At the height of the Syrian War, as the refugee crisis reached its peak, Rebecca Lowe set off on her bicycle across the Middle East. Driven by a desire to learn more about this troubled region and its relationship with the West, Rebecca’s 11,000-kilometre journey took her through Europe to Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Sudan, the Gulf and finally to Iran.

It was an odyssey that captured her heart, but also a deeply challenging cycle across mountains, deserts and repressive police states that nearly defeated her. Plagued by punctures and battling temperatures ranging from -6 to 48C, Rebecca relied heavily on the kindness of locals to complete her ride and make it home safely.

Rebecca is a British journalist specialising in the Middle East and human rights. Her book about her journey, The Slow Road to Tehran: A Revelatory Bike Ride through Europe and the Middle East, has been published in the UK, Germany and Russia, and in 2023 was shortlisted for the Edward Stanford Travel Book of the Year Award. As a journalist, she has written for the BBC, The Guardian, The Times, The Sunday Times, The Evening Standard, The Independent, IranWire and HuffPost, plus a wide range of travel publications. In 2019, she was accepted as a Fellow at the Royal Geographical Society.

Rebecca currently lives in a small village in North Devon with her partner and two young daughters. She spends her days juggling work and childcare and enjoying blustery walks along the coast while dreaming wishfully of her next adventure.You can find out more about Rebecca from her website.