Last night absolutely chucked it down and it was still looking pretty grotty in the morning. I had plans to sleep in this morning but they were dashed when I received a knock on the door at 7 telling me that check out was at 9 o'clock.
As I moved Nigel and my bags outside I spotted Kennedy the manager, packing the breakfast things away. "Oh is there free breakfast?" "Ah yes" he said. Just in time I thought, if I hadn't of caught him I would've been none the wiser! After my surprise breakfast which was always going to taste good no matter what it was (it was boiled egg and bread...standard) I gave Nigel a quick oil.
The drizzle then started as I began my search for the bank. The search was pretty straight forward as they were all lined along the main road heading the same way I was cycling. I used my magic bank card and got my money so was singing in the rain for the rest of the day.
Mzuzu is situated on a hill and there is a long winding 40km road down to the lakeside to a place called Nkhata bay. My planned stop was a further 40km from there at a place called Chinteche. The clouds were very low and very thick so I knew this ride was going to be a wet one. As I descended, I must've cycled through 4 separate rain clouds, all hitting me with hard downpours. I had to be really careful as the road was patchy and I really wasn't keen on crashing around the date of my 8 week anniversary of a shattered collarbone.
I was absolutely soaked and its strange when it rains in beautiful places like this because you really don't mind so much. You know things will clear into a beautiful day and you just take it as nature. When it rains back home its horrible and its as if nothing will get better but when you're in paradise, you almost embrace it!
My music was back and I was enjoying the tunes as I cycled through walls of deep heat and humidity every 100metres. When I got to the bottom, the humidity really kicked in and it was very hard to breathe. Muggier than the staff room at a PG Tips factory it was, and I was just hoping it would all clear for my rest day tomorrow. I hadn't cycled that far compared to previous days but I was still really tired. It was more a feeling of relief when I saw the first signs for Chinteche and with 50 miles done before 2pm I was in good stead for a long recovery period.
For the last two days I've had the Chinteche Inn in my head as my proposed place to stay, I think this was after Mark from the Sanctuary recommended it. That was my goal today but literally 100m before the inn, i spotted Sambani Lodge and was dragged in by their promise of Internet. I can't remember the last time I've been on the Internet, around 10 days ago I think, and its coming upto my mum and niece's birthday so the Internet was a real selling point for me.
I had to wheel Nigel 2km to get to the lodge and half way down I said to myself, "I've done it again haven't I! I'm caught in a trap again where the prices will be high and you know they won't have Internet and now I'm too far to be bothered to turn back!"
I arrived at the lodge and there were no staff to be seen (not for the first time I've been in this situation) so I took a look around and checked the drinks prices. Fanta was cheaper than water! Yes! And food was pretty reasonable so needless to say, I was a happy chappy. I eventually found a member staff and paid for two nights camping. £3 a night to camp in paradise is never bad and I set my tent up just feet away from the clean white sandy beach.
After lunch I had to wait until 6pm for the electricity to come back on and guess what, their Internet wasn't working! The TV wasn't much good either as the signal kept going every 10 minutes so I spent the majority of the evening trying to fix the sites Internet and fix the TV's signal. All the staff were very laid back and they really didn't seem to mind me trying to fix the Internet etc. They were more than happy to fall asleep on the sofas in the communial area and let me get on with things. If there wasn't a key on the fridge, I'm pretty sure I would've been allowed to get my own drinks!
One of the lady's made me laugh. Just before i went to bed, I asked her what the weather was meant to be like tomorrow, considering today wasn't amazing. I had it in my head that she had seen the forecast on the TV. When I asked her she just looked up to the starry overcast sky, "I think it will rain later" I laughed. I suppose the job of weather reporter for Malawi is about as varied as the job of painting the Golden Gate Bridge!
Due to technical difficulties with the TV and Internet, I hit the hay pretty early. I was looking forward to another rest day on the beach as it will probably be my last in Malawi. I'm only 4 days from Zambia and time is really speeding up so tomorrow is my chance to slow it down again.
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