Hello all,
Earlier this year i was beginning to plan the journey outlined in the title of this thread.
At that time, i was due to complete a contract in the UAE at the end of July. This has now been extended a number of times and will almost certainly now finish in early December, which i imagine is not the greatest time to ride a sports bike back through Northern Iran, through the Turkish mountains and on into Eastern Europe.
Europe i know about, but what of the driving conditions in Northern Iran and on up through Turkey ?
I was looking at the Tehran-Tabriz-Bazargan-E80 to Istanbul and on to Sofia,etc, route, but i'm sort of assuming that the roads in eastern Turkey and northern Iran will not be too good, but does anyone know if the main roads that i intend to stay on, are usually ok ?
I've tried looking at the history of weather conditions in the area through this website Weather Forecast & Reports - Long Range & Local | Wunderground : Weather Underground which is a mine of information, but it only really covers main towns and cities.
Anyway, if anyone has experience of the route during winter, i would be interested to hear of them and perhaps someone living in the area might have some thoughts.
Thanks in advance.
J

Mmmmm, obviously not, so does that mean that i will be the first ?

Lets keep in touch.Our club will be behind you whenever you are in need of support and more detailed information.
Hope to see you in istanbul.
wish you all the best and safe rides.

__________________
Mehmet Zeki Avar
''Borderlines divide countries,HU friendship finds a way to reunited"
https://www.facebook.com/mehmet.avar.12?ref=tn_tnmn

Anything is possible as they say but I can't see you getting across the eastern Turkish mountains at that time of year.
I have crossed Turkey/Iran border twice, the mountains are chilly in the middle of summer and like this in April.

Good luck




Cheers
Pete

__________________
Vietnam, Cambodia & Thailand 2016
Buenos Aires to NYC 2012-2013: www.facebook.com/curryhunt
India and back 2009-2010:

Hi Guys from Turkish Bikers Club

Firstly,thanks for all the advise and support you provide to users of this site. I am sure many,including me,are benefiting from it.

I am posting on this thread as I cannot open a title for a new thread at the moment:

I am leaving Dubai on 08 Nov and overlanding to UK via Iran and Eastern Turkey in my Landrover Defender.

I plan to cross the border at Barzagan approx 07 Dec.

My original route was to head for Van and onward to the Med Coast. I view of the recent quake I am wondering if the roads are still usable either around the South of the lake or the North. Do you have any information on road conditions in the area and indeed if I should avoid the South route through Van altogether.

Also,in view of the scale of this disaster and the cleanup efforts,I to not want to be disrespectfull and be in the way of the authorities when they have more important things to consider than delays to travellers.

Any info or,advice you can provide would be gratefully received.

Hi Pete,
Thanks for the reply and sorry about the length of time that it has taken me to reply, but i had to make a dash back to the UK about a family matter and have only just got back to normality (whatever that is), out here again.
I note fro your website, that you travelled the Southern route from Iran - Turkey. I am planning the more Northern route via Barzargan. I'm hoping that the fact that it is a fairly major connection between Iran and Turkey, will mean that it will be kept open by the many trucks using it, but i' going to contact our excellent Turkish friends and ask some more searching questions before i finally decide. One bonus of returning to the UK was that i managed to pick up my winter gear and get some thermals together, as that sort of stuff would be difficult to find in Abu Dhabi i think !
Sadly, i've now been told that i might be here until the end of January, which is likely to complicate matters even further with the weather, etc and i might just put the bike in storage and return later next year to do it then, but until things are finalised here with the contract, it is very difficult to plan properly, other than getting the necessary visa for Iran, which i'm in the process of doing anyway.
Anyway, thanks again.
Happy travels,
John.