Of course, I should not have mentioned in my last post that we had been lucky with very limited rainfall while cycling.... that was compensated for by some Malwian downpours on our way to Lilongwe. Some beautiful rides we've had, along Lake Malawi en through the mountains, rice paddies and maize fields. According one of the participants, this is the Netherlands of Africa; a small country full of crop fields, cows and bicycles. Slightly warmer though.
In the meantime, the tour has turned to a luxury cruise with several stays at actual campsites, access to electricity and even showers every two or three days, and beautiful tarmac roads! Easy to get used to, but we've been warned that we will return to bush and desert camping later in the trip.
The tour organiser has posted a (very flattering) blog update on the race here, right in time, since we have entered turbodiesel territory, with tarmac roads, long stages and short hills, where my small petrol engine has troubles to keep up with the big boys' diesel engines... we'll see where that ends!
Tomorrow we will cross the border into Zambia, riding in five long stages to Lusaka. The original plan to take back roads was cancelled because a scouting trip revealed that the planned roads did actually not exist. Therefore, we will cycle one day less and have an extra rest day in Livingstone instead, three days after Lusaka.
