30 kilometres after the border we look for a suitable place to sleep. This doesn't seem to be so easy here, because large areas are used for farming. Seen from the road, a few places to pitch the tent look suitable. Looked at a little more closely, it's a completely different picture. The "idyllic" finds are often full of thorns, ploughs have turned the farmland into corrugated iron, and cooking on cowpats or soaking wet ground isn't easy. During heavy rain, trickles become unpredictable streams, and streams become raging rivers. Fields flooded by small watercourses shouldn't be underestimated either. You never know exactly when and where the farmers will open the valves or sluices of the irrigation system. Water bubbles under the tent floor are "only" an unpleasant surprise – hastily moving the tent in the dark at night is the real nuisance. If you can sleep lying flat at all, it's almost a "stroke of luck".

After more than an hour we give up and try our luck in the farmers' gardens instead. With success. A family offers us a place to sleep in their living room, or on the 3 x 3 metre outdoor daybed. There's no need to put up the tent, and on top of that we are spoilt with dinner. Because the temperature doesn't drop below 30 degrees even at night, we prefer to sleep outside, so we can fall asleep before midnight. We wanted to set off early at sunrise. Claudia's bike has a flat for the third time in 24 hours. So: find the hole, patch it, breakfast, and then on we go. Our route leads to Bukhara and gives us the hottest day so far. In the sun, at 55 degrees, cycling becomes almost unbearable. Our lunch breaks are stretched to 3 hours with a "nap" in the shade. That way we can also make up for our lack of sleep.

Bukhara surprises us with magnificently restored caravanserais, madrasas and mausoleums. Here we meet Axel and Sylvia again, whom we already know well from the Silk Road Hotel (Iran). We are happy to speak German with like-minded people again. Together we look for a friendly place to stay for the next 2 nights at an acceptable tourist price. Here in Bukhara we finally get to enjoy an excellent coffee with little treats again, something unusual in these countries. Axel and Sylvia travel on towards Tashkent, and we to Samarkand.

Alexandre is suffering from stomach ache and diarrhoea, so the ride to Samarkand becomes an ordeal. Samarkand, an almost over-restored city with lots of tourists, does offer plenty of chances to recover, though. From a New Zealander who has already visited 175 countries, we learn that the Panjakent border crossing is closed. Because of the conflict between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in April 2012, this main route to Dushanbe was closed. The surprising news forces us to use the border crossing further south, which means a 300-kilometre detour via Boysun to Denov.

Over passes of up to 1,650 metres, through pastures, steppe and cornfields, we come across varied vegetation full of variety. Passing the foothills of the 4,200-metre "Hisor" mountains, we feel a little better again. After 4 days of cycling in more bearable temperatures, we reach the overheated lowlands of Denov. 300 kilometres on gravel and unpaved roads were a "treat" compared with 45 degrees of heat.

While preparing our visa applications, we "miscalculated". Tashkent wasn't part of our travel plan, so 20 days in Uzbekistan instead of 30 would have been enough. Assuming we could have our visas brought forward at the Tajik border, we look forward to crossing it. Unfortunately, wrong. The Uzbek officials would let us through, but the Tajik ones would turn us back. As a result, since we don't have a "double entry" for Uzbekistan, we would have to "camp" between the borders.

There is no exception, so we are advised to go back to Tashkent, 820 kilometres away, to make a new application at the Tajik embassy. For cyclists, an absurd suggestion! At 80 kilometres a day, we would need 20 days there and back. Not counting the unpredictable wait for the visas. So we decide to "while away" the 10 days in Denov, 40 kilometres away. We broke off the detour to Termez after 20 kilometres because of the extreme temperatures and Alexandre's digestive problems, which hadn't healed yet. A request to bring forward our entry date is still pending at the Tajik embassy. At the Hotel EURASIA near the border, we spend the remaining time preparing for our "Pamir Highway adventure".

Biker info for the route