Day 6 - Karaj to Ramsar

 After a simple breakfast of bread, boiled egg and cheese we set off to tackle the well known and supposedly daunting Chalous road. By now, after going round in circles the day before, we actually had a fair idea of where we were going in Karaj and managed to find where we had gotten to the previous day before being turned back. This is where things went a little pear shaped as we set out on what we thought was the road to Chalous only to discover that again we were going round in circles - oh for a decent GPS. In the end a kindly policeman on his motorbike escorted us to the correct road and it turned out we had been misreading a sign all this time - aaargh. From this point on the next 2 or 3 hours were among the most testing of my driving experience. This would be a challenging road at the best of times and with the amount of traffic I had to be alert 120% of the time. Within the first 20 kms or so we were slowed for quite a while as we passed a serious accident with what looked like a Paykan almost completely in half - more evidence of the extremely high accident and fatality rate here in Iran. The drive via the Chalous road was simply stunning. The views were magnificent and by the time we had arrived in Gilan province I felt fully justified in calling myself a true Iranian driver after surviving this beautiful but dangerous road. Our plans to visit the Namakabrud telecabin were dashed by the low cloud covering the Alborz mountains on the Caspian Sea side  so we continued our drive to Ramsar.  We had a short stop along the way at a teahouse by the beach for some chai and chatted with a couple and their children at the next table while checking out the surf (yes surf) at the Caspian Sea.Without too much trouble (asking a few locals for directions) we then went on and managed to locate our hotel in Ramsar, the Grand Azadi, a former palace set on the hillside overlooking Ramsar and the Caspian Sea. It is quite a grand old establishment and we felt quite like important visitors in such an imposing hotel. After settling in we dined at the hotel before turning in for a well earned nights sleep