Packing List for the Pamir Highway

Introduction

Bikepacking the Pamir Highway is different so not surprisingly this has had an impact on my bike and the items I'll be taking.

Regarding "stuff", there's new stuff, more stuff and overall, the full set of stuff is heavier. And some it I will probably.... hopefully..... never use. Whaaaaaaat?

Blame the Risk Assessment

Bikepackers sometimes like to pride themselves on being able to "travel light" and not get sucked into taking things they don't really need. For this trip though, I'm knowingly taking things that I very much hope I won't need. It's all a question of risk and early on in the planning process I carried out a fairly formal risk assessment, listing things that could go wrong, how likely I felt this was and what the impact would be (graded as low/medium/high).

Amongst the various categories of risk were things that might affect the bike (e.g. various mechanical failures) or my health (accidents, injuries, illnesses etc).

I then looked for ways to mitigate each risk, assuming I thought it worthwhile and that there actually was something I could do. Not all risks can be mitigated of course. And it was here that I started to add things to the packing list; first aid items, tools, spares and repair materials.

Bike Changes

The Mule has new wheels designed specifically for touring with a heavy load. Details can be found here. This was motivated by the fact that any type of wheel damage worse than a broken spoke could probably not be resolved, possibly ending the trip. Your bike's wheels are somewhat important.

The only other change made specifically for this trip is the tyres. I'm still using the excellent Continental Contact Plus tyres but this time went for a larger 47 mm tyre. Previously I've always fitted 43 mm tyres. 

The idea is just to have a greater volume of air supporting the heavier load being carried on this trip.

Carrying Stuff

The main carrying system consists of:

• 2 x Ortlieb Back Roller Classic panniers (40 L capacity total)
• 1 x Ortlieb Rack Pack (31 L)
• 1 x Ortlieb Handlebar Pack QR (11 L)

And new for this trip to provide extra capacity:

• 2 x Ortlieb Fork Packs (5.8 L each)

The Mule with the six main bags

In addition, I bought a dry bag from Alpkit (13 L) which I can use to carry extra stuff such as food, with the dry bag lashed to the back of the bike using one of two bungee cords or the luggage straps that I'll have with me.

I also have a small frame bag on the top tube. This is mostly used to carry my phone for navigation. 

A small saddle bag contains tyre levers, a spare inner tube, mechanics gloves and a bike multi-tool.

Indirectly related to this topic, I also bought a dry bag for my sleeping bag from Sea to Summit. This gives me the option to carry my relatively bulky sleeping bag strapped to the bike rather than taking up room in one of the panniers.

So, I have the ability to carry a greater volume of stuff and spare capacity for the food I expect to need to carry in the more remote, higher altitude parts of the journey. 

Keeping Warm

It's likely to be hot during the day time, especially at lower altitudes nearer to our start point, Dushanbe. But it's possible that at high altitude it will get quite cold at night, maybe a few degrees below freezing point. That means that not only is it essential to be able to keep warm in the tent at night but also sitting outside the tent in the evenings and when first cycling early in the morning. To that end, the following new items are coming on this trip:

• Sea to Summit Spark -9 C down sleeping bag

• Rab down jacket

• Sealskinz mittens

Mittens may seem like a questionable choice given we're expecting day time temperatures around 35 degrees Celsius! But, I have shockingly bad circulation in my hands and suffer badly in chilly (but above freezing) conditions so without them would struggle on those cold early mornings we are expecting to encounter at high altitude.

As well as the new additions, as always I'll have merino wool leggings, a long sleeved top and and a hat for extra layers to wear whenever necessary.

Drinking Water

We've been advised to not drink tap water. We also know there will be occasions where tap water won't even be available and mountain streams and rivers will be our only available source of water. So the kit list includes the following water purification tools:

• Katadyn BeFree water filter - this is a one litre flexible bladder with a screw on filter. To use it, you fill the bladder from a tap or stream and then push the water through the filter and nozzle by squeezing the bladder. It's quite a slow process but will reduce the presence of particles, bacteria,  protozoa and parasites.

• Steripen Ultralight - The water filter doesn't remove viruses. The steripen should. Steripen is an electronic ultra-violet emitting "wand". It is used by  immersing it in water that has been through the filter and then switching it on. UV is emitted for a period of time before the device switches itself off. It has a rechargeable battery in it with a USB socket.

• Water sterilisation tablets - we shouldn't need to use them but if for example the Steripen breaks or if we simply want to be extra careful, a tablet left in the water for a suitable period of time will get rid of (most) bacteria and viruses.

We also have the option to boil water as well.

The usual strategy will be to filter water using the Katadyn filter first and then zap it with the Steripen.

Food 

We expect to wild camp sometimes, possibly most of the time. So for the first time, I'm taking cooking equipment with me. 

I had to buy a new stove. My existing equipment either uses gas canisters or alcohol. Neither of these fuels are easy to obtain in Tajikistan. So that left fuels such as petrol, diesel and kerosene. There are a number of multi-fuel stoves on the market that can run off any of these types of fuel and I bought an MSR Whisperlite.  I also bought a titanium pan and a fuel bottle to carry fuel for and be connected to the MSR stove.

To carry the MSR fuel bottle and its contents, I bought a Blackburn bottle cage which is to be lashed with cable ties to the underside of the bike's down tube.

These stoves seem to use fuel quite quickly so I'll be taking a second fuel bottle made by Trangia so that I can carry extra fuel. I'll either be cramming it inside the Ortlieb Rack Pack or I'll be lashing it to the bags at the rear of the bike. Necessity is the mother of invention. 

I don't eat meat but I'm not a vegan. I'm hoping to be able to buy fresh eggs from time to time as these will be a valuable protein source for me. To ensure I can carry up to four eggs without breaking them, I bought a couple of plastic 2 x egg boxes.

The final new item in my camp kitchen is a collapsible colander. I'm expecting to buy grains such as oats, lentils and buck wheat and will need to be able to rinse them before cooking.

Tools and Spares

More tools and spares than ever before are being included for this trip. Not only might I need to deal with mechanical problems in a remote location but I'll also need to reassemble my bike after flying and to prepare it for boxing and flying home at the end of the trip.

The tool bag contains:

• A full set of hex keys 
• A small torque wrench set
• Scissors
• Pliers
• Small flat headed screwdriver
• Spoke key
• Chain whip
• Socket bar
• Cassette lock nut
• Pedal spanner
• Chain link pliers
• Chain connector aid
• Tyre levers

These tools will allow me to:

• Reattach my handlebars and derailleur and tighten bolts to the correct torque.
• Reattach my pedals.
• Tighten or undo any bolt on my bike or luggage system.
• Replace or repair the chain.
• Replace a spoke, including on the rear wheel, drive side which would require the cassette to be removed.
• Remove tyres.
• Deal with other miscellaneous issues.

The "Spares and Repairs" bag includes:

• 2 tent pegs
• Pole repair tube
• Spare rack bolts
• Selection of M4 and M5 bolts with a few nuts and washers
• Cable ties (3 sizes)
• Gorilla tape
• Insulation tape 
• Derailleur hanger mech
• Chain links
• Set of brake pads
• Puncture repair kit
• Puncture repair patches
• Gear change cable
• Threadlock paste
• Super glue
• Safety pin
• Rubber bands
• Spare 114 link bike chain

First Aid 

My kit includes the following:

• Plasters
• Sudocrem
• Cotton wool pads
• Paracetamol
• Ibuprofen
• Aspirin
• 3 x bandage / dressing - Extra Large, Large and Medium
• Diarrhea remedy  (Immodium)
• Tweezers
• Triangular bandage (sling)
• Azithromycin (antibiotics for diarrhea)
• Acetazolamide (altitude sickness)

Note that:

• Ibuprofen is not recommended if dehydration is a risk. Paracetamol is preferable for basic pain relief.
• Aspirin has been included as it can be used to thin blood in the case of a cardiac issue.
• Large dressings can be folded to make them smaller 
• Diarrhea is a high risk issue and in the case of serious food poisoning could take us out of action for a week. Azithromycin can be effective more quickly than over the counter remedies.
• Acetazolamide helps the body adjust to lower oxygen levels at high elevations by promoting deeper, faster breathing.

Electrical Items and Power

The solar panel I took on last year's trip has an even more important role to play this year. Since we're expecting a significant amount of wild camping to be done, we'll only occasionally have access to electricity supplies. Hopefully we'll have a lot of sunshine and be able to keep our power banks topped up.

I'm taking two power banks this year and bought a fast charger too. The idea is that if we're staying in a homestay, plug sockets may be few and we may need to share with other people so the quicker a power bank can be charged the better.

Here are the specific products:

• Belkin 20000 mAH power bank
• Ugreen 25000 mAH power bank
• Ugreen USB-C fast charger with USB-C to USB-C cable

Items I'll need to charge are:

• My Android smartphone 
• My Suunto 9 Peak Pro watch
• The Steripen Ultralight 
• My kindle
• Front and rear bike lights

Other Stuff

Wild camping has other consequences. I've always packed but never used, a small plastic trowel for digging holes. I am pretty certain I'll use it on this trip!

In the hope we'll make minimal impact on the environment, we're taking biodegradable bamboo toilet paper and biodegradable wet wipes. We're also using environmentally friendly soap but will take care to avoid polluting streams and rivers with it.

We're bound to generate rubbish/ trash. I'm taking a whole roll of plastic rubbish sacks so we can ensure we leave nothing at places we camp (apart from obvious stuff buried in holes!). I don't know how we'll dispose of rubbish bags but hope to fall in with local practices.

That's it!

Pamir Highway - Flying with the Bikes (theory!)

 

Introduction

To date, I haven't flown with my bike. I've always cycled from home to a port and caught a ferry across to France to start a bikepacking trip in Europe. But this year's trip will start in Tajikistan and end in Kyrgyzstan and so The Mule will be taking its first flight on a plane.

Airlines publish fairly general information about packaging your bike so that it can go in the hold of the aircraft but you're left to figure out the details yourself. Luckily there are plenty of videos on YouTube that cover the subject with people sharing their experience and recommendations. I watched several and knowing more about the subject, devised a plan for getting my bike to Tajikistan and later, home from Kyrgyzstan.

Airline Tickets and Cost

Airlines don't usually carry bikes for free (i.e. as part of the cost of your standard ticket). We're flying to Tajikistan with Turkish Airlines and had to pay an extra £160 for each bike. Our return flights are with budget airline Pegasus and it cost an additional 65 euros for each bike.

Baggage Items and Weight

Our standard ticket gave us the usual entitlement to a single item of luggage in the hold of the aircraft and two items in the cabin. It's worth remembering that the bike isn't the only thing that needs transporting that you wouldn't need to worry about on a typical holiday. Panniers and other bike luggage has to somehow go on the plane as well. 

On Turkish Airlines, maximum weight limits for the various categories of baggage are as follows:

Bike in box : 23 kg

Hold: 23 kg

Main Cabin Baggage: 8 kg

Personal Item in Cabin: 4 kg

Everything has to be packed into these four containers somehow and weight distributed such that the various limits are not exceeded. In addition, certain items cannot go in the hold such as batteries and power banks.

Pegasus Airlines have slightly different weight limits:

Hold: 20 kg

Main Cabin Baggage: 8 kg

Personal item under seat: 3 kg 

No information about the maximum weight a bike (in box) can be is published by Pegasus so we're bracing ourselves for an expensive shock on this point.

The Mule weighs just over 17 kg (The Mule is chunky) and the cardboard box a further 5.6 kg, so there's not a lot of spare weight capacity in the box. 

The Bike

Bikes have to be in a "sturdy box" and adjusted to ensure the bike does not need an overly wide or high box. More on how this is accomplished appears below.

Six into One?

I have six main bags that I attach somehow to the bike. At the rear I have two panniers and a large bag for the tent and other things that goes across the top of the panniers. At the front I have two fork bags and a handlebar bag. But I'm only allowed one bag in the hold.

I also have a "bum bag" I carry stuff I want to have immediately at hand such as money, documents, sunglasses and so on.

I will be taking one pannier and the bum bag (as what Turkish Airlines call my personal item) into the cabin with me. That leaves the other pannier, the large camping bag, the two fork bags and the handlebar bag to somehow get into the hold. To solve this problem I bought a large nylon laundry bag. It only cost £5 but hopefully will do the job. Twice. Because I intend to carry it all the way to Osh in Kyrgyzstan and use it for the return flight too.

I might be able to squeeze a fork bag or two in with the bike in its box but this has not yet been tested and there's not much spare weight allowance in the bike box.

Preparing and Packing a Bike for Flying

We tried to get a cardboard bike box for free from a local bike shop but gave up when we couldn't get a box big enough. In the end we paid about £30 each for bike boxes from a UK bike builder called Ribble Cycles. They're good quality cardboard boxes of exactly the right dimensions. It's a shame we'll have to abandon them at Dushanbe airport!

Before packing my bike into its box I will need to undertake certain steps. I rehearsed the process recently and it went something like this:

1. Remove the front wheel

Removing the front wheel and putting it into the box alongside the frame makes the bike shorter. I wedged a piece of card in between the front brake pads to ensure it wasn't possible to accidentally apply the brake and lose a load of hydraulic fluid in the process!

There's a risk the box will have other items stacked on top of it in the hold so to protect the front forks from being compressed, I cut a section of plastic pipe and wedged it between them with the quick release axle pushed through to ensure the pipe couldn't get pushed out.

2. Remove the pedals 

Airlines indicate that pedals should be removed. This makes the bike narrower.

Pedals are tightened to quite a high torque so can be tough to get off. Even tougher if you forget that the direction to undo or tighten a pedal is the opposite to the norm on the non-drive side! The general rule is that turning the nut in the same direction the wheels rotate in will always tighten the pedal. Anyway, fortunately I didn't forget :-)

I wrapped the pedals in bubble wrap and put them in the bike box.

3. Remove the handlebars 

Also intended to reduce the width requirement, handlebars must be detached and fastened vertically to the forks. It's worth noting their orientation before removing them.

I screwed back into place the retaining bracket and bolts for safe keeping.

4. Remove the rear derailleur 

The derailleur is vulnerable to being damaged. I removed it (but left the cable connected) and taped it to the inside of the chainstay where it has some protection. I also wrapped a cloth around it.

5. Lower the saddle

To create more space in the box I removed my saddle bag and lowered the saddle.

6. Beware Pressure Changes

Given the pressure changes that occur once airborne, even in the hold of the aircraft, airlines mandate that tyres be deflated.

It's probably also a good idea to leave tyre's valves open, any water bottle valves open and the fuel bottles I'll probably pack in my bike box open as well. Just in case. 

7. Put everything in the box!

I needed to take care to ensure everything got packed, including the front wheel and pedals. It would be shame to arrive in Tajikistan and realise I hadn't packed my bike's front wheel!

I stowed the front wheel with the disk rotor facing inwards for protection and added some cardboard to cover the hub on the other side. Its sharp edges were snagging on the inside of the box.

And that was it. Voila!

The Return Flight from Osh to London

We'll have to go through the same procedure to get our bikes home from Osh. But we'll first have to obtain (or make) a box since the boxes we will be using for our outbound flight to Dushanbe will have to be left there. I've already identified a bike shop in Osh that other travellers have had success in buying boxes from so we'll try there first.

That's it!

Update - Packing Luggage 

I just finished packing everything well in advance of our departure date just to check the general strategy would work. And it does :-)

In the photo, the pannier will accompany me in the cabin and only weighs 6 kg. The bum bag on the right will be my personal item and weighs less than a kilo.

The laundry bag contains the other pannier, the Ortlieb rack pack, 2 fork bags and my handlebar bag. It weighs about 15 kg which is well under my 23 kg allowance. I might add some things previously destined for the bike box to the laundry bag instead like my bike's pedals and my somewhat heavy sandals.

The luggage straps lend strength to the flimsy (cheap!) laundry bag. 

This might just work :-)

What's Different About Bikepacking the Pamir Highway?

 

The Pamir Mountains

Introduction

I've undertaken a number of European bikepacking trips in recent years and have become quite adept at planning, preparing for and undertaking these trips. But bikepacking the Pamir Highway is a different proposition altogether. The fundamentals are the same, yes. Bike. Tent. Pedal. But there are lots of differences between this and a European trip. This post highlights some of them. 

Visas and permits

As a UK citizen, to visit Tajikistan I needed to obtain a visa. This was accomplished via the official online eVisa application website. The visa allows a visit of up to 60 days and cost USD $30. But the Pamir Highway passes through an autonomous region of Tajikistan called the GBAO and a separate permit is required to pass through it. This too was acquired via the eVisa website as part of the general visa application process and cost an additional USD $20.

At the time of writing (2026) I am permitted to visit Kyrgyzstan for up to 30 days without a visa according to the UK Foreign Office Advice for Travellers website.

Getting Started

It's been my habit in previous years to start and end bikepacking trips at the front door of my home, cycling as close to every metre of the trip as I can. I live in the UK and so getting to continental Europe involves cycling to a UK port and catching a ferry. But I also have the option to take my bike on a train to the port.

My planned Pamir Highway route starts in Tajikistan. I could cycle there from the UK but at a distance of over 4000 miles / 6500 km, this would take me several months and I don't have that amount of time available to me for this trip. So, the only option is to load the bike onto a plane and fly to Tajikistan.

I've never taken a bike on a plane before and so have researched how best to fly with a bike. I'll share what I learned in a future post sometime soon.

Mountains

The Pamir Highway takes its name from the Pamir Mountains, a large mountain range that the road climbs over. 

In previous European trips I've crossed various mountain ranges and mountainous regions. This includes the Swiss Alps from Switzerland into Italy, the Pyrenees from France into Spain, the Ligurian Alps in Italy, the tail end of the Jura mountains in Switzerland, and cycling within and across the Spanish Picos de Europa.

Crossing the Swiss Alps took me two days, cycling first from Lake Lucerne to the ski resort of Andermatt at an altitude of 1400 metres and from there, completing the remaining climb and peaking at 2100 metres before descending on the other side down to Bellinzona. 

In contrast, crossing the Pamir Mountains will involve climbing from an altitude of 800 metres at Dushanbe to a peak altitude of 4660 metres before descending and crossing into Kyrgyzstan. It will take several weeks of almost constant climbing to reach the highest point of the road. It's to be expected that this will be physically challenging, more so above say 2500 metres where we're likely to start to feel the effects of the high altitude.

The Pamir Mountain range is big. There's no other way of putting it. Crossing the Alps or the Pyrenees is a piece of cake compared to the Pamirs.

Altitude

The Pamir mountains are relatively high mountains and at altitudes above say 2500 metres, altitude sickness can become a risk. There are numerous sources of information on this. I generally referred to information provided by the UK National Health Service (NHS) as well heeding words of wisdom from K1 who knows a thing or two about the subject.

According to the NHS website, symptoms of altitude sickness include:

• a headache
• loss of appetite
• feeling or being sick
• feeling tired or exhausted
• dizziness
• difficulty sleeping

And sometimes, the symptoms can develop into more serious symptoms that can be life-threatening.

The general recommendation is that when you're at altitudes of 2500 metres or more, you should take care to climb slowly and not increase your altitude by more than 500 metres each day. Note that what's meant by an altitude increase is the difference between your altitude at the start of a day and your altitude when you stop cycling at the end of the day and spend the night at that location. It's not a measure of the amount of climbing you do during that day.

Of course, we're likely to feel exhausted much of the time anyway and I rarely sleep well, so two of the symptoms on the list aren't that useful to keep an eye open for!

We'll be being very careful with this issue and take rest days every so often, less often at lower altitudes, more often at higher altitudes. This will help us adjust slowly. In the event that one of us is exhibiting symptoms, we'll descend and spend the night at a lower altitude.

Vaccinations

Several vaccinations were recommended for this trip and acquired a few months ago. If you're planning a similar trip, check with your own healthcare provider. But here are the vaccinations I needed:

• Rabies
• Tetanus
• Hepatitis A
• Hepatitis B
• Typhoid

The rabies vaccination required a course of three injections spread out over about six weeks. I learned at the time that there was a severe shortage of the vaccine in the UK so I was lucky to get mine done when I did. It's worth planning early for this given the time needed for the course of three injections, if nothing else.

Dangerous

Climate

We're expecting to experience a wide variation in temperature. Right now in Dushanbe the temperature is in the low to mid thirties (Celsius). It's early summer and those temperatures are likely to increase.

In contrast, at higher altitudes we're expecting nights to be chilly or even freezing. From my research, it sounds as though below zero temperatures, maybe as low as -5 Celsius are possible. I watched a video on YouTube of a couple cycling the Pamir Highway in July and they were having to break the ice on a stream (flowing water!) to get to the water underneath.

The wide temperature range we're expecting has had implications for the packing list. We need to be able to handle low night temperatures and sweltering heat in the day. Consequently, for this trip rather than my usual lightweight, compact summer sleeping bag, I'm taking a heavier, bulkier 4 season down sleeping bag that is supposed to keep its user comfortable (or at least alive!) in temperatures as low as -9. I'm also taking a down jacket and winter mittens. If it's -5 C at night, I assume it will still be bitingly cold when we start cycling early in the mornings.

Food and Water

Food and water could both be problematic. I've read countless rather graphic accounts of food poisoning that travellers have experienced. Part of the problem seems to be that in the more remote parts of the journey, electricity supplies are not completely reliable and so neither is refrigeration. Whatever the root cause, food poisoning seems to be an above average risk.

I considered including a photo here but decided against upsetting readers with too graphic a visualisation of food poisoning :-)

There won't be a bakery around every corner like there is in Europe, so it's unlikely we'll be living on Pain au Chocolat (PaC), more's the pity!

We're unlikely to be eating these!

To add to the complications, I don't eat meat and it would appear that meat is a fairly common part of the local diet. I'll be trying to avoid meat both because I'm not a meat eater and because I see it as a riskier food with respect to food poisoning. We'll probably try to self cater as much as possible (and we're taking stoves so we'll be able to cook) and so have control over how our food is prepared but when saying in "home stay" accomodation, we may just have to use our judgement and be selective about what we do and do not eat.

The general advice given is that travellers should not drink the tap water. We're going to need to though! We'll also need to be able to drink water collected from streams and rivers. So, we're each taking a water filter, an ultraviolet water purification "wand" and just for good measure, water purification tablets. Sometimes we'll be boiling water and anything not used in cooking will be retained for drinking.

More information on equipment will be included in a future post on the packing list. 

When Things Go Wrong

Things are going to go wrong. We know this. It's pretty much guaranteed. To that end, during planning, I performed a formal risk assessment, supported by K1 with his medical knowledge. 

Many of the risks identified are common to your average European trip except that the high Pamirs are remote and so there won't be a bike shop within easy reach or much of the time, a hospital. Therefore it's even more important than usual to be able to deal with problems personally no matter where we are.

To ensure I can deal with potential bike problems, I'm taking far more tools, spares and bits and pieces for repairs than I usually would. This has contributed to the bike being much heavier but I'd rather have these things and not use them than have a serious mechanical failure at 4000 metres altitude and not be able to mend it because I left something at home rather than carry an extra few hundred grams.

But it's not just bike problems that are a concern. We humans, myself M1 and my partner in crime, K1 could each have accidents or suffer from a variety of illnesses. In recognition of this, I did a First Aid course a few weeks ago, provided by the St John Ambulance charity. I'll be bringing a more comprehesive first aid kit than usual, too. K1 is a medical doctor and so can draw upon his knowledge and experience. He's also planning to bring a range of medical supplies.

This is how I learned to deal with a "hurty head"

In the worst case, if we hit problems we cannot deal with ourselves, we'll seek help from local people or other travellers. The high Pamirs are remote but the Pamir Highway does carry traffic including trucks and other adventure travellers. We may need to sit tight for a few hours while we wait, but there's good reason to be optimistic that someone will be able to help eventually.

Accomodation

There are no European style campsites on the Pamir Highway as far as we know. So, we'll be staying in the homes of local people (this is known as home stay), in guest houses where they exist and the rest of the time, wild camping. It is to be assumed that the further from Dushanbe we get and the higher we climb into the Pamir Mountains, the fewer will be the opportunities to stay in homes and guest houses and the more we'll be wild camping.

Novel Gear, More Gear

Various factors, including the fact that we'll be wild camping, that temperatures will vary so much, the risks relating to food and water, and the general remoteness of the high Pamirs all mean we have to carry more gear than usual and that new gear has had to be bought for this trip. We'll also need to carry food supplies and water to keep us supplied for as much as a few days during some stages of the route.

All of this means I had to find ways of carrying more gear. I usually use two Ortlieb panniers and an Ortlieb "rack pack", a large bag that sits across the two panniers. Last year though, I added a handlebar bag and for this trip, I've also fitted two fork bags. 

We're taking multi-fuel stoves and will need to carry liquid fuel for them, typically petrol (gasoline). 

The bikes when fully laden are going to be heavy!

Money

Tajikistan is largely a cash society. Certainly, once we leave the capital we don't expect to be able to pay with cards again until we're in Osh, Kyrgyzstan. There are supposedly ATMs in Khorog and Murghab but these small towns are hundreds of kilometres apart and travellers report that they are not always working or only work with certain cards. So the only safe choice is to carry a lot of cash, enough to last for up to say six weeks!

Khorog and Murghab are marked in blue on this map

Not surprisingly therefore, we've been thinking about how to keep our cash safe.

US dollars are apparently accepted in both Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan so as well as local currency, I'll have some USD as well.

People

The people of this part of the world have a reputation for being hospitable. We're expecting most of our encounters with people to be of the most positive type.

But there are also reports of people in official positions sometimes seeking to extort money out of tourists using various approaches.  In particular, airport customs and immigration sounds like a place where this happens frequently and there are a few slightly worrying reports about the behaviour of some of the armed guards at the check points that exist at intervals within the GBAO region.

It is what it is and perhaps the reports in various internet forums are exaggerated.  There's only one way to find out of course. That said I will only be taking a relatively small amount of cash into the country and through the airport. The rest of the cash that I anticipate needing will be transferred in using Western Union and collected from an agent somewhere in Dushanbe.

Language

The local language in Tajikistan is Tajik but Russian is apparently commonly spoken too. I don't speak Tajik or Russian and neither does K1! There's evidence that some English is spoken here and there but we're not expecting this to be very common. So, pointing at things, perhaps imitating chickens and the laying of eggs and of course, using Google Translate on our phones will be the way we will hopefully get by.

Conclusion

There are certainly some major differences between the European bikepacking trips that I have experience of and cycling the Pamir Highway. We've done our research and we've prepared as best we can. But we expect the unexpected and to have to think on our feet and perhaps improvise solutions. All will be well. Hopefully :-)

Photo Credits

Pamir Mountains: CC BY-SA 2.5 es, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=399858 

Croissant: By I, Luc Viatour, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=986493 

Bikepacking 2026 - The Pamir Highway

Introduction

A few years ago, I watched a YouTube documentary about two cyclists riding what looked like a hellish, utterly grueling high-altitude road called the Pamir Highway. The documentary opened with the two exhausted cyclists ground to a halt by the side of a bleak looking road that crossed a barren rocky plain. The weather was awful. The two cyclists were freezing. And one of them was crying.

From that point on, I wanted to cycle the Pamir Highway :-)

I go by the code name of M1. This is my bikepacking blog, the place I document the trips I've been on with my bike, either solo or more usually, with my wife and cycling buddy, code name M2.

The Pamir Highway

The Pamir Highway is the informal name given to a road that spans several countries in Central Asia. It gets this name from a range of mountains that it traverses, the Pamir Mountains. Its original, formal name given to it by the Soviets who built it was the M41. The various countries that the road passes through, now give it various local names. 

The route the Pamir Highway follows has been there for hundreds of years longer than the road itself. It used to be part of the historic Asian network of trade routes known as the Silk Road.

Most of the road is in the country of Tajikistan. Amongst travellers, the most popular route taken involves travelling between the capital city of Tajikistan, Dushanbe and the city of Osh in Kyrgyzstan in either direction. 

Within Tajikistan and the Pamir Mountains, the road passes through Tajikistan's autonomous region, the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (often abbreviated GBAO).

Dushanbe is at an altitude of 780 metres above sea level. At its highest point in the mountains, the Pamir Highway reaches 4660 metres altitude.

The Profile of The Pamir Highway

The Team

M2 has decided to sit this one out at home on a sofa watching The World Cup rather than spend weeks sitting on a bike. So, this year, I will be accompanied by M2's brother who shall henceforth be referred to with code name K1.

K1 has only been on one bikepacking trip before and that was to test the bikes and gear for the Pamir Highway trip on a short local ride here in the UK. But, whilst he may be a bikepacking newbie, he brings other things to the team. He's a medical doctor (known in the UK as a "GP" or General Practitioner) and was previously a medical officer in the UK's Royal Air Force (RAF).

K1 (left) and M1 (right)

The Route

We've decided to cycle from Dushanbe to Osh. This is the most commonly chosen direction. The road climbs for 900 km in this direction before descending into Kyrgyzstan for about 350 km. But there tends to be a headwind to contend with if you cycle in the opposite direction and of course the climbing that is required from Osh at 980 metres to the 4660 m highest point is that much steeper. So, we have weeks of climbing to do but hopefully will not be further punished by a headwind.

There are some variations to choose from. The North route out of Dushanbe is supposedly rougher than the South route but more scenic. We're taking the North route.

Our chosen Pamir Highway route (blue) and the optional Bartang Valley detour (red)

There are some enticing detours available, too. The most interesting is shown in red on the map above. That's the Bartang Valley, a remote valley which is said to have only 15 homes in it along its 250 km / 150 mile length. We considered the Bartang Valley but in early summer there's still a risk of the river which rages down the valley in its western half, carrying melt water from the high mountains, having flooded and consumed parts of the road, and of landslides. Its remoteness makes it an appealing place to visit though so if we have time, when we reach the eastern end of the Bartang Valley, we may take a detour and cycle down it for a day or so before turning round and rejoining the M41.

There's a popular southern variant called the Wakhan Corridor (sometimes, the Wakhan Valley) which makes the route longer and hugs the border with Afghanistan for about 150 km. This too was tempting but K1 has a deadline and must be back in the UK for a certain date so we decided to stick with the shorter, official M41 variant and not add another complication and potential source of stress to our plan.

M41 (blue), Bartang Valley (red) and Wakhan Corridor (green)

The Schedule

There's a puzzling war going on between the US and Iran right now and this has impacted the availability and price of oil and petrochemical products such as jet fuel. So international air travel has become uncertain. But, on the assumption that we're not impacted by this, we're set to fly from London to Dushanbe via Istanbul on 17th June.

We don't know exactly when we'll be returning. It's hard to arrive at safe estimates for cycling the Pamir Highway. There are plenty of hazards that could disrupt and delay our journey. Food poisoning seems almost certain from the many accounts we've read during our research! And it wouldn't take much for us to fall behind schedule by a few days or a week. So, we've bought flexible tickets for the return to London from Osh.

That said, we think six weeks should be enough time, so that's the assumption at this stage.

The Bikes

As usual, M1 will ride his Specialized MTB touring bike, code named The Mule. The Mule has had some work done in preparation for this trip including new, custom spec, hand built wheels from Ryan Builds Wheels, a new rear derailleur, a new bottom bracket, new gear cables and new brake pads. Before we fly, the chain will have been replaced and new 47" Continental Contact Plus tyres and new inner tubes will have been fitted. The Mule might even get washed!

The Mule

K1 will be riding a Claude Butler hybrid bike which K1 has decided is to go by the name of Donkey, serving both as a reference to Eddie Murphy's character in the movie Shrek and to be a fitting companion for The Mule.

K1 and Donkey

Donkey has had quite a make over as well, including new wheels from Ryan Builds Wheels. 

Fitness Training

Cycling the Pamir Highway is likely to be a little on the tough side. Definitely physically challenging. Both M1 and K1 have been pursuing their own fitness programs to get ready. 

I live 15 km from a hill that featured in the 2012 Olympic games, Box Hill.  I've been using Box Hill to build strength and endurance by cycling up and down it over and over again. A single ascent involves a 2.5 km / 1.5 mile climb at a gradient of about 5%. Multiple ascents soon add up to a significant amount of climbing. It's a very effective way of preparing to pedal a heavy bike up big mountains!

An example Box Hill training session in May 2026

K1 favours indoor training and has been making good use of the Rouvy training simulator software.

That's it for now!

I'll share more on our plan including the gear we're taking, issues we're anticipating and steps we've taken to mitigate the various risks in future blog posts. Whenever mobile internet access is available, I'll be blogging from the road as well.

Watch this space :-)