Day 78: Tajikistan

Overview

Driving duration: 7:28 h
Distance: 178 km
Avg Speed: 24 km/h
Start: Kalaikhum
End: Roshon
Night Location: 37°58'38" N 71°38'24" E

Tajikistan

After two days on good road, today we were hit by the real Pamir Highway. But after we got up, we took it quite relaxed. There is a tunnel soon after Kalaikhum, which is only open after 12, or at least so we thought. So we didn’t want to leave too early, to not wait too long in front of the tunnel.

Shortly after we started the drive, we saw some hitchhikers along the way and decided to stop. And of course they were from Switzerland, quite crazy if you think about it. Matthias and Luana were riding with their bike from Uzbekistan to China. So we offered them a ride and they happily took it. Together we drove a bit further and reached the tunnel by 11:15. There were already other cars and only a couple of minutes later we were let in. So far the road was good and the tunnel was okay, a bit dark but completely doable.

For another hour or even a bit longer, the road was good and we made some solid progress. But after around 2 hours and close to 100 km, the road got worse and worse and then it stayed like this for the rest of the day. The ride became bumpy and our guests sometimes wished they stayed on their bike ^^

The bad road made the drive endless and it was already getting dark when we arrived at our spot for the night. Matthias and Luana left us a little bit earlier in the Town of Roshon and we started already the drive into the Bartang Valley, one of the wildest routes of the Pamir Highway. But we only do the first couple kms to explore a bit and hopefully do a hike, then we will turn around and take the Wakhan valley route.

Pictures

Activities