I had breakfast with Kees and Nicole upstairs and saw how nice the rest of the guesthouse was. We all wanted to get away early, but we had such a great conversation that we were late. We spoke for an hour over breakfast and could have continued. They’re such lovely people.
I then had to fix a puncture which may be the slowest puncture I’ve ever had. I was tempted to simply pump it up a few times today, but the roads are so bad that it could have backfired on me and got worse. Best to do it here with a table, chair and an unladen bike.
Kees and Nicole recommended a homestay / hotel about 70kms away. They hadn’t stayed there but had stopped on the way and went to a far worse place further south and really didn’t recommend that one.
Eventually, I got going – at about 11am, almost immediately onto badly broken asphalt and rocky roads.
I met a group of three cyclists but that was it for the day. I really expected more, considering that the season is now well underway.
I stopped at a store for a cold drink and also got some things for lunch. They had an extremely unhealthy looking thing covered in batter, so naturally, I enquired what was in it. Mashed potato and onion. I was dribbling immediately and bought three.
The lady in the shop was lovely. She practised her limited English and asked for the English words for a few items. It’s that kind of “I want to learn and improve” attitude that cuts through cultures, classes and geographies. I love it. It’s the same as the three boys who visited my campsite the night before Khorog.
Onwards down the valley, I rode, bumped, bounced and swerved. The road was rocky. It doesn’t look it in the pictures, but for a lot of the day, the asphalt was worn to the point of rocks protruding through, or it was dirt, again with rocks protruding.
There was no respite from the bumping and I was impressed by This Moment’s ability to withstand it. This continued until about 3km from the end, when it suddenly changed to a perfect, smooth, new road. I thought I was hallucinating when I first caught sight of it.
I saw a small shop with a hotel above but thought I had further to go. I stopped a hundred metres later and checked iOverlander. That was the recommended one alright.
Unfortunately, it was a bit of a dump, expensive and the food was the worst I’d had in the country by far. It wasn’t a great advert for this lovely country. In fairness, I think the family was probably struggling a bit. They were very nice, but this is a poor area and us tourists probably shouldn’t expect better around here. It’s all part of the experience.
