Woke up today after a great night’s sleep, must have got about 10 hours! We got up and were treated to a huge breakfast, as much tea as we could drink, plenty of bread (with cream to dip it in) and a large bowl of soup which seemed to be made from last night’s plov. It was delicious, Botir’s family have been amazing, but now we have said our goodbyes. Off for another swim in the river then on to the border.
Oh dear! First major car trouble of the trip, and we’re on our own. To get to where we were swimming yesterday, we had to ford a small bit of river, but when we got out the other side Rudolph was spluttering out a lot of black smoke and totally unable to idle. My expert opinion is that some thing's wet and might fix itself if we leave it and go swimming. So I managed to drive it (with stupidly high revs) up to the place we parked yesterday. Now we’re going for a dip.
Well that was a nice refreshing swim, but the car is still pretty dead. We tried revving up a lot trying to see if it would dry out, then decided to try driving it back to the village and if it’s still bad, go back to Botir’s mother’s and ask for some help. I managed to miss the turning off the dirt track so had to do a 3pt turn with man-power. Then it completely died! Starting to worry that we’ll need to get a mechanic out now.
Well, I had a brainwave, what if we fight this problem with our sensor problem? So we plugged the sensor back in, and miraculously it could idle okay. It could also rev quite high with a little gas, but nothing with the foot down. So we drove it like this to the village, then unplugged the sensor again, and Hooray! it works fine again. There’s still the odd splutter here and there, but it works properly. Now off to the border.
Easiest border yet, maybe even took less than an hour! A couple of customs forms to fill in, a stamp we had to chase for and then we were off, in to Kyrgyzstan!
James isn’t feeling very well today, so I’m driving while he cowers from the sun and tries to get some rest. The roads here are pretty good, with lovely scenery. The first part of the drive was quite flat but we could see huge snow-capped mountains in the distance. Then we drove up through some mountain passes and along the side of a huge reservoir and some lakes. Driving has been fairly uneventful, regular poo-stops for James, one road toll (which may or may not have been official), and now I’ve been stopped for speeding. 89 in a 50 zone, he wanted 100 USD, but I got him down to 5 and set off for a campsite. Side roads don’t exist in steep valleys though.
We saw the Spigots’ car at a truckstop so stopped to chat, they are camping round the back tonight so I think we’ll join them. James just wants somewhere to sleep.
Stayed up chatting for a while, then pitched the tent. Nice and gravelly ground, but James is sleeping in the car, so I’ve borrowed his roll-mat.
Oh dear! First major car trouble of the trip, and we’re on our own. To get to where we were swimming yesterday, we had to ford a small bit of river, but when we got out the other side Rudolph was spluttering out a lot of black smoke and totally unable to idle. My expert opinion is that some thing's wet and might fix itself if we leave it and go swimming. So I managed to drive it (with stupidly high revs) up to the place we parked yesterday. Now we’re going for a dip.
Well that was a nice refreshing swim, but the car is still pretty dead. We tried revving up a lot trying to see if it would dry out, then decided to try driving it back to the village and if it’s still bad, go back to Botir’s mother’s and ask for some help. I managed to miss the turning off the dirt track so had to do a 3pt turn with man-power. Then it completely died! Starting to worry that we’ll need to get a mechanic out now.
Well, I had a brainwave, what if we fight this problem with our sensor problem? So we plugged the sensor back in, and miraculously it could idle okay. It could also rev quite high with a little gas, but nothing with the foot down. So we drove it like this to the village, then unplugged the sensor again, and Hooray! it works fine again. There’s still the odd splutter here and there, but it works properly. Now off to the border.
Easiest border yet, maybe even took less than an hour! A couple of customs forms to fill in, a stamp we had to chase for and then we were off, in to Kyrgyzstan!
James isn’t feeling very well today, so I’m driving while he cowers from the sun and tries to get some rest. The roads here are pretty good, with lovely scenery. The first part of the drive was quite flat but we could see huge snow-capped mountains in the distance. Then we drove up through some mountain passes and along the side of a huge reservoir and some lakes. Driving has been fairly uneventful, regular poo-stops for James, one road toll (which may or may not have been official), and now I’ve been stopped for speeding. 89 in a 50 zone, he wanted 100 USD, but I got him down to 5 and set off for a campsite. Side roads don’t exist in steep valleys though.
Stayed up chatting for a while, then pitched the tent. Nice and gravelly ground, but James is sleeping in the car, so I’ve borrowed his roll-mat.
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