Moving along nicely, thank you

Sorry about the daft sub-heading...Couldn't think of anything else.

I've just cycled into Lilongwe city centre from my lodgings.. (Lilongwe is the capitol of Malawi. Might come up in a quiz). Without my luggage it was bliss. In fact I'd probably be in Namibia by now without it. That's bollocks, of course, but it is a bit of a handicap. Where's Walter Trout when you need him?

Lilongwe is the lowest key capitol I've ever visited, I think. It's a bit like Hebden Bridge on a Monday morning. No, not full of gay Buddhists -  just lovely, quiet and peaceful. And with a similarly pleasant level of litter blowing about. I've parked my bikes near a bunch of young blokes, each with a lady's dress to sell.  "What's that, bwana, a snake?" said one of them as I uncoiled my 2.5 m plastic-coated steel braid to lock up, especially bought for the trip. "Yep. Watch out, it's a black mamba". That cracked them up. Africans laugh all the time, which is heartening. I then attached my fancy new padlock with built-in siren (if you move it)."Don't touch it." I warned, "It goes wa,wa,wa,wa,wa " That cracked them up too. Hope it's there when I get back.

Since Mzuzu I've done 429 kms in 5 days. I'm pretty pleased with that as I can finally feel myself gaining fitness. Most of that was along the side of Lake Malawi. I was undecided in Mzuzu whether to take the shorter, more direct route through the highlands, the M1, or to take the M5 along the lake. I think I got the right one as the lake-side route was very quiet and peaceful, almost a country lane of a road in places.

From Mzuzu the road went down for about 50 km. So 2 hours of glorious free-wheeling. You reach the lake at Nkatha Bay, one of Malawi's most popular tourist spots. You can scuba dive, go horse riding etc and it's supposed to be beautiful. I gave it a miss though as I have a plane to catch and you can't see everything. That night I stayed in a very nice bungalow in Chintheche. There was just me, the manager and a few ground staff. I was a bit surprised when the turn off to the Lake shore was tarmacked. Generally it's dirt as soon as you turn off. The manager walked me to The Chintheche Inn to eat in the evening as they didn't do food. This is a small but luxurious hotel. It used to belong to the government and be visited by Hastings Banda, the first president of independent Malawi, which explained the tarmac road. Now it's privately owned and visited by whites and rich Malawians. I had a 3 course meal for about 15 pounds and walked back "home" under the stars. The next day I was heading for Dwangwa but hit a head wind again and only made Ngala Beach, which was another lovely lakeside spot with little thatched chalets to stay in. I had a swim instead of the usual shower and then some anesthetic and a good meal before bed. They provided me with breakfast of egg and chips - you can eat anything when cycling - at 6 am before leaving. That night I made it to Nkhotakota, a strictly working, non-tourist town where my lodgings were a bit Dickensian. Nkhotakota was an important staging post on the Arab-Swahili slave trading route to the Indian Ocean. The next day I expected to feel tired but managed a PB of 110 kms to Salima. Admittedly it was a mostly flat-road day but that's when I knew I was getting a bit fitter. The lodgings there were the worst to date. The room was a dirty cell and there was an alcohol den ("bar") just outside the window. It was a  mayhem of raucous laughter and amplified music till about 11 pm then all went silent as if someone had thrown a switch. For a wash, the water was heated up in an old oil drum over a wood fire in a large enclosed back yard.. A lad helpfully scooped off a large bowl and showed me to the smelly bathing place. For all that, I enjoyed pouring the stuff over my head and washing off the day's dust. Down here by the lake it's about 30 C  by mid-afternoon. And the toilet was Stygian. But the saving feature of these places is often the friendliness of the staff.

Yesterday was the toughest day as Lilongwe is a good 1500 feet higher than Salima and the intervening land is higher still. I did not think I'd make the 93 km because of the 30 km of uphill out of Salima. I thought I'd have to get my tent out for the night. I often have only a vague idea of how far I've gone as my cycle computer is defunct, my map is only 1: 1,200,000 and there are often no distance signs, even for the capitol. I went through small towns and villages all day but none were marked on the map. But I surprised myself again by getting into town here just before dark. Once again it was thanks to a friendly guy from Karonga, name of Marcel, who helped me find  my accommodation (even though he hadn't heard of Mbuya Lodge, a popular place with westerners).

OK that's all for today. I've booked a meal for tonight. Part two tomorrow....