The Plan

So the plan is to fly to Dar es Salaam on June 1^st and to fly back from Walvis Bay on August 15^th. According to Michelin, it’s approx  4400 kms between these two places by the route I’ll describe shortly. Cycling every day, that would be about 63 kms or 39 miles per day. If I have 20 days “off”, then it’s 50 miles a day on cycling days. Most of the route is flat and the roads are generally  well paved from what  I’ve read in various places  –  mostly the internet  –  so 50 mile days should be OK.

Research regarding the weather suggests that it should be mostly dry and warm (between 10 and 25 degrees C) as it’ll be winter down there then. Pressure would normally be high so nothing too blowy i.e. more or less what you want for cycling. The exceptions will be on the Indian Ocean coast at the start where it’ll be quite a lot hotter and in  Namibia, which is (semi) desert mostly, and  frosty at night.

The warm English summer’s day temperatures are partly down to the altitude of the route, which is mostly between 3000 and 5500 feet and the fact that it’s winter. A summer trip (southern hemisphere) would be hotter, stickier and wetter.

I’m taking a tent but will opt for roofed accommodation where possible.

An option was to do the trip with wife Judith on our tandem, and the invitation was there, but after considering it for a few milliseconds she decided against it.

The route

Friends Rob Pawson and young Earnshaw of Wight have asked recently about the route, so please get out your Weetabix World Atlas.

It covers 4 countries in this order: Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia and Namibia. From Dar es Salaam there is a main road to Mbeya (where friend Paul Cunningham was born and spent his early childhood)  in the South West of the country. This is technically uphill as Mbeya is at 5500 feet. From there it’s south through the mountains and downhill to the northern end of Lake Malawi which is at about 1500 feet. It’s Lake Nyasa on some maps. I’ll follow the western shore of the lake for about two-thirds of its length then turn west towards Chipata in the SE corner of Zambia. Chipata is where friends John and Christine Priestley spent 3 years in the 70s. John was a VSO volunteer. From there the road goes west to Lusaka then SW to Livingstone and Victoria Falls. From there it’s west again to the panhandle bit of Namibia known as the Caprivi Strip. The last few hundred miles is the road SW from  Rundu , through Groetfontein and on to the coast at Walvis Bay. At least that’s the plan.  Circumstances and possible side trips or local recommendations might dictate a different outcome.