Maggie's Rambles

Date: 27 December 2022 Sleeping location: Date palm farm 5.257S 29.828E, Tanzania  Distance (km today/total/total Part 2): 71  / 15974 / 1137 Estimated climb (m today/total/total Part 2): 600  / 137200 / 19200 New career path: palm oil entrepreneur Day in three words: We are Tatu  After repacking everything that had seemingly exploded out of my panniers over the last four days the three of us set off southwards together. I knew the route to Mpanda was mostly dirt but hadn't realised that the first 20km was a nice cruise on tarmac, so this was a pleasant surprise. We stopped for some sweet tea at the turnoff and of course gathered attention, but some people came and said hello and asked about our journey and there were general nice vibes. It becomes more and more stark how unwelcoming Burundi was.  The dirt road was bumpy but not terrible or steep and we made decent progress. Lunch was taken in a tiny village where we were directed to a place doing bean...

Date: 23 - 26 December 2022 Sleeping location: Leader’s Lodge, Kigoma, Tanzania, one night in Gombe National Park Distance (km today/total/total Part 2): 0 / 15903 / 1066 Estimated climb (m today/total/total Part 2): 0 / 136600 / 18600 Leader of the pack: Fudge Day in three words: Wonderful Chimpmas time The first morning I went out to run errands, and such revelations! Tanzanians are helpful, even if they don't speak English! They smile and make eye contact! It is such a relief after Burundi. I was worried it was me shutting myself off to Africa but it wasn't, and I feel much freer here. After more than 24 hours in Tanzania I realised that the clocks had gone forward an hour, which is a bonus as it means it’s light an hour later*.  At the information centre for the nearby Gombe and Mahale national parks I found out that two people were taking the boat to Gombe the next day and coming back exactly 24 hours later, which would cut costs massively for me because the boat and daily...

Date: 22 December 2022 Sleeping location: Leader’s Lodge, Kigoma, Tanzania Distance (km today/total/total Part 2): 114 / 15903 / 1066* Estimated climb (m today/total/total Part 2): 2000 / 136600 / 18600 5km at: 11% Day in three words: Human once again *Which is appropriate because the French (Charles and Anne-Claire) arrived the next day Breakfast was enlivened by the realisation that the finger bread rolls I’d picked up were the same size and shape as a banana, and lo the banana hot dog was born. A gift for future generations. I was up and away early because this was another big day, with the unknown time sink of border formalities in the middle. The elevation profile of the day was sort of like a crown, with a steep climb from the lake up to the highlands, undulations across the top and a steep descent back down to the lake. The climb started out ok but soon sharpened right up, before a section of 5km at an average 11% which was really, really tough. Thankfully there were few people ...

Date: 21 December 2022 Sleeping location: East African Hotel, Nyanza, Burundi Distance (km today/total/total Part 2): 102 / 15789 / 952 Estimated climb (m today/total/total Part 2): 800 / 134600 / 16600 Nice people: 0 Day in three words: Mud and thunder Because the crappy mosquito net in the crappy hotel in the crappy village was full of holes I had to do a mosquito hunt around 2am. The ones inside the net were all fat with my blood but at least that meant they were slow and easier to kill. Good thing I’ve started taking anti-malarials. During the hunt a thunderstorm rolled over with a whoosh of rain and a lightning flash that must only have been metres away, and seemed in the morning to have fried the electrical circuit containing the wall sockets. The rain eased off but was still going in the morning when my alarm went of a 6am, heavy but clearing just in time for me to leave that horrible little town and try my utmost to get to Nyanza by the end of the day. Of course, because I have...

Date: 20 December 2022 Sleeping location: Unknown hotel/brothel, Gitaza, Burundi Distance (km today/total/total Part 2): 44 / 15687 / 850 Estimated climb (m today/total/total Part 2): 200 / 133800 / 15800 Nice people: 1 Day in three words: Village of doom In the morning I had an almighty admin faff to get my transit visa extended for a mighty five days, of which I actually needed two or three. It took so long that at some points it seemed that the entire visa extension period might be taken up with extending the visa, and even after it was "done" it turned out there was a mistake and the original had to be "annulled" and a new one stamped in.* The whole thing took four hours, and all the while my sinuses were bunged up and I felt like my head was made of cloud.  Back at the hotel I found that Suzanne from the previous night had hand delivered a hand written note saying hello again and asking why I hadn't messaged her. Am I that alluring? Pondering this, I manage...

Date: 19 December 2022 Sleeping location: Maison de Passage Philipo Neri, Bujumbura, Burundi Distance (km today/total/total Part 2): 92 / 15643 / 806 Estimated climb (m today/total/total Part 2): 1400 / 133600 / 15600 Down/up: 1400m/10 degrees Day in three words: Down to Tanga I had a fevered sleep but felt a bit better come morning, though still not great. It was the kind of illness where you’d pop a couple of paracetamol and work from home, except my “work” is cycling and I can’t do it from home. I considered staying at the weird hotel another night but decided against it as a) I needed to extend my visa in Bujumbura, which was a day’s ride away and my visa expired at the end of the following day, b) it was weird. So I stuffed myself full of calories, caffeine and painkillers and set off.   Once I got into the groove it wasn’t so bad, I ground up the hills and conserved my energy freewheeling down the descents. It was cloudier and therefore cooler than the previous day, which hel...

Date: 18 December 2022 Sleeping location: Auberge Kayanza, Kayanza, Burundi Distance (km today/total/total Part 2): 59 / 15551 / 714 Estimated climb (m today/total/total Part 2): 1300 / 132200 / 14200 Bigger than: Jesus Day in three words: Burundi is confusing The demented bird alarm clock was welcomed this time as I had somewhere to be: Burundi. I was feeling a little under the weather, not ideal when Burundi requires a Covid test for entry. The nice coffee place wasn’t open and the other coffee place I’d been recommended didn’t have any coffee, or something, so I just asked for hot water and made my own with my aeropress. Gotta have coffee. It was Sunday and the roads were very quiet, and it turned out these two things were connected when I heard live music coming from a building and went to investigate. There turned some kind of fun sounding church sermon going on so I parked up Maggie and poked my head round the door, which was a mistake as all of the hundreds of faces in there imm...

Date: 15 - 17 December 2022 Sleeping location: (day 1 and 2) Zion Inn, Kigali, Rwanda (day 3) EER Guesthouse, Butare, Rwanda Distance (km today/total/total Part 2): 0 / 15492 / 655 Estimated climb (m today/total/total Part 2): 0 / 130900 / 12900 Murdered Tutsis: 491,000 - 800,000 Day in three words: An unrestful rest The demented bird knocking on the door woke me up early, which did at least allow me to get a jump on the day so thanks bird. I packed up some of my stuff into “weekend break” mode, stashed Maggie in some kind of boardroom a the hotel, had two very nice coffees at a place recommended by my cousin Jonny (hi Jonny) who lived here for a few months during his medical training, then got my first moto to the bus station to go to Kigali. I was immediately summoned by a man asking if I was going to Kigali and herded to where I bought a ticket for a bus leaving in an unknown length of time. I could probably have hunted around for one leaving sooner but decided to stop being so bloo...

Date: 14 December 2022 Sleeping location: EER Guesthouse, Butare, Rwanda Distance (km today/total/total Part 2): 60 / 15492 / 655 Estimated climb (m today/total/total Part 2): 900 / 130900 / 12900 What’s that feeling?: dryness Day in three words: Cruising on home In the morning I packed up unhurriedly and cheekily made coffee using the kettle in the room rather than my stove. Take that, The Man. It immediately started raining when I got into my cycling gear, and at that moment it felt like Rwanda simply does not want me to be dry. The security guard informed me that there was "beaucoup de pluie" but thankfully he was wrong and it actually ended up being sunny the whole time I was riding.  Instead of eating at the fancy place I packed up and went for a tasty and cheap buffet breakfast just down the road. This set me up nicely for a morning of fairly easy riding*, with ups and downs but more downs overall, and these were delicious fast downs where I could zoom at an effortless ...

Date: 13 December 2022 Sleeping location: Nyungwe Nziza Ecolodge (camping), Kitabi, Rwanda Distance (km today/total/total Part 2): 75 / 15432 / 595 Estimated climb (m today/total/total Part 2): 2200* / 130000 / 12000 New climbing record: 2200m Day in three words: Don Poncho prevails *A new record for the trip I wanted to get a jump on the big day ahead after waking up at 7am, but I had forgotten about both Africa Time and my own faffing skills and ended up waiting around for my breakfast and my water to filter until after 9. After an hour of undulating riding I began the 1000m climb up to the top of Nyungwe Forest, which announced itself with a really tough few km up to the last village before the forest began. Here I tried to buy a few sugary drinks but couldn’t get the woman to understand what I wanted** so she gave me a wooden spoon to point at my drink of choice, then, after this proved insufficiently accurate, an umbrella, which did the job. I could have used the umbrella’s usual ...

Date: 12 December 2022 Sleeping location: Saint Bernadette pastoral centre, Kagano/Nyamsheke, Rwanda Distance (km today/total/total Part 2): 84 / 15357 / 520 Estimated climb (m today/total/total Part 2): 2000 / 127800 / 9800 Hills: endless Day in three words: The mysterious NKE After a simple breakfast (which didn't actually take ages to arrive) I set off south down the lakeshore. It was very humid and still and the sweat came freely at the slightest sign of a hill. On the lakeshore were lots of big wooden boats that the locals use for fishing, and I got so interested in these that I accidentally went the wrong way, but carried on after I realised, hoping that the tarmac would lead back to the main southbound road - nope. I had to turn onto a big gravel road, which turned into a smaller gravel road which turned into steep rocky footpath and I had to push the last km, sweating gloriously into my freshly laundered clothes. 8km in the first hour was not an auspicious start. At least t...

Date: 11 December 2022 Sleeping location: Centre Saint Marie, Kibuye, Rwanda Distance (km today/total/total Part 2): 60 / 15273 / 436 Estimated climb (m today/total/total Part 2): 1100 / 125800 / 7800 New friends: 3 Day in three words: Kiviews are Kiveautiful* *Sorry I was awoken from my morning post-sunrise doze by a tiny bird settling on the window ledge outside and making weird robot noises. It didn’t seem bothered when I opened the curtains, or cleared the condensation right next to it, or started taking pictures of it, and just carried on making its robot noises before getting bored and flying away. I liked its style. It turned out I got a free breakfast with the room, which was kind of awkward because it was just me and the owner lady, but she was nice enough. Before I left she did show me a website for a logistics company and told me to tell all my friends, so maybe she thinks all mzungus are really into logistics. The sun was shining today and I was in a much better place to ap...

Date: 10 December 2022 Sleeping location: G&G Guesthouse, Kayove, Rwanda Distance (km today/total/total Part 2): 51 / 15213 / 376 Estimated climb (m today/total/total Part 2): 1300 / 124700 / 6700 Portions: 5 Day in three words: Wet, wetter, wettest After a relatively late night* we rose leisurelyly and had a tasty breakfast on Guillaume’s veranda. He decided to join me for the first section of the day’s cycling and we picked a 30km route that went along the lakeshore on tarmac before climbing (a lot) on dirt tracks up to the main road that I would then follow south and he would take back to Gisenyi. The whole thing was very beautiful and atmospheric, but the dirt roads were steep and bumpy so going was fairly slow. We went through a lot of little villages containing a lot of curious kids and Guillaume taught me some local language to communicate with them; “chupa” is a drinks bottle**, “poopi” is a teddy ie Yoshi, and “oye” is no, which is confusing because it sounds like “oh yeah...

Date: 9 December 2022 Sleeping location: Guillaume’s place, Gisenyi, Rwanda Distance (km today/total/total Part 2): 85 / 15162 / 325 Estimated climb (m today/total/total Part 2): 1400 / 123400 / 5400 Top end: 2850m Day in three words: Up and over After a punctual departure I began the day with a big climb which lasted the first couple of hours. There are still bikes everywhere and the riders usually want to beat me, which means I have lots of people to draft. Their skills are still impressive; they power up the hills and one guy was braking with his flip-flop at about 40kph. I was mainly left alone apart from the odd shout of “money” from kids, most of which I just ignored, although there was a strange moment when one kid asked at the exact same moment the song I was listening to said “suicide is yours when the money is mine”.  Adults are either friendly or quiet, which is the dream. Also notable along this section was a woman carrying a live sheep by the wool on its back like some...

Date: 8 December 2022 Sleeping location: Panolama Eden Golf Village, Ruhengeri AKA Musanze, Rwanda Distance (km today/total/total Part 2): 49 / 15077 / 240 Estimated climb (m today/total/total Part 2): 600 / 122000 / 4000 Stage winner: Davey Day in three words: Ug becomes Rw In the morning I packed up unhurriedly and went off to Rwanda. The last 10km of Uganda had the same green hills and generally nice toddlers/adults and greedy children as the last few days. All in all I really liked Uganda and it was probably my favourite country of the trip, or maybe joint first with Turkey. Lots of beautiful scenery packed into a relatively small package, friendly people who speak decent English, fun wildlife and pretty good food including the world’s best and massive-est avocado. I was a bit sad to not get any rolex* this time; generally I haven’t seen any roadside rolex, chapatis or samosas for sale. I wonder if the soaring price of wheat means everyone has pivoted to the horrible roasted corn n...

Date: 6 and 7 December 2022 Sleeping location: Virunga Hotel, Kisoro, Uganda Distance (km today/total/total Part 2): 49 / 15028 / 191 Estimated climb (m today/total/total Part 2): 700 / 121400 / 3400 Kisoro’s hottest venue: SuPa’s Days in three words: Kisoro Kwality time I slept awfully despite being incredibly tired, and next morning realised that the 2l mountain dew soda I'd been swigging from all afternoon contained the equivalent caffeine of a pint of coffee. That’ll do it. I was still physically and mentally knackered so I decided to rest a couple of days in Kisoro as it's nice, I had Ugandan money left to use up, I’d heard good things about Lake Mutanda and accommodation across the border in Rwanda seems like it's going to be more expensive (and perhaps also subconsciously because I will be sad to leave Uganda). The first day I moved to a less crap hotel and spent the day doing a bunch of random admin bits and ironing out lots of little issues with Maggie. During the ...

Date: 5 December 2022 Sleeping location: Sawa Sawa hotel, Kisoro, Uganda Distance (km today/total/total Part 2): 90 / 14979 / 142 Estimated climb (m today/total/total Part 2): 1500 / 120700 / 2700 Mood of the day: hustle Day in three words: Mzungu ad infinitum I was woken from light slumber by the pitter patter of rain on the tent, which got a lot heavier shortly after I’d dashed out to take in my clothes that were “drying” on the bike. This was especially bad because there was 30km of dirt road back to the tarmac and we all know what happens to dirt in the rain, and especially especially bad because I had somewhere to be - I wanted to make it to Kisoro, 85+ km away, by nightfall. I sat around waiting for it to clear and taking advantage of the free tea and coffee, but it just kept going so at 11 I packed up my sodden tent and set out into the rain at about 11.30. Thankfully the dirt road had held up and only had a thin layer of greasy surface mud, so I took it steady, inched up the up...

Date: 4 December 2022* Sleeping location: Gorilla Mist Camp (camping), Ruhija, Uganda Distance (km today/total/total Part 2): 52 / 14889 / 52 Estimated climb (m today/total/total Part 2): 1200 / 119200 / 1200 Impenetrableness of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest - 4/10 Day in three words: 985 days later Before setting off I needed to finalise several thing on Maggie, fill up my fuel bottle and get some cash out, so I didn’t actually set off until 12.30. I decided to make the “restart point” the turnoff for Lake Bunyonyi, where in March 2020 we decided to change direction due to Covid. Once located I leant Maggie up against it for a picture, fitted the trip computer and away we went, finally on our journey again after 985 days of waiting. It was an emotional moment, slightly ruined because I immediately had to stop as the trip computer wasn’t working. After that it was the perfect start, a beautiful quiet smooth road through rolling green hills, spoiled only by the vicious Ugandan speed bumps ...