Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Day 68 Tuesday March 19 Mzuzu to Luviri School Bush Camp

by Henry

Another night with rain, the heaviest we’ve experienced so far, truly torrential. It started about 10 PM and did not stop until 12:30 am. It then resumed raining from 2:30 am until 4 am, albeit less heavily. Roosters were crowing from 3 am onwards. I did not enjoy much deep sleep.

Booming thunderclaps are aurally different in Africa somehow. 

128 km, 2039 meters total ascent, 27°C. This is our 6th and final day of climbing that exceeds 2000 m. We will still have other days with significant climbing, but our 2000+ m days are over. 

4585 km is exactly half the distance of our Tour, and today we surpassed that point, so we are officially more than halfway in terms of distance, and not just riding days. 


It was a day of seemingly endless ups and downs on long rollers. We worked our way up from 1300 m to 1800 m elevation. We had cloud cover almost all day, which kept it cooler. 


At the higher elevations, the cloud cover dropped lower, and everything took on a misty ethereal quality.


There wasn’t much of a shoulder, and we generally rode on the yellow line. The risk of punctures is higher to the left of yellow with glass shards and wire fragments. Cars routinely passed us at 120 km/h or more. There is no posted speed limit. We saw numerous recent model year Ford Ranger trucks, not previously seen in other countries. 




Many granite rocky outcroppings were partially obscured by the mist. 


We encountered a clearcut logging operation and heard chainsaws, which is a rarity, as most of the wood is generally cut by hand in other parts of Malawi. 


Lots of charcoal for sale at the roadside. There were also many women selling vegetables along the way.


We arrived at Luviri School bush camp, and a crowd of townsfolk had already gathered to observe our strange camp rituals. 




TDA staff had procured T-bone steaks at the Shoprite store yesterday in Mzuzu. 


We devoured our steak dinners in the company of a blazing orange sunset. With the time change, it’s dark by 6:15 PM.

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