Blog / Racing the Rain

9 March 2012

The rain's been a reliably recurring feature of the last few days, generally making an appearance around mid afternoon. With this in mind, I set out early to try to get the ride done before it dumps.

I rise at 6:20am after an unusual night's sleep. I conked out with the lights on at 8:30pm. It seems the tiredness I've built up over the trip is still with me, despite the days off and good sleep in Ao Nang. I came round at 11:30pm, shortly before a power outage. Almost as soon as I quit for the night, the power comes back on and I have to run around turning off lights. Bug itches and dreams make the morning's return to wakefulness bumpy and confusing.

When I drop off my key in the open air restaurant, two pale ginger guard cats leap up and follow me back to my bike. One of them hops off the steps onto the water container that my bike's propped against and then clambers across onto my pannier rack. A quick stretch and it settles down on top of my left pannier. I think riding off will dislodge him, but no. I get to the guesthouse gateway, where some staff scoop him down, wildly amused.

I get off down the road, bound for a German bakery that I'd seen opens at 7am. I'm not really sure what constitutes a good Frühstück, but I reckon being German it'll meet calorie requirements. Eggs, bacon, rye bread, cheese, ham... pretty much exactly what I needed.

The ride goes by in three chunks - the middle section is a rather boring run on highway 4. The first section is probably the most fun, as I have two short hops on roll-on-roll-off car ferries to get off the island. They're unbelievably hot, as not only do I lose the cool breeze from being on the move, but I'm stood in the sun, and I feel the heat that's being belted out by a bunch of parked cars, many of which have engines left running to keep their aircon going.

I hit the highway with 44km down, and stay on it until 70km is on the clock. A 7-11 stop was in there somewhere.The final stage is on a smaller road 4046 which takes me right into Trang. This section is a battle of wills with the rain. I get wet, but not completely drenched, the plan for the day working out well - the real rain comes a couple of hours after I arrive in Trang.

124km, 25.2km/h, 4hr54min, 7021km

Older: Ferry to Ko Lanta | Newer: Rainy Ride to the Edge of Thailand