Splitting tacks and we run into the Brownlee brothers

Today, Tiger and the tandem split tacks. Tiger wanted to head off on his own for a few days , and who can blame him. If Sarina could spend some alone time too, I think she would!

Phuket Old Town was pretty nice. It reminded us of George Town in Penang. The monthly market was in full swing and we made our way through throngs if people still celebrating Chinese New Year.  

Then this morning Tiger headed off after breakfast and we were on our own to head north out of Phuket.  

We took a diversion off the main road and headed towards HatBang Thao on the west coast so we didn’t head up the main airport road the whole way. 

We stopped at a nice coffee shop on our way through and as we were leaving, first one then another cyclist arrived. It was obvious from their legs they were serious riders, and after a chat we found out they were triathletes, one based in Phuket, one visiting. We chatted about our journey and headed off, whilst they waited for “another couple of guys from Leeds.”  

(We actually headed in completely the wrong direction initially, but after a u-turn, we were back in the right direction.)

We had a lovely ride through rural Phuket before emerging on the main road again before the airport. ​

We could here the chat coming from behind us for a while, and then a broad Yorkshire accent asks” Where are you from?” as a group of four riders come past. It’s the two triathletes again, plus Jonny Brownlee telling us we should head back to Yorkshire.

As luck would have it​, they were stopped up ahead at a junction and we were able to have a chat. They seemed surprised we weren’t supported and wanted to know how many punctures we’d had – five as it happens. 

Then they were off. An interesting interlude though. Shame Tiger missed it.  

Then we continued on down the road, knocking off a comfortable 100 km by the end of the day.  

We did have another small navigational error that led to us being the wrong side of a large ditch. Soon sorted though. We’re missing Tiger’s navigation! 

The last kilometre was a wee bit uphill, with a switchback climb up to our guesthouse for the night, but the view with our well earned beer was worth every pedal stroke. ​

We even got to have a plunge in the swimming lake at the bottom of the hill. You don’t get that with most accommodation. ​

We hope Tiger found somewhere as good to stay. ​