Gilgit

The road continued as spectacularly as before, at times cutting through vertical solid rock. Tons of explosives must have been required to do this.

As amazing as the terrain was by mid-afternoon both Nick & I had had enough. With the benefit of hindsight we both came to the conclusion that it was a mistake to have gone by bus up the same road that we cycled down. That we did so gave the feeling that we were not exploring. Both of us quite wanted to be back in Gilgit, which unfortunately was too far to reach by bike & coming up I had spotted no suitable spots for camping spots from the mini-bus window.

It wasn't difficult to come to the decision to try & hitchhike. At the point that we made this decision Nick had a flat tire making it seem like we were being given the message to stop cycling for the day. No sooner had we stopped than a mini convoy of trucks came up what had been a very quiet road. They stopped for us, quickly stowing our bikes & bags on top of their load of potatoes. They weren't going to Gilgit but could take us the 25km to the intersection with the Karakorum Highway.

I began to regret that we hadn't passed up their invitation for one going directly to Gilgit when the lead truck got a flat tire. Though it gave us the chance to watch the Sun go down on the peak of Nangar Parbat, the World's 9th highest mountain. Along the very bumpy way one of the co-drivers got out a block of hash & with the skill of the well practiced rolled up a joint. My notion of the sobriety of Pakistanis was destroyed. Going was pretty slow & it was well after dark on a moonless night when we reached the intersection with the KKH.

We weren't at all confident to be able to pick up a lift & area beside the road was totally unsuitable for camping. We had visions of pushing our bikes until we were too tired & sleeping by a rock. In the end the first car that came up the road stopped & took us all the way to our guesthouse! We owe the World some favours for this.

I cycled 85 km in 6 hours & 11 minutes
Total so far 11004 km in 169 days