Central Iran (August 2013) A 2 week trip taking in Yazd, Shiraz, the Zagros Mountains and Esfahan

Breakfast is lavish as long as you like cucumber, tomatoes and dates, dried by the morning sun.... so I stayed pretty hungry until lunchtime. Yazd is said to be one of the oldest cities on earth, with maze-like expanses of compacted mud and straw single storey buildings, spreading out across the northern part of the modern city. It is zig-zagged by 1 or 2 walking tours that take in a couple of mosques and a prison. There are few signposts or landmarks and so you walk on in hope rather than expectation that you are going the right way. My water intake is considerable, as my swollen fingers are telling me, if I needed reminding, that I am pretty dehydrated.

Lunch is the obligatory chicken and rice. I am getting through a couple of ice lollies morning and afternoon, even though it seems gluttonous with Ramazan not yet over.

The heat is punishing, with very little breeze.

A low point this afternoon came while we were sat in a subterranean tea house, based in what is said to have been a dungeon built by Alexander The Great. Two crones emerged from the shadows to take our orders, only to tell Rich how handsome he was. With no similar compliment coming in my direction, I felt very alone for a moment in that grim place.