I got up at my usual time, as the Sun's first light came over the horizon. I'd like to say it was the joy of the new day that propelled me out of my tent. However it was the urgency of a 'bowel movement'. Once completed I went back to bed & sleep.
Everything was damp from dew & I decided to take it slow to give the Sun a chance to dry things out. I knew I had a steep climb up to the Tцц-Ashuu tunnel right from the beginning & wasn't really looking forward to it. I was annoyed to find that my fork was missing I must have left it by the river at the previous night's campsite. Even more annoying was that my spoon disappeared into the small stream while washing it. I'd have to do all my eating with a t-spoon! My mind was on reaching Bishkek, seeing Freddie & leaving my journey to one side for a short while.
Almost immediately on joining the road I met the 2 French cyclists Sebastien & Roman, who'd camped very close to me (though we'd not seen each other). As usual they were much faster than me & I didn't see them again that day. Though I imagine I'll bump into them again at some point.
The climb up wasn't as bad as I'd feared. I'd miscalculated the distance to the tunnel,
it was longer & therefore less steep. The tunnel was quite difficult. It was quite long & changed in gradient halfway through so the its end wasn't visible for some time. It had lights but they weren't on. My tiny little headlamp wasn't up to the task in the pitch black. I would wait for a car to enter the tunnel & pedal like mad while the was light. Fortunately there was enough traffic that with this method it didn't take to get through. Safely on the other side I had a descent of 2300m on 60km of perfect asphalt. Marvelous!
At the bottom the road joined the major thoroughfare that links Tashkent & Bishkek. It probably doesn't see as much traffic as it used to as the road passes across a couple of international borders but it was certainly busy by the standards of the roads that I'd been on recently. It also marked where the flatland that extended northwards for a very long way.
The road passed through a number of market towns. The land around was rich & easy to work so every bit of it was tilled & planted. It reminded me of the road between Bukhara & Samarqand, in that it seemed like one long village main street. All along it were what I supposed were Russian colonial houses, looking like they were made of gingerbread. There were many more Russian faces than in the South from where I'd come.
I camped just off the highway in a harvested wheat field. I had a great view of the high mountain range that I crossed.
Tomorrow morning I'll be in Bishkek.
I cycled 117 km in 7 hours & 15 minutes
Total so far 9217 km in 133 days
GPS Coordinates of end point - N 42°51.009, E 74°11.253
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