Between the Caspian shore and the first folds of the Alborz mountains, western Mazandaran packs more variety into thirty kilometres than most regions manage in three hundred. Khoshk-e-Daran lies in that squeeze, a few kilometres from Nashtarud and a short run from Tonekabon, which is the proper town of the area, with Chalus further east. The sea is close enough to smell, yet the hills behind are steep, and everything between is orange groves, rice paddies, tea bushes and tidy villages with steep tin roofs designed for rain.
That rain is the first fact about riding here. The Caspian coast of Iran is damp, often grey, and humid enough in summer to make the afternoon sticky, so the trip is nicest in late spring and early autumn, when the air is clearer and the forest is at its brightest. The coastal road is busy with local traffic and trucks, and it has the slightly ragged rhythm of any holiday coast, with fruit stalls, roadside kebab stands and sudden junctions. The real pleasure is turning inland. The side valleys climb quickly into the Hyrcanian forest, the ancient broadleaf woodland of beech, hornbeam and oak that survived the ice ages along this coast and that now carries World Heritage status. Roads there narrow, switchback, and sometimes wear a coat of damp leaves, so ride them slowly and expect wet patches even on dry days.
Culture here is quite distinct from the Iranian plateau. People speak Mazandarani and Gilaki alongside Persian, cook with walnuts, pomegranate paste and fresh herbs, and build houses on stilts or with wide wooden verandas against the damp. Rice is the staple, and fish from the Caspian, including sturgeon in the past, has long been part of local life. Ask for a cup of tea in a village and you will probably be brought one, very hot and very sweet.
Nashtarud is a small town of a bit under six thousand, so you will find fuel and basic supplies there, and Tonekabon offers a wider choice. Beyond that the mountains thin out services quickly.