Gael warning on the Pamir Highway

[Deise]

Thanks for sharing

 

[richardbd]

Fabulous Simon. Just fabulous. Love the point about if not now, when and I can't wait for your next jaunt.

Oh - and I forgive you for skipping the Charyn Canyon. At those temperatures, I'd have done the same.

 

[Tinytim]

Loved every minute of it thank you Simon.

 

[Bloomers100]

As always thanks for taking the time out to describe events on another epic.

 

[Santa-2512]

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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Dont give up on the broken zip

PM me when you get back there easily fixable


I'll wave the film rights, its your tale & an epic one at that

 

[Flintlock]

A fab report - great read & pictures.
Thank you for sharing & safe return home.

 

[Jockser]

Great write up & pictures as always Simon
You Sir are one tough MoFo
For an oul fella

Personally I don't know how you didn't kill Gary & bury him out on the steppe....

 

[dr nosh]

Fantastic adventure.

Thanks for taking the time to post up for us to read.

 

[jasp]

Incredible trip and wonderful write up and pic, thank you,very inspirational.

 

[Northern jock]

Great trip and report.
Any anti western hostility anywhere, apart from the stone throw? Or was the Ukraine issue not an issue?

 

[landmarkjohn]

Good stuff Simon. If UKGSER had an “Adventurer Of The Year” award I think you’d definately be in the running. Certainly in the Over 60’s category

 

[simondippenhall]

Great trip and report.
Any anti western hostility anywhere, apart from the stone throw? Or was the Ukraine issue not an issue?

We had only friendliness and hospitality and people responded very positively to the mention of Ireland (‘Conor McGregor’!!) and California (Schwarzenegger!).

My impression is that the Stans distanced themselves from Russia as soon as the USSR collapsed. The reality is that many people still go to Russia for work (wage remittances from Russia are a significant proportion of GDP) because they can do so and wages are higher, and the second language here is Russian - very few people (and they are younger people) speak any English so my time swotting on Duolingo was well spent.

But many have relatives who made it to USA or Canada and that’s where aspirations lie I think.

One data point I missed: the journey was about 5,500 kilometres of which a large part was off-road. My rear tyre was near the wear mark at the end whilst G’a was like a racing slick…possibly different riding styles but also our 35-40 kg weight difference?

Almaty is a lovely city to walk the tree lined avenues and enjoy the day which is what I am doing before I fly tomorrow

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[simondippenhall]

Great write up & pictures as always Simon
You Sir are one tough MoFo
For an oul fella

Personally I don't know how you didn't kill Gary & bury him out on the steppe....

Thanks Jochen. Tell you more in Leenane


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[richie]

Great trip, only just looked through this thing now, well done.

 

[jeffa]

Thank you for a wonderful experience.

 

[adventuredon]

Loved the write up! But $85 a day for the bikes seems very steep considering the amount you were paying for food etc. Hope they gave you discount for the number of hours you were stranded or required a repair.

 

[Aidan1150]

Great report thanks Simon.

I'll have to talk yer man into doing something similar upon our return

 

[simondippenhall]

After my Starbucks coffee I wandered off to see the Cathedral (again) but was seduced by a Qazakburger and French fries

After a pleasant and relaxing afternoon I decide to head back for a nap, when a message alerts me that G has arrived back in Almaty (and almost simultaneously a message from Marat the hire guy asking ME to get G to contact him!).

My WhatsApp to a mutual friend summarised the situation:

“So the good news is Gary has today emerged safely from the desert but (not untypical!) he has so pissed off Marat the rental guy by his non-communication that Marat has tracked down G’s own Honda in Almaty and threatened to file a police report which will detain him here for two weeks.

All entirely avoidable but then G never takes the simple approach . I am just wryly observing at this point although I promised to bring him some gruel in prison tonight if they do nab him.”

In fact G had been so alarmed by Marat’s threat of the police that he arranged to meet Marat away from the hotel and positioned himself on the opposite side of the street to observe at a distance, in case Marat arrived with armed support!

I found this so baffling as my dealings with Marat had been very amicable but it was clear that he and G definitely pushed each other’s buttons!

My handover to Marat:

Anyway I stayed silent and neutral whilst this WhatsApp war evolved and in fact had a very pleasant farewell dinner with Gary, who keeps bouncing back:

My final job was to sort out Gary’s finances as, although he knew he could not use his cards in Russia due sanctions, he had neglected to bring any hard currency . So I gave him my substantial stash of USD and euro so he is now better equipped to travel/or pay off the big guys in the prison yard .

Never a dull moment!!


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[Toshack10]

Like Teflon

 

[Santa-2512]

Like Teflon

As they say, only a matter of time