27th September 2013 Zanjan, Iran to Kashan, Iran
The motorway south towards Tehran gets busier and busier, I have to say Iran’s motorways are generally good. They are not as a good as Turkey’s roads, but then again few countries on the scale of Turkey could boast of roads as fine.
I break my journey with stops every 100 miles or so. I make a point of buying petrol at every stop. I have a coke and chat to locals. Foreign cars / motorcycles provoke conversation. The choice of locally manufactured cars in Iran is severely limited. Only the really wealthy can afford to Import Japanese or European cars….. Foreign motorcycles are all but none existent, in part because there is a restriction on engine capacity and because they are officially banned from the motorways. The ban is lightly flouted by locals but by and large respected. I am the only person on the motorway with a motorcycle, and this year the Police don’t seem to mind. Iranians in their cars pull alongside within a few feet at 70mph to photograph or video me and the bike. Un-nerving and dangerous. BMW.... Bee Em Vay
At one petrol stop an Italian biker pulls in behind me…. We exchange hellos… he is riding a TransAlp 650 to Dubai, to work the winter.
Pistachio’s are grown in Iran and are sold at a lot of service stations. During one stop a shop owner gives me a bag full of fresh pistachio. They have a thin fleshy peal that you rub to get to the nut we would generally recognise as a pistachio.
Although my GPS has an Iranian map, I can’t enter destinations and it won’t provide me with a route. I circumnavigated Tehran from experience…..just! I had a vestigial memory of the "Azadagan Expressway" I stopped metres short of the exit and chatted with locals…. They insisted that I should head on into the city and take the road to Qom. I headed on and realised that I was getting closer and closer to the city centre, something I had hoped to avoid. I really don’t enjoy large cities, I am not interested in dealing with the congestion and chaos. I did a U turn and took the Azadagan road and all was well!
Today the temperatures have risen significantly….. topping out at 35 degrees. South of Tehran I removed my jacket’s thermal liner…... after that 35 degrees was comfortable.
I stayed in a hotel that I have used previously, Kashan Negarestan 900,000IR. Nice place, very good internet. Good coffee, good food. The manager speaks good English and is a well educated guy.
Kashan Mileometer 19723 (350 miles ridden)
The motorway south towards Tehran gets busier and busier, I have to say Iran’s motorways are generally good. They are not as a good as Turkey’s roads, but then again few countries on the scale of Turkey could boast of roads as fine.
I break my journey with stops every 100 miles or so. I make a point of buying petrol at every stop. I have a coke and chat to locals. Foreign cars / motorcycles provoke conversation. The choice of locally manufactured cars in Iran is severely limited. Only the really wealthy can afford to Import Japanese or European cars….. Foreign motorcycles are all but none existent, in part because there is a restriction on engine capacity and because they are officially banned from the motorways. The ban is lightly flouted by locals but by and large respected. I am the only person on the motorway with a motorcycle, and this year the Police don’t seem to mind. Iranians in their cars pull alongside within a few feet at 70mph to photograph or video me and the bike. Un-nerving and dangerous. BMW.... Bee Em Vay
At one petrol stop an Italian biker pulls in behind me…. We exchange hellos… he is riding a TransAlp 650 to Dubai, to work the winter.
Pistachio’s are grown in Iran and are sold at a lot of service stations. During one stop a shop owner gives me a bag full of fresh pistachio. They have a thin fleshy peal that you rub to get to the nut we would generally recognise as a pistachio.
Although my GPS has an Iranian map, I can’t enter destinations and it won’t provide me with a route. I circumnavigated Tehran from experience…..just! I had a vestigial memory of the "Azadagan Expressway" I stopped metres short of the exit and chatted with locals…. They insisted that I should head on into the city and take the road to Qom. I headed on and realised that I was getting closer and closer to the city centre, something I had hoped to avoid. I really don’t enjoy large cities, I am not interested in dealing with the congestion and chaos. I did a U turn and took the Azadagan road and all was well!
Today the temperatures have risen significantly….. topping out at 35 degrees. South of Tehran I removed my jacket’s thermal liner…... after that 35 degrees was comfortable.
I stayed in a hotel that I have used previously, Kashan Negarestan 900,000IR. Nice place, very good internet. Good coffee, good food. The manager speaks good English and is a well educated guy.
Kashan Mileometer 19723 (350 miles ridden)
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