One last night: Nothing lasts forever

December 13, 2014

Having survived the biggest challenge we now had a fairly straightforward run to Vientiane along the Mekong. Or so we thought. For a while the dust road that we followed for the first thirty kilometres rose and fell almost as steeply as the mountains had the day before, and I was struggling again. I really was feeling now like there was something quite wrong with me. No doubt that my body still had a bit of a hangover from the four months racing across Siberia, Mongolia and China, and my recent illness had weakened me further. But, knowing that I had a good chance to rest around the corner I tried to just ignore all of this and concentrate on making the most of my last days with Dea.

A first look at Thailand on the other side of the Mekong

Dea making light work of the dusty climbs

We were worried about Robin getting his boat through here!

When the road became flat, smooth, tarmac we knew the biggest challenges were behind us

That evening Dea found us a perfect place to camp. Somehow she intuitively felt we should walk down a little track that led from the road into the trees, and it proved to be a brilliant idea, taking us out to a big private beach. There was absolutely nobody about, except for a couple of cows that eyed us nervously, and the location was just so lovely - smooth soft sand leading down to the gently-flowing river. We'd stopped early and so it was still warm enough for us to go and take a swim, which we did. It was such an idyllic setting for our last night camping together. But it was our last night camping together. We held each other in the water and Dea's face was lit up in front of me by the low sun; it shone like gold in that light and her blue eyes dazzled like precious stones. She looked so perfect. I'd called it right the first moment I met her - she was the most beautiful girl in the world, no doubt about it. It was a moment of absolute happiness to hold her now in this most amazing place, just the two of us and yet, how could this moment of happiness possibly be more sad. As I hugged her tightly I stared over her shoulder at our two pairs of shoes, sitting side-by-side on the beach, both pairs bedraggled from months of travel. Somehow those shoes seemed terribly sad, the knowledge that in a few days they would be thousands of kilometres apart almost unbearable.

Dea was looking for firewood, but it looked to me like she'd make a great cowherd

One last campfire, one last evening singing songs on the beach, if only nights like these could last forever

Today's ride: 77 km (48 miles)
Total: 34,834 km (21,632 miles)

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