Just a thought, but it occurs to me that you [Mattbibby] and Cwac are trying to achieve the same, or similar objectives.

Cwac says he's leaving the UK in August, which means he could easily get to the Turkish-Georgian border, at Sarp, by late September; taking-in plenty of scenery along the way.

You both meet-up at Sarp - or somewhere close-by, e.g. Trabzon - then ride together through Georgia + Armenia and eventually cross-over into Iran at the Agarak (Armenia) < – > Norduz (Iran) border. Meet your pre-arranged official Iranian tour guide right there. Or you can rendezvous at Agarak if you want to travel independently as far as possible - or somewhere in-between (e.g. Tbilisi, Yerevan.)

Ride all the way down through Iran to one of the Hormuz-based port-cities of (a) Bandar Abbas, or (b) Bandar Lengeh, sharing the cost of the guide.

You could try and involve even more UK/Canadian/US travellers and thus reduce the guide costs even further. There's plenty of time ahead to advertise and involve more overlanders.

Ferry to Sharjah or Dubai UAE from either Bandar Abbas, or Bandar Lengeh.

See the Emirates - all seven of them, and why not? Also take a look around Oman, both are fantastically friendly countries. Fabulous roads too.

By the time you've travelled through Iran, and around the UAE & Oman .. believe me, you will have seen more than enough desert by that time. You won't need to go through the southern deserts of Pakistan to see yet more sand!

Then crate-up and air-freight your bikes from Dubai to Kathmandu, Nepal. Turkish Cargo can deal with this for you (via Istabul.) You fly as passengers direct to Kathmandu with the lo-cost carrier, Air Arabia, from Sharjah Int'l Airport. Collect your bikes at KTM and head-off to one of the many Indian borders.

Into India .. via the back door.

WHAT an adventure?! Entirely do-able too, despite the recent visa restrictions imposed by Iran for Brits/Canuks/and Yanks.

Best of luck with your planning.

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Right Way Round ...