After a quiet night in Gulcha on the countryside, today I cycled the remaining 80 km to Osh. After climbing Chyiyrchyk pass with 800 m of altitude difference, I descended on the other basically constantly during 60 km towards Osh. In Osh I will take some time for recovering and regaining some strength from the many passes and the high altitudes in Pamir.

Upset stomach

My day started really badly. The dinner from last night that I actually cooked myself in the homestay caused some stomach problems, which resulted in an uncomfortable night and lack of appetite the next morning. In the end I only had a hot chocolate for breakfast, which is not the ideal preparation for an 800 m climb. Still, I decided to try to go to Osh anyway because there I have more options for recovery.

Feeling the last few days during climb

The details of the Chyiyrchyk pass are not that spectacular, the top is at around 2400 m and the climb is 800 m. Most of the passes I did in the past few weeks were more challenging because of either the number of meters to climb or the elevation. But still, I felt extremely weak today during the climb. It was definitely because of my upset stomach, but not only. I really felt that in the past few days in Pamir I got gradually weaker because obviously I gave myself not enough time to recover from the extreme conditions. It took me a full three hours, excluding breaks of around one hour, to climb this pass. I really have to take some rest in Osh, at least one or maybe even two days. Even going down on the other side of the pass was difficult and I was glad it was only going down. When I arrived in Osh, I barely could carry up my luggage to my room. No need to mention that I was very tired in the evening and went to bed very early. The Pamirs really cost me a lot of energy.

First impressions of Osh

Osh is located on below 1000 m, the last time I was at such an altitude was in Dushanbe almost one month ago. The descent to Osh was besides very uninspiring, the valley simply got wider and wider and at some point ended in a huge plain with humid and hot summer temperatures. It is nice for a change to be in a big city again for a few days, but I am looking forward again to climbing to higher altitudes in Kyrgyzstan again in a few days.

Detailed Track

My first impression of Kyrgyzstan was a muddy road that lead down from a pass on 4300 m to Sary Tash, which again was on 3200 m and hence the vegetation is very sparse and the climate is harsh.

Today I had to cross two more passes of around 3600 m of altitude to reach the lower regions of Kyrgyzstan, and the more I descended towards Gulcha at an altitude of 1600 m, my target city today, the more trees, green areas, and animals I met.

Climb in the morning

When I left Sary Tash in the morning, I immediately started climbing the first of the two passes. As it was still at a high altitude and early in the morning, it was quite chilly, especially with the wind blowing over the pass near the top. However, the sun is also intensive and compensated a bit for the wind.

Having reached the first pass, there was a steep descent for around 2-3 km, and then the next climb started. They really could have built that road somehow that I don’t have to descent and climb in such short intervals. After in total 2 hours in total, I also reached the second pass, and a long descent was ahead. As the clouds over the high mountains already got dark at that time and rain was imminent, I was glad I could descent and run away from the clouds.

Unfriendly welcome by local boy

In Sary Tash, I did not meet lots of people as it is only a transit place, so the first encounters with locals I made on the way down from the second pass. And somehow especially the boys seemed unfriendly and also aggressive. When going downhill at a high speed, two boys who were standing on a hill next to the road were throwing rocks at me, one hit me at the arm. Fortunately I was not hurt, but if he had hit my face 10 cm more up, it would have hurt. As I was going down fast, I did not stop and teach him a lesson, but I probably should have.

After this incident, I met other boys who were quite unfriendly, but at least not violent. I hope this was the last incident of this kind.

Descending to Gulcha

From the nature point of view, the descent was nice. I was cycling through red canyons covered with green grass, through small villages, and dozens of animal herds that were moving towards the mountains with their farmers. At times, it was quite difficult to get through a few hundred sheep or dozens of horses who were occupying the road. While the sheep are weaker than me and move to the side normally, with horses I had to be a bit more careful.

Evening in Gulcha

Gulcha is a nice little city, and it was the first occasion to organize e.g. a local SIM card, find some decent shops, and chat with some people outside a bank. People here were in a good mood, the police officers were interested in my bike and were joking about taking my helmet, I get their police uniform hat instead.

I found a place to sleep in a homestay. I was the only guest, and I could use their kitchen, so I started cooking some of the conserved stuff that I bought for the Pamirs for emergency situations. And after that, I finally had time again to update my blog. It is the first time since Khorog and for about two weeks that I have a decent Internet connection again.

Tomorrow I will continue to Osh, the second largest city in Kyrgyzstan. For that, I will have to climb another 800 m and then basically roll down for 60 km.

Detailed Track