We had breakfast this morning and the young lad there brought a battery powered tyre pump in and blew my rear tyre up for me. It saved me having to ride to the town from the homestay to find a mechanic to do it with a nearly flat rear tyre.
It was a lovely place to stay. It's only been open a couple of weeks so there are a couple of teething problems, but I'm sure they will get sorted.
On the main road we did stop at a mechanic to oil the chains. They do take some punishment on these muddy and dusty roads.
Pushed on through some heavy traffic until I turned off back onto the Ho Chi Minh trail.
A real mixture of road surface as per usual but it was sunny and dry after yesterday's rainfall.
We did get a few spots of rain here and there over the higher passes, not enough to warrant me stopping to put waterproofs on.
There were quite a few stretches of gravel and roadworks. Some were very bad but we manoeuvred through them. Massive rivers and a few dams, one in particular was quite unique, with a huge amount of water flowing over the top of it. Quite extraordinary.
Much the same for the next 150 Kms or so.
Many big trucks again in the latter stages.
We got forced off the road again in a few places by smaller trucks overtaking the big ones around blind corners. They really are quite mad at times.
We eventually arrived in Hue.
It's a fairly big city and it was the usual manic riding amongst thousands of others on the road. We arrived at the bike shop and ended up having an almost full service again. They repaired my tyre then found a nail in Richards too so repaired that as well. Chris had his phone mount on his bike changed as it's charging was a bit Intermittent. The lad there then jet washed the bikes as well. They really were quite minging at this point. We were almost done and they decided to actually change my rear tyre for another one as they weren't happy with it. So the wheel came out again. I think riding on the really twisty roads with it losing pressure didn't do it any good. It was running hot and was very cupped on both sides.
We were there for nearly 4 hours in the end so found a nice hotel for the night just around the back of the bike shop.
Had a walk into the busy tourist area and had some lovely food again. It's very busy and loud here compared to the quiet places we have mostly frequented.
It was nice walking around there though tonight.
We need to go to Hoi An tomorrow now to organise dropping Richards bike off there hopefully on Christmas day. He is flying the last stint to ho chi Minh city before flying out to Cambodia.
He slightly underestimated just how big Vietnam actually is and how long it actually takes to ride any distance, so he booked a flight instead. He'll need to pay a fee for them to get the bike to ho chi Minh but it's still about 900 Kms to get there and he didn't want to set off on his own earlier to do the distance.
Should be a nice ride tomorrow once out of town down the coast including the famous hai van pass.
I intend to spend Christmas day there as well. It should be nice.
It was a lovely place to stay. It's only been open a couple of weeks so there are a couple of teething problems, but I'm sure they will get sorted.
On the main road we did stop at a mechanic to oil the chains. They do take some punishment on these muddy and dusty roads.
Pushed on through some heavy traffic until I turned off back onto the Ho Chi Minh trail.
A real mixture of road surface as per usual but it was sunny and dry after yesterday's rainfall.
We did get a few spots of rain here and there over the higher passes, not enough to warrant me stopping to put waterproofs on.
There were quite a few stretches of gravel and roadworks. Some were very bad but we manoeuvred through them. Massive rivers and a few dams, one in particular was quite unique, with a huge amount of water flowing over the top of it. Quite extraordinary.
Much the same for the next 150 Kms or so.
Many big trucks again in the latter stages.
We got forced off the road again in a few places by smaller trucks overtaking the big ones around blind corners. They really are quite mad at times.
We eventually arrived in Hue.
It's a fairly big city and it was the usual manic riding amongst thousands of others on the road. We arrived at the bike shop and ended up having an almost full service again. They repaired my tyre then found a nail in Richards too so repaired that as well. Chris had his phone mount on his bike changed as it's charging was a bit Intermittent. The lad there then jet washed the bikes as well. They really were quite minging at this point. We were almost done and they decided to actually change my rear tyre for another one as they weren't happy with it. So the wheel came out again. I think riding on the really twisty roads with it losing pressure didn't do it any good. It was running hot and was very cupped on both sides.
We were there for nearly 4 hours in the end so found a nice hotel for the night just around the back of the bike shop.
Had a walk into the busy tourist area and had some lovely food again. It's very busy and loud here compared to the quiet places we have mostly frequented.
It was nice walking around there though tonight.
We need to go to Hoi An tomorrow now to organise dropping Richards bike off there hopefully on Christmas day. He is flying the last stint to ho chi Minh city before flying out to Cambodia.
He slightly underestimated just how big Vietnam actually is and how long it actually takes to ride any distance, so he booked a flight instead. He'll need to pay a fee for them to get the bike to ho chi Minh but it's still about 900 Kms to get there and he didn't want to set off on his own earlier to do the distance.
Should be a nice ride tomorrow once out of town down the coast including the famous hai van pass.
I intend to spend Christmas day there as well. It should be nice.
far on the map. 4 Kms later through little roads containing so many Buddhist family mausoleums. And many temples we arrived and had a little wander. The sea was quite rough. Definitely not a swimming beach. 
