SHE spent the last two-and-a-half years living on a tiny Antarctic island, just 800m wide and 5km in length.

Now Dr Lucy Quinn is back in Scotland and set to stretch her legs by undertaking a 66-mile bike ride around Loch Ness.

The 33-year-old, who lives in Inverness, is one of 5,600 cyclists taking part in the fifth year of Etape Loch Ness.

It is a personal challenge for the ornithologist scientist after her extended stay on Bird Island in Antarctica, where she studied the albatross and other seabird species while working for the British Antarctic Survey.

A two-week boat trip from the nearest civilisation in the Falkland Islands, Dr Quinn shared the island with just three other scientists during the harsh winter months, while in the summer the population would swell to 10.

Dr Quinn, who has now returned to Scotland, said: “There was not a lot of room to roam on the island, so I got to know every inch of it really well in the two-and-a-half years that I spent there.

“Although I’m originally from Northern Ireland, I came to Scotland to study and did my PhD in Cromarty on the Black Isle at the Lighthouse Field Station. I fell in love with both the Highlands’ scenery and its friendly people, so after returning from Antarctica, I decided to relocate to Inverness.

“I felt that after spending such a long time in isolation, I wanted to do something to reintegrate back into normal everyday life and to motivate myself to get back on my bike, which I really missed while I was away.

“That’s why I decided to sign up to Etape Loch Ness – it’s been great to get out on my bike and enjoy the countryside and having so much space around me.”

Dr Quinn’s role involved undertaking studies to understand why albatross populations are in decline and why the world’s oceans are in such a poor state of health. She even appeared in the television nature documentary Blue Planet II alongside Sir David Attenborough, discussing her work studying the impact of marine plastic ingestion on seabirds - something she feels passionately about.

She told the programme in December: “This isn’t just a problem around these remote parts. This is happening world-wide and it’s our rubbish that’s going into the oceans and it’s our problem that we need to solve.”

Bird Island is not on the continental ice shelf, so while there, Dr Quinn and her colleagues never experienced extreme weather conditions or complete loss of daylight in the winter. However, the average temperature during her stay was 0ºC, 2ºC at its highest and -25ºC at its lowest, with ferocious winds common in the dark days of winter.

She said: “I suppose you could say that the weather conditions prepared me for returning to Scotland and getting out training for Etape Loch Ness over the winter, but in reality I have struggled as much as anyone to get the miles in because of the winter we’ve had.

“Working on Bird Island was a complete dream of a job. I loved living amongst nature and enjoying such a simple way of living. Although at times I did feel a little bit isolated, it also felt liberating to be so far away from the stresses of everyday life. Living in that landscape and amongst the animals on the island was very calming and a real privilege.

“But I am feeling anything but calm now that Etape gets closer. This is the first time that I have ever taken part in a cycling event and I am now actually feeling quite nervous about it. My main aim is just to enjoy the ride – and to complete it before I get picked up by the sweeper vehicle”

Etape Loch Ness, now its fifth year, gives cyclists a unique riding experience. The event takes place on closed roads, meaning that riders can experience the thrill of cycling around the shores of the world-famous loch in a traffic-free environment.

Beginning in Inverness, the stunning route follows the A82 along the northern side of the loch, before passing through Fort Augustus onto the south side.

It is there that riders will take on the most challenging leg of the course – the timed King of the Mountain stage – a 4.8-mile climb which rises to 380m in height.

The route then continues around the southern side of the loch before returning to the event hub at Eden Court in Inverness.