July 12, 2016
to roadside restaurant camp: Along the Panj River
“I’m in a puddle” Rachel says getting up to go to the bathroom, she finds out the tent in the middle of a large puddle of water. It seems one of the neighbors is flood irrigating and the run-off is flooding the orchard we are camped in. Patrick springs to action. We quickly dart out of the tent and drag it off to higher ground. Except for some wet shoes, bags and groundsheet no damage was done but it could have been much worse.
The motorcyclist was correct in that the road goes through a narrow canyon, though incorrect about the camping. Goes to show the different perspective of a motorbike and bicycle as well as when looking or not looking for a campsite. As we ride out of town at the far south end near a waterfall, we see a potential nice campsite, but we are happy we stayed where we did last night. Other potential campsites we saw at 9.5kms, a house up behind on the left and a little further what looks to be a rest stop development. We stopped here for our first rest break and by our second rest break, Will, Jo and Raphael caught up with us, but then continued on at a faster pace, planning on reaching Khorog today. Seems they all were camping in the town at another house.
In the wide river valley, the road flattens, passing through Barushan we see their bikes but we continue onto Rushan. Barushan was our planned destination, recommended by cyclist James, but having missed it, while eating soft ice cream we asked about whether there was a hotel. A homestay existed back about half km, it’s early and feeling good, so we decide to continue on and look for a campsite.
Another 14kms, there is a café. Patrick asks if we could camp. Given a yes, we set up the tent, then enjoy a cold beer and late lunch/early dinner. We are camped right on the bank of the Panj River with Afghanistan on the other side.
Today's ride: 74 km (46 miles)
Total: 19,062 km (11,838 miles)
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