28/8

I wake up early and feel completly miserable, nauseous and faint. My stomach is in turmoil and my plan for today is Shipad, about 70 km south, if I have the energy to manage that. No breakfast and mostly all water I drink comes up just as quickly. Gonna be a tough day. The road is bumpy like hell and the trucs and jeeps leaves behind large clouds of dust and I feel it in my bronchial tubes and my breathing is difficult.

Around noon, my GPS navigator showed 28 km, but it felt like twice that distance. A gasstation become my salvation, outside the office buildning an empty bed with mattress stand there. I asked the guy it it was OK to use it for an half and hour.

– Yes it´s OK he sad and nods

This gasstation become my salvation, an empty bed with mattress for one hour

I fell asleep pretty quickly and woke up just an hour later feeling much more refreshed. I continue and passing some small villages, childern shouts Hello, Hello running toward me for hive-fives which I prefer to avoid as there is a risk of cycling over.

My stomach flu has gotten better and the nausea almost gone but I haven‘t gotten my appetite back and I feel completely exhausted. Despite that, I forced myself to stop for some food.

After just under a mile the gravel road ends and it becomes heavy cycling through a large area of drifting sand instead, it is on the limit that I can get forward sitting on the bike but luckily there is barely only a km to fight through.

Then a short drive downhill before I cross the Vanch River, and a little further on, I spot several buildings and a few vehicles, realizing it’s some sort of passport and Visa control.

Pass and Visa control checkpointg at Lyakhsh

Tajikistani military–clad inspectors with big hats are watching me from head to toe and I hand over my passport and visa documents with the GBAO permit stamped to an officer who takes the documents and enters the building. After about ten minutes, I get my documents back and I pedal on through a small mountain pass. For few km the  road was paved before it turns to normal again!

Despite the bad road, I have to admit that I enjoy the surroundings, the river, the small Afghan green oases and the majestic mountains that surround me. But I would probably have a hard time living here. Winter and all the sacrifices to cope with daily life must be stressful.

In the late afternoon, I passed through the small village of Shipad, and on my right, near the Panj River I spotted a large green area perfect for camping. Two motorcyclists had already chosen the spot, so I decided to join them.

Entering Shipad and time for camping

Very nice tentcamp by the river Panji in Shipad

I pitched up my tent and then headed down to the ice-cold Panj River to refresh myself. My appetite is still low, no dinner, only coffee and some sweet cookies before I before I went out and sleept

See yea later
P-G
// The Global Cyclist

27/8
I slept quite good and when it was time for breakfast I felt rested and ready for today’s trip on gravel road . The breakfast is served in the same place under some shading trees and view of the road. Same menu as yesterdays dinner! boiled meat, bread and nescafé. After breakfast I ask about the toilet and the guy who received me last night points down to the other side of the road.

There is a small rectangular building or shed of stone. When I look in through the doorway, I saw a broken toilet seat that leans suspiciously but there is a hole in the floor as an alternative to the toilet seat.!!

I refrain

The shower is on the other side of the plot a little higher up and it is also a stone building. A washing machine of the model fifties is the first thing I see and in the room inside there is a shower with a nozzle in the ceiling and a water pressure that barely gives water spread, in addition the water is cold, but it´s water and flowing.

Shower and freshen up before I cycle off to Khorough it´s a good start. After just under a km of cycling, the good paved road standard I had the day before is over and the challenge begins, especially for the tires.

This road surface is what I have to expect until I reach Khorog

The nice and paved road from Shuro–Obod has now turned into a gravel road and consists of loose stones, potholes, holes more stone, dust and sometimes remains of asphalt and 
rest of the way to Khorough will mostly be similar to this if to believe all the info I have received from other bike travelers. Just to accept it.

Narrow, bumpy road and heavy loaded trucs

The trucks I meet are at low speed and I wonder what it is like to sit and shake in a truck along this road. It bumps dangerously and it is important to hold on to the handlebars properly and the speed is for obvious reasons low and I agonize to have problems with the bike after this road.

Mountains can be very beautiful

Pamir River keeps floating quite calm

Despite lack of green areas Pamir is beautiful and majestic

Short after noon I came to Kalai khum, the name means “fortress on the banks of the river of Khumb” a little lager community and a important village as overnight rest which explain the number s of hotels and homestays. I did a stop here for water refilling and resting my legs but also quench my thirst with a cold beer. Before I left I meet another guy on bucycle, an older one from UK. We shared some info about our ride and thing like that. Always fun to meet like-minded people, hope they have same thoughts about me!

Kalai Khum, halfway between Dushanbe and Khorog

The road out of town is steep, and I can barely make it up without hopping off the bike. The distance sign above warns there’s no easy ride to Khorugh ahead, though I already suspected as much.

Three days cycling before I reach Khorog

Still, the bumpy road is worth it for the stunning, almost magical scenery—small villages like green oases, filled with trees, bushes, and plantations, with light brown clay houses scattered throughout, and Panj river floating slowley. Between those beautiful scenerys It doesn’t grow much, sand, gravel and huge mountains. On the Afghan side, it seems to be more green than on the Tajik side.

It shakes and jolts so much that I find it hard to believe I will reach Khorough without getting several punctures. Even the trucks have a hard time – they roll so slowly that sometimes I get up the hill faster than they get down! They must be overloaded, and the brakes can’t handle it, so they use the engine brake all the time.
The jeeps, however drive a bit  faster and honk persistently if I don‘t immediately move aside. Sometimes I refuse to listen to their eager honking as I have no desire to ride  far out on the right edge,in loose gravel with a ravine dropping straight down the river. Truck wrecks along the road testify to this and
that´s  important to find a suitable place to stop.

Some parts of this highway, M41 are however quite good, but if paved all way to Khoroug much of this historic and mythical road would lose some of its soul.

Narrow roads and problems with overtaking so it was left to find suitable meeting places

Several stops for waterrefilling and I also took chances to freshen up my self  in the cold streams that flow into the Panj River. From
the other side the child shouts and waves to me and I realise how different people’s everyday lives can be like. Pamir Highway is more than a road,
it is a lifeline for all who live by it. 

On the Afghan side, the villages are linked by narrow paths or trails that sometimes seem to defy gravity as they wind along the mountainside.

A narrow, almost vertical path makes me wonder what it’s like to climb it.

In the evening I pitch my tent on a plateau next to the Panj River and on the other side an Afghan village right across from me on a hillside. It is so steep that the cars going up to the village rumble a lot when they are about to get up and it looks almost scary when you see the bright cones of the car headlights straight up to the sky.

Poshkharv campsite

Nevertheless is mightily to sit inside tent , drink coffee and watch the lights in the houses turn on and off, hear voices talking and laughing. While I checking out the activities on the mountainside I´m preparing evening dinner. Later in the evening I heard some religious exclamation from some local minaret.

I crawled down into my sleepingbag around 9 p.m and started up my audiobook. Later in evening I woke up several times feeling sick, dizziness and proberly I had fever. From now until 6 a.m. and make a number of trips to the toilet in the area. I use nature’s toilet six times.

See yea later
P-G
// The Global Cyclist

26/8

The morning begins with partly cloudy weather and almost no wind. The road is still incredibly good, but I remember that it is supposed to get worse ahead. The rest of the way up to Yoged, which is just under 300 km from Khorough, not only offers a good road, but also breathtakingly beautiful and majestic landscapes, though there are some quite tough climbs at times.

When I left my tent camping just outside Kishti Poyen I have covered 250 km and still 340 km left to checkpoint two, Khorog. and the toughest part is left.
This part om Pamir Highway or M41 following river Panji which is also border river between Tajikistan and Afghanistan. I often see small villages, vehicles  being driven, and hearing children’s play on the Afghan side.

The villages are small in most cases and I only cycle through them if I am not in need of water or suchlike.

Just before ten a´clock a.m. I took my first longer break at a small village and a typical roadside café with a leafy area below and several tables set out.

Early lunch break at a popular roadside bar

It is Saturday, and many are probably off work today, as there are plenty of people gathered around some of the barbecue spots. It also seems to be a place for travellers, since several cars are parked there.

I choose a table indoors and get salad, rice and some pieces of chicken, lukewarm drink and tea.

Praying mantis are ambush predators that chase other insects.

What we Westerners are not quite used to are all the flies and other insects that love to gather where there is food, but the other guests seem to take it all in their stride!

Curious glances come from all directions, and I suppose they wonder who I am and where I come from. The flag I have on the back of my bike, I suspekt few know where it is from.

The proximity to Afghanistan and the civil war that raged between 1992 and 1997 has left visible traces…

Russian tank left since the russian war in Afghanistan

and a number of times I encounter patrolling soldiers along the road with Kalashnikovs.

Patrolling Tajik soldiers, more curious than suspicious

Most of the time, they just note my passage, but occasionally someone wants to check my Visa and whether I have a GBAO permit or not.

After some tough climbing I reached Yoged, a small village but a Homsestay (B&B) made my interest so I stoped and asked for one night stand.

– 5 $ for bed includning dinner a young guy told me.
– I´ll accept

You couldn’t possibly haggle, even if you had no shame at all.

I get a room divided into two, with a 20” Russian tube TV. The bed is a thick red mattress on the floor. I drag it to one corner of the partition wall towards the other room so I can lie down and watch Russian TV.

The dinner was meat soup, vetetables and bread. Not a gourmet dinner but I got full and that was the most important.

Yoged-creek floats into  Panji river

See yea Later

P-G
//The Global Cyclist

23 august

I woke up to the screams of local youths and the sounds of their livestock, along with the thundering traffic below.

I rode downhill for a few kilometers before crossing a beautiful blue-green shimmering river called Vakhsh, which is also home to one of the world’s highest hydroelectric dams, the Nurek Dam. Hydroelectric power is one of Tajikistan’s export assets.

Crossing Vakhsh river at Nurek

Then, I faced a tough uphill climb of nearly 10 kilometers before reaching the next tunnel to pass through. The heat, which had now risen above thirty degrees, made cycling quite a challenge, and the water I had with me was lukewarm.

The tunnel was unlit, and cycling through it was no fun. When I emerged on the other side, I was greeted by a breathtaking view down to a lake that the road signs referred to as the Blue Sea. It’s actually the reservoir of the Nurek Dam.

Blue Sea, Nurek dam from above

A few hundred meters ahead, after a cut through the mountain, I came across a large gravel area with numerous tents serving food and drinks. Many cars, trucks, and buses had already stopped here for a meal and a break, so I did the same.
I was hungry and also needed some rest, especially from the heat and sun. I ordered soup with boiled meat.

While eating, I enjoyed the view of the large blue lake with several prominent mountain formations. Again, it’s the reservoir of the Nurek Dam. After this  lunch, I had a challenging climb left before completing the final 25 kilometers on relatively easy roads.

Unfortunately, I noticed that my front tire had a slow leak, but it wasn’t bad enough to prevent me from pumping it up and cycling a few kilometers at a time. I decided to wait until my evening camp to change the inner tube. I also needed to replace two broken spokes, which I planned to do when I reached Kulob.

At a roadside eatery, I stopped when I saw a few other cyclists and parked my bike beside their table. It was a copule from Germany and we exchanged a few words with each other. I changed the inner tube, pumped it up, and was about to go inside for some coffee or a glass of beer when I noticed that the couple had parked their bikes in a courtyard and had a room for the night.

The eatery had a large yellow-green grassy area in the courtyard where you could pitch a few tents, but they also had three or four rooms that you could essentially stay in for free if you dined there. There were shower facilities, but the water supply wasn’t up to our usual standards.

The German couple caught my attention with their light blue T-shirts. The man, about my age, and his wife, roughly fifteen years younger, had an inspiring story. He’d been fighting blood cancer for twelve years, and the words on their shirts read, “Cycling for Cancer.” It was impressive to learn he had cycled through many countries, including visiting Iceland six times.
Apparently, exercise is good for both the mind and keeping diseases at bay.

The room had four bare white walls with two electrical outlets, no carpets, no tables, so I inflated the mattress and brought out my sleeping bag. Before settling in, I had to chase out all those pesky ants, but the flies were harder to deal with.
Despite the heat, I fell asleep fairly quickly.

See yeah later
P-G
// The Global Cyclist

22 August
After three nights at the Green House Hostel in Dushanbe, without doing anything except resting my body and especially my legs, I was ready for the next challenge, getting to Khorough and then to into Kyrgyzstan. Cycling from Dushanbe over Pamir to the border of Kyrgyzstan is quite a tough ride.

I have planned for four intermediate goals, Kulob – Khrog – Murghab and Karakul lake before  crossing the Kyrgyz border after approximately 1100 km

Before leaving Dushanbe, I made a bank transfer at the Sheraton hotel because it’s not sure, like in Europe where ATMs are everywhere. Here, you need to have cash!

The first 25 kilometers towards Kelob were mostly easy cycling on a very good road. Then I had to work hard to climb all the hills.

After nearly 40 kilometers, I reached the summit for the day and enjoyed a nice descent before I cycled through the 4.5-kilometer-long Khatlon tunnel, previously known as the Chormaghzak tunnel.

My longest tunnel so far. Khatlon tunnel 4.5 km long and the lighting inside was non-existent

I have to admit, it wasn’t a great experience. The tunnel was almost completely dark, and my bike’s front lights were far too dim.

When I finally came out the other side, evening dark had fallen, and it was time to find a good camping spot. About 300 meters from the tunnel, a side road led me up to a plateau where I pitched my tent, with a nice view of the traffic below.

See Yeah Later
P-G

// The Global Cyclist 1719