I've recently completed a journey from Abu Dhabi to Wales, via Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, England, and thought that some might like to have an update on the travelling situation in Iran and Iraq.

The entry into Iran was pretty stressful, after the ferry arrived late from Sharjah and this in turn did not allow enough time for the necessary paperwork to be completed to import the bike before the various (many), papers had been signed, stamped and paid for and the offices where all of this had to be carried out, had closed for the day at 2pm.

I had to stay in a local hotel for the night and as luck would have it, the taxi driver that i used in the morning spoke very good English and i employed him to help smooth the passage through all the red tape. He was excellent and without him i imagine i would still have been at the port at 2pm again and then have been stuck there for the Friday weekend period. The whole process is really complex and few seem to speak English, so be warned and try and get someone local to help if you can. I have the guys telephone number and if anyone wants it, i'm sure that he would help if you asked him, but it is a longish process, with some driving around, etc, so you should expect to pay him for his time and trouble as i did. It took around 5 hours in my case, so it's no 10 minute job i'm afraid.

Once out of the port, everything was ok and apart from being pulled up by the Police in Shiraz for a roadside check on documents, i had no problems at all, with everybody being very friendly and offering any assistance that i wanted....and some that i sadly couldn't experience.

The border crossing at Merivan was not too difficult, although it is quite some drive up some not well maintained roads and is really better tackled on a more rugged bike than the R1 that i had under me. The actual border crossing buildings area is under construction and was a right mess, with hundreds of trucks driving around and plenty of dust in the air. In the rainy season, the place would be a real challenge i imagine.

The process of crossing was not too difficult, although the Iranian officials did not seem to know what the Carnet De Passage was and kept telling me that it was not necessary to stamp it there. With 37,000 UAE Dirhams sitting as a deposit in Abu Dhabi for the CDP, i was not going to accept that, and eventually got someone who knew a bit more about it all and he stamped the thing for me.

Entry into Iraq, or Kurdistan as everybody corrected me, was easy and very pleasant. I was welcomed, offered a glass of cool water and the guards were more interested in revving the bike that doing any searches.

Riding through Kurdistan was easy. Roads not so good in the border areas, but improved as i got further West. I travelled the As Sulaymaniyah - Erbil - Mosul - Dahuk - Zakho route and apart from many check points along the roads, especially going into Erbil, there was nothing out of the ordinary and everyone was very friendly and curious about the trip and the bike.

I crossed into Turkey at the Zakho/Silopi crossing area. The Iraq side was fine, but the Turkey entry was not so easy. I was questioned for ages about where i had been, where i was going, why, did i smoke, did i drink, did my wife (who was not with me, by the way), had i visited Amsterdam (which as i use it for a KLM transit hub, i had done on many an occasion), etc, etc, etc,..... I eventually had to unpack everything, put it through a scanner and then i was cleared to go. When i asked about insurance, this brought about another problem as it was now 8pm on a Sunday evening and they would have to call someone from Silopi, etc, etc,. Eventually someone turned up, charged me $60 for 15 days cover and i was allowed to leave the area. It was now raining and 10pm. Not happy !

Anyway, i stayed in the very good Grand Hotel, which is right on the main road as you enter Silopi and left in the morning, showered, refreshed...and in the dry.

Rest of the journey was nothing really special, but at this point, i should mention the wonderful guys at istanbul bisiklet motosiklet. I had an electronic problem, together with a non working cooling fan by the time i reached Istanbul and i decided to call them to see if they could suggest where i could get it looked at. It's a long story, but they were fantastic. They came to meet me on the motorway, arranged transport back to their workshop/club house building in Istanbul, fed me, watered me and put me up for the night when it was clear that the repair to the fan would take a bit longer than expected. Wonderful people, all of them and i send my very grateful thanks to them for their instant and enthusiastic response to my dilema. Cheers guys.

So, after 9 days on the road from Bander Abbas and 8019 kms, i arrived back at home in Wales, with a slightly battered bike, cold and wet (British weather eh !), but very happy to have had a great experience in great places and for meeting good, normal people who were all kind to a fault.

If there is any info that i can help anyone with, please mail me.

J