Zaïre (The Democratic Republic of Congo) - The Lions on the Road: Cycling London to Cape Town - page 247

tremely unsafe bridge (far worse and longer than the bridge in the previous photo). I again
had to side-step across with the raging Lubudi River beneath me.
The first village I came across was 20 kilometres down the road with subsequent
villagesappearingeveryfivetoeightkilometres.SinceSokele,Inoticedthattheroadnever
dwindled to the size of a footpath again. In fact, this day proved to have some excellent
stretches of road. When some segments were in disrepair, I just rode along the well-trod-
den footpaths. The road left the forest and crossed a vast plain for three kilometres where
I crossed a dyke. At the end of the dyke, the stream crossed over the lowest point of the
road. It wasn't deep so I took my shoes and socks off and walked my bike across. I laid my
bike down on the other side and returned to soak my feet in the cool water for at least 10
minutes.IwishedthatIhaddonethismoreoften.Whenallthefishdied,Iputonmyshoes
and socks and continued cycling. A refreshing wind swept across the plain as I made my
way to the trees on the other side.
After a short break to drink some water in Nasondoye, a small junction village
wheremyroadjoinedthenational routetoAngola,Icontinued onwardtocrosstheLufupa
River,atributarytotheLualabaRiver(whichjoinedtheZaïreRiverandbacktoKinshasa!)
The national road was in excellent condition and made my final 24 kilometres into Kan-
zenze a dream. However, the short 1½ kilometre trip from the road to the Catholic mission
seemed to take forever. I eventually arrived at the French seminary and met Father Emery.
Withouthesitation, hegavemearoomandafteraveryappreciative lunch,Itookashower.
A group of seminarians came by and we chatted about my adventures in Africa for several
hours. We were then called for dinner.
On my way to dinner, I first visited Father Emery in his office and noticed bullet
holes in the ceiling. He told me that he was robbed on Christmas Day, his third time in as
many months. He said he just finished saying mass and had just entered the office surroun-
ded by children, when… bam, bam, bam, unpaid soldiers fired their guns as a warning and
stormed the mission to take whatever wasn't nailed down i.e ., everything.