Stop what you’re doing and watch this gloriously odd, whisky-fuelled cycling adventure from 1976

Stop what you’re doing and watch this gloriously odd, whisky-fuelled cycling adventure from 1976

Big Jim Collie says he doesn't like to eat on an empty stomach


Some videos defy genre, logic and liver function. This 1976 gem from the BBC archives follows Big Jim Collie – a Scottish crofter with a taste for solitude and strong drink – as he sets off on his 105th crossing of the Lairig Ghru, one of the highest mountain passes in Britain, aboard his war-era bone-shaker of a bike, the 'Lairig Flyer'.

This gloriously odd film is part poetic travelogue, part slow-motion solo outdoors pub crawl – it's utterly fabulous, and worth seven minutes of your day.

Jim lives alone in a tin-roofed bothy in the foothills of the Cairngorms. In the video, he's heading to Braemar – 60 miles by road, but only 22 if you're willing to drag you and your bike through some of the wildest terrain in Scotland.

He starts the day with a wee dram, and keeps going with the help of a generous network of whisky caches stashed along the route – not to mention the three pints he guzzles at Mar Lodge.

With rod brakes and a single gear, his bike – bought for six bob off a friend – was a relic even by 1976 standards. Undeterred, Jim explains mechanical issues – punctures, broken pedals, collapsed wheels – are met with the same response: shrug, sip, press on.