Ho Chi Min, Passport and Visas

The sun broke through the morning mists of Hanoi, light radiating out across the sleepy city, and life started to move again, as mists rose and the sun took dominance over the landscape once more I was still a sleep and well to tell the truth I did not drag my sorry arse out of bed till the sun had taken its dominance over most of South east Asia.
After crawling out of bed and managing to shower I headed down for free breakfast and see what the day would bring. Although the sun takes dominance early the clouds had still came in a bit later and it was looking like rain by the time everyone of the fellowship was up. Zach had taken off early and was organizing extra pages for his passport and then we were going to check out Ho Chi Min and have a bit more of a look around Hanoi.
Once Zach arrived back we headed towards Ho Chi Min Memorial, But by the time we got there it was closed for the day only open from 8am till 10:15am, we would be back tomorrow, well what do we do now, and bugger the rain had started, only soft at first but then progressively harder, we made a decision head to the war museum have a coffee there and then look around that, Zach would head off at 3pm to pick up his passport and meet back at the hotel.
The rain was coming down pretty hard by the time we got to the museum so we sat, played cards and drank coffee. So that’s what we did, and we waited for the rain to stop, By the time Zach left we had been waiting a for a few hours, it was time to head off and back to the hotel. Zach came back later on with passport in hand and would have to go to the Chinese embassy the next day. It was still drizzling later when we went for dinner, this was not looking good for Hanoi and the weather.
The next day we were up and out and off to Ho Chi Mins Memorial, a Trio of French had arrived the night before at our hotel and we were going to met up with them for dinner that night and swap stories. We all pilled on our bikes Zach had arrived back from the Chinese Embassy with the news they no longer do Visa’s at the Embassy in Hanoi, but lucky for him a guy from a travel agency said he would be able to get it done, it would mean another night in Hanoi, which to tell the truth I did not really mind.
Ho Chi Min’s Memorial is a interesting place, first you have to leave your bags and take cameras etc with you, then at another place further down the line you leave your camera and mobile phone, snuck my phone in, did put it on silence. Anyway that was my bit of rebelling, after leaving the camera behind we again joined the throng of Vietnamese in the line to see Ho, I’ll call him Ho from now on. We moved into his mausoleum.
The locals were shooshed by the guards and we moved through, I had my hands behind my back and was told to put them by my side, not sure why but any way, silence prevailed as we passed Ho, to tell the truth Ho looked like a waxed copy. Not sure if that is true but he looked to good for a guy who had been dead for 40 years. We left Ho and headed back out into the sun, spent the day riding around and then headed back for the coolness of the room and only a wee bit later we would meet up with the French.
The French consist of Siedrick, Elise and Ann. Siedrick and Elise had been riding since they left France and Ann had meet up with them in Lao and cycled with them from there to Vietnam. So Ann had it pretty hard, she was even riding a bike brought in Lao, crazy. Dinner was very pleasant and we headed back to the hotel around 10:30pm, that’s right a late night out, well it was for me. The next day the French were heading off to learn Esperanto, for those that don’t know what Esperanto is, here is a brief explanation:
Esperanto is a language created to facilitate communication between the various people of the world. More than one hundred years of practical use has made Esperanto a living language, capable of expressing absolutely any nuance of human thought. It is international and neutral, because it belongs to all people and makes possible the communication between all people of the world, with absolutely no tendency toward any cultural, political, religious or economic hegemony. So that is Esperanto.
The next day was a lazy day for me, got up late, had breakfast late, everything was late, tomorrow we would be heading east towards China and into the hills around Sapa, it would be a 5 days to get there with a rise in Altitude of over 1500m, and that rise would be mostly on the final day to Sapa. We meet up with the French again that night for dinner it seems they had a good day and picked up some of the language. It would be interesting to catch up with them in a few months and see how much they use Esperanto.

Bus from Hell, and Reunited

Elise had headed off that morning, I meet up with Kat and Mike for breakfast and Kat had managed to find some ball bearings for her bike so we put it that back together and then I spent the rest of the morning packing and relaxing before we headed away. I must have slept wrong last night and had woken up with a sore back, we were thinking about going to the beach but that was out of the question now, I headed off to find a place where I could get my back massaged.
I managed to find somewhere and got them to work on my back, it was pretty good and my back was feeling a lot better afterwards it was still sore and I was not looking forward to a night on the bus. We had packed up our bags and had them waiting down stairs it was just a case of loading up and heading to meet the bus. We headed around and grabbed some food and then went to the travel agents where we thought we would be meeting the bus. The bus was supposed to be there at 5:30pm at 6pm we were taken around to a street a few blocks away and left there. This is where you have to start wondering what is going on and what sort of dodgy deal we had got ourselves into. We had been there about 10minutes wondering what was going when a couple more passengers were dropped off , about 10 minutes after that the bus finally turned up so we striped the bikes down and they were all loaded in. Hopefully they would make it and there would not be too much damage.
Once we were all loaded we piled on the bus and found our seats, the worst thing ever we were at the back of the bus, this was not good, memories from old returned of painful bus journeys when stuck at the back of the bus. The bus now was also over an hour late from when it should have left. The sleeper beds were not really that great and they were not like the ones I had seen.
The bus headed out of town with a few more stops, not sure what these were for as we were fully loaded up. But we hit the main road and had the first of hundred or so close calls, I am taking the train next time. After we hit the main road which would have been around 7pm we were soon racing through the traffic at break every bone in your body speeds, well it seemed like it with all the swerving and hard braking going on and the amount of horn blast screaming out.
The road was pretty rough and full of potholes that felt like we were losing half the bus down each time we hit one, my back was screaming at me already and we had hardly been going that long at all, what have I done. I chatted with Zach for a while to keep my mind off of how close we were coming to the oncoming traffic and also joined in the game some English were playing next door to me, any thing to help pass the time.
We were only going for a couple of hours when we had our first stop, and it just happened to be in the same town that Elise was staying in so Zach shot off to find her hotel and in a few minutes returned with Elise, she had hit a head wind for her first day out riding by herself. Bugger. It was good catching up again but this was the last time I will see Elise for a while. We all loaded back up on the bus, some like me reluctant to get back on and Zach held back as long as he could with Elise. Then we were off back on the open road and into the crazy traffic. Fear took hold again. My seat afforded me a view right down the centre of the bus and out the front window, why, why, sometimes it’s best not to be able to see.
Zach and I talked again for some time and then we tried to sleep, ha what a joke, besides the being thrown up in the air every time we went over or through a pot hole or thrown from one side of the bus to the other with all the swerving sleep was pretty elusive. I think between 9:30pm and 1:30am when the bus stopped again I had managed to get an hour of sleep at the most. I again I ask why a bus. The mind has a way of making thing seem not so bad years down the track. Will have learnt from that now. Trains only.
I think the drivers driving got even more erratic after the 1:30am stop, with in the first 15minutes of being back on the road I had counted 6 close calls and maybe 2 bloody close calls were I could see the whites of the other drivers eyes as they went passed the other way, I put my MP3 player on and closed my eyes I figured it was best not to see how close things were coming, tried meditation to block it out as well. Maybe I could be over exaggerating here, I was incredibly tired so things might not have been as bad as I am making, yea right.
I finally gave up with sleep about 5:30am it was just to elusive, I had maybe got 4 hours off and on, so I just sat there and watched the traffic swing passed and just hoped that we would make it to Hanoi with the whole bus. It would be nice to see the north in one piece. We were supposed to get to Hanoi at 6:30am ish yea right, it was 3 hours later that we hit the out skirts of Hanoi, then another hour before we finally made it to the bus stop.
After pulling the bikes out with only minimal damage, we put them back together, my back was feeling worse for wear and I was looking forward to being able to stretch out on a bed and maybe find somewhere to get a massage and some pain relief. I am a cripple once more. We managed to find a hotel with the help of one of the touts, sometimes they are useful, sometimes. Kat and Mike headed off to the Canadian embassy and me and Zach headed out in search of food. After this we headed back to the hotel, my body was yearning for sleep so I surcome to it’s desire and crashed out on my bed for a few hours. In was nice to have a bed again that did not brake hard and swerve all the time.
Later we all headed out for dinner and then it was a early night, some of us had a lot to do the next day, I was not one of them.

Rest, relaxation, missed bus and the Forbidden Purple City

We had arrived and found ourselves a nice hotel, the original plan was to head to Hanoi on Saturday by train or bus, we would just see how much they cost. We headed out early-ish to the train station to find out 1) if we could get our bikes on the train and how much it would cost. Problem one: we would have to send the bikes up on a different train, not good don’t really like leaving my bike, they would go in the morning and we would go in the evening. Problem two: it was a bit expensive. So we would check out the prices for the buses.
After the hard morning of walking 2km down the road we jumped in a taxi and headed off to the Big C supermarket. We grabbed some lunch there and some things from the supermarket and then headed back to take shelter at our hotel, it was pretty hot. That night it was Indian for dinner which I eat way to much and could really feel it after.
Zach and Elise had decided to head to the Forbidden Purple city the next day and I would follow, we had decide to leave early in the morning hoping to miss the heat of the mid day sun and maybe the crowds as well. The forbidden city was built in 1804 by the Emperor Gia Long, well built by the peasants of the time anyway, it was heavily bombed by the Americans during the war. The Citadel sits gracefully on the northern bank of the Song Huong River with a majestic flag pole sitting up on the outer wall and a massive Vietnam flag.
As we wandered into the citadel it was pretty cool to see all the buildings, a lot are under repair and or reconstruction but this did not really take away the impressiveness of the area. We wandered all around taking photo’s and enjoying the peacefulness of the place. At around 10am it was starting to get hot so we headed back towards the hotel and the sanctity of our hotel and the aircon. We grabbed a couple of Cyclo rickshaws for most of the journey back, let someone else do the work.
The afternoon was spent catching up on the blog, sorting photo’s watching crap tv and then dinner out all together at a restaurant down the road, it was a nice way to escape the heat of the mid day sun. We also tried to book our sleeper bus as this had been decided would be our mode of transport up to Hanoi, the only problem was we had left it to late so would not be heading north on the re-scheduled Sunday night it would be Monday night, which would mean another day in Hue.
The next morning we had decide to head for a river trip to Thien Mu Pagoda and a local floating village, the negotiations were taken care of by Elise, we had the boat for 3 hours, to the pagoda then the floating village. The trip up the river was nice enough, the lady on our boat started bring out all her stuff for sale, it was one of those rides were they do the pushy sale. Great. We managed to put her off till we were on our way back.
The pagoda was really nice, the grounds were well kept, I have not really been looking around at this sort of thing on this trip, it was worth the trip up the river though. I took a lot of photo’s then it was back on the boat to the village, our first pass passed the village was a bit too and we got back to the jetty about 30minutes to early so we made them take us back out, by us I mean Kat and Elise to tell the truth I was not really sure what was going on at the time. We did another run passed the village where we were able to capture some more photo’s. All in all it was a really nice boat trip.
The afternoon was spent having a look at Kat’s bike, her back hub was not very smooth so we were going to pull it apart and have a look if it needed repacking. It turned out that when they had got their bikes serviced in Thailand the people who serviced them had left a ball bearing out, the inner casing was a bit pitted, not much we could do about that now and by the time we had pulled it apart and found this problem it was too late to get a replacement one, that would have to wait till tomorrow we had a more important thing to deal with, dinner.
Elise was breaking away from the fellowship and is heading off towards Lao and then Thailand for a month, she is to meet back up with Zach in Nepal, after him, Kat and Mike head into China and then Tibet. They are doing my trip, it will be sad when I have to leave them at the border. Zach and Elise went out for their final dinner together and Mike, Kat and I headed somewhere different.

The road to Hue, pack horse and stunning coastal bays

We were up early and away, stopped for breakfast further down the road. It was a 10km uphill climb and then drop back down to the coast, I was feeling a lot better finally and this was going to be the kill or cure ride, if I survived hopefully it would get rid of my cold. We all had BBQ pork with rice and I had a couple of yogurts as well, hopefully this would give me the energy for the climb.
We had ridden around the bay away from Danang so we had a fantastic view of the area as we started the climb, I could feel it was going to be slow going for me today, the legs did not feel that energetic at all. Zach shot off into the lead and would not be seen again till the top, Mike, Kat and I dropped into low gear and started the climb and Elise shot off with Zach. I stopped and did some photo’s and also some video for Mike and Kat of them ridding, the temperature was climbing and the cold was differently getting sweated out, in fact by the end of the climb my sweat was sweating. I had a constant drip off my arms all the way up.
I had to have a few stops on the way to catch my breath but I was feeling better the more I climbed, it was kinda weird really. The road finally looped away from the Danang bay and we came across these small coves many feet below us with golden sands, god I wished I could go for a swim, you know just a quick dip, bit of a splash around then back on the bike, but by now the water was a good couple of hundred meters below.
I slowly pulled away from Mike and Kat and ended up catching up to Elise(on single speed) on the way up, I could not even see Zach he must have hit warp speed. The road wound up into the hill and the top to my delight was not that far off, thank goodness for that is all I can say. I arrived at the top to find the usual drink and small trinket sells and got clapped over the line by Zach, Elise was only just behind me.
We had to wait a bit of time for Mike and Kat to arrive, Kat had an extra two bags on her bike and was giving Mike a tow, this was not looking good, he had not really recovered from his stomach problem and was finding it pretty hard going with the heat and not feeling well and I have to say he was looking a bit white at the top. After a stop at the top and some photo’s of old American bunkers and refreshments it was time to head down the other side and carry on the journey towards Hue.
As we started the decent, o yes the decent, we stop not too far from the top to have a quick chat with a couple of bikers coming the other way, they kinda looked how we did not so long ago, socked with sweat. They seemed to be in a hurry to carry on so we let them go and headed on down the hill. Now I keep going on about how stunning the coast line is, well it is stunning. Come look for yourselves.
The pace was good and I did some filming for Mike and Kat of them riding together and some Video with my camera so could not really let the bike go, even though I could feel it wanting to go faster, or that just could have been me. I had to peddle at one point which I was not expecting, how dear I have to peddle on a downhill stage will have to write a letter to the Vietnamese Government.
As we reached the bottom of the hill we were greeted by Aquamarine seas and crystal clear waters of a picturesque lagoon, the gold sands stretched down the coast in a spectacular flowing carpet, I stopped and took pictures of the coast line, the beach was screaming my name, drawing me towards it but alas it was not to be, we rode through the town and stopped for lunch, I was hoping we could stop somewhere by the beach for lunch and enjoy this stunning view for a bit longer, instead it was a road side eatery and it was some dodgy sea food with rice. After leaving the Restaurant we carried on the road north.
The road snaked inland and away from the pristine coastline, so long golden sands, hello flowing green rice paddy fields, we had commented ourselves to the inland route, there was a coastal route but it would have added an extra 20km to the ride and we weren’t sure if we would be able to get the bikes across the harbor, it would have meant finding a boat ride, also Mike was still not feeling the best so the straight run it was.
The road as it does seem to go on forever as peddled our way through the heat of the day, by the afternoon Mike seemed to be struggling more and more, it was not looking good for the rest of the day, Kat had been towing Mike for a while, we stopped once more when Mike felt like he was losing his balance, not really good when you’re on a bike, makes it difficult to keep going, we pulled off the road and ordered some Sugar cane drinks, and everyone stripped off the bags off Mikes bike and we shared them around. I dropped to on the trailer so it was really pushing it over its weight limit, as we started off again I could really feel the weight on the back now. Kat was still towing Mike, we were going to make it come hell or high water.
We finally trundled into Hue, sanctuary was close at hand, Mike seemed to have improved a bit, I could not complain about having the extra weight, when we were coming into town we passed a cyclo rickshaw carrying two big truck tires, yep shut up and just keep on going, the locals are tough buggers. The fellow ship had arrived, still together with no loss of life.

30km and a long ride with a full house

Today was the day were we would be heading north again, we had a massive 39km to do, 39km, the weather was hot really hot, it was going to be back roads to Danang, following along the beach, yep it was going to be a hard day. I was not feeling that great and Mike had not fully recovered from his bad gut so it was kinda lucky we did not have far.
Zach and Elise had headed out snorkeling for the day and would be meeting us later in Danang, so it was just Mike, Kat and me heading out, we had breakfast first before we headed out, the temperature was increasing, it was 5km to the coast then 30km along China beach. Now for those of you that don’t know anything about the American Vietnam this was the place where the Americans first landed there forces. Saying that when this happened the Americans had already got 20000 troops here in Vietnam, but this was where the war officially started for the Americans. Danang was also the home to a lot of the American troops on leave.
The beach is a beautiful white sandy beach with a very bad under tow is what I had read. Non the less tourist seem to flock to it, by the time I got there I was not really feeling that great, still jaded from my cold that I had. We stopped and chatted for a few minutes with some Kiwi’s from Nelson and then we carried on down the road. We were going to stop along the beach a bit for a swim and then carry on going we were also going to stop at Marble mountain and have a look around.
The road ended up moving away from the beach and then when we did get back in view of the sea it was through construction sites, they are building all these big resorts along the coast, massive things I really wonder how much money they make on these things. So it was looking like we might not get a swim.
We stopped off at marble mountain and mike decided to stay with the bikes so me a Kat headed up the hill. The five 'mountains' are named after the five elements; Kim (metal), Thuy (water), Moc (wood), Hoa (fire) and Tho (earth). All of the mountains have cave entrances and numerous tunnels, and it is possible to climb to the summit of one of the peaks. Several buddhist sanctuaries can also be found within the mountains.

At the top of the hill(mountain) you get great views of the surrounding area, it is a very nice view, the Buddhist sculptures are not too bad either. We walked around for about an hour then headed back to the bikes and the road ahead. First of cause we had to look through a marble shop, they had some pretty nice stuff in there. It was interesting to find out that a lot of the marble comes from China now and is not taken from marble mountain.
We decided to carry on towards Danang before we had lunch, by the time we had got to our lunch stop I was starting to fade fast, we stopped for lunch and then started to look for a place to stay, the day had ticked on. The first 3 hotels down by the beach were full and expensive so we headed towards town. It seems Danang is not really set up for the travelling market. All the hotels were really expensive and really over priced and full.
We ended up finding somewhere, but it took some time and we covered a lot of hotels in finding ours, I was really ready to sit down and stop for the day and was really glad to have somewhere. I was going to share a room with Kat and Mike for the night, there was another room available so hopefully Zach and Elise would get there at some point. Mike and Kat headed out and I had a lie down. I was a bit worried about the next day were we had over a hundred km to do and one really big hill.
After an hour or so I was feeling a bit better, Mike and kat came back, so we just hung out and snacked on what they had brought back. Later Me and Kat headed out to grab some dinner and Mike stayed back it seemed me and Mike were taking turns at feeling crap. We had not heard from Zach and Elise so just had to hope they got the email sent earlier. On returning we noticed a couple of extra bikes down stairs, the Americans had landed.
So the fellowship would be heading north together in the morning. Excellent.

17-21.07.09 Hoi an, silk shops, rainbow lights and a pool

After a good night sleep, which I was out like a light in no time at all the night before, I was up and ready to go, it seems that Mike, Kat and Elise had got bad stomachs, lucky for them we only had 30km to go, arriving on a Saturday morning was not the best idea but that’s just the way it worked. Zach, Elise, Mike and Kat were going to stay at a nice hotel so I went in search of a cheaper option.
Everything was pretty full, went to about 7-8 hotels that were full and then went back to one I had found earlier, it was a bit more then I wanted to pay but it has a pool which as I was sweating in my Bike gear seemed like a good idea having, and I was correct it is great having a pool. Refreshing on a hot sunny afternoon, which it has been all week.
Spent the first afternoon just relaxing, and chilling out, catching up on the blog was the biggest mission as I was about a week behind. Caught up with Zach later on for dinner as everyone else was still held up in their rooms with bad stomachs still, it looked like we were going to be spending a few days in Hoi an, which I have to say after my first day here I had a really good feel for the place. The sales people are not that pushy and the motor bike drivers are fairly good as well.
So all I have been doing for the last few days is typing and swimming and relaxing, this is what holidays are all about. Hoi an is a jewel in Vietnams crown, the old part of town is a world heritage site, the river front section lights up at night, the glow from the shops and reflections on the river are really beautiful, Hoi an has some stunning architecture, from a Japanese style covered bridge to Chinese styled pagodas the silk shops are more numerous then the locals, it seems every other shop is a silk shop with a few restaurants thrown in just to keep the shopping spirit up.
By the third day in Hoi an the sick were starting to leave their rooms and emerge into the light, we all meet up for a birthday dinner for Mike and Elise who had had their birthdays on the way to Hoi an from Nra Trang. We all indulged and spent a lot more then we normally do on dinner, but it was well worth the expense and it was good to see everyone up and around again.
The next day it was my turn to be sick but it was a cold this time, bugger, could this have come from my little dip in the stream besides the road, I did get a little cold that day. It ended up that we were all going to stay another 2 days any way, the only trouble was my cold was getting worse. Lucky for me our next ride was only 30km, a 103km the day after but that will be kill or curer ride.
I had considered buying a jacket in Hoi an because they had some really nice styles and no way could I get a wool jacket with silk lining for $80NZ, but of cause it would mean 1: I carry it all the way up north, no thanks 2: I send it home but I already have a lot to send home when I leave Hanoi 3: and the biggest thing putting me off was I don’t really need it, and I could spend the money on diving things when I get home.

Back roads lost friends and found friends my god what a day

The days plans were to head out to a place called Son My, were the Americans massacred 200 unarmed local people during the Vietnam war, then a year later completely flatted the area first with bomb and then with tanks to completely remove all trace of what had happened. Like in any war the victors only tell about the atrocities of the other side and forget the atrocities that they did themselves, least we forgot to the victors goes the spoils.
After this we were to head up the coast off state highway one and stop at a beach for lunch then it would be back onto highway one to Hoi an, well that was the plan anyway, best plans can always go astray. We made it to the Son My Museum and had a look around, the captions under the photo’s are entertaining on what they say. A lot of the photos were taken by an American photographer who smuggled a film out of what he had seen take place. Interesting anyway.
After the museum we mounted up and headed off, from the looks of the maps there was just one major road that headed up the coast so should be a easy ride, ha yea, one road right o, I wanted to stretch my legs a bit so headed up the road in front of the others, you all know the saying it’s best to stay in a group, learnt that the hard way. I headed off and to the beach which was not really that far up the road, really nice beach with white sands, I had gone across a bridge and seen one further down the road so thought I would cross back on that and the catch up with the others.
I headed off pretty quick and then the road started to degrade and at this stage I was thinking I had gone the wrong way, but this was the only road, I can to a small village and then took my first of a lot of wrong turns, now by now I knew I had gone wrong so I put on the power to see if I could catch the others, the paved road or what was left of a paved road then headed north so I took that and ended up at a dead end, by a nice little beach full of locals.
Back the other way and asked for directions, I was heading to Son Tra, which could be mistaken for Son Trinh which was back south, this is where the locals were telling me to go, by my shadows I knew I was going the wrong way but did not have to many options, I was starting to panic a bit, not that I was lost but that the others were waiting for me or trying to find me, I had now been going for over two hours with the speed I was doing would have been 20 or more kms that I had done and still I did not really have any idea where I was, after 3 hours of riding through dirt roads I finally made it back onto a tar sealed road.
With being gone for 3 hours and the others only supposed to have taken 1 hour to where we were supposed to go, I was now hoping that they would have headed north and we would meet up in Hoi an, but I could not afford for them to be waiting for me. I ended up meeting another cyclist, and finally found out where I was which was right back at the start of the day Quang Ngai. So from the path I had taken I recon I had done at least 30km loop.
I jumped on State highway one and headed north, I would cut back in further up and hopefully meet up with the others, I could not find the first turn off which was about 15 km up the road so then took the next turnoff, this is where they would be coming out if they had gone the right way. I really put the power on up state highway one, I had not really stopped for that long and it was getting close to 12:30pm now I had been missing for 4 hours, I had a bit of food in my bag so eat that to keep my hunger at bay. I stopped a local guy and got directions from him for where I needed to go and headed towards the coast, my cut off time was 1:30pm if I had not found them by then I would just have to head north to Hoi an.
I made it to what I thought was the right place to find no sign of travelers of any description, it was time to head north, I would just have to leave them an email and hope they did not spend to long looking for me, god I was feeling bad. I had probably wasted half their day. I ended up cruising up a coastal road for another 8km before I hit State highway 1 again. I found a internet place in a town called Nui Thanh and sent Zach an email, hopefully they would get it.
Just as I was leaving the internet place I looked down the road and you would not believe what I saw, 4 bikers coming down the road, so I was now thinking shit they just spent 5 hours looking for me they will be so pissed off, I was not really sure what to say, sorry and an explanation would have to do. They stopped and were really happy to see me, ok was not really expecting that, it seems that they had got lost as well and they were thinking the same thoughts I was. So it ended up working out, the fellowship of the bike was back.
The group now whole again headed off towards Hoi an, we were not to make it that day, it was just too far after all the miles we had all done, we stopped in Tam ky, not much here to speak of really food and bed was it. The group had done around 140km and by the root I took I would have been around 150km to 160km by my reckoning. What a day.