The drill:

Tuck in headscarf; tie up two front flaps of manteau; roll up trouser legs; roll down trousers over trouser legs; uh-oh - remember that you forgot grab a tissue to hold in your teeth; untie manteau and find tissue in pocket; hold it in your teeth; tie up fronts of manteau and squat.

Pristine squat

Most of the loos we encountered were squats. In the hotels and some of the restaurants there were usually European toilets or a choice of European or squats but I found myself preferring the squats as a dirty European seat had to be sat on whereas there was minimal contact with a dirty squat and mostly they were merely wet and a bit muddy.

Not so clean

At the beginning of the trip we were offered water to drink at fairly frequent intervals but as we and the organisers realised the results of this generosity we found ourselves drinking more sparely and being offered less cups of water. We found ourselves needing frequent pit stops, sometimes in inconvenient places; during some of the long drives there wasn’t even a friendly bush.

Not a bush in sight

The guy who looked after our physical needs became very adept at finding public toilets for us but some were locked, some were dismantled and some were not very clean. However, when you've got to go then you've got to go.

Pre-ceramic. The other one was not for polite society

This wasn’t a problem for most of us and we cheerfully disappeared into any convenient hollow where we might find a bit of privacy as there was a lot of traffic on even the most remote roads - big trucks made up the bulk of the road traffic.

I loved the roses. It didn't smell as sweet

However, there was one memorable day when there was nowhere to go and the bus had got stuck some way back down the road so a group of us decided that the side of the road was as good a place as any. Assuming that since the bus was totally blocking the road we would be safe from passing traffic we made free with the verge only to have a motor bike come slowly past, turn around and come back for another look. We must have presented the guy with an interesting sight - half a dozen women in a very compromising position, unable to move or to hide and laughing hysterically.

Not very sensible; note position of toilet paper holder

On one day we were held up at a Police checkpoint (these checkpoints were a regular feature of the tour) for 90 minutes and by that time some of our number were starting to get uncomfortable so we were escorted across the road by a rather bemused policeman and directed to the local sports stadium so that we could use their facilities. In a better Iran, hopefully there will be public facilities at all police checkpoints and service stations, something which is beginning to happen. Outside Tehran there is one such place which we visited with shops and large, very clean restrooms. However, until the very progressive tree-planting projects mature there will still be places lacking even that friendly bush.

A nice loo with sensible accessories

There was such a diversity that I started taking my camera with me into the loo and I have presented a selection for your enlightenment. However I maintain, and probably always will, that the worst "Turkish toilet" I am ever likely to encounter was one which I visited in a cafe in Paris.