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A British couple charged with spying in Iran during a “slightly bonkers” round-the-world motorbike trip say they had ignored warnings not to travel to the country.

Husband and wife Craig and Lindsay Foreman were arrested in the southeast of Iran earlier this year and on Tuesday Iranian authorities said they had been charged with espionage.

Judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir said the pair had entered Iran “posing as tourists” and gathered information before their arrest in Kerman province.

According to the BBC, the couple are in their early 50s and were first detained in January. Before their arrest, they had shared videos and photos of the stunning scenery along the way.

Lindsay said in a Facebook post that by late December they had “now done 12,499 miles across 13 countries”, having crossed places such as Italy, Albania, Greece and Turkey. A life coach with a doctorate according to her social networks, Lindsay said she had been having “an amazing time” while Craig, a carpenter, praised Iran’s “lovely people.”

But the pair, which dubbed their trip PPK2K (people-to-people, knee-to-knee) had ignored warnings from friends, family and the UK foreign office, which advises against all travel to Iran.

To their surprise they were given a tourist visa by Iranian authorities, which they collected in Yerevan.

Several other Europeans are held in custody in the country, which has conducted multiple prisoner exchanges with Western governments in recent years.

'Messages of hope'

In one Facebook post in December, Lindsay shared a red UK foreign office map which cautioned against travel to Iran. Alongside it, she posted an image of a veiled woman in the dappled light of a stained glass window.

“Which image speaks to you most loudly? We’re about to tackle one of the most challenging — and let’s be honest, slightly scary — sections of our journey: Iran and Pakistan.”

“Despite the advice of friends, family, and the FCDO ... we’ve chosen to keep moving forward.

“Why? Because we believe that, no matter where you are in the world, most people are good, kind humans striving for a meaningful life.”

She said the couple were “aware of the risks” but “also know the rewards of meeting incredible people”.

In their social media posts the couple said they had been carrying out a research project on what makes a “good life.” Lindsay said she had interviewed more than 360 people. They said they had come up with the “slightly bonkers idea” for the motorbike trip last year at a conference on positive psychology in Austria.

The aim was to do “face to face research with the ‘invisible voices’ to ask what living a good life means” and gathering “messages of hope for the world”.

They said they crossed into Iran from Armenia in December and eventually planned to reach the Australian city Brisbane on July 1 this year, where Lindsay was set to attend another conference.

The last Facebook post was on January 3, showing a picture of Lindsay with a “thoughtful and kind mullah” at the Madrasa Naseriyah in Isfahan.

“Though we came from different backgrounds, we shared a deeper belief in the power of humanity,” she wrote.

Iranian authorities accused the pair of having links with Western intelligence services and said they were found to be “cooperating with covert institutions linked to the intelligence services of hostile and Western countries”.

On Friday, Britain’s Foreign Office said it was “providing consular assistance to two British nationals detained in Iran” and was in contact with Iranian authorities.

-Agence France-Presse