Machakos -> Sultan Hamud

15 May

Cycling distance: 79 km

Total time: 4:19 hrs

Elevation: 537 m

Ave speed: 18.1 km/hr

We had a good start this morning with an inclusive breakfast at the hotel brought to us by Johnathan wearing a fancy blue suit. The cyclists, including Mom from her 3.5 km ride, woke up with VERY tender bums and VERY sunburnt bodies, my calves are particularly sunburnt, even after pasting on the sunblock. After a few selfies with Johnathan, we said our goodbyes and the hotel crew waved us off. The day started off overcast and chilly and even with a bit of pain in our bodies, there was lots of energy and banter amongst the cyclists. We carried on cycling for 11 km on the C97 which was undulating but pleasant in the cool breeze. After yesterdays climb, we were feeling like we can do anything! We turned onto the Mombasa road highway, now heading straight for our next destination, Sultan Hamud. We were flying this morning and the first 34 km were done in just under 2 hours. The landscape changed from populated settlements to stunning open savannah grasslands, we even passed a few giraffe and zebras casually hanging out with cattle.

After the first two hours of cycling our amazing support team found a very random brand-new building on the side of the road, the Highway Grill where we fuelled up on boiled eggs, a cool drink and Chipati, a local roti-type flat bread made from the grill. Joseph, the grill manager was delighted to see us and came running out to welcome us. We had a good half an hour break before getting back into the saddle. All of a sudden, the wind changed direction and we started cycling into the wind, well, actually, whenever cycling, it always feel like you cycling into the wind. Looking into the distance, we did see some hills coming our way but as we reached the top, we descended for 8 km at an average pace of 25 km/hr – what a pleasure!! The scenery changed now to lush green bush and slightly more trees. The country-side of Kenya really is something special.

Mom and Erick stopped at a local market in one of the villages we passed through and bought quality avos and bananas for lunch. They described the market experience as friendly and calm. The locals didn’t harass you or try make you buy from them. “We were greeted by everybody”. Again, they found a lovely spot for a lunch break and we tucked right in to our avo sammies. We then did an easy 12 km before cycling into Sultan Hamud. We followed the directions to get to Miryam Village Inn which took us through the township and we were all holding our breaths wondering what our accommodation was going to be like. The locals sitting outside their small stall shacks excitedly waved us by shouting “Karibu” meaning welcome in Swahili and “Mzungu” meaning white person in Swahili.

At 14:30 we arrived at this large bright blue gate painted with rhinos and elephants. We walked into the Inn and wow it was like an oasis in a desert. The Inn has many rooms, all with its own safari animal theme, a large dining area and a bar on a balcony, even a gym and a massive swimming pool area. We were flabbergasted! This stunning place literally in the middle of this tiny rural village. We each got our own room for 3500 Kenyan shillings which equates to R492 and we get breakfast! If this is how we’ll be sleeping for the rest of the trip – we’ll be OK!! Haha!

Obviously we had a dip in the pool, really cooling ourselves off and some even had an afternoon snooze. This gave us time to relax after two days of intense cycling and hectic sunburn. Soon the sun went down and we made our way to the bar and had a drink on the balcony. We overlooked a Mosque which was decorated with green lights wrapped around the roof. On the one side we heard the Mosque going and the other side of town we heard a Church choir going. Besides waiting 2 hrs for dinner, we had a good evening chatting about the day, discussing our highs and lows. Dad described his low as “having his butt being ring-barked by an elephant” *laughing-emoji-with-tears*. We all agreed that today was an amazing day, after a good 79 km, we arrived at this terrific accommodation, making the day even more spectacular. We loved seeing the country-side and all the crazy names of the small informal shops on the side of the roads. Sore, sunburnt and tired, we are now ready for bed.