Day 14
Country
When I popped my head out of the tent this morning, I saw a couple of bicycles leaning against the hedge next to another tent. A couple were packing up. We got chatting and found that Megan from Canada and Evan from South Africa were cycling from UK to South Africa. They had already been on the road for 16 months and had another 12 to go. Ron joined us and we all chatted away for ages swapping travel stories. All the time Megan and Evan were packing up their stuff as they were keen to get going before it got too hot. They invited us for breakfast in a shack outside the campsite and we joined them. Ron did not eat anything as he was not feeling too well but I had a Rolex. A Rolex in these parts is a chapatti rolled up with a filling of your choice. Very delicious it was too. Evan and Megan were using this carbon water filter thing and had never bought any bottled water. They filled up this bladder type thing with whatever water was available and hung it up high. Gravity pulled the water down through a carbon filter into another container from which they filled up their bottles. Apparently it worked very well and touch wood, they had never been ill. We said goodbye and went our own ways. Ron and I were in no hurry to get going as all we had to do today was ride back through Kampala, down towards the airport at Entebbe and hand the bikes back to Charles. We then had to head to be at the airport at around 1 a.m. as our flight was just after 4 a.m. tomorrow. Therefore we decided not to stay in a lodge but instead just go straight to airport and wait there. Anyway, we eventually left the camp site just after 11 a.m. and headed back. On the way we ran into Evan and Megan again who looked like they were glad of the interruption as they were trudging up a long hill. We stopped in the shade of some trees and next thing we know we were joined by a young Moroccan lad who was also cycling to South Africa. He had seen us and stopped to talk to us. He said that one day he just decided to go travelling and started walking. He had walked through several countries and then on someone’s suggestion had got himself a bicycle and had ridden it all the way here. He had plans to ditch the bike in Zambia and get himself a skate board to go the rest of the way. We all exchanged e mail addresses and left. Kampala seemed less chaotic this time – probably because it was the middle of the day. Anyway, we emerged on the south side and were well on our way to Kitala to hand the bikes back to Charles. The bikes were so filthy we decided to stop at a car wash and have the bikes jet washed while we had an ice cold drink. The bikes were shining once again and we reached Charles and Sumin’s place by about 4 p.m. and handed the bikes back. We all went to a local bar and had a celebratory drink before our taxi came to pick us up to take us back to the airport.
