Out on the high, dry plain north-west of Isfahan, a village called Sheikhali Khan sits among fields, orchards and mud-brick walls, and it is the kind of place most travellers never stop in. That is exactly why it is interesting. This is qanat country. For about three thousand years, people on the Iranian plateau have tapped groundwater at the foot of the mountains with gently sloping tunnels dug by hand, bringing water by gravity for kilometres to villages and fields. From the air you can see the lines of shaft openings, like rows of craters, marching across the land. The Persian qanat is listed by UNESCO, and the Vazvan qanat, north of here, is one of the inscribed examples.
The landscape is stark and beautiful: bare brown mountains, pale earth, sudden patches of green wherever water arrives, poplars and walnut trees around the villages, and in spring the blossom of almond and apricot. The light is hard and clear, and the nights can be surprisingly cold even after a hot day. The Zayandeh Rud, the river that made Isfahan possible, rises in the Zagros to the west, though in recent years its flow through the city has often failed.
Isfahan itself, less than an hour away, is one of the great cities of the Islamic world, with Naqsh-e Jahan Square, the Shah and Sheikh Lotfollah mosques and the old bridges over the river. The town of Gaz to the north shares its name with Isfahan's famous sweet, a nougat made with pistachios and the sap of a tamarisk-like shrub, and you will find it sold everywhere in the region.
Riding in Iran is an adventure in the full sense. Rules on motorcycles have long been complicated, with restrictions on larger engines for local riders, while foreign riders usually come on their own bikes with the right temporary import papers; check the current situation well before you go, because it changes. Roads on the plateau are generally straight and fast, with good surfaces on main routes and erratic driving everywhere. Fuel is cheap and available in towns such as Najafabad and Khomeyni Shahr, both within half an hour, but stations can have queues. Carry plenty of water, dress modestly, and expect generous hospitality.