a bakery we’d spotted the night before. The wood fired oven was in full fire and fresh bread rolls were pulled straight out and put in a bag for us.

Bakery

A very short ride through town to the ancient citadel. An amazing place to stop for our breakfast rolls and water. The massive gates and perimeter embankments are pretty much all that still remains of the citadel these days. But it is spectacular none the less. The views from the top of the entrance gate complex were fantastic.

After setting off from the citadel, it’s a ride back through town again, back past the markets and then out towards a smaller country road. There’s some road works on the way out of town, with a road roller pressing down on some raised and very loose hardcore. We follow a couple of local riders up on to the raised surface. The freshly compacted area isn’t too bad to ride on, with just the occasional jagged exposed rock. The far end of the new section however is a different story. The new road section is roughly two foot above the previous road surface, and the path off it is made up of loosely stacked unpacked two-three inch hardcore. We see a couple of locals on unladen scooters go down slowly with both legs as outriggers. I decide to follow down a slightly different path with back brake covered and left leg as a stabiliser. With the bag on the back, the bike is very unstable down this section and slithers down. I stop a few metres past the descent to turn to get Tracey to stop. Unfortunately I’m a moment too late, and watch Tracey ride over the edge and then slide off to the right. The bike with the bag on top is too heavy to catch and Tracey drops the bike on to her right hand side on the loose rock. A horrible sight. With the help of a local, we quickly lift the bike off Tracey and sit her down. A few grazes and bruises on her right leg. The locals were all super friendly and concerned. One friendly local road worker brought over an aloe vera leaf to wipe the cuts clean.
After a rapid ish clean up, we decide to move up the road a bit to get some space and clean up properly. After a quick check over the bike it appears to have come off relatively unscathed but for a snapped front brake lever. Trace softened its blow. We shop bikes for the next few km’s until we find a quiet spot at the side of the road to rest and sort ourselves. Bags unpacked, first aid kits out, grazes cleaned up and covered. As we are finishing putting a cover on the grazes, a few local girls arrive on scooters and hand us plasters. They are closely followed by a woman who came from the house just up the road who handed us ice cold bottles of water. So kind. A quick application of superglue to the brake lever to get us through the day, and we finish the clean up and drink the water, before saying our thanks and farewells.

We decide to shorten the days ride and also make sure we are close to a bigger town for the night so we can have the bike checked and lever replaced. That said, at the point of making that decision we were c.50km from any decent sized town.
A quick pit stop to get some sugary drinks – a red bull type drink and a fizzy orange. We wanted water but could not find anywhere in this village that sold any. In to the next village and we find a small store that sells water and also fresh sugar cane juice, so we take the chance for another break.
As we set off for one last short leg, we can see the rain clouds setting in all around us. We just about out run the rain, but for a few splashes; finding a small coffee shop to dive in to just as the torrential downpour started. It’s been a day of rest stops after the accident, and this is the last one. Leaving the coffee shop and jumping in to the first Nha Nghi we find in the town.
The Nha nghi gives us the chance to properly wash down Traceys leg and reapply antiseptic. A few big bruises appearing and a couple of nasty grazes, but thankfully nothing more.
Despite it being a short days riding, it was an eventful and tiring one. We wander along the road to the shops and buy water and a box of cakes (seems 24 is the smallest quantity in which you can buy custard sponge cakes – luckily they are delicious).