I am McGreggor!

And we have been having "McGreggor" moments in Iran. It is so funny. Graham, Andy and me are being treated like stars. Whenever we stop people flood around us and ask to take photos with us. Or holding their children so we have decided to see how long we can call ourselves Ewan (me because of the beard apparently), Charlie (Andy because someone has to) and Claudio (Graham because he didn't want to be Charlie) before someone calls us out on it!

All joking aside everyone here is so friendly. Even at the border crossing we were treated very well. The western media has Iran all wrong. As you know I really don't have an opinion on politics and I wouldn't talk about it here if I did. The people here have shown us nothing but goodwill.

Our first night in Iran we were looking for a place to camp near a lake next to Orumiyeh but it turns out the lake had dried up so we eventually stopped at the side of the road next to a fishing "cabin". There was a guy there who spoke good English who told us we could stay in the cabin that night if we wanted. We were served plenty of tea and a dinner of fried fish (uh oh) and watched a Turkish copy of the Transporter. There was a family there who invited us to stay with them the next night in Urmia. Spent the night chatting through our translator and taking lots of photos.

Second day we went to Mahabad which has an underground cave/lake complex. Here we met an English speaking tour guide, Ali, he invited us to stay with his family. Turned out to be an incredibly weird night. We watched a video of his wedding. No one smiled in it and his wife, also his cousin, looked very unhappy. They live with his mum, dad and sister in the same house and he got his mum to clean my dirty boxers... by hand..! Turns out he wanted us to pay for the night. $15 each. He was a nice guy but that was more expensive than a hotel and not really in the same spirit as we have found elsewhere in Iran. They did clean my boxers though which I guess is worth at least $5.

The drivers here are insane. At one point I was stuck behind a lorry with a taxi overtaking me on the left and a van undertaking me on the right. I was pinned in good and proper. They just have no fear of anything and will happily sit in the lane for oncoming traffic while they take photos of us forcing the oncoming cars to swerve out of the way or they will swerve into us. All very exciting. The roads are very good. No potholes and the tarmac has plenty of grip.

Last night (19th) we stayed camped near an Iranian version of Cappadocia. We met an Iranian family there and the daughter could speak English. Spent the night with the whole family. The father, Jelly (not his real name), used to drive trucks for an American oil company so could also speak English. The younger women wore normal clothes with a headscarf and were completely free to talk to us. It was not like you imagine. They were happy for us to take photos of them. In the city it seems to be a bit more conservative but in general the view I had of Iran and of the culture here has been completely turned on its head.

I am supposed to be meeting a mixed group in Tehran who I met on couch surfing and they are going to take me to a "club" and show me around the city. Will try to stay away from government buildings of course.

In Tabriz (tabreeze) now for 2 days in a hotel. We have parked the bikes inside the hotel so they are nice and safe. Going to get some more spares for the bike and carry out a big service as it is unlikely I will find anywhere to do it between here and Islamabad. The bike is running very well and is a low wearing engine so I don't doubt it will be fine with or without the service but better safe than sorry. The bike garage we found here is also a motorcycle club and they seem very proud to have us at there garage. They cant do enough for us. Sorting out Andy with the hospital, finding us a hotel and offering all kinds of work and parts for the bike.

Heading to Tehran on Friday for my Pakistan visa. I will probably upload some photos then too as the internet connection here is painfully slow! For now though you can check out these from Cardiff to Cappadocia