Day 278 Malawi 07/08/2011, Safari Lodge, Karonga – Chilumba ferry port. 50.92miles/82.32km, 5hrs47minutes, Av 8.8mph.

Ear plugs were definitely the way forward last night as 'Planet Club', the source of the loud music for the last few nights, banged on until 6am this morning. Just to make sure that we hadn't had a noise free night, the staff then started shouting at each other shortly afterwards. I for one though was shattered last night and managed sleep through the worst of it!

Just for a touch of variety we had egg and chips for breakfast, except this time they had run out of coffee. Just as well that we have our own supply, because I didn't fancy tea with watered down hot milk. Having dragged getting ready out as long as possible we finally hit the road at about 9:30am.

When we first entered Malawi we were straight into a headwind and we are pleased to say that nothing has changed since then! Our 80km trip was to be accompanied by that, favourite to cyclists, headwind for the duration of the journey. Sadly it was also accompanied by the cries of 'give me money', it isn't just the border region then! We have come to the conclusion that in school English lessons, before they even learn hello, they are taught the sentence 'give me money'. Other variations that we encountered are 'give me my money', 'give me your money' and one particularly hopeful 'give me all your money'! The adults clearly didn't want to be outdone by the children; one went for the 'hello' followed by a hand-out routine; another woman demanded quite aggressively 'give me 100 kwacha!' and one of a group of guys who had previously ignored our hellos ran down the road trying to get our attention, when we stopped, thinking maybe we had dropped something, he held out his hand and said 'give me money'. We both simultaneously called him an idiot and he trotted back to his friends. It looks like this going to be the soundtrack to our time on the road in Malawi. The obvious solution seems to be to plug our headphones in, turn up the music and not bother speaking to anyone. That of course would be to ignore the genuinely friendly part of the population, of which we have encountered quite a few. It does also appear that the kids don't always know what they are asking. If you counter their questions with a 'why', they grin and look puzzled. When Debs actually stopped when some kids were pursuing her and asking for money, they looked terrified and ran off. Malawi is taking some figuring out!

Having struggled our way against the wind for what seemed like ages we eventually arrived in Chilumba, or at least we would have if we hadn't missed the unsigned junction. Having to ride back up a hill we had just gone down wasn't in the day's plans! Quickly we were back on track and followed the road down to the ferry port. There was no boat at the jetty, but being early we didn't expect to see one just yet. What we didn't expect to be told was that it was running late and wouldn't be here until 4:30am. We were in for a long wait, which got longer when the ticket guy turned up and explained that the boat was actually a day late and wouldn't arrive until 7pm tomorrow! We declined his suggestion to sleep in the waiting room, instead asking after a guest-house. Which is how we have come to end up in a cheap and not particularly cheerful place on the edge of town. The toilets are especially less than cheerful, as is the fact that we have had to have two rooms, due to the fact that despite their insistence, we will not both fit in a single bed! In fairness, the ticket guy has been really helpful, he took us to the guest-house, found us some food and has generally made sure we are alright. While waiting for dinner, the ticket guy turned up with another cycle tourist, Thomas from Austria, who was even more disappointed with the accommodation as he had just left a nice lodge that was only 18km away. We ended up doing what any sane person would in the situation, which is to go to the local bar. A few beers later and the guest-house looked a lot better.

Instead of hanging around all day tomorrow, it looks like we will accompany Thomas back to the lodge that he had been staying at and spend the day on the beach. There seems to be very little to do in Chilumba, although I desperately need to have a haircut and the ticket guy recommended a barbers to me. I will have to see if I am sufficiently psyched up to chance my first African haircut!

Day 277 Malawi 06/08/2011, Safari Lodge, Karonga. Internet troubles and shopping.

The club was just as loud last night and sadly I wasn't as exhausted as the night before. Once again the music pumped out from 8pm to 5am and then the staff and other guests started shouting at each other outside our window. We honestly believe that Africans don't understand the concept of being quiet. Televisions are left on at deafening levels whether anyone is watching or not, mobile phones go off unanswered and conversations seem to be shouting contests between the participants. I really must start going down Debs' route of using ear plugs!

Once again we started the day with egg and chips and then went to settle our bill. We hadn't told the staff that we were going to stay another day, so thought it best to get everything sorted as soon as possible. Plus we wanted to speak to the manager to see if he could help us with our internet issues. He spent the next hour or so with us trying to get it sorted, even phoning the airtel office in Lilongwe to see if they could help. Eventually we decided that we needed buy some more credit and to then subscribe to the correct package. The end result was still no working internet! We are beginning to think the sim is faulty, as if we put it in our phone we can't make a call or text. It looks like we will have to go into a bigger airtel office in Mzuzu or Lilongwe to get it sorted. Hopefully they can transfer the balance to a new sim if that is what we need. We are assuming of course that it isn't our dongle that has gone wrong.

Putting the internet issues to one side, we wandered down to the supermarket and bought some snacks for tomorrow. Leaving the supermarket we bought some tomatoes and onions from a lady on the street and had a nice chip omelette outside a tailors. The day since then hasn't been exactly filled with activity, unless you count me cleaning and oiling my bike chain. I made a trip down to the airtel office in the afternoon, to give the internet one more chance, but the office was closed. All I achieved was getting hot walking down there! Trying again later I took the wise decision to cycle only to find the office still closed. Saturday afternoon is obviously a bit of a holiday here, which doesn't bode well for any peace tonight! At least we should have a fairly easy 70km ride tomorrow, even if there will be a certain amount of hanging around when we get to the ferry port. Allegedly, despite not leaving until 1am the ferry arrives in Chilumba ferry port at 5pm, so hopefully we will be able to board early. We really don't fancy hanging around outside for hours waiting to get on. We have done enough of that on this trip to last a lifetime.

Day 276 Malawi 5/08/2011, Safari Lodge, Karonga. Karonga museum and shopping for supplies.

Despite what sounded like a nearby nightclub trying to keep us awake last night (music from 8pm to 5am), we slept the sleep of the exhausted. The water shortage had obviously ended during the night, so thankfully we were able to have a shower. It may have been cold but it was extremely welcome. Freshly showered, we were ready to find out what our first Malawian breakfast would be. Egg, chips, bread and coffee, not the healthiest of starts to the day but better than the last few breakfasts we have had.

With no other sizeable towns in the north of Malawi, at least not along the lake, we planned to go into town to stock up on food and get out some money. By all accounts Malawi is not blessed with ATMs and ones that accept Mastercard even less so. The other reason for our visit was to see the town's museum and its 'Malawisaurus'. Enquiring as to the direction of the town centre, the staff told us that their boss was going to the bank so he would give us a lift. About 10 minutes later and we were squeezed into his pick-up and heading into town. The manager has lived in various parts of the UK and was interested in our trip, if like many before him slightly amused!

Dropping us outside the bank we went to get some cash from the ATM. The process took quite a long time as the maximum you can draw out in one transaction is 20,000MK (approx £80). As we were trying to get out enough money for our stay here, this involved several transactions. The other issue is that Malawian money is quite big and the ATMs give out 500MK notes, which means you have quite a thick bundle of them. Fitting them in an ordinary wallet is a bit of a struggle.

With our pockets and bag full of cash we headed to the museum. It may not go down as one of the all time great museums, but the small building holds an interesting collection of fossils and artefacts from Malawi's history. The highlight is obviously the life-size reconstruction of the Malawisaurus skeleton. The bones were discovered in the Karonga region about 45km south of the town.

Having taken care of our cultural welfare, we went to try and take care of our food requirements. The town is fortunately blessed with a few small supermarkets, none of which are brilliant but we have been able to pick up a few supplies. We haven't bought any yet, but a freezer full of pork sausages was a particularly good find! Passing an Airtel office we stopped in to try and get some credit on our sim card, so that we can once again access the internet. The staff really didn't understand what we needed for internet access, so we added a small amount of credit and will hopefully be able to sort it out later. The lodge manager has offered to help us if he can. Otherwise we may have to wait until Lilongwe before we can get connected.

Back at the hotel we ordered some lunch and spent the rest of the day reading and blogging. We are still undecided about our next move, we can either take the ferry past a mountain or ride over the top. Both have their pros and cons, the main one against the ferry being that it only goes once a week (fortunately on Monday) at 1am. On the other hand, we are quite concerned about Debs' hip pain and don't wish to aggravate it with yet another climb.

It looks like the sensible option will be to take the ferry from Chilumba to Nkata Bay, in which case we will spend another night in Karonga and then ride the 70km to the ferry port on Sunday. We could go to a beach resort past the ferry tomorrow, but for the sake of an afternoon and morning on the beach it seems a bit pointless. Let's hope the night club isn't so loud tonight!