Day 27 - another day of drudgery!

Heavy rain last night ... so both of today's stages were cancelled ... you can imagine the effect that had on our competitive participant ... hence Clive's description of today as another day of drudgery.

On the positive side, the scenery over the mountains was really spectacular ... but they could only spare one eye for the scenery because the standard of driving by locals was really, really scary.   One minor consolation was that the brakes started to fade really badly going down one of the hills ... almost exactly where one of the two timed stages would have been held.  Phew!

Of course, the radiator mounts are disintegrating more each day ... coat hanger wire, cable ties, trouser belts, and Ces' tights are all being used to keep the radiator from falling back into the fan.   Ces doesn't need her tights right now anyway ... well, not since she inherited Clive's trots.   Ces was probably also less bothered about the cancelled stages ... imagine telling Clive in mid-stage that she needed to spend a penny.

Tonight they are in Tabriz, just 300 kms short of the Turkish border.   They do have a hotel room, but a far cry from any Intercontinental.   Apart from the tensions of being in Iran, they are also conscious of being just 250 km north of the Iraqi border.   For you geography buffs, Tabriz is in East Azerbaijan.   Ehh?   Yes, East Azerbaijan is a province of Iran.   Azerbaijan itself is about 150 kms further north on the Caspian Sea.  Of course, you already knew all that ... right?

Tomorrow's agenda is 300 kms to reach the Turkish border, and another 300 kms from the border to Erzurum in Turkey.   The schedule allows for a 2 hour delay at the border, which might or might not be enough, but perhaps Clive and Ces will be lucky since they are closer to the front of the field.

In Erzurum, Clive has high hopes of having email, internet, etc so that he can report on the ups and downs of the competition ... that'll take 60 seconds at most ...  but he can also upload all of the photos taken in the last week ... that might take a little longer.    So, fingers crossed for some exciting images tomorrow night ... rather than just more words.

For and on behalf of Clive and Ces