Day 71. 27th July from the middle of nowhere..:)

Great camp site last night, but we are on our way by 8.30am.

Not too far down the barely road which is marked on the mp as ‘Highway 41’ we had a choice of tracks to follow, straight ahead or right, over a bridge. While trying to get MapMe to respond and give us a clue, as there were no signs which made any sense to us, along side us pulls up a Hyundai Terrican 4X4 with a young lady at the wheel. She was Deedrah, partner to Valentin and they are from Switzerland. Fabio and Andrea had said we would meet up with them in time. They had started the Pamir highway once already but had to return to Dushanbe as their front right wheel had collapsed due to a failed top wishbone swivel joint. They had managed to effect some temporary repairs and limp back to Dushanbe for some new parts. Fortunately Hyundai are represented there. Wouldn’t fancy my chances of getting any Land Rover spares!

From that turnoff the trip really began. Narrow winding track that had never seen bitumen, thankfully. Climb and climb we did, in tandem. On the ascent we came across a couple of cyclists and a chap on a Suzuki 400cc Enduro bike, loaded to the gunnels. He was Paul from Suffolk. The two cyclists were German, from Berlin and I think a little out of their depth. They had flown in to Dushanbe and not hardened themselves for what was ahead. Not sure if that was why they were circumspect or….. Paul tells us he has a TD5 Defender at home, which gave him huge kudos:)… He’s on his way to NZ soon for a nephew’s wedding. He has our card and maybe he will find his way to Rotorua, which would be great. Come to think of it, we may be very busy with the number of people we have met on the road. One of the joys of adventure touring. Yep, you need to know all this stuff…:) Peaking at 3252m Sagirdasht Pass has the highest bus stop in the world. Not that there seems to be anyone around who would catch a bus, but never mind.
I don’t think I would be exaggerating to say the scene around us was spectacular. After a lunch stop where Valentin discovered that his front suspension/steering was seriously causing concern he found the top wishbone loose on both sides!!!! With a great set of tools, that caused me some envy, he had things in hand and also took the 20mm play out of the right front wheel bearings….Jeez!!

The decent was different again. Rocky and precipitous Heaven in a 4X4…:).

The roads are so damaged the occasional stint in 4th gear is a luxury. We are averaging 23kph which means if we don’t get a wriggle on, we will be on this road for another fortnight!! Valentin and Deedrah are on their way to Vladivostok too but they don’t expect to get there till November, so we cut a track and left them to their own speed. They are shipping to Aus via Korea.
At the bottom of the decent we were met with a barrier across the road manned by armed military? I had mentioned to Jen earlier, that there would have been no need to spend an extra £100 for entry onto the Pamir Highway, as no one was going to be checking we had it. Well, here was proof to the contrary. After inspection of our passports and a record of us having the required visa, we were allowed to pass. Whew! The area of autonomy, Gorno-Badakashan Autonomous Oblast makes up approx 45% of the country’s land area but has only 2% of the country’s population confined to settlements in ravines and the river edge. They clearly take their independence seriously, as with Afghanistan only meters away on the other side of river, will be trying to limit the flow of drugs?

Managing only 113miles or approx. 180ks, is not very much for a hard day at the office. Finding a camp site was our next problem because we have been following the river with mountains on the other side and there is nowhere to park up. Not before time did we see a slight elevated clearing away from the road as it’s 6.30pm and darkness is closing in. My first chore is to change the air filter as I have been noticing black diesel smoke from the exhaust and thinking it was probably due to the altitude. However, it was quite clogged up with dust, so should run cleaner in the morning. I had asked Gumtree to fit a pre cleaning filter to the top of the snorkel but for one reason or another, mainly our lack of time available, it didn’t happen and clogged filters are the result. Not long before we found a place off the road we passed a big yellow truck/bus with GB plates, it turned out that the girl in the passenger seat next to the driver was hanging out the window waving to us. We met her in the Tajik embassy in London making an application for her visa. She is English but had lived in NZ for a number of years and we had discussed the possibility of meeting on the road. Sadly, I don’t recall her name. So if you are reading this, young lady. It was great to see you and hope you are enjoying your trip as much as we are, ours..:)

It’s 9.20pm and I am writing this on Apple Pages on the Mac as we have no internet again. and need it to update the blog.

We’ve had a great meal, showered and about to turn in.

Night, or morning to all.

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13 Comments:

  1. As the L/R doesn’t have abundant power you will have more opportunity to enjoy the scenery. You would lose that benefit with a more powerful engine (plus find you had a bigger fuel bill). I recall in 1981 travelling in an overloaded (full of supplies in the back plus more on the roof rack) LWB Series 1 which had to go into low range to get up some of the hills in Ethiopia. That would have been around 2000m above sea level. Are you having to use low range?

    • Hi John, we are blown away by the scenery. Our Landy has progressed a little from the Series 1. They now have wind up windows…:)
      It’s going beautifully and now starting properly again!!!

      • Was the starting problem a side-effect of the water pump problem or was there another fix wihich I missed?

        • Hi John, not related. I have been thinking for some time, it could be due to some anti bacterial product that I used to treat a ‘bug’ which we picked up in Corsica a couple of years ago. But who knows. It is certainly getting better as we go. Thankfully..:)

  2. We had Bill and Joan Jones, your number 1 fans over for dinner last night, 7/28, and they introduced us to your blog. Colleen and I had a wonderful trip to NZ a short time ago and have become partial to that country and it’s people. Rumour has it that you may hopefully find time to have an evening meal with us all in White Rock BC. Love to hear your stories and maybe I can introduce you to Geocaching.com and Flagstack.net, two wonderful worldwide GPS games to play along your journey.
    You are braver than I and I wish you a continued super journey.

    • Hi Gordon, great to hear from you. Have just been discussing the meal option with Bill. That would be wonderful.
      Best
      Us

      PS will check out the games…:)

  3. Mike and Wendy

    Nice you meet a lot of people on your trips must be a real pleasure. We found a kiwi and a Pom in our village once and they are still coming back. Real nice people!!!! Seriously it sounds like you are having a great adventure. Glad to hear the LR is behaving. Was the water pump easy to fit? I did ours on the Peugeot it is connected to the cam belt. A real pain. Carry on the great blog.

    Mike and Wend xx

    • Hey Mike and Wend,

      that will teach you for helping out two stranded cyclists, now you cant get rid of them…:)

      Water pump easy to fit after some exploration. Very cleverly mounted and driven through the oil pump. So no need to fiddle with the serpentine belt. It’s going great in every respect. Love it to bits..:)

      • So glad the Landie is going great. We were a little concerned. Going back to The Bert Munro theme. I have read a lot about John Britten, he was another kiwi genius. Saw the house he built on a tv programme, absolutely amazing.

        Mike and Wend xx

        • You are becoming Honorary Kiwi’s…:). Yes, tragically Britten died in his 40’s, I believe. Built his own bike that beat all the other major manufacturers. You are right, he was a genius. One of his bikes is displayed in Te Papa NZs National Museum in Wellington.

          🙂

  4. Hi bro and Jen, great to see you are back on the road and hopefully you have had your share of mechanical difficulties. I am back from Leo’s 50th, a lovely place the Gold Coast, but too many people for me. Amazing the way you meet people you know, or have met before in the middle of nowhere. A small world indeed. Hope the travel gods are smiling on you both.

    • Hi Bro, glad you back safe. Leo 50! never…:) What does that make you? Dont need to answer that. Still my little brother..:)
      Hi to Jen. Temp back to bearable now.

      Us xx

  5. Looked up Khorog on Google maps and there was one photo and the scenery looked stunning. Hadn’t thought of doing that before so will try and follow your travels via that. So where are you headed next.?

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