I was fortunate in the weeks leading up to my departure for Iran to get the support of Sony in my endeavours. Sony hooked me up with exactly what I needed. I had done a lot of research into the best kit for my expedition and that included camera and handycam. Of course I had a wishlist of items but with only a few days to go to I left that was looking decidedly optimistic. Along came Sony and asked how they could help. Awesome! I could have gone for the biggest, baddest DSLR and HD cam that they had. I know they would have been forthcoming, but 2 things (besides common sense) held me back. The first being the inescapable fact that I am no hot shot photographer. What would be the point of lugging around a mega-DSLR with massive lens just to point and shoot and hope for the best? Ditto for the cam. The second consideration was weight. I was looking to walk across the 18th largest country on earth (doesn’t sound that impressive does it?) and also one of the most mountainous, alone, with all my gear on my back. Why make it any more painful?

With all that in mind Sony offered the perfect solution – the Sony Alpha 230 DSLR and Sony XR550V Full HD Hard Disk Drive camcorder. Jeez Louise! I could not have asked for more appropriate kit. I won’t bore you with their mighty specs (click on the links to check them out) but just briefly, on the DSLR – smaller and lighter than others in its class with no reduction in picture quality or function. Exactly what I needed. I got a little carried away at the start of my walk testing all the functions but soon realised that with my limited skills using the auto settings (portrait, landscape, sunset etc.) I managed to pull out some pretty decent shots without even trying (or rather knowing). Can’t knock that!

One bit of kit that I know won’t ever let me down, can take all the knocks in the mountains, deserts, jungle and on river is a wristop computer from Suunto. I probably don’t need to go into detail about the quality of gear that Suunto manufactures – it is what has made them a global name already. I do sound a bit like a salesman for the company at times I do realise, but as I wrote in my last post – it’s only because I truly believe in their kit. If you followed my walk across Iran I do hope you managed to visit my Location Map – powered by the Suunto X10. This was the first time I had the opportunity to use the X10 in anger. In all honesty (as some of you might well suspect) I am a pretty simple guy. A lot of technical considerations in the outdoors for the end user do not really take up a lot of space in my brain. If a jacket is light, keeps me dry and breathes well (maybe I look pretty cool in it as well) then it makes the cut. Boots? Tough, comfortable? They are in. The same goes for my gear from Suunto. The X10 could do just about everything but walk for me. Again, the specs can be found on my Location Map page, so I won’t go into detail. Suffice to say in Iran I used it mostly for altitude checks, bearing, weather checks, time (!) and occasional location checks via the GPS function. I also marked waypoints along the way. That was it. It does so much more but I was too busy whinging and moaning about how hard my journey was to get too into it.

Right, heaping praise on kit has gotten old! What didn’t work? What was a drag, literally, to carry around for 2 months? Easy enough to start – cables! I had data cables, recharge docks, a card reader, a 250 GB portable hard rive, a Sony software CD…aaarggh! Too much electronic kak! What can you do? I needed to charge my camera and cam. I had to transfer photos onto the hard drive. I am searching for an answer. It seems I am corrupted by chasing adventure and expeditions as my job. I need the photos. I need the footage. A little annoying but will work on a plan. Any suggestions much appreciated.

I feel a little bad targeting the next 2 bits of kit that were next to useless on my walk across Iran. But only a little. Both are quality and both have their place on an expedition. It just turned out not to be on mine! A week before I left London I forked out £35 on a MSR Titan Kettle. Lightweight, tough, perfect volume. I’ll enjoy a good few cups of morning coffee with this contraption I thought. But…no. It’s back in my gear cupboard without having felt a drop of liquid in it. The reason behind it being a non-starter in my line-up has more to do with the fact I stayed in so many Iranian houses than it does with it being poor kit. I look forward to christening my kettle this year somewhere and am happy that it is made from titanium – at least it did not weigh so much. Another unfortunate addition to my useless kit list is the Light My Fire Swedish Fire-steel. I am bummed not to have used it, but again, lighting a fire on someones living room floor to keep warm just wasn’t necessary. I ended up giving it away to one of my hosts just before Yasuj. Funnily enough it was just after this that I did a lot of camping and ended up buying some matches to light my fires. Oh well! Minor blemishes on my kit selection prowess.

As with all other aspects of expedition preparation I spend a lot of time making sure I have the right equipment for the job. Being a gear addict helps, but it is also an important task. Because of this I can honestly say that overall my kit was spot on. I would not have traded any of it for a replacements (I would have dumped my kettle if it had not set me back 35 quid but!).

My favourite bit of clothing based on its pure comfort and ability to put a smile on my face was my Rab Neutrino Endurance Jacket – by far the best down jacket I have ever had the pleasure of wearing. Whether I was wandering around Tehran on a snow day, chilling at my camp after setting my tent or getting ready to emerge from my shelter at 5am in the morning, this jacket made it a whole lot more enjoyable.

Easy to say when Rab is my clothing sponsor, but trust me when I say the cut, style and fill of this jacket was perfect for my expedition. Indeed I reckon it is perfect for any long-distance journey through changing environments where you may need it off and on throughout the trip. It packs away to almost nothing and can be jammed in pretty much anywhere in your pack. It also makes use of a Pertex ® Endurance weatherproof outer which means no wet down when that snow turns to sleet and that sleet turns to rain.

In my next Expedition Kit – Best in Show post I let you know what I thought of the boots that got me across one of the world’s most mountainous countries and how even an optically disadvantaged person such as myself can enjoy the view!

1. Walk, solo, from the north of Iran on the Caspian Sea to its southerly border on the Persian Gulf. Tick.
2. To attempt to reveal a country that is seen in the west only through the narrow lens of the media. Harder to qualify but I think I can give this one a tick as well.

Sitting in my $10 hotel in Bushehr, showered, with a full belly my mind started to work overtime. What could I have done differently? Could I have done better? Was it really so hard? A frustrating time to be sure.

I began thinking of an expedition in the Middle East region while floating down the flat, wide expanse of the Amazon River. A lot of time to think when manning the oars or just lying on the raft. In one town I managed to print out a map of the area. Where could I go? Afghanistan? Perhaps, but a bit dicey. Pakistan was high on the list until the North-West Frontier Province began kicking off in a big way. Iraq? Again, not so good. Smack in the middle of these decidedly tricky areas was the Islamic Republic of Iran. But wasn’t this place also dangerous? The government, state sponsors of terrorism and the people US flag burning extremists? Worth a look perhaps.

The Expedition Amazonas successfully completed, it was time to get serious about the next journey. I researched all I could on Iran – books, journals, the internet, documentaries, as much as I could lay my hands on. The more I learnt, the more I realised that the country was getting a bum deal. Sure, the guys in charge of running the place and shooting their mouths off may be a bunch of gooses, but the ordinary citizens? I was not so sure. What did they think? I could definitely empathise with some degree of anger towards the west. What, with Britain taking a majority of the country’s oil revenue for so many years and the US busy overthrowing the government in the CIA’s first coup. But was it so heartfelt that the whole country deserved to be branded part of Dubya’s Axis of Evil? Military action a possible solution?

More books, route planning, emails to contacts in Iran, checking out visa options, getting in touch with my sponsors to run the idea past them. Before I knew it my proposed departure of September 2009 had come and gone. October as well. Strewth, it’s almost winter. Not ideal for a crossing of one of the most mountainous countries on earth but I could not bear to postpone for another 8 months of so. November it was. I sweated on my visa following the upheaval of the June elections last year. Finally it came through. I spent far too many hours perfecting my expedition “mini-site” (an excuse to build the site inside my already existing one, cheaper too). Sponsors on board, training done (well a couple of summits of Kili in the month leading up) and away I went.

For all the research I had done, flying into Tehran was interesting to say the least. What would they do? Turn me around? Interrogate me? Put me in jail as a western spy? Ummm…no…enjoy your visit sir more like it. Immediately any preconceptions I had of Iran were blown out the door. I did not know exactly what to expect but I knew it was not the same place shown to us by CNN, Fox and to a lesser extent BBC.

Over the next 2 months I crossed a country and stayed with people who were so far from the caricature so often painted in the west that it is hard to imagine. Tehran, for starters reminded me a lot of London – big, busy, peoples lives stuck on fast forward, with possibly just the traffic being slightly worse (and the metro or underground much better!).

Staying with people in so many different towns and villages was the real highlight. As darkness fell of an evening I would be busy scoping out potential camp sites, hidden from view and sheltered from the biting wind. 30mins later I would be sat in someones living room, in a mosque, a village hall or in the back of a shop with a glass of tea or plate of food in my hand with my host busy preparing my bed for the evening. The neighbours would all crowd in and the questioning would start. Where are you from? Where are you going? Where have you come from? Why did you come to Iran? Do you like Iran? What do you think of the government? Are you married? All asked with genuine interest, not for small talk and their hospitality not influenced in any way by my answers. I tried to capture all this with photos and in my journal. Taking footage was a little more difficult. Sometimes it just did not feel right. Like pulling the camcorder out at a family dinner and shoving it in everyones face. Perhaps I should have been more bold.

My longest day of walking saw me cover 47km. I would average between 30-35km a day. Between 4-5km an hour. There were no pleasant surprises at the end of a day when checking my distance covered. In a kayak or raft at times you get a good hurry along by the river. Not so walking beside a highway or through the mountains. I tried hard not to turn the expedition into a race to cover as much ground as I could in a day. Towards the end, after Yasuj, with 300km to go to the Persian Gulf, I failed a little in this. My body was starting to break down and my mind was not far behind. Solo does funny things to a man. For all the beautiful people I met and for all their genuine care about my well-being, I still felt alone on my quest. All the nice food they fed me and cozy blankets they provided would not get me to the Persian Gulf with any more expediency or ease. At times it did feel never ending. The constant stares on a bad day started to get to me and quite rudely I would tell off those who were guilty. It was after these same people smiled broadly and offered me tea and cake that I would feel like a right fool. Fortunately this happened rarely (my tantrums I mean).

I took as many photos as I could. I am no gun photographer but thanks to Sony I had the best lightweight DSLR money can buy and a HD camcorder to match. Pointing and shooting scored me some real gems. Towards the end of a hard day or in an isolated spot with some hardened looking blokes around I was less inclined to get them out and start shooting. Again, in hindsight perhaps I could have done more. Perhaps.

In the end I am very happy with the expedition overall. What started as something so small, a seed of an idea in the middle of the Amazon River, grew and grew until it almost had a mind and will of its own. I set the wheels in motion and before I realised there was no stopping it. The next thing I knew I was crossing snow covered mountains and hot, dry plateau in a country a few years ago I had never envisaged wanting to visit. I was walking across the Islamic Republic of Iran! Not long after and I am back typing this in my apartment in Central London. I put in some damn hard work to make this expedition come to life and it paid off. Success! So many expeditions end in failure. Injury, weather, illness, governments, lack of will or just plain bad luck. I faced all these obstacles and maybe with a little luck on my side I got through them all. I would like to think however it was good planning, execution and determination that contributed the most to seeing me through.

Last year in front of a packed auditorium at the RGS headquarters in Kensington I was asked what was next for me after the Amazon. I flashed up a new slide with a map of Iran in the center and proudly proclaimed that I aimed to walk across the entire country. There were more than a few murmurs and whispers through the audience. With a less than convincing reply I managed to quietly retort, “I’ll do it”. Ha! I barely believed it myself. Now, to have done it and to think back to this moment makes me so happy. Yeh hah!

I would love to thank everyone who helped me make the whole thing happen. What a list. I will surely miss people and there were so many who helped indirectly but were still so important. Where to begin? In Iran my life was made a whole lot easier thanks to my good friend Mohammad Hajabolfath. He had me stay at his apartment whenever I was in Tehran, gave me full access to his office and generally just made sure I was looked after. I cannot thank him enough. The Alpine Club of Iran acted as my hosts in the country helping me get my visa and providing me with letters of introduction. They also put me in touch with the Ministry of Cultural Heritage whose team were fantastic. I must particularly thank Mr. Shakir who managed to get me a visa extension in Qom in less than 2 hours and introduced me to some other fantastic people including Doc and Mr. Olfati. Mr Shabaneh and Dr. Abaci were 2 tough, old blokes who made sure my time in Borujen was thoroughly enjoyable. Aaarghhh….so many, I am so sorry to miss people out. My good mate Behrouz in Tehran came to visit me in Esfahan and stayed in regular touch via phone throughout my journey just to make sure I was ok. Team Bala, my crazy uni mates in Mahmoud Abad kept me smiling for a good many days. Mr Karim and his family in Borazjan gave me a place to sleep and shower after a week in the mountains. Everyone in between has my my sincere and heartfelt thanks. The truck driver who threw me an orange, the Iraqi guy who gave me some tea and biscuits by the side of the highway right when I needed it, the young guys who shouted me a kebab lunch on the way to Nur Abab and gave me stick about Australia losing to Iran in the football all those years ago, Mr. Asari and his awesome old man who brought me in from the cold in Sisakht. The list is endless.

Back in the UK the list is also long. All my sponsors – Rab, Suunto, Meindl, Sony and Zeal Optics. I can truthfully report that every piece of kit supplied by these guys was perfect! Their support of my endeavours has been brilliant and I look forward to going on many more journeys with them.

I asked many questions of Al Humphreys and got some great contacts from Rob Murray-John of Sky2Sea International. Thanks guys.

Most importantly, my long suffering girlfriend put up with me being a virtual hermit for many months, pretty much hard wired into my Mac and the internet to make this expedition a reality.

I definitely missed out people who deserve to get a mention and for this I apologise. As I remember I will put up a word of thanks.

I will still be throwing up bits and pieces here and there from the expedition, hopefully some video asap. I will also go through some of my kit that proved vital to the journey (and some that did not!).

Thanks for following the journey and keep an eye out for more coming out of the expedition and the inevitable, WHAT’S NEXT?

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