Everyone went in different directions today. Some took the northern route & others the southern route, first through the forested mountains then across the desert.
There wasn’t much traffic about so it was a surprise to come across a policeman in the middle of nowhere with a stop/go baton in hand. We stopped & he was pleased to have his photograph taken. A bit more dusty gravel road & we reached Golestan. We weren’t sure which road to take from here and a little way out of town we came across the Landover on a road running parallel. Jim decided we were both on the wrong road & headed in a different direction. The right route was not mapped which made it even more difficult.
Jim eventually got us on the right road & over 1800mt mountains. It was an interesting ride through barren hills & mud brick villages, untouched by time.
Up the top, the Landover party brewed up some fresh coffee which must have been amusing to the passing traffic.
Across the desert plain we came across our first caravanserai, the old compounds used by travellers. This one had been restored, complete with well.
The next one was fairly derelict. The interior of the third one for the day was being used by a goat herder to worm his goats. The goats were interesting. Some had very long horns & long leathery ears. The sheep were “fat-tails”, with large padded backsides to store fat for the winter months.
Having stopped so many times today it was getting dark by the time we reached the outskirts of Mashad. Once again the traffic was horrific & much lane-changing & manoeuvring into the best position. There was “end of Ramadan” holiday traffic returning to town and the last 150 km was again a marathon of total driving concentration, drivers drifted from lane to lane and even pushing into lanes at 110 kmh where there is no gap until someone makes room, passing on both gravel road shoulders and tailgating are the norm. Due to the volume of traffic, the toll booths were simply waving all traffic through. Shortly after the last toll booths, there were 8 lanes of traffic travelling side by side, 200mm apart where there should only have been 5 lanes. Two locals had had a slight accident and were having an almost punch up in the road. Further on was another 3 car nose to tail and yet another accident further down the highway.
We found the hotel without much trouble & tomorrow is a rest day so looking forward to that (and a laundry facility!).
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