We breakfasted, settled the bill, loaded and got on the road early this morning. About 3km along the road from Mua we turned off the tarmac and onto a decent unsealed road bound for Monkey Bay. In truth we could have stayed on the tarmac, but a short 15km of unsealed road saved us 30km on the road. The scenery along the track was beautiful the villagers unfortunately weren't. It was an almost constant “give me money”, which we largely blocked out by ignoring everyone and having our headphones in. This is starting to seem the only way to cycle through the country without being constantly saddened and annoyed.
With the track behind us we rejoined the road and started to make good progress. It may have been a long time coming, but for a short while at least the wind was behind us. It has to have been the quickest we have covered 50km for quite a while. Having just stopped for a drink in a small village we moved on and encountered yet another cycle tourist. Wayne from Manchester has been on the road for a while, having already cycled down the west coast of Africa from Spain. He is currently doing a big loop round Southern Africa before heading north through East Africa. It sounds like an amazing trip, which fortunately seems to have no time scale. Once again we had a quick photo session and then waved goodbye. This meeting of cyclists is starting to get common!
The wind being behind us was obviously too good to be true. Shortly after saying goodbye to Wayne either we changed direction or the wind did. For the next 30km until we reached Monkey Bay it was almost constantly blowing in our faces.
Before we reached the town we passed a stall with some fantastic wooden carved Land Rovers, better still they had bicycles. None of the cycles were like ours, but one of the carvers, George has said that he can make one like ours if we give him a picture. We have no idea where we will put it if he makes us one, but I guess we will have to find space somewhere.
Arriving in Monkey Bay we headed through the small town to 'Mustafa rustic camp', which is to say the least rustic. After a struggle to find one of the ready made camping spots that was big enough for our tent, we are now pitched albeit on a slope. There is no electricity on the site but there are hippos and crocodiles in the surrounding area, not that we have seen any. The staff also seem to be really friendly. Rob is especially interesting as he arrived here from England via the west coast on a Honda CG125 motorbike; which in his words is the perfect motorbike for Africa.
Enquiring at the bar as to where the easiest place to extend our visa is, we found out that we could do it here at the port. A short walk up to the gates, some basic form filling and the parting of 5000 kwacha (£20) later, and our visas were extended. It seems we won't have to go to Lilongwe after all. From the port we went and bought some shopping from the supermarket and then headed back to the camp. We have decided to eat dinner at the restaurant tonight instead of cooking, which is just as well because some beers have been drunk. Tomorrow we will take a minibus to Mangochi to get some more supplies and fingers crossed find a working ATM.
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