Day 9. Danny Goes Down

The day's riding starts with a blast along roads heading away from Murgarb. They're a mix of old asphalt and gravel as we climb in altitude to around 4000m. There are many potholes and large rocks mixed into the gravel, both of which are very unforgiving. The land is barren, no trees, no shrubs, maybe a few very small patches of stunted vegetation; it's hard to imagine anything surviving here.

When we stop, Andre points out a large dent in my rear rim. I don't recall hitting anything hard enough to have caused that, but it's fortunate that my tyre was not punctured. 

It's not long after we set off, and I'm following Danny. In this terrain you should never follow close behind another rider as you won't see what's in your path through all their dust.  What I do see, is Danny's rear wheel in gravel, I also see that it's kicked up a pointy rock, but for whatever reason I don't manage to avoid that same rock. Bang! That was a BIG impact hitting the front wheel. Boy do these bikes take a pounding.

Within less than a minute I am suddenly struggling to keep control as the deflated front tyre tries its best to throw me off while I'm desperately trying to stop. Phew, that was close, I lost all control of the steering, but managed to not fall off.  Stopped at the side of the road, Charlie joins me and we wait for Anton in the Hilux. He's soon with us and his well calibrated stick supports the bike while he removes the front wheel to fix the puncture. 

We see two heavily ladden bikes coming the other way. But these are no ordinary bikers, they are traveling with three dogs on the back of their BMW F650 bikes. They stop and we get chatting while they unload the dogs, put leads on them and let them stretch their little legs. The Australian couple have been on the road for eight years... Eight years! In that time they've visited 99 countries and plan to visit Pakistan and India before they finish their epic journey. They seem very glad to chat and we take a few pictures. (Later I discover they are quite famous and are well known on the Internet. My biker buddy Gerard even met them on the road in Armenia in the spring.)

Barren gives way to greenery as we drop 1000m from the plateau at around 4000m. The scenery becomes less harsh and more picturesque. 

Despite the lovely scenery we struggle to find somewhere to eat, as everywhere is either closed or has no supplies. Cary gets an honourable mention for a graceful horizontal dismount when we finally find somewhere open, fortunately neither she nor the bike were harmed. But there's no food, so we end up with a Snickers and RC Cola lunch. 

At this point Andre ducks out and loads his bike onto the Hilux; he's been suffering from a stomach bug and feels it's safer to sit the ride out. There's only one direction to go and Charlie takes the lead with Steve as sweeper backed up by Andre and Anton in the Hilux.

We keep up a good pace, stopping periodically to take pictures of the magnificent scenery. 

We've been following the Gunt river for some time and it's bright blue water makes any picture come alive. There's a suspension bridge across the river and Christopher and Danny cross it. I'm proud to read that this bridge was funded through an EU programme, one of many aid projects in this area. 

I see the group stop ahead and there's a crowd gathered. A local family tending their garden have invited us in for tea. We kindly decline as we know it would take some time, but not before both sides have taken plenty of pictures of each other. Cary has found some new friends, they must be inspired by our female biker.

Later through one village the dusty road takes a bend to the left where the surface is covered in loose gravel. The sudden change of direction and the surface takes Danny by surprise and I see him ahead in a crumpled heap. First things first, he's ok. Next priority, pictures! Begrudgingly he accepts the natural order of things on our trips. We help him get his bike upright and he dusts himself down. On we go.

Our arrival back in Khorog is cut short as the road is closed for a concert. We take a detour which sees us crossing the river twice and going through the far side of town. Eventually we get back on track and refuel at the same place we did a few days ago. There's a group a Czech bikers there all riding Yamaha T7s. They're traveling the Silk Road in three phases over three years, flying back to the Czech Republic in between; seems like a strange way to do it, but I guess not everyone can take three months off work at once.

Room allocation at the hotel is chaotic and it's the first time I've seen Charlie almost lose his cool. We've booked rooms, but they are not available, instead we're offered a set of rooms either without facilities or with double beds instead of twins. Eventually it gets sorted, somehow Danny ends up in the presidential suite, while Christopher and I get a room with no hot water. 🤷

A run follows and I relish the thicker air. At 2000m it's still a challenge, but much easier than at 3600m yesterday. I run towards the Afghan border, only stopped by the Panj river. 

There are not many restaurants open but Andre finds a good one. We enjoy the best kebabs of the whole trip.