Back to our standard cycling today. My right foot held up well and as you can see below we put it to the test early on trying a less ridden track.

After a pit stop at a 7-Eleven we met a fellow cyclist, Ronan, who was also getting some supplies. After chatting about what route to cycle he offered guide us through the back roads. It made a big difference having someone with local knowledge. GoogleMaps tries to go the most direct route and doesn’t know the condition of the road, so he saved us some dodgy roads, but still had a very scenic route. Thanks Ronan.

Check out my ride on Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/875527657/

Two short bicycle rides between a long bus ride from Hua Hin to Pattaya. It is our first time travelling with the tandems. At first I don’t think the bus people thought it would fit, but with the help of an Allen key the tandems fitted in perfectly. We originally thought we would take the new ferry to Pattaya, but they don’t allow bicycles unless they are packed up like luggage. Also, the bus was half the price and was not weather dependent.

The bus ride was long, but very comfortable. As you can see below the chairs reclined back a long way and we all caught up on some sleep. The bus route takes you close to Bangkok and gave some spectacular views of the city from the top of bridges.

We were all glade to bypass Bangkok because it is a massive city and the traffic all the way to Pattaya was heavy.

Check out my ride on Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/874302204/

Big day in so many ways today. Earliest start so far, at 6:30am, to beat the sea breeze. You can see the sunrise over the Ban Krut temple in the background below.

I used MapsMe for the first time to help with the trip planning because it was indicating that we could stay close to the coast and avoid riding on a major highway. Below is the first interesting track it took us on through a coconut plantation.

The amazing thing was that each time MapsMe took us down a dodgy path we had an interesting meeting with other people. The first was after the coconut plantation where it joined up with a normal road, we came across a couple of cyclists – Paul and John. After chatting for a minute, I realised I already knew Paul via WarmShowers and his amazing reputation. Paul is probably the best known person in Thailand for hosting and helping people on cycle tours. In Penang when staying at another WarmShowers, Matteo(another cyclist guest) said he had been in contact with Paul and Paul had given him map bookmarks and routes of Thailand, so he forwarded them to us because we were heading to Thailand. We have been using Paul’s map info ever since, so it is great to say thanks in person and put a face to a name.

The trail though the Hatwanakorn Nation Park was pretty rough and Paul said he had done it before so we thought we would give it a go to avoid riding on a major highway. The first obstacle was a large muddy puddle crossing the track. Patrick and I managed to cross it without getting our feet wet, but the water went up to our hubs, so Julie decided best get Robert to push their bike through it.

The track got us half way through the national park, so after crossing the main tourist road we continued down the track. However, this side was not as well maintained and the track slowly got more and more overgrown until we needed a machete to keep going. I decided to scout out the path and found out why it was so overgrown. The bridge across the river had been washed away, so the track was no longer being maintained. Just after turning the bikes around another pair of cyclists appear asking if they can get though. They were also using MapsMe. After our meeting, we cycled with Klaas Jan and Franciose to lunch and learnt all about their travels. They started in Iceland July last year and plan on cycling until September this year – pretty much cycling around the world.

The final MapsMe adventure also involved another washed out bridge and a chance meeting with a German couple, Hillo and Eric, we meet in Ban Krut yesterday. For more details on that adventure see Robert’s, Patrick’s and Julie’s posts.

On top of all of that we still road over 70kms and had a headwind since 8:30am. You could say we really have our cycling legs now and could give my sister Helen(cycling legend) a run for her money.
Check out my ride on Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/868176439/

Another long day. The day started off promising with no wind to speak of, but by mid-morning the sea breeze had come in. It was no way as bad as yesterday, but it was constant.

In the afternoon we made the mistake of picking the coastal road and our average speed dropped to below 10kph. However, we did bump into a couple of cyclists riding with the wind, so it made for a welcome break and conversation.

None of the accommodation was in our price range where we planned to stop, so we made the decision to ride an extra 12kms via an inland road and return back to the beach at Ban Krut. It was worth it. The boys and I had a good swim 20 metres from our accommodation(~$30) and good choice of restaurants for dinner.

Check out my ride on Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/866948529/

Hard day’s ride into a strong headwind today and our first all day headwind of the trip. On our rest day we were going to do a cruise and snorkel four local Chumphon Islands. However, when we tried to book the trip it had been cancelled because of strong winds. In the photo below you can see waves breaking. It is the first time in our trip that we have seen breaking waves, the water has been dead flat up until yesterday. So we were glad not to be on a boat in those conditions.

It was a hard slog all day, with plenty of hills on top of the headwind. To give an indication on how strong the wind was, we normally go about 50kph down a good hill. Today, going down a wind tunnel hill, we struggled to get over 15kph, which included strenuous pedalling.

I said to the boys that once we have completed 40kms they can choose the lunch stop. At 40.01km they picked the place below. Not their normal choice, but the food was good. However, the food was too spicy for the boys, so they only ate plain noodles, boiled eggs and fresh vegetables – a good healthy lunch.

Check out my ride on Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/865749528/

Reasonably short and easy ride today. We have had very little rain since we have been in Thailand and not at all while riding. It rained quite a bit last night, but cleared this morning. The roads were a little wet and the clouds looked threatening, but other than a few drops we kept dry. The advantage of the overcast conditions is everything stays cool.

Able to keep off highways for the whole ride and the unsealed sections were in good condition. Looking forward to our rest day tomorrow. It’s been six days of cycling, our longest stretch between rest days.

Check out my ride on Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/863320180/

After two longer days the family was feeling like a shorter day. Riding away from the coast meant that it was harder going today, so felt longer than 40km. As soon as you move from the coast there are more hills and it is much hotter. Also, the tracks are more likely to be in worse condition.

The photo below shows the start of a great downhill that is about 2kms. The only problem was that Google Maps thought it was a better way to go and didn’t realise that the through road was through a fishing college. Julie explains in more detail. It is not the first time that Google Maps has thought an education facility was a through road only to lead to a locked gate at the other end.

The river crossings are spectacular in this section of Thailand and a good spot to have a quick break to take in all the scenery.

Check out my ride on Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/862135719/

Best cycling day in awhile. No highways, roads mostly in good condition, almost no traffic, next to the coast and friendly locals.

For one of our morning tea stops the locals were very animated and talking amongst themselves interspersed with laughter. One of the men tried communicating with us by indicating he was eating. We indicated that we were fine, but he kept offering food and drink. He started offering a cigarette, which I turned down, but indicating to the bikes and coughing. So he then offered bananas, a watermelon (Patrick accepted it), yogurt drinks and a large water bottle. By the end we felt we needed to offer something back, so the boys handed out Mighty Beanz, which we have been giving out to children.

Found a great restaurant next to the beach for an early lunch.

For those people with sharp observational skills will notice the back panniers are larger than normal. They contain a watermelon and a loaf of bread picked up along the way.

Check out my ride on Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/861279386/

Back to riding north again. You don’t realise how much more you enjoy riding north than the other points of the compass until we had a few days not riding north. Most of the trip we have been riding north, but the last few days we rode the other directions. Having the sun behind you rather than in your eyes makes a huge difference. Also, having the shade of the trees coming across the road also makes it much cooler.

Main highlights today were the river crossings. See below for an example.

If you look closely at the photo below you will see a monkey amongst the coconuts. In Thailand they train the monkeys to collect fruit high in the trees for their trainers. Just to the right of the boys is a man holding on to a rope that is attached to the monkey. The boys were fascinated by the monkey collecting coconuts and watched for about 10 minutes. I think the man was happy when we left because I think we were distracting the monkey from its work.

Check out my ride on Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/860233586/