to Massy: The Fergana Valley - Racpat RTW 2015-2017 - CycleBlaze

August 4, 2016

to Massy: The Fergana Valley

“We are down one man” Suzie says after catching us at the junction. Then later at a roundabout, we are down one woman. Suzie turned right instead of going straight.

From the reservoir we start with a 5km climb through golden brown hills. Farmers are harvesting the hay. Then some flat, then a long downhill into Jalalabad. We lose Cyril who has decided to tackle the road through Kazaman to Song Kul. We also lose Suzie who takes a wrong turn at a roundabout and keeps going for about 17km. By that time we have waited over an hour and a half, Jo has even rented a taxi to drive into town and back to see if he can spot her. We finally decide to keep going and send her a message about our plans. About a half hour later while we have lunch on the top of the next hill, she shows up in a taxi.

The Frenchman we camped with last night told us about a lake with a swimming area. There might be a fee, but when we get there it doesn’t look that impressive, plus we have only done 44km, not enough to get us down the road in a reasonable time. So we go further.

The Fergana Valley is a long fertile agricultural valley that stretches across Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is not very scenic though, and the traffic on this fairly narrow road is getting on our nerves. On top of that it is hot, about 40 degrees centigrade.

In Massy we spot a restaurant with a nice garden. We push our bikes in and are given a nice room with carpets, pads and two low tables. The communication is bad, but we try to let them know we want to spend the night here. We are immediately invited to join some guys in another room who have great bbq meat, bread and melon. After some clean-up we spent the day in “our” room, charge our electronics and catch up on internet. We have a sim card that works. Our bikes are unloaded, all panniers in the room. Image our surprise when after dinner, just when it gets dark we are told the place is closing and we have to move. We protest, but the language barrier makes it impossible to make our point, plus it seems they really don’t care that it is dark now and we can’t really ride down the road.

So we pack up and start pushing down the shoulder. After about 500 meters we spot an open gate and Suzie goes in to investigate. The family welcomes us with open arms! Twenty minutes later we are seated on their outdoor dining area, are served chai, fresh bread with honey and watermelon.

Such hospitality to total strangers. We bed down on the dining platform and have a good night.

Leaving the reservoir campsite.
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Leaving the reservoir campsite.
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Loading hay.
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Rolling hills and a soviet monument.
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Desending towards Jalalabad.
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Soviet monument.
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Based on the date we assume this is a monument to remember the 2010 unrests.
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We are invited in to share dinner with a group of men with one woman.
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The friendly family who rescues us after we get evicted from the restaurant.
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Cutting up a watermelon for the guests.
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Today's ride: 68 km (42 miles)
Total: 19,999 km (12,419 miles)

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