We set off from Tashkent for the first day of cycling. It was a short stage of around sixty kilometers, during which we knew we’d have to make some adjustments.

Breakdowns, incidents, falls...

We stopped several times because Daniel’s rear mudguard touched. It takes a while to realize that it’s actually the luggage rack that’s loose : a screw is loose on one side and completely missing on the other. We repositioned the luggage rack correctly, tightened the remaining screw and that was it.

We’re driving along some very nice roads, then all of a sudden, to get to the other side of a main road, we pass under a bridge where the road has broken down. To avoid a hole in the road, Daniel swerved but hit some stones and fell badly. People stop to help us. Then we’re off again.

Find hotel

We stop to eat an excellent meal on the side of the road, then end up arriving a little late at the GPS points indicated on the booking site. It’s weird, but it doesn’t look like it at all... We start looking for ways to find the hotel, then someone comes to help us. He calls the hotel, puts me through to the lady when she answers... who remains silent. He takes the phone and talks in Uzbek. Some local people take the car to guide us, and after a bit of palaver we settle in.

Shopping

At the end of the afternoon, we go shopping. The young lady is very happy to help us and she and her boyfriend ask us a lot of questions using translators... which of course sometimes have confusing results : we don’t know what to answer to the question “what’s new ?”. 😇 Eventually we get out and they catch up with us to give us a bottle of water and “things to eat on the road” !!!

Every time we stopped someone came up to us. On several occasions, people spontaneously came to help us : a superb demonstration of Uzbek hospitality !

Tomorrow we’ll try to leave early to avoid the heat, and we’ll ask on the spot if we can camp somewhere.