Ka Pai Kiwis

A beautiful morning clear and crisp. After breakfast we packed and headed back down the trail. The track took us along a slightly different route toward the main road and consequently a different river crossing. At first glance it didn’t seem as tricky as yesterday certainly not as deep but lining up the exit looked tricky as there was less than a bike length to turn out and it looked like pretty loose gravel. Sure enough half way across the bike hit a boulder which steered me in exactly the opposite way I wanted to go but after a few tank slappers I wrestled the thing onto the opposite bank and then managed to get it turned back into the track, not pretty but no swim. The road then wound up and up and up and to the top this mountain range, we pulled over to let a four wheel drive past, they pulled up beside us to say gidday, an Aussie couple travelling in their serious 4 wheel drive from Vladivostok to Munich. This seems like a popular trip, we might have to pe...

What an amazing but challenging day we have had. Spectacular mountain and lake scenery as we traverse the southern shores of Issyk Kul. The weather is much clearer than yesterday and the temperature is mid twenties, lovely. Watering the bushes - looked thirsty. Not sure about this but clearly it was of significance in the past. Last look at the lake in the distance. As we turned south away from the lake the landscape became very barren but once again very beautiful in a different way.  The road became better and better and we hit some perfect tarmac with lovely sweeping corners through a spectacular gorge. We then hit the turn-off to Song- Kul lake, the 2nd largest lake in Kyrgizstan and at an altitude 3000 metres.  65km to go and just after lunchtime, how bad can it be. Pretty bad as it happens. The first 25 km was a gradual climb but the road corrugations were as bad if not worse than any we have encountered. Usuall...