Being able to put a frustrating few weeks of red tape and non-information behind me, and heading out on my bike came as great relief. Even more so as I was able to team up with another English cyclist, Alex who was waiting for his Chinese visa to be processed via Georgia. As we rolled … More Headwinds into the Chocolate Factory
It is 2 1/2 years since I was last in Bishkek, and at Manas airport at 5am local time it felt somewhat surreal to be back. Gold teeth shone out from the mouths of the passport control guards as they looked me directly in the eye and made a detailed comparison between my bedraggled facial … More Back to Bishkek
So after nearly 4 months of beautiful beach life, living and working in Cirali on the Mediterranean coast, the time came to move on. I seem to be both very good and very bad at leaving, and often feel like I am doing it too often, but one way or another I had to leave … More The return to winter
A little snippet of lunchtime at the crossroads in a village near Pamukkale. (From nearly 2 months ago – so it wasn’t deadly hot at lunch time yet)
After the thrills, spills and stresses of the first week of my trip I was happy to get back to a slightly less eventful riding experience. Leaving the crisp sheets, clean towels and not to mention buffet breakfast (which I managed to devour for the best part of an hour) of the öğretmenevi in Gediz … More Up in another world
Wow – what a whirlwind the past few days has been. After the luxury of my warmshowers hosts I headed out of Bursa towards a forest town called Orhaneli – my decision was based solely on a green line alongside the road on the map which I assumed meant it was a scenic route. I … More Tea with the mayor – amongst other things!
It has been a while since I last posted anything here and you may have been forgiven for thinking I had hung up my walking boots and cycling gloves for a permanent return to the pub. You would, of course, be wrong! It is true that Istanbul has been occupying me for a couple of … More Back on the road
As I mentioned at the end of my last entry – we slept in no-mans land the night we left Tajikistan but we were not alone. We had put up the tent the first place we could find as the light was fading fast and cooked the last of our food for dinner. We went … More Kyrgyzstan – the end of a beginning
I could not have asked for a better trio to share my Pamir experience with, we laughed a lot, got into some very detailed conversations about our toilet habits and could solve most of our problems with a bakal of vodka or the advice to remember to ‘respire et boire’ (breathe and drink (water)). I … More Up on the roof of the world
I had a real sense of anticipation as the 4 of us headed away from the city. We could happily have spent much longer with Vero and Gab but the whole reason we were in Tajikistan at all was calling us. I had first heard about the Pamir Highway from some cyclists I met when … More The Gateway to the Pamirs
Razistan 