Really into Tajikistan

Getting out of the Uzbekistan border a second time was almost as long the first, but we were much quicker filling out the forms. 

The country looked much harsher and more mountainous as we headed south to camp at Iskanderkull Lake in the same named National Park.  it was getting late as we arrived and we hastily set up our tents.  The view across the lake to the mountains was a post card.  We  built a camp fire and made a meal of the various things we had. Not a great meal!   Just as we were about to hit the mattresses, a local TV doco team turned up and interviewed us about our views of Tajik..... we'd been in the country for about 6 hours.

 Our camp site.  The ground was rocky... hard to get pegs in and you could feel them through the mattress.   Very cold during the night.

Next morning we again headed south to the Pamir Highway, one of the world's great adventure roads.  but before we could get there, we had to get through the Anzob Tunnel.   Its about 6km long and has been a disaster since it was built.  Its covered in water, so you can't see the huge deep potholes.   Out of these potholes stick metre long curled reo bars.  There is water gushing from the water table and its unlit.  My mudguard directed water directly into my sparkplug and I needed to stop 3 times to clear it.   The diesel fumes made it hard to breathe, but we all got through.  We should have received medals.  The pics aren't great, but will give you an idea.

 Survived the Tunnel of Doom.   Google it.

We didn't stop in Dushanbe but headed to the Afghan border. Spent the night in Kulob in a fantast retro Russian hotel. No lifts (we were on the 4th floor), no hot water  and we all needed a shower, so had cold ones in another room as there was no water all in our rooms), no TV, and no power until we complained and they got it going.  And no breakfast!  Any way next morning we where at the Pang River which separates Tajik from Afghanistan.

 No asphalt in these parts but the roads were not too bad some of the time.  GPSs were working fine thanks to Ben's work on the maps.

 Dave on one of the good sections before it turned to bulldust.  This road was full of  huge trucks in convoys which made for hasrd going.

 When we got to the border, we followed it for about 2 days.  The pic below is a small Afghan village.  People were friendly and frequently waved.

We were surprized at the number of cyclists we saw.   Lone guys, couples and one group of 3 Polish girls.  In the middle of nowhere we would see these crazy people. 

 Dave having a pose with the local kids while Peter worked on his flat tyre.  These kids were great. Brought us cherries and water while we waited.

Typical packing and maintenance mess.  Below is pic of the bike having a quiet lay down.  Crested a rise and realised the road went where I was not expecting it to go.   The rocks looked like they'd been put there especially for me to hit.   

 Mudguard wedged itself into a crevice and snapped off.    I had to completely unpack the bike to get it back on the road.  I was at the rear of the group, so help was going to be a long time coming.

 Genuine Afghan camel caravan across the river.

 The bike was tired again a bit later and had another rest.  This was just deep sand.  I almost saved it, but it went the other way and spat me off.   Lucky I'm a tough old guy.

 Typical gravelly sandy type of road.  This is one of their main highways.

Another charming road side café.  Greasy water, some spuds, carrots and either goat or mutton.  They call it soup.

 This was our last home stay in Tajikistan.  These towns are really tough little places.  The people are fantastic, but have so little. This town had a water pump for fresh water and people lined up to pump their 2 buckets worth.

 Getting petrol meant buying from the local bootlegger who filled the bikes from old oil containers and coke bottles.  bike looks great without a front guard, but a bugger in a puddle.

During this stage of the ride we were riding at over 3000mts and up over 4000mts at a couple of the passes.   A bit of a strain, but no real altitude problems.

 The team at the Akbajtal Pass at 4655mts

 Crazy cyclists.

 Lake Karakul, just before leaving Tajikistan

The result of not having a front guard, and I was dodging the puddles. This was taken in the no mans land (20km) between Tajik and Kyrgyzstan.