Day 122 (Iran): Tehran - just before Kohrud (a new honking record, lunch, an apple and a banana)

daily distance: 142km
total distance: 7190km
riding time: 9h

This was it … heading out of Tehran. Got out later than I wanted to due to some more backing up and giving DVDs to Isabelle who also left that night for Germany. But the streets were rather empty when I hit the road just before 7am.

Made some good progress up the wrong valley and had to come back down the mountain (a 10km detour) only to hit a very busy highway. Mohsen had warned me about going up there on a weekend, but I was itching to leave Tehran ASAP.

Nasty traffic and lots of uphills made for some grueling riding over demanding terrain. A couple of walkers hit me with the flag that they carried - without intending to do so of course, but it was a close call. Heavy traffic continued all the way up the mountain, which was at about 2900m (my starting point was roughly 1500m, the total for the day was 1999m in altitude). A good workout especially given the wonderful stale air in the tunnel just before the top. Crazy Tehran driving coupled with a bad road and no visibility. But the scenery outside of the tunnel was stunning, switchbacks making for some good fun.

At the top I was welcomed by a very touristic mosque (for the Iranian tourists) and a guy giving me an apple as well as cooler temperatures. Good stuff overall. After changing into a long shirt (shorts were on as I felt rebellious and had been reasurred it would not be a problem) I made for the downhill. Not much in terms of high speeds though. The wind was straight from the front, making for slow and frustrating progress at first. Then Mount Damarvand appears with its head covered in the clouds. Still an impressive sight, the clouds brooding and giving the whole scene a gloomy feel.

Further downhills were interrupted by tunnels with no oxygen it felt (I am thankful for not having to go up there) and drivers who have no problem overtaking in tunnels amidst heavy traffic. Craziness. One guy flags me down, gives me a banana and we talk for a while.

Then it was time to find a place to camp. But there was either police, too many people or flooded access roads in the narrow valley to get to the places that I wanted to go. Or the owner of one place warns me of wild boars roaming the area. It took a while and a lot of laughter to get that one across, covering pretty much every conceivable animal.

I end up with some construction workers he tells me to go and they welcome me with open arms. What a difference to the comforts of Northern Tehran.They set me up with tea and a shower and a place to stay. It was great fun and it made for some interesting observations. 

Seniority is clearly observed here … the tea drinking goes by age I am pretty sure as there are only four cups. So I thought I would stay there when all of a sudden they talk about a restaurant. Hm … not sure what was going on. Off we go and one of the guys says to take the bike along. We left it there only for me to discover that I am brought to the actual construction site where I was to sleep in a real bed as they refused my sleeping on the floor in one of the rooms with which I would have been fine. So back to get the bike (the two places are one km apart). We cook dinner, have some good conversations (more than I thought we could do) about their work and the working times (no break during the summer really, they work seven days a week far from home) and despite some heavy snoring I crash pretty quickly.