Lost amongst the sugar cane

Yipee, VSO has very kindly bought me a bicycle to use for both work and play. Boo, sadly it is just not the same as my mountain bike back at home. In the cooling afternoon sun a few of us decided to venture out and explore the endless fields of sugar cane that cover Mazabuka. We peddled fairly leisurely through the Zambia Sugar estate, enjoying the smell of burnt sugar cane in the air. However, once we took a detour off the main road and down one of the numerous bumpy tracks the journey took a turn for the worse. We got slightly lost, managed to re-find ourselves but in doing so four out of the five bikes went down like dominoes with punctures. My bike gave up first, followed by two of the girls, so the three of us started a longish (5km +) walk home. The other two went off on the rescue mission with the aim of bringing back the 4x4 to collect us. Then two became one as Lucia’s bike got a puncture, leaving Marco as the only hope. Fortunately, a nice man working for Zambia Sugar in another 4x4 stopped, squeezed our bikes into the back of his vehicle and drove us home. We then had to turn around and find Lucia who was the last one left wandering around the sugar cane. The lesson here . . . the sugar cane may be sweet but it is also too sharp for bikes.