Moments in Malawi

           After an arduous uphill day yesterday, today was downhill- 1,700m descent along a ridge top with spectacular views. OK, we did have to ride uphill for 20km or so first, but that was soon forgotten. The morning was spent in cloud & was quite cool, the first descents had my teeth chattering- quite a novel experience to be cold and sweating buckets at the same time.

            I warmed up by eating. A long stop for mundazi (doughnuts without the jam or hole or sugar), chapattis (fresh from the hotplate) & samosas (sold from the back of a bicycle). Plus a coke of course- they're not called Coke Stops for nothing.

            The views were really what the day was all about. From Tanzania the land seems to slide down into Malawi. Verdant green valleys, sometimes cultivated with corn, tea, bananas, sometime wild, cascaded off to our right. Whilst on the left the land rolled down to Lake Malawi in the distance, another range of mountains looming behind it.

            When we finally crossed the Songe River into Malawi the land was immediately flat, a striking change. And the fields were full of rice. Malawi is already noticeably poorer- the road being an immediate symptom. 15kms of flat riding saw the trucks appear along with about 200 local children standing around the camp. We're obviously the star attraction tonight- I hope we don't disappoint them.

Fiona Siseman
Lonely Planet Rider