Rest day in Windhoek

we arrived here a little damp yesterday after a wet ride across Botswana

Un-seasonal rain we were told, in reality constant thunder storms that went on for hours a day, including hail! This was supposed to be the arid Kalahari region of Botswana!

To add to our bad weather, the riding in Botswana included some of our longest days (including the longest at 208kms) on flat straight roads. The scenery unchanging, just flat scrubby countryside. With a tiny population of just 2 million we also passed few villages or people. It made for quite a dull ride. 

The occasional elephant or giraffe sighting was our only relief from the boredom.

We have a little over 1600kms  and just over 2 weeks to the finish line in Cape Town.

The day I started feeling unwell with Malaria was our second day in Malawi. We had a fantastic ride out of Tanzania the day before, with the huge climb from Mbeya and then the long descent across the border to Lake Malawi.

All riders were quite excited as we were headed for Chitimba Beach and a rest day on Lake Malawi, this is a highlight of the trip.

I rode with Wayne the 70kms to lunch, it was hot and muggy as we rode along the lake shore, added to that we were riding into a strong head wind. At lunch I was feeling beat up and as I sat in the small amount of shade that the lunch truck was able to cast I considered my options.

firstly I could ride on with Wayne, strong headwind, another 60kms, hot and humid!

secondly I could wait the few hours for the stragglers and then ride the lunch truck, waiting in the humid heat and trying to find any limited shade!

thirdly I could hitchhike with Sam!

With little persuasion required, Sam and I had loaded our bikes on the lunch truck and were standing by the extremely quiet road. Ten minutes went by, Sam tells me this is a long time without any traffic. Twenty minutes, still no cars, trucks, anything. Thirty minutes, by now half the cyclists had ridden past, Wayne was long gone riding with Anke.
Still no cars!
Finally a vehicle appears on the road, it’s one of the tours support vehicles a large green land rover. Paul the tour leader is driving, James the chef in the passenger seat.
We wave them down with the African universal signal for a lift, hand out palm down waving your hand up and down.
Paul starts to pull over and just as our hopes of an easy lift rise, he rapidly accelerates and pulls away laughing!
So we wait some more. After more waiting with no cars at all, Ok its been 40 minutes only. A small 4 door hatchback comes into view, hand signals out, and the smiling driver pulls over.
A little negotiation and we were on our way, 3 others were in the car making us 5 in a 4 door hatchback.
around the bend and there was a family waving us down, our driver screeches to a holt.
Now we were loading 2 adults and children in the car all in the hatch back part of the car.
We were off again and for the next 70kms we were constantly loading and off loading passengers
At one count there were 11 adults and 3 children as well as a massive assortment of luggage all in a 4 door hatch back!
Finally we rounded a bend and saw our trusty finish flag. Sam and I climbed through the crowd and exited the car, both with huge smiles.

I have come down with the dreaded malaria!

Attacked in the night, sometime in the last 10 days, by the female anopheles mosquito.

Today after 3 days of being quite ill, I think I am finally on the mend.

Annalise bundled me into a taxi and took me ahead to Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi, to rest up.

Wayne continues to pedal every kilometer and should arrive in a few days.

I am hoping to get a clear blood test on tuesday and be back riding next week.

Our last day of riding in Tanzania had us ‘climb’ for 30kms out of Mbeya. It was a foggy start, but as we rode we climbed above the fog and clouds. The scenery was amazing, rolling hills and small villages, loads of children walking to school.

The climb was steep and a little demanding, but with groups of children cheering us on from every bend in the road and village, the kilometers flew by.

From lunch it was a small climb then mostly cruising downhill to the border and the northern end of Lake Malawi. Children waving and screaming ‘mzungu’ (literally translated as lost white foreigner), and a smile or a hello from every passing adult.

As we descended through the lush countryside the humidity and heat rose steadily.

A fantastic way to say goodbye to what has been my favorite country so far.

Farewell Tanzania and hello Malawi!

Our last night in Tanzania, we cross the border into Malawi tomorow. Tanzania has been fantastic, and the south is so beautiful, rolling hills and lush vegetation. well it does rain a few times every day. So a little damp and a little sore from the many hills it will still be sad to say goodbye.

My bike melt down!

I went to give my bike a quick service on the rest day in Iringa, took the wheels off started to clean it, pretty standard for a rest day. However I noticed something was a little strange with rear hub, it was not free-wheeling which basically means the hub had seized up with all the rain.

I went to our bike mechanic Chris, and after pulling it apart he said that it was wrecked and I should head into Iringa and see if I could find a replacement!

Not so easy in Africa, let alone rural Africa to find anything but single speed bikes or spares!. I eventually found a shop with a couple of old mountain bikes for sale and persuaded the owner to sell me a wheel.

It wasn't perfect and it would only give me half my gears, but at least I would be able to get the bike running. 

I dashed back to camp to see if it would work. 4 hours of working on it and the new wheel was on and the bike running.

I went back into town to pay for the second hand wheel, I brought along my 'seized' wheel and offered it to the shop owner. He looked at me confused and said 'don't you want to fix it?'

I must admit my spirits were rising at this comment.

Suddenly this guy is taking me around the corner and behind a few shops where there are a couple of guys working on bikes. 20 minutes later they had pulled my hub apart and put it back together and all was working!

I returned to camp and put another 4 hours into putting my bike back together, the old wheel back on, running perfectly!

It is amazing what these mechanics work with here in rural Africa and just about every problem gets resolved.

3 days of riding since then and all is holding up quite well!!

amazing!!!!!!

One extremely muddy riding day in Northern Kenya

Tarangire National Park, Northern Tanzania.
It's the half way point of the tour and we are treated to a 3 day rest, it is actually the longest break we get on the entire 4 month tour. Wayne and I and another rider Catherine are at Swala Lodge here in Tarangire for the 3 days. Enjoying a touch of luxury, a varied diet, and not having to pack up our tents each morning.
The packing up of the tents is usually followed by attempting to cram everything back into our lockers on the trucks and a hurried breakfast before we tackle the days 100+ kms of riding.
It feels like we have been away and riding for so long, yet strangely it's hard to comprehend we have cycled half of Africa allready.
Kenya seemed to go by in a flash, we were there for 2 weeks and cycled across the tough lava rock desert of Northern Kenya. There had been a lot of rain which added to the toughness of cycling this area, and the support trucks also had a tough time on these roads. At one stage we waded through waist deep water with our bikes alongside one of our trucks bogged and being attempted to be towed out.
Nairobi saw a change of staff from our suppoirt trucks, the 'Indaba staff', Janet, Erol, Ferdie and Peterson who have looked after us for the past 2 months have gone and will be missed for sure. Nairobi also brought a touch of the modern world back to us, supermarkets, shopping malls, milk shakes and cheese burgers!!!
It's funny the things we begin to crave as we cycled across the wilds of Northern Kenya.
With 3 days rest here in Arusha the riders have spread off in all directions, some to climb Kilimanjaro, others on safari, some down to Zanzibar, while a few chose to kick back in Arusha and just rest!
Next is a couple of weeks in Tanzania as we head south to Malawi, we hear the roads are mostly dirt and pretty tough.

Well it's a rest day, and it's raining again just as it did on our last rest day in Yebello, Southern Ethiopia. The riding has been tough since crossing the border. Northern Kenya has a reputation as some of the most challenging riding of the entire tour.

Marsabit however is a small oasis, its atop a hill... so yes there was a30km climb to reach it! but also has a little water, thats compared with the lava rock desert that surrounds it.

Still a rest day is a rest day, time to eat, drink far too much, and attempt to wash a few pieces of clothing!

We are staying at a Catholic Retreat and the 'Sister' in charge has been extremely enterprising... dinner for a fee, washing clothes for a fee, rooms you guessed it for a fee... but best of all ice cold beer! yep for a fee... however cold beer and soft drinks make everyones budget...

Ethiopia was tough, the country itself was amazingly beautiful, rolling hills, mountains. Just stunning, the unfortunate part was the behavour of a significant proportion of the population. Waynes appropriatte title 'Smiling Assasins'. Just how it can be culturally appropriatte to throw stones at others is beyond my comprehension, no matter how I try to comprehend it. We apologise for our lack of 'blogging' but it was hard to find positive things to write when we could find internet.

In a few days we cross the equator and in a little over a week we reach the half way point of the tour in Arusha. Arusha gives us the biggest rest yet, 3 days, and it is being looked forward to by most riders.

The bikes are holding up well. We have an array of lacerations and scars across most limbs to add to some amazing memories already.

Rest Day In Bahir Dar
we have been lucky and have only had 2 days ride between rest days, probably good because we tackle the Blue Nile Gorge next on our way to Addis Ababa.
The riding has been great through the mountains of Ethiopia, the rolling hills turning steeper and steeper at times. However we have managed the altitude and the topography!
The childrens stones continue to fly at us as we ride with monotonous regularity
as does the chant 'you you you'
why they dont say hi or hello i'm not sure
what we get is 'you you you' from EVERY child
and then usualy 'where are you go'
which apparently means where are you from
Ethiopia is certainly out of this world!