I wake in the morning feeling a little nervous about the next leg of my journey. More pressing is the need to go to the toilet multiple times (it wouldn't be a Central Asian cycle tour blog without this discussion). Despite this my stomach feels ok so I decide to press on.
A mere 10km up (yes, up, I have a lot of uphill ahead of me) the road the stomach cramps begin. I take shelter in a bus stop, dig out my antibiotics and decide to hang out there for a while. 45min later a group of french cyclists appear from the other direction. After the usual discussion, what's ahead/behind, good places to stay, water sources etc they are off. I decide it's time for me to move as well. I purchase a litre of Apple juice from the shop and push on. Only to stop every now as then to go to the toilet.
The area I am in is quite built up with houses lining the road. I take the approach of waving my toilet paper at someone in the yard and then using their toilet. I have to stop at least 8 times throughout the day. The fact that the toilet paper is easily confused with sandpaper makes this an especially arduous process. At some point I have an hour long nap on the side of the road in the shade.
Fed up with trying to find a secluded campsite I call it a day in a village called Taldyk. I ask someone if I can pitch my tent in their yard. I mangage to eat some bread and cheese for dinner and have a very early night. To my surprise when I look at the GPS on my phone I have managed to gain 1000m in elevation today.
I get away to an early start, my tummy feeling quite a bit better. I make it over a 2389m pass fairly easily. I know there is another pass between here and Sary-Tash. Although I usually enjoy downhills it hard to revel in them when you know that any elevation lost is going to be gained again soon.
I drop down into Gulcha, eat an icecream (vanilla icecream with poppy seeds, covered with chocolate and sesame seeds. Delicious) and then continue the slow climb along the Gulcha river, made all the more slow by a blasting headwind.
Whilst snacking on some dried fruit, comtemplating when to stop to camp I hear whistling. Another cycle tourist has caught up to me, going in the same direction. It's Barbara, an Austrian that I met in Bishkek. Her Tajik visa starts 2 days after mine. We cycle together, trying to chat in the crazy wind and find a great campsite under some apricot trees by the river.
Let me tell you about Barbara. Compared to me she is an old hand at this cycle touring thing. She has been cycling and sail boat hitch hiking around the world for three years. She has even had a short stay at turnstyle in Brisbane. It was lovely spending a couple of days camping with her, sharing food, playing cards and discussing the journey ahead of us.
That might we find a great campsite under some apricot trees by the river. We pick the last of the apricots to eat for desert.
We set off in the morning under a cloudy sky and yet another headwind. We slowly climb along the valley, aiming to camp just before the switchbacks of the next pass.
At lunchtime we stop at a magazine (small shop) to try and purchase some bread. We get told 'nyet khleb' and head outside to eat our stale bread. Before we could start eating the shop owner invites us to her house. We head into the yard and sit down. A table is laid out with apricot jam (home made), bread, chai and freshly picked apricots from her orchard. We eat like hungry cyclists. As we leave she supplies us with more bread and a whole glass jar of apricot jam. We are confused. We couldn't purchase bread but instead are given a whole meal plus take away. We do not complain.
We spend quite a while trying to find a campsite. We went past the spot where the road veers away from the river and have to camp dry. We have just enough water to last until the morning and we are in sight of a village where we can get more water in the morning. There is only enough space for one tent under our tree so we both pile into mine.
In the morning I discover that my stove has decided it doesn't want to play. I am a little stressed about this. The thought of cycling the pamir without a stove scares me. I do not want to have to survive on dried ramen and bread. I like my hot tea in the morning. I decide to get fresh petrol in sary-tash and hope that will fix the issue.
I leave Barbara behind in the village, she is going to have a rest day in our little hidden spot under the tree, and continue up. Before long I hit the switchbacks. I reach the top of the pass by 2pm. Not too bad for 800m of climbing but I am definitely not setting records. From the top of the pass I get my first view of snow capped mountains to the south.
A swooping downhill, up a little more up and then back down and I arrive in Sary-Tash by 3pm. I find fresh petrol and my stove still doesn't work. I start to pull it apart and grease the pump. It still doesn't work. Some German Tajik rally drivers arrive at the guesthouse I am staying at. Luckily one of the is a mechanic and helps me replace all the o-rings, clean out every nook and cranny and grease all the bits that are meant to be greased. To my relief my stove starts working again.
Sary-Tash has an amazing view of a wall of snow capped mountains, right where I am headed. I enjoy my final Kyrgyz beer with Andre, the German that fixed my stove.
24/8 Osh - Taldyk: rode 50km, ODO 1412km
25/8 Taldyk - 20 past Gulcha: rode 59km, ODO 1521km
26/8 past Gulcha - Akbosaga: rode 52km, ODO 1573km
27/8 Akbosaga - Sary-Tash: rode 31km, ODO 1605km
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