It was an adventure journey, starting in Osh in Kirgistan, ending in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan. Traveling in jeeps, over mountain passes of more than 4,000m elevation. And although this route is pretty remote and challenging, you find cyclists accepting that challenge, being rewarded with a beautiful scenery.
Traveling in remote areas, you do not always have a comfortable hotel waiting for you. You can be lucky if you get your own room in an homestay (we were), and accommodation is sometimes really basic. But exactly this is part of the adventure, albeit a guided one.
The most scenic part of our tour was traveling through the Wakhan Corridor. The Panj river separates Afghanistan from Tajikistan, and over the course of 4 days we had Afghanistan to our left.
Stunning scenes all the time
Until recently it was possible to cross the bridge into that closed area on the Afghan side, when there was a market every Saturday. Unfortunately, we were not given the chance any longer - the bridge was closed. This is were we left the Wakhan corridor and the border area.
The total trip took around 12 days, and can only be conducted in the summer months
Rich, our guide, said that he chose to do the tour in reverse direction (it usually starts in Dushanbe and ends in Osh), for the simple reason that when you drive at the right side, and the gorge is at your left, you are further away from the abyss. Well done, Rich.