Big elevation day, but felt good throughout.

We left the hotel in Dong Van, which I’d call more of a village than a town – check the pizza out though at Roma Restaurant, it’s really good and a great break from the admittedly delicious local food – but sometimes you just need a hug from Italy, right?

Yeah so, it was overcast today, and things changed. The softer landscapes gave way to rocky, gnarled hillsides and thin country roads that wrapped around me and pulled me further into the fabric of this place.

The distance between these two photos was about 3km uphill, so you can see the change and how quickly it came. It looked a tough life up here, and you have to wonder what brought people here and why they decided to stay.Beautiful, but foreboding…

Within ten km though we were back to the green, thankfully.

This valley above was particularly gorgeous, and flying down these roads was rather epic.

The descents around these parts are best described as Alpine, and as the roads tend to edge along the side of the mountains, the line of sight is deep, so you can sweep around corners at high speed and use the whole of the road. I can’t think of a better place to ride a road / all-road bike, it’s near-perfect. The climbing is challenging but there are (so far) no crazy percentages or silly kilometers – some short hard effoprts here and there, but most can be ridden at upper Z2.

Down at the bottom of this road I encountered the first gaggle of tourists on the back of motorcycles, ddoing the ‘Ha Giang Loop’, a 3-day bike excursion around these mountains. I had to wait as 50 motos – no joke – passed me at a Y junction, with mid-20s kids on the back.

I felt a little sad for them, being here and not being on a bike or on foot, hiking – and not being alone or in small groups. How do you experience anything apart from the view, and the noise, in a group that big?

We then hit a long flat road and another climb, but not before stopping to eat some rice and chicken, in a restaurant with a pool – or at least, the memory of a pool!

Quite a tough climb this, and then we had a long flat section to town, the slightly up-and-coming Ha Giang. It’s still a local place, provincial, but it may well develop soon into a tourist hub, if the kids on motos are anything to go by.

It’s also one of the most spectacular places I’ve cycled in, and an ideal place to have a… bicycle tour!

Our first tour will be here in early November, possibly late October, 7 days cycling, message me at lee@crankpunk.com for more info.