Cycle from Likabula to Zomba
We began the day driving from Likabula... remember that dirt track that we had to coax our minibuses up a few days before? Going down proved much easier to negotiate but this isnt the end of our dirt track adventures...!! In the meantime we were mesmerised by tea plantations and pickers who were out harvesting the leaves.

Our cycling today was off-road, which meant a dirt track. This is where all that training came into it's own. Or at least it would have done if I had done enough! In fact the only off road cycling I had done before coming out to Malawi was one afternoon in south London with my friend Rohan. And what that taught me was that off road cycling is quite different from on road cycling... requiring a completely different measure of balance, control and nerves... Not things I had perhaps developed enough to zip effortlessly along and down extremely uneven dirt tracks. I became so tense and gripped the handlebars so tight, that by the end of the day the muscles in my right forearm had gone into spasm, leaving the fingers in my hand curled over and fairly unresponsive. Fortunately we had our very own Sports Therapist on the team. Christian came along as "just another" fundraiser, but brought his magic hands and generous spirit along with him. I dont think a day went past when Christian wasnt helping each of us out with our aches, pains, strains and pulled muscles... and without which this would have been an even more challenging two weeks.

Mudder Nature
We chose to do this trip in March because it's the end of the rainy season, and before the heat of the Summer kicks in. We were fortunate with the weather most days... only a little light rain generally, blue skies and sun the norm, and warm but not too hot to complete our challenge. But the land doesnt forget the rains quite so easily, and it seemed that yesterdays heavy downpour left its mark... At the village of Chikodya the dirt track proved impassable. Our lead cyclists found themselves stuck in mud, and our support trucks really did slip and slide off the road.

With our bikes abandoned in a pile (... and I'm not quite sure how one pair of wheels became completely detached from their frame!), it seemed like the whole village came out to be entertained by a group of 34 Brits practically taking a mudbath. Carl quickly took charge in rounding up the children and leading them in the hokey kokey and "ears, nose and toes". Meanwhile the locals came to our rescue and helped dig, pull and push our minibuses out of the mud.

Sing a long a showtune
Apparently it's only a £50 fine if a driver knocks down a cyclist in Malawi. And as the roads tend to be just wide enough for two vehicles to pass each other, cyclists tend to get short shrift. As a cyclist it's up to you to hear the horn honking behind you and get well out of the way (i.e. off the road) before the vehicle behind you thunders past, or if you're unlucky on top of, you! So on being forced to retreat from our dirt track, and as the alternative road to Zomba is narrow and one of the busiest in the country, we were forced to abandon the remainder of our cycling today.

This was planned to be our first long day of cycling. To be forced to abandon it was disheartening. We felt we needed to "do the distance" and fulfill the challenge that we had been sponsored to complete. However we had to accept that nature rules and when in Africa...

As we drew towards Zomba and the steep climb up to the plateau to Ku Chawe Inn where we were due to stay the night, Michelle and Jez led the way in reviving our spirits. Renditions of showtunes, belting out all the old favourites and hilarious group choruses lifted us up the mountainside. Even a wrong turning and a precarious 3 point turn (another 3 cheers to our driver Peter) on a road overlooking a terrifying drop down into the darkness of night did nothing to dampen our spirits, and as we pulled into the car park the rest of our group in the minibus ahead could only look only bemused, aghast and dare I say it just a little envious in their choice of which minibus to travel in.