We had a great lie in, a cool breakfast of sweet potatoes, omelette, bread and a banana. Got the washing done and while Peter fiddled writing an email to Wiesenhof Coffee while I caught up on reading. The blanket on our bed weighs a ton and it feels like there’s a blanket inside a blanket ?? weird. Went for a walk to the market for slap chips and managed to buy nice ripe naartjies and three pawpaws. We’ll devour the pawpaws … had one after supper, second cut up for breakfast and third we’ll eat on the road tomorrow. We’ll be doing some climbing so have started munching away on vetkoek topped with peanut butter and banana and supper will be chicken stew, same as last night with sweet potatoes added to bulk it up. The meat is always a small portion, rice plentiful. I’m ploughing through my book Down the Darkest Road, the third book in a trilogy by Tami Hoag. Lala salama xx

PS  I only took the bark and slap chips pics today, others from a few days ago

– Slap chips for lunch from a street food vendor

– Bark from various trees, Mmm would love to know what they use this stuff for

–  Sign says it all

– We get all excited when we see road nicely tarred. It’s generally only for a few hundred metres ??

– This bridge is also used by trucks, buses and tankers

Staying at Jaqleen’s Lodge, Salima
Distance 103 + 6792 = 6895
Average 13.5
Time on bike 7 h 38 m
Total from Amsterdam 12295

Left our super set up at 06h35. We could easily have stayed another night at Nkhotakota Pottery Lodge but I think Peter wants to glue himself to a tv on Saturday in Lilongwe, watching rugby. Another long day in the saddle, this time around 100 km. I didn’t see much of the surrounding scenery … I was too busy trying to keep right behind Peter’s back wheel hoping it would shield me from the head wind, it was strong. We stopped a few times for vetkoek, coke and fried sweet potatoes … also for Peter to stretch a muscle in his side and for me to apply cycle cream. All of the above carbs and sugar fixes saw us through to Salima in one piece. We met a pastor/ teacher, Hardson Chamba, along the way who cycled with us for a while. An American couple sent him money to buy a  bicycle enabling him to see people in remote villages. He was wearing an ironed blue shirt, tie, trousers with a belt and polished shoes and his bike was spotless. What a gentleman. Rode through a village and saw bags of sheared goat wool being stacked onto trucks. Taxi and truck drivers know just how to pack and stack, sometimes the taxi’s boot doesn’t close but that doesn’t deter them from squeezing one more person into their near bursting, at the seams, jalopy. Rope keeps the over-filled half closed boots from popping open and extra baggage tied onto roof racks and boot lids outside from falling off. At noon we had ridden 65 km and Peter spotted a reed hut that looked like a cafeteria. We discovered, much to our delight, that they served tea here so had our first cups of roadside tea which was served to us by Jamson, a 20 year old entrepreneur. It felt like we were back in all the African countries rode through. They all had flasks of ready made, too sweet, tea that kept us hydrated. Jamson wanted to know what we were spreading on our vetkoek … jam. You can’t buy jam anywhere in Malawi other than Shoprite or possibly at People’s stores. We have tried and most spaza shops have no idea what we’re talking about if we ask for jam. I gave him a taste of our Koo strawberry tinned jam, then gave him a piece of vetkoek with jam … both got the thumbs up. Another magic find was a loaf of fresh brown bread which will keep Peter’s hunger pains at bay for a day or so.A nice surprise was seeing baobabs again but we spotted three young trees, all in the same area, where bark had been stripped from the trunks and all three trees looked half dead … how would these thieves like to be stripped of their skins, scumbags. We arrived in Salima around 4 and set about finding a place to rid ourselves of the dirt and sand and to rest our weary old bones for a day or two. Doing a 103 km ride in wind free conditions is a piece of cake but riding into the wind is ‘nog ‘n storie’ (another story). After checking out several yukkie lodges we settled on Jaqleen’s Lodge, K8500 per room and supper K2500 each for one chicken and one beef stew. We had to get the sheets changed as they were all creased, then the mosquito net was too small (it’s meant for a single bed) and lastly Doom to spray for mozzies. The shower was hot and the brown muck that I washed off my face was testament to the windy conditions we experienced today. Now we just need to tuck ourselves up in bed under the mosquito net and read a few lines before sleep overtakes our will to read a bit. Night all xx

– The vintage German Fire truck +- 25 to 30 years old now converted into an overland vehicle

– The comfy outdoor lounge at Nkhotakota Pottery Lodge

– Bags of goat wool getting ready for transportation

– Tea at Jamson’s roadside cafe

– This youngster allowed me to take his picture and having fun in the process