We were looking forward to getting into Yazd today, the place is another tourist hub and we had been recommended a nice, cheap place to stay similar to the great Khan- e Eshan we had stayed at in Kerman.
Before that though we had another day riding in the desert. 
Today the desert was sunny and windy and the road was flat and straight. A bit sandier today too, at least compared to the last few days of rocks and dry scrub bushes. We passed a big rest stop area at 11:30 and figured after yesterday’s debacle we should stop for an early lunch.
Just as we were about to set off again the wind picked up and and started to lift the sand up. It certainly wasn’t a full blown sandstorm but there was a lot of sand flying around, it was necessary to cover mouths and eyes to keep going.

 

 
It only lasts maybe 30 minutes, after that the air cleared and we could cycle unhindered again. The urban development around Yazd started maybe 40 km out from the centre, we passed a couple of towns busy loading and unloading trucks. Most of these hinterland towns tend to be focused on auto repair and you’ll find trucks in various states of repair all along the side of the road.

 

 
Yazd is quite spread out but the gooey touristy centre is pretty well concentrated in a couple of kilometres so it was a long time of riding in regular Iranian city before we saw anything of note.

 

 
We arrived at the city centre at around four. The place we wanted to stay was full, but they had a sister hotel close by, a place called the Orient hotel. And it was nicer, and cheaper and located at pretty much the same place. So everything was working out pretty well so far in Yazd. Plus their showers were great. There’s nothing quite like a good shower after a stint on the bike.

One of our more challenging rides of the trip today. If we thought we had been riding in the desert before today was a real test of our desert riding chops. We began finishing the ride towards Naein though we didn’t actually go into town, turning off just before.  

 
Richie had a run in with some Iranian funny guys feigning completely ignorance of English as a gestured wildly for a toilet at Naein. This was at a building just before the turn off from Naein that we stopped at in case there was nothing else for a while.
Turns out that this was good move, there was nothing else for 70km. Just straight road in the desert, completely desolate. The tailwind we experienced in the morning was more changed to a crosswind and then headwind as we rode South-East. The sun was out but still a winter sun so temperatures were bearable, I can’t imagine doing such a ride in the summer.

  
But man was the wind strong, there was nothing to block or slow it down it blew in off the mountains and buffeted us as we rode on. At some point rain falling on the mountains 20 km away had droplets picket up blown out to us.

 

 
  
We only had a bit of food left in our bags and we’re getting pretty hungry after 40 km of riding with nowhere to find food. We stopped and raided the last of our supplies in a turn off to keep us going. We could see as village on the horizon, but it was still 25 km off.
We reached this village, a place called Aqda and gobbled down a late lunch. We then rode around the village a bit looking for a shop. The place was surprisingly nice, a traditional sort of mud-plaster building settlement of the desert that had been recently renovated. Everything seemed to be closed now at three o’clock, but we found a small shop at last.

 

 
  
From then on the ride to Ardakan was a lot less desolate. And, joy of joys the wind shifted to a tailwind so we flew along the rest of the desert road for another 20 km and by half five found a suitable camp spot just outside Ardakan. Riding in the desert’s easy, I do it all the time.

We had our first and only climb of the route to Yazd today. Given how flat and repetitive the morning riding was we were kind of happy for it.
Not much to say about the morning ride, events of note during the ride: pulled in for a toilet break at a petrol station. A man at the petrol station gave us a small cake to eat. We passed through the villages of Sejzi and Kuhpayeh. We had lunch just outside Kuhpayeh.

  
I’m not going to have much else to talk about for today’s post so I guess I’ll talk about food. For lunch in Iran we tend to almost always eat Kubideh kebabs, which are minced mutton kebabs. They are pretty much the only food you can find outside the city and they are cheap and sort of tasty. It’s probably the hardest part about Iran, finding traditional Iranian cuisine. Almost all places just sell Kebab, unless you can find a tourist restaurant or get invited to someone’s home. The latter happens frequently enough so a lot of tourists to get to eat the tasty food Iran has to offer. As the tourism there grows I hope that more places open up offering the Persian cuisine because whenever we found somewhere that served it it was delicious.
Anyway, we began to climb shortly after lunch and it was a pretty easy climb, very long and gradual and not steep. Richie naturally found it a bit tougher since it was only his second day riding. I felt a bit bad whenever we had to tell him that, no this wasn’t the top yet but he got up without much difficulty in the end. We could see a bit of snow along the ridges of the peaks we were passing through, something we hadn’t spotted since Tehran.

 

 
  
  
On the other side was an equally long descent down to the town of Naein. With a strong tailwind pushing us this we speed down the mountain as the sun set. Stopped outside the town to set up camp.

  

We started off with a half day to get out of the city but still keep some time for sightseeing after getting the night bus back from Shiraz. The hostel very kindly let us rest for a bit in the courtyard in the morning. We had some post to send and I went looking for a bike shop unsuccessfully. 
Before we left we went down to the river to look at the famous bridges of Isfahan and have some lunch. We ended up meeting a couple of characters while eating; a friendly old guy in a big furry hat and a less old and less old guy who sort of smiled at us while making seemingly stream of consciousness statements to none of us in particular. The guy in the hat was a bit more interesting, he wanted us to guess his profession and then revealed he was a brain surgeon, which I didn’t really believe until he started showing photos of himself operating. 

  
Eventually Dr. Brain Surgeon left and it was just us and the other guy who didn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon so we said goodbye and kind of ran away. We rode out of the city then.
It was Richies first day of cycling and is gave us a new lease on it too. The ride out of the city was mostly through the dispersed factories and farms and complexes of unknown function that ring most of the cities for miles and miles. Though toward the evening, before sundown, we got out into good isolated desert. About 30km out of town we pulled off the road and set up in one spot amongst the tracts of dry, flat, desert.

 

 
  
  
  
  

A mostly downhill day today to Isfahan, and if everything has gone according to plan, we should be able to meet up with Richie, Finn’s mate from back home who’s going to cycle with us from now on. Not that we weren’t getting on, but we were both looking forward to throwing someone new in the mix.
The mostly downhill day started with an uphill climb. We arrived at the top where a small town has grown up. And up here I guess they get a bit more rainfall or something because the town was built on the shores of what they generously described as a lake. Across the lake were the ruins of an old castle.

   

 Then the downhill started and before we knew it we were out of the hills and mountains back into the wide desert.

 

  
 The desert road led us, straight and flat, all the way to the outskirts of Isfahan. The road to the city after lunch was similarly straight and flat, though a bit busier. 
Once in the city we found somewhere to stay (couldn’t get in contact with the guy that was supposed to host us) and waited for Richie to arrive. He got in at about 8. Reunions and introductions and of course a cursory inspection of his bike followed.its was great to have him over at last after all the talk of it. Even better, he brought some Dairy Milk chocolate, a gift from Fins mum.

We had our first decent pass to climb over since leaving Tabriz today which we were strangely excited for. The long, flat, straight roads in the desert can become a bit mind numbing at times so a good climb seemed really appealing this morning.  

 An accidental but perfect piece of timing: today was the day Iran’s sanctions were lifted and the day we passed by one of its biggest nuclear enrichment facilities. It was on the road to Natanz, an apparently very pretty town at the foot of some mountains that was worth a stop at. 
The facility was right in the middle of nowhere along this stretch of road. We had heard it was somewhere around here and it sort of just emerged out of the ground all of a sudden, a tall earthen embankment that wrapped all along the huge facility. It was obvious this was the place, as soon as we passed by the main entrance a police car parked opposite beckoned us over. We were asked a couple of questions but they were actually pretty relaxed. After taking our visa info and warning us not to take any pictures they followed us down the road in the van until we were out of sight if the facility.

 

 
We then found ourselves at the foot of the climb. The road was set a bit into the hill with the rocky face on either side that drowned out the sound and wind so it felt quite calm all the way up. The town of Natanz was at the top.

   
 After a lunch at Natanz we went looking for the Jameh Mosque, a very beautiful mosque and worth a visit. We took a wrong turn and ended up halfway back down the hill we had just climbed, but freshly full we were happy enough climbing back up. We did get to the mosque eventually and it was, in fact, quite beautiful.

 

  
    
Out of Natanz we had a bit more climbing and a long descent. The ground was now a lot less flat, a lot more rolling and hilly. Also though still arid for the most part there was a bit more greenery, a few trees and some cultivated land here and there. 

  
The sun, as always, started to set so it was time to find somewhere to camp. We pulled off the road and up the hill to flat part of ground. As we were setting up a police van driving on the road we had just left, about 150m from where we were now, spotted us. They doubled back and looked for a way up to us, and I suppose when they realised there was no road the just off roaded up the dusty hill towards us. 

  

 
They couldn’t comprehend what we wanted to do. Eventually, after a lot of miming and showing them a few photos they got the gist. But then they were trying to warn us that it might snow. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky or a breath of wind in the air. It wasn’t going to snow. Finally they had a look at our visas and I guess got fed up with dealing with the idiot foreigners and left us to our own devices.
It didn’t snow that night.

  

Before we left Kashan this afternoon we wanted to visit the UNESCO listed Persian garden Fin Garden (fantastic name). It’s a bit out of town so we took the bus (driver let us on for free!) and on the way out there we met a guy who was starting up a hotel in town. It was his day off and he was heading out to relax in the garden. He knew the manager who he was going to meet there. 

 

 
At the garden the hotel owner got us in for Iranian entrance prices (a fraction of the tourist price) and then gave us a little intro to the garden before heading to enjoy his day off and meet his friend.
The gardens are a real little oasis, lush green trees providing much welcome shade and the flowing channels of water were cooling and soothing. We spent a good while just wandering around, though they weren’t that big. Infact I’d say them not being so big was a bit of a bonus for us after so many days out in the wide open desert.
We returned to the wide open desert soon though, after the garden we went back and picked up our bikes. We were out of Kashan by 3 and making good distance. By early evening we were cycling up and down stoney hills with open rock faces jutting out either side. We were riding on the first tertiary road since we’d come into Iran, and the lack of trucks was a relief.

    
 Enjoying the quiet riding so much we ended up cycling until it was almost dark and then pulled off the road along an old dirt track where we set up in an old quarry.