The first night out of Taraz, I spent in the small town of Kulan, close to the border between Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. I managed to find a reasonable guesthouse, which was relatively clean but a little bit more expensive than it should have been – especially given that showers were extra and had to be…
I rode out of Tashkent on wide Soviet built boulevards passing the city’s TV Tower as I went; bearing due north for the Kazakh Uzbek border at Jipek Joli about thirty kilometres away. Reaching the border I was expecting a repeat of the waiting and frustration I’d experienced when entering Uzbekistan from Kazakhstan in the…
Leaving Samarkand I had prepared myself for some tough riding, similar to the ride I had experienced arriving into that city. As ever on this trip, things did not turn out as I had expected and instead I was treated to three days of relatively easy riding on flat, smooth roads with very little ice. …
Bukhara I was pretty happy to be in Bukhara, although I hadn’t been camping in the desert I still hadn’t slept anywhere with a shower for three days. Getting cleaned up felt great even more so as I made myself wait until I had cleaned off some serious mud from my bike. Bukhara was a…
Nukus Riding into Nukus I made straight for the hotel I’d picked from the Lonely Planet: the Jipek Joli. It was a bit more than my budget but there wasn’t much choice in Nukus and I wanted somewhere nice after another few days in the desert. I was also going to spend a rest day…
Leaving Beyneu I was both sad and happy to see the back of it; sad because it had at least had warmth, clean toilets and electricity and happy because it didn’t have much else to recommend it apart from the three things I just mentioned. I was also quite nervous about my knee failing again…
I arrived in Beyneu about five days earlier than I had expected having decided to accept a lift from someone across the desert. This turned out to be a stroke of luck as if I had only had the one rest day here that I had planned I would only have been able to do…
I spent a few relaxing days in Aktau and managed to not get involved with anything too strenuous: lots of internet surfing in cafes and a few drinks with some locals met on couchsurfing. While there I was also lucky enough to meet another cycle tourer: Helen Lloyd. Helen was just reaching the end of…
Arriving in Baku I was immediately struck by how different this city appeared to be from the rest of Azerbaijan. On the surface it seemed modern and bustling; there were impressive skyscapers and some really amazing modern architecture giving it a distinctive skyline. There was also a wide variety of restaurants serving many different cuisines…
The road into Tbilisi from Mtskheta was long and straight and mostly downhill, which made up for the crazy traffic whizzing past us. Tbilisi was going to be the first major city I had ridden into since Ankara, which had been a month before so I was a little nervous. Thankfully while it was a…
Riding ROUND 