SwindeWiederhold

it’s time to leave – time to leave this country, time to find an end for our cycling trip – yes, it’s earlier then we had in our mind, but it just makes so much sense! we are exhausted, unable to find the right food which could give us some more energy so that we could keep on cycling, unable to wonder around with interest and respekt towards the people who belong here. Asia can be quite hard. The traffic, the noise, the dirt – we are too tired to see the beauty in this place for now: but we will for sure come back!

finding the right food if you are doing exercise like cycling all day long is getting quite hard, when we find something what we like we are still not very keen on eating too much of it because we had some bad experience with our stomachs

„Pakistan is safe – don’t worry“ – we hear this all day long, but sometimes we are wondering why the police wants to follow us so often and why we are not allowed to cycle for example to „Babusar Top“, if everything is so safe in this country…

Nanga Parbat – the Killer mountain (8125m); we were follwed by this guy from the military service the entire day during our trekking to the basecamp

nature – it always inspires me, gives me energy even if a situation seems without any hope

I’ve never felt so sick, my stomach is turning, making noises, it’s difficult just to sit, I don’t know how I managed to walk up to this place, to Rakaposhi basecamp, but it’s also beautiful, the men are making Chapati’s, they smoke cigarettes and joke around, they make me laugh – life is beautiful even when it’s sometimes hard

our hotel at the basecamp of Rakaposhi in Pakistan: one million stars and more! – milkyway –

power breakdown – food poisoning – and always the same question: „Can I have a selfie?“ … we are getting tired of it…

Gilgit-Baltistan is highly mountainous, five of the 8000 meter peaks are in this area and village life means hard work on the fields in the short summer time.

We fall in love with the northern area of Pakistan called „Gilgit-Baltistan“. Trekking and mountaineering should be at it’s best but without hiring a guide and porters it is nearly impossible.

Tashkurgan is the last stop before heading over the Khunjerab Pass into Pakistan. We arrive right at the time of the muslim festival „Eid al-Adha“ which is a public holiday in Pakistan. The border is closed for the following five days and we have to wait in this little town where there is nearly nothing to do and to see…

infront of the Muztagh Ata (7546 m) at Karakol Lake The Karakoram Highway/China-Pakistan Friendship Highway is one of the highest paved roads in the world. The landscape is amazing and the pavement as well, thanks to the chinese government. Some people told us that China wants to built a four lane highway out of it and we can’t believe it but you never know what CHINA is doing.

„Kashgar“ in the autonomous region Xinjiang: once a central station along the vibrant silk road, today the muslim Uigures are fighting against Peking who wants to assimilate them, police is everywhere!

Kyrgyzstan – we just love it! It’s probably our favourite country so far. Great people, wonderful mountains and beautiful roads for cycling. We will come back for sure!

Thanks for accompanying us Manu and have a safe ride home, we will see you in Germany.

Alay-Range

the most delicious and beautiful breakfast table on our trip – we are having a small break of cycling because we are waiting for our chinese visa to come by mail – it took us a whole month to get it in the end…

two wonderful weeks on Peak Lenin despite a short unfortunate incident for Nedo in the mess tent – a second degree burn on his left angle making the summit attempt impossible.

after eight hours of climbing through the night I am reaching the Lenin statue on top of Peak Lenin – my first mountain over 7000m – thanks to my new russian friend Tanja who was accompanying me

cycling the Pamir Highway from Dushanbe (Tajikistan) to Osh (Kyrgyzstan)

for three weeks it has been like: „eat – sleep – ride“, deep valleys, wide plains, fascinating mountains, it’s something of the best you can cycle…

hot, hotter, hottest – up to 45 degrees

we spent seven days in Istanbul in a nice hostel. We easily managed to get our iranian visa, maintanaced our bikes and wandered around the city

when we were looking for a spot to set our tent one evening, we were invited by this beautiful couple. They didn’t speak a word of english and nor did we speak any turkish, so our communication was limited but we could manage somehow anyway

6 wet and long days through Greece

encounter with two american cyclists from Nashville

greek plastic croissants and bananas kept us going

have you ever slept in a butcher’s meat transporter?

not really how you would describe greek weather experiences – getting soaked – almost like riding in Denmark

from Brindisi, Italy we took the ferry to the greek Island auf Corfu, where we spent three days of recovery after 15 days of riding. We had a great time with Swinde’s relatives Michal and Alexander – thanks for hosting us!

Foto: Max Kesberger