Mbeya to Dodoma

Mbeya to Iringa was all aout km's . the total of 337 km was done in 5 days , 65 km , 73 km , 34 km , 85km ,33,km, and 47 km . I will not dwell on this week too much as I am once again limited for time but a few interesting moments caught my attention .
On the morning that I left Mybeya I was flying along , welli thoght i was flying as it was predominantly downhill and i was even running onthe ups quite well . it was stil dark and i heard foot falls behind me and i assume it was just another runner as i had seen one or two on the road .
Well i was right , it was another two runners and they were flying up this pretty steep hill . they were both dressed inthe karate outfits and had a brick in their hands which were clasped firmly behind thier backs .
I caughtthem later onthe other side ofteh hill and they were praticing some kicks before running back to town .

I aslo met my first South Afican cyclist . Uptill now i have met 7 cyclists but Josch Thilo from city bowl in capetown was my first South african . he has come all the way from europe on his bike and just like me seem really happy to chat to another person from home. We both lingered a while as the company was good .

I then met Johan the travelling sales man . He was busy hauling his shop up a mountain . I was quite taken by he efforts and even though i did not really need anything decided to make a few purchases to support his efforts of his mobile shop considering we were at least 7 km for the village he was heading towards .


The last night before Iringa I spent at the home of Mark Knightingale . What a fascinating guy this is . He has walked across more than 16 differnet countries in his life so far iwhich included , cananda and europe from north to south . Although we did nothave much chance to chat i found him very inspiring and took a good couple of tips from him


from Iringa to Dodoma the gong got tough .
The dirt roads were really bad and i was starting to feel ill . By lunch time i had a severe case or dihorea and my urine had turned a nastry red/brown colour . I tried eating and drinking more but it did not help . I stagered on until i reach Nyangolo where i was fortunate that teh loclChairman was aound and they put me in a room in one of teh elders houses . I was feeling slightly better so i jioned the chairman and his clan for a bit of African beer . Not my favourite stuff but i thought i would try .
The village sangoma( not sur eof Swahilli term) took a reall fancy to me and sat right up against me on th enorro bench and rattled on incestantly in swahili in my ear . The chairman thought this was really funny and told me that she was declaring her love for me . Thanksfully she evenually got told to leave by the chairman . next it was the tur nof all the small cildren who wanted to feel either the hair on my legs or on my head.

The next few days are mixture of exaustion , and feeling horrific . my boddily functions almost ceased completely at one point and I got preety worried . The heat was also compltely through the roof which did not help .

I spent one night in the bush as i ended up with no where to stay and darkness was closing in


On one of the days a got to a villge and all the kids froma schoool came charging out to see me . They were quite aggresive in there demands for sweets and i was pretty anoyyed so told them quite emphaticlly that there would eb no sweets today . With that one of them threw a small ston at my prams wheels .
The next thing I knew thay were all throwing stones at me . mainly at my feet and at my pram wheels but soem were as big as tennis balls .
luckily an adult stepped in and sent thm scattering .



I eventually crawled into Dodoma and got to stay a complimentary night at the New Dodoma hotel

I ate and drank and ate and drank somemore and by midnight my body was starting to act like normal again . i was really relived as i had been pretty concerned about it .
I met the GM of teh hotel Wellingtone and he made my stay a real pleasure and picked up my food and drink account as well . He then got the CEo of Vodacom Tanzania on the line and he told me that his regional Sales exec would come and see me .

Macfadyne arrived and treated like a king . He assited in every way possible . got some photos taken , drove me around to find new tyres as my one tyre had split . Made sure I had accomadation and food for the rest of my run inthe form a sponship of electrinic funds on my phone . What a good guy , He went well out of his way to assist me . Thanks Mac !!!!!!