Day 241 / 6

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 kind of handbag. A sight of a genocide memorial was jolting and a reminder that some horrendous stuff happened here in my lifetime. I need to learn more about it.

I hit the top of the climb about 11 and went to a little cafe for a proper, actual Americano. They like their coffee here, to the extent that the 2000 Franc note has a picture of coffee beans on it. I’d found someone to stay with via Warmshowers in Gisenyi, down on Lake Kivu 800m below, and could have made it there in about an hour but decided to add some excitement by taking a dirt loop that went from 2350m up to 2850m and back down again. It was tough but super atmospheric, starting with tea plantations then, as I climbed, beginning to to feel like Wiltshire or something, all steep grassy hills and cows, followed by some Welsh pine forest gravel riding (or pushing), followed by an outrageously muddy section across the top where they'd blasted a road out of the hillside and then left the soil time to get nice and sticky. After 29km and four hours I got back to the road, muddy and wet but satisfied. 

As expected the run into Gisenyi was absolutely rapid and (obviously) fun. On the way down was a sign for a "vegetable demonstration centre", which tickled me with images of someone holding up a carrot and saying "this can be roasted, boiled or eaten raw" and everyone else nodding along. It was pretty full so presumably people around here don't really know their onions, either literally or figuratively. I also passed a guy carrying an 8ft barbecue on the back of his bike, which was impressive but caused amusing amounts of chaos everywhere he went and made it surprisingly difficult to overtake him. 

The first glimpse of Lake Kivu was magnificent as I hadn't realised quite how big it is. My host Guillaume recommended a lakeside bar for me to chill at until he finished work, which was a delightful place to unwind and watch the sun set. Guillaume arrived after an hour or so and we watched the football and got some food and beers together. He’s a Belgian working at the local school for a year, with an affinity for this area of Africa that was formed by his dad making documentaries (starring Guillaume!) during his childhood. A bit of an introvert but good conversation as he was very knowledgeable about a lot of useful and interesting stuff. After the bar we went back to his accommodation and watched the madness that was Argentina vs the Netherlands with some of his tasty imported French wine. A good day all round.