4 July, Thursday: Mulungushi Boat Club -> Pioneer Camp, Lusaka

This morning we were up before dawn, catching the sun rising over the dam, it was such a gorgeous crisp morning. Dads flight was landing at 12:30 so in order for us to cycle we needed to get going. Lesley-Ann, the club secretary so happened to be at the club and came to introduce herself and once we told her about what we doing, she offered us the night free of charge in support of our cause. We have just been shown such kindness and have truly been blessed with the people we have met on our trip. How strangers have opened up their homes to us, gone out their way to help us, shown such support has just blown us away. If there is one thing to be learned from this trip is to show kindness to everybody and anybody.

Mulungushi Dam sunrise

We got on the road and it was just as bad as yesterday. We had 144 km to do on this bumpy, corregated gravel road the car could only go 15-20 km/hr, sometimes even slower through the dongas. On my bike it was horrible, my hands were wrapped around the handle bars so tight going over the bumps and every part of my body was shaking as if I was getting panel-beated. Even on the bike it was painfully slow but we eventually turned left onto a far better gravel road and now with a chance to speed up and make it in time to fetch Dad, we loaded the bike and arrived at exactly 12:30 at the airport. We were all so excited to see dad, we were jumping up and down, constantly checking the arrivals gate and out he came. It was so special to see my parents meeting again, after 6 weeks apart. My mom was glowing. How lucky am I to still have parents that after 26 years of marriage still get so excited to see each other, this was a very special moment, making me very happy.

Lieva treated us to a hearty lunch at the Keg and FigTree where we devoured burgers and chips as if we'd never had one in our lives. We then made our way to the Pioneer Camp, where we were meeting Kirsty and her 2 colleges as they were also flying back to SA tomorrow. We spent the evening chatting and catching up with dad as well as reminiscing about our time with Lieva. She is so funny, she has such a great sense of humour and she often had in hysterics with her stories. It was such a treat getting to spend an extra night with Kirst as well and dad enjoyed getting a chance to see her too :) We all said our goodbyes after drinking to the last night together as Kirst and Lieva were both leaving at 5 tomorrow morning. We were all so desperate to get in our tents as it has been the coldest night by far. Obviously dad had us all laughing at his jokes about it snowing and over exaggerating about the cold. But it was seriously cold, and when you camping you seem to feel it more!!!

Cycled: 15.82 km

Time: 56:28 hr

Ave speed: 16.8 km/hr

Ascent: 62 m