The stretch after Murghab can only be described as like cycling on the moon. Or mars, but colder. Nothing but rocks and mountains and a few supremely isolated yurts. No trees, no villages, not even any yaks. We were pedaling towards the highest pass that any of us were likely to ever cycle over : … Continue reading Cycling on the moon
By the time we reached Khorug, our bodies, brains and bikes were well in need of a rest. The new wheels had held up through the bumpy gravel roads and our digestive systems were mostly back to normal, but we were exhausted and one of my pannier bags had a rather sizeable 8 inch tear … Continue reading The M41: Khorug – Murghab
After a couple of bad nights sleep in a cheap hostel in Dushanbe, we managed to find and move in with a warmshowers, Bianca. We were in fact really lucky, as Bianca was only staying in Dushanbe for two months whilst completing an internship and agreed to have us in her apartment during the very … Continue reading The North Road
We had been anticipating the Pamir Highway for such a long time. When we were getting tired of the lack of camping and craving some personal space in Iran, I was wishing ourselves forward a few thousand kms to Tajikistan. But then suddenly we were here. Less than ten days after leaving Iran, we had … Continue reading Back into the mountains
Uzbekistan was without a doubt the hottest country we had ever been. A bit like a flashback to Portugal on one of its hottest days of the year, but worse. Even hotter (or perhaps just drier) and without any ocean nearby to dive in to cool down, not even for a few minutes. We entered … Continue reading Melting along the Silk Road
Some years ago, I met my parent's new neighbours in Ireland : Liam and Ayna. From accent alone you could tell Liam was a local, but Ayna said she was from Turkmenistan. My teenaged self nodded her head, wondering, literally, where on Earth that was. Some years later, we were planning to cycle across the … Continue reading Through the White City to the Gates of Hell