Almost a week later, I went back to the hospital to get a final verdict on the foot. I was told it was on the limit between needing and operation or not, but it seemed that the bone with the worst fracture had not been displaced, so they gave me good news: an operation would not be necessary. I just had to wear the cast and to back for another check in three weeks.

In the meantime, I have had time to watch a lot of Netflix (Dark and Mindhunter) and YouTube (Lyndon Poskitt is my new hero), and I have also had time to reflect on the conclusions of my trip.

Am I disappointed that I did not get to see Tajikistan and the Pamir mountains? Not really – Kyrgyzstan was an amazing country and everything I saw and experienced there was more than enough to have happy memories to last for quite some time. I think of this trip not as a failure, but as an opportunity to learn a few lessons.

I have been doing quite a lot of off-road riding on the Africa Twin and it is a great bike so long as things don’t get too complicated, but it is too heavy to attempt more technical stuff with the riding level I have, particularly when loaded with all the luggage needed for a trip like this. Even if I had not had the accident, we would still have missed some of the best parts of these countries just because we did not dare take certain routes with such bikes.

I want to go back and do the Tossor pass, the Bartang valley so many other routes, but it will definitely be on a lighter bike. I don’t know when that will be, but I’ll keep you updated. In the meantime, there will be lots of things to write about here: I have to get my Africa Twin back in Barcelona, take it apart to assess the full extent of the damage, repair it within a reasonable budget and decide what to do with it and my XSR700, I still have to tell the story of the demise of the bike that started this blog, my V-Strom, and there will be lots of other rides to write about. Watch this space!