Sambani Lodge.
 I am at the Sambani Lodge Chincheche which is about 50 to 60km I think from where I left in Nkhata Bay yesterday afternoon. I tried leaving at around 4pm and then carried on onto the darkness for about an hour or so, aiming for this place which was recommended to me by Garry, one of the lodge owners back at the bay.
There's a fine sandy beach here, the sand being courser in Nkhata. The days are streaming by so I have to keep on moving, and will leave around 2pm and hopefully find a lorry or bus that can carry me a good way before today's end.
The heat during the day is pretty intense so setting off late in the afternoon and then carrying on into the darkness is much cooler and drains less energy. Have missed an early morning start so pm the only option today. Best way would be up  early for 5am start then stop under a tree by the lake and move again from around 4pm. The roads here are really quiet and even more so after darkness. Its already dark here from about 6.30pm and happens quickly, the moon only following around 3 hours later at present. 
Went for a half moonlit walk along the beach last night. The sand here is white and powdery, really easier to walk on compared to the gravelly  but still pleasant sand back at Nkhata.
Little in the way of surf here, but will take a dip soon. My feet have been a bit swollen for the past few days. Seems yesterday's ride has sorted mostly. Might have been the sun on my normally shod feet. But since I ditched my shoes back in Mzuzu, I had been wearing sandals and using sun lotion on my lily white sensitive feet. Now they're looking a bit browner. One evening I got several mozzie bites and together with the sun and perhaps the antimalarials as well, swollen were my feet. I think walking a lot with flops also doesn't help.
So yesterday I set off with socks and recently acquired veldskoens. They're part worn, low cut, regular designed shoes with reasonable soles which will hopefully last out the rest if my journey. Short stints on the bike with sandals are ok, but the shoes are better in the long run. Feet much better today, but not yet fully sorted.
The new tyres I fitted in Mzuzu have proven good so far. Not sure how my pump will cope if I need some more air. Too afraid to try until I also have a local pump, as the valves here are a strange Indian design.
Seem that there is around 200km or 120 miles to go along the lakeside rd before reaching Nkotakota or some such named place where I will head inland in the border direction with Zambia, perhaps missing the capital Lilongwe. Money will soon become an issue, not sure when the next Standard bank atm will show up. I may have to bite the bullet and try to use a visa card and see if Barclaycard's over fussy security issues are going to cause grief. On previous occasions, a pre-recorded message has been delivered to my home phone asking me to let them know if I'm travelling. How one is meant to respond from abroad I'll never know. If they did their homework properly, then they'd know I purchased an airline ticket and might assume therefore that I am traveling. Such fun.
15/11/14 0900hrs
Am waiting for my phone to charge. Seems its not holding for some reason and its the only source of maps I have. Need to revert to good old paper. Tech is fine till it caputs.
Two nights ago, I reached Matiki Town where there is a sugar factory some 5kms from the centre. Standard Banks are few and far between so one had to take a detour to the sugar factory where the Bank is strategically,  for sugar employees, located.  Managed to leave my backpack with the staff at the petrol station where I had camped overnight. A very strong headwind made the bank detour a tough ride especially when I arrived to find that the Mastercard wouldn't bloody work anyway. These days the bank staff are powerless to advance cash over the counter from a card. So ended up using the Visa credit account which no doubt will cost an arm and a leg. The manager I spoke to said that he must enquire about the mastercard problem as someone else had an issue the day before. I suggested that it may have been to my advantage he had already made that enquiry the day before. He did not seem to appreciate this much, as typically, being in the African time zone, to hurry is alien.
The return journey was way more enjoyable with the following wind and a chat to fellow cyclist, a sugar worker. Hard work he said for the little money 40 000 kwacha per month. That equates to about £60 per month. Well above the average income which I gather is below Tanzania 's £13 per month.  Although I have not read about Malawi's per capita income, this figure is surely skewed by the demographics here where most of the population is below age 15. Tanzania seemed much busier with traffic always passing on the roads. Malawi on the other hand has many more bicycles and hardly any traffic on the roads, at least in the north. I'm told the south is busier.
My pitch at the garage turned out challenging. Ants seemed to stream in and the blighters were crawling all over me before long. Clambering out, I sat on a plastic chair before giving all my stuff a good shake and then climbed in my sleeping bag and wrapped around me,my Mosquito net for the first time. This held them back and the net needed plucking a great deal by morning.  Needless to say, there are many bites on and around my back now. No idea if they are from mozzies, ants or spiders.
Before my trip to the bank that morning, I decided to find a good breakfast. The posh Kasasa club was a few kms away and I enjoyed a good choice of, fruit, juices, coffee, toast, yoghurt, Spanish omelette, bacon, pork sausage, bran flakes, milk, plus a cup cake and apple to go.  At around £5, this was pure indulgence and the best breakfast so far on this journey.
Later, I began to enquire about a bus or other public transport for a well needed hop towards Zambia, ever concerned now about time and distance still to cover. So yesterday, I boarded a mini mini bus driven by a fella who is not a regular taxi, but was heading to Lilongwe from where I am typing now. Last night I stayed in a dorm at a Christian Theology College. Good night sleep, bit hot and mozzied at times, but better than the tent the night before.
Gather there is around 100kms to the Zambia border from here and I will set of soon on reasonably flat terrain I'm told with a following wind.
Have arrived at a lodge about 10km from the Zambian border.  Its been an eventful day. A fast pace ride , a pub lunch and bottle of KK beer. Well, no food at the pub but got a chicken rice and veg takeaway and joined some folks at the bar. An off duty GP and police sergeant made for good company.
Goats were a bother today, they are extraordinary animals with such a strong sense of purpose especially when crossing the roads, something they seem to do all the time. Car hooters do hurry then along, but I have not found any human utterance effective yet. One just has to assume they'll leap out in front of you every time. So a fast and at times swerving and swearing day.
At one village, I had to stop at a little store called Msungu Store.  Today like most others, the children begin to get very excited and shout Asungu Asungu as you cycle by. A white man riding a bicycle is surely a unique thing. Many also however shout Give me money. Why is my most common reply. Earlier this afternoon however, for the first time, I said F.Off. Not loudly but almost to myself in frustration. Think it was soon after swerving around a goat.
Good news is I've met up with Urs from Germany. We are on the same track, though he plans to spend some time with his girlfriend who will meet him in Namibia, then returning to his bike at Lusaka and continue on his journey to  Capetown. We had a beer and meal together this evening and chewed the cud. Apparently Gary from UK is in Zambia already.
Took some photos today, one of the old Merc Lorry I had a brief lift with. Brief because it was overheating the had a blowout. A big bang the pull over for the sixth time and off I got. Fella had loaded 15 tonnes on 10 tonne lorry.
The other was outside a pub where a cycle was parked with a rather annoyed looking chicken tied to the carrier, while the abductor played pool inside. What fate behold that unsuspecting bird  it wondered. There have been goats galore and even large pigs joy riding on the back of bikes, but always passing so the chicken was first to be recorded. I will try to download some pics when I get on a laptop sometime.
Looks like I'll be saying goodbye to Malawi tomorrow. Big M has certainly been the limelight of my journey so far. Little really, but a Big  deal for me.