Khorog to Langar, (3/X); 26th June

26th June

A few hours into the ride I could see the right boss on the front fork was showing signs of looseness as the pannier was swinging a bit more than the the left one, which had been resistance welded in Khorog.
We redistributed the weight of the panniers, to put less stress on the right fork boss.

The plan was to cycle to Ishkashim, and find a welder there, or hitch a ride back to Khorog and find the welder to do the same again, on the right boss.

We found a car mechanic in Ishkashim and explained the problem. He understood pretty quickly, dropped what he was doing, hooked up the front fork to the electric box thing and started welding the boss, with no eye protection, but simply squinting to protect his eyes.

We were pleased with his work. After a few short minutes of welding he sprayed it with water which gave off a sizzle, and spray painted the weld for rust protection.

We tried to pay him 100 Somoni but he adamantly refused. So we went to buy a watermelon and snacks. He seemed happy when we gifted him these.
The next job was to organise a new fork with SJS. Even though the forks been welded and the problem appears solved, we’d rather just replace it with a new one. Planning on having it sent to Osh, about 700km away.

After about three hours in Ishkashim we stocked up on some food and headed out.

The mountains are getting bigger and more dramatic. It’s quite exciting to look ahead and see very high peaks, knowing we are heading in that direction and will cycle right past them.

This is an old fort we visited on the way out of Ishkashim. Looking south you overlook the Panj river, with the green fields and huge mountains marking the Wakhan corridor, Afghanistan. From Wiki: From a non-Afghan point of view, the corridor is in part a political creation from The Great Game between British India and Russian Empire. In the north, an agreement between the empires in 1873 effectively split the historic region of Wakhan by making the Panj and Pamir Rivers the border between Afghanistan and the then-Russian Empire.[4] In the south, the Durand Line Agreement of 1893 marked the boundary between British India and Afghanistan. This left a narrow strip of land ruled by Afghanistan as a buffer between the two empires, which became known as the Wakhan Corridor in the 20th century.[23]

At about 6pm we asked a man if we could camp on a grassy spot a bit away from the road. He directed us into an orchard and said we should camp here. It’s a nice spot with water and toilets with some trees to offer shade from the morning sun. He didn’t ask for payment — just like our experience in Tajikistan, people will help you when they can. Unlike in the U.K. where I see that a farmer sprayed a camping cyclist with literal shit after finding him camping in his field.

Camping in the orchard -- the trees provided a nice respite from the morning sun

Delicous dinner of rice, lentils, tomatoe and onion with various spiced. We stocked up on rice and lentils in Khorog. This dish was inspired by David, who we cycled across Uzbekistan with -- he would soak the rice and lentils mid afternoon in a water bottle, which meant cooking time was reduced

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