The Congo - The Lions on the Road: Cycling London to Cape Town - page 197

IfinallyarrivedinKinkalaatthebishop'shouse.MonsignorAnatolewelcomedme
with open arms. I took a shower and was told dinner would be served in 15 minutes. After
dinner and conversation, I stayed up until 10 p.m. cleaning off the mud from the bike. By
then,itdriedenoughthatitfelltothegroundinchunks.IwasamazedattheamountIaccu-
mulated for after I swept my room, I filled a large container. By 11:00, I was in bed proud
of myself for not losing my temper even once or uttering any profanity…none! I slept with
a smile on my face when I remembered that the next day was Christmas Eve.
I woke up early and after mass and breakfast with the bishop, I swept my room
again and loaded the bike. I asked for some oil for my chain and when I applied it, the
chain soaked it up immediately. After giving the world famous Canadian pins to my hosts
and wishing them a Merry Christmas, I began to cycle in great anticipation for I only had
76 kilometres to worry about and all of it was on a paved road.
Atthebeginningofthejourney,therewerepotholesallaroundbutforthebike,they
proved easier to negotiate than for a car or truck. Having said that, I must point out that the
closer I got to Brazzaville the better the road became. During an initial climb of about 600
metres, the sun was out and it quickly became hot. With the wind blowing from behind, I
quickly overheated which made climbing the hill a bit of a challenge. On the mechanical
side, I had a slight concern with my crank. Whenever I applied pressure on the pedals, I
wouldhearaloudcreakingnoise.Howeverthenoisesubsidedassoonastheroadflattened
out at the top. Once I arrived, I rested and found a tree to sit under. I looked around and
was taken aback on how beautiful and peaceful the area was: the rolling hills, the greenery,
the silence and the lack of traffic.
As I descended, my pace became the fastest in weeks and the distance to Brazza-
ville was quickly completed. The last 30 kilometres were almost all downhill. I did stop
oncetotakeabreakandrestedinaquietvillagechurchtosaytheRosary.WhenIfinished,
I resumed cycling and in very little time I arrived at the Zaïre River (formerly known as
the Congo River). This was the same river that was central in Joseph Conrad's The Heart
of Darkness .