Granny on the Silk Road/Pamir Highway

Mide

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This is a very long overdue ride report. We have been home for 3 months!!

For those of you who haven't read previous ride reports, we shipped our bikes to Magadan in 2016, rode to Ulaanbataar (Granny on the Road of Bones)and left the bikes in a bonded warehouse. We returned in 2018 and picked the bikes up and rode to Almaty (Granny on the Steppes) leaving the bikes in the KTM shop in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

On 26th May this year, we flew to Almaty, arriving very early in the morning. We met Fritz in Riga so all arrived together. We had been booked into a lovely hotel (Wedding present from Peter and Sandy:thumb) so we were able to drop our luggage off and go straight to the KTM shop and make sure the bikes were ready for the trip.

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It was great to see the bikes again, and true to form, my little Honda burst to life at the first push of the button:thumb We rode back to the hotel and set about fitting all of the luggage we brought into the Giant Loops and a few extra bags.
No matter how often we do this, we still end up with too much stuff:augie

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We had a relaxed day, early night and set off for the Kyrgyz border first thing Tuesday morning. It's a fairly straight run from Almaty to the border. We had crossed this border before, so knew where we were going. We rode straight towards Bishkek, and skirted around it, as we were heading for the south coast of Issyk Kul. We had travelled across the north side of Issyk Kul in 2018. As we pulled away from the traffic lights on the east side of Bishkek, we saw another bike and he pulled over to have a chat. His reg was BAM, so we showed him our BAM Rider stickers.

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He and his girlfriend didn't speak much english but enough to understand we were hungry and brought us to a nice restaurant:) every time we ate, we relished it, as we were never sure what our next meal would be ike:augie

We were hoping to camp on the edge of Issyk Kul. We arrived to the lake, found a camping spot and pitched our tents. Then headed to the local village to get some food for the evening.
When we pulled up at the shop, the children flocked around us. Really friendly, smiley kids:) Kev bought some sweets in the shop and gave some to the kids.

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Issyk Kul is at an altitude of just over 1,600m so when the sun went down, it got really cold. We knew that we would be spending a lot of our time at higher altitudes than we are used to, so we had plenty of thermal layers:thumb2
We definitely needed them, it was a cold night.

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We woke to a lovely bright day, and packed up the tents. We were riding south to Song Kul today. The roads were tarmac and in good condition. We passed a load of camals and had to stop so Fritz could get a selfie:D

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We pulled over for petrol and while we were filling up, a 1200 GS pulled in, with Polish plates. A big smiley face in the helmet. His name was Jarak and he had been riding for something like 10/12 days, all the way from Poland across Russia. He's an electrician who lives in London. He was travelling in roughly the same direction as us, so joined us to Song Kul. Well, we kinda joined him as he had a working GPS, something none of us had:nenau
We passed many villages on the way, all on lolvely tarmac, til we came to a right hand turn, onto a gravel track. Jarak was a little apprehensive as he had little off road experience. He rode gingerly for the first bit, but soon got into the swing of it.
The scenery was incredible, every corner brought another beautiful vista.

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Song Kul is at an altitude of over 3,000m. So, on our way there, we came over some snow covered passes.

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Obviously, we had to stop and make snow angels:thumb

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We arrived to the Lake and came to a big collection of yurts. So we pulled over and asked if they had room for us 4. There were a whole load of other bikers there, from loads of different countries. They were on a guided trip, on hire bikes. It's always great to meet other travellers, and get some info on the 'must do' things. We had a long chat with their guide and he gave us tips on which routes we should take and where we should go. Our stay here included bed, breakfast and evening meal. They also had a bania, which was great as Issyk Kul had been waaaaay too cold to bathe in that morning. While we were eating dinner, the locals lit the stove in the yurt, so it was really cosy when we went to bed. We woke at about 4am and it was absolutely freezing!
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Nice one Mide .... bringing some memories back :thumb

Please continue ...

:beerjug:
 
Son Kol is such a beautiful place .. love it up there. Look forward to the rest
 
The tour guide left the following morning with all the other bikes. We waved them off, and got ourselves ready.

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We rode off up the road, away from the yurts we had stayed in the night before. The owners of the yurts were in a car in front of us. We rode for maybe 20 minutes, went up a hill, and as we came over the brow of the hill, we saw the most beautiful view I've ever seen. It was absolutely stunning. Photo's just don't do it justice! The owner of the yurts stopped here too, but for them, it was not to look at the view, but to get decent phone coverage!!
He insisted on cosying up to me for a picture. That is his daughter in the side of the picture, on her phone.

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The boys;)

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We stopped here for lunch, one of the least appealing of this trip. See all those pictures outside of food? They don't serve any of them!

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We arrived at Tash Rabat and booked into the yurts right beside the caravanserai. This was the spread that was ready for all visitors. This was like afternoon tea. We had a full meal alter on.

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Tash-Rabat, a 15th century stone caravanserai, located at an altitude of 3,200m. It was an Inn for merchants and travellers on the ancient Silk Road.

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There are 31 rooms/chambers in here.
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That's the caravanserai in the background behind my bike.

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The dome on the top. In the photos below, we areeach standing in one of those doors at the bottom of the dome.

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Some of the local children.
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We had a very enjoyable meal here that night. There were 2 lads staying there in one of the other yurts. One was from Canada and had been travelling on and off for 3 years. He was doing work aways, where you go and stay with people and do 20 hours work per week in return for bed and board. His companion was a young lad from Brazil, who was on a shorter trip. It's always great shooting the breeze with new friends.

After another night where the temperature dropped below freezing, we loaded up and headed back north west. We were travelling pretty much the same road as the day before, to a point, then going left. There were many mountain passes. The switchbacks and twisties were many. The roads were mainly gravel, but the higher up a mountain pass we rode, the worse the road surface became. There were potholes and deep ruts. As we were going over many mountains, there were lots of steep edges to be avoided;)

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And loads more snow, and coldness.

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The scenery was quite alpine in places.

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One of the locals

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This was our lodging for the night. As it turned out, the bikers from the yurts at Song Kul were staying in the guesthouse across the road.
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Nice one Mide .... bringing some memories back :thumb

Please continue ...

:beerjug:

:thumb

Loving this already, is that a CRF your on Mide ?
:beerjug:

Yes:) Best little bike in the world:thumb2

Never saw Kev look like an angel before. Ever.....

:augie

Looks a nice if somewhat cold place to ride,looking forward to more :D

It wasn't going to get any warmer;)

Son Kol is such a beautiful place .. love it up there. Look forward to the rest

:)
 
Tash Rabat ... strewth, was it fourteen years ago since Sue and myself was there?

A truly beautiful place indeed Mide .... keep it coming please :thumb



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:beerjug:
 
Excellent Mide.

Great photos too.
 
Really enjoying this thanks.:thumb2

:thumb

Lovely reading this thanks for the updates :D

:)

Tash Rabat ... strewth, was it fourteen years ago since Sue and myself was there?

A truly beautiful place indeed Mide .... keep it coming please :thumb



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:beerjug:

Love a bit of history;)

Better late than never Mide :rob

Looking forward to the rest of it

:augie

Excellent Mide.

Great photos too.

Thanks guys, sorry for delay, I;ve been gallivanting with the girls for the last week:)
 
We woke to another glorious day. Packed all our gear up, went to the shop for water, filled up with petrol and hit the road. We were heading west to Osh. Jarak was leading, then me and Kev, and Fritz was bringing up the rear.
We were riding on a track, a flat, hard packed track with bits of gravel and potholes. Next thing, Jarak had a bit of a wobble, went off track onto grass, back onto the track and the back wheel slipped out and over he went. I pulled up behind him, jumped off my bike to help lift his, my bike was obviously on a camber (and my stand is a touch too long), next thing my bike went over. Kev had jumped off his bike, so we picked mine up, and then picked Jarak's up.
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Next thing, I look behind and see Fritz picking his bike up. He had come off as well. He pulled up behind us and I asked was he ok. He said yes, but then I could see him limping. Turned out he had got his leg caught between his pannier and a rock on the ground. He reckoned he'd be grand in a while. We turned our attention to Jarak's bike. His cylinder head was leaking. Kev got out his liquid metal and they fixed the hole. We set off again, across the beautiful countryside.

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The views were just stunning!

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Kev and Jarak stopped after 20 minutes to check the cylinder head and Fritz and I kept going. It was a really hot day, so we decided we would keep going til we found some shade and then stop. We rode for about an hour before we came to any shade, the sun was so high. We eventually found a tree and pulled over. I realised then that Fritz was in trouble with his foot. He was still insiting he'd be fine but I could see the pain. While we were waiting there, these two young lads came up and had a chat. They spoke a little english;) They were lovely lads.

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Everytime we stopped for photos, Fritz didn't get off his bike :(

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Lunch stop

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Toilet break!

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This pic was taken in the outskirts of Osh. We stopped for an ice cream. This local guy came over and wanted a photo with the bikers. He called me over, "Hey Mama" he said. Fecker handed me his phone to take the picture!!!

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Quite a common sight in the 'stans, livestock wandering down the road!

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We got to Osh and found a guesthouse. Kev and I needed new tyres and the boys wanted to fix a few bits.

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We went to a lovely restaurant that night and had some delicious shashlik and Fritz played a funny trick on Jarak!

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This was our last night as a foursome. Fritz saw a doctor, who sent him to hospital. He was x rayed and his leg was broken. Not a bad break, but bad enough to end the trip for Fritz.

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Kev and Fritz loading up Fritz's bike to put it into storage.

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I can't tell you how sad we were for Fritz. When we had arrived in Mongolia in July 2018, and sat around the maps planning our route for that year, Fritz said, "and when will we ride the Pamir?"
We said next year! He was totally surprised. He had thought we would get there that trip. He was so disappointed as he was sooo excited about riding the Pamir Highway.
Now here we were, at the beginning of the Pamir Highway and Fritz was going home. Our original plan was that we would ride into Tajikistan, round the bottom and back north up into Uzbekistan and leave the bikes in Tashkent. We now needed to look for somewhere to store the bikes in Osh, we would leave Fritz's there now, and Kev and I would come back to Osh and leave our bikes with his, ready for next year.

We found a biker hostel, Zhukov's Guest House. Stas Zhukov is the guy running it. We can highly recommend it. Stas agreed to look after Fritz's bike while we did our trip, and then he would store all 3 bikes for the winter.

So, Fritz flew home, and we headed south.


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We got new tyres, which took all morning! Had lunch and headed south to Sary Tash. Osh is at an altitude of 900m, Sary Tash is over 3000m. We had a couple of high mountain passes to ride over en route. The Pamir Highway starts/ends in Osh. Most people ride it the opposite way to what we were doing, and that way is better as the higher altitudes happen more gradually the other direction. We were going to pass the turning to the Tajik border and stay the night at Lenin Peak base camp. Lenin Peak is the second highest mountain on the Kyrgyz/Tajik border at over 7000m. The base camp is just over 3500m altitude.

The road from Osh to Sary Tash was uneventful, tarmac all the way, villages dotted along the road. As we rose, higher and higher, we get colder and colder. By the time we reached Sary Tash my hands were so cold that I was struggling to change gears/brake. We stopped for petrol and there was a guesthouse right beside the petrol station, so we checked in.
I didn't get a photo of the old man running the guesthouse, but he was so kind. He reminded me of my Grandad. He took me by the hand and brought me to a plug in radiator, then stood holding my hands until they warmed up a bit;)

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There was an obstacle course to/from the toilet! There was a layer of ice on the plank/tyres and the tyre steps were really steep.

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Another beautiful day beckoned. Today, we were going to go into Tajikistan. The border was at about 4000m. Just before the border, there was the Kyzyl Art Pass, 4282m high. We reached the border and while we waited our turn, a couple pulled up in a hire car. They were from Switzerland. We had a chat witht them and then they were called and showed there paperwork. Turned out they had been given the wrong log book when they hired the car! They were turned away. They had to drive back to Osh, back to the hire company, to get the correct logbook. Furious as they were, there was absolutely nothing they could do :(

We had no problems leaving Kyrgyzstan. There's a fairly long no mans land then until the Tajik border control, and we were freezing by the time we got there. The guard was amazing there. He brought us into his hut, where there was a stove, for a little warm up. As he processed our visas etc, he stood up a few times to stir his dinner, taht was cooking away on the stove. We commented that it smelled goog, and he got a plate, dug a chunk of meat out of the pot, tore a big piece off a loaf of bread and gave it to us. Then, as we ate that, he made us tea and then gave us biscuits for afters. What a fabulous border crossing, the best yet;)

The Kyzyl Art Pass, Jarak signed all our names, including Fritz's.

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That's the Chinese border there behind us.

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Some French guys we met who didn't know one end of the bike from another! Luckily Kev and Jarak were able to help out.

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After the border we went over the Ak Baital Pass, 4655m. We had started taking Diamox tablets in Osh, just in case. We're not sure if they helped or not, but we didn't have any problems with altitude sickness.

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We had booked into Erali's guesthouse in Murghab. In order to get an eVisa, you need an address of where you're staying so we had used it. It was a lovely guesthouse. It has wifi and a bania.

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It was reallly cold all day the next day, even though it was sunny. Everytime we stopped, we had to put hats/gloves on.

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There is a left hand turn halfway between Murghab and Khorog, that brings you over a high pass, with incredible views, and down then into the Wakhan Valley. We went over the valley and the weather turned. A mist came down, visibility was virtually nil, then it started to snow!
The road was uneven and gravelly. Then it started twisting and turning, and gaining altitude. Throw in multiple potholes and cliff edges, and of course, frozen hands! It was a struggle. Our visors were steaming up on the inside ,snow was sticking to the outside, you couldn't take your hands off the handlebars for any longer than a quick wipe of the visor. We didn't see any of the fabulous views at all. As we lost altitude, the visibility improved, and we reached the Wakhan Valley. There is a river running through the valley, and on the other side is Afghanistan.

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We discovered that my exhaust was hanging off! Kev patched it up with a flattened drink can, to keep me going til we got to a town.

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The road twisted and turned along the river, and we passed some villages. We were on the look out for a homestay. As we passed a guy working on the road and asked if there was one, he jumped on the back of Jarak's bike, shovel in hand, and directed us to a house. Turned out to be his house. There was a river running down the mountain, snowmelt. There were many houses along the riverside.

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Look at this funny little gate;)

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Each house took a little canal off the river and brought their own little canal into their gardens and built an irrigation system. They grew all their own vegetables and fruit. What a wonderful way of life.

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We left early the next day and continued heading west. We were now in the Wakhan Valley, across the river was Afghanistan.
As we were riding along, we saw a sign for hotsprings and a fort, so off we went, up high into the mountain.
The Fort is fantastic! Yamchun Fort. There's no visible route to it, possibly you could climb but it would be a challenge.
We continued on up to Bibi Fatima hotsprings.
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Quick selfie with Afghanistan in the background!

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Children playing football in Afghanistan.

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There was a pick up with a big gun on the back, following us on the other side of the river.
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Kev looking for more sd cards.

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We met some children, note their toy.

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There's the pick up, still keeping an eye on us, we were stopped for coffee.

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We arrived into Khorog and found a lovely hotel. Zayra Hotel. We can highly recommend it it's very hard to gauge what the inside of any establishment from the outside. This hotel is nice both outside and inside. The owner brought us in, and upstairs to show us our room. We were very happy with it, then he opened another door, and it was an en suite!! I cannot express how happy we were. We hadn't washed our hands (or anything) for 2 whole days!
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We went for a wander around town, and found Mac Dolands!!

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It's no wonder all the Tajik people have gold teeth.

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More irrigation, it's amazing
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View of the mountains around Khorog.

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We had this bread all over Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. All delicious and freshly baked. Sometimes there were coals inside rather than a coil.

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This was our hotel, that's one of our bedroom windows upstairs.

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Kev trying to fix the exhaust, well, tying it on with jubilee clips

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He eventually decided that it might be better to go get it welded.

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We went for dinner across the river. That's our hotel, with the balcony. We had breakfast there each morning.

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We stayed here for 2 nights. On the 3rd day Jarak left us, he was heading home to Poland.

And then there were 2

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Great stuff Mide and Kev - a shame for fritz.
 


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