mee to

Much more viable than trying to get to the sahara at this time of year

Thanks. We will give it our best shot..

Great trip Ru! if you want some tips for Montengro, Kosovo, Macedonia, let me know at the WM. I have been there last year.

Cheers, Bart

Sounds a great trip.

Have a good one.

Yes definitely Bart, I will seek you out in Salbris.... somehow



Thanks Mark

Quick update from Turkey:

Made it to Persepolis... damn hot at 43 degrees. Ramadan was not easy either but Iran is a great country.

On schedule still. Car behaving reasonably well but overheated badly in the heat.

Return leg now and should be in Paris 30th August (touch wood).

Even more respect to the 1971 raiders as this is pretty tough but they had it a whole lot worse..

Cheers
Ru

Glad to hear you're not dead! Hope all continues to go well.

Good work Ru, Crack on... the 30th isn't far away.

Go go go!!! good luck on the way back and enjoy yourself!

Drivers and 2cv are safely back home.

We managed to successfully re-run the original route of the Paris Persepolis rally within the same time constraints as 1971.

It was an incredible but exhausting drive due to heat, Ramadan and usual 2cv situations but one of the most rewarding experiences I've ever had. We were lucky such a trip could have been repeated due to many political situations over the last 40 years being resolved. We researched extensively to see if anyone has tried to repeat the original raid but haven't found any information. Could we be the only ones stupid enough to try?

Due to the revolution in Iran, the break up of Yugoslavia and the Kurds fighting the Turks since the mid eighties, this route has been impassable. In fact only 2 days after we crossed the border in south eastern Turkey into Iran the Kurds decided to bomb some Turkish soldiers. I'm pretty sure the army would have closed the road now.

We reckon we covered 95% of the original route. We took photos of the maps posted in the museum at the world meet as a guide. Admittedly a lot of roads are now sealed and dual carraigeway. The 5% we didn't do were either still closed (eg Kosovo) or we decided to take a different route home eg through Austria and Germany.

A total of 8600 miles was driven in 29 days with two days rest: one in Iran for car servicing and the other in Croatia for a hangover. We crossed numerous mountain ranges with the highest pass of 2750m. Highest outside temperature was 44 degrees just outside Tehran, and 55 degrees inside the car.

Highlights have to be Montenegro, Croatian coast, SE Turkey/Lake Van, Persepolis and the Iranian locals (especially the Jyane mechanics)

I will post some pictures and a route map soon. My video camera lost functionality in the heat so that short film idea maybe scuppered

All in all its great to be home