Day 73 Sunday March 24 Chipata to Petauke

by Henry

176 km, 1190 m total ascent, 30°C. This is the first of two days in a row where we ride over 170 km each day.

We are riding along the Great East Road, leading from Lilongwe to Livingstone.


Charcoal is still widely used for cooking, and these bags of charcoal are sold everywhere.


These bags are routinely transported by bicycle in both Malawi and Zambia.


Our dinner truck (seen ahead) often stops by roadside stands and in the villages to procure food for the day’s dinner. They purchased potatoes at this stop.


Today was Palm Sunday. Linda is in the middle of the throng, and the local priest is personally making a cross for her.


Linda with the finished product.


Road quality was good all day. The landscape was flattening out, with hills more in the distance.




Neighborhoods in Zambian villages have a different look than in the other countries we have visited.

All day long, we were greeted by hundreds of children all chanting “How are you? How are you? How are you?“ at a very high volume. They don’t seem to have been taught the simple “hi” or “hello”. It’s hard to ignore people who are welcoming us, but we have to by necessity at times because we are often focused on the road for safety.


Probably the most modern hospital we have ridden by.

Lunch was at 81 km, which left 95 km for the second half of the day. I experienced a rear flat tire from a thorn in the road in the afternoon, and we didn’t get to camp until about 4:15 PM as a result. However, we had the benefit of a reasonable tailwind for the afternoon, which was a great help.

Our destination today was Petauke Chimwemwe Lodge. We had bratwursts and mashed potatoes for dinner. Margot’s mom traveled from Belgium to visit her in Lilongwe, and she kindly bought a horde of Belgian chocolates, which we shared appreciatively for dessert.