Dodoma here I come

I was woken all of a sudden by the sound of thunder and torrential rain. Glancing at my phone it was only 2.15am. The rain did not stop for some time, but eventually I went back to sleep, however I was not to know the consequences of this storm until the next day when I was leaving the African Sunrise Lodge.

My next destination was Dodoma about 250 miles further south. I had packed my bike and was ready to leave at 9am, but the manager of African Sunrise lodge told me that he would escort me along the 5km dirt track back to the main road. At the time I thought this a bit strange but carried on Putting on my helmet and gloves.

I looked up at the track wondering how bad can the track really be.

Oh my God, it was a complete mud bath. The previous nights rain had turned the track into a clay based Ice rink that took me almost an hour to complete which included a couple of bike drops in the mud.

I even had to stop a number of times to catch my breath, as picking up my 220 kg motorbike in the mud was absolutely knackering.

I finally made it to the main road with me and my bike looking like I had just completed a 3hr Enduro. Fortunately 2 miles down the road there was a jet wash facility...the bikes first clean since arriving in Africa 2 weeks ago.

When the bike had been cleaned up it was 11am so I was keen to get start on the 250 mile journey to Dodoma, which even included some excellent twisty roads. However these were short lived as I was soon back on the long straight non eventful roads before arriving at the delightful Royal Inn Hotel in Dodoma. At best it would have rated this hotel as a 2 star, with more stains on the bedroom carpet than I could count and with yet another cold shower and no WiFi. On the bright side I did have beef stroganoff with...chips not rice which was a bit odd but still ok with 2 beers for the equivalent of £5.

Tomorrow I am heading further south to Iringa and hope that my next accommodations will have a hot shower and the use the WiFi, however I might have more chance of winning the lottery!