We started our walk following the river that runs through the village and made our way through a walnut forest where the locals were going about their business picking walnuts. After we had successfully passed the ticket office we headed onto a less-than-clear track that we hoped would lead us towards Aram Kol, the first watery destination of the day! Luckily we passed a couple of guys and a shepherd who pointed us in the right direction and after 3 hours we made it over the massive hill obstructing our journey and were rewarded with a beautiful lake below. 
Here we decided to have a break and a snack and Adam ran up another hill to see what he could see. Soon he was hailing the others to join him for magnificent views of Kla Kol and Sary Chelek shadowed by mountains in the distance. 
With the day heating up we made our way along a narrow horse track to the edge of the lake by which point Adam couldn't resist jumping into the clear, inviting water, where he splashed around with the local resident frogs.
From here we made our way to Chuychok Kol, where if it is possible it was more beautiful than the previous lake - the water was so clear you could see fish swimming around the reeds and the mountains above us cast perfect reflections on the mirror like water.
At this lake we came across a pack of wild horses who all seemed very afraid of us - it was the baby of the pack who had enough courage to approach us and let us pat him, the elder members of the pack cautiously following suit. 
We made our way along the edge of the lake where we passed a forest of apple trees and indulged in some fresh snacks. 
We found a path that followed the edge of Iyri Kol, a long moon shaped lake that was made up of a multitude of colours from deep ocean blue, to turquoise, to green. After following the lake we avoided climbing over some mountains by staying on the track, but we paid little attention to our map - had we taken the time to stop and look at it, we might have turned around here and avoided the two-hour hike up and over a thorn covered, rock littered hill that was over 2000m high! On the positive side we got amazing views of Sary Chelek from the top that we would have otherwise missed! 
After another hour of hiking we finally made it to the shore of the stunning Lake Sary Chelek where we found a spot to relax, have lunch, and take a commando bath / swim (the boys anyway!). 
Sary Chelek is 7km long and 234m deep and is hidden away in the Fergana Valley where there is supposed to be lynx, deer and bears, but we didn't see any of these!At 5.30pm we decided we should make a start back down the the village as we supposed it would take us between 2 and 3 hours to get back - and at just before 9pm (pitch dark by this time) we arrived back at our guesthouse, with a bag full of fresh organic apples!
Adlibing 5 beautiful lakes.
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