Nick Dimbleby, Photographer
Photographer Nick Dimbleby recalls a spontaneous Detour in Kyrgyzstan during an epic UK to India adventure.
“It’s always the unexpected back roads that give you the most reward.”
“In 2013 I drove the Silk Trail with Land Rover. We had three Range Rover Hybrids and did the trip from Solihull to Mumbai in 54 days. As you can imagine, that was quite a memorable trip and it required a lot of planning and sticking to schedules. But in terms of the actual highlight of the trip, it was something we didn’t plan at all.
Because of the way the visas worked out we had we had a spare day in Kyrgyzstan before heading across to China. So we left Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, and headed up to camp by Issyk Kul lake. Although we didn’t know it at the time, the road we took was called the Tossor Pass.
It's one of those passes that just has so many types of different scenery. Kyrgyzstan’s a high country anyway and then you're climbing up higher still, to about 10,000 feet. As you meander up it goes through a pretty woodland area, basically almost like Alpine trees. And then as you get higher and higher you get into the rocks and there is a fantastic off road section.
With the Range Rovers you just pick your way through and then as you go over the pass it then drops down into this gorgeous open valley. The light and the weather were absolutely perfect, the rock was golden and it photographed beautifully.
We drove down to the valley and as we kept kept going, it was sort of like the pass that kept giving. You’d come around the corner and there’d be another amazing view then you'd be running alongside this meltwater river with whitewater and lush green fields beside it. And then, in the far distance, you've got these snow capped peaks.
Afterwards we headed back headed back to Bishkek, packed our bags and headed off to China, which obviously was an amazing adventure in its own right.
But what makes that particular part of the trip so special was the fact that it was completely impromptu. It’s always the unexpected back roads that give you the most reward.”
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