Friday 20th Sept
After a night in the Car Park of the Iran Border we started of at 9.30
to make our way to Tabriz. We found the roads of Iran to be
a real blessing after the Pot holes of Turkey. The roads now
were ashphalt and within 2½ hours we had covered 100 miles
so that in itself gives you an idea of the comfort we received
from the roads of Iran. In a while I saw the first
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first Camels I had ever seen & as we drove further into Iran
they became a familar sight. As in Turkey the Men
just squatt about just watching Cattle & Sheep. The Women
Robed from Head to foot some carrying Parcels on their heads.
These people appear to live in Colonies in the Mountains because
of the Mud Huts which appeared every so often. Children
waved as we passed by, & only once along this stretch of
177 miles did we see a boy asking for Cigarettes. As we
were entering Tabriz a herd of sheep & Calves were driven in
front of us. I had to brake hard to avoid & the Motor Cyclist
almost ran into the rear of the Van. Further along Birds
were tearing at the Carcose [carcass] which lay in the road. These birds
better know as scravengers feed on these dead animals because
it is really difficult to avoid them when you are travelling at
speed. We found a Site and met Ray & Nicky who were in
a Van & Mike & Jeremy. The Van was doing the same as
ourselves that is travelling to Madras & shipping from there
whereas Mike & Jeremy were heading for Bombay. We posted
letters to Mum, Brenda, M Cramp, Nell & Mrs. Hockley at the Iran
border. The Van had experienced Stone throwing from the Boys
of Turkey & the Van bore the scars of this. Our milage
at this Site was 6505.
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Sat Sept 21st
this morning we left this Site, which was very noisy during
the night, and decided to reach Qazvin, for the first 25 miles
after leaving Tabriz you have an uphill climb which really
seems endless of uphill gear work, but after reaching the summit
we started to descend it was then that you had to engage a
low gear to let the engine hold the car, when you reach level
ground you have miles of twist & Turns this goes on until you
see the Signpost 100 Km To Zanjen [Zanjan] then the road straightens out
& you can cruise along at 50 MPH with comfort. You find very
few camels this side of Tabriz this surprised us as we had
seen several before reaching there. Donkeys do the main
work of Transportation they carry heavy loads & also the Man.
We ran into Strong head winds as the Afternoon wore on. We
reached Quazvin & after some difficulty found the Inn at 5.30
& stayed in the grounds. Qazvin is one of the places in Iran that
the Traffic is under no control whatever. Every driver looks after himself
& goes where he wants to, despite of any other traffic on the road.
In the town the roads are disgusting, Pot holed, Boulders & Traffic
coming to you from all directions. As we approached Qazvin on
the main Road towards Takestan we saw wrecked homes that
had crashed off the road, these crashes are definately caused
by bad driving in attempts to overtake whilst traffic is approaching
in the other direction. One car was completely rusty so it had
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been there for some considerable time. Another point of interest
along this road is that all Rivers were dried up & Heaps
of Stones had been placed against the Bridges so that they
acted as Breakers to stay the force of the waters when the rain
came. Road repairs are all done by hand, whilst one
man throws the stones on to the road Another Pulls a heavy roller.
Traffic became heavy as we neared the Town & our milage
reached 6802.
Sunday Sept 22nd
Chazvin [Qazvin] is a very noisy place, there were no conveniences here but
it was pricey. The Inn was a very awkward place to locate, there are
no Sign posts. It was noisy because Dogs were barking all through
the night. We got away early & made our way to a site at Terhan
[Tehran]. To get into Terhan you are faced with three roads North, South
& Motorway or Freeway as they describe it, then you have the
task of Locating the Site. The roads were under construction
& that made everything difficult it had all been pulled up &
bump everywhere. I would say that it was the roughest roads
of Iran, after making several enquiries we located the Site
here we all met up again Ray & Nicky, Mike & Jeremy.
There was a Swimming Pool here & plenty of Vans. It was hot
& we went for a Swim, we decided to stay for a few days
before going on towards Meshhad [Mashhad] as we are now about
1000 miles from the Afghan border, Milage 6898
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Monday Sept 23rd
We stayed at this Site which is not at all what is advertised to be
The whole trouble is no supervision, no one appears to want to take
responsibility they only want the cash. Dogs were in the
Swimming pool which is not at [all] nice. I managed to get an Oil
Change for the Van & that cost 210 which was approx. £1.40
Sun was very hot & scorching. At these Sites you can make
friends & find people who are travelling to the same destination
We have made arrangements to re-meet Ray & Nicky with Mike & Jeremy
at Mashhad. We heard today of the Men who are running
from England to Australia we passed them 2 days ago.
Tues Sept 24th
This is our third day at the Terhan Site & we are taking a rest
we are now making arrangements to be away early in the morning
so as to avoid the rush of traffic in Terhan. Budget Bus had broken
up & all passengers were stranded.
Wed Sept 25th
We got up at 6AM with the idea of getting out of Terhan before traffic became
dense. We left the Site at 6.30 & at 8.30 we were still trying to find our way out
of Terhan eventually we did get the road to Roskhen1 & we kept on it,
once again it was that uphill climb through the Mountains.
Terhan is a City where you have to concentrate on traffic from all sides
we saw two cars smashes. In Terhan there are plenty of Police
Officers but they are hopeless in the control of Traffic.
Sept 25th
1. 1 Possibly this is Rudehen
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There is simply no road laws in that City. The Mountains
that you pass through on your way to Amol is a stretch of about
50 miles 25 up 25 down but the road is good ashphalt. It
was here that we saw a sports car go through the Rails of the
Parapet it was a total wreck. When we reached Amol we
were told that the Camp Site was 16Km back so we decided
to go on. The road was good & we kept up a good
speed to reach Gorgon [Gorgan] we were held up for quite a while
because of a road smash but managed to get through.
I must record that the Police Officers of Shahi & Sari
were extreemly Polite & helpful & I give credit to them, it
would benefit any traveller to know this & bear in mind that
they can get every assistanse available from these Officers
just for asking. The Site at Gorgon was not what it is
advertised as, it proved to be just a Car Park & you could use
it. The Toilets were filthy. I would not recommend this to
anyone. However there were two V Ws here, which was
a good point one had come from Australia & intended to tour
Europe, he was helpful with information and gave us a Town
Map of Mashhad. We shall attempt to reach Mashhad
tomorrow, we have travelled 262 miles today & the milage
now stands at 7160. The Sites, so far as we have
travelled have been very poorly advertised or Signposted
that is why it has been so difficult to locate them.
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