Naryn to Karakol, (4/X); 30th July

30th July

There was good weather in the morning and we made the pass.

Not too long after setting off we saw a large tent with desks and chairs underneath, as well as a few camping tents and also an outhouse — we discussed whether they were part of the ‘volun-tourists’ we met yesterday.
This was at the point we could see the long and winding final ascent to Tosor — loose gravel path heading to 3900ish meters.

The gradient was not too difficult, but the final 1-2 km was challenging as the loose gravel turned to large rocks and boulders making cycling impossible — we got off the bike and pushed these short sections. There was some light rain so we put on our waterproofs.

There were several 4x4s we passed between Naryn and Tosor Pass, mostly on the two days before the pass. You can see another one in the background. At one point, at a river crossing, there was a 'traffic jam' as the drivers on either side of the river decided how to navigate the crossing. At this point, there was a shepherd watching near by -- I sensed that he wasn't too happy about the influx of motor vehicles on his patch -- or perhaps I am just projecting

Final km or so to the ascent of Tosor pass

The top had these muscular rock formations, and there was maybe about 50 metres of flatish road making it difficult to know where the actual peak was — it was like a very short high plateau.

Flowers and a discarded bottle near the top

This is the top. Barren, desolate, cold rock formations

At the north side of the ‘plateau’ the valley opened up with a spectacular gentle winding road passing through the green valley. We took some pictures and started to make the descent, passing lots of animals, mainly livestock like — cows and horses, but also marmots that would bob up and down from their holes, squeaking to warn their marmot family that there were humans approaching, then scampering down into their holes — very cute and animated animals!

North side of the pass, looking in the direction of Issyk-Kul

When we got to the bottom after a very long descent, it felt like we were coming full circle after this central Asian adventure. Climbing Tosor Pass had been a reason why we flew from Almaty to Aqtau at the end of April — as the high passes of Kyrgystan would be open by the end of July. We had read this blog in late April in Almaty, and Tosor Pass sounded like so much fun that we decided to reverse the route.

At the bottom of the pass we joined the main road that follows the south shore of Issyk Kul lake, a tarmacked road. I didn’t have the same sense of relief as reaching this road as when we left the Wakhan — the path between Naryn and Tosor had not been as sandy, rutted and rocky as that of the stretch between Langar and Alichur which had really pushed me to my limit, as I did come close to despairing in that section.

Outside the nearby supermarket we met Armin, from Switzerland. He had left his hometown 15 months ago, with the intention of a three month cycling trip, which had turned into an epic journey through Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, into Tajikistan, through the Bartang and then up to Kyrgystan — he his heading to Kazakhstan and then China, Mongolia, with a vague plan to return to Switzerland overland too.

We had some food in the benches outside the market. After four nights of camping MayLyn and I were looking forward to a normal bed, but we agreed to try and meet with Armin the following day or in Karakol, as he was looking for somewhere to camp.

As we were leaving a Russian speaking guy who had been sitting close to us gave us some sweets, saying they were popular in Almaty. We thanked him and made our way to a reasonably priced hotel which had a yurt in its backyard that was used as an overflow room for guests.

We took a short walk to the shores of Issyk Kul and had a quick swim in the cool water — the lake is so big you’d have thought it was the seaside, until you taste the water which is fresh. It felt strange to think we woke up in the high mountains with nothing around but farmers yurts, lots of livestock and steep mountain sides, and were now in a popular holiday destination!

A beautiful way to finish a challenging 4 day leg

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