Finally, we set off for our bike tour. Our main goal is visiting the beautiful Fan Mountains, less than 200km east of Samarkand, unfortunately the border is closed on that road and it will take us almost 10 days to reach them. Here is the map of the first 6 days .

Day 1-2: From Gulistan to Bekobod, Tajik border at Oybek until a few km after Buston
We have to take the night train to reach Gulistan, halfway between Tashkent and Samarkand, from where it is 70km of flat terrain with rice fields to Bekobod where we should cross the border to Tajikistan. Unfortunately, this was disinformation. We have to backtrack 40km to the north to Oybek where it takes 2h to pass all formalities and to pass all our luggage (except the bikes) through the metal detector just as at airports and train stations. Finally in Tajikistan. Very similar but also different. The road is richer, a magnificent brand-new almost empty motorway (built by the Chinese with Chinese money) but the country is clearly poorer. Our first encounters confirm what we have been told, people are extremely friendly …

Day 3: From Buston to Khujand, the capital of the North, the Sughd Province
A short morning drive of 40km to Khujand. It is probably the most arid region we cross today, a kind of stony plateau, where each village represents a small irrigated oasis. We are pretty surprised to encounter a toll station in this desert, just before diving into the green Syr Darya Valley and Khujand. We get offered two big melons, one by a van driver transporting them (he first wants to hand it over to me “on-the-fly”) and another one by a policeman … after asking as the usual questions “where do you come from?”, “how old are you?”, “where are your husbands?”, “how many children?” (using the opportunity to proudly announce that they have 4, 5, 7).
Khujand, second city of the country dating back 2500 years ... is worth a visit, but we have only an afternoon to spend: take a bath in the Syr Darya and in the fountains, visit the bazar, and asking our way to a Банкомат (ATM), we meet Farid, a young local driving a wonderful “imported” Mercedes who has travelled around the world, speaks an excellent English and wants to improve his French (to ask for a visa), … we spend the night in the flat of his parents. An interesting evening.

Day 4: From Khujand to Nov (a few km from Bekobod and from Kyrgyzstan)
We start very late of course, and we have to go back to the bazar. We get an excellent tip, a source called “sputnik” a bit off the road turning left before the toll station outside the city … it turns out hard to find. The real source is in the president’s dacha (visible on google maps), but people bath a bit further down, outside the dacha’s park. Of course, only men can swim there, but we can as well of course, and it is wonderfully refreshing (no photos, we forgot). We have lunch in a nice and shady tchaikhana and another melon offered by a policeman as dessert.

Day 5: From Nov to Istaravshan, an old but since long forgotten city
Another hot day through an arid region, now facing a strong headwind at almost 1000m altitude, and still on a wonderful motor road. The only shade encountered is the one of a huge arch announcing the entry of the Istaravshan district, 15km outside this somewhat run-down town with a long history. Indeed we read “Istaravshan 2500 (years)” … but this is apparently speculation, a theory that the antique Cyropolis would be today’s Istaravshan, and not as generally admitted, Khujand. A more solid fact seems to be that the Persian Oshrusana has become a province of the Samanids around 900, losing its independence and gradually its importance.

Day 6: From Istaravshan to Djakurtan
We visit the Sogdian fortress on the hill above the city in the evening and the next morning the old town hosting a few very old mosques and madrassa. After this interesting visit --- we are accompanied by a swarm of kids all the time -- we leave the town just before noon. It is still dry but cooler and less windy, and we can finally see the mountains not too far away. We stop for camping just after the Shakriston village in an orchard at 1600m, a pleasant place but too close to the road and the awfully noisy Chinese trucks.