21 June, Friday: Lilongwe ->Chipata

We survived the cold night in our tents and were up and ready to hit the road, aiming for Mchinji Boma, a campsite just before the border entering Zambia. Chris and I were keen to get back on our bikes and in all our winter gear we got on the saddle and the support team, refreshed and having a new partner in the car, we headed to Mchinji. The road was bad. It was narrow and potholed and the road was very busy on this chilly Friday morning. We passed locals cycling with wooven baskets full of charcoal and sugar cane and reeds. Its incredible how these guys can carry these massive loads.

Just as we were back in the rhythm of cycling again, only having 10 km, a convoy of 5 SA cars drove past, going the other way, waving us off the road, saying the road is closed off due to riots. We continued to cycle arriving to the support vehicle, and after discussing what to do, we packed up our bikes and turned around. We bumped into the fellow Saffas again who had made contact with a local policeman who said in about an hour will escort them through so we joined their party and found shady trees where we sat tight. We made ourselves comfortable, taking out the chairs, had a coffee, made lunch before receiving news that the protests have turned violent and the police are running the opposite direction. The country recently had elections and the people are unhappy with the winning party, accusing the government of rigging the elections, nothing we were'nt used to, so we continued to hang tight, waiting it out.

Now 15:00 and getting anxious trying to decide on a plan, someone coming from the village where the protests are taking place had just driven through and seemed to think it was ok. So we went on through and we were stopped by a few peaceful locals and Zambian truck drivers warning us its still happening and they are burning tyres but they know a route around the village. We went off road, turning onto a very narrow dusty dirt road. Cars, mini buses, taxi's were coming from the other way and it was quite something trying to get through. We came across a dam wall which was busy being built and the workers were charging all the vehicles to cross the bridge, clearly taking advantage of the sitation. As the day grew longer, we paid the price and after driving through the bundus, going through the farmland, we got back on the tar.

However, we saw tyres burning in front of us and all our hearts stopped. Chris behind the wheel took charge and made the decision to just drive through. As we neared, a guy came running towards us with a kati and Chris put foot, sliding to the right, going off road, passing the group. All our hearts stopped and we held our breath, making it out without a problem. It was quite scary and nerve wrecking but once we were through, we headed for the border, eager to get out the country. We got to the border at about 16:30, relieved we didnt come across any other incidents and after an hour we into Zambia. Chris and I were feeling really disappointed we hadnt cycled into Zambia and we skipped two days of cycling in Malawi. Obviously the situation wasnt ideal but we had to just deal with it and adapt to these unexpected changes.

We arrived to Mama Rula's, a campsite we were expected to be arriving at only tomorrow but the staff warmly welcomed us and we set up camp in the dark, listening to the Scotish campers singing away cheerfully. Despite not having done much physically, being so tense and stressed today really had us exhausted and we got tucked into our tents ready for some sleep.

Cycled: 9.90 km

Time: 35 mins