It's all downhill to the Zambesi

I arrived in Livingstone - the town for Vic Falls - at about 11 am today , Thursday, roughly 24 hours ahead of schedule. I'm booked into Faulty Towers, a popular hotel just outside the town centre. It's the best organised accommodation I've had for many a day with a lovely shady garden and tiny swimming pool. I asked a couple of white lasses in the town centre and the Towers is what they recommended. They are volunteers in a lion rehabilitation centre. I always thought lions could look after themselves...

I'm ahead of schedule because the last couple of days since Choma have been a cyclist's dream. The road has been silky smooth with a slightly downhill gradient. I stopped for a pee on Wednesday morning around 8am and realized I even had a significant following wind for the first time in a long time. In fact Livingstone is over 1000 feet lower than Lusaka, so hurrah!, I say

I tried to find out about prevailing winds when planning the trip. Strangely I could find nothing on the internet, only daily weather forecasts which showed light winds from various directions. On 3 or 4 days there's been a stiff breeze from the south, usually 10 o'clock direction as I cycle and a bit of a pain. Only when I was mooching round a bookshop in Lilongwe and flipping through a school geog book did I discover a page showing prevailing winds. In winter they blow straight up the continent from the south. Doh!

On Wed lunch-time in Kalola I met Radek Gerstner from Prague. He's a teacher and a big, modest guy. He spends his 2 month summer holidays cycling the world, but usually Africa. It was interesting hearing his tales. He's a real off-the-beaten-track guy with a bike to suit. His route to Dar es Salaam was real black- route stuff and made mine look cissy. 

Later that day I bumped into 4 lads from Antwerp on motorbikes who'd ridden down through West Africa on their way to the Cape. I owe the D.R.C (Congo) an apology (see earlier comment). They'd managed to get in and out although they'd had to fly one bit. But they did say they'd met two cyclists who had managed to cycle right across from north to south in 5 weeks. So DRC, I'm sorry for my cynical comments.

Last night I stayed in Zimba. I landed in a quiet, tidy guest house and had a jolly night out with a car salesman from Zimbabwe, who was staying in the same place. You are never alone in Africa. We had a chicken dinner together and then some bottles of Mosi in a candle-lit bar (another power-cut). Mosi is a nice lager. It gets its name from Mosi Oa Tunya, literally "Thundering Water" in one of the Zambian languages, possibly Nyanja, and the name for Vic Falls. So it's thunder beer. It's a bit of a misnomer as it's only 4% but perfect at the end of a day's pedaling.

Ok there's a queue for this 'puter. Just a reminder...if you'd like to sponsor me, please see the post entitled One sleep later 13/7/12 for details. Right at the end of the post. I'm already worth 90 pound - or rather British Heart Foundation, The Maurice Jagger Centre and Water Aid are - if I get to Walvis Bay. As Mrs Doyle would say "Go on!Go on ! Go on!"