Tashkent to Dushanbe

We make a second, more successful attempt to leave Tashkent on 25th May. We have to collect our Kyrgyz visa en-route and the embassy is not open until 2pm. This gives us a chance to spend a bit more time with the guys who have kept us sane during our long stay in Tashkent. Really hope you got your visas sorted too!!

We get our visas at 5pm but are so desperate to escape Tashkent that we set off anyway. The sky is threatening and, sure enough, it is pouring with rain within an hour. It really seems like we will never leave this town and morale is pretty low. We push on regardless and camp 40km out of town in the garden of a Chaikhana.

Ed's birthday starts with a thunder storm, but the weather clears and we have a good ride to the Tajik border. By early afternoon we breathe a sigh of relief as we enter Tajikistan. It is not that Uzbekistan was unpleasent, it just felt like we would never leave! Immediately the hills begin to come into view. We camp in some woods and chat to an enthusiastic shepherd who also brings us fresh yoghurt in the morning as we shelter from another thunderstorm. First impressions ofTajikistan are good!

Again the storm clears and we ride on to Khujand, Tajikistan's second city and have lunch under the watchful eyes of Lenin. At 22m tall, he must have been quite a man!


Another storm rolls in during the afternoon, but it is short lived and as we set up the tent, the clouds finally clear, marking a change in the weather. We have dinner under a sky full of stars and a full moon.

Next day, as we pass through the village of Djarkutan, we see an example of the work that aid agencies do in this part of the world. Here the Red Cross has provided a safe drinking water supply for the village using a nearby spring. Such a simple thing which makes a big difference to the lives of these people... and passing cycle-tourists!

A lunchtime snooze somewhere near Shakhristan.

Some of the ever enthusiastic and friendly people we meet along the way.


The mountains really start about 100km from Khujand, and what a welcome sight they are!!! We start to ascend towards the Shakhristan pass, our first proper mountain pass since Turkey.

Towards the top of the pass, the road deteriorates and the traffic becomes more of a problem. Cycling suddenly seems quite easy compared to what the truck drivers have to contend with!


We reach the top of the Shakhristan pass in the early afternoon. At 3372m, it is the highest we have been to this trip and quite a challenge after the flat riding we have had for the past few months, but we are convinced that it is just the altitude that is making us pant! The views are spectacular though and the ride down the other side to Ayni is a dream.


The beautiful village of Ayni at sunset.

Like some kind of bicycling pied-pipers, whenever we come to a village, we seem to pick up other cyclists. The boys in Ayni were really chatty, but we were a little concerned when two boys from another village, who could not have been more than 8 years old, followed us for 5km up into the hills. Shortly before sunset we persuaded them that it was probably a good idea if they turned round. We donated some of our spokey-dokeys to them and watched as they wheeled back down. We are sure that they made it back safely and don't think that it was the first time they had been on an adventure like this. We camp in the woods on the edge of the next village.


Tea and mountains on a beautiful sunny morning, a winning combination!

A few reminders of the Soviet influence here.


The beautiful section of road between Ayni and Rabot.


Lunch break at the start of the ascent to the Anzob pass.

The Anzob pass is no longer maintained because an Iranian funded tunnel has been built to allow the road to stay open all year. We reach 3000m (again) and are confronted with the tunnel we have heard about. 5km of unlit, poorly surfaced, partially flooded tunnel does not appeal to us so we flag down a passing truck. It turns out to be full of goats, but we load our bikes and ourselves into the back all the same and set off on what turns out to be the scariest ride of our trip! We emerge from the tunnel shaken and smelling rosy(!) , but unscathed, despite the driver's dubious overtaking manoueuvres.


The Varzob valley is fantastic and we are spoilt for choice when we look for somewhere to camp.

Some locals on their way back to their house.

Further down the Varzob valley, on the way into Dushanbe.

We arrive into Dushanbe at lunchtime and start preparing for the Pamirs. We meet up with various other cyclists we have seen along the way. Being keen not to rush this section of the trip as it is likely to be a highlight and quite tough too, we enquire about extending our visa. This is rumoured to be very difficult, but after a bit of shoulder barging with people who don't understand the queueing process and a few forms to fill in (in duplicate), a helpful man in the office arranges an extension for us. Soon we will be heading for the place where the Great Game was played out between the British and Soviet forces and some of the most spectacular mountain roads in the world!

Don't expect an update any time soon!