Unfortunately Debs woke up not feeling very well this morning, but insisted that we should move on. Heading to 'Hasty Tasty Too' we had a nice breakfast that was once again marred by the surly nature of the owner. His attitude must be catching because the other staff were just as bad!
On the way back to the guest-house we bought some bread and then quickly loaded our bikes ready for the off. A quick 3km stretch brought us down to the main road via a steep-ish descent, which would have been more fun if they hadn't built speed bumps all the way along it. Still without them there would probably just be a huge pile of wrecked Tanzanian vehicles at the bottom. Tanzanian driver's speed far outweighs their skill behind the wheel! As we joined the main road, what a joy it is to be on tarmac, we were greeted with a wide, smooth, hard shoulder to ride in. Which sadly disappeared after about 10km; still it was nice while it lasted.
Aside from an occasional lorry, bus or car driver, who either couldn't see us or just didn't want to, forcing us off the road, the traffic was fairly light. Being in the mountains meant that it was also slightly cooler than it had been, which was a blessing as the road was quite hilly and poor Debs was suffering a little. Stopping to take a photo of the beautiful scenery, we had a comedic diversion in the shape of a man wheeling his bicycle up the hill with a large live, grunting and squealing pig strapped to the back! The pig was making such a noise that even the guy who's bike it was had a grin on his face. The sight cheered up a poorly Debs no end.
The rest of the journey was a succession of climbs and short descents until we reached the turn off for the Old farm house. We could have done without the stretch of dirt road to the site, but we arrived in good time and found a nice pitching spot. Shortly after getting set up we were approached by a South African named George, who told us that we had just missed two Dutch girls who are cycling south. It is a shame that we missed them but there is a very real possibility that we may catch them in Malawi. George and his wife Alice have been on the road for about six months and are doing a slow tour of southern and eastern Africa in a rather smart off-road caravan. They proved to be good company and George provided us with a lot of great information regarding camp-sites along the road. He also gave us some food for thought regarding our chosen route south. Our plan to travel through Malawi to Zambia and then on to Botswana, Namibia and finally South Africa may well change. It looks like Namibia will be unbearably hot when we arrive and Zambia and Botswana are going to involve long stretches of nothing. The main reason to go to Botswana would be to see the wildlife, but the road we would be likely to travel doesn't go through the parks and the safety of travelling through the unfenced reserves has to be considered. He has suggested that instead we head to Mozambique from Malawi and then follow the coast all the way to Cape Town. A big advantage would be that supplies and camping areas would be easier to come by, plus we would then see nearly all of South Africa's coast. The route change is by no means set in stone, but it does look like a better option.
Forgoing the bar this evening we sat chatting to George and Alice and swapping a few movies from our respective computers. It is considerably colder here than we have been used to at night, so the sleeping bags will be fully zipped up. Tomorrow is a rest day and then back on the road.
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