September 18th.
We are now in Iran, just over the border. Cuddles was ready for testing about midnight, but conked out after only a mile or so, and was pushed home again. Next morning, Fudge found that one of the fuel filters was ruined, so Don and I went ten miles into town for a new one, which we found in the first poky little shop we came to, and hitched back to camp. Fifteen minutes later Cuddles was going like a bomb! Dave and I then took the coach into town to get the new cover put on our ruined tyre. We were going at about 50 m.p.h. along a sunny tree-lined road, and just chatting away, when a jeep appeared from the trees about fifty yards ahead and came straight for us. I let fly with our new horns, braked, and pulled over to the left just as he turned into my path again. By this time, all six wheels were locked and sliding - Cuddles would not stop, and when I had resigned myself to disaster, the jeep jerked a little and I hauled Cuddles over to the right again at the same time releasing the brakes, and the careering Cuddles missed the jeep by less than inches. The jeep disappeared up a side track in a cloud of dust, and Dave and I were left staring numbly at 25 ft of skid marks.
My good old watch has packed up, but Comex time is immaterial - you eat when hungry, and sleep when tired.

Afternoon tea is being served now, with a free packet of biscuits each. We are not allowed out of the compound, so It is just as well we are getting good treatment. There is even a shop set up for air-letters, stamps, drinks, etc., and there is a dance arranged for tonight. All meals are followed up with fresh yoghurt and Pepsi-cola. Back


September 23rd. We left the quarantine camp after only thirty-six hours. Ten miles out, Cuddles up again with fuel starvation - an air leak was discovered, and in two hours we were once again on our way. Cuddles' breakdown was near a village. These villages are very strange - they occur frequently in this semi-desert and look like a huddle of mud coconuts behind a mud wall. They always appear deserted, and, since there was no-one around this one we just walked in - people appeared from everywhere and greeted us most sociably. They invited us into their houses, lushly carpeted with Persian rugs, cushions lining the walls, and all spotlessly clean. Outside, there was no rubbish, not even waste paper. We were given melons, and I had a shot on the village's Suzuki 90, zooming across the desert with one of the Cambridge girls riding side-saddle on the back. One of the drivers has given up, so now there are only three of us, which means driving two hours on and four off. The journey from the quarantine hospital to the next site at Sha Pesand was 440 miles over desperately bad roads (like our home one to Redkirk!) and we have to try to drive as fast as possible to reduce the bumps, but 35 m.p.h. was about as fast as we could risk, since the wheels were off the road fifty per cent of the time and steering wasn't easy. Cuddles leapt and bounded, pitched and rolled, to a regular cascade of bits and pieces from the racks. Such are we however, that a cold meal was prepared, people slept and read quite happily, being by now accustomed to most conditions. We also had six hours of night-driving, when again I blessed the quartz-iodine. We had a diversion every two or three miles, taking us off this dirt-track on to even worse ones - Don actually drove across the desert as a short cut and it, was much smoother.

The worst problem, however, was dust, which coated everything, including throats, with a layer. The boot was thick, and everything had to be washed. I intend clearing and washing the boot today anyway. We passed near the Caspian Sea between Sha Pesand and Tehran but didn't swim this time. It was very cloudy and humid, but we were out of it as soon as we cleared the Caspian depression. In Tehran the days are hot and cloudless - just right for retanning ourselves, whitened by a month forced under shade. The nights are very cold however, and the evening sees the gradual change from swimming suits to Afghan coats and fur hats! Cuddles has been hosed inside and out, and the fuel system overhauled, and the governor altered to give us more revs. This will make the 6,000 and 8,000 ft. passes ahead of us more easily manageable.Back

We are having police escort through Turkey this time, so stone throwing should be minimised. We collected two good dents and a lot of tomatoes between Sha Pesand and here. Our homeward route will be the same as our outward one (we had hoped to go via Bulgaria, but apparently there are too many administrative difficulties), so from here it is Tabriz, Erzerum, Persembe, Ankara, Istanbul, Kavalla, Skopje, Zagreb, Frankfurt, and Zeebrugge. We have whole day stops in Ankara, Zagreb and Frankfurt, leaving Frankfurt at 9 p.m. on the Tuesday, reaching Zeebrugge in time for the mid-day boat on Wednesday, October 8th - a 5000 miles trip. Back