Yesterday, warned of an unpaved, uncyclably rough & precipitous mountain track for the c.120km from Magtymugly north-east to Nokhur, I decided to put the bike in the car. We drove east along a continuation of the Sumbar Valley, first making a detour to a waterfall surrounded by picnicers with their ghetto blasters. Then further east to Tutlykala - with the Iranian border just over the ribbon of mountain to the South. In fact, the road from Magtymugly to Tutlykala turned out to be paved and, though often in bad condition, it would have been cyclable. Turning north we were on a dirt road, sometimes very steep (15%+) - also cyclable, but it would have been hard work! I was content to take a rest day and enjoy the grand mountain lansdscapes. Firstly, we drove into the hills above Magtymugly to visit the shrine of Shivli Baba, a revered sage [of apparently uncertain antiguity]. Like Parau Bibi, my Western-attuned mind couldn't find the atmosphere sacred or profound, but many Turkmens do - and make chherful pilgrimages there; groups of women sitting & eating together in in the nearby shelters, chattering and laughing. My guide Sohbet describes Nokhur as a singularly different town. Populated orginally by remnants of Alexander the Great's army and slaves mixing with the local people, the descendants have tended to keep to themselves, retaining their own (Macedonian-based?) dialect, physical features with a touch of Greek, and a dry-stone wall building technique. We visited another shrine - where visitors tied strips of cloth to a rock face, looking like a pile of concentrated flotsam & jetsam. And a graveyard where the centruries-old custom is to set rams horns on top of the grave-stones of men's graves. And a fragrant herb market. Onwards at 7am this morning and back to Serdar to resume my bike ride. A long day riding along the edge of Turkmenistan's main (and only) east-west highway. Flat & straight through desert - but passing occasional small towns, flour mills and industrial plants. Temperatures 30° - 35°C. To the north of the highway - some areas planted to wheat and, near Borme, a 3km long apple farm, with young trees incredibly densely-planted. On on to Gok Depe, 50km from Ashgabat - with dusk beginning to fall.