Cycling in Pakistan - Giligit to Chitral Video

Gilgit to Chitral Cycle Ride (taster) from Simon Taylor on Vimeo.

This section of the journey took 6 days of cycling and climbed over the 3800m Shandur Pass. We crossed the pass in October to try and reach the Kalash people of NW Pakistan, the only remaining indigenous non-muslims still living in the country. This film is just a brief part of a larger whole.

Trans Africa Route (by truck) on Google Maps

Whole route in Google Earth

The whole route is available here as a Google Earth kmz file. Just download and click to open the route in Google Earth (as long as you've got Google Earth on your computer).

All of the separate sections are available here to download and use to plan your own route. It's a good way to see the absolute emptiness of Mongolia and the magnificence of the Ile valley and the Tien Shan in China. The Altai and the Karakorums look pretty good too.

Ulaan Baatar to Kathmandu

Below is a Nasa World Wind video of the route from Ulaan Baatar to Kathmandu:
Download the route as a Google Earth file here


Ulaan Baatar to Kathmandu from Simon Taylor on Vimeo.

Crossing the desert in Iran

Here's a film made using World Wind, Nasa's simulation software, of our route across the desert in Iran. We took 10 days cycling from Neyshabur to Yazd. See here for more details. If you want to see this route in Google Earth just click here for the kmz file.


 Iran - Crossing the desert from Simon Taylor on Vimeo.

Mongolia to Turkey Road Guides

Golden Triangle Route in Google Maps

About 700km of cycling. We did it at Easter during Songkran and it was HOT!

Mongolia Gallery

Pakistan Gallery

GPS Files for Mongolia to Istanbul

Just open any of these in Google Earth to see where we went.
The KMZ file contains all sections of the route.


These files were not collected by us as we went along because we didn't have a GPS then, but were made using Bike Route Toaster to view our route in Google Earth.

Pamir Highway route in Google Maps

This is the route from Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan via Osh to Khorog in Tajikistan. When we rode this our intended route back North into Kyrgyzstan was closed to foreigners so we returned back up the Pamir Highway all the way to Bishkek. One way is about 700km long.

The end of the ride…the adventure’s over – our final post

Finally we reach the end. We’ve had our adventures and made loads of friends, especially in Iran, and over the last 12 months we’ve learned so much about the world, about different societies, cultures, languages, history and about how all these disparate people deal with life in the varied regions through which we’ve cycled. Mongolia, Pakistan and Iran were highlights but everywhere was interesting in it’s own way.

We’ve had time to reflect upon the things we’ve seen, to bore people with our experiences (they did make the mistake of asking) and increasingly to spend more and more time following the valiant attempts of the Iranian people to get the freedom that they all wish for and so deserve. ‘Where is their vote?’

We’re starting to crave bacon, sausages, different clothes, a little bit of consumerism and we miss our friends and family. We’re not really sure where home is so we’re off to England and then Canada before heading off to Dubai to teach there for two years.

The route guides should be good for a few years of cycling so feel free to make use of them, visa info changes constantly so make use of the Thorn Tree on Lonely Planet of you need more up to date info. Feel free to email us for information using the email link if you’re thinking about cycling anywhere along this route yourself and want advice. If you use the guides and they’re wrong then let us know and we’ll update them.

Thanks for reading and a huge thanks to all our friends who helped us while we’ve been away….Jules, Jo and Rob, you’re all absolute stars.

Simon Taylor and Isabelle Bedard        June 2009

turkeyontheroad

Kelebekler Vadisi – Butterfly Valley - a Turkish paradise

We’re at the end of our journey and have reached our final destination for this cycle ride. We’d always intended to get to Butterfly Valley and now we’re here it’s absolutely magic.

It’s changed, there are new tree houses, people here have changed but the valley is still beautiful.

I first discovered this place about 18 years ago and have been coming back every year or two to relax and switch off from the world of work in the UK.

About 25 years ago a farmer from one of the local village perched high up on the cliffs, sold the orange and lemon tree covered valley to a private person who promptly chopped down all the trees ready to develop the valley for mass tourism.
The end of the valley was (and still is) a breeding site for thousands of butterflies and luckily the land was then bought by a co-operative of Turks with the sole idea of preventing it from being developed. They managed to get the land protected by law and each year one of the co-op runs a small eco friendly camp and restaurant in the valley for a few months in the summer. You can camp on the beach or stay in wooden ‘tree houses’ but no-one can build any permanent structures so nothing much changes, especially when huge storms destroy most of the wooden huts every winter.
With all the rain that Turkey has had this spring, the valley is lush and more beautiful than ever, the waterfalls at the end of the valley are poring with water and climbing up to the top waterfall has become even more exciting.

Here’s some more photos from in the valley and also from George House and some of the coastal paths above the valley:

Sunset in Cappadocia

Cappadocia is so photogenic it just begs you to take photos. Close to sunset the shapes and shadows become incredible…..


Here's some photos taken close to sunset not far from our campsite:

The wonders of Cappadocia – fairy chimneys everywhere

In the centre of Turkey in an area called Cappadocia there’s an amazing landscape of fairy chimneys, underground cities and houses and churches built into caves.
It’s easy to visit and it’s also possible to sleep in hotels built into the rocky towers which are everywhere and make up large parts of the villages in the area.



Several million years ago there was a big volcano in the area which one day suddenly exploded, sending billions of tonnes of ash and millions of hard rocks shooting up into the air. All this stuff eventually landed and created a flat landscape of ash littered with smaller hard rocks. Eventually the ash hardened to make a rock called Tufa.

Ever since then the rain and the wind have been washing away the tufa wherever there aren’t any hard rocks sitting on the top protecting it, leaving tall towers. 

People from the outside called the towers ‘Fairy Chimneys’ because they thought that fairies lived in them.

 For hundreds of years people have lived inside the towers, carving rooms and tunnels that go right to the very top. They had rooms where pigeons lived in little holes in the walls and the people collected the pigeon poo to use as fertiliser on their gardens, where they grew grapes and fruit.


About 1000 years ago all the Christians in the area were threatened by Muslim invaders and they even built underground cities that they hid in while the armies marched over the top looking for them. Instead of having normal churches they built their churches into the cliffs or underground where no-one could find them and destroy them.
Here’s some more pictures of some of the fairy chimneys and the valleys in the area, the best bit about it is that you can just explore and climb around inside the chimneys looking for tunnels and undiscovered rooms: