Gael warning on the Pamir Highway

[simondippenhall]

Our trip back was uneventful and the rock throwing shepherd boy was no longer in evidence, thankfully.

Once we got down to the warmth of the lake we refuelled and rode on to Karakul where we ended up in the comfortable Caravan Hotel. Suddenly I felt completely bushed, shivering uncontrollably. I took a hot shower and sat on my sun porch to get warm again then climbed into bed and tried to sleep, skipping dinner.

My heart rate, normally resting 58-60, was very high

After talking to G I decided at 9 to go to the hospital and get checked out. The first taxi had no fuel so we had to hail another one .

Anyway long story short I was seen rapidly and checked out with ECG, oxygen sensor, x ray for lungs and chest examination….and pronounced fit and well (despite my hacking 4-week old cough)

The x ray cost £17 and I returned to my hotel feeling less concerned and ready to sleep, at about 11.


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[Deise]

My heart rate behaves similarly just reading\viewing your trip . lol

take care

p.s. your photos do convey vastness

 

[jasp]

Incredible scenery on the high passes! Hope the ticker settles down a bit Simon.

 

[simondippenhall]

So this morning I took a rest day…but not for the reasons you might imagine .

I woke about 6.30 feeling much better than the night before, and headed down to a mediocre breakfast about 8. Gary was a little later for reasons evident in his note

I feel an inadequate drinking companion for Gary as I am virtually teetotal but he seems to like going to his room and drinking and watching Netflix or YouTube so we spend little time together when not riding or breakfasting.

Anyway eventually we headed to the bikes and I discovered that my bike steering had been locked last night and the key was not about to turn in the barrel.

For 15 minutes with the aid of WD49 we tried and failed to move the lock. I took off the headlamp assembly but couldn’t find a way to tackle the lock barrel.

So I sent Gary on his way (we were to do a ‘there and back’ up into the mountains that day).

I asked the receptionist if they knew if a locksmith and she called a local mechanic. When the young man arrived I hand him the key and he deftly wiggles it in the lock and opens it! Hurrah! I shall think of him as the ‘key whisperer’ from now on as none of us could move it even a fraction.

I offered him a fiver and he politely gave me back £3 in change so a well spent £2 and I won’t be using that steering lock ever again!!

As it was now midday and very hot I decided to stay home and have a rest day, walking to the Orthodox Cathedral at the town centre…it seems to be built of wood

Then a pleasant lunch, a post lunch nap and a very painful but therapeutic massage in the afternoon prepares me for our last evening together of this trip.

Gary is heading into the wilds for the next 2 days whilst I am going to gently bimble across the mountains to Kazakhstan and Almaty where I return the bike Wednesday


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[Tinytim]

Fabulous photos all through your journey Simon, but this one does it for me.

 

[simondippenhall]

Fabulous photos all through your journey Simon, but this one does it for me.

Thanks Tinytim…..it’s an amazing place but not for the faint of heart


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[Rich C]

I'm sure your 15 minutes with the WD49 did the trick and loosened it... The local mechanic then took all the glory!

Fabulous RR Simon, thanks for sharing it with us... A great adventure for you with all the trials and tribulations, highs and lows associated with that... Safe onward travels...

 

[GrumpySimes]

Loving this, ride safe.

 

[simondippenhall]

So I said farewell to G, having equipped him with the tyre spoons, magic stick and pump. (On the basis he was headed for more remote parts, but it meant I was stuffed if I punctured.

I was going to take the main road in the hope it was largely tarmac thus less puncture risk.

It’s about 365 kms which is more important that Google’s often far-fetched time estimates.

In the event there were long stretches of gravel roads on the Kyrgyzstan side!

It was noticeable how spring like and green the countryside became as I headed out of Kyrgyzstan

As I descended from the pass at 2,000 metres it became increasingly hot - these horses had the right idea!

The stifling heat was clearly giving thunder storms ahead

I stopped at Moon Canyon, the little sibling to Charyn Canyon

By the time it came to the turnoff for the 10km dirt road to the main canyon it was so hot that I decided against (sorry, Richardbd!). I was seeing 37C on my watch and a hot canyon suddenly lost its appeal.

This elegant young woman was selling little cheese balls which seem much sought out by passing motorists

I was told benzene was 20 kms down the road…there was a pump but long closed!

However after a 180 kms stretch with no fuel I happily alighted on a station where I sat indoors and enjoyed the cool and a cold drink, trying to bring my temperature down to normal again


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[simondippenhall]

From there it was a relatively straightforward ride down to Almaty where I then hit heavy traffic as I headed to my chosen hotel, filtering madly (including a (soft, fortunately) pannier run against a car. I waved in apology and made sure I filtered on quickly .

I arrived at my hotel absolutely drained, to be greeted by the customary annoying irk who tells you to work elsewhere. I gave him some frank feedback and entered the reception with my luggage only to be told my booking was with their (similarly named, a VERY annoying central Asian habit!) sister hotel ‘only 10 minutes drive away.

So off I set again to find my actual hotel where I drank some water and crashed out for a nap, absolutely cream-crackered!

Then out to dinner of which I managed only the soup - meat and mushroom, since you ask

Then home for more sleep and recovery.


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[simondippenhall]

Today is a day or recovery. I returned the motorcycle to Marat this morning and he pronounced all good and returned my security deposit. He observed I seemed to have lost weight which may be the case after our arduous high altitude shenanigans.

Gary is MIA somewhere in Kyrgyzstan (at least his tracker last shows him there 30 hours ago) but his remarkable bullet-dodging abilities mean he will probably be fine.

I spent an hour or two working out how to fit all my gear in one suitcase (I had two on the way out, to accommodate G’s tyre. It looks like I will be wearing my motorcycle boots and stretching Turkish Airlines rules to the full…but at £175 for an extra bag it’s worth a try.

I have also been pondering over the trip, how it felt to me, and will share my vapid reflections in the coming day or two.

As I will be going to the funeral of my best man on Saturday, (he is the third of my quartet of university classmates to peg it and the fourth is very ill) I suppose the preeminent thought is:

“Do it while you can!”

Whilst our unescorted escapades are not really recommended for two blokes in their 67th year, “if not now, when?”


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[Rich C]

Very poignant Simon and you are right.... If not now, when... and sorry for the loss of your mates... 2 old school friends of mine last year had their number come up, late 50's...

 

[JoeBiff]

Super ride report and thanks for taking the time to share.

 

[de crowe]

Really loved the report Simon, gotta get there reasonably soon while I can!

 

[The Other PaulG]

Thanks Simon - an incredible trip, brilliantly recorded.

I'm not sure I could have passed those steep ice flows with the big drop... Congratulations and thank you for sharing it with us.

 

[The Other PaulG]

Simon, it's not hard for me to get to either Heathrow or Farnham - let me know if I can assist you on the last leg of your trip.

Paul.

 

[simondippenhall]

Thanks all for your interest and support. And Paul, thanks for the offer but I think my transport home is sorted.

I may have mentioned that Gary was MIA after we parted early yesterday morning. I knew he was taking the road less travelled- I would have been keen but had a plane to catch and couldn’t risk missing it.

The message I got from G 10 minutes ago confirms that sometimes caution is wise:

I admire G’s approach to adventure (he had major back surgery in February ) but have no regrets in missing this one, where it seems he got badly off track:

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[NeilDD]

Blimy Simon, it seems that G is a disaster waiting to happen.
Safe travels home

 

[Santa-2512]

G is TV series material

 

[simondippenhall]

So pending sale of the film rights to Santa 2512, which I expect to cover the costs of the whole trip, here’s some dimensions of the trip, which ran from 13 May to 14 June:

The two big costs were

1. a flight to Almaty - c £600 return with Turkish Airlines via Istanbul.
2. Motorcycle rental for 30 days at USD85/day or £2,000.

The Moto hire is expensive…we were told in Kyrgyzstan by Ala Too Moto that we might have got similar bikes for $50/day in Osh but that’s unproven.

Fuel and living costs are low here and accommodation generally cheap, although we tended to go upmarket for hotels (when we weren’t sleeping in restaurants or on people’s couches!).

So not a cheap trip but, when set against the cost of a guided and supported trip, it cost much less and more importantly, as two travellers we were always welcomed for tea and lunch in people’s homes - an irreplaceable experience which I shall always remember and would not have been possible in a group.

Readers will have picked up that G and I have very different temperaments, Circadian rhythms (morning vs night), risk appetite and approaches to travel and life in general.

Fortunately we managed to overcome those tensions most of the time and work together (I must have internally said at least a dozen times: “That’s it, I have had enough of your shit! …and then resolved to hang on in there in the interests of the trip).

And as G experienced these last 2 days, it’s a lot harder when you are on your own, especially when it comes to picking up a loaded DR650 or repairing a puncture.

Gear: I feel like I was sponsored by UKGSer since most of my gear was bought second hand off the site!

Klim Marrakesh jacket and Dakar trousers off the site, and Kriega backpack also…sadly the zip packed up early in the trip but it remained useable.

Gloves ditto

And the Magadan panniers, now caked in dust, similarly came from UKGSer.

My trip was made more comfortable (less uncomfortable?) by the Airhawk kindly lent me by MikeS of this site .

I also brought long johns and merino tee shirts and with the extreme cold at altitude I made frequent use of those, as well as my BMW winter gloves although most of the time the Dakar gloves were fine.

We used Sena headsets which were very useful to warn of road and trail conditions and to keep us informed of how the other person was doing/feeling and maybe needed to stop.

So hopefully that’s that (and Gary will make it back to Almaty and with working legs).

Thanks again for interest and support.


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