Monday 1st August
Unzipping the tent at the border we arose to the wonderful sight of
pointy mountain ridges all around us. Streams of rally cars then started to
filter through into the compound and line up ready for the guided tour to
depart. Amongst our convoy there was an air of optimism given that we were at
the very front of the queue. We soon realised this was to make no difference,
as we waited 6 hours for the border big dog, Hossein, to sort out our carnet de passage.
Incredibly,
team HighlyUnlikely, the three-wheeler we had only seen at the launch, rolled
into line to great applause. He then proceeded to drop anchor in absence of a
handbrake and tell us all about his battle through adversity so far. Having to
rebuild his transmission from scratch in Turkey, driving 14-hour days and
encountering a thunderstorm without a roof were quite impressive anecdotes. He
can’t even straddle potholes. That’s the spirit of the rally.
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| The Iran border |
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| The spirit of the rally |
During a quick fill up at the gas station we realised that petrol is
25p per litre. A litre bottle of water in Iran is 75p, and for the 50p you pay
to hold your breath and piss in a hole in the floor. They literally have more
oil than they know what to do with.
Posted by: Rich