If you were trying to cycle from Istanbul to Calcutta by the fastest route, (taking into account border crossings, mountains, road quality...) which route would you take?
If you have any experience of cycling in these countries I would be very grateful for any words of wisdom, local knowledge and most importantly route options. I am planning to leave from Istanbul at the start of leg 2 of a world cycle in the middle of September and was working on a route through Turkey, Iran, Pakistan and India. Thank you for any help offered. p.s. if you would like to get in touch personally or if you live in any of these countries and would like to support the expedition if anything needs sent out, then please get in touch by going to www.pedallingaround.com</b> and going to either 'Guest book' or 'Contact'
Thank you very much. Monty
Considering the fact that Britain and Iran practically started a war with each other a month ago, you should assume that an Iranian visa will be impossible to get for you.
There's a post lower down this board about someone who biked about 275 km per day for 80 days to go around the world.
You might want to look at getting a boat from Karachi to just-inside-India. I have no idea whether or not this is possible/legal (prob not), but when I took the bus from Istanbul to India, I did get very tired of knowing that it was 1000 km south through Iran, then 1000 km north through Pakistan, then 1000 km south through India.
Iranian visa is geting alot easier nowadays.
I have a friend (British) who got one no probs during the sailor hostage crisis.
Hi Maenad, thanks for the input... yes I know Nick Sanders story well... an incredible cycle and I would well recommend the book. What I am planning is of a slightly different nature tho. Cheers. Monty
Fastest route would be across Turkey via Ezurum where you could pick up your Iran visa (if you don't have from UK already) then on to Dogubayazit and cross the border to Iran just east of there - this is the main road so imagine is in reasonably good condition, though i havent cycled it myself (took much longer and more interesting route through turkey).
From the Iran side of this border make sure to change your monay at Bazargan - the border town, it has best rates anywhere I saw in Iran. I hope you realise you will only be able to use cash inside Iran - no ATM's or travellers cheques thanks to western sanctions. Best is to use US dollars or Euro's, you get slightly worse rates for sterling (this has nothing to do with politcal relations...).
From Bazargan follow main highway to Tabriz (where you can get a free service check on your bike if in need). It took us 3 days from Dogubayazit to Tabriz, but they were long ones. Not sure on fastest route from there - we went south through the mountains to Hamedan and then swung east to Esfahan. Alternatively you could follow the main road from Tabriz east towards Tehran, then swing south just before the city (not a place to cycle, beleive me) to Ghom and from there south through the desert to Esfahan.
From Esfahan - good place for visa extension if you need it - follow main route east and south east to Yazd (via Nehriz?). This took us about 4 days but we had lot of tube failures cos of extreme heat and this and the heat slowed us a bit (it was June). Yazd is also good for a visa extension - you can only get the extension during the last 4 days of your visa so bear this in mind.
From Yazd just stay on the main highway running souteast to Kerman, then on to Bam and from there through the desert of Balochistan to Zahedan (3 days Bam - Zahedan unless you have really favourable tailwinds). From Zahedan it is about 100km to the Pak. border, it took us only 3-4 hours though as we were trying to outrun a possible police escort that would stiop us cycling.
Roads in Iran are excellent - by far the best you will find on this route, however have heard the stretch from Kerman to Bam is crappy by Irani standards - no side shoulder and very busy with trucks. Also very boring desert - very very boring. We didnt go this way as once again took a much longer and more interesting route via Shiraz. But if speed is your main concern then the route described above is def. the way to go.
It is getting very hard to get Pak visa in Iran - only place is Tehran and you will have to hope they are in good mood etc. Better to get in Uk if you can (in Istanbul takes up to 2 months!!)
From Taftan on Pak side of border there is only one, mostly very shitty, road to Quetta. You can reach Nok Kundi in a day from Taftan. From there is very nice road (built by Iranians) to Dalbandin, roughly halfway to Quetta. thanks to tailwind in afternoon we did this in one day but you can break it to 2 days by stopping in the village of Yakmach. From Dalbandin road is bad all the way to Quetta, 3 long hard days stopping at Padag Road, Noshki (expect visits from police and ISI 'intelligence' here) and then last long day (90 miles) to Quetta through mountains and finally a big pass before the city.
From Quetta onwards is the tricky part - the shortest, fastest route via Ziarat and Loralai is officially closed to fioreigners and while it is possible to cycle it (we did) you will rpoabably run into hassles from the police and authorities. there is over 100km with no surface at all and one big river with no bridge (may have re-built it now). It depends on the security situation i think how much attention and "protection" you will get - we had escorts and gunmen posted outside our rooms at night. This was Ok though. We overnighted in Ziarat in the mountains, then loralai, then a place called Mekhtar (where you should stay at the fancy petrol staion on the main road) then at Rakhni just before Punjab border. Lot of trouble with the local army cheif in Rakhni - if you can get all the way on and up to Fort Munro where there are tourist hotels maybe this is better.
Then you ned to get all the way to Multan in one day as the authorities will NO WAY let you stay in Dera Ghazi Khan and will do their best to force you into a van and drive you to Multan. We argued with them and got beaten up for our troubles, broken bikes and nearly some broken ribs, I kid you not.
Alternative, longer, and officially 'open' road is from Quetta south to Sibi?, and into Sindh, and then turn north towards Multan. Have heard from others of similar forced convoys on this route though - always from the Sindh or Punjab police who are far more paranoid than their Baloch counterparts. Basically cycling or driving anywhere ALONG the Indus seems to be a problem - cross it and get away from it as soon as possible, cutting NE towards Multan if you go this way.
Try to get advice as you go but the police all lied to us and officials in one district habve no say over the next so you cant treally trust anything around here. If you can get a letter form some high up central official or something this may help, but make some copies or the first time you use it will be the last (they will pocket it).
From Multan follow main highway NE to Lahore. This is good surface, dual carriageway with little traffic so easy cycling. If you need indian visa you will have to go to Islamabad and wait for 1 week to 10 days, so again get it in UK if you can (though it runs from date of issue - this is a real problem).
From Lahore it will take most of the day to cross the border and get to Amritsar, even though only 60km. this was only border where we had baggage searched etc.
From Amritsar follow the Grand Trunk road (GT road - on this stretch highway 1) to Delhi - good surface and dual carriagway most way but lots of traffic, people, ox-carts, you name it. Delhi is a nightmare, try to get good city map and stay out of the bazaar areas of old city where we got stuck for hours.
From Delhi quickest route will be the GT road (now highway 2) to Agra, then across UP to Varanasi and from there to Calcutta. Road conditions much the same all the way, good surface but busy and crowded and nobody will think twice about killing you to save braking etc. Not my favorite road but there is no real alternative.
Delhi - Agra is either 1 really long day or 2 easier days. No idea after that, we went south. From Varanasi you can reach Bodh Gaya in 2 days, and from there to Calcutta should be 4 days. You can probably cross India in 3 weeks easily enough by this route.
If you have the time to spare you could cycle from Calcutta to Dhaka in Bangladesh in about another 3-4 days but I have no idea about road conditions. You can get BG visa in Calcutta in a couple of days.
Hope this helps. This will be fastest route but often not the most scenic or interesting.
Zahedan -Taftan is only legal crossing between Iran and Pakistan, likewise the only legal crossing from Pak-India is between Lahore and Amritsar.
Our story is here but we didnt follow the above route all of the time.
In India at least a french guy did cycle the entire GT road at high speed, he is at
francois and magic
Robin
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