The Pamir Mountains of Central Asia have always symbolised a piece of unfinished business for me, after my 12-month cycling trip from London to Singapore in 2005 and 2006.
At the time, winter was on its way and I needed an additional visa for Tajikistan. So I chose to bypass the country and missed out cycling the high-altitude Pamir Highway.
This road traverses the isolated roof-of-the-world Pamir region and is the planet's second-highest international highway at 4,655m. It was built during the 19th century to reach one of the remotest corners of the Russian Empire. The world's highest road is Karakoram Highway - a little loftier at 4,693m - and it links Pakistan and China.
The Pamir Highway begins in Uzbekistan and crosses the length of Tajikistan, following the Afghan border to the south before turning north beside the Chinese border and terminating in the ancient city of Osh in Kyrgyzstan.
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