1976: BIG JIM’s Big BOOZY Bike Trip to Braemar | Nationwide | Weird and Wonderful | BBC Archive

“He starts the day as he means to continue, with a wee dram.”

Join Big Jim Collie – a Scottish crofter who lives alone in a bothy in the foothills of the Cairngorms – as he embarks on one of his epic cross-highland trips. Jim is on his way to Braemar, which is 60 miles away – if you plan on sticking to the roads. Luckily, Big Jim knows a shortcut through the Lairig Ghru – the highest mountain pass in the highest mountain range in Britain – that brings the journey down to a more manageable 22 miles, albeit over some of the harshest terrain in Scotland.

Fortunately, Big Jim has a secret weapon; the Lairig Flyer, a rickety old bicycle. Furthermore, he has a wealth of experience – this is his 105th crossing of the Lairig Ghru. Perhaps most importantly of all, he has strategically stashed an armful of whisky bottles along the route – just the thing to keep his spirits up.

Luke Casey reports.

Clip taken from Nationwide, originally broadcast on BBC One, 20 January, 1976.

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Big Jim Collie says he doesn’t like to eat on an empty stomach, so you’ll find no cornflakes on his table. He starts the day as he means to continue with a wee drram. It’s what a Scotsman might call the moonshine breakfast, but to Big Jim, it’s an important curtain raiser to a rather special day. Jim’s a Scottish coffter. He lives alone in a tin roofed both in the foothills of the Kang Gorms. Normally, he’d be looking after his sheep and cows. This morning, though, it’s a question of getting himself into the right frame of mind for a most unusual [Music] journey. The meloon and the whiskey are all part of a ritual. It’s always like this before he makes one of his famous visits to Braar. That town’s over 60 mi away by road. But Jim knows a shortcut. The Larig Gru, the highest pass in the highest mountain range in Britain. This way it’s only 22 mi to Braar. To get there, however, you’ve got to cross some of the wildest and most intractable terrain in Scotland. Jim agrees it’s tough, but the lar holds no horrors for him. After all, as everyone in these parts knows, he’s got his own secret weapon, the Larig Flyer. That’s what the locals have christened Jim’s old bone shaker. It didn’t exactly come with a guarantee that it would climb mountains when he bought it off a mate for six bob just after the war. Amazing then that it’s still more or less intact as he sets off on his5th assault on the Laric Gru. [Music] There’s nothing particularly definite about Jim’s trips across the Larig. This time he’s off to visit Annie McDougall, the widow of an old mate who died 3 years ago. Sometimes it’s to see them tossing the cable at the Braar Games. You could say he only goes when the spirit moves him. And talking about spirit, [Music] I’ve done this for years and I think it’s the uh the water of the hill water seems to add to the quality of the whiskey as well. The way I drink it. I’m very impressed at the way you sort of wander up to a the side of a stream and and find the bottle straight away. You got you must have a very good me memory for where you put it. Oh, sometimes I’ve I’ve already lost a half bottle. You have? Yes. How did that happen? Well, I think it’s either a follow rock or an avalanche because it disappeared. An avalanche isn’t too good for the whiskey. Yeah. Oh, no. I’m afraid not. I’m surprised. I’m surprised the bike stands up to it. Oh, it doesn’t. Sometimes it collapses or have a puncture, broken chain or broken pedals and such like What do you do if your bike collapses though? Do Do you leave it and walk on or what? Oh, no. You got a puncture? Oh, I had a puncture last year. Every year if a puncture, what do you do? I just carry on. Pull the tube out and carry on flat. Well, you’ve you’ve only gone six miles already, Jim, and you’ve had a drop of whiskey. There’s 18 miles to go. Whatever you’re going to do for the rest of the journey. I would have some more on the way. I have another uh little cargo in readiness for the journey. The lary itself is it’s not recommended really for bikes unless you’re you’re prepared to either push it or carry it in in different sections. Oh, and on the journey I maybe drink. Not much more than 3/4 of a bottle on the outward journey and the same again on the return journey. But on the way I leave a certain amount there for the return journey, but then it’s very tasty and I have a lunch there as well and wash it down with the the drum. Maybe two drums that carries on for the next five or six miles. Well, by that time that’s getting near the end of the rough journey. And by this time, you’re looking forward to entering Mar Lodge for a good beverage there. Maybe three pints a year, one after the other. When you come, you drink the first one. You don’t you don’t get the taste of it, but you find the you get the taste of the third bite, and then you’re set for the night. before. Well, after 22 miles, 6 hours, and 3/4 of a bottle of whiskey, not to mention those three pints of beer, with bicycle somehow still in one piece, Jim finally arrives at Annie’s door. Duch is no in Annie’s not In to a lesser man, such a quirk of fate would be too hard to bear. But big Jim Collie is made of sterner stuff. After all, he can always pop across the lar to visit another time. [Music]