0:00:03 > 0:00:10200 years ago, the landscape of Scotland was regarded as hostile and dangerous.
0:00:10 > 0:00:17This was a place to avoid, a land where famine and poverty worked hand in hand with armed rebellion.
0:00:17 > 0:00:20But then something remarkable happened -
0:00:20 > 0:00:24Scotland was reinvented as a place to visit.
0:00:24 > 0:00:28Landscapes that once seemed threatening suddenly had an appeal
0:00:28 > 0:00:32for a new breed of traveller - the tourist.
0:00:32 > 0:00:37To help meet the needs of these new visitors, special guidebooks began to appear,
0:00:37 > 0:00:44and this is perhaps the most influential of them all - Black's Picturesque Guide to Scotland.
0:00:44 > 0:00:50Published in 1840 by Charles and Adam Black, it contains various itineraries that allowed
0:00:50 > 0:00:58the tourist, really for the very first time, to explore the exotic and romantic landscapes of Scotland.
0:01:00 > 0:01:06My own well-thumbed copy of Black's Guide has been in my family for generations.
0:01:06 > 0:01:11It was always in the glove compartment of my father's car when we went on holiday
0:01:11 > 0:01:17and now it's inspired me to make six journeys of my own.
0:01:17 > 0:01:20Letting Black's guide me, I want to retrace the steps of the early tourists,
0:01:20 > 0:01:26to find out how Scotland became a jewel in the crown of tourist destinations.
0:01:26 > 0:01:32On my way, I'll meet some extraordinary characters and visit some truly world-class locations.
0:01:32 > 0:01:38On my first journey I'm in search of the romantic ideal - travelling to places that inspired
0:01:38 > 0:01:44tourists as well as artists, musicians and writers with the magic of Scotland's unique landscapes.
0:01:56 > 0:02:00My first excursion takes me into the heart of the Trossachs,
0:02:00 > 0:02:03where I hope to unlock the area's romantic secrets
0:02:03 > 0:02:11before travelling North and West to Oban, Mull, Iona and on to the fabled Island of Staffa.
0:02:14 > 0:02:19This is Callander, where for the last two centuries, travellers have departed
0:02:19 > 0:02:27to visit Scotland's earliest tourist destination, the romantic heartland of Loch Katrine and the Trossachs.
0:02:27 > 0:02:32Now according to my copy of Black's, "Callander offers the tourist a convenient centre from which
0:02:32 > 0:02:37"to make various excursions, particularly to the Trossachs."
0:02:37 > 0:02:40Now this is what's brilliant about using the old guide,
0:02:40 > 0:02:43because it shows what's changed and what stays the same.
0:02:43 > 0:02:49There's a lovely drawing of the old Dreadnought Hotel which is still here, with a coach load of Victorian
0:02:49 > 0:02:53tourists about to leave on just such an excursion, pretty much
0:02:53 > 0:02:59as they continue to do today, although sadly, of course, without the horses.
0:02:59 > 0:03:02To have a more authentic experience of early travel
0:03:02 > 0:03:09I've turned my back on the diesel coach and boarded this fantastic horse-drawn brougham carriage,
0:03:09 > 0:03:13exactly the sort of conveyance the Victorian tourists would have used.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16What better way to be taken up the Trossachs?
0:03:19 > 0:03:24Beautiful Loch Katrine and the Trossachs has been a must-see tourist destination
0:03:24 > 0:03:26for the last 200 years, and is,
0:03:26 > 0:03:33without doubt, the most significant location in the whole story of Scottish tourism.
0:03:33 > 0:03:38Black's Guide gives a clue to what started the great rush to the Trossachs.
0:03:38 > 0:03:41The pages are scattered with literary quotes and nearly all or them
0:03:41 > 0:03:49from the pen of one man - Sir Walter Scott, literary virtuoso and wordsmith wizard of the North.
0:03:52 > 0:04:01Born in 1771, Sir Walter Scott became a hugely prolific and influential historical novelist.
0:04:01 > 0:04:08In 1810 he wrote The Lady Of The Lake, an epic poem set right here in the Trossachs.
0:04:08 > 0:04:14The poem became a runaway bestseller, but its success had unforeseen consequences.
0:04:14 > 0:04:21To find out more, I'm meeting up with Canadian historian and Scott aficionado, Kevin James.
0:04:21 > 0:04:24Kevin, the poem was enormously influential, was it not?
0:04:24 > 0:04:26It was. It was published in 1810
0:04:26 > 0:04:30and within the first 8 months, some 25,000 copies were sold.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33Within a few years this place had become popularised as a district
0:04:33 > 0:04:38that had been so magnificently described by Scott in The Lady Of The Lake.
0:04:38 > 0:04:41So why were people coming here? What were they expecting to see?
0:04:41 > 0:04:45They were expecting to see, I think, a lot of the sights that he described, and they were expecting
0:04:45 > 0:04:51also to kind of inhabit the world, however fantastical, that the poem laid out.
0:04:51 > 0:04:55And what was the poem actually about? What was the story of the poem?
0:04:55 > 0:04:59Well, it was a very romantic and fantastical story about an ethereal
0:04:59 > 0:05:04beauty who inhabited this region, and it was about lovers, rival lovers.
0:05:04 > 0:05:09It was about romance, it was about violence and a King in disguise.
0:05:09 > 0:05:11And it really did bring in the tourists?
0:05:11 > 0:05:16It did - it brought in a 500% increase in tourists in the first year alone.
0:05:16 > 0:05:20So in some ways the tourists who were coming here weren't coming to see the landscape,
0:05:20 > 0:05:25they were coming to see a literary landscape, a kind of a fantasy landscape that Scott had created.
0:05:25 > 0:05:26I think that's very true.
0:05:28 > 0:05:34Because Scott's poem was written with real locations in mind, it became a sort of guide to the area,
0:05:34 > 0:05:41and my copy of Black's exploits this, quoting verses that lead the literary tourist onward.
0:05:41 > 0:05:44To discover for myself how the places mentioned in the poem
0:05:44 > 0:05:51correspond with the landscape, I'm leaving Kevin James to continue my Trossachs journey on foot.
0:05:51 > 0:05:55Now Scott describes Loch Katrine as a sort of
0:05:55 > 0:06:00enchanted never-never land, far from the realities of the modern world.
0:06:00 > 0:06:03Hidden away, it was only possible to reach the loch
0:06:03 > 0:06:09by means of a sort of ladder made of heather roots and branches.
0:06:09 > 0:06:15But of course there is no such ladder, there never was, and access
0:06:15 > 0:06:22to the Loch has always been pretty straightforward, so Scott definitely used poetic licence here, and when
0:06:22 > 0:06:29the modern tourist arrives at Loch Katrine, the scene isn't quite the tranquil one depicted by Scott.
0:06:29 > 0:06:35Perhaps it takes the imagination and the eyes of a poet to see the magical realm he described.
0:06:38 > 0:06:42"Loch Katrine in all its extent Bursts upon the view,
0:06:42 > 0:06:47"With promontory, creek and bay And Islands that in purpled bright
0:06:47 > 0:06:53"Float amid the livelier light, And mountains that like giants stand,
0:06:53 > 0:06:55"To sentinel enchanted land."
0:07:01 > 0:07:04To find out why Scott and my guidebook
0:07:04 > 0:07:08felt the need exaggerate the scenic qualities of the landscape,
0:07:08 > 0:07:12I've come aboard the aptly named steamer Sir Walter Scott, which
0:07:12 > 0:07:17for a century has been the most popular way to explore Loch Katrine.
0:07:17 > 0:07:22Douglas Gifford has written about the enduring appeal of Scottish scenery and its relationship
0:07:22 > 0:07:29to Romanticism, a revolutionary artistic movement that swept Europe in the 19th century.
0:07:29 > 0:07:33Douglas, what were the basic principles of Romanticism?
0:07:33 > 0:07:37It's nothing about being romantic, these are not love stories we're talking about.
0:07:37 > 0:07:40Romanticism had a quite a precise meaning - what was that?
0:07:40 > 0:07:45I'm sure you're right to say two different meanings for romantic.
0:07:45 > 0:07:48You know, we're so used to the soppy one,
0:07:48 > 0:07:51whereas Romantic was quite,
0:07:51 > 0:07:55not a hard word, but it was a very, very ambitious word in these times.
0:07:55 > 0:08:02Suddenly the poets and the painters and the thinkers are switching on to a new tack, that maybe they'd
0:08:02 > 0:08:09been looking in the wrong place into prudence and reason and orderliness and society, and instead they should
0:08:09 > 0:08:13be taking inspiration from the wilder places, the more
0:08:13 > 0:08:18extreme imaginative thoughts, the mysteries of the human mind as well.
0:08:18 > 0:08:23So in that sense Romanticism is the rediscovery both...
0:08:23 > 0:08:26in a sense, you could say the rediscovery of another kind of God,
0:08:26 > 0:08:31of another kind of morality, another kind of aesthetics, and it stands everything on its head.
0:08:31 > 0:08:37Suddenly you're pushing people out into these places of history
0:08:37 > 0:08:41and places that are wild and natural and...
0:08:41 > 0:08:43Places like Scotland, places like Loch Katrine?
0:08:43 > 0:08:48Exactly so, exactly so. Scotland's a suitable candidate for treatment by Romanticism, yes.
0:08:53 > 0:08:56Romanticism had a profound influence on the way people responded
0:08:56 > 0:09:00to landscape, and Scott's writing helped focus these ideas,
0:09:00 > 0:09:06leading tourists to see what they expected to see - the Romantic ideal.
0:09:07 > 0:09:15Painters were also inspired to produce images of an idealised Trossachs, making wee Ben Venue,
0:09:15 > 0:09:23at just 2,300 feet, look more like an Alpine peak, and Loch Katrine resemble an Italian lake.
0:09:23 > 0:09:27The reason why artists transformed landscapes like this had to do with
0:09:27 > 0:09:33ways of seeing the world, and to do that required certain techniques.
0:09:33 > 0:09:38Some artists believe that to truly appreciate a scene, you first had to
0:09:38 > 0:09:45frame it and then accentuate its features artificially to truly see the essential,
0:09:45 > 0:09:51romantic, picturesque qualities in what they were looking at, and to do that, they used this special
0:09:51 > 0:09:55dark piece of glass - a Claude glass - it's like a dark mirror.
0:09:55 > 0:10:01The idea of the Claude glass was to hold it up and to look at the view
0:10:01 > 0:10:05you wanted to appreciate as a reflection over your shoulder.
0:10:05 > 0:10:10Now this revealed the essential romantic picturesque qualities
0:10:10 > 0:10:14of the scene that you couldn't see with the naked eye, as it were.
0:10:14 > 0:10:16Bizarre.
0:10:18 > 0:10:23Views that had a calming effect on tourists were called "picturesque",
0:10:23 > 0:10:27while more dramatic landscape was called "sublime".
0:10:27 > 0:10:30In the 18th century the word "sublime"
0:10:30 > 0:10:37had a quite precise meaning - it meant to be awe-inspired by the wild, untamed forces of nature.
0:10:37 > 0:10:44One of Scotland's earliest tourists and devotee of sublime beauty was the traveller Sarah Murray.
0:10:44 > 0:10:51In 1796, she came to the Trossachs and wrote breathlessly about the beauties of Loch Katrine.
0:10:51 > 0:10:54"The awefulness, the solemnity and the sublimity of the scene
0:10:54 > 0:10:59"is beyond, far beyond description, either of the pen or pencil.
0:10:59 > 0:11:05"Nothing but the eye can convey to the mind such scenery."
0:11:05 > 0:11:07I love Sarah Murray.
0:11:07 > 0:11:12A widow in her early 50s, she spent three months rattling around Scotland
0:11:12 > 0:11:17searching for the sublime, which for her usually meant finding a waterfall somewhere.
0:11:19 > 0:11:27In 1799 she published a book, A Companion And Useful Guide To The Beauties Of Scotland.
0:11:27 > 0:11:32Full of helpful tips and advice on all things Scottish, Sarah urged the would-be tourist,
0:11:32 > 0:11:38"to provide yourself with a strong, roomy carriage and have the springs well corded.
0:11:38 > 0:11:43"Take with you linchpins and four shackles, a hammer and some straps."
0:11:43 > 0:11:46Sounds like the tourist was in for a bumpy ride.
0:11:52 > 0:11:57Continuing my journey through the Trossachs, I follow the road as it leaves Loch Katrine,
0:11:57 > 0:12:03heads overland and down to the harbour at Inversnaid, nestling on the shores of Loch Lomond.
0:12:03 > 0:12:08For many years, Inversnaid was a significant tourist hub.
0:12:08 > 0:12:13According to Black's guidebook, steamers left here for destinations North and South
0:12:13 > 0:12:19or West, crossing the Loch and on to the coach road to Oban, which is where I'm heading next.
0:12:19 > 0:12:23Sadly, such a bewildering choice of routes is a thing of the past,
0:12:23 > 0:12:27and the Loch can no longer boast of regular steamer links.
0:12:27 > 0:12:35However, there is now a faster, more efficient and exciting way of getting to Oban - by sea plane.
0:12:37 > 0:12:43For a country with a disproportionately long coastline, and hundreds of inland lochs,
0:12:43 > 0:12:48I've often wondered why Scotland never really capitalised on its sea plane potential.
0:12:48 > 0:12:54But recently a Scottish-based company is rectifying this with a network of air routes.
0:12:57 > 0:13:02My flight today from Loch Lomond to Oban takes less than 20 minutes.
0:13:02 > 0:13:07Back in the days of Black's guidebook, this journey was a two-day coach ride.
0:13:09 > 0:13:15This is absolutely exhilarating. What better way to see the West Coast of Scotland than by sea plane?
0:13:15 > 0:13:21It's all down there - mountains, lochs, rivers,
0:13:21 > 0:13:26glens, spread out like a map. It's absolutely magnificent.
0:13:26 > 0:13:28It's quite awe-inspiring.
0:13:28 > 0:13:30It's actually quite sublime.
0:13:32 > 0:13:38Had Sarah Murray been able to exchange her carriage for this sea plane ride, I'm sure she
0:13:38 > 0:13:42would have been more than thrilled as we skim across the waters of Oban Bay.
0:13:53 > 0:13:57In Victorian times, Oban was the Charing Cross of the West Coast,
0:13:57 > 0:14:01the centre of an integrated transport system
0:14:01 > 0:14:05that connected steamers, trains, carriages and charabancs
0:14:05 > 0:14:12to places as far afield as Glasgow, Fort William, Stornoway and Orkney.
0:14:12 > 0:14:18A German tourist arriving at this busy port in 1858 provides a rather early example of his nation's
0:14:18 > 0:14:22unfortunate desire always to be first.
0:14:22 > 0:14:27Now we all know that Germans hate standing in queues and absolutely hate being last, and the same was
0:14:27 > 0:14:33true back then, so when the German tourist Theodor Fontane disembarked from a steamer and
0:14:33 > 0:14:40saw a large group of people moving towards the hotel, all his instincts told him to hurry on ahead.
0:14:43 > 0:14:47Fontane later described how he and his friend trotted along the quay
0:14:47 > 0:14:54in a sort of race with a number of Scots to secure accommodation at the Caledonian Hotel.
0:14:54 > 0:14:59In their unseemly haste, the Germans got to the hotel first,
0:14:59 > 0:15:03but their efforts were all in vain - it was fully booked.
0:15:03 > 0:15:06If only they'd made a reservation, they were told.
0:15:06 > 0:15:09A rare example of poor German planning.
0:15:14 > 0:15:21Oban is still a very busy place, but the steamers that once shuttled back and forth have been replaced
0:15:21 > 0:15:28by the ubiquitous CalMac ferries, taking islanders and tourists to the Hebrides.
0:15:28 > 0:15:32But the golden age lives on in the shape of the lovely old paddle steamer Waverley.
0:15:32 > 0:15:36I'm boarding her to sail to the Island of Mull.
0:15:40 > 0:15:45In Victorian times, paddle steamers were the life blood of the West Coast.
0:15:45 > 0:15:50Without them, mass tourism would have been impossible.
0:15:50 > 0:15:56On board the Waverley, the world's last ocean-going paddle steamer, you can still get a glimpse of the
0:15:56 > 0:16:02old magic, a time when Macbrayne steamers were famed for their luxury.
0:16:02 > 0:16:08Orchestras played while silver service waiters fawned over diners in the restaurant.
0:16:08 > 0:16:12There was a book stall, fruit stall, post office, and for those in need
0:16:12 > 0:16:17of some remedial follicle care, there was even a hairdressing salon.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20This was the modern world, and the Industrial Revolution
0:16:20 > 0:16:26that made it all possible also created the modern tourist.
0:16:26 > 0:16:31Enterprising Victorians were quick to see the potential of mass transportation,
0:16:31 > 0:16:38and one man in particular seized the opportunities to become an unlikely tourist innovator.
0:16:38 > 0:16:43To find out more, I've come below deck to meet the travel historian Nikki MacLeod.
0:16:43 > 0:16:47Nikki, it seems to me that the Industrial Revolution was a
0:16:47 > 0:16:50crucial factor in the development of tourism in Scotland.
0:16:50 > 0:16:54Here we are on the Waverley, an example of the early steam power that drew people to the area,
0:16:54 > 0:17:00but as I understand it, there were some key personalities that latched onto the idea that this
0:17:00 > 0:17:04new technology could be harnessed to bring people to the Highlands.
0:17:04 > 0:17:07Exactly, and the most famous of those was Thomas Cook,
0:17:07 > 0:17:08now a household name.
0:17:08 > 0:17:15Thomas Cook was one of the very early pioneers, one of the first people to actually take
0:17:15 > 0:17:23those transportation modes and sort of package them together into easy itineraries for people to follow.
0:17:23 > 0:17:27Up until then, the only people who could really have afforded to take a trip to Scotland
0:17:27 > 0:17:32were those with the money or the leisure to make what was a difficult journey.
0:17:32 > 0:17:36Remember at this time, there was no direct rail link between England and Scotland.
0:17:36 > 0:17:39What kind of character was Cook?
0:17:39 > 0:17:45He was a Baptist and a very, very keen worker for the Temperance Movement.
0:17:45 > 0:17:52And much of the impetus behind arranging these excursions was the idea that if you provided rational
0:17:52 > 0:17:58improving entertainments for people, it would keep them away from the gin palace.
0:17:58 > 0:18:00Now as I understand it, Thomas Cook was someone with
0:18:00 > 0:18:05a social conscience, and he brought that attitude into the Highlands with his tourists.
0:18:05 > 0:18:07Yes, in fact it was really in Iona.
0:18:07 > 0:18:13He was horrified at the poverty he found on the island, and he set up there a fund
0:18:13 > 0:18:19which his tourists subscribed to year upon year, and in a number of years they'd actually raised enough money
0:18:19 > 0:18:25to buy the islanders a fleet of fishing vessels, 24 fishing vessels in fact, one of which
0:18:25 > 0:18:31the islanders named The Thomas Cook in gratitude, really, to their benefactor.
0:18:31 > 0:18:35So not only did he invent the package tour, he invented tourism with a conscience?
0:18:35 > 0:18:38Exactly, yes, a very influential figure.
0:18:40 > 0:18:42History is nothing if not ironic.
0:18:42 > 0:18:48For most early tourists, including those on Cook's Tartan Tours, coming to Scotland was an escape
0:18:48 > 0:18:53from the new industrial cities of 19th-century Britain, which were the
0:18:53 > 0:18:57very antithesis of the sublime they were looking for in nature.
0:18:57 > 0:19:01But to reach the romantic landscapes of Scotland, tourists increasingly depended
0:19:01 > 0:19:09on inventions like the steam engine, a potent symbol of the industrial world they wanted to leave behind.
0:19:14 > 0:19:18This is Tobermory on the Isle of Mull - in my opinion,
0:19:18 > 0:19:23the prettiest harbour in Scotland, but then I'm biased - I have family here.
0:19:23 > 0:19:28Black's guidebook sings the town's praises too, but can't refrain from
0:19:28 > 0:19:34seeing the place as if it was somewhere else, describing it like a fishing village in Italy.
0:19:34 > 0:19:38But why would Black's want to compare Mull with Italy?
0:19:38 > 0:19:41Because, let's face it, they're pretty dissimilar.
0:19:41 > 0:19:45Well, the answer reveals a kind of cultural snobbery.
0:19:47 > 0:19:52In the 18th and 19th centuries, aristocrats on the Grand Tour
0:19:52 > 0:19:56travelled to Italy to absorb the culture of classical Rome.
0:19:56 > 0:20:00Anything Italian, therefore, acquired an added value.
0:20:00 > 0:20:07By extension, anything that looked Italian was also worthy of consideration, even here on Mull.
0:20:07 > 0:20:10This no doubt explains why Black's guidebook
0:20:10 > 0:20:16makes the unlikely comparison of the island's Ben More with Mount Vesuvius.
0:20:18 > 0:20:23I've come to the west of the island to visit a place forever bound up
0:20:23 > 0:20:28with ideas of tragedy, romance and the awful power of nature.
0:20:28 > 0:20:35This is Gribun, lying beneath the forbidding cliffs of Ben More, the wildest mountain on Mull.
0:20:38 > 0:20:45The story concerns an event that took place some 200 years ago and features this enormous boulder.
0:20:45 > 0:20:48Now according to local legend, it was a
0:20:48 > 0:20:55"dark and stormy night" as they say, and a young couple were consummating their marriage in their new home.
0:20:55 > 0:20:59They were in a state of nuptial bliss when high on the mountain,
0:20:59 > 0:21:05this enormous boulder was dislodged by torrential rain.
0:21:07 > 0:21:11With a furious roar, the boulder smashed its way down the
0:21:11 > 0:21:16mountainside, landing on the young couple's cottage, killing them both.
0:21:16 > 0:21:20And this is where they still lie, crushed beneath the boulder
0:21:20 > 0:21:23that destroyed their home and their hopes.
0:21:23 > 0:21:27Ever since it's been known as Tragedy Rock.
0:21:27 > 0:21:35Now I big fan of Mull and despite the salutary tale of Tragedy Rock, even felt brave enough
0:21:35 > 0:21:40to get married here, which I suppose is endorsement of a kind for the island's romantic charms.
0:21:40 > 0:21:47But not every visitor has been quite so well disposed towards Mull's romantic beauty and allure.
0:21:51 > 0:21:54John McCulloch, a 19th-century geologist and
0:21:54 > 0:21:59friend of Sir Walter Scott, whinged on about almost everything.
0:21:59 > 0:22:07"Mull is a detestable land, trackless and repulsive, rude without beauty, stormy and dreary."
0:22:07 > 0:22:12Doctor Johnson, the great man of letters, was similarly unmoved.
0:22:12 > 0:22:17"It is natural in traversing this gloom of desolation
0:22:17 > 0:22:23"to enquire whether something may not be done to give nature a more cheerful face."
0:22:23 > 0:22:26There wasn't an ounce of sensibility in either of these men.
0:22:26 > 0:22:30Their eyes and minds were entirely closed to romantic ideas of the
0:22:30 > 0:22:34sublime and the power of nature, unlike the wonderful Sarah Murray,
0:22:34 > 0:22:40who wrote rapturously about the magnificent scenery and her first view of Iona.
0:22:42 > 0:22:48"My eyes were fixed on a view so wild and yet so sublime.
0:22:48 > 0:22:55"Huge fantastical rocks of fine red granite standing and lying in every imaginable form,
0:22:55 > 0:22:58"and then the ruins of the Abbey that made the mind reflect
0:22:58 > 0:23:01"on how frail and uncertain is human greatness."
0:23:03 > 0:23:07Iona Abbey was restored in the 1920s and 1930s,
0:23:07 > 0:23:12but when Sarah Murray came here, the great ecclesiastical buildings were in ruins.
0:23:12 > 0:23:17Now if anything, this made them even more attractive to the Victorian tourists who came after her.
0:23:17 > 0:23:22There was something exquisitely romantic about the shattered remains of a lost world,
0:23:22 > 0:23:25and walking amongst the broken stones,
0:23:25 > 0:23:30some tourists felt close to the Celtic twilight of myth and legend.
0:23:33 > 0:23:39They were also moved by the idea of Iona as the cradle of Celtic Christianity.
0:23:39 > 0:23:451600 years ago, St Columba arrived from Ireland, bringing the faith to the heathen.
0:23:45 > 0:23:50This struck a chord with Victorians, who were inclined to describe the
0:23:50 > 0:23:55ambitions of the British Empire as "illuminating the darkness".
0:23:55 > 0:24:02Iona, like Imperial Britain, was a civilising beacon in a vast sea of superstition and ignorance.
0:24:02 > 0:24:06High-minded ideas like this brought Thomas Cook to the Island.
0:24:06 > 0:24:11Standing in the ruins, he educated his tourists about the strength of religion,
0:24:11 > 0:24:16the evils of drink, and the frailty of mankind.
0:24:16 > 0:24:21But Cook's doctrine of temperance wasn't to everyone's taste.
0:24:21 > 0:24:28There was another wilder destination to head for, one that spoke to the seeker of the Romantic ideal.
0:24:30 > 0:24:37In 1796 Sarah Murray braved the elements, and made the pilgrimage to visit the most dramatic
0:24:37 > 0:24:43and sublime spectacle on Scotland's West Coast - the island of Staffa.
0:24:45 > 0:24:50Getting to Staffa has always been something of an adventure.
0:24:50 > 0:24:55The island lies eight miles off the west coast of Mull, and even on a calm day,
0:24:55 > 0:25:01the swell and the tides make for a bumpy and exciting crossing.
0:25:01 > 0:25:04But why would a small uninhabited lump of rock lying in the
0:25:04 > 0:25:09turbulent North Atlantic become a mecca for early tourists?
0:25:09 > 0:25:16Well, the answer goes right to the heart of the Romantic ideal and the Romantic way of seeing the world.
0:25:16 > 0:25:25In 1762, James Macpherson published what he claimed were fragments of ancient Gaelic poetry.
0:25:25 > 0:25:32Macpherson said they'd been composed centuries earlier by the blind bard Ossian, who celebrated the deeds of
0:25:32 > 0:25:38Fingal, a bold hero who lived in the Celtic twilight of a pre-Christian world.
0:25:38 > 0:25:41MUSIC: "Fingal's Cave" Overture by Felix Mendelssohn
0:25:42 > 0:25:47In 1772, just 10 years after the publication of the Ossian poems,
0:25:47 > 0:25:51the explorer James Banks of the Royal Society
0:25:51 > 0:26:00was forced to shelter from a storm and discovered the island of Staffa and its unique and marvellous cave.
0:26:00 > 0:26:05Although Banks was a scientist, he was greatly influenced by the romantic cult that had
0:26:05 > 0:26:12grown up around Ossian's poems, and named the great cave Fingal's Cave, and you can see why.
0:26:12 > 0:26:17It's a place of truly heroic proportions.
0:26:22 > 0:26:29The cave is 75 metres long and the roof rises 20 metres above my head, seemingly supported by hundreds of
0:26:29 > 0:26:35angular basalt columns, reminding me of the vault of a Gothic cathedral.
0:26:35 > 0:26:38It's an inspiring place and sums up everything the early
0:26:38 > 0:26:46Romantic tourist was looking for - wild, remote, spectacular and full of heroic associations.
0:26:46 > 0:26:53When Sarah Murray came here in 1796, she could hardly contain herself.
0:26:53 > 0:26:57"The atmosphere of the deity filled my soul.
0:26:57 > 0:27:01"I was lost in wonder, gratitude and praise.
0:27:01 > 0:27:07"Never shall I forget the sublime, heaven-like sensations with which Fingal's Cave inspired me.
0:27:07 > 0:27:10"I was in ecstasy."
0:27:12 > 0:27:16Just about everyone who considered themselves to be someone
0:27:16 > 0:27:20made the difficult journey to this improbable rock in the Atlantic.
0:27:20 > 0:27:29Artists, writers, composers and musicians came to gape in awe at the sublime power of nature.
0:27:32 > 0:27:35The poets Wordsworth and Keats came.
0:27:35 > 0:27:37Sir Walter Scott came.
0:27:37 > 0:27:42So too did the early French science fiction writer Jules Verne.
0:27:42 > 0:27:44Robert Louis Stevenson made the journey.
0:27:44 > 0:27:49So too did the young Queen Victoria, who thrilled at the sound
0:27:49 > 0:27:52of the National Anthem played in Fingal's Cave.
0:27:52 > 0:27:58But perhaps most famously, the 20-year-old composer Felix Mendelssohn
0:27:58 > 0:28:06wrote his celebrated Hebrides Overture after a stormy but inspiring visit in 1829.
0:28:06 > 0:28:11Mendelssohn's overture is the first piece of classical music I remember as a child.
0:28:11 > 0:28:14Listening to it during school assembly, we were encouraged to
0:28:14 > 0:28:19let our imaginations wander to the Hebrides, and in my mind's eye
0:28:19 > 0:28:25I could see the bow of a boat pushing its way through a green sea towards an enchanted Island.
0:28:25 > 0:28:28Now that's what I call a romantic image, and
0:28:28 > 0:28:36that's why people still come here searching for the romantic ideal.
0:28:36 > 0:28:38On my second Grand Tour of Scotland,
0:28:38 > 0:28:41I'm going in search of the sporting life,
0:28:41 > 0:28:44travelling from Perthshire to Royal Deeside.
0:28:45 > 0:28:50The first tourists to come here were attracted by the magnificence of the scenery,
0:28:50 > 0:28:57a land where deer roam free, eagles soar and salmon fill the rivers.
0:28:57 > 0:29:02But not all the visitors wanted to commune with nature. Many sought to conquer it.
0:29:02 > 0:29:07Victorian men came here to prove themselves, challenging nature,
0:29:07 > 0:29:16savage in tooth and claw, to become masters of all they surveyed.
0:29:16 > 0:29:22My route begins in the heart of Scotland, in Dunkeld, then travels north
0:29:22 > 0:29:26through Perthshire, before climbing the mountains to Royal Deeside.
0:29:26 > 0:29:32From Balmoral, my journey continues to Glenmore, through one of my favourite parts of Scotland,
0:29:32 > 0:29:36the famous mountain pass of the Lairig Ghru.
0:29:36 > 0:29:42In the spirit of Victorian sportsmanship and manliness, I've accepted the challenge
0:29:42 > 0:29:48to follow this route as far as I can, using a conveyance of the period.
0:29:48 > 0:29:52Now, this is probably a foolhardy enterprise, but I couldn't resist
0:29:52 > 0:29:56the opportunity to try out an authentic Rudge lever tricycle from the 1870s,
0:29:56 > 0:30:02and what better way to explore Scotland's sporting heritage
0:30:02 > 0:30:05than on such a fabulous machine?
0:30:05 > 0:30:09Well, to be honest, I can think of one or two.
0:30:12 > 0:30:18The first stop on my muscle-stretching, buttock-bruising journey is Dunkeld,
0:30:18 > 0:30:21on the banks of the River Tay.
0:30:21 > 0:30:23Black's is fulsome in its praises.
0:30:23 > 0:30:29"There are few places of which the first sight is so striking as Dunkeld.
0:30:29 > 0:30:35"Its finely-wooded mountains, its noble river, its magnificent bridge
0:30:35 > 0:30:40"and its ancient cathedral combine to form a picture of rare beauty."
0:30:43 > 0:30:48Although the charms of Dunkeld weren't entirely lost on early visitors,
0:30:48 > 0:30:51the town didn't really take off as a tourist destination
0:30:51 > 0:30:58until the arrival of a very special couple of holidaymakers, Prince Albert and Queen Victoria.
0:31:01 > 0:31:07'In the summer of 1842, Victoria was just 23 years old,
0:31:07 > 0:31:11'recently married and very much in love with her new husband.
0:31:11 > 0:31:14'The couple embarked on a tour of Scotland,
0:31:14 > 0:31:17'which they described as "the northern portion of their kingdom".
0:31:20 > 0:31:25'When they arrived in Dunkeld, they were treated to a spectacular Highland welcome,
0:31:25 > 0:31:28'which had a great impact on the young monarch.'
0:31:28 > 0:31:34The Queen was very impressed, and both she and Albert were "highly amused", which no doubt encouraged
0:31:34 > 0:31:39their subsequent love affair with Scotland and all things Scottish.
0:31:39 > 0:31:44'Victoria and Albert's expedition north would play a hugely-important part
0:31:44 > 0:31:49'in promoting Scotland as THE fashionable tourist destination of the era.
0:31:50 > 0:31:57'Historian Eric Zuelow has studied Victoria and her obsession with all things tartan.'
0:31:57 > 0:32:00The thing I'm interested in is Queen Victoria.
0:32:00 > 0:32:05- She was a very young woman when she came to Scotland for that first time in 1842.- She was, she was just 23.
0:32:05 > 0:32:08So when the Queen got to Dunkeld, what did she see?
0:32:08 > 0:32:10She got a real Highland spectacle.
0:32:10 > 0:32:15She rolls through this triumphal arch, she sees 900 Highlanders,
0:32:15 > 0:32:20all decked out in their Highland finery, all of their tartanry, the full outfit.
0:32:20 > 0:32:25They were dancing reels and, most important to her, dancing the sword dance.
0:32:25 > 0:32:30And she hears bagpipes, which of course is one of those things she wants to see.
0:32:30 > 0:32:34And it's set, you know, in this fabulous scenery, right.
0:32:34 > 0:32:39In the hills. When you travel, that's what you want, you want to find something different.
0:32:39 > 0:32:45- The exotic, in other words. - The exotic, and Scotland was exotic, because it had this...
0:32:45 > 0:32:47this Highland culture.
0:32:47 > 0:32:51'Victoria and Albert were the celebrity couple of the day,
0:32:51 > 0:32:55'and their every move was reported by the press.
0:32:55 > 0:33:01'Thanks to the publicity that surrounded their northern tour, Scotland was seen in a new light.'
0:33:01 > 0:33:03We've got here a copy of The Illustrated London News,
0:33:03 > 0:33:10and it's using all the latest Victorian technology of line drawings and etchings
0:33:10 > 0:33:15to show the public the sights that the Queen was presented with.
0:33:15 > 0:33:19It is. We have the piper, we have the sword dance, we have the landscape.
0:33:19 > 0:33:22Very romantically portrayed as well, isn't it?
0:33:22 > 0:33:25Very romantically portrayed,
0:33:25 > 0:33:30and you don't just get these great expanses of Scottish hills or lakes
0:33:30 > 0:33:36or big houses or cathedrals, you get little tiny people in the foreground,
0:33:36 > 0:33:38fishing or gazing or hunting.
0:33:38 > 0:33:42- Dwarfed by the magnificence of the landscape.- That's right.
0:33:42 > 0:33:47But also showing that you can be part of that landscape, you can be there and participate.
0:33:47 > 0:33:53And Scotland simply takes off as a really wonderful vacation destination.
0:33:53 > 0:33:57Queen Victoria's trip to Scotland was an enormous success
0:33:57 > 0:34:00and gave the Highlands the royal seal of approval,
0:34:00 > 0:34:06transforming the country into the place of choice for discerning tourists and sporting gentlemen.
0:34:08 > 0:34:15Thanks to the royal endorsement, lots of adventurous types were soon venturing north to explore
0:34:15 > 0:34:22the Queen's favourite holiday destination, and in 1881, a very intrepid tourist indeed,
0:34:22 > 0:34:26by the name of Commander Reade, travelled all over Scotland,
0:34:26 > 0:34:302,462 miles to be precise, on his tricycle.
0:34:32 > 0:34:36'He wrote about his amazing adventures
0:34:36 > 0:34:40'in a beautifully-illustrated book called Nauticus In Scotland,
0:34:40 > 0:34:45'an original ripping yarn, full of the thrills and spills of the open road,
0:34:45 > 0:34:47'and full of useful cycling advice.'
0:34:47 > 0:34:52- UPPER-CLASS ENGLISH ACCENT: - '"On the road, go easy for the first mile or so,
0:34:52 > 0:34:54'"until the muscles are fairly in tune."'
0:34:54 > 0:34:56Uphill, come on, get up, up, up!
0:34:56 > 0:35:03'"This allows the independent wheelman to select his pace, and thus take in the beauties of nature
0:35:03 > 0:35:06'"according to his own individual taste."'
0:35:06 > 0:35:08Thoroughly sound advice.
0:35:14 > 0:35:21Of course, when a sporting gentleman sees a river meandering through the countryside,
0:35:21 > 0:35:24his fancy turns naturally to thoughts of fishing,
0:35:24 > 0:35:28and of all the rivers in Scotland to get a man fumbling for his flies,
0:35:28 > 0:35:31the River Tay excites the most.
0:35:34 > 0:35:38NEWSREEL: 'In some of the finest scenery in the world,
0:35:38 > 0:35:42'the thoughts of climbing, walking and fishing take first place.'
0:35:42 > 0:35:47'Where the Scottish rivers tumble into falls, you can see the salmon leap.'
0:35:47 > 0:35:52Scottish rivers are amongst the best in the world for salmon fishing, and I've come to meet
0:35:52 > 0:35:55angling instructor Jock Monteith,
0:35:55 > 0:35:59who's going to initiate me in the dark art of fly-fishing.
0:35:59 > 0:36:02The best conditions for catching salmon are when they're there
0:36:02 > 0:36:05and in the right frame of mind to take a fly.
0:36:05 > 0:36:08- It doesn't matter if it's raining or not?- No. They're already wet.
0:36:08 > 0:36:13They are wet! I think I'll be joining them in the wetness stakes at the end of the day!
0:36:13 > 0:36:21'With hundreds of rivers and more than 35,000 freshwater lochs,
0:36:21 > 0:36:25'it's little wonder that fishing has been popular in Scotland
0:36:25 > 0:36:27'since the 1700s.
0:36:27 > 0:36:31'For anglers, the Tay is a river of superlatives,
0:36:31 > 0:36:35'and it occupies a very special place in the history of the sport.'
0:36:35 > 0:36:38That's it!
0:36:38 > 0:36:41The Tay's been a very famous fishing river for many years.
0:36:41 > 0:36:44What do you think makes this river so world-renowned?
0:36:44 > 0:36:46Such a large catchment off the hills here,
0:36:46 > 0:36:48it drains about 2,500 square miles of Scotland.
0:36:48 > 0:36:52- That's huge.- Huge. So there's always enough water coming down
0:36:52 > 0:36:55- for fish to move, even in the height of summer.- Right.
0:36:55 > 0:36:58Also, the fact that the British rod-caught record salmon was
0:36:58 > 0:37:00landed on the Tay in 1922 by Georgina Valentine.
0:37:00 > 0:37:03The famous Georgina Valentine?
0:37:03 > 0:37:04About 64 lbs, I believe.
0:37:04 > 0:37:07- That's what you call a whopper, isn't it?- No' half!
0:37:07 > 0:37:08But she wasn't a very big woman.
0:37:08 > 0:37:11No, but she must have had a very good osteopath!
0:37:11 > 0:37:13PAUL LAUGHS
0:37:13 > 0:37:18It's a very pleasant pastime, standing here in the Tay,
0:37:18 > 0:37:20casting hopefully.
0:37:20 > 0:37:24- And you're casting well there, Paul. - Thanks very much.
0:37:24 > 0:37:27The last time that I went fishing with a fly, Jock,
0:37:27 > 0:37:32I was about eight years of age, and I only managed to hook my pants.
0:37:32 > 0:37:35Who landed you? THEY LAUGH
0:37:35 > 0:37:39I think I landed myself, actually. I was that surprised.
0:37:40 > 0:37:44'Of course, I didn't catch a salmon. I didn't even get a nibble.
0:37:44 > 0:37:51'Leaving the river and the art of fly-fishing to more appreciative souls,
0:37:51 > 0:37:54'I mount my tricycle to continue my journey.'
0:37:54 > 0:37:57I've no idea how he could cycle 2,500 miles.
0:37:57 > 0:38:02I'm exhausted doing...200 yards.
0:38:05 > 0:38:08Heading north towards the Spittal of Glenshee,
0:38:08 > 0:38:13I pass through a stretch of country much admired by Queen Victoria
0:38:13 > 0:38:16for its rugged grandeur and high passes.
0:38:16 > 0:38:21Although I doubt SHE ever attempted this journey on a tricycle.
0:38:21 > 0:38:23HE PANTS
0:38:24 > 0:38:28Tackling these hills is incredibly hard work.
0:38:28 > 0:38:34And with no gears, it's almost impossible to make any headway at all,
0:38:34 > 0:38:40which is why, when the going gets tough...
0:38:40 > 0:38:43well, frankly, it's time to get off.
0:38:43 > 0:38:46'I take heart form the words of Commander Reade.
0:38:46 > 0:38:49'When he cycled across Scotland in Victorian times,
0:38:49 > 0:38:54'he saw absolutely no point in working up a sweat.
0:38:54 > 0:38:59'"Directly you begin to feel distressed, either in mounting a hill
0:38:59 > 0:39:02'"or on heavy ground, at once get off and push."
0:39:02 > 0:39:06'How unlike today's self-punishing age.
0:39:06 > 0:39:10'"From the top of the pass, tired limbs are rewarded
0:39:10 > 0:39:14'"with a glorious descent into Royal Deeside..."'
0:39:14 > 0:39:16Woo!
0:39:16 > 0:39:22'..and the destination made famous by Scotland's royal love affair.
0:39:26 > 0:39:31'The romantic novels of Sir Walter Scott may have raised Scotland's profile
0:39:31 > 0:39:35'in the 19th century, but it was the real-life royal romance
0:39:35 > 0:39:38'that was played out here in Balmoral
0:39:38 > 0:39:43'that consolidated the country's reputation as a place to visit.
0:39:45 > 0:39:50'After falling in love with Scotland, the young Queen Victoria
0:39:50 > 0:39:55'and her husband Albert decided to establish a family home in the Highlands.
0:39:55 > 0:39:59'In 1848, they bought the Balmoral Estate,
0:39:59 > 0:40:02'which occupied a special place in both their hearts.
0:40:02 > 0:40:04'Victoria wrote in her diary,
0:40:04 > 0:40:07- UPPER-CLASS FEMALE ACCENT: - '"All seemed to breathe freedom and peace
0:40:07 > 0:40:13'"and to make one forget the world and its turmoils."'
0:40:13 > 0:40:15Victoria loved it here. In fact, they both did.
0:40:15 > 0:40:19Scotland gave them the time and the space to be a family,
0:40:19 > 0:40:22and the opportunity to reinvent themselves.
0:40:22 > 0:40:28Albert had modelled Balmoral on his romantic idea of a Highland castle,
0:40:28 > 0:40:31and it was here that the royal couple
0:40:31 > 0:40:34acted out their own fantasy version of Highland life.
0:40:34 > 0:40:36She wore tartan, and he learnt Gaelic.
0:40:36 > 0:40:39They ate bannock, oatcakes and haggis.
0:40:39 > 0:40:43'And the vast Balmoral Estate provided Albert with the opportunity
0:40:43 > 0:40:46'to indulge one of his greatest passions -
0:40:46 > 0:40:48'hunting.
0:40:48 > 0:40:51'Although he is reported to have been a rather poor shot.
0:40:51 > 0:40:55'But there can be no doubting the Prince's enthusiasm for the sport,
0:40:55 > 0:40:59'and the Queen, too, often accompanied her much-adored husband,
0:40:59 > 0:41:03'gamely crawling through the heather as Albert stalked his prey.
0:41:03 > 0:41:09'Of all the places associated with Victoria and Albert,
0:41:09 > 0:41:13'Balmoral represents the consummation of the love they had for each other,
0:41:13 > 0:41:16'and for Scotland. In many ways,
0:41:16 > 0:41:18'it's a symbol of the triangular relationship
0:41:18 > 0:41:22'between Victoria, the Prince and the landscape of the Highlands.'
0:41:22 > 0:41:26You can see evidence of this symbolism in the fabric
0:41:26 > 0:41:27of the castle itself.
0:41:27 > 0:41:28Up there is a frieze
0:41:28 > 0:41:32depicting scenes from romantic legend,
0:41:32 > 0:41:39while over here is the foundation stone, laid by Queen Victoria herself in 1853,
0:41:39 > 0:41:44with the initials V for Victoria and A for Albert.
0:41:44 > 0:41:49Like lovers, entwined forever in stone.
0:41:51 > 0:41:56'Sadly, just five years after the completion of Balmoral Castle,
0:41:56 > 0:42:00'Albert was struck down by typhoid and died.
0:42:00 > 0:42:05'Victoria was alone.'
0:42:05 > 0:42:09After Albert's tragic and untimely death at the age of just 42,
0:42:09 > 0:42:13Victoria went into lifelong mourning.
0:42:13 > 0:42:15Walking around the estate today,
0:42:15 > 0:42:18you can clearly see how she turned the whole place
0:42:18 > 0:42:20into a kind of memorial to her lost husband.
0:42:20 > 0:42:25Up on the hill are cairns and stone pillars that mark the places
0:42:25 > 0:42:28where the family picnicked and shared other happier times.
0:42:30 > 0:42:33'Inspired by Victoria and Albert's love of Scotland,
0:42:33 > 0:42:37'the Highlands became THE place to visit,
0:42:37 > 0:42:41'and Royal Deeside became hugely popular with Victorian gentlemen
0:42:41 > 0:42:45'enamoured with the latest sporting fashion - hunting.'
0:42:47 > 0:42:48There was blackcock,
0:42:48 > 0:42:51woodcock, grouse, capercaillie.
0:42:51 > 0:42:53There was red deer and roe deer.
0:42:53 > 0:42:55In fact, in the 19th century,
0:42:55 > 0:42:58there seemed to be an inexhaustible supply of targets
0:42:58 > 0:43:02for aristocrats and southern sporting gentlemen to choose from.
0:43:06 > 0:43:07'By the end of the 19th century,
0:43:07 > 0:43:12'hunting had become a sophisticated leisure-time pursuit.
0:43:12 > 0:43:16'All across the Highlands, sporting estates were developed.
0:43:16 > 0:43:20'These vast deer forests centred on the shooting lodge,
0:43:20 > 0:43:22'offering owners and their guests
0:43:22 > 0:43:25'every modern convenience of the Victorian age.
0:43:29 > 0:43:31'I've come to Mar Lodge.
0:43:31 > 0:43:34'Built in 1895 for Queen Victoria's granddaughter,
0:43:34 > 0:43:39'it represents the high noon of Highland sporting life.
0:43:41 > 0:43:45'In the ballroom, there's an astonishing visual reminder
0:43:45 > 0:43:49'of the insatiable Victorian appetite for killing things.'
0:43:50 > 0:43:55This has to be one of the most bizarre
0:43:55 > 0:44:01and grisly spectacles I have ever seen.
0:44:01 > 0:44:06There must be thousands of stag skulls up there.
0:44:06 > 0:44:12'I must admit, the thrill of killing has always remained
0:44:12 > 0:44:13'a bit of a mystery to me.'
0:44:16 > 0:44:19'But to try and understand the elusive charms of shooting,
0:44:19 > 0:44:21'I've come to meet Stuart Cumming,
0:44:21 > 0:44:24'the head stalker, who's going to put me through my paces.'
0:44:24 > 0:44:28I'm not going to be shooting anything today, heaven forbid,
0:44:28 > 0:44:32but I'll have my camera. Do you usually get people stalking with cameras?
0:44:32 > 0:44:36Not often, but we're beginning to get a wee bit more of that nowadays.
0:44:36 > 0:44:40It's quite a pricey thing to do, to go stalking.
0:44:40 > 0:44:42It can be pricey depending on
0:44:42 > 0:44:45what deer forest you're stalking on, you know,
0:44:45 > 0:44:48- £300 to £340.- For the day?
0:44:48 > 0:44:51- For the day, plus the VAT, aye. - Plus the VAT.
0:44:51 > 0:44:52And do you get to keep the stag?
0:44:52 > 0:44:56- No, the stag is the property of the estate.- Right!
0:44:56 > 0:44:58It's quite an expensive day out then, isn't it?
0:44:58 > 0:45:03It is, but people enjoy it, and they get a trophy, probably, at the end of the day.
0:45:03 > 0:45:04What do you mean, the trophy?
0:45:04 > 0:45:07- Well, the antlers, the stag antlers.- Oh, really?
0:45:07 > 0:45:10- So that tradition still continues? - Oh, yes.- Right.
0:45:10 > 0:45:13We'll just take off in this direction here...
0:45:13 > 0:45:17'For the Victorian sporting gentleman, the whole ritual of deer stalking
0:45:17 > 0:45:21'was bound up with ideas of masculinity, a test of willpower,
0:45:21 > 0:45:28'strength and physical fitness, to overcome fear, subdue nature and kill the noble stag,
0:45:28 > 0:45:30'the monarch of the glen.
0:45:30 > 0:45:35'What better demonstration of heroic manliness
0:45:35 > 0:45:40'than the antlered head of a stag on the dining-room wall?
0:45:40 > 0:45:43'And let's face it, it's a brilliant excuse for grown men
0:45:43 > 0:45:46'to spend the day rolling around in the heather.'
0:45:57 > 0:45:59(All right.)
0:45:59 > 0:46:00(Oh, I see him.
0:46:00 > 0:46:03(What kind of distance are we away from him?)
0:46:03 > 0:46:05(Um, about 110 yards, maybe, say.)
0:46:05 > 0:46:10(And if we were stalking for real with a gun, what kind of distance
0:46:10 > 0:46:12(would be the optimum distance to guarantee a kill?)
0:46:12 > 0:46:17(Well, certainly 110, 150 yards,
0:46:17 > 0:46:20(but obviously you've got to be that wee bit more careful,
0:46:20 > 0:46:24(cos move a bit closer, and they spot you very quickly.)
0:46:24 > 0:46:26(Do you think he can see us?)
0:46:26 > 0:46:28(Looking around, they're always very wary.)
0:46:28 > 0:46:32- (Can sense there's something not quite right.)- (Aye.)
0:46:32 > 0:46:34(He's in my sights now.)
0:46:34 > 0:46:37CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS
0:46:37 > 0:46:39(If that was a gun, I would have got him.)
0:46:39 > 0:46:41(You would've got him, aye.)
0:46:44 > 0:46:46(I've got my shot.)
0:46:46 > 0:46:48(Aye, well done.)
0:46:50 > 0:46:53'I may not have a set of antlers for my wall,
0:46:53 > 0:46:57'but I've had a spectacular day in the hills.
0:47:00 > 0:47:04'From Mar Lodge, I want to get to Glenmore, just north of Aviemore,
0:47:04 > 0:47:07'but standing between me and my ultimate destination
0:47:07 > 0:47:08'are the Cairngorms.
0:47:08 > 0:47:13'The conventional way would be for me to follow the road
0:47:13 > 0:47:18'around the mountains, but I'm keen to try a harder, more direct route.'
0:47:18 > 0:47:24This is pretty much as far as I can go because the road ahead
0:47:24 > 0:47:28is definitely not suitable for ancient old tricycles.
0:47:28 > 0:47:32Now this glen marks the beginning of the Lairig Ghru,
0:47:32 > 0:47:37which is an ancient old pass through the heart of the Cairngorms.
0:47:37 > 0:47:41So if I want to get to Speyside, I'm afraid it's "goodbye, tricycle".
0:47:43 > 0:47:44And "hello, bicycle".
0:47:58 > 0:48:02'The Lairig Ghru is an impressive ice-scoured cleft.
0:48:02 > 0:48:06'It was formed thousands of years ago by long-vanished glaciers
0:48:06 > 0:48:09'that once covered the mountains of Scotland.
0:48:09 > 0:48:12'Although it forms a natural pass, the top of the Lairig Ghru
0:48:12 > 0:48:17'is too high and snowbound to have ever developed as a road link.
0:48:17 > 0:48:20'Joining me on my jaunt through the Cairngorms
0:48:20 > 0:48:24'is Scottish mountain-biking champion, Lee Craigie.'
0:48:24 > 0:48:30What kind of track are we on today, do you think? Is it difficult?
0:48:30 > 0:48:34The Lairig Ghru is rooty, it's rocky, it's steep up, steep down,
0:48:34 > 0:48:36so if something goes wrong on a trail out here,
0:48:36 > 0:48:39then it's got different repercussions to a trail centre.
0:48:39 > 0:48:42- Cos you're a long way from civilisation.- That's right.
0:48:42 > 0:48:45- And rescue. - You'll need to carry me out.
0:48:45 > 0:48:47I was hoping you would carry me out!
0:48:47 > 0:48:50What do you think our chances are, to get to the top of the Lairig Ghru?
0:48:50 > 0:48:53- If we keep hanging around chatting, very slim!- Right.
0:48:53 > 0:48:56OK, let's see how far we can get.
0:49:02 > 0:49:05Well, this is definitely easier than the old tricycle.
0:49:08 > 0:49:12'It's the way mountain bikes open up the remote and inaccessible parts
0:49:12 > 0:49:16'of the Highlands that makes the sport so appealing to me.
0:49:16 > 0:49:20'But the term "cycling" has to be used loosely here.
0:49:20 > 0:49:25'There's almost as much carrying of your bike as there is of riding it on routes like this.'
0:49:25 > 0:49:30Right, I'm gaining on you Lee. You might call yourself the champion, but I'm right behind ya.
0:49:30 > 0:49:31Urgh!
0:49:31 > 0:49:34'The modern mountain bike may be much more sophisticated
0:49:34 > 0:49:35'than my old tricycle,
0:49:35 > 0:49:39'but in trying to keep up with the Scottish mountain-bike champion
0:49:39 > 0:49:41'on this rather challenging terrain,
0:49:41 > 0:49:44'I manage to get my first puncture of the trip.'
0:49:44 > 0:49:45Now Lee, it's a bit sad,
0:49:45 > 0:49:49because my tyre has lost all its puff, a bit like me.
0:49:49 > 0:49:53Look at the size of that, a huge hole.
0:49:53 > 0:49:57- I always used to hate mending punctures when I was a kid.- Yeah.
0:49:57 > 0:50:00I used to always try and get my dad to do it, and he never did.
0:50:00 > 0:50:02He said, "You gotta do it yourself."
0:50:02 > 0:50:04Well, then why am I doing this for you?
0:50:04 > 0:50:08Well, I'm sure you're more expert at this particular type of wheel.
0:50:08 > 0:50:12- That's my excuse. - OK. You've got to save your energy for the cross-drains.
0:50:12 > 0:50:16I do, cos I'm absolutely knackered. It is quite tough going, isn't it?
0:50:16 > 0:50:21- I'm right to feel tired.- It's not easy terrain. You're absolutely right.- It's to be expected.
0:50:21 > 0:50:23But it's a fantastic location.
0:50:23 > 0:50:25I think that's what punctures are for.
0:50:25 > 0:50:28Sometimes on a mountain bike, cos you cover ground so fast...
0:50:28 > 0:50:30Well, YOU might.
0:50:30 > 0:50:33- ..you can keep your head down, can't you?- Uh-huh.
0:50:33 > 0:50:34And you forget to look up
0:50:34 > 0:50:36and it's such a shame.
0:50:36 > 0:50:39What's the point in passing through all of this
0:50:39 > 0:50:40unless you stop to look up?
0:50:42 > 0:50:48'The landscape of the Cairngorm National Park is truly breathtaking,
0:50:48 > 0:50:50'but few early visitors to Scotland
0:50:50 > 0:50:54'would have ventured into this relatively unknown region.
0:50:56 > 0:50:59'The Lairig Ghru has always fascinated me.
0:50:59 > 0:51:03'I first came here when I was 18, and I've attempted to walk the route
0:51:03 > 0:51:06'several times, but have never managed to complete it.
0:51:06 > 0:51:10'I'm determined this time, with the aid of pedal power, to make it.'
0:51:10 > 0:51:12- Oh! - HE SPLUTTERS
0:51:14 > 0:51:15HE LAUGHS
0:51:15 > 0:51:17'Hmm, perhaps not.'
0:51:19 > 0:51:22Well, here we are, Lee, I think we're only about, what,
0:51:22 > 0:51:25- a third of the way through? - Yeah, we're not very far.
0:51:25 > 0:51:29And the path is just getting interesting now, isn't it?
0:51:29 > 0:51:34Aye. But I think it's fair to say that you'd expected to be a bit further on by now.
0:51:34 > 0:51:39- Yeah, I think if we were going to try and to Aviemore, we would need to be quite a lot further on.- Right.
0:51:39 > 0:51:42I mean do you think it's realistic?
0:51:42 > 0:51:47I think we need to go away and maybe do a little bit more training and come back, Paul.
0:51:47 > 0:51:50Do you feel that you're being held back in any way?
0:51:50 > 0:51:52- Oh, I couldn't possibly say!- Right.
0:51:52 > 0:51:57Well, thank you very much for your advice, Lee.
0:51:57 > 0:52:01But I'm made of sterner stuff and I'm going to bash on.
0:52:01 > 0:52:03So I'll see you later. Farewell!
0:52:03 > 0:52:06More than likely never to be seen again.
0:52:06 > 0:52:09It's nothing to me, a mere bagatelle.
0:52:12 > 0:52:17You know, on second thoughts, it does seem a hell of a long way.
0:52:17 > 0:52:19HE GRUNTS
0:52:19 > 0:52:23I'm going to head back this way.
0:52:26 > 0:52:29Wait for me, Lee!
0:52:29 > 0:52:30I'm coming back.
0:52:30 > 0:52:37'With buttocks hideously battered and bruised, I've once more been defeated by the Lairig Ghru.'
0:52:37 > 0:52:38HE GRUNTS
0:52:40 > 0:52:44You've got gravity to take you back down.
0:52:44 > 0:52:48- Lovely thought. - HE GRUNTS
0:52:51 > 0:52:53Ah, that's gravity!
0:52:53 > 0:52:58'Mountain biking may be a great way to get out into the wilderness,
0:52:58 > 0:53:01'but after another puncture and several more miles on foot,
0:53:01 > 0:53:06'rather than in the saddle, I think perhaps some places in Scotland
0:53:06 > 0:53:09'are just not meant to be conquered by bike.
0:53:12 > 0:53:15'So it's back on the tarmac road for me
0:53:15 > 0:53:18'if I'm to make the final leg of my journey
0:53:18 > 0:53:20'and a bed for the night.
0:53:23 > 0:53:25'Reflecting on my journey from Royal Deeside,
0:53:25 > 0:53:33'it strikes me that for a long time, Scotland's sporting pursuits were very much the preserve of the rich.
0:53:33 > 0:53:39'But as society began to change, a wider range of visitors came into the countryside,
0:53:39 > 0:53:43'and they weren't the sort to afford plush hotels or shooting lodges.
0:53:43 > 0:53:46'What they wanted was a cheap-and-cheerful alternative,
0:53:46 > 0:53:49'like the youth hostel where I'm ending my trip.'
0:53:49 > 0:53:54Right. Oh, wait a minute! Actually, that's one of the things about
0:53:54 > 0:53:58staying in youth hostels, is that there are lots of polite notices
0:53:58 > 0:54:01asking you to comply with various regulations.
0:54:01 > 0:54:03Foot locker.
0:54:03 > 0:54:06'Ah, the joys of the SYHA.
0:54:06 > 0:54:13'In 1931, the Scottish Youth Hostel Association was founded
0:54:13 > 0:54:17'to meet the needs of young folk seeking the great outdoors.
0:54:17 > 0:54:21'Its aim was to promote moral and physical fitness, by encouraging
0:54:21 > 0:54:26'a healthy life, through vigorous exercise and fresh air.'
0:54:29 > 0:54:35Well, these somewhat Spartan surroundings at the youth hostel here in Glenmore
0:54:35 > 0:54:38are a far cry from the luxury of Mar Lodge.
0:54:38 > 0:54:42Although there's something appropriate about the transformation of a place
0:54:42 > 0:54:45that was once a shooting lodge for the nobility
0:54:45 > 0:54:49into a place where ordinary men and women could get a bunk for the night.
0:55:01 > 0:55:07'The movement was hugely successful and soon the hills were alive, if not with the sound of music,
0:55:07 > 0:55:12'but at least thronged with ruddy-faced youths engaged in country pursuits.
0:55:14 > 0:55:21'And they could be sure that, at the end of the day, there would be cheap accommodation on offer,
0:55:21 > 0:55:24'ranging from basic wooden huts to converted castles.'
0:55:24 > 0:55:29It also seems quite sporting that ordinary people could now enjoy
0:55:29 > 0:55:32the wide-open spaces that had previously been the preserve
0:55:32 > 0:55:36of a tiny social elite, and interesting to reflect on the fact
0:55:36 > 0:55:40that the great outdoors itself is such a social leveller.
0:55:40 > 0:55:47But the only disadvantage of staying in a place like this is that, well, there's no bar.
0:55:47 > 0:55:54And I'm exhausted and I simply can't cycle all the way to the pub, so I'm afraid it's an early night for me.
0:55:57 > 0:56:00'Join me on my next Grand Tour of Scotland,
0:56:00 > 0:56:03'when I take one of the most famous railway journeys in the world,
0:56:03 > 0:56:07'following Black's Guide to the elements.'
0:56:19 > 0:56:22Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd