Hi:

I was just day-dreaming about a future ride along the ancient Silk Road (connecting Istanbul, Turkey or Damascus, Syria and Xian, China), and I was asking myself if there could be already some GPS tracks of people that had already made this route

so, my question: are there some links where I could find posted GPS tracks of this route: the Silk Road, between Istanbul or Damascus and Xian, China, made by fellow cyclists ?

thank you very much

greetings

It's not a track, but a simple route: Historical Silk Road

Hi!

The Silkroad was (partly still is) a network of roads, not a single track.

Sofar there is not not a gps route yet. I will cycle the route this year starting in May. I will cycle through Turkey, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tadzjikistan (Pamir) to China (Kashi) and then Tibet and further and I will track the route with my gps. The part between Istanbul and Kashi can be seen as part of the Silk Road network.

For Tibet (Kashi-Saga) I just finished a google earth trackfile (*.kml) using roadbookdata. To get an idea look here.
I will have finished the whole route through Tibet later this week. If you like you can fly the route but it takes a long time

Cycle the world (with GPS for tracking),
Marc

Hello Marc (whiskey),

I'm planning to do the silk road as well, but i'm going to start in switzerland!

is there any chance i could see your route from istanbul to saga

thanks a bunch

Dylan

Please find the detailed trip itinerary ( Islamabad up to Beijing,China) from the webpage at www.silkroute.cn

Hi Dylan!

Welkom on the forums
I have the routemaps (not gps) ready for the (planned) route between Turkey to Kashgar. The Tibet google earth/maps route is finished now and goes from Kashgar to Lijang.
I will put them online on our website this weekend so everybody can use them in planning their trip.
During the tour I'll have a gps with me for tracking the whole route...

For the most recent info and possible routes have a look at Carl's site, he started in Austria: http://www.globetrotter.at.nr

Cycle the world,
Marc

Hey Marc,

thanks for that information.

another factor in my trip might be weather. When are you planning to do your trip?

Cheers, thanks

Dylan

Hi!

I plan to arrive in Kashgar (Kashi) at the beginning of September. September-November is the best period to cycle Tibet alltough the nights can get quite cold (-15C). Day temperatures vary between -5 to +15C. But on the other hand it doesn't rain that often during these months. From November onwards there's a chance of snow but especially in november it evaporates right away in the morning due to the low humidity of the air. In December the highest passes (5000m+) will be hard or impossible to cross due to snow.
You can start earlier though but remember that the rainy period is between Mai and August meaning muddy roads in Tibet.

Cycle the world,
Whisky

Hey Marc,

What's your plan for crossing Torugart pass, are you going to bike across or have someone pick you up? I've heard its pretty hard to get through the border.

thanks

Dylan

Hi!

For the part after Tajikistan we changed our plans. As we have to cross eastern Tibet before the winter sets in and as the Torugart border is difficult to cross we only cycle the southern part of Kyrgistan. We cycle from the Tajik-Kyrgiz border to Sary Tash and eastwards to the chineese border. For a map of this short route:
http://itchy-wheels.exploder.org/images/..._serialNumber=2
It's a shame we can't see more of Kyrgistan that way but if time permit we'll make a larger tour through this country (to Osh perhaps).

Cycle the world,
Whisky

Hi dear Whisky:

¿ How much (in US dollars) would you estimate the average daily cost of cycling the Silk Route, using mainly cheap hotels to over-night and local markets to eat ?

I know that there are a lot of countries along the route, and each one of them will have its own living standard (and associated costs), but, as you have already travelled by some of these regions, maybe you will be able to give an approximate average daily cost for staying at night in cheap hotels and eating in local markets in those countries along the Silk Road

I am "planning" (really day-dreaming) about cycling the Silk Road in the future, trying to cycle about 150 Km/day, but I would need an estimate of how much money would I need on a daily basis, along this route, considering a cheap hotel overnight and market eating

Of course, I would still carry a 1-person tent and a light sleeping bag (I have found in the net 2-pounds 1-person tents and 1-pound sleeping bags !) as my safety net, just for cases where I could not be able to arrive at a cheap hotel at the end of the day, but I am still thinking of the tent and bag as just my safety net, not my daily basis

Thank you for any cost estimate

Greetings

Hi!

Stop daydreaming, save some money and get on your bike and ride

I have planned 5000E for the whole trip, inclusing the flight to Turkey and back to Germany together with visa costs. That leaves around 500E per month which should defenitelly be enough.

Most of the time we'll camp and we use hospitality networks when staying in cities (couchsurfing, hospitalityclub, warmshowers). This way we save a lot of money and we get to to know the locals, I like these networks it al lot. Staying in hotels can get expensive as foreigners may have to stay in government appointed hotels so we'll camp as much as possible. And why sleep in a 2 star hotel if you can camp under a 1000 stars?

150km a day? Repekt We'll probably cycle between 80-120km a day when the road conditions are good. In mountanious areas and/or on bad roads I think we"ll manage between 50-60km a day.

The Tibet route is ready now. You can download it on our website.

Cycle the world,
Whisky

So: about 20 US dollars per day ?

wow ! Very impressive ... I could not even ride as cheap as that in my own country :-)

and do you have any idea about how much does a cheap (2 star) hotel cost (in average terms) in those locations ?

also: are you planning ca. 10 months for completing the Silk Route ?

thank you

Hi!

The Silkroad countries are very cheap compared to western countries. It should be possible to ride for 10$ a day when you cater for yourself and don't stay in hotels to often. I don't exactly know how much a hotel costs but the LP from Central Asia states that 'budget travellers can get on US$8 to US$12 in Uzbekistan and Uzbekistan." That's for LP backpackers. If you're cycling you'll have your own transportation and home and kitchen with you Don't forget to buy a warm sleeping bag as in the Pamirs at 4000m near the border it can get 'quite' chilly at night and there are no hotels. Perhaps some yurts if you're lucky.

Erm, we plan to ride the route in around 9 month starting Mai 2nd in Istanbul. At the beginning of September we hope to be in Kashgar to start the Tibet part. From then on it's a little more complicated because of time and weather conditions. Depending on that we either cycle to Lhasa and from there to Bangkok or we descent to Nepal and cycle to Delhi.

Have a look at Carl's site at http://www.carl.at.nr for some recent info and nice pics to get in the mood

Cycle the world,
Whisky