Today we were to carry on down the coast to Salman Shahr on our ways towards the capital of Tehran.

The day was a pretty non eventful day. The water Mellon had been stolen over night so we did not have breakfast before hitting the road.

The traffic was continuing to be a major concern due to the very dangerous manoures that drivers did at high speed. This was proving to take the shine off what could have been a far more pleasurable ride down the Caspian coastline.

We stopped off at a “posh” restaurant for lunch that provided free WiFi. This was a first for us since arriving in Iran. We took the time to catch up on a few emails and realised Facebook was blocked. Apparently the locals simply download an App that provides a VPN which allows you to circumvent the block.  We did not know this.

The he humidity along the coast was extremely high and although the temps were not as high as inland it left you dripping with sweet at the slightest activity.

The day ended at Salman Shahr where we stayed at a very low cost hotel that did not have parking. Fortunately a local man suggested we park the bikes in his locked compound property for safety which we gladly did. He was a solicitor from Tehran and once again proved how kind the people of Iran could be.

After packing up camp the day started with a visit to the local hot baths in Sarein. The water temp was up near 52deg C and very soothing to laze around in.  Men and women are separated when bathing.

We we managed to drag ourselves out of the relaxing baths and headed to the coast which ran along the Azabijan boarder for some time.  The region was mountainous with forests and many villages spread throughout the area.

Everywhere we were stopping the local people were very intrigued by our bikes and Steve and I. When they realised where we were from we were constantly offered Chai (tea) and food which was typically fruit due to the warm temps. People were asking “did we like their country?” And they were very generous.

Unfortunately we we found those same people who were out picnicking for example would simply leave all their rubbish behind which resulted in the majority of sites we stopped at being littered with vast quantities of rubbish which sort of took the shine off stopping.

For lunch we stopped at Astara which gave us our first view of the Caspian Sea which was a landmark moment for both Steve and I.

After lunch we headed south along the coast line to end up at the “International Tourist Park” in Talesh. The name may have been a slight over statement however it gave us the opportunity to set up camp 20m from the sea shore and relax with the locals for the evening.

Swimming in the Caspian sea was a great experience, with very warm, calm water. Men and women were separated once again while swimming.

We were unaware when we arrived that the park was actually open all night and the locals would soon turn up to set up and have dinner (around 9:00pm) and proceed to party till the small hours of the night. Steve and I resorted to ear plugs to get to sleep.

Once agin the locals were proving to be very welcoming with Steve being given a whole water melon at one stage (only to be stolen over night). We were invited to sit with families and sit on their mats and relax which was a welcome relief after the experiences we had while riding.

After yesterday crossing the boarder and realising we could not access our bank accounts we needed to work out what to do next……. Time for a meeting!

When undertaking adventures such as ours, relationships are very important and in this case I was fortunate to have my Iranian work friend Milad Shahraiary back in Sydney and along with my wife (Kathy) who worked quickly to have funds transferred over to Milad’s parents in Tehran. After a few emails we had it sorted (big thanks to all involved).

So we had enough US$’s that we could exchange to get us comfortably by until we made Tehran and met up with Milad’s family, so we were underway and off in the direction of Tabriz.

The riding down to Tabriz (300km) was straight forward with passing over 2000m altitude at one point and spending most of the day above 1600m.

Just after lunch we made our way through Tabriz at which point while we were stationary in a manic traffic jam, I was hit by a car and knocked off my bike falling into the side of another car damaging the car door. At this point the Iranian driver received a lesson in French from me as I was dumbfounded by the irational behaviour of the drivers. Iranian drivers were clearly proving to be the most dangerous we had experienced so far on our Mad Ride

Luckily I was not injured and the bike was ok, we left the other drivers to sort out the damage to the car and were more wary from that point on. We pushed on to Sarein on our way towards the Caspian Sea.

Sarien is a popular holiday destination for Iranians due the natural hot volcanic springs that are in the area that we are “told” have therapeutic properties.

Due to the large number of visitors at the time a local car park was opened up as a camping ground which is where we ended up for the night.