Day 195
Sleeping location: Source of the Nile (camping), Jinja, Uganda
Distance (km today/total): 155 / 13564
Estimated climb (m today/total): 1000 / 102300
Legs: possessed
Distance (km today/total): 155 / 13564
Estimated climb (m today/total): 1000 / 102300
Legs: possessed
Day in three words: Because I can
I treated myself to breakfast at the same cafe as I had the beers at the previous day, which was good although neither of my dishes came with the advertised avocado. Neither, in fact, had the rolex the previous day. Perhaps there is an avocado drought in Mbale; there definitely isn’t 40km west, as we will see. I left about 9.30am in the hope of doing a big day and getting through a good chunk of the distance to Kampala. Traffic out of town was busy even though Mbale isn’t really a big place, and I think our Sudan and Ethiopia days of perpetually quiet roads are well and truly over. The difficulty was exacerbated by potholes and people trying to get my attention to say hi, including motorbikes riding alongside me and shouting whilst I was busy trying not to die. Thankfully outside of Mbale the road was smooth and wide with a nice big shoulder. There were gradual ups and downs through mostly agricultural land with frequent marshy bits. It was peaceful but there were always people around doing agricultural things, and probably doing them well as there was some great fruit for sale. I bought two mangoes and an avocado, each of which was almost as big as my hand. I also wanted some jackfruit but they were only selling the full fruits, which are comically enormous (they can grow to 55kg*) so I couldn’t partake.
After 50km I stopped and had a nice lunch under a shady tree. Half of the avocado went onto some fresh chapatis with salt and chilli, and it was honestly nicer than 95% of the meals we’ve paid for in Africa. I got a bit more attention after this and was frequently offered tamarind by roadside sellers, including some kids who tried to sell it whilst running alongside me for quite a while. I have no idea what I would even do with it. People also briefly started trying to get my attention with a weird kissing noise. In this period I also went through a couple of proper wetlands, but unfortunately didn’t see any crocs or hippos wandering down the road. Mid afternoon I stopped at a village pump and took a full 10 litres of water in anticipation of being prepared for wild camping later. I didn’t really consider the effect that an extra 10kg would have on Maggie’s handling, and this didn’t help with an increase in the heat and humidity throughout the afternoon.
About 4pm I stopped for a rest having done over 100km and decided to make a go for Jinja, over 50km away. I didn’t need to do this much distance as Kampala was now only 130km away, but I was in the groove and liked the idea of pushing for 150+ just for the hell of it, plus there was a nice sounding place to sleep at the source of the Nile. I downed a ginger beer, emptied the water bag (all that extra weight carried for nothing) and headed off after the briefest of rests. The road had just joined with another bigger one and was now a lot busier, plus the shoulder had disappeared, so the cycling wasn’t great but I was fired up and got going at a fair pace. I arrived in Jinja about 6.30pm and wiggled through its streets to try and find a smaller bridge across the Nile which was shown on my maps, as I didn’t want to use the big busy new one. My route took me down increasingly rutted tracks and I got a bit worried, but then popped out under an old (Victorian?) railway bridge which did indeed allow for an easy crossing. On the other side I climbed back up another bumpy track, which bumped my water bag clean out of my pannier. Thankfully two kids ran after me to give it back, and didn’t even ask for a reward, so I gave them some biscuits**.
I pulled up to another “fancy resort where I can’t afford a room but they allow camping and use of their facilities for a very reasonable rate” place right on sunset and collapsed onto a bench to enjoy the excellent view of the source of the Nile***. After a few minutes of admiring I half noticed that the sky was weirdly filled with birds and that they were all heading the same direction overhead. I took a proper look upwards and realised that they were actually bats, thousands and thousands of them, all heading across the river, over our heads and off into the distance to frolic somewhere else. The sky was absolutely full of them and it must have gone on for 15 minutes. It was an extraordinary sight. I was knackered but managed to put together a surprisingly delicious meal of spaghetti with sardines, chilli and the rest of the enormous avocado, although to be honest the avocado did most of the work flavour-wise.
I treated myself to breakfast at the same cafe as I had the beers at the previous day, which was good although neither of my dishes came with the advertised avocado. Neither, in fact, had the rolex the previous day. Perhaps there is an avocado drought in Mbale; there definitely isn’t 40km west, as we will see. I left about 9.30am in the hope of doing a big day and getting through a good chunk of the distance to Kampala. Traffic out of town was busy even though Mbale isn’t really a big place, and I think our Sudan and Ethiopia days of perpetually quiet roads are well and truly over. The difficulty was exacerbated by potholes and people trying to get my attention to say hi, including motorbikes riding alongside me and shouting whilst I was busy trying not to die. Thankfully outside of Mbale the road was smooth and wide with a nice big shoulder. There were gradual ups and downs through mostly agricultural land with frequent marshy bits. It was peaceful but there were always people around doing agricultural things, and probably doing them well as there was some great fruit for sale. I bought two mangoes and an avocado, each of which was almost as big as my hand. I also wanted some jackfruit but they were only selling the full fruits, which are comically enormous (they can grow to 55kg*) so I couldn’t partake.
After 50km I stopped and had a nice lunch under a shady tree. Half of the avocado went onto some fresh chapatis with salt and chilli, and it was honestly nicer than 95% of the meals we’ve paid for in Africa. I got a bit more attention after this and was frequently offered tamarind by roadside sellers, including some kids who tried to sell it whilst running alongside me for quite a while. I have no idea what I would even do with it. People also briefly started trying to get my attention with a weird kissing noise. In this period I also went through a couple of proper wetlands, but unfortunately didn’t see any crocs or hippos wandering down the road. Mid afternoon I stopped at a village pump and took a full 10 litres of water in anticipation of being prepared for wild camping later. I didn’t really consider the effect that an extra 10kg would have on Maggie’s handling, and this didn’t help with an increase in the heat and humidity throughout the afternoon.
About 4pm I stopped for a rest having done over 100km and decided to make a go for Jinja, over 50km away. I didn’t need to do this much distance as Kampala was now only 130km away, but I was in the groove and liked the idea of pushing for 150+ just for the hell of it, plus there was a nice sounding place to sleep at the source of the Nile. I downed a ginger beer, emptied the water bag (all that extra weight carried for nothing) and headed off after the briefest of rests. The road had just joined with another bigger one and was now a lot busier, plus the shoulder had disappeared, so the cycling wasn’t great but I was fired up and got going at a fair pace. I arrived in Jinja about 6.30pm and wiggled through its streets to try and find a smaller bridge across the Nile which was shown on my maps, as I didn’t want to use the big busy new one. My route took me down increasingly rutted tracks and I got a bit worried, but then popped out under an old (Victorian?) railway bridge which did indeed allow for an easy crossing. On the other side I climbed back up another bumpy track, which bumped my water bag clean out of my pannier. Thankfully two kids ran after me to give it back, and didn’t even ask for a reward, so I gave them some biscuits**.
I pulled up to another “fancy resort where I can’t afford a room but they allow camping and use of their facilities for a very reasonable rate” place right on sunset and collapsed onto a bench to enjoy the excellent view of the source of the Nile***. After a few minutes of admiring I half noticed that the sky was weirdly filled with birds and that they were all heading the same direction overhead. I took a proper look upwards and realised that they were actually bats, thousands and thousands of them, all heading across the river, over our heads and off into the distance to frolic somewhere else. The sky was absolutely full of them and it must have gone on for 15 minutes. It was an extraordinary sight. I was knackered but managed to put together a surprisingly delicious meal of spaghetti with sardines, chilli and the rest of the enormous avocado, although to be honest the avocado did most of the work flavour-wise.
*FIFTY FIVE KILOGRAMS
**Although given my sweaty, dishevelled and exhausted appearance I probably looked like the protagonist in a “don’t take sweets from strangers” video
***It isn’t the actual source (which is in Burundi) but it is where the Nile leaves Lake Victoria, which is a wonderfully exotic thing to say
***It isn’t the actual source (which is in Burundi) but it is where the Nile leaves Lake Victoria, which is a wonderfully exotic thing to say
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