After consideration overnight, we’ve ended up staying in Tehran – I was crunching some numbers last night re rear tyre wear and if we go riding for the next few days we’ll push the rear tyre well over the typical mileage I get out of one, and I don’t want to get jammed up with a problem in Pakistan.
When I planned the tyre replacements I worked on 6,000km per rear tyre, but by having to ride 900km back from Shiraz to Tehran, and then having to reride the same distance again when we finally head for the border – that’s an additional 1,800km expected from the tyre, and a loop through the mountains was going to add another 900km to that distance, which could be more than the tyre can sustain. We’re carrying two spare tyres – a front & a rear – but I want to save them for India & Nepal.
So now we’ll just read some electronic books today (Friday is a weekend day) and then go visit the museums and sights of Tehran, starting tomorrow.
Nepal offers Visa On Arrival at six land border crossings with India and have a very simple visa system – the longer you want to stay the more you pay for your visa. No hassles.
I did email the Indian Embassy here in Tehran yesterday and asked for consideration of a three month visa rather than the one month they have finally offered, but if we have to we will take what we can get at this point. We are mindful that we’d also lose ten days of the one month just getting to India. If we end up with only twenty days for India then I’d go something like Amritsar, Shimla to Manali & Rotang Pass, Agra (Taj Mahal), and then out to the first (western-most) crossing into Nepal. There is a road that runs along the base of the foothills of the Himalayas – parallel to the border with India.
When life gives us lemons it leaves us no choice but to make lemonade!