30th September 2013 Bam, Iran to MiJaVeh, Iran
Got up at 6, had a light breakfast of flat bread and apricot
jam, accompanied by black tea. Tomas and I set out at 7, today GPS worked and
took us straight to the Highway. We filled up and were on our way to the Iran /
Pakistan border. Our game plan was to ride early and avoid police and army
escorts for as much of the journey as possible. By 9 temperatures had risen to 40
degrees and topped out at 41.5 degrees. The desert from Bam is desolate. In
parts there are powder sand dunes, what many would consider to be postcard
desert. Elsewhere winds have sculpted rock into pillars, there are barren
mountain ranges. At one point a tiny
kingfisher flew past me, whether he was lost or whether he knew the secrets of
the desert I will never know.
We stopped at Nosratabad to fuel up. The attendant didn’t have a dispensing card and it looked like petrol might not be available. I made supplicating gestures to a local who had a card, a deal was done that allowed the local to make a little profit and we filled up. We reached Zahedan city limits without an escort. The checkpost examined our passports and sent us on. Finally we were stopped maybe 30km from MirJaVeh, a young soldier then rode pillion on the back of my bike to MirJaVeh. He tried to coerce us into going to the border, I insisted on going to the government tourist Inn (MirJaVeh Jahangardi 650,000IR) At the guesthouse we were told to go to the border…. I again made supplicating gestures and the manageress caved in and let us stay.
We are “locked” in. No escape till morning when an escort
will collect us and deliver us to the border. Part of me had considered moving
onto and crossing the border. I didn’t want to find myself exiting the border
hours later near sunset and so MirJaVeh is our resting place.
Tomorrow Pakistan
MirJaVeh mileometer 20544 (250 miles ridden)
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