Day 99 (Iran): Miyaneh - Zanjan

daily distance: 137km
total distance: 6759km
riding time: 7h

Another long day and not much to write home about. I rode out of Miyaneh relatively late and just clocked miles and miles.

It is all about getting to Tehran right now due to the short visa I got in Istanbul. I am hoping to be able to extend my visa in either Zanjan or Qazvin, two larger cities along the route. I didn’t mean to ride as many miles today, but things were good until the very end when my knee started to act up a bit. Sometimes things are a bit painful I suppose. The road led through a gradually widening valley and it got much warmer along the way. Water consumption was at a high again, though nothing compared to the 12 liters of a few days ago.

I arrvied in Zanjar towards the evening, hoping to extend my visa the next morning. We shall see whether this works out or not. I don’t want to this in Tehran because why you ask? Apparently the most unfriendly, slow and incompetent people, giving you no more than 10 days (all according to the Lonely Planet) and I don’t want to risk that. I have a backup by going to Isfahan, but that would be a less preferable option really. So I am keeping my hopes up. That’s why I am a bit in a hurry.

I found this old German phone in my hotel room - complete with an old German postal office license (sorry that picture I can’t upload due to very slow upload speeds here in Iran).