Uzbekistan - Escape to the country

We always feel a sense of joy as we hit the road again after a few days of being parked in one place. We passed the fancy new sports stadiums on the edge of the city and soon found ourselves heading north towards the mountains where we hoped it would be cooler.

We reached the Chorvaq Reservoir which looked a lovely emerald colour from high above. We struggled to find a nice park up spot by the reservoir, as there are a lot of new developments going on. The reservoir is a popular place for people living in Tashkent who want to escape the city heat. We eventually found an idyllic spot at the far end of the reservoir - a grassy area with signs that is was a locals camping spot with remains of fires, but we had it all to ourselves - other than a family of dogs who did well on our dog biscuits.

After a few days of radio silence, the travel agent from Samarkand had replied to our messages, asking for information that showed he had not yet put in the e-visa applications. We sent him through copies of our passports, and confirmation that we'd wired the fee to his account, then he told us nothing would happen for the rest of the week (it was Tuesday now) because it was a big holiday in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan and everyone was taking extended holidays. You can imagine how impressed we were that he hadn't cracked on with the application before now.

We enjoyed a lovely peaceful night, although it tipped it down with rain and we had a chorus of dogs at 5 am. With more days at our disposal before we had any chance of getting our e-visas, we decided to head to a National Park north of the reservoir, where there is the particularly photogenic Lake Urangach. Once we turned off the reservoir road it was a 25km drive on an incredibly rough road - either gravel or potholed tarmac. Luckily the stunning scenery detracted from the slow progress we made. There were lots of ordinary 2WD vehicles coming past us, then we realised it was Uzbek tourists making the most of their holidays.

It wasn't until we reached the National park entrance that we discovered we could park for the night there which we were very happy about. The entrance road was narrow and rough, and we weren't sure where the camping spot was, so we spotted a grassy parking spot big enough for Lolly and sat tight there, while it rained and local 2WD vehicles were all getting stuck on the muddy hill just after this point. A family parked opposite us offered us tasty spinach pastries.

Once the rain finally stopped we walked along the road towards the camping area. We were glad we had parked where we had, as the car parks were full. There is a lower lake which had a tent camping area next to it. There were hardy locals having a dip in the icy water. It is a 7km return hike up to Lake Urangach. After the rain it was quite slippy and it was pretty rough underfoot with large uneven rocks to walk over. While we were kitted up in sturdy walking boots and waterproofs, the locals were wearing clean trendy jeans and crisp white shirts and t-shirts, with sliders on their feet. It took about 1 1/2 hours to reach the lake view. We had timed it perfectly with the rain stopping and no wind to ripple the water. We sat on a rock and admired the view for half an hour, before the harder walk back down the slippery path.

When we made it back to Lolly it started raining again, but cars were still streaming in late afternoon. The Park Guards obviously don't care to tell people about the road conditions, so we lost count of the number of vehicles getting stuck and having to get their multiple passengers out to push.

The following morning the rain had subsided and as we set off on the return journey the sun came out giving us more spectacular views of the surrounding mountains. The holiday traffic had ramped up even more and there was a constant stream of vehicles heading towards the park. We were glad we'd seen it the previous day.

We drove round the remaining part of the reservoir that we'd not yet covered, and finding nowhere nicer, we headed back to the park up place we'd been 2 nights previously. We expected we wouldn't have it to ourselves this time, and we were right - there were about four family/friends groups all cooking and picnicking. We had a constant stream of visitors wanting to say hello and look in Lolly. They were all super friendly. By the evening most had left, but a couple of groups remained. We lent matches and a cooking spoon to a group of lads. They were all very considerate and turned their music off early.

We had a bit of a dilemma on where to go next. We weren't keen to go back towards Tashkent, and if we couldn't get Lolly in at the Samarkand or Tashkent border posts due to being right hand drive we would have to come through the Fergana Valley which read as being a nice area to visit with a very different feel to the rest of Uzbekistan. In the end heading to the Fergana Valley seemed the best option to see new places and wait out getting our visas.

Before we reached the Fergana Valley, we had spotted an unusual once- secret Soviet facility called the Big Solar Furnace which sounded intriguing, Our guidebook said we should make an appointment for a tour. When we had no response to an enquiry on their website we thought we’d just turn up on the off chance. As it was the holiday period we were expecting it to be closed,

The scenery heading towards Parkent where it was based changed to green rolling countryside, not unlike the UK. The Big Solar Furnace was built in the 1980s, and is an imposing 52m concentrator tower made up of thousands of moveable concave mirrors which concentrate the suns rays to create metal melting temperatures of up to 3000 degrees C. It was top secret back in the day, but as we discovered we could turn up and be taken round by an English speaking guide without booking. Our guide was a very mature 16 year old.

In Soviet times the facility was used for research connected with aerospace and advanced materials so we were told, but it had a very James Bond feel about it. At full operation the furnace can generate about 1 megawatt of thermal power without burning fuel but when Colin asked the guide why it wasn't used nowadays to provide power to the local town the response was ‘ because we just melt metal with it’.

The site was built where it is as there are around 270–280 sunny days each year. There is only one other such facility in the world in France. The guide demonstrated how strong the solar power is by placing a stick of wood over a metal arc and it immediately burst into flames. There was a museum area where an amber and gold chandelier made with Venetian glass no doubt costing a huge amount of money hung - apparently installed for a conference some years back.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/a868c8_35ddffc01fa44c0f9f06e7d2bbe4facd/file

As we left the area we called in at a small cafe in Parkent for a somsa (a pastry filled with meat or vegetables) and cup of green tea. They seemed quite excited having two foreigners in and through Google translate we had lots of questions. They asked if we were going to the flower festival in a town called Naranga - we’d not heard of it but we added it to our list.

Next stop - the Fergana Valley.