Wallace Cycles the Silk Road

In 2024, Wallace Ascham (1974-1984) cycled the Silk Road from Istanbul to Xi’an raising money for Kids Club Kampala to help fund a new school. Over four and a half months his route took him through Turkey, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan (again) and China. 

Wallace writes: ‘The people along the route were fantastically hospitable, I would often get waved down by locals for ‘chai’ which normally extended to a full meal in their house or on the roadside. Overnight stays were mostly wild camping or homestays run by locals with dinner and breakfast and, most importantly, a shower included. In Uzbekistan, on three separate occasions, local English teachers, keen to practice their language skills with a native speaker, let me stay with them. 

The ancient cities of Khiva, Bukhara and Samarkand in Uzbekistan gave a beautiful insight into the rich history of the Silk Road with the towering, tiled minarets of the mosques contrasting with the baked earth walls of the surrounding buildings. 

The route took in 1400km of the Pamir Highway from Dushanbe (Tajikistan) to Osh (Kyrgyzstan), along mostly gravel roads, including half of it along the Wakhan Valley which borders Afghanistan. Camping spots here had to be carefully chosen to be hidden from the Afghan side of the river from where the Taliban would practice their shooting skills. The scenery was amazing along the whole route particularly from the Ak Baital Pass (4,655m) with the peaks of the Karakorum visible in the distance. 

Descending into Kyrgyzstan there was a dramatic change in scenery, the barren, dry mountains being replaced by lush green high-altitude pastures that the Kyrgyz nomads had recently brought their sheep and horses to graze on - their white yurts dotting the countryside. 

Initially the route through China was through the Tain Shan mountains of Xinjiang where two days could be spent just cycling uphill, before descending into the 45°C heat of the Hami desert and the ancient city of Turpan. Many days were spent starting at 4am to avoid the worst of the heat. From here the route followed along the remains of the Great Wall of China which was still visible despite much of it having been made from earth. The roads were busier and I sometimes had to cycle on Motorways battling the headwinds and close passing of lorries. 

Finally, arriving in the walled city of Xian, after 10,500km and 80,000m of ascent I reached the end of my journey.’.