Langar to Alichur, (6/X); 3rd July
3rd July
Long slog up washboard roads, with sand and ruts. Very tiring and energy intensive.
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At the military checkpoint, met a couple of motorcyclists from France on their way to Sydney. I mentioned we were planning on getting to Alichun and the guy seemed suprised as he said it was far — but I thought it was a town where the Wakhan road met the M41.
The summit of Aghbai Khargush (4344m) was 10km past the checkpoint, uphill. We cooked oats and ramen in a bus shelter before starting the ascent.
I mentally broke the 10km into 2km chunks, celebrating in my head each short checkpoint. We were travelling between 3.5 and 5 km/h. It was a hard slog.
We met a South Korean cyclist part way up, who had started from Alichur that day. He recommended a hotel in Alichun which has a sauna, like the German/Malaysian couple had a couple of days previous.
The going didn’t get any easier. There were however a LOT of marmots. Small fluffy balls bounding across the plain or standing upright almost as if they were on guard duty making squeaky noises.
When we got to the top, at Aghbai Khargushm (4344m), there was nothing to mark it. We headed down. It was then I realised Alichun was still about 30km away, and I had misunderstood where it was.
We decided to camp by a salt lake part way down the pass. The French couple were there, as well as a truck driven by a couple of Italians; the latter offered us water which we were grateful for as we couldn’t use the lake water due to its saltiness.
After about 30 minutes another cyclists turned up, Vladim. He’d cycled from Langar in one day. I have no idea how he managed that as the previous two days from Langar were incredibly challenging.
MayLyn booked lentils and rice. I tried to pitch the tent down as best I could, using all the new pegs, as the wind was picking up. Fortunately they seemed to do their job as the tent was sturdy though the night.
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