Before we came to Iran we had read a lot about it, both travel writings and media coverage, and thought we had a pretty good idea of what to expect. But still, Iran surprised us. Friendly people we expected, but we were caught off guard by just how well developed it all was, at least on main roads and in major towns. The roads are the best we have cycled on since France, the towns proudly manicured with tree lined avenues and elegant fountains. After the regulary military checkpoints and garrisons of eastern Turkey, the security forces in Iran keep a refreshingly low profile, with just the odd checkpoint and a few brand new Mercedes E-class police cars roaming the main roads. Even at the border, where we were expecting at least a token bag search, we were instead led over to the tourist information office where the official gave us some information leaflets, helped us change money at the bank, and finally asked us each to sign a guestbook to say what attracted us to visiting Iran!

Iran is a country of great contrasts - whilst the towns are well maintained and seemingly lavished with state money, smaller villages are often just a series of mud brick huts, home to mainly shepherds and farmers. Unlike in previous countries, we seem to actually get a better reception from people in large towns and cities - in Tabriz, we couldn't walk around town for more than five minutes before somebody would adopt us and eagerly show us around their city. In rural villages however people don't seem to know what to do with us and revert to just staring rather than attempting any conversation, although of course the lack of mutual language makes life a little difficult.

The Iranian people are famous for their hospitality, and in this respect we haven't been disappointed. Arriving in Karaj, 40km west of Tehran, we were intercepted on the way to our hotel by Arash, a member of the Karaj mountain biking club on a flashy Cannondale bicycle. We went with him to the local bike shop where we met Hosseyn, who was introduced to us as the Iranian cross country mountain biking champion! After talking about our trip for a while they took us back to their clubhouse where we stayed the night, and enjoyed a fantastic breakfast the next morning with several members of the club, young and old. Arash, Hosseyn and Meysam then escorted us in their car through Karaj's busy streets as far as the main road to Tehran, before sending us away with a bag of food to see us through the day. We've also had the privildge of staying in a local sports centre (including use of swimming pool and jacuzzi!) and even an Iranian Red Crescent office. We thought we might get away with leaving a donation on this occasion, but we didn't even make it 500m down the road before they came chasing after us in their 4x4 to return our money. The generosity of people is always humbling, sometimes verging on embarassing, as we rarely have much to give in return.

The one aspect of Iran we won't be sad to see the back of is the driving habits - junctions and roundabouts are governed by a 'who dares wins' system, lane discipline is nonexistent and the sight of a car reversing the wrong way down a dual carriageway doesn't even raise an eyebrow. We have come to the conclusion that the only way to win respect from motorists to to display an even more flagrant disregard for traffic laws than they do, and now relish the regular challenge of barging our way across chaotic intersections, cutting up as many motorists as possible in the process. Our bullish new cycling style was epitomised by our choice of route around Tehran - rather than the softly softly approach of our egress from London, along carefully chosen quiet roads, we instead opted for Tehran's version of the M25 and managed to zip across the sprawling metropolis in just a couple of hours. Result.

Just when you think you're getting to know Iran, something else comes along to totally surprise you. Having lost a several hour tussle with a headwind, we were forced to camp in a clump of trees in the desert 20km outside of our intended target of Semnan. Just as we were setting up our tents, four bearded men in white robes appeared out of nowhere. They turned out to be pilgrims, following a similar route to us as far as Mashhad, but on foot - no mean feat across the inhospitable, searing hot desert. They set up their tent by ours and we joined them for dinner, serenaded by one of them playing a small lute-like instrument whilst a storm raged overhead.

Before we arrived in Iran, I was a bit worried that this journal entry was going to end up straying a bit too far into politics, but in truth it's incredibly difficult to relate the country we are travelling through with the Iran that we read about in the Western media, which (not unreasonably) focuses rather more on politics than people. Aside from articles in the English language Tehran Times, we haven't heard any mention of anything nuclear. Perhaps this is because people have more pressing issues to worry about. On the train to Tehran I spoke to a student who told me about his worries for the future once he graduates; Iran has a major shortage of jobs for its rapidly growing young population, making it very difficult to find work befitting their qualifications. He told me that many of his friends who went to top universities in Iran have since gone abroad for further study, and most do not return on graduation.

We often wonder how aware Iranians are of the general perception of their country in the West. It's only happened a couple times so far, but it's a little heartbreaking when somebody asks us if English people think Iranians are terrorists, and we can't help but feel we're not being entirely honest when we say no.

As you may have noticed we've not been hanging around for the last week, covering over 1200km in just eight days of cycling. Despite this we've still managed to fit in a good few sights, including the fantastic volcanic scenery around Takht-e-Soleyman. Our favourite was Soleyman's Prison - a hollow mountain with a deep, vertical sided crater, which is invisible until you scramble right up to the crater edge. In four days we should be in Mashhad; using that as a base we will travel around by train and bus to some other parts of the country that are too far off our route to cycle to, before getting back on the bikes for the ride to Turkmenistan.