April 9, 2014
Alone to the mountains: If only Daniel was here
The next day was fairly uneventful except for being met once again by the Dutch tourists in their jeeps, who were again very nice and gave me a big bag of delicious oranges, and who I can now reveal were not actually Dutch at all, but Israeli. I only said that they were Dutch because I was in Iran when I wrote it and I didn't want to be publicly broadcasting to the world that I thought Israeli people were very nice. This was one of the very many slightly-paranoid-yet-sensibly-cautious steps that I took to avoid disappearing or being beheaded during my Iranian visit, of which you will hear more soon. But as I write to you now from beyond Iran (I hope I'm not giving anything away by revealing I was not beheaded) I can reassure you that at least some Israeli tourists are very nice. Of Dutch tourists I cannot comment.
The day involved more endless climbing which was really beginning to wear me down. I had wrongly assumed the pass was not going to be so difficult and got ever more stressed as it went on and on and on and on and on. I was finally consoled by the summit and a brilliant downhill with a view of a lake. But I then made the mistake of going all the way down into the town of Kapan at dusk, leaving me stuck in the town with no place to camp. The road now began to slowly climb another valley, but the town continued up this valley for many kilometres and I cursed myself for being so stupid not to have stopped before the suburbia as it grew very dark and I was forced to continue on the dangerous busy road. I even considered staying in a hotel and stopped at one, where the owner asked for an extortionate amount, before instead throwing myself into a bramble bush for the night and deciding that was better value for money.
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In the morning I did not feel good at all, for several reasons. Firstly I had spent the night in a bramble bush. Secondly I had terrible toothache. It had been getting worse over the past few days and I now realised that I really did need to get to a dentist as soon as possible. Not an Armenian dentist though, as given the shiny rows of gold teeth that emanated from every single Armenian mouth I would likely have ended up having the tooth pulled out and replaced with a piece of 24-carat. I needed to get to an Iranian dentist and that meant getting to Iran, which was still one more very high mountain pass away. As if the thought of cycling another 2000 metre ascent wasn't soul destroying enough, I was also forced to slog into a fierce headwind that was rushing down the valley. I was exhausted, my tooth was in pain, and I was really struggling. When a car rushed passed and beeped loudly at me all of my frustrations boiled over. I got so mad I screamed obscenities at the car, leapt off my bike, jumped up and down like a madman and threw my cap to the floor.
I gave up and turned around. It was too much. I would go back to Kapan, find a cheap hotel and take a rest day. I couldn't do this, it was too hard.
But as I wheeled my way back down the hill I felt really bad. I felt bad about quitting. I didn't want to quit. I turned around and started to climb again.
Then the wind hit me full in the face. 'Oh yeah, the wind.' No, it was too much, I couldn't do this today. I turned back down.
But then I felt bad about quitting again. I realised this was kind of a metaphor for the whole trip. During the previous few days in Armenia I had been finding the going very tough. I was starting to get really fed up of being alone all the time, having been travelling such a long time and still being such a really long way from Australia. I just really wished I had some company. All of this was Daniel's fault of course. My hapless sidekick who was so hapless he forgot to turn up for the ride. Not only that, but going down to Iran had been his idea. I didn't even want to go to Iran, I wouldn't even be slogging over these mountains if it wasn't for him. I think in our planning the conversation went something like this:
Daniel: "I want to go to Iran."
Me: "No I think it is too dangerous. We might disappear or get beheaded or something."
Daniel: "No, it'll be fun. Lets go."
Me: "Yeah okay."
Of course after Daniel failed to show up I could have simply changed my route and not gone to Iran, but I had to admit his argument had been quite persuasive. The man had been so excited he had even made an effort to start learning to speak Farsi before the trip. If you are planning to cycle across Central Asia like Daniel, I would say learning to speak Farsi before heading off is a great idea. An even better idea, however, is to remember to head off.
No, no, no, I couldn't quit on this. If I quit this day what would stop me quitting the whole trip? I turned around and headed back up into the wind with renewed determination. My dilly-dallying had added an extra six kilometres onto my day quite needlessly, but I didn't care now, I was going to do this. Besides, the Iranian dentists were on the other side of this mountain.
I made slow and steady progress up the valley until I reached a town, where some young guys called me over to a bar where they worked. They invited me inside and gave me food and drink and let me use the wifi for free. They were so friendly and it was such a nice gesture that it lifted my spirits enormously. Using the Internet I was able to check some information about Iran on the British government website... British travellers to Iran face greater risks than nationals of many other countries due to high levels of suspicion about the UK and the UK government’s limited ability to assist in any difficulty. There’s a risk that British nationals could be arbitrarily detained in Iran despite their complete innocence. British nationals were arbitrarily detained in- Okay that's enough of that, nothing about dentists anyway, but I'm sure it'll all be okay.
But before I could be arbitrarily detained in Iran I first had to get over the rest of the mountain, and beyond the town the road climbed out of the valley up a series of steep switch backs. These went on and on, but I was feeling much better now, crawling along but making it nonetheless. Eventually I climbed up above the snowline and had magnificent views back down the valley. Up and up and finally to the summit. I had made it! I had overcome my demons and I had won! Haha! It felt great! Chris One, Armenia Nil! I felt on top of the world on this beautiful snowy mountain pass. I felt like I could do anything!
Which was lucky, because ahead of me lay Iran.
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ARMENIA SUMMARY:
Time: One week
Distance: 557 kilometres
Best bits: The scenery was just stunning, really incredible. I also liked Beachball Too and the acrobat cat.
Worst bits: Car horns.
Top touring tip: Before visiting Armenia visit a print-your-own-t-shirt shop and have them make you up a t-shirt with a really big 'no beeping' sign on it.
08/04/14 - 110km
09/04/14 - 47km
10/04/14 - 101km (34km in Armenia)
Today's ride: 191 km (119 miles)
Total: 16,291 km (10,117 miles)
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