Murghab to Osh, (1/X); 6th July

6th July

We hadn’t decided if we were to cycle over the pass today or not. It goes to an elevation of 4655m, with a steep gradient at the very end.
Leaving Murghab we stocked up on snacks and passed a statue of Lenin on the way out.

Also a memorial for WW2 aka The Great Patriotic War

Pretty quickly out of Murghab we were in desert like scrub, with patches of vegetation and quite a few marmots bobbing around. The rocks were layered red coloured rocks, similar to what we’d passed when we stayed at the doctors house a few weeks ago.

This layered rock formation reminded me of the mountain behind the doctor's house we stayed at a few weeks ago

This border fence marks a no-go zone, beyond which is the real border with China

At around the 50km mark we stopped outside a house, where a French cyclist had also stopped to snack. The resident invited us to have tea and also gestured that we could sleep there. It was a tempting offer as it would have given us a comfortable place to stay and broken the day into two.
However the French cyclist, Edwidge, was quite optimistic that we could make the pass today, and her enthusiasm won us over.

We continued cycling, quite a gentle gradient, but with a stiff headwind. As the border crossing between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan is only open to tourists, there was very little traffic which made the cycling more enjoyable but also made it felt more isolated too.

The final few km up to the pass was extremely difficult. The gradient suddenly became very steep, the road turned to gravel, it was a little cold and the landscape was desolate, what I imagined cycling the surface of the moon would be like.

There was however a lone house up the side of the pass, with a young man and grandmother inviting us for tea and to stay the night. Whether this was a paid service or not wasn’t clear but we continued cycling.

The final KM or so we had to snake the tandem up the pass, travelling at around 3.5 KM/h or less. It was extremely difficult and I regretted not breaking the day in two and stopping at the 50km mark where we had been invited to stay.

This sign is actually a few KM from the top of the pass

When we finally got to the top, I was relieved the climb was over, it was truly gruelling. We waited for Edwidge, took a picture, and went down the other side.

top of the pass seemed like a lunar surface, 4655M

The views from the north side were brilliant, much more vegetation with snow capped mountains in the near distance.

We knew there may be a yurt homestay available about 10 km from the pass, but were not sure if it was open yet. We passed a few possible campspots that offered shelter from the wind but decided to continue in hope the yurt was open.

After a few more km, in the distance I could see the yurt and exclaimed that I could see the yurt, and that as smoke was rising from one of them, it must be open.

We arrived at the yurt homestay and were welcomed by the family. They ushered us into their ‘living room yurt’, to warm us up, while they prepared the homestay yurt for us. Turned out we were the first guests of the season!

It was a truly picturesque spot. Mountains in the background, with goats, donkeys and i think yak’s on the farm.

The family prepared a fire running on dried dung and warmed up the yurt we were to stay in. Dinner was vegetarian pasta dish, with lots of chai.
After the desolate views at the peak of the summit, and with the day closing in and becoming cold at around 4000m elevation, we were incredibly grateful to be staying in a comfortable, warm yurt with hot tea being looking after by a hospitable family. A long long day where a lot happened, with an ideal ending.

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