In Tabriz a guy cycled past carrying a tray with three lunches on it. In two places the road had been washed away by the river which must have just started to flow again. We had to pick our way through very carefully. The water was a turgid reddish brown and was flowing quite swiftly. For some distance we followed the river valley, the river winding to and fro underneath us, and occasionally, when there was no other escape, we plunged into a tunnel. The road was very well engineered.

The only other excitement of the day was finding Mr Shah in a garage inspecting his right-hand front end where the tyre was down to the cord! He must change it or possibly leave the road again! But his jack was "buggered". Part of the trouble was the tyre was rubbing on the bodywork, so we jacked it up and hammered it out a bit more for him, but the "chassis" is bent. He plans to have it repaired in Tehran, let's hope he does. Then we had a fight with his seat to get it to go back. He set off, promising to go slowly, but we didn't catch him up for a considerable distance. We had several cups of tea while this was happening, delicately prepared by Chris.

A few kilometres after the garage we saw two lorries on their sides off the road within 500m. How do they do it? The road was pretty straight, albeit wet. Also, we passed a man with a turkey on his moped. Two buses dicing manage to get a dog. After passing Mr Shah again we drove until it got dark, which it did fairly suddenly. In pouring rain and a fairly violent thunderstorm we stopped at a café/restaurant place - possibly gas station near Chap Chap.

After checking prices, we went in to eat. Excellent place - 80 rials for two. We ask owner if we can sleep here, he says yes, and Chris and Ian can sleep in back room for 5 rials each. The people here are not so moon-eyed and haven't taken much notice of us, which is excellent. The café has a car park, then a terrace with a part covered near the building. Inside there are only three tables, most of the locals squat on beds. The kitchen is quite clean, though the fare is not very varied.

I do believe I stirred first today, though I can't remember exactly when. We had breakfast on the veranda, and there was acrimonious discussion on how much Ian and Chris should pay, which was finally resolved at 5 rials each, which is what had been agreed the night before. Since Brian drove all yesterday I drove. By the time we left the rain was pouring down. The scenery was constant, a plain/valley, with water standing in the fields on each side of the road.

We saw several mud mosques, with coloured domes, which were usually crumbling. We saw Mr Shah again along the way and stopped at one point to photograph man on pedal railway vehicle. When we were less than 50km from Tehran we stopped and bought some oven fresh bread in Karadj (is it Karaj now?) then stopped again just before the new freeway and had lunch.

After lunch Brian drove straight to where the Indian Embassy should have been. Chris and Ian went to look for the Embassy while I walked up to the Afghan Embassy. I was directed by a pleasant bird in very passable English. Closed. Meanwhile Chris and Ian find the Indian Embassy has moved so we drive down and park.

Banks don't open till 4pm so had pavement cup of tea and recorder recital. Then in search of a bank. We take Chris and Ian out to Ghom road and finally say farewell and drop them some way out. There are very few road signs and street names are in microscopic letters. And the driving! But, surprise, they have red double decker buses!