A winter ride on the 550-mile Highland Trail

Annie Lloyd Evans tries to become first person to complete the route in the dark depths of Scottish winter.

Feature type Video

Read time 1 min

Published Aug 26, 2022

Base editorial team
BASE editorial team BASE writers and editors who live and breathe adventure every day. We love adventure storytelling as much as we love adventure itself.

The Highland Trail is a 550-mile long bikepacking route through remote, rugged and stunning landscapes of the Scottish Highlands, comprising single track and dirt roads with tough uphills and hike-a-bike sections.

In December 2021, Annie Lloyd Evans attempted to ride the infamous Highland Trail 550 route, raising money for Glasgow-based charity Bike For Good. Taking on the challenging route in the darkest depths of Scottish winter, she was faced with just seven hours of daylight and long, cold nights. If successful, Annie would become the first person to complete the route in winter, but the famously unpredictable conditions of Scottish winter presented their own unique challenges, and four days in, deep snow on one of the higher passes nearly ended her attempt early.

The Longest Night is a new 23-minute film that documents that incredible ride, charting Annie’s journey through a mixture of self-filmed footage and additional material from Huw Oliver.

 

Want to see more Scottish bikepacking brilliance? Round the world cyclists Mark Beaumont and Markus Stitz team up with Jenny Graham, the fastest woman to cycle around the world, to take on Scotland’s Adventure Coast in this video.  

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