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The management at our hotel in Bhiva kindly arranged an early breakfast and we got away just before 7am to try avoid the heat of the day. There is about 270 miles to do however. We rode out of the walled city and after a few miles of rough roads and sunday street markets, we get onto the main road to Bukhara, a lovely dual carriageway - heaven! There are loads of petrol stations, so reports of lack of fuel are obviously wrong.
After about 150 miles we enter into the hot desert and stop at a truckstop cafe for a cold drinks, reports of no petrol for 100 km start to worry us as the smaller bikes in the group, incuding mind are down to about 60 miles. We continue and my fuel goes to zero, 20 miles later we managed to beg a few litres of fuel from a roadside cafe. The three bigger bikes are still ok but my bike, Steve and Nick's benefit from two or three litres of petrol each. It didn't register on the petrol guage but managed to get us another 30 miles or so. This time, another cafe but did have a stock of fuel and three of us put 5 litre in each, which was enough to get us to the outskirts of Bukhara.
On the outskirts of Bukhara, we finally find a proper fuel station at last and all fill up.
Our hotel, the Sokhrob Barzu Guest House is right in the centre. It has a courtyard with ornate doors and the owner insists we bring our bikes up a couple of steps and into the courtyard for safe keeping. The people in Uzbekistan are very friendly and welcoming.
It's world cup day and just around the corner is a coffee shop showing the England game. A nice 6-1 win against Panama.
In the evening we walk into the town square, a lake surrounded by trees and restaurants. Steve, Garry and myself find a seat for the evening. There is a lad only about 13 playing an electronic violin, absolutely brilliant. A really romantic setting. Vegetable soup for me followed by steak and chips but steak was a bit tough. Steve and Garry had an 11% beer each but I stuck to the more usual strength. A lovely atmosphere on a warm evening with locals mixing in with tourists.
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