Day 76 to Khorog, Tajikistan, 135km, 66532 to date.  603m up, 2078m end

(Unable to access the web for a couple of days, so some catch up...)

A relatively easy day, mostly downhill ending at a reasonable 2078m or 6,818 ft.  We’ve now done the high altitude part of the ride.

Not many pics as the scenery is essentially unchanged for several days now.  Also, it was raining lightly for 2/3rds of the ride and I’m sensitive about water on the phone.  The smell of sage was very strong whilst raining.

Again today, I was the recipient of local generosity - I had stopped for a coke and was talking to several of the local kids, when the store owner came out and gave me a bag of small apples and baby apricots.

Some pics:

Yes, this photo is staged, but the surface of the bridge is way worse than it looks.

At Khorog we look across the Panji river for our first view of Afghanistan, only about 100ft. away.

For this first time on this trip I was sick this morning - so am going to spend a lazy day (it is a rest day).  The timing is good in that we are camped on the grounds of a 5-star boutique hotel, with full use of the facilities.  I am having a wonderful breakfast on the outdoor patio looking at the bridge to Afghanistan and people walking back and forth over the bridge.

The location map: