August 18, 2016
to Last Lake campsite: One more night camping along Lake Issyk-Kul
“I’m at the eagle statue” aka http://supercyclingman.com/ Will,messaged to us. Earlier we had met two German cyclists who told us about a great campsite. He arrived around 630pm, found us and we all enjoyed a pasta meal together. We had first met Will the first day out of Dushanbe and periodically again and again throughout the Pamirs. This though will most likely be the last time; our paths will diverge after Karakol.
The ride was fairly uneventful, some nice views over the lake, but mostly plodding along a very bumpy highway with aggressively passing drivers. Not much fun. We meet a German couple who are spending their vacation cycling around the lake, and they tell us the north shore is even worse. Kyrgyzstan is a nice country, but for cycle touring you need to be willing to tackle the mountain back-roads and means probably pushing on gravel tracks.
The camping site explained by the Germans is down a road about 200 meters west of an eagle statue on the lake shore side of the road. There is a steep drop-off with a sand road leading to the beach about 300 meters away. The side is hidden from the road by bushes, has some grass and good access to the rocky beach. It has been visited quite a lot before though and there is a fair amount of trash.
We knew the lake was slightly saline, but thought it would be okay to filter. Not! The water is undrinkable and Patrick rides into the next village to pick up drinking water and a large bottle of beer.
There is a beautiful sunset over the lake.
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Today's ride: 58 km (36 miles)
Total: 20,754 km (12,888 miles)
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