We're going to IRAN, yes!

Hi there,

Very quick note to let you all know that we are on our way to Iran. Refused twice and now after 18 months since our first attempt we finally got our visa. We are extremly happy to be given the chance to finish our trip overland! Words cannot explain how important this is to us. Dorothee was infact refused this time but upon appeal from our agents to the foreign ministry in Teheran who deal with all requests, she was finally accepted. Why she and not myself and Oceanne is anyone's guess! We are only allowed a 5-day transit visa for Turkmenistan which we will try our best to traverse in the time available before entering Iran at Sarakhs. I am writing this from Bukhara about a day's riding from the Turkmenistan border. We had to take the train between Samarkand and Bukhara as we had no time remaining on our Uzbek visa after all this visa hunting in Tashkent. Because l'm a slight addict of feeling and seeing the road myself in an only independent fashion, l took the time last week to ride the 280 km's on a fine friday under full blue skies. A special feeling to connect these two ancient cities from morning to evening only by pedal power. While we are crossing Iran, l don't imagine much e-mail contact will be a good idea. Anything said could be construed as incorrect so we will wait till Armenia. We have only heard great things about Iran from other cyclists who have traversed the country. For sure it can be a shock for us Westerners who are so used to our freedom to see all women covered and all over-exhuberant behaviour banned for example but to go there is to accept all that. From what we have heard, the people are so kind, sometimes too much so if you are trying to get somewhere but we are so eager to experience this. Anyway, no more visits to embassies thank goodness! Iran was fine but for Turkmenistan we were treated like bears behind a cage. Just to get a 5-day transit visa for a ridiculous amount of cash. At least we don't have to take a plane though!

All our thoughts, Rupert.