(Last) long day of cycling (with a nasty hill at the 75km mark) for a few days….
Leaving Hue was chaotic (as in most cities), but we were on the major highway (AH1) for 3/4 of the day, so it made navigation easy. Lots of traffic, lots of honking and SUNSHINE!!
Had to pass through 2 shorter tunnels, but otherwise the trip was flat uneventful – near to the coast, with lots of lagoons where fishermen were busy with oysters and crab fishing.
Along the way, there were lots of stalls selling something (distilled?). we couldn’t quite make out what it was, but there were numerous “Stills” set up and working on the roadsides.
Then at the 65km mark, we had to get over the Hải Vân Pass – the Trường Sơn (Annamite) mountain range here goes right the way to the sea and there is almost no other way through this (the 6km+ tunnel for the new highway did not come into question for us). This mountain range also defines the north/south climatic boundary – meaning we will hopefully get better weather from now on!!
You could also have your vehicle driven up the hill!?!
The pass itself is a wonderful road, but it went uphill for 500m with grades of between 8% and 10% – with trucks, busses and motorbikes passing you on the windy road all the way up.
After about 1-1/2 hours, I was at the top, to be met by Jörg, 20+odd busses, and hundreds of tourists and hawkers trying to sell you everything possible – an ugly location!! One group took a very fascinated interest in my bike, ooh-ing and awe-ing it after the cycle up the hill.
But the trip down on the other side was fun (even if it was over way too fast). On the way down, we had a great view on to the bay surrounding Danang – we couldn’t help but like the city already just from this view!!
We got into Danang about 1-1/2 hours later, right in the middle of rush hour (or is it always like that) – chaos chaos chaos (but fun to cycle through). Found the hotel, and washed all the grime and sweat from the mountain off us….
We were a little outside Danang city center, and were both pretty tired, so we looked for something nearby to eat….that was a challenge – after about 1/2 hour walking, we settled on first some soup from the roadside, and then some grilled meats (with draft beer)…for more I had no energy…
(107km / 630m)
The stunning view surely made up for the struggle up the hill – enjoy your cycling-free days