27th September Zanjan, Iran to Kashan, Iran

Bad cop… Good cop

My bike was parked right outside my tourist bungalow…. Each morning it takes a few minutes to ferry stuff back and forward to my bike; this morning the process was quicker and easier.

I had an Iranian breakfast of dates, feta, bread, honey and tea. The auto-route was only a few minutes away. After 50 brisk miles a Police car with flashing lights stopped me. No motorcycles on the Motorway! I had already travelled 400 miles on Iranian motorways through multiple toll booths and past many police checkpoints. (English men on motorcycles pay no toll fee on Iranian motorways…. I always stopped ready to pay but was ushered onward) I had to leave the motorway. This was a troubling situation, given that my route planning was based on motorways and I don’t read Arabic. I needed petrol badly so got help from a local who escorted me to a petrol station.

CNG…… Compressed Natural Gas (Not LPG) many cars run on CNG and there are fuel stations that serve only CNG. Pulling up at a “Petrol station” to discover it is CNG can be a little heart breaking.

At fuel stations you need a ration card to fill up. I have no ration card. One way or another a ration card appears and I always get the fuel I need, at this station they charged a whopping 100000 Rial (£2.50) I knew I was being overcharged, I saw the shared smirks between the pump attendants, but hey £2.50 didn’t hurt too much ;-)

I travelled on minor roads for 50 miles a little resentfull of my exclusion from the motorway. My plan was to re-join a safe distance along the way, hopefully avoiding my tormentors. I duly re-joined and then headed closer to Tehran. Tehran is another mega city; it has a population of 15,000000. I was anxious about finding the ring road and circumnavigating the city without incident. The temperature was rising! 33C in dense slow moving traffic . Later in the day 33C would seem luke warm.

In the end I found the southern autoroute and was heading toward the Persian Gulf. My planned destination was Qom. An Iranian who spoke English suggested Kashan instead. I shall detail the conversation later.

Finally after more than 350 miles in temperatures upto 36C, I was in Kashan. I stopped next to some police and asked for a good hotel. They wrote something on a piece of paper. I moved on. After some time, I stopped and asked for help again. The guys were butchers and spoke no English. At this point the police drove by… stopped and reversed back to me. They then escorted me some 6-7 miles through Kashan, sometimes using their sirens, to Kashan Negarestan Hotel. This is 4-5 star hotel and costs £30 a night……. Good cops….. Good people.

I wasn’t shy about checking in. I am cocooned in real luxury and tonight I will eat in their restaurant. I am on the 8^th floor I have magnificent views over the old city across to huge mountains. Internet magic is on tap, including access to the 4^th dimension  via a hyperspace bypass.

Kashan mileometer 21482    (3725 miles covered since leaving Loughborough)

I had read in other people accounts of travels through Iran that Iranians are helpful, kind and hospitable.  This is very true. They have, almost without exception been very friendly and decent. Books, covers, judgement.