Just a short piece to let you know that we made it safely back home.  It was a bit hairy getting out and involved being slightly ahead of the wave of restrictions, but we managed it and are back home.  Bernie is on her way back to work as a doctor to meet the needs of patients in the current crisis and David is under huge demand as the legal consequnces of the pandemic work themselves out.  So this is a short piece – we have to concentrate on other things at the moment but look forward to a time when we can return to cycling, travelling and the good things in life.  Meanwhile, isolating back at home, totally dependant on our wonderful friends and family and just trying to do our bit amongst the chaos.

Apologies that the blog has not been updated for the last few days but we have been in turmoil and can now report that this particular adventure is coming to a premature end.  We were already worried about whether to come home to offer help to our families and others as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic, but the decision was made for us when Malaysia closed its borders on Monday.

So we have made it to Trang and have tickets for the overnight train to Bangkok.   Hopefully, we will then get a flight back to the UK.

Thanks for reading and sharing this journey with us.  It has been really special even if shorter than we hoped.  However, given the very serious challenges that people are facing all over the world as a result of Coronavirus, the premature end of our cycling trip is totally irrelevant.

Hopefully we will have the time to post a reflective piece over the next fews days, but until then – this is us signing off.

The first day of our third week in Thailand.  Today started with the 5am alarm – despite the fact that we had had a series of family calls at 3am about lost keys.  We tried to help with that crisis, failed and so a large bill was incurred.  Less said about that, the better.  Anyway we felt remarkably unaffected at 5am and even less at 6.10am when we finally set off after the resort provided an early breakfast of coffee, toast and yogurt with muesli.  The first few km were up and down with road surfaces that were fine – and we even stopped to examine a rubber tree that had recently been tapped, with the white rubber continuing to run out gently.

The road was undulating, running through jungle and yet surprisingly populated.  This is “ribbon development”, Thai style.  There is thick jungle half a mile each side of the road but parts of that corridor are cleared and developed with rubber plantations, banana groves or coconut plantations.  The road topped out at about 130m, after which it was downhill, largely with the wind to the town of Phang Nga.  The last 4 km were around the hills and back facing north, so we battled the wind that had been behind us for the last 30km – though of course we hardly recognised that there was a wind when it was in our favour.  There is a motto for life generally there but I will leave it to others to work it out.

The manager of our hotel spoke good English and arranged a boat tour for us to the bay with majestic cliff type structures jutting out of the sea.  We opted for a private tour – a bit expensive – but enabled us to control the timetable.  Our boatman was a young man and his wife and 2 children came along as informal tour guides – as it was the school holidays.

The photos do not quite do justice the beauty of the bay, but they are better than any words.  The highlight of the tour was “James Bond Island” – part of the set of the 1974 film, “The man with the Golden Gun”.  The film got mixed reviews with Roger Moore as Bond but  Christopher Lee‘s portrayal of Scaramanga as a villain of similar skill and ability to Bond was generally praised.  Thailand is still milking the connection 45 years on.

Perhaps the highlight was the mangrove swamps, where trees with roots in the salty water thrive.  On the way back we saw an 8ft python swimming yards from the boat – elegant but dangerous (just like us I suppose – that is a joke in case anyone does not know us).

Back to the hotel and supper at a local restaurant where the service was erratic but the food was good when it eventually came.

It was a luxury to wake at dawn but sit quietly looking at the spectacular view across the lake emerge, rather than busy ourselves getting ready to cycle.

The ‘dawn safari’, with a 6.40, start thwarted about half the group so there were some advantages at being used to being up early. After a quick coffee we were back in the boat – again perfectly timed to see the sun peak above the mountain top.  .

Low cloud drifted across the lake and enveloped the mountain peaks.  It was a magical scene morning we saw long tailed macaques, lemurs, gibbons, hornbills and a variety of other unidentified birds.  Although monkeys are seen quite commonly on the road or attached to temples it was completely different seeing them in their natural habitat.

Back for breakfast and then the main trip of the day.  A walking trip into the jungle to Nam Ta Lu cave.  We were warned we would get wet!  Another 20 minute boat trip took us to the start of the trail – or in fact about 1km down from the official start as the water level was so low the boat could not get that far. However soon we were walking through thick jungle with bamboo, enormous fig trees and a huge variety of vegetation.  A variety of spiders and butterflies were pointed out, as were the occasional chameleon. Although there are some big beast in the national park it was unlikely they would ever come to one of the few tourist tracks.

At a junction in the path we were advised to leave our bags and keep one camera that would be put in the guide’s dry bag when we got wet. We trekked on another 1.5km to the mouth of the cave where we were all handed out headtorches.  No lit up walkway here. It was a cave that was used by communists in the area about 30 years ago, although now free of any dissidents!

Instructions given, we headed off in single file through the most brilliant cave excursion we have ever done. Everyone’s head torches lit up fantastic rock formations and stalactite and stalagmites as we waded along a small river.  For the first few hundred meters, the walls were dotted with thousands (or probably millions) of bats.

As we ventured further the bats disappeared and the cavern narrowed and we plunged into our first deeper water, up to our waists.  A narrow channel twisted and turned as we went in and out of deeper water, sometimes needing to swim short distances.  After about 45 minutes we suddenly saw daylight and emerged through a small hole back into sunlight and the jungle. It was an amazing experience.  For some (particularly the “larger” members of the group) it was quite a physical challenge but they were encouraged through and the whole group was elated.

Then back through the jungle, back in the boat and a quick lunch before we were fairly unceremoniously ushered out into the main boats back the dam so they could be ready for the next group. As David mentioned yesterday, we were slightly processed but it was all very efficient and friendly and the tour company packed in loads into the 24 hour trip.

At the other end, everyone had their onward transport arranged and we were soon back in our little van being taken back to the hotel at frightening speed to be reunited with our bikes and kit.  It was about 3.30 by then and we weren’t about to set off again so we booked ourselves back into a bamboo house to plan our next stage.  All in all a fantastic interlude.

We mooched around in the morning, sorting out the stuff for our mini-trip and then having a relaxing breakfast.  The morning drifted along and a small van came to pick us up at about 10 to take us to the Ratchaprapha Marina – about 5km away, which was the start of the boat trip.

Once we arrived, we had to find the “Smiley Group” – the tour group we had signed up with.  That was more difficult than it sounded  amongst the hundreds of tourists who arrived in minibuses, were herded like sheep onto a pontoon and then send out into the lake on narrow boats with covers to keep them from the strengthening sun. Suddenly, after paddling our own canoes (or cycling our own bicycles) for 2 weeks largely on our own, we were in “tourist-land” – big time.  We were told to wait and so waited but the time ticked well past 10.45am with no sign of any Smiley Group.

Indolence went to panic amongst the men who did not appear to have a job other than to tell jokes to each other, smoke and tell tourists to wait.  They started gesticulating that we might have missed the boat – literally – and pointed us towards the massed ranks of tourists milling around the water’s edge.

After running along the pontoon, establishing that none of the boats about to leave were the  “Smiley Group”, we eventually found our “group”, and were told to sit down to wait again. About an hour later, we were herded onto the pontoon, on to a longboat and were off.

The reservoir was created by the Ratchaprapha dam which was started in 1982. Its purpose includes electricity generation, irrigation, flood control, and fishing – and now tourism. It was inaugurated on 30 September 1987 by which time the Cheow Lan lake covered 71sq miles or 185 sq km, and has a depth of over 100m in places.  To put that in context, it has a surface which is over 15 times bigger than Lake Windermere. The scenery was stunning with jungle coming down steeply to the sides of the lake, and trees poking out in places.  The lake was low at this time of the year, and fills up when the rainy season starts in June.  There were a huge variety of trees and other vegetation on the banks, as well as huge rock faces coming up directly from the water.

After about an hour we reached the “Smiley Raft House” – which was a series of raft buildings tacked together with a club house in the middle.  We got allocated a simple room (electricity but no AC) and were left to enjoy ourselves for the afternoon.  Our fellow travellers were almost all Europeans, and were a mixture of Dutch, Swedish, Lithuanians, Germans and Russians (plus a few we did not identify), as well as a nice retired Canadian couple from Vancouver who were fleeing the damp and cold of winder in Canada.

We swam in the lake – refreshing but a bit more like a bath than a lake swim – and canoed across to the other bank and amongst dead trees poking through the lake surface.  Then we went on a boat trip to see wildlife – somewhat difficult in a boat of 20 people and a loud engine.  But we stood on the back with binoculars and got a great sight of hornbills flying majestically across the upper reaches of the forest.  There were also a variety of monkeys and the occasional gibbon, swinging Tarzan like from tree to tree.

As we returned, the sun set across the lake (they get the timing right because they do this every day).  Then back for communal supper and finishing my book – William Boyd’s “An ice cream war” about the British/German war in East Africa as part of the First World War.  Great writing and brought home the utter stupidity of this (as all) conflicts.

A different day to being on the bike but really good.

We were even more efficient at getting up this morning and when we left a 5.50am it was definitely still dark. The town however was awake as we pedalled our way out and soon the sky began to get light. We had a few kms on the main highway and then turned off, turning west this time to head across towards the other side of the Thai peninsular. There were subtle changes in the landscape – still coconut and rubber being the main crops but the road gradually got more and more undulating.

Nothing very steep but our legs are used to flat. After about 35km we came across an unprepossessing little town that had a great coffee shop. Iced cappuccino is my current tipple of choice!

As always the day began to heat up. The road was still up and down, up and down and we had lost any sea breeze a long while ago.

Mountains began to loom up ahead and the scenery was beautiful but it was starting to get hard going. Luckily we reached our destination about 12. A village at the far end of Lake Chiew Lan by the Ratchaprapha dam. We had booked into a little hotel by the river opposite a spectacular rock face.

Our room was in a bamboo building. For the first time we had no a/c so we lay down and melted for a couple of hours while the fan pushed around hot air and we tried to rehydrate. I took about 3 showers to try and cool down!

By 3.30 it was getting bearable again and we swam in the river, which was blissfully cool and had no crocodiles (or at least none we saw). There was a small roped off area by the bank – essential as we could see a mighty current in the centre of the river. By 4.30 we felt ready to cycle the 4km into town to buy some food. Although it almost as cheap to eat out, we like cooking for ourselves reasonably regularly as it can become a pain to constantly be looking for somewhere and deciding what eat. Tonight was therefore a vegetable and egg green curry which David cooked in our little stove. Delicious. As we sat and ate on our balcony it got dark and we could see a lightening storm in the distance….but no rain here.

Tomorrow we are off on a 3 day tour where a boat takes us far along the lake to the middle of nowhere – no electricity, no internet, no mobile signal. We have booked 2 nights staying on the lake where we are hoping guides will take us on walks into the jungle etc. We are looking forward to some time of the bikes and getting away from everything. Like many people we have become rather obsessed with coronavirus and looking up what is happening in Europe and this part of the world so it will be nice to be forced just to read some good books and see, we hope, some spectacular scenery. We will be back in touch in a few days!

Today sort of worked as a cycle touring day.  We got up at 5 and left by 6am, when it was just still dark.  It was largely flat riding today – lots of roads where we could see for miles – and some mountain scenery at the side. Roads quiet and beautiful.

We cycled until 98km until about 12.30am, when we arrived at our destination, a town called Chaiya.  It is described as “sleepy” in the Guidebook and I can see why.  But we found a cheap but clean hotel and dived into an air conditioned room (cost £10 for the night) and had a snooze.

At 4pm we went out on our bikes to look at some famous Buddhist wats (i.e. temples and monastic centres) which were hugely impressive and had a contemplative feel about them.  We then did some shopping (sorry for the garish shirt that will come up in future photos), planned the next few days and then had dinner with a fellow cyclist who was staying the same hotel.  We exchanged views on cycling, travelling, life the universe and everything and, perhaps inevitably, on Covid-19.  She had been on the road for 8 months in a variety of places including China.  It was an unexpected and fascinating evening to round off a really excellent day – even if one where there is not a vast amount to report.

The rest of the day can be shown by pictures and videos – far better than words.

Today was a day that did not go exactly to plan but worked out fine nevertheless.  After overstretching ourselves a bit yesterday we resolved to have a short day with fewer hour directly in the sun.  We were in a nice hotel with breakfast included so had a proper breakfast and set off about 7 rather than out usual 6am. David had found a lovely looking homestay at the tip of a little peninsular about 45km away so that’s where we were headed.

The road was again beautiful and quiet.  Coconut, rubber and banana trees in abundance.  We passed through small friendly villages but hardly through so much as a town. It was glorious riding.   We made our way down the last 2km track to find the homestay but unfortunately when we got there they announced it was closed (it was still showing available on booking.com!). Undeterred there was another homestay on the other side of the peninsular, only a few km away but up a very steep hill – first time pushing the bikes up this holiday!  This time it was down an even smaller track that opened into a beautiful bay.  Unfortunately the homestay, which was the only building on the bay, was locked up. It was such a lovely spot that we decided we would camp but we were unprepared for that and had no food so we pedalled off again in search of provisions.  We found a tiny shop a few km further on but it had so little in that we could not even find enough to rustle up a meal (although we would have been fine if we wanted to buy 20kg of rice or any amount of toiletries!).  By the time we pedalled a bit further we had gone full circle and we were back where we started so gave up on the idea of a half-day and pedalled on south.  If anything the road was even quieter, undulating along the coastline.  But the 2 hours we had wasted earlier meant we were at that crux time of the day – at about midday – when the thermometer hit 39 degrees.  We managed another 18km to the next ‘town’.  There were 3 hotels marked on googlemaps but 2 were closed.  Luckily the third had someone there.  The accommodation was in rather shabby bungalows but perfectly sufficient for our needs and was right by the seashore.

After hiding from the sun for a couple of hours and recuperating we cycled the 2km into the town centre – little more than a village really but charming and friendly.  We felt a world away from the upmarket seaside resorts we had been through further north, where there is a 7/11 or Tesco express round every corner.  Here it is small grocery stores with simple provisions but we found plenty of fresh veg, a chicken leg (all the meat comes frozen) and noodles.  We had several attempts to find bread, with the help of googletranslate, but eventually were told it was not being delivered until 5.30.

Back to the ranch for a swim in the sea – the bay so gently receding that we walked for ages to get up to our waists.  Again a huge swathe of sand, lined with palm trees and little islands dotted in the bay – and not another soul to be seen.

A trip back into town found that bread still had not appeared so gave up on that idea – it will have to be noodles for breakfast Thai style.

We cooked outside on our little stove, certain that we were the only guests. It does seem very much out of season now, which surprised us, but maybe it wakes up more as a weekend destination.

There is a really good reason why we have never tried to cycle 120km in a day in the first week of any of our tours – it is because we are not strong enough to do so! But today we had little choice apart from having a long day because of where accommodation was located and our feeling that we were not yet ready to camp as we still needed to get out of the heat and humidity at the end of the day.

The day did not start brilliantly as the routes had not made their way on the cycle computers (Wahoos for those of geekish disposition). The reason was probably the fact we were working off a very weak wifi signal and it just did not play ball. Technology is great when it works but evil when it fails us. Anyway 30 minutes of IT faffing sorted it. By now it was 6.45am and we had lost most of the first hour of sunlight. It was also predicted to be several degrees hotter than yesterday, so we were already slightly concerned as to how the day would work out.

The first 40km were great – quiet roads, often cycling through shaded coconut groves. Then we hit the pleasant little town of Bang Saphan. Just outside was the first hill – not just of the day but the first since Bangkok. It was only about 60m of climbing which was nothing for anyone from Worcestershire. But Worcestershire does not have 30+ degree heat and high humidity at 9.30am (or possibly never).

We struggled to the top – the 4% gradient feeling much steeper. Then down and into more quiet countryside on the way south. By about 11.30 it was stiflingly hot – the Wahoo said 43 degrees C and the constant up and downs were getting to Bernie in particular. She began to feel that distinctive type of “cyclist’s head in the heat” which we have all experienced but none of us can describe. Eventually we found a small shop with a seating area. It sold egg-fried rice in pre-sorted containers for 25 baht – about 60p. Delicious and filling – and gave time for Bernie to cool a little. But the prospects of getting much further seemed low – and I was pressing her to agree to find a hotel by the beach and sit it out.

But Bernie is made of stern stuff and overcame her nascent heatstroke (which it was not) and – with me taking one of her panniers – insisted on pressing on. The wind had got up during our lunch and that, combined with 50% less luggage, gave her a new lease of life.

We ambled along and gradually made our way to Chumphon (not Trumpton as I keep referring to it).

Then the unexpected highlight of the day. After resting and shopping we went out to eat but found the restaurant we wanted to try was closed. On our way back across town another way we came across “OK Buffet”. This was a really busy, all you can eat Thai wonderland.

They plonked a bucket of steaming coals on our table and then put a contraption on top which had a moat for creating your own Pho (vegetable or fish soup) and for cooking meat freshly on top. All the ingredients were available and customers cooked their own meals – going back as often as you wanted for more.

After nearly 120km in the saddle, we were tired and hungry and this was ideal. It was also great fun though we did feel a little “on show” as the only non-Thais in the vast restaurant and with staff regularly having to correct our lousy cooking techniques. But, after lots of laughs and failures, we got there and had a brilliant meal. Needless to say, the OK Buffet is not in any Guide Book!

Coming back we passed a few (empty) hostess bars, showing the seedy side of Western tourism in Thailand. We have seen little evidence of his to date but it remains a sad part of this otherwise brilliant country.

Today was an almost perfect cycling day – apart from the 30km on the main highway – so I guess it was more accurately a day of thirds with the first and third being great and ending in a perfect spot.

The 5.15 wake up alarm was a little easier as we adjust our time clocks and away in the morning at first light and soon another lovely dawn as the sun above the horizon, briefly red, before soon rising higher to shine the rest of the day in cloudless sky.

We relished the cool, as after a brief stint on Highway 4 (the main road from Bangkok to the Malaysian border), we wound our way to a beautiful coastline. ‘Second breakfast ‘ stop was after 30km n the pretty town of Prachuap Kiri Khan, set in a lovely bay.

After Prachuap we were soon in the second third of the day.  Here is a very thin strip of Thailand, very close to the border with Myanmar, which at times was only about 12km away.  There was literally only one north –south road, the infamous Highway 4, and so there was no other choice for the next 28km.  At least the shoulder was wide and very well shaded at that time of the morning (still only about 10.30) with little wind.  Small blessings as the traffic roared by. We powered on up and down small undulations (a change from pancake flat) and breathed a sigh of relief when we could eventually turn off.

The final third of cycling and almost instantly the road was quiet and beautiful, winding through rural fields.

We passed a little restaurant crammed with Thai families (it is Sunday).  The food looked great but we were still full of breakfast so settled for a drink in the shade.  The road soon hit the coast again and a little further on we sat under the trees overlooking the sea for a snack of hard boiled eggs, peanuts and bananas (it’s nicer than it sounds, honest).  As we sat, a man and his wife came over to chat.  He was from Singapore and she was Thai.  They lived in Bangkok but she had come to see her family home and he was checking out the coconut farms for his coconut export business.  This seemed one of many businesses, as he gave us an array of business cards and showed us photos of the coconut farms!

The road continued through beautiful countryside dotted with coconut palm groves and lush vegetation.  By 1 o’clock we had done almost 100km and the day was really heating up again.  By good fortune we also reached the most beautiful bay we had seen so far and a lovely low-key, little town.  It was a no brainer to stop for the day, and we had after all already put in 5 plus hours on the bikes!  We found a great little ‘resort’ hotel with lots of individual cabins set in pretty gardens.  They had one left, which turned out to be very comfortable with balconies front and back and very reasonably priced. There was even a washing machine we could use (one of my least favourite jobs being the daily handwashing).  Bliss!!

We ventured out about 4, when we find the temperature beginning to ease, and bobbed about for ages in the sea as warm as a bath.

It being International women’s day, David cooked a lovely ‘one pot’ meal whilst I read and listened to Radio 3 via BBC Sounds – and a small blue-tooth speaker we have brought with us (one of the many things in our panniers to make life a little easier).  We strolled out after dinner for a beer by the sea. For the first time since we arrived, no wind. Overall a great day.

The only blight being what we read about Covid-19.  Italy reported 1200 cases in a day and is about to quarantine 16 million people in the north of the country. The UK is up to 169 cases and planning drastic action if the cases surge (as seems likely).  Thailand is currently reporting 50 cases and ironically 2 of those from yesterday were people who had just returned from Italy. I don’t know how much testing there is and so numbers are likely to be more but at the moment, we feel in one of the safer parts of the world in our coastal idyll with little close contact with anyone apart from each other and the occasional shop keeper or restaurant.  Who knows what the situation will be in a few weeks.

Today ended with a 2km moonlit walk, hand in hand, along a stunningly beautiful and totally deserted beach. It may get better – but it is hard to see how. We were walking back from the General Store where we had bought food for supper after an exhausting day’s cycling, walking and sightseeing. As I type this, Bernie is cooking outside our room in the otherwise deserted “Pink Power Beach” complex of tiny huts – we have no idea what normally goes on here because it is not on any website, and we are the only guests – but at £15 a night who could complain.

We started at 6am, just as the light was emerging. Alarm at 5.15am and then pack up, breakfast (porridge with bananas and oranges and coffee). The routine is coming back to us and we were on the road in under an hour. The cool of the morning is a lovely time to cycle – and when the government puts on a cycle lane it gets even better. It lasted about 10km off the side of the main A4 road and was well used by Thai cyclists. If you want to do a quick 30km for your health, 6am is the time to do it.

The scenery was (as we went south) flat scrubland leading down to the beach to the East and increasing outcrops of rocks to the West, rising up like dollops of ice cream on a flat pancake.

After 35km we got to the entrance to Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park, and then went down to a little cove known as Wat Bang Pu, which gives access to the Tham Phraya Nakhon caves. Memories of the fictional Marabar Caves in EM Forster’s Passage to India came to mind as we walked up the cliff walk. We were too mean to pay £10 each for the boat ride to avoid the cliff walk and, in any event, the views were spectacular.

The climb up to the caves was steep – and took a good half an hour or more – even in the relative cool of 9.30am. Loads of seriously unfit people were struggling to walk up the shiny stone steps – rubbed clean by countless feet over the centuries. When we finally got there, the caves were well worth the effort – although they are not “caves” in the traditional sense but massive rock caverns with massive stalactites and stalagmites, but largely in the open air as part of the rock ceilings had collapsed in both caves.

There was a Buddhist shrine in the far-most cave – and we arrived just as the sun caught the roof. The pictures do not do credit to this magical place but we hope they convey some of the wonder.

We ambled back to the cove and debated what to do. By this time it was noon and very hot – maybe 37 degrees C – and the sharp southerly wind we battled against yesterday had returned. We had a potential warmshowers stop about 60km south but, after 45km and 3 hours walking, Bernie was unsure if we would make it. We had some food, and then read and set off about 2pm to see how far we got and, after a few hundred yards, met up with a lovely, young Aussie couple who were cycle touring from Singapore northwards, and aim to be in Europe in about 2 years time. They were well equipped – Brooks saddles and Ortlieb panniers – and we chatted about the routes we both had taken and hoped to take. If they are reading this – please give us your contact details and we’ll host you in England.

The heat was still intense and the wind was sapping. We managed 80km and stopped at a beachside village that does not merit any reference in the Guidebooks, Kui Buri. There are several major hotels here ($100 per night plus and some lots more), but we passed the Pink Power Beach complex (it was definitely very pink) and tried our luck – and our luck was in. We gesticulated in our best Thai, miming sleeping, and a room was opened up. Sort of AC, no problems brewing up and otherwise empty.

There was a wedding going on across the street with loud ‘muzac’ but it stopped when dusk fell – then the monks started amplified chanting – but that lasted less time and was a far more congenial and calming end to the day.

Today we were determined to beat the heat as much as possible so the alarm went off at 5.15 and we were off soon after 6, just as the light was beginning. It is always worth getting up early and it is our favourite time of day. The air was cool (relatively – only 25 degrees) and there was no wind. It seemed early to us but the market was in full swing as we cycled through it on our way out of town. As the town gave way to fields we had our first sunrise of the holiday and the fabulous early morning light across a rural landscape interspersed with palm trees.

The first hour’s ride took us through little villages until we hit the coast.  We were amazed to find a wide, newly paved bike path over the next 20km or so and although the road was quiet at that time of day, it meant we could ride side by side, which we are rarely able to do.  The road was a few hundred meters inland.  We passed several ‘view points’ – which in this flat as a pancake landscape meant a brief glimpse of the sea, far across scrubby land.

After 45 km we reached the main resort of Cha-Am.  It was still not 9 o’clock and was time for our “second breakfast”, a concept unknown outside cycling holidays (and would be disastrous to the waistline at all other times). The advantage of a real tourist spot was that there was a great coffee shop with proper coffee and breakfast of eggs benedict!  We chatted to a man there –he was from Hong Kong but his wife is Thai and he spends half the year in each place.  The Covid-19 outbreak had resulted in Thailand bringing in an enforced 2-week quarantine for everyone coming in from Hong Kong.  As a result, his booking.com hotel reservation was promptly cancelled.  As he was having breakfast whilst his wife and children were asleep at the hotel, we assumed he rebooked the hotel in his wife’s name so that the booking originated from Thailand and not Hong Kong!  But that small story was symptomatic as to how the virus seems to already to be having a massive effect on tourism.

The next stage involved taking a parallel road to the main north-south busy highway.  Oddly it turned into a dual carriageway – although it was virtually empty of traffic!  Even so we still had our own bike path!  The road was rather boring and featureless and the day got hotter, but at least we got the km done and by 75km we had reached the resort of Hua Hin.  This was about a 15km strip of built up beach and allegedly the first proper beach resort in Thailand.  It is certainly no longer the fishing village it used to be.  It has numerous, fairly mundane high rise concrete buildings – mostly hotels.  Not our sort of place at all but we had resolved to cycle between 6 and 1am and so we found a hotel on ‘Agoda’ at the furthest end to the south, booked it and cycled the last 7km there.   Agonda is a substitute here for booking.com – but is now owned by – you guessed it – booking.com.

Between 1 and 3.30pm we rested and hid from the sun in our room reading our books. We then strolled the 100m to the beach. A pleasant enough bay, not particularly beautiful but a warm sea with big waves that battered our bodies.  Very invigorating and good for our muscles I’m sure.  Who needs a Thai massage! We then had a gentler swim in the hotel swimming pool before going out for a meal.

Again the disadvantage of a big resort was they seemed to dumb down the food for Europeans so no lovely spices and herbs that we had come to both love and expect.  The restaurant was on an old boat though and quite atmospheric as the sun went down so that made up for it (almost).

Very much a day of two halves – felt like we had had two holidays today.

The challenges of relaxing from a 100mph professional role to a travelling dude should not be underestimated. One day I am under immense pressure – whether as a advocate in the High Court or a Judge – and the next my out of office tells people that I am largely uncontactable for 7 weeks as we stroll around South East Asia on our bikes.

It all caught up with me last night – with the result I did not sleep. Apologies to our readers who do not have a law degree (i.e. the sensible ones) but the only sanitised thing that came out of it was a strong feeling that Judges should not decide cases first and then work out the legal logic to follow their decision. I have recently been appointed a Judge and several much more experienced Judges have, more or less, advised me to do this. Can I gently beg to differ for 3 reasons. First, the oath that Judges take requires them to apply the law in a fearless way. That means following the logic of the legal process to the end, wherever it leads. Deciding the case by any other set of standards does not seem to me to be in accordance with the spirit of the oath.

Secondly, we know far too much about unconscious bias to think that any decision making method which is not ruthlessly analytical will not introduce a serious risk of unconscious bias – favouring those who are like us without realising it.

Thirdly, I have started writing too many legal advices over the years after reading the papers thinking that the result is X and, after ruthlessly looking at the issues from all angles, finding that “not-X” is the right answer. If it can happen – slow time – with lawyers who have the luxury of greater deliberation time than for many Judges, it can happen with court cases.

Not all Judges do this. I had a case before a High Court Judge who I will not name who was kind enough to say in his judgment that he had changed his mind after thinking through the case after the hearing (when he was totally foul to me and my client in court even though he ended up finding for the client).

But – at 4am when the world looked bleak – this struck me as something that I should avoid and felt I was entitled to be a little aggravated when I came across it in cases.

So – after not sleeping much as I ruminated the night away – I slept past the 6am wake up call and we did not get on the road until about 9. By then the heat of the day was beckoning and we knew it would be a shortish day.

We had plotted a “Kamoot route” to Phetchaburi. These are cycling routes which take one – as much as possible – on side roads. For more details see www.kamoot.com but we are fans.

Despite its aim of a route along minor roads, the route started by going down to the motorway. It had to do this to cross the estuary as there is only one bridge, and no other roads for 8 km. After playing “chicken” with the lorries we turned off and found ourselves on a scenic route, specially designed for bikes.

It was delightful – flat, a good surface and little traffic. We passed salt flats and pools where they breed prawns and shrimps. Next time I get an M & S prawn mayo sandwich, I will think of these extensive pools, egrits flying in flocks overhead and workmen and women toiling away in the heat.

We passed some coastal fishing villages with schooners tied up between trips. Thai fishermen are legendary and featured large (for good and bad) in the tales of fleeing Vietnamese Boat People (with whom my elder brother worked after university 35 years ago).

After passing through some lovely villages, we entered the town of Phetchaburi just before lunchtime. This is an ancient town with numerous Buddhist temples that date back hundreds of years. There are few hotels because, despite being a tourist “hot spot” it is treated as a day trip from either Bangkok or the beach resorts slightly south of here. But we found a little hotel and recovered from the 40+ degrees heat.

Later in the afternoon, as it began to cool, we ambled around 3 fascinating and hugely impressive “Wats” – Buddhist temple complexes.

The pictures tell the story so I will let you reach your own conclusions.

Dinner was at a tiny restaurant on the banks of the river in an old wooden house with wooden shutters opening directly onto the river. Bernie had the local speciality – sweet palm curry – a bit like a Korma but with much more punch (she ordered medium spice but suspect it was a ‘very mild’ for a Thai person). We met a solo traveller from Ruislip who was celebrating an early retirement package. What better way to do so.

Jet lag is fading but still giving us weird nights. None the less we woke with the alarm for our first day’s cycling. We fell back into the routine of packing and were on the road at about 7. It was warm – not surprising as the nights don’t fall below about 27 degrees – but reasonably pleasant. The first part of the route took us winding through small alleyways until we reached a more main road and soon we were cruising westwards on a wide straight road out of Bangkok and through the suburbs. After beetling around Bangkok on the bikes yesterday we had to adjust to being fully loaded but soon had the measure of the bikes. The traffic was fine and as we found last year, the drivers were polite and not aggressive. So all in all a step up from cycling in London!

After about 20km we stopped for a coffee and when we emerged from the little air-conditioned café it definitely felt as if it was hotting up. A little further on and we had to merge onto the 3 lane main road westwards. As we had to cross several large rivers and there were few bridges there was no other option. There was a wide shoulder but it wasn’t exactly pleasant riding. 45km and the heat was getting to us, so another stop in an air-conditioned café to cool down.

Soon after, at last we were able to turn off the ‘motorway’. Trouble was how to get across the Thai equivalent of a busy M25 because the little road we wanted was on the other side and was not at an official turn off. Luckily there was a footbridge coming up, which seemed the safer option than crossing 6 lanes of lorries, cars and other traffic (thus proving we do have some residual sense after all). Getting up the steps to the bridge was quite a palaver with the loaded bikes. The steps were steep and we had to unload everything to get the bikes and panniers up and over then again to get them down the other side.

It was worth it as it was a relief to get onto a quiet side road-but bizarrely it seemed even hotter. The landscape was flat and featureless and what I initially took to be paddy fields were in fact salt flats.

The ‘forecast’ may have been for 35 degrees but that does not equate to a hot tarmac road with no shade at midday. David later told me the temperature maxed at 43 degrees!

This was our first day with minimal acclimatisation! We were drinking like crazy and pouring the rest of the water over our heads – though the water was also 40 degrees and so was not as cooling as hoped for. Luckily there was some breeze and we managed the next 10 km to our destination. We had wondered whether we would get further than Samut, but both had that dizzy feeling and were overheated, we stuck to plan A and found the first air conditioned hotel we could. We were wiped out!

However a shower, lots to drink, some shut eye on the bed and a couple of hours later we were revived. Samut Songkram had little to say for itself so we decided to peddle the 10km down to the coast to Dan Hoi Lat, where we were promised seafood a plenty. Setting out again at 4pm without luggage and the temperature ‘only ‘ 32 degrees felt a doddle, even with a strong wind against us.

I have to say the guidebook was generous with its description of Dan Hoi Lat and it is probably not the prettiest bit of coast in Thailand (at least I hope it isn’t). Still we sat and sipped beer as we sat in a very breezy and empty café looking out over the mudflats and the river estuary and were then blow back to the town as the red sun began to set.

We went out for food in the evening and found the town humming. Loads of small stalls sold food, and many Thai people mainly eat out rather than cooking at home. The first place we stopped offered us what looked like mushrooms, but turned out of be jellified offal – and it tasted offal! 72 baht wasted – £1.50 in UK money. But we then had soup with vegetables and various additions that was delicious. We ate it sitting on stools at small metal tables, in the shadow of a Buddhism monastery. Back to the hotel feeling full and contented.

This was a day of getting over jetlag, acclimatising to the heat and humidity and getting the last few bits to prepare for the start of the cycling ahead.

First, acclimatisation. It is mid 30s degrees C here – well into the 90s for those still working in old money. That is a tad warmer than England, and there is less driving rain and storms (at least as yet). And it is quite humid. So it takes a bit of getting used to, to say the least. When we were in our late 20s we cycled across the Baha desert in temperatures of well over 40 – but that was over 30 years ago and I qualify for a seniors rail card in a few months! So getting used to the conditions will take some time. We started today and sweated a bit (or a bit more than a bit) as we cycled across parts of the city. But we will have to start slowly (or early – or both) tomorrow.

Then preparation. There was a few things to buy here – like food. With the bikes, we were right up against the 60kg weight limit on the plane so a few kgs of porridge, etc would have taken us over. There is a chain of 7-11s and Tescos in Thailand, so we could stock up a bit. Mostly we will eat street food as we go along – trying to remember to follow Ant’s sage words that we should eat and drink every hour or so (but normally forgetting of course).

But before we did anything sensible, we were tourists for a morning, looking around the wonderful Wat Arun Ratchawararam Ratchawaramahawihan, commonly known as the Wat Arun. It is also known as the “Temple of Dawn”. We were there early at this Buddhist temple, but not quite at dawn.

It is on the Thonburi west bank of the Chao Phraya River. The temple derives its name from the Hindu god Aruna, often personified as the radiations of the rising sun which is a delightful mixing of religions. Even when we went, well after dawn, the light reflects off the surface of the temple with pearly iridescence. Although the temple had existed since at least the seventeenth century, its distinctive prang (spires) were built in the early nineteenth century during the reign of King Rama II. There is an extensive complex of temples with monks in attendance adjacent to the formal temple, and we sat and watched as a devout couple made offerings and then received chanted blessings and sprays of holy water in exchange. Every religion has its rituals, and they usually involve the devoted giving money to the professionals. It was both charming and familiar as an exchange.

We have noticed a real absence of tourists in Bangkok so far. The Wat is a major tourist draw but there were relatively few other visitors. The restaurants are not full and we are the only guests in our hotel (as far as we can see). I am not sure if this is westerners not travelling due to the climate crisis, fears of Coronovirus (and there are no hoards of Chinese tourists like last year) or just the end of the season. No doubt we will find out as we go south.

L

ater we also found a bike shop so we could pump the tyres up to full pressure of 70 psi – only really possible with a foot pump. I have only ever seen one person touring with a foot pump – the wonderful Wil and Wilma from Amsterdam, who are on the way to Vientiane in Laos as I type this. Their plan is to cycle Southwards along the Mekong in the direction of Pakxe – see a comment on the blog yesterday. We wish them well on their travels – complete with foot pump.

We also struggled across town to find a mobile phone shop, to get a Thai Sim card for our travels. It was in a shopping centre that was just like Bluewater or the new Bull ring. The only difference was that everyone at this centre appeared to be immaculately turned out (other than us of course).

After cycling back to the hotel and realising that my headset was loose, it was time for a bit of bike maintenance. I managed it without phoning Malcolm Garner or Mark Young so either (a) it was easy or (b) I did it wrong. Time will tell.

We finished the day with a lovely evening amble on the bikes into the tourist bit of town and a fantastic Thai meal on a rooftop restaurant overlooking the river. The tour boats ply their trade up and down the river – with cargos of passengers from the massive cruise liners that dock in the bay. So all that some of these passengers see of the wonderful old town is a view from a river boat – entertained by a band and someone singing out cover numbers. We get the smells, the chaos and the smiles on our bikes. It is a privilege to be on 2 wheels and self-propelled.

Let’s see what tomorrow has to offer.