It’s not very far from the desert to the lush farming fields south of Mashhad but it seems like a universe apart. In just a day on our bikes we’ve left behind the sandy wastelands, covered in a crusty layer of salt, and come into an area where irrigation channels keep fields of wheat a brilliant green. It’s a refreshing change for the eyes as well as our feet when we dip them in the water at the end of a long day. In the afternoon we also passed a long string of vineyards with special buildings that we thought might be used for drying the grapes; all made of clay but with high windows, partially filled in with lattice-work.

The best part of our day came right at the end when we turned left to cut through the mountains on a smaller road. The traffic was still reasonably heavy with all kinds of families out having picnics for the New Year but the scenery more than made up for it as the road wound its way steadily upwards through narrow mountains. We thought we’d make the peak – just a few kilometers away one police officer told us – but as usual the estimates of car drivers turned out to be vastly wrong. When we spied a track leading into the hills we jumped at it and found a tranquil camping spot with running water. You can’t ask for more than that. We’ll continue our climb tomorrow, hopefully with a nice downhill run not far away!

The sheer energy of our friend Bijan is amazing. He’s carrying half the weight on his bike compared with our hefty loads and he’s got at least twice the get-up-and-go. The result is that we’ve been pushing a lot harder than we normally would to keep up with him and today we logged our longest day ever. A solid tailwind and a nice downhill stretch helped things along but it was still a lot of work. By the end of it we were more in pain than proud of our achievement. Our knees made the loudest complaints.

It’s good to know we can cover a lot of ground when we have to (like with our current run for the Turkmenistan border) but we’re looking forward to returning to a more laid back style of touring as soon as possible. It’s never going to win us a gold medal in a bicycle race but we enjoy having lazy lunches, taking an hour to read a book or just sit in a town square and watch the world go by. For us, these experiences are more what travelling by bicycle is about, rather than notching up large distance tallies. Aside from pushing the pedals around for long hours, there wasn’t much to report from today. We have probably seen the last of the desert, which wasn’t as spectacular as we’d hoped although there were some nice parts, and now we seem to be in a predominantly farming area.

Late in the afternoon we were accompanied by several motorbikes running between the local cities and of course all of them wanted to take our pictures or videos with their mobile phones. As a woman on a bicycle, Friedel is a particular attraction and the women especially like to have their photos taken with her. Sometimes we get tired of the attention but resistance is futile. We just pulled over for a few minutes and let the excitement die down before we carried on.

We were guilty of losing our tempers right at the end of the day when a car pulled up to chat and one of the passengers kept on sticking his mobile phone in our faces for several minutes without even greeting us or asking if it was okay. One photo is fine but when people start filming lengthy videos, poking their camera in every corner you start to feel like a clown, on show as part of some circus act. We find it quite odd because if we did the same to an Iranian we met randomly we would surely cause offence but we must be so unusual that in their excitement to see people travelling by bicycle it doesn’t even occur to them that perhaps we have feelings too.

It’s hard to know what to say about this day. Shocking. Tragic. Sobering. The kind of day that makes you realise just how precious life is. We’d only been on the road for five minutes, maybe less, when we heard a car coming at high speed from behind us, then the squealing of tires as it flew past, crossing the other lane and tumbling into the desert. It was like watching a movie scene in slow motion. Unbelievable in its horror.

Three people died before our eyes. Three children were left without parents.

We don’t need to describe the scene for you to know it wasn’t pretty. We did what we could to help but in the end there was little we could do once Bijan had helped to call the emergency services. It didn’t seem right to stand and stare at the carnage so we walked slowly for a few meters and then carried on, our moods very much saddened.

We’ll never know what caused the crash. The road was completely straight and empty at the time – a miracle in itself considering the amount of traffic on the move for Iranian New Year. It could so easily have been so much worse. The reasons are largely irrelevant now that a family lies in ruins. Instead, we found ourselves considering what lesson this terrible event had to teach us and feeling very thankful that we weren’t involved. We might not be writing this if the car had hit another vehicle or swerved in the opposite direction, if we’d crossed the road to take a picture.

By the end of the day, we felt even more pleasure than usual in the simple things in life. We stopped to make our camp by an irrigation channel, dipping our toes in the cool water and being happy only because we’d lived to see another day. You just never know what tomorrow will bring.

The Iranian New Year arrived today and it seemed the whole country was out celebrating. As we rolled into Tabas, the only major town in the middle of the Dasht-e-Kavir desert, we first noticed tents and crowds of people around the mosque. Many little girls particularly caught our eye, skipping and running alongside their families in bright pink dresses and headscarves. Everywhere the streets were bustling until we entered the hammam. It seemed we were the only ones who wanted a bath on the first day of the year! All the better for us. We had the showers entirely to ourselves and it felt fantastic to wash away a few days worth of dirt and sweat.

Thank goodness for Bijan who managed to lead us straight to the hammam, something we’d have struggled to find on our own. Aside from the company and friendship, Bijan’s ability to communicate with the world around us has been a real luxury the last couple of days. (more…)

We all woke up early this morning. We could say it was our energetic desire to get on the road at the crack of dawn but in truth we really couldn’t have slept in even if we’d wanted to. Even before the sun was up, buses started pulling into the rest stop in their dozens, letting their crowds of overnight travellers use the bathroom and do their morning prayers at the mosque. Friedel got up at 5:30am thinking that would be a quiet time to wash her hair, only to find the small bathroom filled with at least thirty women and no way to get near the sink. We packed up surprisingly quickly and the three of us set off for the desert, loaded down with water and food for a couple of days.

We’d been told to expect nothing for the next 170km to Tabas but as it turned out we found a mosque with cold water in the morning and an emergency medical station in the afternoon, where the attendants were also happy to refill our bottles. The cycling was surprisingly easy with some nice downhills and beautifully desolate scenery. Even some camels poked their heads over some nearby hills to say hello as we flew past.

Before we knew it we’d broken the 100km mark, without even really trying. We probably could have carried on but we spotted some buildings and from a distance it looked like the perfect camping spot. Our instincts were right. What we found was a shelter run by some government wardens, who keep an eye on illegal hunting in the area. We were warmly welcomed to stay the night with them and use their water and bathrooms. They even brought us tea in the evening: five-star camping! We chattered into the night with Bijan – it’s so nice to have some company – and then decided to sleep under the stars in the mild weather. You have to take advantage of perfect nights like this.