a2b - Crotos, into China

The two blog postings covering the entry to China are particularly significant as they cross borders into the final country and the flavour of the tour takes another change. Some things remain the same, for now, they are still passing through Moslem territory, the terrain is still mountainous but everything takes on Chinese characteristics. [...]

a2b - Crotos, through Kyrgyzstan

As the tour entered Kirgyzstan something significant was going to happen as the planned route on travellerspoint suddens starts wriggling around and the stops are much closer together. As might be guessed immediately after leaving Osh the Silk Road passes through mountainous country, so lots of zig-zagigng, ups and downs and aching knees for [...]

a2b – Crotos, Uzbekistan into Kirgyzstan

After the border problems the group detoured around Tajikistan and entered the Ferghana Valley from the Northwest. This is an area which seems to constantly give trouble to the dictatorship of Uzbekistan so notions of the place are somewhat clouded. Reality is quite different to Lent’s expectations and he seems quite pleased [...]

a2b - rerouting through Uzbekistan

The Crotos tour has taken an unexpected turn. After trekking along, 6 days and a couple of minor navigation mishaps later, the tour arrived at Bekobod on the Tajikistan border to be told they must go 50 kms northwards to the next crossing point as Bekobod is closed. Another three hours hard [...]

a2b – Crotos on the Golden Road To Samarkand

We travel not for trafficking alone:
By hotter winds our fiery hearts are fanned:
For lust of knowing what should not be known
We take the Golden Road to Samarkand.
James Elroy Flecker

This is a section of the tour I’ve been looking forward [...]

a2b - Crotos - Bukhara

One day’s worth of travelling into Uzbekistan and, although Lent may not be a 100% happy bunny [he still has a sore stomach], his mood lifts noticeably. The border crossing takes only 2 hours, whereas the previous one took all night. Even the temperature has dropped to a mear 33 degrees C.

“In Bukhara, archeology [...]

a2b – Crotos in Turkmenistan, Part 2

If the first days in Turkmenistan were hot the later days, shown by the temperatures recorded on JL’s blog and his comments, were even hotter. Mountainous, hilly or even bumpy terrain is a thing of the past, at least for now. Instead the riders are faced with heat, sand and thirst. To combat the [...]

a2b - Crotos in Turkmenistan, Part 1

Mr Lent does not sound too happy about about the ferry crossing on the Caspian Sea -
The ferry transfer over the Caspian Sea from Baku tu Turkmenbashy deserves a chapter of its own right if one is used to the huge luxury vessels between Finland, Sweden and Estonia. Anyway, everybody survived the appalling hygienic conditions [...]

a2b – Crotos, Georgia to Azerbaijan

I’ll keep this short and simple; if you want more details just click on to Joachim’s blog.
Since attending the reception at the Tblisi town hall, things have moved on for the Crotos riders. Nine days and four posts later they are on the edge of the Caspian Sea.
A crowd of about 50 riders accompanied the [...]

a2b - progress so far

Although it is still early days for the A2B tours I couldn’t help make a few comparisons between the two teams. The differences in organisation have already been mentioned but it may be worth going over a few other dissimilarities. The Crotos team contains several riders [possibly all of them] with previous experience of [...]