Blog 27
10th – 12th August
Ishkashim to Sarhad e Broghil (Wakhan Corridor, Afghanistan)
Distance: 194km
Total Distance: 8881km
Ishkashim is the gateway to the Wakhan Corridor and the Afghan Pamir. It has a real “frontier town” atmosphere. The bazaar was buzzing. It is the last place with easy road access to the rest of Afghanistan to the west and a regional centre for those who live further east along the Wakhan Corridor. I hoped to have a rest day in Ishkashim to prepare for the remote journey ahead and catch up on sleep and writing. However, as we lost a day because of the time taken to get permits in Faizabad, I could not afford a day off and expect to finish the expedition and return to Tajikistan on time. As a result, getting supplies for the rest of the journey ended up being a mad shopping spree just after we arrived in Ishkashim where it was difficult to get a handle on what we needed and what was available. Normally I would have a considered plan with lists of what we would need. We ended up buying way too much and missed out on some essentials.
Our guide for the second half of our time in Afghanistan was Malang Darya, one of the most experienced in the region, best known for being the first Afghani to climb Afghanistan’s highest peak, Mount Noshaq (7492m), a feat he did without oxygen.

The next section of the journey, about 200km from Ishkashim to Sarhad e Broghil, I’d hoped to cover in two long days. Knowing the conditions I would face, although not knowing so much about what it would be like to cycle it, Malang and Azim thought it would take me three days. I was just going to give it my best shot and see how I went.
Day 140
10th August; Ishkashim to Khandud – 83km
Leaving the team shopping for gifts in the bazaar, I set off alone from Marco Polo Guesthouse, along the puddled dirt road for about four kilometres and out of Ishkashim. At this point I descended into the spectacular Panj River valley. Only a couple of kilometres away, on the northern side of the river, was the Tajikistan town of Ishkashim. I had stayed there during my journey along Tajikistan’s Wakhan Valley a few weeks earlier, so I found it interesting to view the same valley from the south side of the river; a different standard of roads, different people and a different perspective. I had originally planned to cross at the border at Ishkashim but the Taliban had closed it when they came to power.

The road to Khandud had a bit of everything, except asphalt. There were many irrigation channels, pools and streams to cross. Most of the time I could ride through the pools and across the channels although occasionally, when I could not judge the depth of the water, I had to carry my bike across. There were sandy, dusty patches where heavy vehicles had gouged deep tracks. Most of the time, the surface was very stony and the loose stones played havoc under my wheels, especially on the short, steep climbs.

After 21km we arrived at Malang’s village and were invited into his home to meet his family while he collected some gear for the journey ahead.








I had cycled pretty well all day but suddenly, in the later afternoon, I ran out of steam – not enough food and rest I think. Malang decided we should stop at Khandud, one of the larger villages in the region that had a guesthouse.

Day 141
11th August: Khandud to Kipkut – 58km
I again set off alone from Khandud – Adrian and the driver caught me after 23km but Rupert wanted to make the most of the intermittent internet there and requested that Malang wait with him and find a local car to catch me the rest of the team up. This wasn’t ideal because it prevented Malang from being with the team as our guide. Finding a car suitable for the rugged terrain at short notice in the village was difficult. Due to the terrible road conditions, there just aren’t many cars. They didn’t catch us until the end of the day because the car they hired broke down twice.
Travelling alone I had to keep the Wakhan Corridor permits in my top tube bag to show at the checkpoints. Malang is well known in this area and often when I mentioned his name, the Taliban let me through. There were a lot of villages over the first 10km out of Khandud, meaning almost continuous water crossings. Some faster flowing streams required me to carry the bike. This meant I had to stop to remove my shoes and put them back on again once I had crossed the stream – all very time consuming over the course of the day.


The problem has occurred because during winter the valley has been receiving extremely strong winds that push the snow up the mountains. The hotter than usual summers are melting the glaciers faster. This all results in more water coming down from the mountains, causing the Panj to flood. It not only erodes the road, but also the grassy plains where the Wakhi graze their animals, reducing the area of fertile grassland they can use. It is a worrying situation for the Wakhi people who depend on the grassy plains for their livelihoods.






Day 142
12th August: Kipkut to Sarhad e Broghil – 53km
Two kilometres out of Sargez I faced the biggest water trap. The road was completely submerged, requiring me to carry my bike for about 250m. At the deepest point, water came up to my mid-upper thigh. I had to predict where the road was beneath the murky water and stick to the line of it as this is where the water was shallowest and I was less likely to hit big stones. My shoulder was sore and bruised from balancing the bike on it by the time I reached the other side.









Sarhad e Broghil had always been the end of the road until 2023. Prior to 2023, the only way to travel further east, into the Little Pamir and Lake Chakmaktin, was on foot often accompanied by donkeys to carry the load. Two years ago a gravel road was built giving easier access to the region, especially for a cyclist. I was going to include the story of my ride along the road in this blog, but that would make this entry too long – it deserves a seperate post…
PLEASE TAKE ACTION
THIS IS THE LAST MONTH OF MY CAMPAIGN FOR WATER.ORG. WE HOPE MORE PEOPLE WILL CONTRIBUTE AND GIVE WATER.ORG A BIG BOOST!
Support my Water.org fundraiser to help bring safe drinking water and sanitation to the world: Just $5 (USD) provides someone with safe drinking water or access to sanitation, and every $5 donated to my fundraiser will enter the donor into the Breaking the Cycle Prize Draw. https://give.water.org/f/breakingthecycle/#
FOLLOW THE JOURNEY
Thanks to ZeroSixZero, you can open this URL on your phone and select “add to home screen” and the map will become and app. You can then keep updated in real time: https://z6z.co/breakingthecycle/central-asia
EDUCATION
An education programme in partnership with Exploring by the Seat of Your Pants, with contributions from The Royal Geographical Society and The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Australia. We have created a Story Map resource to anchor the programme where presentations and updates will be added as we go.
Leave a Reply