Another peaceful nights sleep and a decent breakfast set us up for a short day in the saddle. We are heading towards Zalewa, on the way to the Mozambique border today. Although we can find no information regarding accommodation options in Zalewa, as it is situated on a main road junction, it looks like the most promising place to stop.
Getting out of Blantyre wasn't very difficult, despite no road signs. The main road wended north out of the city and for the first few kilometres we had a decent hard shoulder to ride in. There may have been more traffic than we have encountered in the rest of the country, but by most standards it was still pretty light.
We are sure that anyone who has cycled a lot knows that the wind is often unfair. Having had a southerly or south-easterly wind pretty much since we arrived back in Africa. We were looking forward to having it behind us, as we headed north for the first time in Malawi. Amazingly we ploughed on towards Zalewa straight into a northerly wind! Fortunately aside from a few climbs, today's route was mainly downhill, which went some way to counteract the wind. In fact at one point we seemed to be getting on so well that we discussed the possibility of carrying on to Mwanza, close to the Mozambique border. When we arrived in Zalewa and saw no sign of a guest-house it looked like we might have to.
Carrying on a little further to the main junction, we saw a sign advertising Kilimanjaro Lodge and went to investigate. The word 'lodge' is a little overused in Malawi, rarely does it provide the beautiful wooden, self contained rooms of our imaginings and here was no exception. However the staff are friendly, the room is alright and lunch was decent enough. Plus we don't have to go any further today, which is always nice.
Where we end up tomorrow will depend on how hilly the road is. There is a possibility that we could cross the border, but it is more likely that we will have one more night in Malawi.
I should also mention that for the first time since arriving in Malawi, we weren't called 'mzungu' once, which may well be the highlight of the day!
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