Day 267 / 32

Date: 4 January 2023
Sleeping location: DJM Lodge, Chala, Tanzania 
Distance (km today/total/total Part 2): 93 / 16469 / 1632
Estimated climb (m today/total/total Part 2): 1300 / 142500 / 24500
Motorcyclists: surly
Day in three words: Eggegg and chipschips 

I set off after procuring another chilled ginger beer from the magical fridge for the climb ahead. I had to get from the rift valley floor up to the escarpment 600m above, which was actually relatively painless; quite long and drawn out but not too steep or difficult for the most part. I stopped for chapati and chai at the top then set off along the gently undulating road. Up on the top it was greener, semi agricultural land, with occasional crops and grazing cattle but generally quite empty. Often the cattle were being watched by young men in the apparent traditional outfit of a skirt, wellies, a football shirt, a big stick and some snazzy bead jewelry. The people who I did come across would just stare silently, without saying hello, which is getting wearing. I don't have the energy to greet everyone jauntily so most of the time I just keep my head down and feel the eyes burrowing into me. I need to sort this out as I’m essentially alienating myself. 

Along here I was passed by two people touring on motorbikes, who didn't wave. Generally on this trip I've found that motorbike tourists are not particularly friendly, and I have a sneaking suspicion it's because their "cool trip" becomes less cool when side by side with someone doing the same thing on a bicycle. Or maybe motorcyclists are just arseholes. People overlanding in cars have always been friendly, and as if to prove this point shortly afterwards I was honked by a big truck thing coming the other way and saw two mzungus waving at me from it. It looked like some kind of old European army truck and had a mountain bike attached to the back. 

I was making decent progress by lunchtime and was delighted to find somewhere for lunch that wasn't just doing rice and beans; I finally found somewhere whilst cycling that did the famous chips mayai, basically a chip omelette with chilli sauce on the side. It’s an excellent cycling food and I was so happy that I had two. After lunch things got a lot slower, and not just because of the egg and chip ballast. I gained elevation gradually via a series of long shallow climbs, and for the first time in Part 2 I had to worry about wind; a light crosswind picked up and swung round to become a headwind. I hate headwinds. 

About 5 I stopped for drink in town having done less than 30km in the last two hours and feeling quite drained. I was going to push on for another couple of hours but realised there was no point - there was a nice guesthouse here, the route for the next couple of hours would involve more climbing and more headwind, and either way I was arriving in Sumbawanga at some point around lunchtime. I decided to stop here and hit the rest of the road into Sumbawanga fresh tomorrow morning. In the past I might have pushed on through sheer bloodymindedness and desire to hit the arbitrary milestone of 100km, then had a rubbish time of it followed by an unnecessarily short journey the next day - it’s quite nice to be less rash these days. This is meant to be an enjoyable trip after all (even though it frequently isn’t).

The guesthouse was simple but nice enough. It had running water and a shower, but from this came a single thin stream of water from just one of the 50 jets on the Mercedes branded shower head. German efficiency my arse. Dinner was rice with meat, but I'd actually have preferred beans as the meat was suspiciously cold and I left most of it for reasons of grossness and not wanting to get ill. Back at the guesthouse I made a salad with tomato, onion and avocado that was way better than the food I’d just bought. I realised my bum was now a polka-dot tapestry of little red tsetse bites; they seem to have a delayed reaction but are itchy as hell now.