A former special forces soldier from the north east has broken the world record for cycling the length of South America.

Forty-year-old Dean Stott, from Aberdeen, traversed the continent on his bike in 48 days and 54 minutes, smashing the previous record by ten days.

It marks the end of the first phase of his bid to conquer the 14,000-mile Pan-American highway in a record time of 110 days in order to raise money for a mental health charity.

He was asked to take on the challenge for his good friend Prince Harry's Heads Together organisation.

Mr Stott trained with Prince Harry in the military and has said he was inspired by the work the Prince has done to raise awareness of mental health issues.

The 6400-mile journey through the southern continent took Stott from Ushuaia in Patagonia, the southernmost tip of Argentina, through the Chilean desert and finally up to Cartagena, Colombia.

He is now allowing himself a day of rest ahead of beginning the second phase through central America, starting in Panama.

Mr Stott told STV News: "It gives me a good benchmark for the next world record and I am then slightly ahead of time, which is great.

"I don't think it's really sunk in yet. I haven't really had time to absorb it.

"Because I've obviously got the bigger challenge still to come ahead, I don't think it really will sink in until the actual challenge is complete."

The gruelling voyage will eventually culminate for Mr Stott in Alaska, taking in a total of 14 countries and crossing over rough terrain, mountains and snow.

He is hoping to beat the current world record of 117 days and five hours, which is held by Mexican Carlos Santamaria Covarrubias.

Mr Stott explained some of the challenges he had faced in his journey to date, including high winds, humidity and the "dry heat" of the Atacama Desert in Chile.

He said: "When I set off I had a set amount of mileage in my head which I would do each day and that would keep me one week ahead of the current world record.

"That was for any unforeseen eventualities that we may come across... be it natural disasters or issues at the border.

"When I set off from Patagonia, straight away I was hit with 40 nought winds so I think the first week was probably my hardest week.

"As I then progressed north, I started chipping away and getting some of that time back plus more."

He added: "I'm now cycling in heats of 36 to 38C.

"It's not so much the dry heat - we had that in the Atacama Desert in Chile, where it exceeded 40C - but the humidity."

When a debilitating knee injury forced Mr Stott to leave the military, he has described entering a "pretty dark place" which brought into focus issues around mental health and wellbeing.

No longer able to run, he took up cycling instead.

"The message I'm trying to promote is that physical health helps your mental state," he explained.

"I'm not saying go cycle two continents because that's absolutely ludicrous but even if you out for a walk for 30 minutes or go cycling or even go rowing, anything really.

"Just doing some sort of physical activity can help your mental state."

Mr Stott continued: "I'm very new to cycling. I'm no spring chicken - I'm 41 in a couple of weeks' time - and I've only started cycling about a year ago.

"It's never too late to start a new activity. Don't be intimidated by others already doing it: just jump in."

The overall aim of the journey is to raise £1m for the Heads Together charity partners and raise further awareness of mental health issues.

Donations to the challenge, which will be shared between the charity partners, can be made via the Pan-American Highway Challenge website, where every step of Dean's journey can also be tracked.