I was feeling somewhat better this morning – still not flash, but the best I’ve been on a riding morning for a while now so that’s a very positive sign!
Breakfast also sat better than previous mornings, so I got out on the road while I was still feeling reasonable and before it got too hot.
Stage 76 route notes
It seems that Bukhara still had some hidden gems that I’d not seen in my wanderings yesterday
Bolo Hauz Mosque
Jacob and Jordan had also done a great job of the flagging – the route notes were about as crap as they’ve been recently with lots of additional junctions and corners and the distances somewhat off so the good flagging was essential to getting out of town.
The first 20ish km went by fairly well, but then the nausea returned which slowed me down some. As did the road conditions which were also pretty crap.
From 44km the road improved again which helped keep the speed up and the distance ticking over and sooner than expected the lunch stop was in view and somehow I’d ended up there first.
I managed some lunch – the peanut butter like substance which they found in Samarkand is pretty darn good! I also took a decent break during which time several others turned up.
From lunch I set off with Roger, and just before Wim and Nancy, who caught up with us a short distance later. As they came past I hoped on the back and as I expected riding with them is going to be great fun – the road was generally in reasonable condition and taking 5km turns at the front we sat at a very comfortable 32 – 35 km/h which very quickly eats up the distance.
Into camp and it’s an ‘interesting’ location – it is quite literally the border crossing car park!
Border car park camp
It was getting pretty hot again so Michael and I got one of the TDA tarps and have attached it to the side of a truck which is also parked up in the corner of the car park to provide some shade
Finding (making) shade wherever you can!
There’s really not a lot happening at the border – in the hour or so I’ve been here so far I’ve seen about half a dozen people walk out of Uzbekistan, and about 30 people on foot, two trucks and two cars come in.
On the plus side I managed to change the last 25,000 Uzbek Som into Turkmen Manats at what seems to be a reasonable rate, so perhaps the reports that there’s no black market for Turkmen currency are incorrect.
It’s now only 1300 so it’s going to be a long, hot afternoon. Apparently we didn’t have time to get across the border this afternoon which is going to make for a pretty uninspiring couple of days with all the sitting round here this afternoon, then if it takes more than five hours to cross, all that time tomorrow too… sigh…
Unfortunately it’s far too hot to put up my tent and have a nap so I guess i’ll just have to sit here in the shade and watch the world go by.
Later: it was a long hot afternoon as expected. The high point was definitely dinner which was an enjoyable mix of salads and some very nice braised beef with fresh-made salsa.
The sun’s now gone from the area we’re going to be camping on so it’s time to put up my tent and see about some sleep.
Riding data
View from my tent
Sunset trucks on the road above camp
