A group of MG enthusiast from the Iranian car club had driven from different parts of Iran to meet with us.  We met them for breakfast and then drove down to the edge of the Caspian sea for photo opportunities. It was a good gathering and and photos of all the cars were taken and a social time was had. We Drove to Rasht with morning tea on the river bank in town.

We arrived at the hotel by 1.30 and took a small mini bus to a pretty town in the mountain called Masouleh. It is a town nestled between steep cliffs, originally a trading town between two larger cities. We walked up the steep steps to explore this town and make some purchases to help the local community!  While we were doing this, 3 cars were off being serviced and when we returned to the hotel at 6 the other 4 cars went to service.

Started the morning with a walk through the forest and sightseeing the town from the highest point.

Drove along the Caspian sea for the latter part of the day and had afternoon tea on the shore of the Caspian sea.  Some lovely views of the sea. It was lovely seeing the resorts along the Caspian sea where the wealthier Iranians holiday. What we also noticed as we drove along was some of the specialised labels that had shops in this area like Abercrombie and Fitch and Tommy Hillfinger

We caught a taxi down to a restaurant on the water for dinner. As alcohol is n to legally available in Iran, we had to suffice with alcohol free beer! The view was well worth the wait we had for dinner. It is always fun to order food when no English is spoken by the restaurant and with no local language we use sign language to express what we want. It is all part of the travel experience! A lovely meal.

Ian led the group for the day. I went in the guide car . Ian found a wonderful old astrological tower for morning tea.

We also visited a house that was typical of the area although we couldn’t enter because of renovation. Interesting tile work.

The countryside was still fairly arid but you could see the oases. As it was Ramadan and we couldn’t eat in public we drove away from the towns to a small village where we found an area for a picnic lunch.

From lunch onwards the day took a turn for the worse as Ginger driven by David had an accident (head on with a local vehicle and was written off) while doing a demonstration run for a local visitor while we were having lunch. Fortunately no-one was hurt.

While David and another MG stayed at the site to sort out the accident, the remaining 6 MG cars drove onto Gorgan. This was a long day as we arrived as the sun was setting.

Ginger was towed to Gorgan while David and Pat could work out what to do.

We drove to Mashhad after crossing out of Turkmenistan into Iran and then we  drove to the hotel. We checked into the hotel and caught taxis back to the mausoleum of Fergosi a renown Iranian poet.

We stayed in Mashhad for 2 nights. The first night the group went to a lovely Iranian restaurant for dinner. We dined after sunset as the restaurant only opened when the Ramadan fasting ended.

On the second day in Mashhad, Ian slept for the morning as he was unwell and I went to Mosque shrine. The shrine was the largest in Iran. It was very interesting as the women had to be fully covered and although we had headscarfs on and long sleeves and skirts or pants, we had to wrap a piece of fabric around us as the local women do. We were also unable to take our cameras, makeup etc into the shrine and our bags were checked for all of this. The shrine was very moving and the architecture and tiling beautiful.

The afternoon was spent at the hotel, we met with Hasham as Ian was leading the group for the following day.