Tashkent – Dushanbe 4505km
Rumours and stories are an integral part of a travellers life. When there is little to do and travellers are clustered together they tend to tell ‘their’ story. Some are fascinating some are tedious and some end up being ridiculous. A substantial part of these rumours concern visas and border crossings and the horror stories [...]
Bukhara – Tashkent 3982km
This trip for me has a couple of highlights both in terms of landscapes and landmarks; the Cappadoccia, the Pamirs and Tien Shan. Damascus, Esphahan and Samarqand. They so far have lived upto their name. So after a couple of days in Bukhara, a sleepy town with numerous madrassas and mosques I had even higher [...]
Mashad – Bukhara 3577km
Crossing borders can sometimes be a real anti-climax for me, especially in Europe. I expect that by entering a new country you will be entering a new culture. This was definately the case entering Turkmenistan. We cycled from Mashad to the border in three days, in which time I saw England lose to Germany in [...]
Shiraz – Mashhad 3054km
The thought of riding through a desert two years ago would have sounded ludicrous to me. The idea that I could get some kind of thrill and enjoyment from such a crazy past time would have baffled me and probably still does to many people. But I had been looking forward to getting back on [...]
Tehran – Shiraz 2777km
There are many emotions on this trip I think I can cope with and overcome; loneliness, exhaustion and boredom. But I have realised over the last couple of weeks I’m not very good with helplessness. Being a typical man in that I like to be in control, I like to be responsible for my own [...]
Dogubayazit – Tehran 2749km
Preconceptions often shroud our first experiences of something new. We allow our prejudice and inexperienced opinion to influence how we approach and receive a new place, person or situation. For me Iran was definitely was one of these situations. I had obviously heard many stories of how renowned the Iranians for their hospitality and generousity. [...]
Al Qamishli – Dogubayazit 2199km
“Its too steep their sir” and “Oh no, my friend that area is too cold now” and “You can’t travel on that road, their are too many soldiers, you will die”. Whilst there may have been a vain of truth in all the possible reasons why I shouldn’t cycle through Kurdistan along the D400 I [...]
Deir Ezzor – Al Qamishli 1439km
The Eupharates has been listed in history as a landmark as old as ages. Along with the Tigris it divided Mesopotamia up into different areas for different tribes. The same could be said for today and as well started to travel down the river towards the Iraqi border we began to notice a change in [...]
Damascus – Deir Ezzor 1079km
Up until now we have cycled through some sublime landscapes and communities but now we were entering the desolate desert. It is through the isolated landscapes of the mountains and deserts that it is really easy to go into yourself and go into deep thought. Whilst meeting people and experiencing different cultures is greatly enriching, [...]