The wind has picked up and comes strongly from the side. I climb out of town and overtake a UN convoy that is struggling with the incline. I meet the trucks a few times more as they are faster in the flat but I am faster on the many ascents. Slow progress under the conditions but I focus in getting the hours in. After climbing all day it flattened out in the evening and the landscape changes. There are huge rocks lying around everywhere and the villages build between. I sleep 30 km from a crossing where I turn to Mbeya.
In the village people warn me about 400 km of gravel but I cant get any reliable Information.