After three days in the tranquil town of Osh, situated at the head of the lush Fegana valley we are feeling refreshed after the hardest but most spectacular part of our journey.

From Dushanbe (Tajikistan's Capital) we rode south towards the Khaburabot Pass and the mighty Pamir range, initially the new Chinese built road lulled Rebecca into a false sense of security. Then the tarmac ended.

For 9000 ft the destroyed road climbed up through canyons, mountain villages and past the odd destoyed tank. The summit came as a relief as we stopped beside endless minefields (a leftover from the Russian withdrawl from Afghanistan and the Tajik civil war) to chat to the mine clearers who seemed quite upbeat about their job, in light of the alarming number of one legged shepards.

We decended the even steeper side of the pass into the Pyani valley and caught our first view of Afghanistan on the other side of the river. For the next 500 km we followed the Afghan border watching a land that has not changed in a thousand years.

From the provincial capital of Khorog we followed the Pyanj river south to the Wakhan valley, meeting our first overland bikers, two Australians riding around the world and a Croatian who was lost. We just missed the mad Frenchman who was riding a horse from Kazakstan to Kabul and having problems attaining Afghan visas for his horses!

The spectacular Wakhan valley introduced itself with a sunset view of the towering Hindu Kush and was to be our home for the next three days as we enjoyed it's timeless hositality. The Wakhan valley is the narrow split of Afghanistan laid down by the British, Afghan, Russian treaty to avoid a battle of the superpowers during the Great Game. Today it's fertile valley bottom is shared between the two countries by an Ismali population who have been reunited by a bridge built as a gift from the Aga Khan.

Our aim was to cross into Afghanistan for a few days, however changing visa requirements meant we missed out on visiting the land we had followed from across the river for so long.

From the warm Wakhan valley floor we climbed up the Naizatash Pass onto the freezing Pamir plateau
where tempretures dropped to -15c as the height rose to 15,000ft.

Near the wild Soviet garrison town of Mugarb we met some Americans driving three Trabants from Germany to Cambodia, via siberia, who had accidently put water into their petrol tanks. Some people just like to make life difficult.

After spending the night in a Pamir house with three generations of the family tucked up beside us, we began an exchausting ride 500km north across the vast Pamir with the 25,000 ft Peak Lenin looking down at us.

The isolated border post into Kyrgystan had three freezing conscripts and a savage dog which promptly sank its teeth into Nick's leg. Looking back from the Kyrg side of the border we viewed entire Pamir range, one of the most incredible panoramas in the world, that no among of words or photographs could do justice to.

After hundreds of miles of terrible roads, a battered BMW and two sore bums limped into Osh and enjoyed their first shower after ten days in a tent.

From here we cross into China and will be in Kashgar to watch England in the World Cup final on Saturday. Due to the steam driven computers here we will have to upload our Pamir photos there.