We wanted to set off early as we had another 90 kms of bone-shaking corrugations and butt-clench inducing sand and loose gravel roads to ride. Riding these kinds of roads day after day was getting harder and harder so we were looking forward to hitting the tarmac at Rukungiri. Just as we were starting the bikes up to get going the heavens opened and it rained hard for about an hour while we took shelter and covered everything up in waterproofs. We eventually set off just after 9 a.m. Couple of hours later we had some breakfast of chapatti and beans. It was hard work trying to get the girl who served us to understand what we wanted. The tea she served us turned out to be hot milk. We bought some water and biscuits for the road and continued. Nothing much happened and at Ishaka we had the bikes’ oil changed at a garage and carried on not really knowing what we wanted to do next. As we hadn’t come across any campsites we pulled up at a banana plantation farm-house and knocked on the door and asked if we could camp on their land. We made a deal with the owner Vincent and camped on their grounds. There were no facilities except a pit latrine but we were only there one night. We rode to the nearest village with Vincent riding side-saddle and bought some provisions for dinner. Back at the camp we fired up the stove, cooked some pasta and killed some time before sleeping.

188 km covered / 7 hours riding