On the basis of my drive from Lilongwe to Nkhudzi Bay, Malawi roads take first prize, in terms of quality, in East Africa - and there is a particularly impressive bit of engineering on the stretch that comes down the escarpment from Dedza towards Monkey Bay.
Malawi also takes first prize in terms of the observance by drivers of the speed limits - 50kph in town and 100kph elsewhere - because the Malawi police operate frequent speed traps and getting caught means an on the spot fine.
With a combination of Carrie's notes and my GPS it was a straightforward journey to Funwe Cottage (pronounced Foonweigh), which is on the west side of Nkhudzi Bay on Lake Malawi. the drive took just over three hours - so I arrived just in time for lunch with Carrie and Jon and an afternoon jaunt in the speedboat across Nkhudzi Bay to Mphande Island, where there were lots of fish eagles and an excellent little pod of hippo.
The water in Lake Malawi is warm (even by my standards) and having a lake at the bottom of the garden is the sort of thing that people in the UK dream about - although there is reputed to be a big croc just around the corner in the next bay .....