Blog 12 8th – 15th May Nukus to Urgench Distance: 196km Total Distance: 3051km Nukus was a two day pit stop where we changed filmmakers – Anna Plocinska arrived from Switzerland for a month-long stint and Georgia left for the UK. It was important that they had time to connect and hand over the filmmaking […]
Breaking the Cycle Central Asia
Moynaq to Nukus: Starting from the end (Amu Darya rivermouth)
Blog 11 4th – 7th May Moynaq to Nukus Distance: 256km Total Distance: 2855km In Moynaq I arranged for a guide to be with us for the remainder of the way to Nukus. Khurmet, whom we had met at the Yurt Camp beside the Aral Sea, was the perfect choice because he has local roots […]
Aral Sea South – Spectacularly sad
Blog 10 28th April – 3rd May Nukus, Karakalpakstan, the UZ border to Moynaq Distance: 313km Total Distance: 2599km The old Soviet-built train chugged slowly across the dry, featureless steppe stopping occasionally at villages and for about 90 minutes at the border for immigration and customs. I barely slept because I was paranoid about my bike […]
Around the Aral Sea west coast (Kazakhstan)
Blog 9 23rd – 27th April Akespe to the border Distance: 305km Total Distance: 2286km Day 31: Akespe to Akbasty – 104km Once out of the sand at Akespe, it was a relief to turn onto the Gas Pipeline Road – the first made gravel road I’ve had since Aralsk. It follows a buried gas […]
Far away and over the Seabed
Blog 7 15th – 20th April Barsakelmes Island diversion, Karateren to Aralsk Distance cycled: 121km Total Distance: 1840km From the former fishing village of Karateren I had planned a two day 4WD excursion to Barsakelmes Island and Kaskakulan. The Aral Sea was often referred to as the “Sea of Islands,” virtually all of which are […]
All the way to the Aral Sea
Blog 6 10th – 14th April Kyzylorda to Kokaral Dam Distance: 520km Total Distance: 1719km Day 18 – 124km We left our Kyzylorda apartment – on the fourth floor of a Soviet-style building – apartment blocks have the same design all over the former Soviet Union. I’m not quite sure how some of these buildings […]
Kyzylorda and the Hydro-Complex
Blog 5 6th – 9th April Turkistan to Kyzylorda Distance: 323km Total Distance: 1199km Day 14 (6th April) – 119km In Turkistan, our guide Islam was afflicted with a health issue and after much discussion with his family and the team, sadly he decided to return to his home city of Shymkent to get some […]
Life along the Syr Darya
Blog 4 30th March – 5th April Kazakhstan Border to Turkistan Distance: 406km Total Distance: 871km The border crossing between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan was even more chaotic than the Tajikistan-Uzbekistan crossing a few days earlier. We had to walk my bike and lug all our baggage through passport control and security screens for both countries, a […]
A dam collapse and the accidental lake
27-29 March 2025 Total distance: 408km From Tashkent the plan was to drive back to Buka, the town that we stayed in on our first night in Uzbekistan, as I didn’t need to cycle the same road twice and rejoin the line of my journey there. Rather than heading straight for the Kazakhstan border, I […]
BREAKING THE CYCLE CENTRAL ASIA – A chilly start
DUSHANBE The first six days on the road have been very hectic and I haven’t found time to publish this blog until now. I decided to make Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan the expedition base as it is most central to the expedition, roughly half way between the Syr Darya and Amu Darya (rivers) that […]
