Atlantic Twins Grand Tours of Scotland

Heading west from the Scottish mainland,

a dark line between the sea and the sky can indicate a low-lying island,

a wild scrap of land sculpted by ocean breakers and constant storms.

Over there, just on the horizon, are two of the most windswept

islands on the Scottish coast -

the Atlantic twins of Coll and Tiree.

My destination today is the island of Tiree - population, 700.

Tiree derives its name from the Gaelic

for "land of the corn", and from the earliest times

produced an abundance of barley that was exported to other islands.

But life here was always

a relentless battle against the elements.

The island is one of the stormiest places

not just in Britain, but in the whole of Europe.

On average, there's a gale blowing here 160 days a year.

To protect themselves against ferocious Atlantic storms,

islanders developed an architecture that's unique to Tiree.

Now, this single-storey but and ben was fairly typical of the style.

Walls could be up to six feet thick

and sometimes they had no windows at all.

More like a bunker against the elements than a house.

The island's position in the stormy Atlantic

might mean that crofting, or even standing upright, is a problem,

but the conditions here are ideal for windsurfing.

Every year, Tiree becomes a Mecca for windsurfers

from around the world, keen to harness the wind and waves

to spectacular effect.

William Angus MacLean owns Wild Diamond -

a windsurfing water sports company catering for

those looking for adrenaline thrills along Tiree's coast.

For such a small geographic area, as we've got here,

we've got a dozen beaches pointing in every direction.

Clean white sands.

That's fantastic news. If you've wind coming from

different directions, then you can always get a suitable beach.

Additionally, Tiree is smack in the middle of the Atlantic, effectively,

so we've an abundance of groundswell,

generating good waves for windsurfing as well.

Tiree hosts what is now the longest-running annual event

in the world, which is the Tiree Wave Classic.

It's been the longest-running professional

windsurfing/wavesailing event

which kicked off in the early '80s,

and has run, with a couple of breaks, through until present-day.

I think what's particularly unique about the event

is that it attracts all the top UK professional windsurfers to it.

And additionally, some of these guys

are some the top guys in the world tour as well.

The sailing ability is just through the roof.

Fantastic sailors in the water

doing very inspiring things.

From a spectator's point of view, it's fantastic,

and the guys seem to love coming here so it's all good news.

Windsurfing isn't the only sport

that's hosted by the beaches of Tiree.

I'm delighted to be offered a shot in a sand yacht.

'Willie tells me that these nifty craft are capable of

'70mph in a good blow.

'When the seat of your pants

'is just four inches off the ground,

'even 20mph feels like warp speed.'

Here we go! Here we go! Phwoar!

This is quite exciting.

Neee-yow!

Argh!

Crass!

'Willie warned me that this might happen.

'But at least I can take comfort from the fact

'that there is NOTHING new

'in being shipwrecked on the shores of Tiree.'

For centuries sailors ran the gauntlet

of the treacherous seas west of here

until the construction of Britain's tallest lighthouse

warned shipping of the dangers lurking beneath the waves.

Heading south, I'm making my way to the small village of Hynish,

which was founded by the pioneering lighthouse engineer Alan Stevenson.

It's immediately obvious that

there's something different about Hynish.

For a start, the architecture

is unlike anything else I've seen on the island.

There's an oddly institutional feel to the whole place.

Now, the fact is that Hynish was built with a single purpose in mind,

and that's the construction and maintenance of

Skerryvore lighthouse.

The village is maintained by the Hebridean Trust.

'Monica Smith is part of the team dedicated to preserving

'this unique part of the island's heritage.'

The buildings that you can see all around you here are,

or were, the shore station

for the building of Skerryvore lighthouse.

The harbour was constructed,

the barracks building was the accommodation for the workers,

and all the various outer buildings were an office, a laundry,

sheds for cattle, walled gardens.

-So the community...

-Walled gardens and cows.

So they had milk and fresh vegetables?

They had their vegetables. They had their meat.

So there had to be a self-sufficient community here

on Tiree before you could even think about building...

-Basically, yes.

-..the lighthouse out there?

-Yes.

There's also an area where the circumference of the lighthouse

was actually mapped out on the ground

so that they could work there with the stone

-and...

-So that they could make sure that each course would fit?

-Yes.

To make sure as much work was done as possible

-onshore before they shipped it out.

-That's amazing.

-Yes.

Skerryvore lighthouse was sort of built twice, in a way.

-Well, you could say that.

-Once here.

-Course by course. And then, totally assembled on the reef.

-On the rock.

Stevenson built a temporary wooden platform on the rock

to accommodate the offshore workforce.

During the summer months, this is where they ate and slept.

THUNDERCLAPS

There was a story that during one particularly bad storm,

when the men were all staying out there,

the storm was so fierce and the sea was coming

right over their wooden barracks

and they actually braved a rope construction to get

from the barracks onto the rock and get the shelter

of just the first few courses of the stone.

-They must've been desperate.

-Absolutely desperate, yes. Uh-huh.

It took Alan Stevenson and his dedicated workforce

nearly seven years to complete the lighthouse.

But that wasn't the end of the Hynish base.

They built the four lighthouse-keepers' cottages

up the back, and the watchtower.

And the families would live in these cottages

and they used the tower to signal back and forward to the lighthouse.

They had forms of flag signalling.

There's stories again about maybe a lighthouse-keeper's wife

was about to have a baby,

and they'd be watching out from the rock.

And if he'd seen the pink flag going up,

he knew whether he had a son or a daughter.

Inspired by Monica's account of Skerryvore,

I'm keen to see the lighthouse for myself.

Tiree's only mountain -

Ben Hynish - is just a walk away.

A short climb takes me to

a viewpoint overlooking the open Atlantic.

CURLEW'S CALL

From here, I can just make out Stevenson's masterpiece -

a tiny speck in the ocean 12 miles southwest of Tiree.

It's an inspiring sight and a place I've always wanted to go to.

And now, tides and weather permitting,

I've got the chance to get there.

'Climbing aboard a fast RIB, I meet up with Tiree brothers

'Daniel and Martin Gillespie.

'They have a particular reason for joining me on my trip.'

They are the founder members of the band Skerryvore,

named after Stevenson's remote lighthouse.

Why Skerryvore?

We actually... We struggled. We didn't have a name for...

We played as a band for, I don't know, a year, a year-and-a-half,

and we didn't have a name at all.

People were calling us the Gillespie Boys and things like this.

And it was actually Angus MacPhail from Skipinnish - another band -

suggested about calling the band Skerryvore...

-Right.

-..after the lighthouse,

which we all seemed to take to pretty quickly

and liked the idea of it, and obviously it had links to Tiree,

where the band had started.

So it fitted in well for us. And, er,

it's quite an epic place, as we're going to see.

Growing up in Tiree, we were very fortunate -

we both got taught accordion and bagpipes.

Very, very lucky to have people

that were willing to give their time for free

and teach not only us

but a whole host of kids coming through in the island.

And accordion and bagpipes

are predominantly the main instruments on the island.

Can you tell me, Martin, about the song you're going to play for us?

Yeah, it was a piece I wrote from our self-titled album Skerryvore.

The song is called Gairm A'Chauin,

which translates as "call of the sea".

-The call of the sea?

-Yeah.

-Right.

What is the call of the sea?

I think it's... I think it's a tune...

It's quite a powerful piece.

A piece of music that starts quite slow.

It's atmospheric but then it kicks in

just how powerful the sea can be.

As we're probably going to see as we get to Skerryvore.

MUSIC: Gairm A'Chauin by Skerryvore

After two hours of bouncing around in North Atlantic swell,

we finally approach our destination.

When I think of a lighthouse, I think of Skerryvore.

It's got the classic shape

and is the archetypal lonely sentinel in the sea.

With the band playing

and the Skerryvore lighthouse in the background,

we're 12 miles from Tiree and 50 miles west of the Scottish mainland,

and I can't think of a better place to end

this grand tour of the Scottish islands.

MUSIC: Gairm A'Chauin by Skerryvore