
Many people in the West have Iran pegged as a 'hostile country'.

It's understandable, too, given that just last week thousands marched in Tehran carrying 'Death to America' banners, following President Trump putting the country 'on notice' for a missile test.

But here British adventurer Rebecca Lowe reveals that when she visited Iran last year as part of a journey by bicycle across Europe and the Middle East she discovered a people genuinely curious about Britain, 'extraordinarily welcoming' and an underground party scene where 'gallons of spirits and wine' were drunk – and even drugs such as cannabis and ecstasy taken.

Rebecca Lowe reveals that when she visited Iran last year as part of a journey by bicycle across Europe and the Middle East she discovered a people genuinely curious about Britain, 'extraordinarily welcoming' and an underground party scene. Here Lowe poses for her photographer and couchsurfing host in Yazd, Amir Mousavi

Lowe named her bicycle Maud. She's pictured here 'at rest' on the way to Yazd

Lowe said that Iranian parties often feature copious amounts of booze and even drugs. Pictured here is an Iranian showing off his home brewed alcohol

Party-goers at a Tehran bash, in a flat rented out by a wealthy young man for $2,000 a month. 'Very similar to the parties I attended in my 20s,' said Lowe

She left with the definite impression that Iran has been misunderstood.

The 35-year-old from High Wycombe told MailOnline Travel: 'Many seem to believe the entire region is crawling with terrorists and rapists, which just isn't the case. Iran in particular fascinated me because of its reputation as a fanatically Islamist country and the very different reality on the ground. While the regime may be a tyrannical theocracy, it's clear that a large proportion of Iranians oppose it.

'Iranian hospitality is extraordinary. To me, it felt like a soft protective cloak, reassuring and ever-reliable. So much wonderful, utterly impractical food was given to me while I was cycling - watermelons, bread, bags of cucumbers - that much had to be discarded, even during Ramadan, which most people secretly avoided, it seemed. All I had to do to find somewhere to sleep was turn up somewhere looking sweaty and helpless, which wasn't hard, and wait for someone to take me in.

The brooding goat farmer who saved Lowe after she got a puncture in the mountains

Shiite Bandari women from southern Iran wearing embroidered Boregeh masks

'Everyone I stayed with went out of their way to make me feel welcome – often overwhelmingly so. In one village, a young scholar delayed my departure until I'd read his eight-page literary critique of Sherlock Holmes and given credible interpretations of various British idioms, including "Bob's your uncle" and "mad as a bag of ferrets". In another, a girl held my padded cycling shorts hostage until I made a solemn promise, in writing, to return to her town as soon as I could.'

Lowe, who spent two months cycling northwards through the country, from Bandar Abbas to Tehran, explained that even the police officers were hospitable.

She said: 'The police were surprisingly accommodating. Unlike Egypt, they were generally happy to let me cycle by myself and I was only stopped on a handful of occasions. The first incident occurred after I took my helmet off under a bush in 40C heat, when some officers pulled over to tell me to put on my headscarf. Five minutes later, however, one of them invited me to his family's house for khoresht gheymeh (lamb stew), so it wasn't such a great hardship in the end.'

The ubiquitous Nutella in Tehran, which is viewed as an elite delicacy, apparently

CYCLING IN IRAN Cycling in Iran hasn't really taken off. Lowe said: 'The only place I met cyclists was in Tehran, and my impression was that it's not yet part of Iranian culture - and certainly not for women. City traffic is utterly horrendous. I arrived in Tehran in the dark with a flat front tyre and am still perplexed how I lived to tell the tale.' Advertisement

One of the most interesting aspects of her visit, she said, was having the chance to examine the interior designs of the houses she visited.

She said: 'Visiting Iranians' homes was especially interesting as the decor revealed a great deal about the people, socially and economically. In rural areas, many houses had no furniture at all, just beautiful Persian carpets and thin mattresses brought out at night to sleep on. They also had enormous hamams (bathrooms) that were about half the size of my London flat. Urban houses were generally more western, though people still frequently ate off plastic sheets on the floor.

'People fed me so whole-heartedly that my biggest concern was becoming so immense that Maud, my bike, could no longer support me. Dishes mainly comprised kebabs or meat stews, plus twice my bodyweight in rice. Fruit and sweets were also consumed constantly, while Nutella was seen as an elite delicacy. Everything was delicious - with the exception of kalah pacha - sheep or cow's head broth - which entailed savouring the eyes and ears, so as not to seem rude, then receiving mandatory seconds.'

Lowe's incredible adventure in Iran also drew her into the country's vibrant underground party scene, which is awash with alcohol and drugs.

Lowe said that when she stumbled across the town of Naein - 'which is bursting with historical monuments' - she couldn't afford a hotel so the manager of one lodging kindly put her up in a prayer room. 'Bewitchingly green and cosy,' she said

She said: 'While alcohol is banned in Iran, many people drink in private and there's a popular underground party scene. I soon realised that 'going to the mountains' did not only mean that literally, but was a metaphor for 'doing something illegal'. Youngsters often have pool houses outside the city, away from the prying eyes of the police, while the richest sometimes hire apartments for thousands of pounds a month just for parties.

'At the bashes I attended, there were gallons of spirits and home-brewed wine, along with cannabis, MDMA [ecstasy] and other drugs. Police raids are now less common than they used to be, I was told, while punishments – usually fines or lashes – are milder. One person told me that the severity of lashes depends on who is lashing you, and sometimes they agree to do it very lightly or not at all. As elsewhere, those with money usually escape the worst penalties through bribes or connections.'

In addition, Iranians are obsessed with their looks.

Imam Square in Isfahan, with the Safavid 17th century Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque in the background

Lowe's hosts in one mountainous village are pictured here eating watermelon under a shady tree. She said that this was a favourite pastime for Iranians

She said: 'Iranians are surprisingly obsessed with their appearance. The rate of nose jobs per capita is seven times that of the US, according to a recent study by the Rhinology Research Society of Iran and Johns Hopkins University. Labiaplasty – the reduction of the female labia – is reportedly also very popular. Plastic surgery is not just about beauty, but status; in Tehran you'll see dozens of women every day wearing their nose plasters with pride. Many also wear heavy make-up and paint lip liner in a clownish fashion around the mouth to give the impression of fuller lips.

'The reason for this seemed to be a combination of Hollywood aspirational ideals and a desire to mitigate the restrictions of the hijab. This may also explain the kinky lingerie worn by many of the women I met, which put my voluminous M&S briefs to shame.'

So the picture that emerges from Lowe's recollection of her trip is definitely at odds with common perceptions of the country held by westerners.

A little boy whose father comes to buy the sheep is given a lamb as a pet, who turns out to be a proficient cyclist

As well as the warm hospitality she experienced and the party scene, she said she was 'particularly impressed by the level of religious tolerance in Iran… most people had no problem with Jews, Christians or Sunni Muslims' and the 'level of development and infrastructure'. Tehran's metro, she said, was cleaner and cheaper than London's Tube network.

However, not everything in Iran is rosy.

For example, they are definitely suspicious of Britain.

She said: 'Iranians have an interestingly paradoxical attitude towards the British. On the one hand they like the country, due to our long history and culture, and their desire to practise English and connect with the outside world. On the other hand, they are highly suspicious of the British government, seeing it as a 'wily fox' ever-determined to keep Iran weak.

Lowe said: 'Everyone I stayed with went out of their way to make me feel welcome – often overwhelmingly so.' She is pictured here in Persepolis

Lowe said that these two men in Qom tried unsuccessfully to fix her perforated inner tube

Lowe pictured with her host outside the Fatima Masumeh shrine in Qom, Iran's second holiest city. She said: 'It is banned for women to hire bikes here, though nobody seems to mind me cycling'

'It was hard to blame them for this, however. In 1813, Britain designed a treaty that forced Persia to concede territory to Russia, and in 1925 it helped put Reza Shah Pahlavi on the throne, before deposing him again in 1941. Most significantly, in 1953 the UK and US orchestrated a coup against the democratically elected prime minister Mohammad Mossadeq following his nationalisation of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company. They later supported Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, whose corruption and kowtowing to the West precipitated the 1979 revolution.

'Cynicism about the UK is so strong that even Pahlavi believed that the Brits engineered his downfall in 1979, stating: 'If you lift up Khomeini's beard, you will find MADE IN ENGLAND written under his chin.' Many Iranians share this belief, and see the BBC as a propaganda mouthpiece of Westminster. A common joke when anything bad happens is to exclaim 'the British are to blame!' - a phrase first used in the popular Iranian novel and soap opera My Uncle Napoleon.'

And she added that the human rights situation is 'dire'.

She said: 'There's no question that the human rights situation is dire in Iran. There is no free press, independent judiciary or civil society.

'However, the country is far from a North Korea or Soviet Russia, and its stance has softened over recent decades. Prison terms and punishments are less severe than in the past, and the police do not seem to have a reputation for mistreating people (though beatings and psychological torture are known to happen inside prisons such as Evin).

'People have the impression Iran is the same as it was straight after the revolution,' one senior human rights lawyer told me. 'But it's changed significantly since then.'

Lowe said of this picture: 'Another unsuccessful attempt to fix my tube while sheep are elegantly weighed for sale'

Lowe continued 'The general opinion seemed to be that the Iranian intelligence services are extremely rigorous, though some felt this may be more image than reality.'

'The main problem is that the red line is uncertain and unpredictable,' leading human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh told Lowe in Tehran. 'So everyone is forced to self-censor and act cautiously.'

Lowe said that by the end of her trip, having stayed with people across the socio-economic spectrum, she felt she possibly had a more comprehensive grasp of the diversity and complexity of Persian society than most Iranians, who 'rarely step outside their own demographic bubble'.

'One of the main problems in Iran is how socially divided it is,' she said. 'There's extremely little interaction or crossover of values between the conservative and liberal sides. It's like Brexit Britain on heat.'

Would she go back? 'In a heartbeat,' she said. 'It's such a fascinating, colourful, complex country, and in two months I feel I only scratched the surface.'

For more on Lowe's adventures visit www.thebicyclediaries.co.uk. She can be found tweeting at twitter.com/reo_lowe and her Instagram pictures can be found here.