Day 275 Tanzania/Malawi 04/08/2011, Bongo camping, near Tukuyu – Safari Lodge, Karonga. 62.83miles/101.79km, 5hr23minutes, Av 10.6mph.

Despite the good work that Bongo camping are doing in the community, it is very difficult to understand why you would stay there. Last nights dinner was truly awful, apparently there was a problem with the usual lady who cooked, so one of the staff took over. Everything was stone cold, so the term cooked could only be used loosely. Cold chips are especially awful!

Breakfast this morning was late and pretty average. We know all about Africa time, but we had stressed that we wanted to get away in good time. It was the staff member that suggested he could have breakfast ready by 7:30am, so why were we still waiting at 8:15am? Especially as it was a cold chapati, a tomato and a boiled egg. Eating quickly, we had fortunately already loaded the bikes, so we still managed to get on the road by 8:30am. After about 7km of steady climbing we made it through the town of Tukuyu, having stocked up on water, and started what we had been led to believe was a fantastic 60km descent. What we should say first of all is that the scenery was spectacular and the road did indeed go down, unfortunately it kept going back up as well, often quite sharply. We guess in a car you wouldn't notice it as the ups are just momentary blips, but on a bike they were steep enough to kill any forward momentum. It especially didn't help on one quite steep descent when we were slowed by a lorry that had just overtaken us. Following a lorry at 20km/h when we had been doing 50km/h is a bit depressing! All the while though we were surrounded by tea and banana plantations and beautiful mountain scenery.

Having visited the tea fields in Sri Lanka which are stunning, we would have to say that in many ways the fields here were prettier. In Sri Lanka it is nothing but tea whereas here the land use is much more diverse and more interesting for it.

At the top of one climb we were signalled over by a lorry driver who was standing by his broken down truck. As we approached he suddenly said “give me water, or something...”. There are three reasons why we both in unison said no. One: why single out the only white people he has seen? There were some houses nearby if he needed water. Two: we are carrying everything we need, we don't have a vehicle and almost unlimited space. If we had more water than we needed we would be wasting effort. Three: call it karmic justice, but the way we have been treated by lorry drivers and their inability to see anything smaller than a car, meant that we were slightly bemused that he had even seen us coming up the hill. It was a pleasure for us to ignore him, especially as rather than ask he demanded, as appears to be the way in Africa! Sadly this kind of attitude was catching, most of the children that we seemed to encounter shouted “give me money” or even more pleasantly “give me my money” the rest were content to point to all the things on our bikes that we should give them. We have encountered this kind of behaviour quite a lot in Tanzania and have been saddened by it. We have met some great people, but have also encountered a large amount of apathy. Perhaps we have been spoiled by hospitality in some of the countries we have visited. But we won't leave Tanzania with feeling of any great warmth to the people.

Shortly before reaching the border we were stopped at a checkpoint and had to show our passports for the first time since entering the country. In truth the immigration official just seemed interested in what we were up to. We then followed that up with a stop at a petrol station to fill our stoves fuel bottle and were immediately surrounded by money changers. Telling them that I only had enough for the fuel didn't seem to put them off, they were convinced I had more money hidden and they were going to be the ones to change it! It has to be the most stressful visit to a fuel station I have ever had.

After 50km, note no 60km of down, we reached the border. Fighting our way through yet more aggressive money changing touts, we went through the brief formality of being stamped out. We changed the rest of our money at an official exchange, we couldn't face the touts despite them possibly offering a better rate, and headed for Malawian immigration. A quick bit of form filling later and we were in, being British passport holders we don't require a visa, so the process was very quick. For the first time on the trip we were required to show our yellow fever vaccination certificates though.

Malawi, we were in and what a reception. Like meerkats popping up from the vegetation children flooded in from all directions. The small cries of muzungu (so glad we haven't left that behind!), followed in unison by “give me money”, their little hands out expectantly, it was truly heart-warming. What of those nice children you ask, the ones that just said hi? Well their parents were there, sitting in the background happily shouting “give me money” as if to reprimand the little scamps. At that moment we thought, why are we doing this? We may as well stop on the side of the road, empty our gear and let them take what they like and we will go home. After all they have worked so hard sitting on their backsides with their hands out, when all we had to do was actually go to work and save to do the trip. When we think of the billions of dollars of aid that has been given to Africa you have to wonder what it has achieved. Clearly there is either no self respect left in the people or they are happy to breed a nation of beggars. Instead of bringing home a nation's plight, travelling in Africa has actually left me feeling less charitable. We are hoping this is a small blip, because we have constantly been told how friendly Malawians are.

With lunch came a slight improvement, with me at least. My anger levels are clearly linked to my stomach, so with a full stomach I was able to look on the situation a little more philosophically. Border regions are always a bit strange and maybe that was the reason for the odd reception. The people at the small restaurant (I use the term loosely) were certainly friendly enough, so maybe it is just the area we are in.

Travelling on I encountered some friendly children so stopped to say hello. Eventually they got brave enough to come closer and we had a short 'hi fiving' session. Obviously that was enough to build up their confidence, before we knew it little hands were trying to grab things off of Debs' bike and they were hanging on the side as she tried to get away. A somewhat tear-filled Debs headed off into the distance with me in pursuit. For someone who always thinks the best of everyone, the day had got to be too much for her.

By now the distance, heat and strong headwind that we had picked up since arriving in Malawi was taking its toll. This was our fifth straight cycling day and we were just looking forward to a day or two off. The remainder of the journey to Karonga was a mixture of friendly waves and demands for money. As we neared the town a young guy on a bike called Jones (I think) cycled along side and started happily chatting away. It was a pleasure to be talking to a friendly local and he ended up taking us all the way to our proposed camp-site. It was a shame that we didn't end up staying there. Despite being on the lake front, the site seemed to be open to anyone so we were concerned about security. Plus it was a long way from any shops or food places and the reception staff seemed uncertain whether they could do any food. We had little choice but to find somewhere else, which we did on our second try. 'Safari Lodge' has no camping so we have had to take a room and a comparatively dear one at that. It is also very run down and worse of all they had no water when we arrived so we couldn't take a shower. All of that aside, it seems that everywhere is a bit run down here. The room is big, the beds are comfy, our bikes fit in the room and the staff are very friendly. What has be the best thing though, is that while waiting for dinner, drinking a beer outside we met Winston Churchill. Apparently he was born in 1945 and his father wanted to call him Churchill or Jesus, but decided he wouldn't be able to live up to the deeds of the son of Christ. Whether he has matched Churchill's achievements we cannot say, but it was a pleasure to meet him!

Dinner was most welcome and the few beers started to wash away the stresses of the day. It is just a shame that there was still no water when we turned in, so we couldn't wash away the dirt from the road!

Day 274 Tanzania 03/08/2011, Stockholm hotel, Uyole – Bongo camping, Tukuyu. 34.94miles/56.47km, 4hr18minutes, Av 8.1mph.

If we were hoping that breakfast was going to be a major selling point for the Stockholm hotel, we were sorely disappointed. To put it mildly it was rubbish! Also because our room had been classified as a single due to the smaller double bed, it meant that only one breakfast was included. Having paid for an extra one, we were expecting a bit better than eggs on toast and one cup of coffee. Oh well, it's highly unlikely we will be staying there again!
The morning started a bit slower than normal as I had to first mend the puncture in Debs' wheel. A length of wire appeared to be the culprit and I soon had it back together and ready for the off. Heading out of the town we had a couple of kilometres of flattish road and then it began to climb. Still nursing tired limbs from the day before and fighting a headwind, I wouldn't describe the next 17km as fun. The scenery was pretty spectacular however and we were greeted by lots of happy 'Mzungu' shouting kids. I am still not sure how I feel about being continually called Mzungu. I know it is said mainly in an endearing way, but I can't help but think if I stood in a western city and shouted 'black person' at anyone of that ethnicity, that someone would quickly take offence!

As we climbed higher, the patchwork quilt of farmland gave way to forest. Finally we reached the top and began heading sharply down. Smooth tarmac and little traffic made for a fun if extremely cold descent. For some reason all the warm weather seems to have left us today and we have been largely in cloud. The descent didn't last as long as we expected and after a level section we started to climb again. This seemed hardly fair as we were expecting it to continue gently down for at least 30km.
Heading through what seemed be a main potato growing area, we arrived in a village and decided to stop for a drink. A slightly ominous sign saying 'dangerous road ahead for 9km' at least promised another downhill section.

While deciding where to have a drink we were stunned to hear the continual blast of a horn, followed by a lorry thundering through the village at possibly 100km/h. With the schools having finished for the day there were children all over the road sides; to say that the driver was irresponsible is such an understatement as to be ridiculous. Along the Tanzanian roads they often put a series of vicious speed bumps, which are horrible on a bicycle. Without these through villages you would never see a driver slow at all. It was clearly a shame that they didn't have them through this particular village.
Having had our drink we set off down the road and had an enjoyable free-wheel through some sharp bends. Bizarrely in the middle of nowhere we encountered some of the aforementioned speed bumps. They were so effective that we overtook a lorry, that was taking an age to get over them. Why they were there is anyone’s guess, except possibly to slow traffic coming down the hill. We would have thought slowing them through a village would be more useful!
Reaching the bottom of the hill, the landscape changed again. Suddenly we were surrounded by banana palms, tea plantations and a lush jungle like terrain.

This change of terrain was unfortunately signalled by yet another uphill section. The scenery may have been great, but by now we were just looking for somewhere to stay. Nearing the town of Tukuyu, we saw the sign for 'Bongo camping' where we had been planning to stop.

Following the 750m of dirt road we arrived at the site. Bongo camping is a community integrated site that has been set up to raise money for a number of charities within the local area. We have a nice flat camp-site and food has been ordered for dinner and breakfast. Fingers crossed it will be nice.

The area is certainly very scenic and had we been staying for longer there is a large number of trips and tours that they organise. As it is we will be leaving tomorrow and hopefully making it to the town of Karonga in Malawi. Supposedly we have one of cycling's great descents tomorrow, 60km down to the border. We will just have to wait and see if it is true, today's descent certainly wasn't what we were expecting.

Day 273 Tanzania 02/08/2011, Mahanji Guest-house Chimala – Stockholm Hotel, Uyole. 39.40miles/63.59km, 5hr08minutes, Av 7.6mph.

Having breakfasted in the room we set off at 8:15am expecting a shorter but tougher day. For the first part, the road stayed largely flat, we stopped for a short break in Igurusi and shortly afterwards we passed the 5000mile mark. Two milestones in two days definitely go us!

Unsure of what we were going to find along the road we stopped in Ilongo and had an early lunch. Lunch was a bit of a challenge as we struggled to find out when the food would be ready. The stall holder was trying her best, but two non-Swahili speaking Muzungus (white people) weren't making it easy for her. Eventually we just sat down to wait and were entertained by two young local children who thought our presence was hilarious. Risking getting a camera out, we were surprised when the two children got even more excited and started shouting 'picture, picture'. This was the complete opposite to what we have been used to on the road so far. Normally the reason to get a camera out in Tanzania has been to get rid of the children as fast as possible! A few photos later and it was time to eat.

Variety isn't a strong point of food on the road, it's just a good thing that we don't mind meat and rice. Having finished lunch a few more local children joined the others. They had clearly all heard about two Muzungus waving a camera about. A few photos later and a lengthy shaking of hands session, where most of the kids looked terrified and we were back on the road.

From lunch onwards the climbs started, which is not the best way to work off a full stomach. We have definitely been up steeper roads but at times the heat made it quite unbearable. The strong winds of the last few days seem to have blown themselves out and what remained wasn't particularly cooling. For the first long drag Debs was accompanied by some nice school children, one of which spoke excellent English. She arrived at the top full of smiles, which I would loved to have captured but for the fact that there was a pumping station at the summit, with a sign stating no photography in the area! From then onwards it got tougher though. Debs hip was clearly hurting her and her bike developed a slow puncture in its rear wheel. We didn't stop to repair the inner tube, for the time being at least pumping it back up seemed to work, if only her hip was such a simple fix!

By the time we reached Uyole, via a series of long dragging hills, Debs was well and truly shattered. Spotting the Stockholm Hotel we thought we would go to investigate. It looked a little on the grand side, but we thought if it wasn't too expensive we would treat ourselves. Firstly the room is very nice, it's just a shame that the beautifully fitted bathroom has no running water. We have no idea what is going on in this country; the north has water but no power and the south seems to have power but no water! One of the staff arrived with two buckets for us to have a wash with, but you do begin to wonder what you are paying for. Last night we had a very basic room, in a very basic guest-house and had to wash from a bucket. Today we have a nice room in an expensive looking hotel, with smartly uniformed staff and we have to wash from a bucket! The room may be nicer but the price difference doesn't really make sense. On a plus point, breakfast is included and the staff are really friendly.

Dinner was taken in the restaurant and was accompanied by a couple of beers, well we have earned them! It was just a shame that dinner was also accompanied by a large amount of what looked like small cockroaches crawling up the dining room walls.

We have about 17km of climbing tomorrow and then it should be downhill for the next 35km. It will be one more night in Tanzania and then a long free-wheel down to Malawi.

Day 272 Tanzania 01/08/2011, Midtown Lodge, Makambako – Mahanji Guest-house, Chimala. 62.80miles/101.33km, 5hr06minutes, Av 12.3mph!

A good nights sleep was had by all, which probably explains how we managed to get packed and on the road by 8am. On the road and straight into the wind, except this time it was behind us. A combination of the tail wind and some decent descents meant that we were positively flying along. In fact it has been a while since we have done over 50km by 11am.

Entering the town of Igawa we decided to stop for an early lunch, as according to our map there was no settlement of any great size for a further 45km. Lunch was the usual beef stew and rice, although this time the beef was a bit on the chewy side which didn't go down too well with Debs. Despite having stopped being a vegetarian 6 years ago, she still struggles with bones and anything a bit tough. Still there was plenty of rice and the sauce was very tasty, plus at 2000TZS (80p) each it was cheap. Full of food, we bought some bananas for the road and stocked up on water. We were planning on staying in a guest-house tonight, but we thought it prudent to be prepared for a free camp if necessary.

Back on the road and we had a longish climb out of the town, before the road returned to a series of reasonably long descents. Fortunately we didn't encounter much traffic on these, so we were able to continue at speed. The Tanzanian lorry and bus drivers propensity for making no effort to give you space, regardless of whether anything is coming, makes coasting down hills difficult. You never know when you are going to have to dive off the road, which is fine if you aren't doing nearly 60km/h! Halfway down one such hill I had to stop because we had reached the 8000km mark. The now obligatory photos were taken and we continued on our way. It seems ages ago that we were excited about the first 1000km mark!

From there on in the road levelled out and we made steady if not overly rapid progress. Having dropped quite a lot of altitude, the temperature was noticeably warmer than we have been used to for the last couple of days. Peddling along we passed through several small settlements and waved to countless excited children, until eventually we arrived in Chimala. We knew nothing about Chimala other than a symbol on the map signifying a hotel and a small road heading off towards a national park. The only reason to stop here was that we had ridden 100km and that was enough for the day. The descents end here and what comes down has to go back up tomorrow. We have a longish climb gaining over 1000m in altitude before we head down to Malawi.

For a largish town Chimala doesn't seem overly blessed with guest-houses, although we will probably ride past loads when we leave tomorrow. Having first been told that the one we are staying in was full (we think, obviously not speaking Swahili doesn't help) another guy arrived and told us he had a room. The room in the Mahanji guest-house is basic and clean, which is all we care about, oh and cheap as well! Hopefully we will be able to find some food for dinner and get a good nights rest. Tomorrow should be a shorter, although possibly tougher day.

Update: We found some dinner, BBQ'd meat and chips in a nearby bar, which was just what we needed. Despite being a bar we stuck to the sodas as we still have a few days cycling ahead of us before our next rest day. While waiting for our food to be cooked we met a nice guy, Mr Roberts, who is a debt collector and therefore we suspect doesn't have many friends. His English was pretty good, certainly better than our Swahili and it was nice to have a chat with him. Even if he found it hard to believe we had cycled from England. An early dinner is going to be followed by a very early night.

Day 271 Tanzania 31/07/2011, Free camp – Midtown Lodge, Makambako. 32.72miles/52.84km, 3hr29minutes, Av 9.4mph.

Well we survived the night, no monkeys or other wildlife invaded the tent and the strong winds that were shaking the trees didn't bring anything down on top of us. After a quick breakfast we were packed up and back on the road bound for Makambako.

Despite being pretty hilly, the road was not as steep as it has been for the last few days. Instead today we were battered by an extremely strong crosswind. That and the fact that Debs has been having some trouble with her right hip made progress more difficult than it should have been. The beautiful scenery and generally friendly locals helped a bit, but it was still a struggle. It probably didn't help Debs that I seemed to be having one of those days when it just felt easy. No-one wants to be struggling in the wind and hills while watching someone disappear into the distance with comparative ease. In my defence I always stopped to wait at the top and eventually sat behind her for the remainder of the journey. It is always a challenge to try and match our speeds, especially when we are climbing. Anyone who has cycled will know that everybody has a natural pace that they are comfortable at. Trying to go faster or slower than that pace is very difficult. Generally on the flat we are fairly evenly matched, so it doesn't cause a major problem.

An interesting trait of cycling in Tanzania is the locals habit of happily slip streaming us on the hills and in the windy conditions. Obviously our wide loaded bikes make for a good wind buffer. It is not uncommon to be riding hard up a hill, only to look in your mirror and see a happy, smiling local being towed along in our wake. Usually they do utter some kind of thanks when they eventually pass us or turn off.

Although we arrived in Makambako quite early at 12:30pm, it was quite a relief to be getting out of the wind. We quickly found one of two guest-houses we had considered staying at and with a little bit of gesturing managed to procure a room. 'Midtown Lodge' seems alright, we have stayed in better but it was cheap enough and Debs really needs to rest her hip. We still have at least three days of climbs to go before a big descent, so we are hoping she is going to be alright.

After a quick shower, Debs' was cold so we are hoping the water heats up again later so she can have a hot one, we went to the restaurant for some lunch. The food was good and there was plenty of it, which is just as well because the service was terrible. Tanzania is a strange country for us, we realise we don't speak Swahili, but many of the people seem at best indifferent. Interestingly we had read on one of the cycling websites that we may find the people less friendly here than in the rest of Africa, so we are hoping for a return to what we are used to on the rest of our journey.

Lunch was followed by a return to the room, the wind hasn't abated and being quite high up means that it is surprisingly cold. We have only ventured out once this afternoon for a wander round the town. It seems to be mainly agricultural supplies and wholesalers around where we are staying. Picking up some snacks for dinner, we are still full from lunch, we headed back to the hotel. We will probably give the restaurant and its terrific service a miss this evening. If there is any justice and the wind doesn't change from the pattern it has followed throughout our time in the country, we should have a tail wind tomorrow, fingers crossed.

Day 270 Tanzania 30/07/2011, The Old Farm House, Kisolanza – Free camp on the road to Makambako. 36.34miles/58.62km, 4hr09minutes, Av 8.7mph.

I seemed to be dragging my heels this morning, although we did have sausages, fried potatoes and eggs for breakfast, which was a bit more effort than usual. Eventually we got everything packed up and we were on the road by 8:40am.

We had been expecting hills and that is exactly what we got. The road is pretty relentless and not helped by lorries forcing you off the road as they pass. Some gave us plenty of space but others have clearly decided to give way for nobody. It is a shame that one of the lorries ruined a good descent for us. We couldn't believe he was going so slowly down the hill, but overtaking seemed a little risky. Perhaps it was a good thing that he was going so slowly as the totally wrecked truck with a prop shaft embedded in its engine, at the bottom of the hill, gave some clue as to what happens if you drive too fast! Still we are fairly used to it all by now and in general the traffic has been relatively light.

Being in the Southern highlands has provided us with plenty of beautiful scenery and for the latter part of today a large forested area. Making the long climb up into the town of Mafinga, we stopped for a drink and a chat with the locals before continuing on. At about 12:30pm we found a shady spot in some trees to have lunch and as we were getting ready to set off again we saw a cyclist coming down the road. Shouting hi he came over to say hello and we were shortly joined by his two friends. Jiten, Ria and Imraan are from South Africa and left there about 4 months ago with a plan to get to Cairo by December. Interestingly for us they had taken the route through Mozambique and recommended it. After a chat and some photos we exchanged cards and wished each other well, before heading back on the road. These are the first cycle tourists we have met in Africa; it will be interesting to see if we meet many more.

Having ridden approximately half-way to tomorrow's destination we started to think about somewhere to stop for the night. Our original plan to find a guest-house soon gave way to a free camp in the surrounding forest. We haven't seen too many places along our route through East Africa where we could easily stop, so this opportunity was too good to miss. We have found a nice flat spot, just away from the road where we should be untroubled.

Tomorrow we head for the town of Makambako.

Day 269 Tanzania 29/07/2011, The Old Farm House, Kisolanza. Resting up.

This morning we said goodbye to George and Alice; they are continuing their journey northwards. We have their details and there is every chance that we will meet them again on the road as they head south again.

The rest of the day we seemed to pretty much have the site to ourselves. There were no overland trucks and only a couple more people came in during the afternoon. It made for a very quiet and relaxing day.

Having bought some steak from the farm, we had a nice meal of steak and chips for dinner, washed down with probably more beers than we should have had before a cycling day. Our excuse was that the bar was the only warm place to sit!

Back on the road tomorrow and we will see how far we get, we can pretty much guarantee hills though.

Day 268 Tanzania 28/07/2011, Central Lodge, Iringa – The Old farm house, Kisolanza. 36.02miles/57.78km, 4hr10minutes, Av 8.6mph.

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.

Day 267 Tanzania 27/07/2011, Central Lodge guest-house, Iringa. A great market, some bike maintenance and getting ready to rejoin the road.

Had a great nights sleep last night, so that's one good thing to come out of the bus journey. This morning we headed back to 'Hasty Tasty Too' for breakfast, it may be quite expensive but we didn't fancy our chances in the guest-house restaurant. After eggs on toast and a large coffee each, we were ready to face the day.

The 'Lonely Planet' guide said that Iringa has a colourful market and we would have to agree. This was the most fruit and veg we have seen for quite some time. We are now fully stocked up for our onward journey. Mangoes, papaya and avocados at stupidly cheap prices were all too good to miss.

From the market we walked down to see the town mosque, which has a strangely alpine looking clock tower. Not overly surprising as the Germans built it, but we can't think that we have seen another mosque like it.

From there it was a wander through the streets to the bus station. I had forgotten to take a picture of our bus from yesterday and hoped to see a similar one. We didn't see the bus we had travelled on, that was heading back to Dodoma, but we did see its sister.

Back at the hotel we sorted our bags and I made some small repairs to our bikes. The scratches still make me wince, but I am sure I will get over them in time. A respray may be in order when we get them home, but what colour?

Lunch was had at 'Lulu's' restaurant, which was pretty good and much cheaper than 'Hasty Tasty Too'; we can't say much for the atmosphere though, except that there wasn't one! Then it was back to the hotel for some blogging and more sorting. Until beer o'clock arrived of course and then it was off to the bar, where I caught the attentions of a small child.

It was all fun and games until he started throwing rocks, which by the look on one woman's face, I had put him up to. Things calmed down and we had a good game chasing round the car park. He seemed a little disappointed when we left to go and have dinner.

Returning to 'Hasty Tasty Too' we had a good meal, which was offset by the owner being the rudest most miserable individual alive. It's a shame that it is the most convenient place to have breakfast, because otherwise we wouldn't go back.

There will be no more beers tonight, because it is a cycling day tomorrow. It will be good to get back in the saddle, especially as we have a sealed road to look forward to. Iringa has been a good place to have a short stopover, it has an excellent market and the town is really relaxed. Tomorrow we head off to 'The Old Farm House' at Kisolanza where we will spend a couple of nights. We should bump into some of the overland crowd again, as it is back on their route. Plus being a working farm we can stock up on fresh eggs and meat.