We were warned that things might be stolen in the night – sure enough, I lost a water bottle! I had taken them both off my bike but must have left one outside my tent! It had rained hard in the night but my tent is proving to be great in the rain – no leaks – everything inside is dry. Although it is not a Race day today I am ready in good time so Scott and I set off together. It is now raining so I have my waterproof jacket on. We have been told it is 30 km to a supermarket where we are advised to stock up as there Is not much available at the beach resort where we will be tonight and tomorrow for our rest day (we cater for ourselves on rest days!). We rode the 30 km pretty quickly through the rain – and it was kind of fun! Very flat with farmland on all sides. I bought some sausage, baked beans, orange juice, chocolate bars and crisps - $50 – a real rip off! Outside it was madness – bikes, people, trucks and kids trying to steal stuff from your bags! We threw our stuff on the truck and set off in search of breakfast, riding in the wrong direction, !! But we found a lodge which was really nice and we were able to remove our wet clothes and dry them by the fan. At first they told us they didn’t have any coffee but when they saw this meant we would not be stopping they went off and found us some. We ended up sitting there for a couple of hours with eggs and coffee. It did take us a while to order – but we finally ended up with fried egg sandwiches – I had 4!! Just what we needed!
After a couple of hours we realized we were now miles behind so had to get going – we soon caught up with the sweep and arrived at lunch. Lunch was awful especially since there was hardly anything left by the time we arrived. So we carried on. We were starting to climb now and could see lake Malawi clearly, slowly getting closer and closer. There were 4 of us riding together but not in any organized sort of way and there was a headwind. I suddenly realized I was killing – we had been out on the road for a long time – those coke stops mount up – it had been a long day. Chatting with Bastiaan he asked how far we had left – I looked down and realized we still had 30 km to go – oh my god! We are all tired and stop talking now to concentrate on the riding. Bastiaan rides off with Scott and Liam and I struggle along together – both really hurting. Just wanting to finish! The lake is off to the left hand side which is nice but that is also where the wind is coming from! The roads were still rolling – some good downs with some short steep ups. We were inland a little but following the Lake shore – through lots of little villages with lots of annoying kids! Finally we see the Finish flag – we also see Scott up ahead ride right past it and hope he has actually noticed it as we are too exhausted to even think of chasing after him!! We still had to go 1 km down a sandy road – and tried to ride it but that wasn’t happening so we hopped off our bike. Of course this meant that all the kids would come and badger us. A few will actually want to chat which is really nice but the majority just scream for money. At the entrance to the resort we are met by all sorts of local pedlars – selling mainly wood carvings. But the gates are quickly opened for us and we are safe inside!! It is a really nice beach resort – looks a great place. However we have been warned they might struggle to cope with so many people at one time so we rush off to the bar to order food. No chance for a room unfortunately! The cheeseburger came quickly. After putting my tent up I returned to the bar for another cheeseburger – there didn’t seem to be a problem. However I had bought some extra supplies earlier so when it got dark we made a campfire and borrowed a grill to cook the sausages and beans. I actually cooked my sausage on a long wooden stick – a skewer! We washed it all down with a few drinks from the bar. It was a really nice evening sitting around the campfire before going off to bed with the prospect of a rest day tomorrow! Great!!
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