26-29 May - Four Riding Days

26 May - Ranomafana to Ambositra - 130 km - started with a 7 km climb on hard surface, then onto about 25 km of track which was rough with enormous cobble stones at places, dirt elsewhere, big holes everywhere, going through out of the way villages - not a road used regularly by motor vehicles - slow, like very slow for us, but worth it for the nice quiet beauty.

Hand-made bridge across the river with a big step in the middle

Riding into one of the villages

25 km of this

all around the villages were neat rice paddies and other fields

Back on the highway after that stretch, lots of climbing and very hot. Rae was wiped out by the end of the day, could hardly stand up at the end. We're letting the anti-malarial medication take the blame and hoping that a switch to a different anti-malarial will help.  

27 May - Ambositra to Antsirabe - 92 km - Rae didn't ride today at all - good decision. Ursula did it all, and again lots of climbing.

A foggy start for the day, and quite cool in the higher elevation.
Thanks Bill for keeping her company.

Gravel comes from rocks that are painstakingly hammered and chiseled down
until they are small enough, women and kids doing the work at the side of the
road in the sunshine...

...with many of the tools being hand-made. We are constantly impressed at the
work ethic here.

The end of this day was Antsirabe which is generally regarded at the coldest spot in Madagascar owing to the elevation with overnight temperatures into the single-digits.

28 May - Antsirabe to Mandoto - 106 km - Back in the saddle again for Rae but still not much energy or appetite so he rode the bus in from lunch. Ursula still strong and did the whole thing.

 

Notice there are very few chimneys to be seen. Cooking, which is done on the
main floor, is either charcoal or hard wood which is either vented out through
 windows or somehow vented to the attic and the smoke escapes through the roof. 

 

Change in countryside again - still lots of rice paddies in valley, also other grains in
the open areas.

Town of Mandato where we're camping tonight...

...as in most towns along these roads, no electrical infrastructure, no one has
running water in the house, but there are wells in town and these big yellow
plastic bottles are dutifully filled and taken to homes for the water supply. 

Those bottles are heavy when full so you frequently see kids with them on these carts.

Lady with her groceries in the bag - for sure that duck is fresh.

Camping tonight with temperature again expected to be in single digits. Canadians didn't fret too much about that, but for the Malagasy support crew, it's cold.

29 May - Mandoto to Miandrivazo - 119 km - This day was supposedly more down than up, but there was so much 'up' that we still found it hard in the heat. Good news is that we both finished today, Rae being back closer to normal. Of course there's still the sore bums, burnt lips, and desperately hot sweaty bodies to contend with. 

Seven thirty in the morning and kids are walking to school - town is at least 3 km behind us!

Other kids run to the side of the road when we pass

Typical sort of scene entering villages

Seemingly abandoned merry-go-round at edge of town - it must have a story to tell

One of our support busses

Grain being dried on the road surface and poured onto mats to blow away the chaff

Two-against-one - this raptor (ID Bruce?) being attacked by two Pied Crows
and performing a wonderful display of aerobatics in the process

The road surface looks good, but just behind Brad are a couple of big potholes -
the problem on this road was that at the bottom of most hills, the potholes were
literally as big as the road itself