Chong Sadao

Starting the morning on the bikes we rode 38km on small roads that slowly get smaller and eventually turned to dirt as we head into a beautiful forested landscape. The finale to the ride was a suspension bridge that took us back over the river and back to the land of sealed roads.

The support van was waiting to then drive us up the hill to Hellfire Pass. At Hellfire Pass we spent some time seeing the excellent museum and walked in the infamous Hellfire Pass.

From here it was a short drive to Nam Tok train station, the modern day end of the train line that used to go all the way to Myanmar. A ride on the Death Railway took us travelling along a piece of WWII history. After crossing the perilous trestle bridge at Krasae Cave we transferred back to our hotel.

My diary entry for this day:
Today we really hit the mountains. With the fierce heat and humidity, even a moderate ride can take on a whole new level of challenge. We had the added dimension of some serious climbs to get over during the course of the morning's ride. Fortunately, we were able to get underway quite early and thus enjoy the "coolest" part of the day (a relative term).

The ride took us through some delightful and very quiet rural roads, through farmlands growing every imaginable type of crop, reminding us over and over again at just how well everything grows here.

Even though a few of the climbs were quite brutal (up to 15% gradient) we all managed to get up them without having a heart attack and then were able to savour the exhilarating downhills that followed each climb. Much of the riding was on unsealed tracks, requiring us to brush up on our mountain bike skills. In spite of the bumps, mud and puddles we all managed to stay upright.

When the riding was completed, we went to visit the Hellfire Pass Museum. This is a modern complex, opened by John Howard in 1998. From here there is a steep downhill walk to Hellfire Pass itself. We walked along the path of the original railway noting that there are still a few of the old wooden sleepers there. It really must have been a terrible place to do back breaking work to cut a path through the solid rock. No wonder that so many thousands died here.

We then took a ride along some of the remaining tracks of the railway on a local train. This was quite an experience, especially when it slows to a crawl to make its way along a large elevated trestle bridge.

Late in the afternoon the skies opened with a tropical deluge, accompanied by lots of thunder and lightning. What a glorious display of nature.Read more