Staying at Dona's

31st January - Ardakan to Mehriz- distance 108km - ascent 400m - av speed 25km/hr - current location 31,35N 54,25E

Yesterday, Ro had a taxi driver with her all day that didn't talk or eat our food. Today she had a smiley chatty, eccentric man and his wife! They managed to chat a lot of the day using no more than 10 English words but cover topics like politics, family and religion.....she is now seeking therapy!

Cyclists had a straightforward day of sun, flat roads and some stunning mountains and watching Nick and Jamie bid for the fastest truck surf. Yet another generous gesture from a complete stranger who stopped on the hard shoulder to give us oranges to help us on. They took photos of us as so many people do...oh the life of fame!

We got to Mehriz and some kind of soup fest was going on with 3 huge cauldrons of soup on the street and about 100 plus men in organised chaos as they dished out the soup to anybody with a bowl, bucket or saucepan. We were all invited to have some and given our own bowls. Among all the hilarity and shouting I could still here the odd phrase that follows us everywhere we go 'welcome to Iran'. After watching and partaking in whatever it was that we partook in....Ro set to work and found us somewhere to stay in a small town with no hotels using our taxi driver as a helper. Cyclists found refuge in an eating house where a semi-English speaking young man yet again thought I was Sarah's mum and Dom thought they were stupid enough to think he could act as my son too (has he seen the mirror?!).

Ro has done us proud and we have the ultimate place to stay for a bunch of people who seem to live on kebabs and rice...yes we are sleeping in a kebab house...hence the title for those of you who haven't picked up on the sophisticated wit. So guess what we will be having tonight and for breakfast!

The latest from Dickie is that Martha is in pieces and could be ready by lunch tomorrow.....anybody's guess, she is obvioulsy enjoying the attention.

Posted by Pauline

Two seasons in one day

30th January - Naein to Ardakan - distance 114km - descent 500m - av speed 24km/hr - current location 32,25N 54,00E

With the previous evenings weather weighing heavily on the minds of the EverestMax team, the alarm clock went off at 6.30am and with great relief the team were greeted by blue skies. Implications of this being that the heavy snow from the previous night would soon be melting, and riding conditions would be more favourable. With concerns still high over the state of the van, it was decided that Dickie would drive back to Esfahan (it later transpired that the 150km ride took him over 4.5 hours) and a taxi would be hired for the day so that Rowena could provide support whilst the cyclists were en route. Unfortunately for Rowena, the taxi driver didn't speak a word of English so her time in the taxi wasn't the most inspiring!

The team left the Pilgrims hostel at 10am and made rapid progress as the sun quickly cleared the roads of any remaining snow. The first 2 legs quickly passed by with favourable conditions and a hearty lunch of pasta soon appeased the rumbling stomachs (even Dom 's stomach with his little and often approach was satisfied). At the 99km break Jamie discovered that he was missing his sunglasses and after accusing the usual suspects of Nic and Dom (would they ever be involved in such mischief?!), it transpired that Sarah had seen them 6km back by the side of the road but thought that they were not part of our kit. It does have to be asked at this point how many Iranians you see in the desert wearing BLOC sunglasses! So Jamie chose to do the man thing and cycle back to search for them, with Pauline still not too sure if the guys were playing a harsh trick on Jamie.

10km later Jamie re-joined the team with his glasses, but unfortunately it seems as though a lorry may have had a moment with them - one of the arms has been broken but Jamie is determined to carry on with them. Unfortunately this may mean that Nic is the sole face of BLOC - sorry Jamie!

All in all a wonderful cycling day in Iran, with yet more examples of how beautiful and diverse the Iranian countryside is. All that remains is for us to hope that Dickie is having success with getting the van repaired for about the 10th time!

Posted by Nic

It's a long long road

29th January - Esfahan to Naein - distance 151km - ascent 40m - av speed 22.5km/hr - current location 32,50N 53,05E

A long day; subtle 120km up (1/100) and then 28km downhill which the cyclists surfed behind trucks at 50km/hr-ish, even overtaking other lorries. Martha's still not right so didn't catch us up until late in the day but when she did finally catch up Ro very excitedly showed us her new kitchen system which revolves around stacking crates – she is remarkably easy to please!!

We've all arrived in Naein safe and sound. Our accommodation tonight is a pilgrims shelter which is simple rooms set around a pretty courtyard next to a mosque. It's started snowing hard – Dickie is serenading us with Christmas carols, Pauline's dishing out hot chocolate and Dom and Nic are working out how the next couple of days might work if Martha has to go back to Esfahan to be fixed (again).

Now while we all know that we're incredibly privileged to be part of this expedition, cycling 150km on pretty flat roads with nothing to look at for 270° of the view can be pretty mindless. Jamie was fighting off sleep on his bike after lunch. So, you have to do something to keep your mind ticking over. The boys seem to have two topics, one of which is food, but the girls have a bit more variety. What follows is what my brain chugged over for a little bit today…..get your harmonica out Pauline and start blowing The Hollies ‘he ain't heavy, he's my brother'….

The road is long,
With no hint of a winding turn,
That leads us to who knows where, who knows when.

But we're strong,
Strong enough to cycle on,
We ain't stopping, gotta catch Winkler.

So on we go,
Martha's welfare is our concern,
Coz in her is lunch and tea,
Our priority.
But we'll crack on, and make do with the odd café,
We ain't stopping, gotta catch Winkler.

If we're laden at all,
We're laden with camera gear,
So we can bore you all, with endless photographs
Of the route when we get ho….ome

It's a long long road
From which there is no return,
Even when the hills are long,
We go on.

And we'll cycle, through wind, rain, shine and snow,
We ain't stopping, gotta catch Winkler.

Gotta catch Winkler, we ain't stopping, gotta catch Winkler.

And finally, David Cooney (Pauline's brother) kindly promised to pledge a generous amount to the expedition in exchange for a photo message from the team to his daughters, Claudia and Lydia. Here it is!

Posted by Sarah

Frustrating day

28th January - Esfahan - distance 0km - ascent 0m - av speed 0km/hr - current location 32,40N 51,35E

We were up early as we all had errands to run. Nic had to take 2 bike wheels with broken spokes to a repair shop, Dom had to collect a DHL package, Dickie had to check out the vans progress, Sarah had to upload the web site, Ro and Pauline had to go shopping for food supplies, and I had to change some dollars. We still aimed to be on our bikes by 11, but as the day unfolded we realised that we would probably not be leaving till tomorrow. News from Dickie was that the Van was now experiencing gearbox difficulties. A problem that are expert mechanics could no doubt handle but very frustrating news for us cyclists who were ready to eat up some more miles after a day off.

The day was spent being interviewed by Iranian TV presenters, mending bikes, site seeing and catching up on admin.

At about 8:30 Dickie returned from the garage with good news – the van was fixed and the mechanics still haven't charged us. Hopefully we will be back on the road tomorrow.

Posted by Jamie

Do me a Favour.

27th January - Esfahan - distance 0km - ascent 0m - av speed km/hr - current location 32,40N 51,35E

Day off… I get to ramble again……!

The people we have met so far on this trip have been a joy and a delight. Through Jordan, Syria, Turkey and Iran just about everyone has been smiling, friendly and helpful. They seem happy just to be with you and most expect nothing in return.

I have been trying to equate the hospitality we have been receiving to a similar situation back home. The van breaking down is a good example….

Imagine being a foreigner in England, speaking very little English (well – none really!) Your van breaks down in front of a shelving shop in an average street in a strange town, you go into the shop to ask for water to fill the radiator. The owner asks you in and gives you tea... ok so far. He then spends half an hour on the phone trying to find a garage that can fix the van. The garage will phone back after lunch. He asks if you have eaten and suggests a good place for lunch while you wait. He takes you to a restaurant and at the end picks up the bill. You thank him profusely and try to explain that he has done enough. He says it is no problem. After lunch he comes with you to the garage that he has arranged. He stays with you all afternoon translating. At the end of the day he takes you home to his wife and child where nuts and fruit and dinner are served. Conversation and music fill the evening and at the end he even gives you the best bed to sleep in. (keep in mind that he is just the bloke from the shelving shop…!) The next morning he gives you breakfast and takes you back to the garage where he stays until your van is fixed.

You might be thinking that most people are good and it is not unreasonable for just such a situation to take place in England.. well I’m quite sure the next bit never would…

When we arrived at the garage work began straight away.. immediately.. no humming and hawing and “maybe next Tuesday”. They saw the problem and within minutes eight men were working on her, removing the seats and stripping the engine. They worked late into the night ensuring that it was repaired. In the morning when we arrived she was back together again and being cleaned inside and out. They did checks on her, sorted out her lights, checked again and finally declared her ready. The garage owner took us upstairs to his immaculate and ornate office, gave us tea in tiny glasses and said that as for payment… we were his guests. Free. When we drove off and sadly realised that the problem was not entirely solved we went back to the garage. He called his men back from their day off and said they would work until it was fixed. They may still be there!

I can’t imagine an English garage doing the same. I am stunned and humbled.

Not everyone we have met has been helpful but most have tried their best. The main reason why well intentioned assistance fails is the language barrier. We are trying to be good Brits abroad and have learned “hello” and “thank you” wherever we go. As we are in Iran for more than ten days we have added a few extra words but we are rapidly becoming slightly confused. The word for thank you has changed four times.. two of those have been within Iran! As fast as we learn it, it alters. The locals have a far better grasp of English.. In every street in every town men and boys (never women) shout “Hello, how are you, where are you from?” You begin to reply but quickly realise it is the only English they know. Regardless of your answer they will smile and repeat “hello, how are you, where are you from?”.

There are also the people who are no help at all.. but very amusing. Iran in particular seems to be full of men with nothing better to do than stare.. Only a couple of feet away, they will stand and watch what you are doing. For ages. Anything up to an hour! Maybe two or three of them. Then there are the men who gather when anything is discussed. If you stop to ask someone a question within minutes there can be anything up to twenty men gathered round discussing the answer. Where do they come from.. shouldn’t they be somewhere.? Obviously not. To reverse the situation I have tried to understand what we must look like to them. The answer I have come up with is this. Imagine a camel walking down the high street in your local town. People would come out of the shops to look, they would take photos. They would stare.. for ages. No work would get done. Food and water would be brought out.

I think we are camels!!

Posted by Ro

Blowing a gasket!

26th January - Meymeh to Esfehan - distance 105km - descent 100m - av speed 20km/hr- current position 32,40N 51,35E

After the tough conditions yesterday it was a relief to see that it wasn't raining at least. We were ready pretty quickly still being in light order without the support team and after a quick breakfast hit the road. All our climbing yesterday paid dividends and the first 50km passed quickly thanks to a gentle downhill gradient. Despite the favourable conditions Nic and Jamie still felt the need to surf a lorry for 14km, hitting speeds in excess of 65kph and nearly catching up Dom in the process! The mountains on either side grew steadily more jagged and impressive as we sped along. Somewhere en route we must have passed Iran's growing nuclear facility, much in the headlines, which lies just north of the city. After about 80km Dickie and Ro caught us in the newly repaired van having left Esfehan to come and meet us. All looked good until they pulled up and once again the van was billowing steam and water despite the newly fitted gasket. Much to their dismay they had to return to the garage and leave us to find our own way into the city.

We are now well used to the urban sprawl that surrounds any city in the Middle East. A seemingly endless stretch of repair shops and hardware stores interspersed with kebab restaurants and teahouses guide you into the centre of every town. Esfehan though has a slightly different atmosphere that is hard to qualify. Famed for its ‘cosmopolitan' feel it was immediately evident in the wide tree lined streets. The road outside our hotel could pass for any city in Europe, complete with cycle lanes and wide pavements and most unusually litter bins, a definite first. Modern shops selling everything from flat screen TVs and mobile phones, even a ski equipment shop next door, are all packed and doing steady business. Eager to explore, a short walk from our hotel took me to the Emam Khomeni Square. This is reputed to rival St Marks Sq. in Venice. Not having been I can't make a comparison but it was visually stunning. Over 500m in length and originally used as a polo field the palaces and buildings around it were completed in the 17th century. The most stunning is the Shah mosque, the dome of which is covered in intricate blue tiles which change hue according to the light conditions. The entrance portal alone is over 30m high and only on close inspection could you appreciate the level of detail. The fountains in the centre of the square were magnificent and spotlessly clean and horse drawn carriages are lined up to do tours of the square. Despite this I didn't spot a single tourist in the square, such is our collective ignorance of this as a destination. If ever there was a day to prove that you have to judge a country for yourself and not by media reports then this was it.

The welcome and generosity we have been exposed to remains totally unbounded. After the van broke down outside a shop yesterday, the owner not only arranged for a mechanic to come out, but then took both Dickie and Ro out to lunch while it was being repaired before putting them up for the night and taking them back to the garage this morning. Even then they were presented with gifts from the mechanic and garage owner. The price of fitting a new head gasket? Absolutely nothing and despite it still playing up they have taken it back in and are working on it into the night.

Posted by Dom

If it aint rainin' it ain't trainin'

25th January - Delijan to Meymeh - distance 85km - ascent 450m - av speed 18km/hr - current location 33,25N 51,12E

Our devoted support team left us to fix Martha the van by being towed on a big lorry nearly 200km to Esfahan (cyclists destination in 2 days time). For the first time they could see how it feels to be inside one of these huge lorries that they have spent so much time trying to avoid. We cyclists were going to have to be independent for the next 2 days on the road.

A false sense of security had come upon us. Yesterday had been dry and warm for most of the day. We had convinced ourselves we were going south and therefore the extreme adverse conditions were behind us. We were so wrong! Almost as soon as we were on our bikes, the heavens opened and the headwind kicked in. Not long after the rain turned to snow and the roads went up, the lorries went past at speed unperturbed by the weather and made our adrenalin levels rise. We normally use the hard shoulder as our biking lane but a lot of it was all frozen up with ice and slush so we were forced onto the main road area which added to the excitement. Dom had a near miss (although he told us that he was just practicing one of his manoeuvres……) when pulling onto the main road from the hard shoulder and did a 180° spin, off his bike and dragged himself up before an oncoming lorry.

We managed the first 40km without a whinge and comparing notes on how we can see the fun side in these kind of days, but then, even Jamie our youngest and most in need of adversity for adventurous fulfillment admitted ‘OK, this is not fun anymore!' We were all freezing and wet to the core and making slow progress. Nic was unfortunate enough to get a flat tyre but his fingers were too cold to do anything about it. Luckily there was a roadside cafe 3km ahead where he thawed out before mending the puncture.

As fortune had it, a fantastic truckers café became our refuge for the next hour or so. We were waved in by enthusiastic truckers who obviously thought we were crazy to be out in this weather at all. When Sarah took off her socks and started to wring them out, they took her out to the wash basin and made her wash her socks so she could at least be clean and wet. The rest of us kept ours on after that. The log burning stove became our drying area while we sat down and were fed a feast of bread and chicken stew which involved a pestle and mortar each to mash your own. We all looked so pathetic, the owner mashed it for us one at a time. We would have stayed there all afternoon but we knew we needed to get to the next town before dark. No sooner had we put on our semi dry kit and walked out of the door, when we were straight back into the cold and wet……….we love it!!!!

Conditions didn't get any easier as we were now at 2000m and we stopped regularly to make sure we were all ok. Dark had closed in by the time we made it to town. Dom was in the lead and managed to cycle straight by 3 very warm looking kebab shops much to my disgust, so I convinced him (as only women know how when over tired and cold) to turn back and befriend a very big boiler in a very warm looking café. My top lip was so cold that I couldn't talk properly and was speaking like I had been on the bubbly. After 30 mins of thawing out we went and found the only hotel in town. Hotel is often a misdescription in these newsletters. Our hotel consisted of a 12ft by 10ft cell like room for the 5 of us with 4 army barrack beds, but…….it had a fantastic heater! We were in paradise.

Posted by Pauline