Camping at Ngala Lodge, Kamphambale
Distance 65 + 6631= 6696
Average 13.3
Time on bike 4 h 51 m
Total from Amsterdam 12096
Location S12.358648, E34.066081

Chilly last night but slept well and after thanking Tiwanwe for the lovely stay at Kande Horse we rode off at 07h13 with the sun on our backs and a breeze in our faces. I’m convinced the locals still use the bush telephone … shout to one another over vast distances !! I’ve been in a nafi mood the whole day … feeling sorry for myself, weepy, moody and basically just plain moerig. The kids screaming, teenagers laughing at us got to me today and then when we rode down a soft sandy road to check out accomm for the night to find a truck blocking the road that the driver wouldn’t move and no way we could get around. Workers alongside the truck laughing and making fun pee’d me off even more. At the local village a guy came over and stuck his face no less than a foot from mine, smelling of booze, eyes glassy wanting to help me shop for tomatoes and onions when I was standing right in front of a table laden with both ??.

Then a guy shouting at me over and over to ‘pedal hard’ going up another sandy road that tipped me over the edge so I told him to bugger off and next thing we were both swearing at each other … Peter waiting at the top wondering what was going on. We eventually found a lovely campsite which is part of Ngala Lodge, had a warm shower and then battled to get supper cooked. The lodge is owned by Zimbabwean Chris and SA Sandy. The bar, lounge and dining areas are nicely furnished and the place looks well run. Dan and Pat will manage this lodge and owners Chris and Sandy will run the new one they’re building at a nearby game reserve. Our cooking burners, MSR Whisperlite isn’t working at all, Peter can’t even clean it and the MSR Pocket Rocket works intermittently, Grrr.  Supper at the lodge is $25 pp … out of the question. We’re heading towards Lilongwe and will hopefully find another burner there to replace these duds. Apologies for the negative diary, I’m sure I’ll have a good sleep tonight and rid myself of this crappy mood I’m in and will enjoy a day of R+R tomorrow. Definitely a day to put behind me and get back into the groove of peddling again on Sunday. Night all xx

PS   the day wasn’t all that bad … we got to hear loads of Fish Eagles all along the lake. Bought a lovely avocado from a young girl who interpreted for us, had a great lunch of icy cold Fanta, avo and tomato sandwiches sitting on a bench the locals gave us to use and had fun taking pictures of kids and showing them the pics … and a husband who kept more than a spitting distance from me and knew to let me have a little cry and just let off some steam … love you Darlin’ xx

– The long and winding road home is still a good few thousand kms of peddling

– Cassava plants

– Cassava drying on the road … coarse in front, finer cassava in the middle and right in front rice is also being dried

– Children all seem to be this age/size having fun looking at their picture

– Chris and Sandy, owners of Ngala Lodge for the past ten years