METHS
MULANJE EXPATRIATES THREEPEAKS SOCIETY
13th
Blantyre Three Peaks Walk, Malawi.
Saturday, 28th June 1997
This year the annual 3 Peakers
assembled as usual in the early morning set for a 5 a.m. departure. The event is developing a bit of history and
Mike Petzold explained to me that he and Ian mason conceived the idea and got
the 3 Peaks going 15 years ago. METHS (
Mulanje Ex-Patriates 3 Peaks Society) has been spawned from this even with 3
Peaks walks now occurring internationally at regular intervals to bring Malawi
associated people together again. As Mike
readily admits, the hardest of them all is the Blantyre 3 Peaks. This year's event saw a reduced number of participants due to incapacitation in various anatomical
areas, aggravated by the lure of the second test between the Lions and the Springboks!
Participants:
Martin Horrocks*, Arthur Chikoko, Yvonne Robb*, Matthew Seeley, John Seeley, Mike Petzold* (all finished); John Killick* - exit Michiru Conservation, Eric Campbell - exit Johnston House, Dave
Cornelius* - exit Johnston House, Christina Petzold* - exit Hynde Dam, Roddy Sharp* - exit Ndirande. Marshals:
Shelley Milstein, Kate Hauxwell, Sean Conchar and Verena Petzold.
*METHS members.
It was a pleasant morning as
we said good-bye to Shelley and Kate and set off promptly from BSC for Chilomoni. Visibi1ity was good and we didn't need torches to evade early morning bicyclists, charcoal
carriers and the occasional mantrap. We tried to remember Crabby’s shortcut
through Chilomoni and evolved our own
version. In good spirits we reached the forestry
station to see tickets being sold to early morning wood gatherers.
It was cool and pleasant and we made the summit
on time with the Bannister
schedule. The green of Michiru mountain contrasted vividly with the lack of it beyond.
We trundled off to trail 3 to the sound of the axe hackers
and wondered if this 'emerald
isle’ would last.
Two panting Petzolds hailed
us as we left the summit. Mike's 10th 3 Peaks and he'd had trouble getting up for it and had just caught us up. Again
on schedule we hit the Conservation office
with Shelley and Kate on hand to administer liquids
of various kinds and yummy yummy peanut
brittle. Unfortunately, John Killick, also on his 10th 3 Peaks, was struggling with a gammy leg and decided to duck out here.
Refreshed, we set off for the river crossing and a meander
through the countless brick kilns to the M1.
Everybody seemed to be bricking with
new buildings springing up everywhere. Arthur had to be restrained in his
curiosity to investigate every brick
site there was but after a little local palaver we managed to line him up. The
sun blazed down and it got pretty hot
so it was a weary party that strolled up the Johnston drive to be pampered once
again by Shelley, Kate and Sean. The Johnston house was like an oasis on the Ndirande hillside and it took a bit of pushing
to get us moving again. Dave and Eric were not to be pushed.
For
me the next bit is always one of the worst parts of the walk and this year was no exception, only it was tougher.
The
long grass, product of our excellent rainy season,
made the uphill going very arduous. Eventually we came to the workings of
that new breed of man - the Ndirande mountain gardener.
Furrow after furrow of exposed soil on extreme slopes destined for the
Indian Ocean. Hot and sweaty we made it
to the col and were dismayed to find the path up to the gully also badly overgrown. So, it was considerably
behind schedule that we finally rested our butts on Ndirande
peak.
We could see the landrover and
lunch and descended through the
ex-Ndirande forest,
now a mass of mainly impenetrable undergrowth. Hot
and weary we were
truly grateful to the support vehicles and
their staff at the radio station. Hot
tea was my deranged
choice but Eric had cold greens to revive the others. Again, a certain
reluctance to get moving was apparent
- absolute on the part of Rod. We scrambled down the backside of Ndirande for a pleasant stroll
to Hynde Dam. Verena made light of the amount of
time she had been waiting there and did her best to reconstitute us with some gruesome liquid. With
cramps and toe agonies Mike overcame opt-out inclinations to at least walk to Soche Secondary School then
a whiff of Eau de Cologne on MYP Drive somehow worked
wonders and the pace picked
up as the sun went down.
At Soche Sec.
Shelley gave us the good news that Sean and Kate were
still stuck on Ndirande with my landrover and she’d had to make a
heroic walk down through the township to get help. As it happened, Sean eventually got the landrover going again.
How many times have we heard that one! With the last peak awaiting we fair
blasted up Soche, trotted up the top obelisk, and, with a sun racing towards
the skyline we skidded down Soche
following Matthew and John who'd checked the route some time back. Sad
to report, but Soche forest is
starting to go. We met women carrying bundles down, saw
many fresh tree stumps and heard lots of hackers. The misery of deforestation around Blantyre
continues. At Chimwankhunda dam Shelley and
Andy Crabb were there to meet us in the remnants of daylight and provide
refreshment. With thoughts of being almost home and
watching the rugby game we raced off back to Blantyre. At about 6.15, an hour
behind schedule, we ran down the
BSC drive, would have leapt over the barrier if they’d kept it closed, and in
excellent spirits the 6 of us completed the 1997 3 Peaks walk
by trotting into the club. And for some of us the final 20 mins of
that rugby game in Durban gave that little extra bit of satisfaction to an already satisfying day.
Martin Horrocks
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