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  #1  
Old 8 Nov 2009
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Iran to Egypt - Winter Route Planning

I will be in Iran in January, headed to Egypt. I was planning on going through Turkey and south into Syria & Jordan, however with the whole winter / ice / snow thing, is this likely to be feasible? Is it practical / preferable to go overland through southern Iraq for a day or so and then Kuwait - Saudi Arabia instead?
Thanks in advance,
Ciao
D
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Old 30 Nov 2009
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Eastern Iran is ridiculous in winter. High mountains and wicked winter roads - Turkey, too (the Western bit). That said, anything is possible... just not recommended. Syria is alright in the winter. Iraq is slippery and cold up north, but it's dangerous in the south. Insurgents like motorcycles, the U.S. military shoot at motorcycles. But if you survive, you will appreciate life like no one else in the world. Maybe you should go. Maybe we all should go.
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Old 30 Nov 2009
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Originally Posted by hopelessly lost View Post
Eastern Iran is ridiculous in winter. High mountains and wicked winter roads - Turkey, too (the Western bit). That said, anything is possible... just not recommended. Syria is alright in the winter. Iraq is slippery and cold up north, but it's dangerous in the south. Insurgents like motorcycles, the U.S. military shoot at motorcycles. But if you survive, you will appreciate life like no one else in the world. Maybe you should go. Maybe we all should go.
You mean go through Iraq on a motorcycle? Maybe you want to reconsider that statement a bit.

I think wintry weather is most likely to be a problem in north/northwest Iran, and east/northeast Turkey. Sometimes it can naturally affect other areas in those countries, too, but usually these are the coldest regions.
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Old 30 Nov 2009
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wow

""Insurgents like motorcycles, the U.S. military shoot at motorcycles. But if you survive, you will appreciate life like no one else in the world. Maybe you should go. Maybe we all should go""..

WHY NOT. its not as if the U.S Army are that good a shot, its that there are more of them and trigger happy. ( I should know as was in both Gulf wars as an Artillery op asigned to them from the royal artillery.)

Count me in could do with an adrenalin injection and a dose of the rabbit pooo trail.. Can I retro fit my wing with rockets first.. please.

sorry had to do it. he made me..

could sell the ex for protection would not neeed camels for her.

BACK ON TOPIC
Wear thermals as it gets very cold at night in the northern parts of the mid east. also still have maps of iraq. :confused1:
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Old 1 Dec 2009
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Originally Posted by dajg View Post
I will be in Iran in January, headed to Egypt. I was planning on going through Turkey and south into Syria & Jordan, however with the whole winter / ice / snow thing, is this likely to be feasible? Is it practical / preferable to go overland through southern Iraq for a day or so and then Kuwait - Saudi Arabia instead?
Thanks in advance,
Ciao
D
Currently (November) in Iran, and it is uncomfortably cold. Most of the country is a high plateau, which means that cities are at an average 1600m elevation. Add to that the desert crossings and some mountain road connections (e.g. Shiraz<->Yazd) and you get plenty of cold.

Early November was fine, but by now it's getting ridiculous... Three days ago I tried leaving Esfahan for Yazd and after 70km turned back, it was getting miserably cold and wet. Next day I left earlier (7am) from Esfahan to Yazd (not mountainous at all by the way) and even though it didn't rain, I had to stop every 10km to un-freeze my fingers with the exhaust fumes - result was it took about 6 hours to cover a 300km distance.

Notice I don't have heated grips, only decent gloves and wind-braking plastics.

Alexandros
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