Just back from a 3 month trail around Central Asia including riding what must be one of the worlds most remote and inaccessible and stunning roads in the world: The Pamir Highway in Tajikistan. We rode 12,000 miles and visited 23 countries including Romania, Moldova, Transdneistria (which doesn't exist), Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia (including South Ossetia 
) and Turkey. We covered all kinds of terrain, 1000's of kilometers of it really rough, crossed more borders than you can shake a shitty stick (or an orange batton) at, got pulled over by straight and bent cops god knows how many times, saw some amazing sights and met some truly wonderful, hospitable people.
Both bikes (1150GS and an Africa Twin) did fantastically well - the only problems I had were both front fork seals going one after the other and a knackered rear light cluster. It ran on sub-80 RON fuel, crossed mountain passes at 4500 metres plus, managed to plough over some really crap surfaces and generally got a damn good battering all pretty much without complaint. Still seems incredible that more stuff didn't go wrong on such a big and cumbersome bike - we even got away with only one puncture between us throughout the entire trip! (mine unfortunately
).
Central Asia is not the easiest of places to ride to and around; it requires a bit of planning and an certain amount of stamina in some places but the rewards are fantastic in terms of natural beauty but mostly in terms of the friendliness and hospitality of some of the people we met who live in some of these crazy, often very poor and sometimes oppressed places.
Will post more pictures and a rudimentry ride report when I'm unpacked and settled in, but for now here's some piccies that I like...
Cheers,
Pluck
Err, road closed. Romania
The motorway, Kazakhstan style
Dans bike in one of the potholes...
Most of Kyrgystan looks like this - beautiful
More Kyrgystan...
Near the Tajik border - thats the Pamir Altay mountain range we're heading for. Some of those peaks are 7000m +. China is to the very left of the picture.
Heading out on the Pamir Highway
This shot was taken from a pass at 4650m. The Pamirs are is basically a high plateau range (approx 3500m) with huge peaks all around, and forms part of the Himalyan range. It's so remote that each valley is cut off from it's neighbours for much of the year round, and often each valley will have it's own language. The scenery is truly awesome, like being on Pluto or something.
Tajikistan is desparately poor, slowly trying to recover after a bloody civil war. The average annual wage probably wouldn't cover the cost of a new rear tyre. Much of it's money comes either directly or indirectly from the opium trade which uses it's moutains and high passes to traffic heroin to the west. The locals are semi-nomadic, and despite everything, friendly, hospitable and interested. These children from Murghab loved having their photo taken.
It's hard to capture the sheer scale of the landscape - our lenses simply couldn't fit it all in! Thats Afghanistan across the river there.
This Sunni muslim family from one of the mountain villages took us in and treated us like kings. The hospitality we recieved here and on many other occasions on the trip truly humbled us. Our stay with this family I think was my highlight of the trip. They didn't have much, but what they did have they shared with us.
River crossing...
Best not wander of the track! Landmines all down the Tajik / Afghan border. Tajikistan's mountains are prime hide-out territory for Islamic insurgents, so even if it wasn't for the landmines you probably wouldn't want to wander off without a good guide
More reminders of war - this one probably left by the Russians after they pulled out of Afghanistan.
The old guy is a "white beard" - one of the village elders.
more to come....
) and Turkey. We covered all kinds of terrain, 1000's of kilometers of it really rough, crossed more borders than you can shake a shitty stick (or an orange batton) at, got pulled over by straight and bent cops god knows how many times, saw some amazing sights and met some truly wonderful, hospitable people.Both bikes (1150GS and an Africa Twin) did fantastically well - the only problems I had were both front fork seals going one after the other and a knackered rear light cluster. It ran on sub-80 RON fuel, crossed mountain passes at 4500 metres plus, managed to plough over some really crap surfaces and generally got a damn good battering all pretty much without complaint. Still seems incredible that more stuff didn't go wrong on such a big and cumbersome bike - we even got away with only one puncture between us throughout the entire trip! (mine unfortunately
).Central Asia is not the easiest of places to ride to and around; it requires a bit of planning and an certain amount of stamina in some places but the rewards are fantastic in terms of natural beauty but mostly in terms of the friendliness and hospitality of some of the people we met who live in some of these crazy, often very poor and sometimes oppressed places.
Will post more pictures and a rudimentry ride report when I'm unpacked and settled in, but for now here's some piccies that I like...
Cheers,
Pluck
Err, road closed. Romania
The motorway, Kazakhstan style
Dans bike in one of the potholes...
Most of Kyrgystan looks like this - beautiful
More Kyrgystan...
Near the Tajik border - thats the Pamir Altay mountain range we're heading for. Some of those peaks are 7000m +. China is to the very left of the picture.
Heading out on the Pamir Highway
This shot was taken from a pass at 4650m. The Pamirs are is basically a high plateau range (approx 3500m) with huge peaks all around, and forms part of the Himalyan range. It's so remote that each valley is cut off from it's neighbours for much of the year round, and often each valley will have it's own language. The scenery is truly awesome, like being on Pluto or something.
Tajikistan is desparately poor, slowly trying to recover after a bloody civil war. The average annual wage probably wouldn't cover the cost of a new rear tyre. Much of it's money comes either directly or indirectly from the opium trade which uses it's moutains and high passes to traffic heroin to the west. The locals are semi-nomadic, and despite everything, friendly, hospitable and interested. These children from Murghab loved having their photo taken.
It's hard to capture the sheer scale of the landscape - our lenses simply couldn't fit it all in! Thats Afghanistan across the river there.
This Sunni muslim family from one of the mountain villages took us in and treated us like kings. The hospitality we recieved here and on many other occasions on the trip truly humbled us. Our stay with this family I think was my highlight of the trip. They didn't have much, but what they did have they shared with us.
River crossing...
Best not wander of the track! Landmines all down the Tajik / Afghan border. Tajikistan's mountains are prime hide-out territory for Islamic insurgents, so even if it wasn't for the landmines you probably wouldn't want to wander off without a good guide
More reminders of war - this one probably left by the Russians after they pulled out of Afghanistan.
The old guy is a "white beard" - one of the village elders.
more to come....
Seemed to work!
