Monthly Archives: June 2013

Leaving Tehran

Thursday 20th June 2013

Will today be the day we get our Turkmenistan visas? Leisurely breakfast, then we pack just in case. Hilde comes for coffee on balcony again. She then rushes off to pack. I have sneaky snooze whilst Isabel updates blog. We are catching up, but photo download didn’t work.

Phonecall comes, we have 20 minutes to get to consulate. Grab passports, document and spare photos. Rush out to taxi, clatter through the streets, good job it’s not too far away. Screech to a halt, all doors closed. Diplomatic Policeman says shut. Atle says paperwork already lodged and we have been called for. Policeman rings bell, someone comes eventually. Early closing on Thursdays, everyone going. Told to wait outside, Consular is in meeting and will see us after. Hilde takes a photo, bad move. Hilde and Atle look at their passports, and notice they only have two days left on their Iranian visa, so no pressure on getting this one then!!

One and a half hours later the door opens, and a young lad comes out. He nervously hands us application papers, in Russian, asks for passports and photos. We try to explain all that has already been sent. He rushes back and forth like Mr Bean. But it is obvious that they want all the paperwork from scratch. Hilde and Atle rush back to hotel for photos. Sheesh!!!! 3:30, 3:40, 3:45 – we stall as long as we can. Decide to give all our paperwork in. 85$ for GB, 55$ for Norge. Thank you very much. They arrive back, we help fill in forms – 3:55. Our visas are issued. People are leaving the building. 3:57 theirs are issued!!! We giggle manically. (If any of you have seen the film Argo, you will know what it felt like!)

Dash back to hotel, throw stuff in car. Fridge defrosted over last two days, so lost our Magnums. Can you eat them when they refreeze? Ali sends a driver on motorbike to get us to motorway – farcical. He runs out of fuel, refills, refuses money and we set out alone. Atle misses another slip-road ogling a LR. Shame on him. Journey to Semnan as dusk falls. Motorway sign says Police control the roads Imperceptibly. Climb to 1100 m. Many vehicles driving with no lights on in the dark. Hotel adequate, another buffet dinner with fish. Look at maps of Central Asia. Big countries with lots of mountains and few good roads ahead of us. Plan 2 heavy days. Cross border to Turkmenistan and spend tomorrow night in Ashqabad, famous for its British pub. Isabel washes today’s clothes in shower. Leave noisy air con on and sleep well.

Tehran

Wednesday 19th June 2013.

Wake up in Tehran. Lazy morning, reading paper, drinking tea. A lot about the recent elections here. Bring coffee making stuff from car, and Hilde joins us on balcony. Natter. Order two taxis, as Ali will be our guide. We career through the traffic. The drivers are amazing, I think they must have eyes in the back of their heads. Stop for several photo opportunities. We visit the Golestan Palace. Tehran is not a very old city, and is the 39th national capital. Palace and treasures have world wide influences. Art, pottery that was similar to Wedgwood and Delft, gifts from Queen Victoria and Tzar Alexander. French furniture and Chinese vases.

Walk through working mosque to bazaar. Only saw a tiny part of it. Much cooler on inside that out. Bought something for home. Vibrant, colourful and teeming with people. Back outside we buy a frozen lemon juice drink, delicious. See man selling baby chicks and ducklings dyed florescent colours. He put them in a paper bag when sold. Hot and tired we head back.

A couple of hours later we head out to dinner. Witness two men fighting over a car bump, one had a stick. Our route runs parallel to the mountains, quite spectacular. Clutch on taxi smoking, so driver drops us at the bottom of a steep hill, and points upwards. We have the name of the restaurant written in Farsi, so we ask a taxi driver (green one as Ali insists upon), and eventually a waiter says we have found the right one. Walking up the hill was amazing, lights strung everywhere, stall keepers putting out their wares, cars crawling along. This is obviously a very affluent part of the city. We are all hungry, so fall silent as we eat. More kebabs, and not surprisingly Isabel has fish. Try to pay for over 20 minutes, leave money on table. Waiter comes running out, but not after us!!! Phew.

The parking is crazy, nowhere to turn easily, alarms and horns blaring, more cars and people coming up. Isabel stops to look at scarves. An old woman starts talking to her in fractured English. She insists on buying Isabel a scarf. “Why?” Because she wants her to always remember Iran. Eventually Isabel accepts, and cries. We hop into the green taxi with the helpful driver. When we get back, Ali said he had phoned the restaurant which was recommended, and we hadn’t eaten there!!!! Oh well, food was good anyway.

Zanjan to Tehran

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Knew we had a shorter day driving, but told to get down to breakfast early as hotel full. The early bird gets the worm. A lot of foreign travellers. Isabel thinks she sticks out like a sore thumb wearing baggy clothes and dubious head scarf arrangements!! Iranian women very stylish.

Nasty smell in car, surely we don’t stink that much. I furtle around and fine slimy mushrooms. Atle catches gaz bottle on security gates, but no harm done. We have only been driving a couple of minutes when we find a LR garage. Well, we have to stop, jump out and have a nosey. As we drive off a police car pulls Atle over – just to have a natter. Need fuel, fill both cars for 250,000 Rials -Nasty smell in car, surely we don’t stink that much. I furtle around and fine slimy mushrooms. Atle catches gaz bottle on security gates, but no harm done. We have only been driving a couple of minutes when we find a LR garage. Well, we have to stop, jump out and have a nosey. As we drive off a police car pulls Atle over – just to have a natter. Need fuel, fill both cars for 250,000 Rials – £26. Bargain. Atle is leading, and we miss the turn for the motorway as he is ogling a Landie. We take lead. Suddenly can’t see them in mirror, they had stopped to change drivers. Hilde had noticed other women driving, so she knew it was ok. Soon lose them again. Diagnostic kit said “Driver error!!!” Hilde thought this was hilarious. Park by a vineyard. Throttle cable was oiled and ECU changed. Landscape more arid, but can follow water courses by the lush trees. Large iron mines and lumbering lorries. Really excited about going to Tehran.

Toll booth attendants wave us through and waives the fee – all 2.5p. Broken down lorry uses stones to cone off area. Good team work driving, CB radios help. Couple who waved at us on motorway come and talk at services. Isabel takes picture of first sign for Tehran. She is moaning about her camera being too slow to capture the moment. She’ll be wanting a new one for Christmas, no doubt. Traffic heavy through Tehran, and many new roads are not on say nav. But find Norwegian Embassy, to collect stuff for Hilde and Atle.

Very swanky apartment hotel. Handbrake doesn’t hold us on hill, so we park up to garage doors. Huge suite each, ours has balcony with 5 patio doors. Five loads go into washing machine, and dry within 40 mins. Beat that Will. We were going to taxi to a restaurant, but Iran has just beaten Korea in a World Cup qualifying game. We go outside to join in the celebrations. Cars whizz past with people hanging out, waving flags, horns tooting. They wave at us and shout welcome. We order a take away and eat together. Hilde says that if the Turkmenistan visas don’t come through, at least we have driven from home to Tehran. We feel privileged to be visiting Iran, but also it is such a historic moment to be here. We are sharing some of their joy at the election results and share their hope for a bright future.

Istanbul to Iran

Istanbul city traffic challenging, but safely negotiate our way to bridge over the Bosphorus and into ASIA!!!! Isabel accidentally bought bread from man in fast lane of motorway. Pulled over by Turkish Land Rover driver, who then leads us to shopping mall, where the only supplies we get are Starbuck’s coffee. Shocking. Met young couple from CZ in little Lada Niva 4wd, also travelling to Mongolia. Invite them to join us camping tonight.

Drive over magnificent mountain ranges, with hundreds of bee hives along route. Spectacular sunset. Atle says we are now truly on holiday. Arrive at Black Sea coast in the dark, so not sure what Happy campsite really looks like. Can’t wait to see view from our roof tent in morning.

So what did you do before breakfast this morning? We paddled and watched dolphins playing in the Black Sea. Took most of the beach back into Landy with us. Stuck Ulaanbaatar – Mongolia 2013 (and back) stickers on, thanks Atle. Drove along coast, past holiday resorts, oil rigs, ship yards. Across the bay is Russia, be there soon. Just heard Iran closed borders with Iraq and Turkey. Decide to press on anyway. Land Rover fest, as a lot of military traffic. Hail storm hits just as we stop for lunch, didn’t dent bonnet this time. Too exposed to wild camp, so stayed in hotel in Cankiri. Drank bubbly, need to finish all alcohol before Iran!! Bedding smelt of smoke.

Saturday 15th June 2013 – election results from Iran look very optimistic, moderate cleric in lead. Glad we decided to press on. Vast plains of wheat being harvested, hundreds of storks eating grain, paddy field and crumpled mountains. Feeling more exotic and foreign. Cardboard cut out Police cars. Climb over 2000 m several times. First hotel has no parking , so find Konak Muzlum hotel in Erzincan. Doesn’t serve alcohol, so Atle and I traipse off to buy some beer.

Spa shower woke us up nicely this morning. A lot of violence in Istanbul again last night. Real honey comb at breakfast, Isabel enjoyed it. Good news about Iranian elections, moderate cleric got 51% of votes, nearest rival got 16%, no unrest so they may open border soon. So far, the further East we go, the more civilised. Atle made us laugh with his story in the US lingerie store – too rude to publish, ask me back home! They bought toilet, a bucket with a lid. Discussed if we should share driving, but throttle too stiff and a lot of vibration, so may hurt I’s knee.

Very concerned about border crossing, Isabel less so. All got clothes suitable for Iran ready. Managed land slide holds us up, but well organised. Papers lodged with Turkmenistan Ambassador. Lots of military LRs coming the other way. Intermittent snow tunnels over railway tracks. Sun baked bricks, clay ovens in gardens. Just saw IR lorry on other side, is border open? Was that an Imperial eagle?

BORDER OPEN!!!! We are 300km from Iran. Camouflaged Defender, GB made caravan outside new build. Just covered 5000 kms. A diagnostic kit tells Atle he is running a little hot, he buys expensive fluid for injector. My temp gauge is stuck on cold, I hit it with a screwdriver – sorted. Military tanks heading in opposite direction. Of course. They were all defending the border with Iran.
Drive past snow capped Mt Ararat, very Biblical. Spectacular sunset. Sweep of mountains all around us are in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Iran.

Stop 20 kms away, Lurch brings 2 trays of unbidden chai. Very refreshing actually. Change clothes. Should we chuck alcohol now, or keep it in case we don’t get across? Err on side of caution, don’t want to waste it! Sort maps, phrase books, paperwork and currency. Take down ariels, hide cameras and sat navs. Every little village has look out posts, weapons and tanks, and military vehicles guard minor roads. Bit like our border with Wales.

We approach crossing at Bazargan. Nervous, as we have no protection from Embassy or insurance, and no Iranian money. Lorries backed up for many kms because of border closure. They tell us we can drive on. Man in a van supplying meals on wheels. Remember to dump alcohol as Turkish border post looms, hopefully someone will make use of it. Enjoy! No turning back now.

Bulgaria continued… To Istanbul

We had looked forward to Bulgaria but found it dour. The hotel, that in the old Soviet times would have been very grand was now down at heel and the Turkish owners saw us coming and right royally ripped us off. In our tiredness we forgot the golden rules of checking rooms and costs. Nuffield said, lessons learnt.

We hadn’t gone far when our split charger monitor started indicating a problem with alternator. First overcharging then dead. Two bits of luck were we had a spare alternator (thanks to Paul and Sally at BG Landrovers) and secondly we had a brand new Optima red top. We therefore drove all the way to Istanbul without turning engine off and using minimum amounts of electricity.

The journey though Bulgaria was much as previous day minus the rain. We arrived at border and saw a marked contrast in countries. Bulgaria all dour and grumpy and the Turkish side all smiling and helpful. Took about an hour and then we were on Turkey. Roads were really good although we were meant to buy some system of paying but carried on regardless. Hope that number plate readers are all low down and so won’t catch us.

Arrived through hectic Istanbul traffic to the Radisson Blue near the airport. (Atle had booked it). They seemed a bit nonplussed to see two expedition Land Rovers and we had to go to the staff car park as we were too tall for the guest one. Room was amazing. Two floors plus all the gizmos you could want. We started with a chilled beer before Atle and I got sorting the alternator. A simple job made difficult by the bottom bolt been seized. A half hour job turned into a three hour one but it was done and charging well so really it did not cause us any delay.

Isabel and Hilda go shopping for supplies, only to find sweet shops. Dinner in hotel, rushed through our courses by over zealous waiters. Hilde insisted upon copious amounts of red wine.

Up early next morning in attempt to get Turkmenistan visas sorted. Took taxi to consulate. We were not allowed to apply, don’t think clerk really understood the purpose of our visit. Atle contacted the Ambassador in Tehran, so we spent the morning completing forms on line. If this doesn’t work we will have to go to Plan C.

Know we will not have time to visit the park or Blue Mosque, another time maybe? Drive through back streets of Istanbul. Other three shop for antibiotics, supplies and T joint for Hilde’s car. Only thing they didn’t find was a gas mantle. I gaffer taped the driver’s door together. All four of us had unbidden help from locals, children and adults alike. Amazing kindness.

Bulgaria!!!

After great stay in Hungary we hit the road and had beautiful drive through Hungary and then Serbia. While getting near border with Bulgaria the rains came and stayed all day. I can’t remember driving through such bad weather. Serbia seemed lovely and people friendly and everything despite obvious poverty appeared to have some pride in it.

Border crossing to Bulgaria was the first taste of things to come. Bulgaria has not taken to freedom well. It appeared to be the poorest country so far with no pride and care taking place. Everywhere full of dilapidated factories. Roads almost no existent. Sofia was much of the same with ray driving in torrential rain. Most crazy move was done by us when we aquaplaned in main central square (slippy tiles) almost did two full turns before regaining control and carried on. No one batted an eyelid!! Atle offered us use of beta blockers!!

Carried on and found one of worst hotels in living memory. To be continued….

Travels through central Europe

French Defender Camper with huge trailer.

We got away from Camping Wien Sud nice and early and hit the motorway system hoping to catch a glimpse of the Danube but failed miserably. We had numerous contacts with Atle and Hilde and decided to meet up near the Serbian border at a city called Szeged. As we drove into Hungary we both commented the scale of the old border crossings. Very easy now with only a brief stop to change some Euros into Florints from a grumpy, surly Austrian lady who really wanted us to buy motorway vignette for Hungary. We had done this online day before but it did not cheer her up. It has been a shame that the only unpleasant people we have come across so far have both been Austrian women.

The drive through Hungary was uneventful but for people our age quite moving thinking that we were now driving through the old USSR.

Stayed at the Novotel Hotel in Szeged which was very comfortable and reasonably priced. We had text from Atle and Hilde – only 10 minutes away. Dash down to bar and order 4 cold beers. Can’t believe we are finally meeting up after three years planning. Hugs all round, laughter and excitement. Cheers! Here’s to our grand adventure. All went out for beautiful meal in large banqueting hall.

Tim on balcony, overlooking the NOT Danube

Back together again, at the start of our great expedition

Trying hard not to squint in bright sunshine

Somewhere on journey. Tim not picking nose – adjusting glasses (so he says)

Where tomorrow? Will it be Serbia or Bulgaria? We hope to get to Istanbul on Wednesday so still have two hard days of driving left. Will have done about 2,000 miles by then in just over a week. 2/10 of our total!!

Travels through Europe

Despite the efforts of all and sundry including last minute paperwork hassles we managed to leave home at 4.00 pm on Monday 3rd June.

Many thanks to all our friends and relatives for their good wishes. We will do our best to stay safe and keep in touch!!

First stop was the Holiday Inn next to the Chunnel. We had fish and chips from the restaurant which was not a good idea but hey ho we are sure we will eat worse than this on our journey.

Up bright and breezy next morning for a quick drive to the Train. Very calm crossing and no seasickness! Alright there shouldn’t be on a train but it is an achievement for Tim to manage getting to France without any queasiness. We the hit the road. Had a text exchange with Catherine, Tino, Ned and Silva saying they were on way to Verdun did we fancy meeting up for a few days. Seemed a good idea so arrived in Verdun to look for each other to find we both went to the same campsite by chance and arrived 10 minutes apart.

First Night under canvas

Ned and Silva tried to claim squatters rightsDamn the gas mantle is broken!! Where will I find a replacement

Had a really relaxing evening eating and drinking before climbing up into the roof tent for the first time in quite a few years. Both managed it without accident.

We decided to keep together for a few days as they were travelling roughly the same direction on way to Romania. We stayed two nights in a beautiful campsite in the Black Forest and yes we did indeed eat gateau!! as well as copious amounts for excellent German beer.

Lunch in a picturesque German town

Capturing the moment!!

Another successful descent of the ladders

Beautiful campsite in the Black Forest after a gorgeous drive over the mountains

View from top of hill

Having a great time

Feet

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The view down. Isn’t Isabel tiny!

Happy? I think so

At last the beer!!

About to start the rest of the adventureSad to say farewell. Odd seeing our Disco.

Knitted house

After two days we went are different ways. They headed off to Uffenheim in Germany where Ned had been on a school exchange. We headed towards Salzburg. Original plan had been to go into Salzburg for a coffee but traffic jam on motorway delayed us by a couple of hours so headed to campsite on a lake. Very beautiful but like all of Austria a little bit to perfect. Austria seems to fulfill all the stereotypes we have of Germany which was not apparent in Germany.

Getting hotter so needed beer

Yet more beer. Is this becoming the image of the expedition. Not in Iran we guess.

Beautiful view of mountains in Austria

Next day we went to Vienna and stayed two nights so we could walk this beautiful city. Vienna is stunningly beautiful in a pristine, manicured way and seems to live on its past with young ticket touts walking the city in historical costumes including wigs. Very unpleasant for them on a hot day like Sunday was. It was absolutely heaving with tourists of every nationality but in particular the ubiquitous Japanese. However we managed to get out of the bustle and find an old fashioned coffee house where we had to eat cake and drink coffee in peace and coolness. Very lovely. We were though shocked to see that the rule on smoking inside buildings seems to have missed Austria. With all their perfectness it was a shock to see the amount of smoking going on inside cafes and restaurants.

Some pictures of Vienna