The first of many Wild Finds is… drum roll please… The North! A movie about hiking and friendship that truly and deeply moved me.

This movie is a real hidden gem, produced and recently published by Tuesday Studio, a small indie film studio from the Netherlands. What is worth mentioning here is that the filmmakers are people who love the outdoors… and it shows!

The movies they produce are indeed not completely staged. The cast and crew are really on a long-distance hike, and are experiencing trail life while filming, with all the good and the bad moments that come with it. This authenticity is what makes The North so special and real.

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The Story Line

The North is about two old friends who decide to go on a long-distance hike together, after having spent many years apart. You’ll follow Chris and Lluis as they embark on an adventure along the West Highland Way and the Cape Wrath Trail, crossing the breathtaking and mystical landscapes of the Scottish Highlands.

Their ultimate goal? Aside from reaching Cape Wrath, the most north westerly point of mainland Scotland, they want to reconnect… not only with nature and with each other, but also with who they truly are.

🥾 WHW & CWT
Two trails in the Scottish Highlands… one I knew, one I didn’t.
The West Highland Way is a trail I am familiar with, because I hiked it with Chef in 2018… now that I think of it, it was actually the very first trail we hit together! It is a popular trail spanning 150 km between Milngavie and Fort Williams, crossing several small towns along the way.
The Cape Wrath Trail, on the other hand, is a trail I didn’t know anything about. It is an unofficial 320 km long route that starts in Fort Williams and ends in Cape Wrath. It is considered very challenging, due to its remoteness, ruggedness and unmarked terrain. I was very motivated to watch the movie and learn more about it!

*“Nothing brings out the truth in you like walking for a long time in nature.”*
*(Quote and picture by Tuesday Studio)*

The Sounds

Your eyes will be awestruck by the rugged and remote landscapes on the screen, but the sounds will go straight to your soul.

Strange, right? I am not a movie expert, and the audio is generally something I don’t pay so much attention to, especially if there is no soundtrack! Well, trust me… while watching The North, I completely fell in love with the captured sounds of nature, constantly present in the background.

When closing my eyes, I felt like I was teleported to the Scottish Highlands, between those green mystical mountains. Building a connection between nature and the viewer across a screen is not an easy task… but they made it possible!

🌱 Close your eyes and listen
The wind gusts, the flowing water of a river, the birds chipping, the crackling of the trees, the rhythmic sound of the boots hitting the trail, the silence… it feels so authentic, so genuine, so real! The North is truly a sensorial experience.

*“It really doesn’t matter, you just walk. Sometimes you get rain, sometimes you get sunshine, sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s shit.”*
*(Quote and picture by Tuesday Studio)*

The Gear

I was initially surprized by the choice of gear Chris and Lluis packed for their adventure: every piece of equipment appearing on the screen was indeed heavy, traditional gear.

🎒 Non-ultralight?
The framed backpacks, the zip-off hiking pants, the water filter incorporated in a flask, the jetboil stove… this was all gear I had not seen in a while.

Sure, a framed backpack with lots of back and shoulder support will allow you to carry more stuff without damage… but I have to admit that it felt like taking a little jump to the past.

I then realized I have been blinded by the “ultralight movement”, with gear becoming lighter and more expensive year by year. In the end, it doesn’t really matter which type of gear you’re packing. As long as it is suitable for the adventure you’re going to tackle, doesn’t make your back hurt, and allows you to have the time of your life on trail, then it is the right choice!

*“You would be an amazing sheep herder. Doing your job is to stare at the computer, so then you stare at the sheep. You can put them all in your spreadsheep.”*
*(Quote and picture by Tuesday Studio)*

Type 2 Fun

There were many moments during the movie that made me giggle and brought up funny memories lived on the trails. I’m sure that any thru-hiker would resonate with them too, and would classify those moments as “type 2 fun”!

🦟 The midges horror
It was funny to watch Chris and Lluis struggle with the midges!
Midges are tiny very annoying biting flies that are popular in Scotland during summer… they fly in swarms and will get through your nose, your ears, your mouth. A nightmare!
In my opinion, they are similar to the mosquitoes we encountered along the PCT in the Sierra Nevada. Those fuckers… they made everything suck, ruined breaks, lunches and evenings at the campsite. But now, when I actually look back at our time in the Sierras, mosquitoes are just a funny anecdote.
I couldn’t help but laugh while watching Chris and Lluis walking in circles while eating dinner at the campsite, wearing the head net and desperately trying to sneak food through it.
⛺️ The deflating pad struggles
I could really feel Lluis’ frustration while dealing with a deflating sleeping pad.
Shit happens so fast… one night you’re sleeping like a baby on your brand new inflatable pad, the next night you wake up on the ground, cold shaking your bones. But even though a hole in the pad is a pain during the hike, it’s usually remembered with a laugh afterwards. It happened to us, many times:
“Remember when we stopped at that windy muddy lake and submerged the inflated pad in the water to find that damn hole? God, we were desperate!”
🌬️ The liberating scream
Chris and Lluis meet a girl on the trail, who invites them to join her on a side quest: summitting a mountain at sunrise. After waking up very early and climbing in the darkness of the night, they eventually get to the top.
I will not tell you how the sunrise was (you have to watch the movie if you want to know)… it is what the girl did that hit me. She quietly stood up, faced the remote valley below her feet, and screamed her lungs out. She then smiled, and sat down again. That scream could have symbolized desperation, madness, liberation or simply happiness… and we’ll never know.
This particular scene made me burst in a laugh. It wasn’t particularly funny, but I realized that people would find it hilarious, borderline mental, if they didn’t experience it themselves. Well, I could relate to it so much!

*“You know what my friends and family asked me?! They asked me why would I want to live this way. They never asked me why I worked 5 days a week for 55 years.”*
*(Quote and picture by Tuesday Studio)*

Deep Thoughts

The North beautifully summarizes every aspect of a real hiking trip. It is not all about funny moments and stunning landscapes… there are many difficulties, physical struggles and negative thoughts to overcome along the way.

There are smiles, but there is also a lot of suffering, and suffering is what’s usually hidden and not shared on a screen. Life on trail is often romaticized on social media, and this can lead to misunderstandings and wrong expectations.

Well, Tuesday Studio did a wonderful job here by capturing both the good and the bad moments!

💔 Distant friendship
The friendship between Chris and Lluis is unique. I don’t want to make any spoiler, but you’ll see the many facets of true friendhip throughout the movie.
Awkward silences, distant talks, discussions, fights, laughs, hugs, understanding… you’ll see it all. Friendship is not always perfect or easy, and life on the trail can either break apart or strongly unite two people.
🔮 Couple dynamics
Hiking a long-distance trail with a partner is not an easy task.
I know something about it, because the PCT was not a piece of cake with Chef… we had many fights and arguments, but also grew stronger together!
This movie nicely shows the difficulties encountered when hiking together: it is hard to take a decision that makes both happy, to spend 24 hours together every day, to share the tiny and stinky place in the tent, to overcome a fight and keep hiking, to share equipment, to stand each other, and to finish the trail together. But if you do, you are invincible.
🎃 Fears
Although this topic is not the main focus of the movie, I couldn’t help but notice some common fears between thru-hikers.
In Lluis I saw the fear of not making it to the end, of having to quit because of an injury. I also saw disbelief and demotivation when checking the map and noticing how far away the terminus still is. And I saw huge determination and an obsession for the “continuous footpath” topic, making it a must to hike every possible mile of the trail, not to skip any section.
I feel you, Lluis.
In Chris I saw a guy with a great sense of adaptation, who was new to backpacking and was initially struggling, but was then slowly getting used to trail life and falling in love with it. A particular scene is stuck in my mind: in a moment of desperation, he has a chrisis, lets the pack fall to the ground and walks away from it. He makes it 10 steps and, even if still in tears, he comes back, wears the pack, and keeps going. For him, the thought of quitting the trail and coming back to normal life is scarier than to continue hiking.
I feel you, Chris.

*“Man, even a bad day in nature is better than a good one in the office. You know it’s true.”*
*(Quote and picture by Tuesday Studio)*

To Conclude

To conclude, I can’t recommend enough to buy and watch this movie, it’s a masterpiece!

I don’t even know how many emotions I felt while watching it… the only thing I can tell you is that it gave me that strong sense of connection to nature I was looking for. It made me want to get out there and walk, experience, feel.

Why are you still here?! Go watch it!