The rain and thunder continued off and on through the night, but so did the wind which meant that at packing up time things were actually pretty dry which makes the whole process much easier. From camp we had to backtrack…
Sweltering in Gonbad-e-Kavus (rest day)
With the air-conditioning cranking all night keeping the temperature and humidity in our room under control I had one of the bests night’s sleep I’ve had in a long time which was welcome after the last few nights where I’ve not…
We’ve (gone to) Gonbad (stage 87)
A cool and surprisingly damp night as clouds rolled in overnight – it’s the first cloudy day I can recall since Almaty which is many days and several hundred kilometres away. We decided to do a ‘term photo’ for the…
Bojnord bound (stage 85)
Another chilly night full of disruptions – it seems the park is the place to go after dark so we had a constant stream of people walking and driving past our tents along with a visit from the police at…
Permission granted (Ashgabat rest day two)
Another good night’s sleep, followed by another mediocre hotel breakfast – though I did discover that you can ask for fried eggs which improved things slightly. The first group of people to submit their Iranian visa applications then headed off…
Whiling away a day (Ashgabat rest day one)
Finally a good night’s sleep! I was in bed by 2130 and didn’t wake until 0645 all of which made me feel a whole lot more alert. The hotel breakfast is decidedly mediocre again with the same boring things as…
Melting in Mary (rest day)
I’ve decided that Mary is very like Canberra – it’s huge, massively spread out (and consequently difficult to get round), full of government buildings, and really there’s not a lot of point going there! Perhaps unlike Canberra it also gets…
Merv or Mary it’s all the same (stage 79)
We had a later start than usual this morning as ‘because rules’ we can’t check in to the hotel until 1200, so it was breakfast at 0630 and then on the road shortly before 0700. Unfortunately the wind was already…
Beautiful Bukhara (rest day)
‘Things’ have improved, in that trips to the loo were not required in the night, but I was still feeling pretty ropey this morning. I had some breakfast, which for a change didn’t make me feel any worse than I…
Bukhara or bust (stage 75)
Lots of trips out in the night and I wasn’t looking forward to riding today at all – we’ve got a long way to go, it’s going to get hot, and I’ve about had enough! I didn’t feel like eating…