Rebecca Lowe: The Slow Road to Tehran: An 11,000km Bicycle Tour to Discover the Middle East

2023-09-09

In this episode I interview Rebecca Lowe who in 2015 cycled all the way from her home in London to Tehran. Her motivation for her solo bicycle tour was to get a better understanding of the Middle East - beyond the portrayals in western media. She knew that travelling on a bicycle would be a perfect way to discover the region and also be a great catalyst to have truly immersive interactions with the locals. All up she cycled over 11,000kms and the insights and experiences she collected along the way helped to inform her views of the people and cultures which are found in ...

In this episode I interview Rebecca Lowe who in 2015 cycled all the way from her home in London to Tehran. Her motivation for her solo bicycle tour was to get a better understanding of the Middle East - beyond the portrayals in western media. She knew that travelling on a bicycle would be a perfect way to discover the region and also be a great catalyst to have truly immersive interactions with the locals.

All up she cycled over 11,000kms and the insights and experiences she collected along the way helped to inform her views of the people and cultures which are found in this region. Rebecca also wrote about her Journey in her book - The Slow Road to Tehran, a Revelatory Bike Ride Through the Middle East.

During the episode we discuss what it was like to travel to a region often portrayed as a ‘dangerous place’ especially for a solo female traveller. As a journalist specialising in human rights, Rebecca also shared her reasons for choosing to undertake this trip on a bicycle, tough moments battling heat stroke in the desert, the kindness of strangers and of course food and kebabs!

You can read more about Rebecca’s trip via:

Her book - A Slow Road to Tehran: A Revelatory Bike Ride Through Europe and the Middle East

Her blog - The Bicycle Diaries

Her Instagram - @reo_lowe

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