0:00:02 > 0:00:07This is the beautiful landscape of Scotland's Highlands and Islands,
0:00:07 > 0:00:11a place whose secrets were seldom revealed to outsiders.
0:00:11 > 0:00:16200 years ago, travelling here for pleasure would have been unthinkable.
0:00:16 > 0:00:19But then this happened - the power of steam.
0:00:21 > 0:00:26Within a century, a network of railways had spread across the entire country,
0:00:26 > 0:00:31connecting the industrial cities of the south to the mountains and glens of the north,
0:00:31 > 0:00:37and with the trains came the tourists, all clamouring for a piece of the real Scotland.
0:00:40 > 0:00:43In Victorian times, many holidaymakers followed routes
0:00:43 > 0:00:49suggested by the most influential guide book of all, Black's Picturesque Guide to Scotland.
0:00:49 > 0:00:54In this series, I'm taking my own well-thumbed copy of this fascinating book.
0:00:54 > 0:00:57It's been in my family for generations and was always kept
0:00:57 > 0:01:03in the glove compartment of my father's car when we went on holiday.
0:01:03 > 0:01:07Now it's inspired me to make six journeys of my own.
0:01:07 > 0:01:12Letting its pages guide me, I want to retrace the steps of the early tourists
0:01:12 > 0:01:17to find out how Scotland became a jewel in the crown of tourist destinations.
0:01:17 > 0:01:21On this grand tour, I'm in search of the real Scotland,
0:01:21 > 0:01:27finding out how tourists came looking for an authentic experience in this fabulous landscape.
0:01:39 > 0:01:44On this journey, I'm catching a train from Fort William on my favourite scenic railway line,
0:01:44 > 0:01:51travelling west to the fishing port of Mallaig before sailing on to the fabled Isle of Skye.
0:01:53 > 0:01:57This is the West Highland Line, which has been voted
0:01:57 > 0:02:01the most beautiful stretch of railway in the world,
0:02:01 > 0:02:05and if that isn't impressive enough, it's also a star of the silver screen.
0:02:05 > 0:02:10Among many film appearances, it's had a major role in Harry Potter,
0:02:10 > 0:02:14when this train becomes the Hogwarts Express.
0:02:14 > 0:02:18But today, it has a different role to play as the Jacobite Steam Train,
0:02:18 > 0:02:22a tourist delight and a steam enthusiast's heaven.
0:02:22 > 0:02:25It's hard to imagine what would make a railway buff more excited
0:02:25 > 0:02:32than sitting on a famous steam train pulling period carriages travelling through such iconic scenery.
0:02:35 > 0:02:42The Jacobite train beautifully conjures up the golden age of steam railways when Victorian ingenuity
0:02:42 > 0:02:47cut distances and time in a way that previously would have been unimaginable.
0:02:47 > 0:02:5318th-century travellers to Scotland took eight days to get from London to Edinburgh by stagecoach.
0:02:53 > 0:03:00By 1848, steam trains had cut the journey time to 12.5 hours.
0:03:00 > 0:03:04For the first time in history, large parts of the Highlands had become
0:03:04 > 0:03:11easily and quickly accessible, but more importantly, the steam train had democratised travel,
0:03:11 > 0:03:16making holidays and tourism possible for more than just the very rich.
0:03:16 > 0:03:20Increasingly, Victorians were able to leave the dull routine of their daily lives
0:03:20 > 0:03:27and make the great escape, and what they wanted to see was their version of the real Scotland.
0:03:30 > 0:03:35Railways promoted themselves heavily in newspapers, magazines and posters.
0:03:35 > 0:03:41Images of dramatic landscapes, mountains and tranquil lochs offered the prospect of a quick getaway,
0:03:41 > 0:03:48an intoxicating idea for work-weary Victorians toiling in the big cities of the south.
0:03:48 > 0:03:52And to help them on their way, railway companies produced a variety
0:03:52 > 0:03:56of line-side guides pointing out sights of interest along the route.
0:03:56 > 0:03:59The writer of this line-side guide
0:03:59 > 0:04:04sees the railway line with its tunnels and cuttings and bridges as part of Scotland's heritage,
0:04:04 > 0:04:10part of Scotland's scenery and is at great pains to point out how unobtrusive it is.
0:04:10 > 0:04:16And he writes, "Never was there a railway that disfigured less the countryside through which it passed.
0:04:16 > 0:04:23"Like a mere scratch on the mountain, it glides from valley to valley." Indeed so.
0:04:25 > 0:04:31Watching the Jacobite steam train puffing its way across the famous Glenfinnan Viaduct, it's easy
0:04:31 > 0:04:35to see why Victorians thought it actually enhanced the view.
0:04:35 > 0:04:40It's a sight that's still a major attraction.
0:04:40 > 0:04:45Just beyond the viaduct is Glenfinnan Station, a lovingly preserved example
0:04:45 > 0:04:49of Victorian railway architecture at its charming best.
0:04:49 > 0:04:54I met up with railway historian John Ransom in the station museum to find out
0:04:54 > 0:04:57how early tourism flourished on the West Highland Line.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00Firstly, the railways up from England
0:05:00 > 0:05:04were tremendously important in bringing people to the Highlands.
0:05:04 > 0:05:07Every member of the great and good in Victorian Britain had his
0:05:07 > 0:05:12shooting estate up on the Highlands and the whole lot came up here in the first couple of weeks of August.
0:05:12 > 0:05:17That was the grouse fortnight, as they called it, then they all went back again at the end of it.
0:05:17 > 0:05:20It wasn't just the landowner and his wife, it was his children and
0:05:20 > 0:05:27his nannies and his servants and his horses and carriages and everything else, all came up by train.
0:05:27 > 0:05:33The Old Station Museum is a shrine to the golden age of steam, but during the tourist season,
0:05:33 > 0:05:37holidaymakers can enjoy the excitement of the real thing.
0:05:37 > 0:05:41On the train it's just magic, you know, the, the clickety, clickety clack and, you know, and you
0:05:41 > 0:05:46hear the train chugging, the engine pulling and everything, that's just magnificent, that's really brilliant.
0:05:46 > 0:05:50I love the train and I love the sound of the train, you know, going
0:05:50 > 0:05:54really slowly and yes, not really, you know, you can see the landscape.
0:05:54 > 0:06:01It's unbelievable, it's unbelievable. I've been through some wonderful railway journeys in my lifetime
0:06:01 > 0:06:04but I think this will take an awful, awful lot of beating.
0:06:06 > 0:06:11Following in the tracks of early railway tourists, I'm leaving the station and
0:06:11 > 0:06:15making the short walk down the road to the shores of Loch Shiel.
0:06:15 > 0:06:21My guidebook teasingly describes this place as "a silent solitary spot, yet
0:06:21 > 0:06:27"it was here that the first movement was made towards rebellion which threatened to convulse the Empire."
0:06:30 > 0:06:33This monument was built with the tourist just as much in mind
0:06:33 > 0:06:39as the event it commemorates - the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745.
0:06:41 > 0:06:44There is probably nothing that competes
0:06:44 > 0:06:49in terms of tragedy and romance than the failed Jacobite Rebellion.
0:06:49 > 0:06:54The Jacobites were led by the romantic figure of Prince Charles Edward Stuart.
0:06:54 > 0:06:59In July 1745, he landed here on a mission impossible
0:06:59 > 0:07:03to reclaim the British throne for the exiled Stuart monarchy.
0:07:03 > 0:07:09It was a doomed enterprise right from the start, but perversely it was precisely because it
0:07:09 > 0:07:13was such a tragic failure that the Jacobite Rebellion became the stuff
0:07:13 > 0:07:21of legend and popular mythology and in defeat, Bonnie Prince Charlie achieved celebrity status.
0:07:24 > 0:07:28The Jacobite Prince was only in Scotland for a year,
0:07:28 > 0:07:32but everywhere he went became hallowed ground for the Victorians.
0:07:32 > 0:07:36They just couldn't get enough of this tragic royal hero.
0:07:36 > 0:07:43To help them, obliging travel agents and publishers produced guides on all things Jacobite in Scotland,
0:07:43 > 0:07:47and even today, the eponymous Jacobite steam train recalls the time
0:07:47 > 0:07:52when Bonnie Prince Charlie was forced to flee through this wild landscape.
0:07:54 > 0:07:59Even Queen Victoria, whose great-great-grandfather, George II,
0:07:59 > 0:08:01had destroyed the Jacobite dream forever,
0:08:01 > 0:08:05felt a romantic connection with the tragic Prince.
0:08:05 > 0:08:09After visiting Glenfinnan she wrote, "I feel a sort of reverence in going
0:08:09 > 0:08:13"over the scenes in this most beautiful country which I am proud
0:08:13 > 0:08:20"to call my own, where there is such a devoted loyalty to my ancestors,
0:08:20 > 0:08:22"for Stuart blood is in my veins."
0:08:22 > 0:08:29Very "sturm und drang", blood and soil, very German, but then, of course, she was.
0:08:36 > 0:08:39The Jacobite trail takes me to Arisaig, where I leave the train
0:08:39 > 0:08:44and get my first view of the sea and the islands of the Inner Hebrides.
0:08:46 > 0:08:49Ever mindful of the Victorian passion for all things Jacobite,
0:08:49 > 0:08:56Black's Guide excitedly notes that gold was landed here at the height of the Rebellion.
0:08:56 > 0:09:02Two French ships were intercepted in the loch by the Royal Navy but after a fierce gun battle,
0:09:02 > 0:09:06they escaped, leaving the treasure behind them.
0:09:06 > 0:09:13Intriguingly, the treasure was never recovered and to this day, its whereabouts remains a mystery.
0:09:14 > 0:09:18And it's also treasure that links Arisaig with the fictional pirate
0:09:18 > 0:09:24Long John Silver, the loveable anti-hero of Treasure Island.
0:09:24 > 0:09:28According to local legend, an Arisaig man called John Silver
0:09:28 > 0:09:34was working on the construction of Barra Head Lighthouse when he met the architect Thomas Stevenson
0:09:34 > 0:09:40and his son Robert Louis Stevenson, who later became the famous author.
0:09:40 > 0:09:47Now this, say local folk, is how the pirate in Treasure Island got his name, Long John Silver.
0:09:51 > 0:09:55For me, Arisaig's greatest treasure has to be this,
0:09:55 > 0:09:59the stunning views of the Inner Hebrides.
0:09:59 > 0:10:04I'm meeting up with photographer Peter Cairns to ask him about the relationship between
0:10:04 > 0:10:08modern iconic landscape images of Scotland
0:10:08 > 0:10:11and the image promoted by my copy of Black's Picturesque Guide Book.
0:10:11 > 0:10:18I think the word picturesque is in many ways relative because if you're a Victorian
0:10:18 > 0:10:23living in an increasingly industrialised, urbanised environment in the south then, you know,
0:10:23 > 0:10:30Scotland was picturesque, Scotland was wild, this was a wild landscape and to a large degree it still is.
0:10:30 > 0:10:34Of course now we do paint Scotland, in inverted commas, or portray
0:10:34 > 0:10:41Scotland as this picturesque, wild landscape with minimal human impact.
0:10:41 > 0:10:43In reality that's not necessarily realistic,
0:10:43 > 0:10:47but I think it's that notion that we create, that dream, that aspiration.
0:10:47 > 0:10:50s a photographer, would that lead you, that idea of the
0:10:50 > 0:10:57picturesque and the wild, lead you to frame out objects like pylons or industrial plants or fish farms?
0:10:57 > 0:11:00Are you conscious that these things might be blots on the landscape?
0:11:00 > 0:11:04Yes, very much so, and I have to say I sort of wrestle with
0:11:04 > 0:11:08that whole conundrum all the time, and I'm not alone doing that.
0:11:08 > 0:11:10You know, most landscape photographers do that.
0:11:10 > 0:11:13Whether that creates a...
0:11:13 > 0:11:17misrepresentation of the landscape, I guess is debatable, but you're right,
0:11:17 > 0:11:20photographers, generally speaking,
0:11:20 > 0:11:26perpetuate this notion of pristine, of a pristine landscape which perhaps is unrealistic in this day and age.
0:11:30 > 0:11:35It seems to me there's a long tradition of hiding the real Scotland from the tourist,
0:11:35 > 0:11:38but in this place there's no need to airbrush the picture.
0:11:38 > 0:11:44There are no blots on the landscape, there's nothing to hide, and for my money,
0:11:44 > 0:11:49even a grey day like today has an authentic beauty of its own.
0:11:49 > 0:11:52It's grey, but still very beautiful.
0:11:52 > 0:11:57Absolutely, and it's Scotland, you know, it's a classic landscape of Scotland.
0:11:57 > 0:12:00It may not be a stereotypical postcard view
0:12:00 > 0:12:04but it has a beauty of its own, it's layer upon layer of grey.
0:12:04 > 0:12:06I think it's stunning.
0:12:06 > 0:12:07Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
0:12:11 > 0:12:17From Arisaig, the West Highland Line takes me to the port of Mallaig, from where I take the car ferry
0:12:17 > 0:12:23over the sea to Skye, a journey celebrated by the famous Jacobite song.
0:12:23 > 0:12:30The ferry makes landfall at Armadale Pier, where I'm the only passenger to disembark on foot.
0:12:30 > 0:12:36Everyone else, it seems, is making the onward journey by car or motorbike.
0:12:36 > 0:12:41Of course, in Victorian times people didn't have the luxury of bringing cars over to the island,
0:12:41 > 0:12:43so in my search for the real Scotland
0:12:43 > 0:12:48I'm going to see if I can't find some local buses to take me on my way.
0:12:48 > 0:12:53Now interestingly, Black's guidebook warns against some pretty sharp practices
0:12:53 > 0:12:59perpetrated by the islanders and here it says somewhat pompously, "numerous complaints have
0:12:59 > 0:13:05"been received from tourists about the extortions practised on the Isle of Skye.
0:13:05 > 0:13:09"Overcharging at hotels is commonplace, and charges for guides,
0:13:09 > 0:13:12"ponies and boats justly complained of."
0:13:12 > 0:13:17Now that was in 1862, and I'm sure things have changed.
0:13:20 > 0:13:24The guidebook expressed the hope that the evils of overcharging would disappear
0:13:24 > 0:13:32once local people experienced the wholesome influence of reasonable, educated tourists from the south.
0:13:32 > 0:13:36Interestingly, the early tourist Sarah Murray, who visited these parts
0:13:36 > 0:13:42at the turn of the 19th century, was also concerned about the influence of tourism on local people.
0:13:42 > 0:13:47She was worried that Highland culture was slowly being eroded and after a trip to the Hebrides
0:13:47 > 0:13:54she wrote that "the language and habits of the Highlanders will shortly be wholly laid aside."
0:13:54 > 0:13:59Now that's a concern that continues to exercise people to this very day.
0:14:00 > 0:14:04In many ways, Sarah Murray's fears have been realised.
0:14:04 > 0:14:10Over the last 200 years, much of the culture and language of the island has been lost.
0:14:10 > 0:14:15However, a number of recent Government initiatives now support Gaelic.
0:14:15 > 0:14:20Travelling the island, drivers can't fail to notice the bilingual road signs like this one here.
0:14:20 > 0:14:24Port Righ, Gaelic for Port of the King.
0:14:24 > 0:14:25In English, Portree.
0:14:27 > 0:14:32Caol Loch Aillse in Gaelic, Kyle of Lochalsh in English.
0:14:32 > 0:14:38Now the Government have also supported the publication of several handy phrase books like this,
0:14:38 > 0:14:43and to see how useful it's been, I'm going to put this one to the test.
0:14:43 > 0:14:49I want to ask how to get to the post office, or oifis a' phuist,
0:14:49 > 0:14:55and I want to buy a postcard - that's cairt-phuist - and a stamp - stampa.
0:14:55 > 0:14:58- Latha math.- Latha math.
0:14:58 > 0:15:02HE STARTS TO ASK QUESTION No, you're wasting your time. I don't speak Gaelic.
0:15:02 > 0:15:05Cait a bheil oifis a' phuist?
0:15:07 > 0:15:09- Em...- English.
0:15:09 > 0:15:12Cait a bheil oifis a' phuist?
0:15:12 > 0:15:15Oh, I'm, I'm sorry, my English was a little bit better.
0:15:15 > 0:15:18I'm not, er, I'm German.
0:15:18 > 0:15:21Cait a bheil oifis a' phuist? Oifis a' phuist?
0:15:23 > 0:15:27TRIES TO REPLY IN GAELIC
0:15:27 > 0:15:30Cait a bheil oifis a' phuist?
0:15:30 > 0:15:31HE REPLIES
0:15:32 > 0:15:33Tapadh leat.
0:15:36 > 0:15:39It works. It works! It's fantastic.
0:15:39 > 0:15:41- It's fantastic. Are you a Gaelic speaker?- No.- No?
0:15:41 > 0:15:44- Better than you, I think. - Better than you.
0:15:44 > 0:15:48'That's me told! But it has to be said, in English.
0:15:48 > 0:15:51'So where are all the Gaelic speakers?
0:15:51 > 0:15:56'Perhaps I'll find one in the Post Office where I still have to buy a postcard and a stamp.'
0:15:58 > 0:16:02- Er...- cairt-phuist. - Cairt-phuist.
0:16:03 > 0:16:07SIMPLE CONVERSATION
0:16:16 > 0:16:20'A genuine Gaelic speaker at last, but as I've already found out
0:16:20 > 0:16:23'on this quest for the real Scotland,
0:16:23 > 0:16:25'things are not always as they first appear.'
0:16:25 > 0:16:28Did you learn the Gaelic at home or...?
0:16:28 > 0:16:31I had a bit from home, I learnt most of it at the Gaelic College.
0:16:31 > 0:16:35- Oh, right.- Yes.- Right.- So I'm actually just finished my first year.
0:16:35 > 0:16:39- Oh, right.- At the college, but I did have Gaelic before I came. - Uh-huh.
0:16:39 > 0:16:40And where did you learn that?
0:16:40 > 0:16:44From a book, actually. My grandmother had Gaelic but she died before I was born
0:16:44 > 0:16:48- so I taught myself from a book. - Where are you from originally? Are you from Skye?
0:16:48 > 0:16:53My family are originally from Skye, but I grew up in England when my dad was working as a minister.
0:16:53 > 0:16:54I've moved back in the last year.
0:16:54 > 0:16:58- So it's in the blood?- Yes. - It's in the genes.
0:16:59 > 0:17:03This modern, and I have to say rather belated interest in Gaelic,
0:17:03 > 0:17:06would have bewildered most Victorian tourists,
0:17:06 > 0:17:11many of whom considered the language to be evidence of Highland primitivism.
0:17:11 > 0:17:15Unfortunately, the few who might have shown an interest in Gaelic
0:17:15 > 0:17:18would have found my copy of Black's disappointing.
0:17:18 > 0:17:23It is resolutely silent on the subject, preferring instead
0:17:23 > 0:17:27to promote the romantic myth of the island's Jacobite connections.
0:17:27 > 0:17:34Interestingly, some Victorians were keen to have an alternative, more authentic experience, a piece of
0:17:34 > 0:17:39the real Scotland, and to find out more I've come to this church.
0:17:42 > 0:17:49THEY SING IN GAELIC
0:17:53 > 0:17:59Church going was an important event for all Victorians, but to English tourists there was something
0:17:59 > 0:18:03utterly exotic about a Gaelic service and Gaelic hymn singing.
0:18:03 > 0:18:08Historian Kathy Haldane Grenier has written about how church-going
0:18:08 > 0:18:11became a tourist attraction in its own right.
0:18:11 > 0:18:13One of the key differences
0:18:13 > 0:18:19between England and Scotland, as understood in the 19th century, was religious difference,
0:18:19 > 0:18:22so religion is an entry point into Scottishness
0:18:22 > 0:18:26that was seen as something that's genuinely Scottish,
0:18:26 > 0:18:31that this is an experience not staged by the tourist industry, that this is
0:18:31 > 0:18:36something ordinary people do and so you're able to take part
0:18:36 > 0:18:39in a shared experience with Scots.
0:18:39 > 0:18:43In a sense this is tied up with the idea of the search for the authentic Scotland.
0:18:43 > 0:18:47By coming to a Gaelic service you're participating in something which is
0:18:47 > 0:18:50authentically Highland, authentically Gaelic.
0:18:50 > 0:18:55Right, I think that's true, so I think they are looking at
0:18:55 > 0:19:02Scottish religiosity through their preconceptions of what they want Highland crofters to be.
0:19:02 > 0:19:09And to some degree if you're a tourist, you never really stop being a tourist, so as much as
0:19:09 > 0:19:16they see themselves as participating in a genuine local experience, they're still spectating, they're
0:19:16 > 0:19:22still looking through preconceptions, and understanding things in a way that works best for them.
0:19:23 > 0:19:26SINGING
0:19:31 > 0:19:37Personally, I've always found the sound of Gaelic psalm singing extraordinarily moving,
0:19:37 > 0:19:43even if I can never be anything more than a spectator, and I think it's fair to say
0:19:43 > 0:19:49that the desire to have an authentic experience when we're travelling is something that many of us share.
0:19:49 > 0:19:56But it strikes me that the very idea of being a tourist makes the search for the authentic more elusive.
0:19:56 > 0:20:01In the modern world, to be called a tourist implies being lumped in with the herd.
0:20:05 > 0:20:12To avoid the dreadful tourist label, we like to describe ourselves today in more exciting terms as
0:20:12 > 0:20:18backpackers, mountaineers, cyclists, kayakers, or whatever our particular bag is.
0:20:18 > 0:20:22The whole concept of tourism has been revised to make
0:20:22 > 0:20:26our own experience of Scotland seem like the authentic one.
0:20:28 > 0:20:34'Hopping aboard a Haggis Tour, I'm meeting up with guide Kay Gillespie.'
0:20:34 > 0:20:37I want to find out how the quest for an authentic experience
0:20:37 > 0:20:41of Scotland has re-invented the traditional coach tour.
0:20:41 > 0:20:46What makes a Haggis Tour different from other tours, do you think?
0:20:46 > 0:20:49- We pride ourselves in being passionate...- Passionate?
0:20:49 > 0:20:53We've chosen what we think are the best places in Scotland to visit.
0:20:53 > 0:20:56We like to take our customers off the beaten track.
0:20:56 > 0:21:00- Right.- We teach them the history, we show them the scenery.- Uh-huh.
0:21:00 > 0:21:02- We let them try whisky.- Right.
0:21:02 > 0:21:06- We take them for a party.- Right. - We have them dancing in the car parks outside the hostels.
0:21:06 > 0:21:09You've had them dancing in the car parks?
0:21:09 > 0:21:13We certainly did. We did Strip The Willow, courtesy of our lovely driver Joe.
0:21:13 > 0:21:14We start in Edinburgh.
0:21:14 > 0:21:19We make our way up through Stirling, Loch Lomond and the Trossachs.
0:21:19 > 0:21:24We do at stop at Glencoe. On this occasion we came right up to the Isle of Skye.
0:21:24 > 0:21:28- Right.- We visit quite a few places. We try and pack quite a lot into our three days.
0:21:29 > 0:21:36The Haggis bus stops to allows its passengers to admire an incomparable view of the Cuillins.
0:21:36 > 0:21:39- Are you guys ready?- Yeah.
0:21:39 > 0:21:44As Kay entertains her tourists with a quirky re-telling of an old folk tale,
0:21:44 > 0:21:50I'm left wondering how much has really changed since the Victorians came looking for the real Scotland.
0:21:50 > 0:21:54To be a bit philosophical for a moment, I think it's only fair
0:21:54 > 0:21:59to say that the search for reality has always been a bit problematic.
0:21:59 > 0:22:06That's because our expectations lead us to see what we want to see and even those Victorians who thought
0:22:06 > 0:22:13they got close to an authentic experience of Scotland failed to notice or to understand
0:22:13 > 0:22:18the social injustice and poverty that was tearing the Highlands apart.
0:22:20 > 0:22:25Here at the Museum of Island Life, modern tourists have another chance
0:22:25 > 0:22:30to understand the issues that most Victorians failed to see clearly -
0:22:30 > 0:22:34the reality of Highland poverty.
0:22:34 > 0:22:36Many Victorians didn't see the poverty at all.
0:22:36 > 0:22:39Instead, they made the idiotic assumption,
0:22:39 > 0:22:43and one that many modern tourists continue to make when they visit other cultures,
0:22:43 > 0:22:49that because the material lifestyle of the people is simple, the people themselves were simple
0:22:49 > 0:22:54and were therefore unaware of their circumstances.
0:22:57 > 0:23:03This allowed tourists to see poverty, not for what it was in reality, but as picturesque,
0:23:03 > 0:23:07neatly matching the images of the Highlands projected by Black's Picturesque Guide,
0:23:07 > 0:23:10and may explain why one lady visitor
0:23:10 > 0:23:17wrote indulgently of meeting "a kindly old crone who rejoiced in the peat smoke that filled her room."
0:23:17 > 0:23:22But at other times, tourists described these homes as miserable huts, and felt a sense
0:23:22 > 0:23:29of embarrassment when confronted by the obvious hardship facing the families that lived in them.
0:23:29 > 0:23:35Tourist like this were the majority. They glimpsed the real Scotland and didn't like what they saw.
0:23:35 > 0:23:40Finding it all too uncomfortable and difficult to reconcile with their expectations,
0:23:40 > 0:23:46they blocked out the poverty and concentrated instead on the landscape.
0:23:49 > 0:23:52This is the tiny harbour of Elgol.
0:23:52 > 0:23:55From here, the adventurous traveller can take a boat
0:23:55 > 0:23:59to reach the ultimate tourist destination on Skye.
0:23:59 > 0:24:03I've come here to meet my old friend John Hambrey.
0:24:03 > 0:24:07As students, we sailed the West Coast together. Today we're setting course
0:24:07 > 0:24:11for the dark heart of the impressively grim Cuillin Mountains.
0:24:14 > 0:24:20I think it's very telling that my copy of Black's guidebook urges the Victorian tourist to visit a place
0:24:20 > 0:24:28that is nothing but landscape, a place of no culture, of no history, a place of utter desolation.
0:24:28 > 0:24:32It says a lot about the lengths Victorian tourists would go to,
0:24:32 > 0:24:35just to have an authentic experience of Scotland.
0:24:37 > 0:24:42But sailing into this heart of darkness confirms my belief
0:24:42 > 0:24:46that the West Coast of Scotland is a sailing paradise.
0:24:46 > 0:24:50Like me, John can't get enough of its watery delights.
0:24:50 > 0:24:53When did you get the sailing bug then, John?
0:24:53 > 0:24:56Well, I sailed little dinghies when I was a kid.
0:24:56 > 0:25:00But I was never actually that keen on it.
0:25:00 > 0:25:03The first time I got really excited
0:25:03 > 0:25:09was when I came with six students in a 24-foot boat that we hired out at Crinan.
0:25:09 > 0:25:14- Right. Right.- And we spent three weeks sailing, and fighting.
0:25:14 > 0:25:18- Right.- And drinking, and having a great time.
0:25:18 > 0:25:24I thought, well, anyone could do this, I could charter a boat and come to these wonderful places.
0:25:24 > 0:25:31But I think it was not far from here, on a beautiful sunset evening with
0:25:31 > 0:25:38the sun setting over Eigg and Rum and the Cuillin all going purple in the background,
0:25:38 > 0:25:41and a gannet dived behind the boat
0:25:41 > 0:25:45in a shower of gold.
0:25:45 > 0:25:50- So I had a kind of spiritual experience, I thought this is good, you know, this is pretty good.- Yeah.
0:25:50 > 0:25:54- There's not much better than this. - That was your epiphany moment. - That was it, yeah.
0:25:54 > 0:25:58- Has it ever been the same again? - No.- Never is, is it?
0:25:58 > 0:26:00It's always that first time.
0:26:00 > 0:26:05I don't know, every time I get out there, I still get a kick actually.
0:26:05 > 0:26:09And, in here especially, this place is
0:26:09 > 0:26:12so different from your routine life coming in here that...
0:26:12 > 0:26:15Oh, it's an extraordinary-looking place.
0:26:17 > 0:26:21Leaving John and his boat anchored beneath the cliffs, I continue on foot
0:26:21 > 0:26:27to what I believe is one of the finest scenic locations in Scotland,
0:26:27 > 0:26:33an extraordinary body of water nestling beneath the towering rock pinnacles of the Cuillin Ridge.
0:26:33 > 0:26:38The place is called Loch Coruisk and it never fails to take my breath away.
0:26:39 > 0:26:46The geologist John MacCulloch first brought Loch Coruisk to public attention in 1819.
0:26:46 > 0:26:50"I felt transported as if by some magician.
0:26:50 > 0:26:55"It appeared as if all living things had abandoned this spot to the spirit of solitude.
0:26:55 > 0:27:00"I held my breath to listen for a sound, but everything was hushed."
0:27:03 > 0:27:07In this impressive landscape, it's worth remembering
0:27:07 > 0:27:13the 19th-century cult of the sublime, an ideal that drew so many early tourists to Scotland.
0:27:13 > 0:27:19The sublime was all about finding a landscape so impressive and awe-inspiring
0:27:19 > 0:27:23it made you think of the power of God Almighty who created it all.
0:27:23 > 0:27:28But this place was different. It was almost too much.
0:27:35 > 0:27:39The alien, Godless atmosphere seemed to go to people's heads.
0:27:39 > 0:27:43One tourist wrote that he felt on the brink of madness.
0:27:43 > 0:27:46"I came with a beating heart upon Loch Coruisk, a deep,
0:27:46 > 0:27:54"dark, solemn piece of still water surrounded by such terrors that one is really afraid to look at them."
0:27:57 > 0:28:00The wild landscape of Loch Coruisk forced some tourists to
0:28:00 > 0:28:05conclude that their search for the Almighty in nature was in vain.
0:28:07 > 0:28:13The Victorians came and found only the echo of their own voices and their own footsteps.
0:28:13 > 0:28:20This was a landscape so desolate and terrible a man could be driven mad with thoughts of suicide.
0:28:20 > 0:28:25It made you think that there was no God, that mankind was utterly alone.
0:28:25 > 0:28:29Perhaps here, in the dark heart of the Cuillins,
0:28:29 > 0:28:34the Victorians had found what they were looking for, the real Scotland.
0:28:34 > 0:28:37Ironic, really, because there's nothing here.
0:28:39 > 0:28:45My next Grand Tour sees me on the trail of a healthy mind and body
0:28:45 > 0:28:49as I follow Black's Guide into the elements.
0:29:02 > 0:29:05Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:29:05 > 0:29:07E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk