Day 244 / 9

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 the views were good. 

Back on the main road I started to see marker boards for "NKE", which didn't correspond to anything on my map but the distance was about right for an 80km day, which would put a good dent into the 200km to Butare. I decided to aim for whatever NKE was and began to merrily count down the Kms to the unknown place. The road was a tough one though, constantly climbing 100m or so then dropping back down again. It was almost casual in its brutality - there were no mighty peaks to come over, no sense of achievement after a big climb, just endless 5-12% gradient. Making up for this torment, the road was smooth and quiet and the views were consistently spectacular, banana trees and steep terraced farms falling away to the lake far (or sometimes not so far) below.

  

There were sadly no cafes or artisan coffee shops so I stopped in a little village with a parade of shops/roadside sellers to get lunch supplies. Here I did a round of multiple vendors and picked up smorgasbord of bananas, heart shaped muffins, peanuts, sugary drinks, biscuits, a sachet of milk (a new obsession) and a tiny and, it turned out, fairly impractical mango. These were then eaten at the top of a hill sat on a crash barrier in order to get some peace and quiet. 

The attention here is quite a lot at times, though thankfully after Ethiopia I can deal with just about any level of attention. The kids are beginning to get a bit annoying sometimes, mainly when they just keep following me up hills and asking for things; their little hands roving around the back of Maggie stresses me out and I think one stole a banana today. But mainly they are ok and often very cute when they wave and smile. One kid was seemingly chased away from inspecting me by a massive beetle, which I enjoyed. Towards the end of the day there were a load of schoolchildren hanging out near some weird abstract (or maybe just bad) chalk drawings all over the road, which is apparently so quiet that they use it for art lessons. Cute.

With 18km to go NKE was revealed to be Nyamsheke, which also wasn't on my map but appeared to correspond to a place called Kagano. Told you the name change thing would get confusing. The afternoon downpours arrived around this time but they weren't so bad and I only hid under a shelter once (with about ten silent staring teenagers). Finding accommodation in town was again a bit of a faff as Rwandans apparently don't bother with signs for their establishments and one place was inexplicably full, but I was pointed in the direction of a Catholic centre which had decent enough rooms for a decent enough price and a nice vibe. There was a massive downpour just after I started relaxing in the room so I did well to arrive when I did. Over a chilled evening I plotted that I would aim for a camp on the other side of the Nyungwe national park the next day. This required 75km and 2100m of climb, ending almost 1000m higher up, which is doable but a big pull is required. I stocked up on snacks for the next day and got an early night.