St Petersburg – The Urban Side – Photos

I’m now back in the UK. Again. It’s wonderful with the warm sun and green fields, leafy trees and chirping birds. What a contrast to Magadan in the Russian Far East. And the girl in me is rather enjoying having a choice of clothes to put on in the morning, conditioner as well as shampoo [...]

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Kolyma Highway Photos – Winter Biking – 2000km Yakutsk to Magadan

Well, there are many stories to tell from the last couple of months. The 2000km from Yakutsk to Magadan was a fantastic ride, made all the more memorable by the incredibly kind, generous, hospitable people I met along the way. My journal is full! But this blog post is not for telling those stories with [...]

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Too Cold – Winter Biking Yakutia Photos

Oh where do I start?! I think for now, I will just show you the photos from the last couple of weeks. Mostly it was too cold to stop and take photos… sometimes when I did, the camera wouldn’t work anyway. When it’s -40C and colder (when I woke one morning from the bivvy, it [...]

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Biking to Lake Baikal and Olkhon Island

Just over a week has passed since leaving Irkutsk… and now I’m back. Briefly. Tomorrow I take a train to Neriyungri to begin the very cold cycle to Yakutsk. But back to the last week. It seems a lot has happened. Firstly I cycled to Lake Baikal – it took five days. A bit longer [...]

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Into the White

Time for a long-awaited update… After a few weeks back home, I’m finally back out in Russia – in Irkutsk, near Lake Baikal. The first 3 weeks at home were spent indulging in the guiltless excesses of good food and drink over xmas, safe in the knowledge that I’ll be...
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Home and the things we love and miss

Each time I return home from an extended time abroad, I am engulfed with a mixture of emotions and impressions. And each time it is different. Last time, it was the shock at the pace of life so many live in the UK. The Rat Race. I hated it. I had gone straight back into [...]

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Take On Asia – Free Photobook and Round Up Part 1

I am back in the UK! Yes, that happened fast you say. Indeed, I’d been keeping my return quiet so I could surprise my mum for her birthday. But now I can tell you about the last days of the journey… Having cycled back to Moynaq, I hopped in a taxi and left a pool [...]

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In Search of the Aral Sea – From Khiva to Moynaq, Uzbekistan

Rather than retrace the direct route to the main road via Urgench, cycled along the smaller roads for a short cut towards Nukus. Riding through small towns and farmland. Uninspiring. But I was quite happy just pootling along. No particular rush. I thought again how this countryside reminded me...
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Photos of Khiva

I pushed on towards Khiva, rather than camp – it would have been the crap kind of camping. Where you have to hide and make no noise and try not to be seen. There were simply too many houses and people from the main road to Khiva. Nothing like the desert the day before. Besides, [...]

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Elliq Qala – A tour of the 50 Fortresses (well, 6 to be exact)

Because it had taken three hours for the taxi driver to find 3 other passengers, it was well after dark when I arrived in Tortkul. So rather than cycling out of town and camping, I found a place to stay. From here I was going to start a mini tour of the crumbling ruins of [...]

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Photos of Bukhara

After Samarkand, came Bukhara. On the route I’m cycling west, at least. It was the same for those merchants from the East trading along the Silk Road so many centuries ago, millennia even. Another central Asian city that has changed hands almost as often as I wash my clothes. First it was...
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Photos of Samarkand

Samarkand was founded around 700BC by the Sogdians. It became one of the greatest cities in the world at the time due to it’s central location on the Silk Road, connecting China with the East. Later it became a centre of learning for Islam. In 1220, Chinggis Khan swept through and...
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The Golden Road to Samarkand

Time is flying by. I have so much I could write about, but too little time to do it justice. That has been the trouble with this trip… not enough time to simply sit back and relax. Now I’m in Central Asia and no longer need to rush against the wintery weather, the 30 day [...]

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Get On With It – Getting to Dushanbe and Visa Woes

So this was the plan… cycle through the Pamirs and on to Dushanbe, pick up my Uzbek visa and be on my way to Uzbekistan to see the Silk Road cities, make a brief detour to the remains of the Aral Sea and cycle on into Kazakhstan and fly home in time for Christmas. It [...]

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Riding the Pamir Highway – The Wakhan Valley – from Langar to Khorog

It was a struggle leaving Langar. After a night in a bed (=mattress on floor), I was more tired than usual. Not much energy either (soup and bread for dinner is not enough calories for a cycle-tourer, even after you wake in the night and eat a Snickers bar). So I lingered over breakfast and [...]

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Riding the Pamir Highway – Into Wakhan Valley – Murghab to Langar

I woke up in my dim unlit room in Murghab, went to the window and pulled back the curtains. White light blinded me. I blinked and rubbed my eyes and pressed my face to the window and watched my breath steam up the glass. Beyond, snow was falling gently and the world outside was all [...]

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Riding the Pamir Highway – The Cold Way – Sary Tash to Murghab

My legs and busting lungs screamed for a day off in Sary Tash (that’s what you get when you sit on a horse for a month). But the clear skies were too good to spend indoors. You never know when the winds will change and blow a dastardly-blizzardy-storm your way. When I finally decided I [...]

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Osh and Up to the Roof of the World in Photos

Having lingered long enough in Bishkek while arranging onward visas, I took a bus straight to Osh. From there, it would be back on the bike. In at the deep end – unfit after a 6-week break while horse-riding, I knew the legs would suffer with the endless uphill towards the Pamir Mountains,...
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Calendar 2014 – Take On Asia

This year is galloping on and before you know it, it’ll be Christmas. Well, that got me thinking about calendars recently. So I’ve been looking through all my photos from this past 4 months of cycling and horse-riding in Russia, Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan and have selected 12 that I...
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Horse-Riding Kyrgyzstan – Part 4 Photos Song Kul to Sale of Sarala

After a couple of days rest at Song Kul, it was time to get back in the saddle and leave this chilly, windy plateau. Return to the valley where the sun shines and summer still smiles. The ride over and down the Chil-Bel Pass was steep. We had company. Many families were moving back to [...]

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