Peri is loaded, everything is where it should be, including me. I switch on my gps tracker and feel my smile widen as I click my shoes into the pedals. I am off- cycling towards the Kyrgyz Uzbek border. It is an immeasurable joy. I am back. Today will be 41C so I’m heading off … Continue reading Full Circle
Four times today I have been pleased to be in a car. 1. Leaving Bishkek - the heat, roadworks and traffic combination - it was 38 plus at least another 5 coming off the broken tarmac. 2. On the very steep sections of the climb up to Tor Ashuu pass (about 4000m) though it was … Continue reading Moments…
Confident I am well on the road to recovery Adrienne has managed to get a ticket from Bishkek to New Zealand. Our last night ... We spend our last evening reminiscing over photos and squeezing in a mini facial. It is a lovely and fitting end to this epic adventure we have had together. We … Continue reading Same roads different wheels
I’m usually pretty up to date with posts pending of course available wifi but this one has been a little slower to write as we’ve been a little consumed. From the hill Tash Rabat - the mountains, luminescent green hills, close your eyes and find yourself in this valley. From the hill you can see … Continue reading Luck 🍀 redefined….
The generosity and warmth of the people of this region has been overwhelming - mostly that has been good, but something not good has happened, we have come to expect it! In the midst of being really appreciative, of not believing just how lucky we are, of continually being amazed at the breadth and depth … Continue reading Heartfelt or not …
Reluctant arrival (as with almost every city entry) very quickly becomes joyous immersion. Karakol is my kind of town. It’s small, old worldly presentation but modern as well - probably reflective of its increasing emergence as a place to be. Tourism is growing and buildings are rising like mushrooms in the forest. While there are … Continue reading Food and Water
Time is what we have lots of and not enough of. Thirty days to ride across a country - to have side adventures, to mountains, to lakes, to canyons (to allow for bike repairs,) - perhaps it sounds like a lot but even on my most creative days in maths class - I would have … Continue reading A different world
Almaty is the half way point - not necessarily in term of kilometres but definitely days. 50 days in - it has both flown by and at the same time seems a thousand adventures ago that we left our homes. Almaty sits at the base of the mountains Riding in to Almaty. Signal was very … Continue reading Over fifty and counting…
There are so many ways to end that sentence but suffice to say we have been travelling along the Kazak Kyrgyz border on the Kazak side since leaving Aksu Zhabagly. Aksu Zhabagly is so beautiful it held us captive one day longer than planned - we head off exploring Aksu Gorge and the surrounding mountains … Continue reading Bordering on…
Shyment to Zhabagly- rolling green hills, snow capped mountains and just a bit of dance and frivolity.
It wasn’t exactly hard leaving Uzbekistan but at the same time we were in no rush (except of course for an expiring visa). So we left late morning and took advantage of a roadside stall offering kartoshka camca (similar to potato samosa). Of course just because it was advertised it didn’t mean they had any. … Continue reading The last drop
Well nearly. We arrived at the beginning of Ramadan and we leave just a day before the big parties. In true fashion we are eking our the adventure to the very end. Our visa expires tomorrow midnight. We’ve spent the afternoon in search of a camp stove - assisted by the incredibly helpful Akbar - … Continue reading (D)Rama Done
The old fortress across the river Crossing the pontoon Our feet and bikes are caked in mud. The space between the mudguards and tyre jammed with thick mud. It takes every bit of strength to push through it ... of course there was the option to leave the bike by the road and just walk … Continue reading Part two – Head west they said..
Khiva’ s iconic squat tower And we climbed on our bikes yet again - but the ride was short just to the car station to find a car to take us and our bikes to Khiva - that was Plan A. Mohina met us there - via a few unintended detours on our part. It … Continue reading Head west they said…
Those in the know had warned me Uzbekistan may not exactly be a vegetarian heaven. As if it wasn’t strange enough to have two grandmotherly types (certainly in the eyes of locals that’s exactly who they compare us to) arrive on bicycles, to have us then try and explain we are vegetarian is sometimes more … Continue reading Sugar and spice and all things nice…
It was a much easier route out of town and we were moving well. Within an hour we got invited in for chai and by then we were ready for a stop. Another wonderful stop Azusa, Laziza, Rahmad and their family. Adrienne was whipped in a game of draughts with Fazinli the 6 year old. … Continue reading On the road again
Arriving at night, winding our way through narrow stony streets in the dim light of our headlights, could not have been more perfect. Then opening the large foreboding wooden doors to the oasis that was our hotel (or apparent oasis as it turned out) was everything we could have wished for. After 102km it was … Continue reading The rich tapestry of Samarkand
The first question everyone wants answered is how many kilometres will you ride. There are many questions that should proceed that. Lets start with .....1.How much are you carrying? About 30kg (we think we bought too much food). On the first day we were given lunch and dinner so the chance to eat what we … Continue reading First legs…then more legs
We often think a journey begins when we board a plane (or ship or train or car) but perhaps it really begins when we arrive, body mind and spirit at our destination. We arrived - bike boxes intact, along with the rest of the luggage. But it took a while for a minds to catch … Continue reading Early daze
It was just an overnight, a stopover, an accidental visit as it were... but somehow it wedged itself into our now collective psyche. A city that celebrates water, things that live in it, that ride above it. Fish big and small, boats, bridges all adding life to an otherwise oft barren concrete landscape. Fish leaping … Continue reading The meeting of minds while Seoul searching
Countdown is well and truly here! We take off tomorrow morning and arrive in Tashkent Sunday eve. If you’re like me - you probably only have vague idea of where each of the Stans are. They were of course part of USSR until 1991. I’ve included a map of the region just so you start … Continue reading Next stop Tashkent!
The first part of the journey is the excitement of the preparation, right? Well - a month out and it's feeling like there has been a little too much excitement and not enough preparation. Come what may though, on 4th May - Bike (she is yet to be named) and I climb aboard a plane … Continue reading The Journey Begins
StanbyMe - 100 days cycling in the Stans 