Milage Days

Our last blog entry left us in Mzuzu, a smallish town in Northern Malawi where we had managed to change our remaining dollars into the local currency at the favourable ‘black market’ rate of 250 Kwatcha to the dollar, favourable to the bank rate of around 165K. We aimed to make this cash last until Blantyre where we could get more dollars and a once again favourable exchange rate. As a result we had a fairly tight budget, so subsequently blew a large chunk of it at the town’s excellent Indian Restaurant, enjoying a long awaited change to our typical lunch on the road.

The afternoon cycle led us downhill from the relative coolness (and pouring rain) enjoyed at altitude to the shore of Lake Malawi. We took a detour to Nkata Bay, a reputed ‘backpacker haunt’ where we decided to spend a rest day, after being taken pity on by the guesthouse owner and offered a lakeside cabin for the usual price of a campsite. Here we enjoyed a long-awaited swim, and a free boat ride on the lake including some cliff diving, snorkelling and close up views of the fish eagles swooping in for some dried fish thrown out by our boat driver. Chatting to the other ‘backpackers and travellers’ we felt fairly removed from their experiences of Africa-  hopping from one idyllic tourist spot to the next, comparing their trips to ours with comments like “Oh yeah, I’m doing the same thing, but travelling by bus.” Not really the same at all then. 

Pad relaxing at Nkata Bay

The following morning, we dragged our bikes up the steep steps out of the resort. Feeling guilty after our lavish day of relaxation, we aimed to make recompense over the next few days with a target distance of 440km to Cape Maclear. The days were long, fairly monotonous, and made increasingly difficult by a persistent headwind. We enjoyed a variety of campsites- beneath a water tower in the town of Dwangwa (the only concealed patch of ground we could find), amongst the mud and thatched huts of an extended family where we provided the evening’s entertainment, then finally in the Lake Malawi National Park a few kilometres from our target destination. This was not down to lack of time, but a frugal money saving effort to avoid paying the £1 each campsite fee of the following two nights.

Snoozing out the monsoon rains

Instead of blow-by-blow accounts of those three days here’s a short summary on how to cycle 150km per day in the African heat:

4:45am- Alarm. 5 minute snooze, then breakfast of baby-food, peanut butter, milk powder and bananas (actually pretty tasty), pack tent up, load bikes and set off. 

5:45am- On the road, aim to cover 45-50km in the first couple of hours before the heat arrives.

7:45am- Second breakfast of tea (if we’re lucky) and bread rolls or mandazi (fried bready donuts).

8:15am- Another 2.5-3 hours cycling, aiming to take daily total to around 90-100km

11:00am- Stop for pre-lunch snack, usually chips, then rest down for lunch and daily game of chess. 

2:30pm- Back on the road for the afternoon session, usually broken by a soda stop and a few bananas. 

5:45pm- Veg shopping for dinner, start looking for suitable campsite.

6:00pm- Off the road, pitch tent, fire up the stove and cook dinner (rice or pasta, with tomatoes and onions, okra or peppers if we’re lucky)

8:00pm- Bedtime, try to read for a few minutes but generally asleep before a single page is turned.