The first day saw us take some spectacular trails through national

The first day saw us take some spectacular trails through national parks, with tough but rewarding climbs. Thankfully, Woody was a benign taskmaster, with none of the sergeant-major characteristics of some tour leaders Suffering was kept to a minimum. We visited an elephant-training camp and spent the night in a hill-tribe village. No Big Macs or sprung mattresses, just rice and two veg, and some floor space.There is an enduring myth that cockerels start crowing at dawn Not Thai cockerels.

By 3am they are already involved in heated discussions, so by the time dawn arrived we were up and raring to go. Mists hung over the forest canopy before the sun burnt through to reveal exquisite vistas. Shafts of light streamed through the huge trees, lighting up the forest floor as we made a delightful descent back down to the road. We now had to tackle the major road section towards Tha Ton, our overnight stay.Most of these road sections were on small country roads, sometimes little more than tracks, sparsely trafficked and never a tour bus in sight. We cycled through small villages, hardly touched by the 20th century let alone the 21st. Water buffalo were employed for just about everything, from ploughing to transporting rice to market and, if they were particularly unlucky, ending up as the evening meal.

There was a warm welcome for us in every village and the gradients were not too strenuous, ideal for a mixed-ability group such as ours.The sun slid down behind the imposing mountains as we arrived at Tha Ton. A couple of kilometres from the Burmese border, this sleepy little town is truly in the heart of the Golden Triangle Nearby is Doi Larng, Thailand’s most notorious mountain. Once one of legendary opium warlord Khun Sa’s strongholds, this section of the border has been fought over by numerous warring factions.A ride along the ridge here gives a rare glimpse of the Wild East frontier. On one side it’s Thailand, but step on to the other verge and you’re in Burma. The gradients here were steeper than elsewhere, but the back-up vehicle was seldom more than a few paces behind to mop up any stragglers.After a peaceful night’s sleep in a hotel overlooking the Kok River that thankfully seemed to be a cockerel-free zone, we set off into the country once more.