Kashgar

Today is the last day in Kashgar. Tomorrow morning we head South in the direction of the border with Pakistan. It's about 3 days ride to Tashkurgan, where the Chinese Customs & Immigration post is located. It's another 130km to the border which is at the top of the 4700m Kunjerab pass. Unfortunately we won't be allowed to cycle beyond Tashkurgan. Apparently the security situation in Afghanistan gives the Chinese authorities cause to worry about the safety of cyclists & they make us hop on a bus that goes to Sost in Pakistan. We hope to be able to get of at the pass & cycle down.

The plan is to cycle down the Karakorum highway as far as Gilgit, stopping off in a few places along the way to go walking. Either Gilgit or Karimabad (a little to the North) sound like good bases to do some walking & Gilgit is the only place with semi-decent Internet on the highway. I may head over to the mountaineering mecca of Skardu, from where K2 is accessible, on a side trip. I'd been told that cycling South on the highway beyond Gilgit wasn't safe as the inhabitants of that part of Pakistan (Indus Kohistan) aren't very friendly to foreigners & have been known to throw stones at cyclists. To avoid Indus Kohistan I'll take the road West from Gilgit to Chitral that goes over the 3700m Shandur pass where the highest polo ground in the World is found. From Chitral the plan is to drop down to Peshawar then across to Islamabad & Lahore.

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