0:00:04 > 0:00:09Without doubt, one of Scotland's most abundant resources has to be this.
0:00:09 > 0:00:14Magnificent scenery, enormous tracts of beautiful, varied countryside.
0:00:14 > 0:00:19A great outdoors that's attracted tourists and travellers
0:00:19 > 0:00:21for the last 200 years.
0:00:21 > 0:00:26Early visitors came and stood in awe of places like this.
0:00:26 > 0:00:30They still do, of course, but increasingly our mountains,
0:00:30 > 0:00:32lochs and glens have become a sort of
0:00:32 > 0:00:36giant playground where we can escape the pressures of the modern world.
0:00:36 > 0:00:42This is a place that exercises the body and expands the mind.
0:00:45 > 0:00:48In Victorian times, many holidaymakers followed routes
0:00:48 > 0:00:51suggested by the most influential guide book of all -
0:00:51 > 0:00:54Black's Picturesque Guide To Scotland.
0:00:54 > 0:00:58In this series, I'm taking my well-thumbed copy
0:00:58 > 0:01:00of this fascinating book.
0:01:00 > 0:01:03It's been in my family for generation and was always kept
0:01:03 > 0:01:05in the glove compartment of my father's car
0:01:05 > 0:01:07when we went on holiday.
0:01:07 > 0:01:12Now, it's inspired me to make six journeys of my own.
0:01:12 > 0:01:15Letting its pages guide me, I want to retrace the steps
0:01:15 > 0:01:19of the early tourists to find out how Scotland became
0:01:19 > 0:01:21a jewel in the crown of tourist destinations.
0:01:21 > 0:01:25For this journey, I'm on the trail of health and the great outdoors,
0:01:25 > 0:01:30finding out how Scotland's landscape has drawn visitors with the promise
0:01:30 > 0:01:33of improving, mind, body and spirit.
0:01:45 > 0:01:49This grand tour starts on the shores of Loch Tay in Perthshire,
0:01:49 > 0:01:52goes north across the great wilderness of Rannoch Moor,
0:01:52 > 0:01:56through Glencoe and then across Loch Ness and north again
0:01:56 > 0:01:58to the old spa town of Strathpeffer.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03I'm in the picturesque Highland village of Killin,
0:02:03 > 0:02:06which makes the proud boast of being at the centre of Scotland.
0:02:06 > 0:02:09In the 19th century,
0:02:09 > 0:02:12Killin was a hub for road, rail and steamer connections that
0:02:12 > 0:02:15allowed tourists to get away from it all
0:02:15 > 0:02:20and benefit from an escape into Scotland's wilder country.
0:02:20 > 0:02:23When it comes to extolling the virtues of the Scottish landscape,
0:02:23 > 0:02:26my Victorian guide book doesn't hold back.
0:02:26 > 0:02:30Here it says, "There is no country whose ever-changing scenery
0:02:30 > 0:02:33"deserves more reflection than the Highlands of Scotland,
0:02:33 > 0:02:38"and we're bound to exclaim in the words of the modern poet,
0:02:38 > 0:02:40"then hurrah for the Highlands,
0:02:40 > 0:02:42"the stern Scottish Highlands,
0:02:42 > 0:02:45"the home of the clansman, the brave and the free.
0:02:45 > 0:02:49"Where the clouds love to rest on the mountains rough breast,
0:02:49 > 0:02:53"ere they journey afar on the boundless sea."
0:02:53 > 0:02:57But looking at the clouds today, I fear they have not journeyed quite far enough.
0:02:57 > 0:03:01But otherwise, pure genius.
0:03:03 > 0:03:06In Victorian times, it was easy enough for ordinary folk
0:03:06 > 0:03:09to get to this health-giving landscape.
0:03:09 > 0:03:13According to Black's guide, a tourist could leave Edinburgh
0:03:13 > 0:03:19or Glasgow and complete a circular tour to Killin in a single day.
0:03:19 > 0:03:22Until the 1960s, Killin had its own railway station
0:03:22 > 0:03:26and there were regular steam boat services on Loch Tay.
0:03:26 > 0:03:31But the public transport links that once served the village are now all gone.
0:03:31 > 0:03:35Nowadays, tourists and day-trippers usually do the round trip
0:03:35 > 0:03:39from Glasgow by car, or for the more adventurous, by motorbike.
0:03:39 > 0:03:42At a pub overlooking the Falls of Dochart,
0:03:42 > 0:03:47I'm meeting up with members of the Mercury Motorcycle Club.
0:03:47 > 0:03:51Killin is a favourite time-honoured destination.
0:03:51 > 0:03:54In Killin, just now, we hold a rally every year
0:03:54 > 0:03:57and it's certainly a great place to come and visit.
0:03:57 > 0:04:01The people here are lovely and there's a great selection of pubs.
0:04:01 > 0:04:05We love every bit. The west coast has become famous for motorcycles,
0:04:05 > 0:04:07because of the small roads, the islands.
0:04:07 > 0:04:11There's places we've never seen on the west coast, we've never been to.
0:04:11 > 0:04:13And you could take a lifetime to explore it.
0:04:13 > 0:04:15It's really fantastic.
0:04:17 > 0:04:20Giving up on public transport,
0:04:20 > 0:04:24I hitch a ride with the club to continue my journey north.
0:04:24 > 0:04:27Early guide books made the unwise claim that the roads
0:04:27 > 0:04:32to Highland of Scotland are the best and safest in the world.
0:04:32 > 0:04:34Now this was a wildly-exaggerated claim at the time
0:04:34 > 0:04:39and certainly not true now judging by the horrendous potholes
0:04:39 > 0:04:41we encounter on the drive north.
0:04:41 > 0:04:44But it seems that right from the start,
0:04:44 > 0:04:49travel guides were keen to encourage tourists on to Scotland's roads.
0:04:49 > 0:04:53They held out the promise of freedom, of exciting journeys
0:04:53 > 0:04:55through spectacular scenery,
0:04:55 > 0:04:59where there was always something new just around the corner.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02Anyone whose ever driven north from Glasgow to the Highlands
0:05:02 > 0:05:04will recognise this place.
0:05:04 > 0:05:08Tyndrum, which means in Gaelic the house on the hillside.
0:05:08 > 0:05:12Now despite this rather evocative name, I think it's only fair to say
0:05:12 > 0:05:17that Tyndrum is, well, just a wee bit challenged in the picturesque department.
0:05:17 > 0:05:22What most visitors to Tyndrum won't know is that this busy place
0:05:22 > 0:05:25once served the needs of a different sort of tourist.
0:05:25 > 0:05:26Unlikely as it may seem,
0:05:26 > 0:05:30people used to come here for the good of their health.
0:05:30 > 0:05:33For 1,000 years, pilgrims stopped on their way
0:05:33 > 0:05:36to take the waters of a nearby holy well.
0:05:39 > 0:05:43The first person to write about delights of Tyndrum was Sarah Murray.
0:05:43 > 0:05:47In 1796, this redoubtable lady traveller
0:05:47 > 0:05:50spent three months touring the Highlands.
0:05:50 > 0:05:52Forced to shelter from torrential rain,
0:05:52 > 0:05:55she spent an uncomfortable night at a hotel here.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00"There is little to see or admire in Tyndrum.
0:06:00 > 0:06:03"The landlord however wished me to see a holy well
0:06:03 > 0:06:07"near Strathfillan Kirk, whose waters, he told me,
0:06:07 > 0:06:10"cured every disease but that of the purse."
0:06:10 > 0:06:15I love Sarah Murray, she's never afraid to poke fun at her own failings.
0:06:15 > 0:06:19She completely misunderstood the man's Highland accent and thought
0:06:19 > 0:06:23purse must be a Gaelic name for some sort of disease.
0:06:23 > 0:06:26When she asked what purse might mean in English, he said,
0:06:26 > 0:06:30"Money, madam, it will not cure the want of that!"
0:06:30 > 0:06:31Indeed not.
0:06:33 > 0:06:40Just down the road from Tyndrum is the holy well the innkeeper wanted Sarah Murray to see.
0:06:40 > 0:06:44As a Highland version of the healing grotto of Lourdes,
0:06:44 > 0:06:46St Fillan's is a bit disappointing.
0:06:46 > 0:06:49But in the years before the Reformation,
0:06:49 > 0:06:51the priory of St Fillan stood nearby
0:06:51 > 0:06:55and pilgrims flocked here in the hope of a cure.
0:06:55 > 0:07:00The holy pool is actually on a bend in the river, but traffic
0:07:00 > 0:07:02on the busy A82 just over there
0:07:02 > 0:07:07does tend to undermine any religious atmosphere you might get.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10But this is where pilgrims in the Middle Ages came,
0:07:10 > 0:07:11looking for a cure.
0:07:11 > 0:07:16Now the holy pool was reputed to cure a range of diseases,
0:07:16 > 0:07:21but was particularly beneficial to those suffering from mental illness.
0:07:21 > 0:07:25I sometimes think that the cure was actually worse than the affliction.
0:07:25 > 0:07:29The poor patient, if you can call him that, was first bound
0:07:29 > 0:07:34hand and foot and then thrown into the icy waters of the pool.
0:07:34 > 0:07:38You might think it's an early form of shock therapy.
0:07:43 > 0:07:47Running close to the holy well of St Fillan is the West Highland Way,
0:07:47 > 0:07:50Scotland's most popular long-distance path,
0:07:50 > 0:07:53where modern pilgrims and devotees of healthy living
0:07:53 > 0:07:57can be seen making their way from the outskirts of Glasgow in the south,
0:07:57 > 0:08:05to Fort William in the north, a distance of 96 hard Highland miles.
0:08:05 > 0:08:08Now it often seems to me that distances in the Highlands
0:08:08 > 0:08:11are different from distances in other parts of the country.
0:08:11 > 0:08:13Especially if you're on foot.
0:08:13 > 0:08:19As the day wears on, the miles seem to grow longer and longer and longer.
0:08:19 > 0:08:24Now interestingly, this might not just be subjective experience.
0:08:24 > 0:08:27In the past, travellers were often amazed at how long it would take
0:08:27 > 0:08:30them to get from one place to another.
0:08:30 > 0:08:35They didn't realise that Scots miles were longer than southern ones.
0:08:35 > 0:08:41In fact, the lang Scots mile was 176¾ yards
0:08:41 > 0:08:44longer than the English mile.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50North of Tyndrum, the route of the West Highland Way
0:08:50 > 0:08:53follows the old military road, built by General Wade
0:08:53 > 0:08:57after the Jacobite rebellion of 1715.
0:08:57 > 0:09:03The road was designed to provide easy access into the remoter parts of the Highlands.
0:09:03 > 0:09:06This was a wild place.
0:09:06 > 0:09:10And still is, which is why, for me, it is so attractive.
0:09:10 > 0:09:12But back in 1865,
0:09:12 > 0:09:17Black's guide describes this area in forbidding terms
0:09:17 > 0:09:22as a wild, dreary desolation, a wasteland without trees.
0:09:22 > 0:09:26Travelling across the wilds of Rannoch Moor on foot
0:09:26 > 0:09:29or in a carriage was tough going.
0:09:31 > 0:09:34Eventually, of course, places like Rannoch Moor
0:09:34 > 0:09:36stopped being seen as forbidding.
0:09:36 > 0:09:40I'm meeting up with geographer, Hayden Lorimer to find out
0:09:40 > 0:09:43how this magnificent scenery was transformed
0:09:43 > 0:09:47into a poplar destination for tourists and travellers.
0:09:48 > 0:09:53Scotland was changing a great deal in the 1920s.
0:09:53 > 0:09:59Prior to the 1920s, the Highlands had been largely the preserve
0:09:59 > 0:10:03of the rich and the landed and the titled.
0:10:03 > 0:10:07- The hunting, shooting brigade?- The hunting and shooting, brigade, yes.
0:10:07 > 0:10:10In 1919, there was still something approaching
0:10:10 > 0:10:153.5 million acres of land given over to sporting estates in the Highlands.
0:10:18 > 0:10:20But there was revolution in the air.
0:10:20 > 0:10:24The combination of cheap fares and increasing leisure time
0:10:24 > 0:10:26brought the masses to the wild places.
0:10:26 > 0:10:29For the first time in history,
0:10:29 > 0:10:33ordinary working people discovered a new kind of freedom.
0:10:33 > 0:10:37Both in the landscape and more interestingly in politics.
0:10:37 > 0:10:42Some of the people coming out of Glasgow and the west of Scotland
0:10:42 > 0:10:46carried with them radical politic ideas.
0:10:46 > 0:10:50These were people who had spent time working in the shipyards,
0:10:50 > 0:10:52in engineering works,
0:10:52 > 0:10:55and were great espousers of socialist ideology.
0:10:55 > 0:11:01So these were working people coming into the hills with ideological baggage, as well as tents?
0:11:01 > 0:11:04That's right, folks who were coming up from Red Clydeside
0:11:04 > 0:11:08certainly didn't like the idea that a very small number of people
0:11:08 > 0:11:13could own and dominate, control such a large proportion of the country.
0:11:13 > 0:11:18So socialism actually had its play in the landscape here, too.
0:11:18 > 0:11:22I think it not too much of an overstatement to say this was a place
0:11:22 > 0:11:25for social revolution to take place.
0:11:26 > 0:11:31Walkers and ramblers took on the big landowners and the sporting estates,
0:11:31 > 0:11:33eventually winning the right to roam.
0:11:33 > 0:11:37And all of us who enjoy the great outdoors today owe
0:11:37 > 0:11:40a debt of gratitude to those early pioneers -
0:11:40 > 0:11:44men and women who fought for the right to tramp the hills,
0:11:44 > 0:11:48a pleasure I've enjoyed ever since I was a teenager.
0:11:54 > 0:11:56This is Buachaille Etive Mor,
0:11:56 > 0:11:59an iconic mountain guarding the entrance to Glencoe.
0:11:59 > 0:12:04For the me, it's a view that's bound up with boyhood adventure.
0:12:04 > 0:12:08Now this is something I've not done since I was 15 or so.
0:12:08 > 0:12:12On a Friday night after school, I'd hitchhike up to here
0:12:12 > 0:12:16to Glencoe and pitch my wee tent beside the Jacksonville bothy
0:12:16 > 0:12:18on the other side of the river.
0:12:18 > 0:12:22That bothy was built by members of the notorious Creagh Dhu Climbing Club,
0:12:22 > 0:12:27whose members were really hardcore mountaineers and a lot of them were
0:12:27 > 0:12:30shipyard workers on Clydeside.
0:12:30 > 0:12:34Now legend has it that if you ever went inside that bothy,
0:12:34 > 0:12:37without their invitation, you would rue the day.
0:12:37 > 0:12:41Which I why I very sensibly always camped.
0:12:43 > 0:12:47For ordinary people, camping was a wonderful liberator,
0:12:47 > 0:12:50an affordable way to experience the great outdoors.
0:12:50 > 0:12:55As a youngster, I travelled all over Scotland with my tent on my back.
0:12:55 > 0:12:59It gave me enormous freedom and although Black's guide suggests
0:12:59 > 0:13:01some bracing walks,
0:13:01 > 0:13:05my own inspiration lay in the pages of a different book.
0:13:05 > 0:13:09Fortunately, I've managed to get the tent up before the rain's come on.
0:13:09 > 0:13:12But this is what I looked forward to all week as a schoolboy,
0:13:12 > 0:13:14it might be hard to imagine now.
0:13:14 > 0:13:17This was my inspiration.
0:13:17 > 0:13:21A magnificent book called Mountaineering In Scotland
0:13:21 > 0:13:23by my hero at the time, WH Murray.
0:13:23 > 0:13:27The reason why so many kids like me were bitten by the mountain bug
0:13:27 > 0:13:29and tomorrow, weather permitting,
0:13:29 > 0:13:33I hope to recapture some of that mountain magic.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41The following morning dawns with the usual cloud and rain.
0:13:41 > 0:13:45A damp start to my proposed ascent of Buachaille Etive Mor
0:13:45 > 0:13:49with professional mountain guide, Dave Cuthbertson.
0:13:49 > 0:13:52Mr Cuthbertson, how are you, sir?
0:13:52 > 0:13:55'Even before we can think of starting the climb proper,'
0:13:55 > 0:13:59there is an hour of lung-busting toil to the base of Curved Ridge.
0:13:59 > 0:14:04Scotland's mountains might be small, but they can be steep and punishing
0:14:04 > 0:14:08and I'm reminded of how Victorian guide books
0:14:08 > 0:14:12described the awesome spectacle of Scottish mountains.
0:14:13 > 0:14:17"We have wandered the Highlands with the citizens of Switzerland
0:14:17 > 0:14:19"and although their own hills are higher,
0:14:19 > 0:14:22"they have declared with enthusiastic rapture
0:14:22 > 0:14:25"that the mountains of Scotland outrival them
0:14:25 > 0:14:29"in point of variety and changefulness of aspect."
0:14:33 > 0:14:36Inspired by our own mountains, well-to-do Victorian climbers
0:14:36 > 0:14:41scaled the summits, clad in tweeds and hobnail boots.
0:14:41 > 0:14:45As we stop to rope-up, I ask Dave how things have changed
0:14:45 > 0:14:49since the days of gentleman climbers like my hero, WH Murray,
0:14:49 > 0:14:52who developed the sport in the 1930s.
0:14:52 > 0:14:54After WH Murray's time,
0:14:54 > 0:14:57the likes of the young Glasgow working-class climbers,
0:14:57 > 0:15:00particularly those of the Creagh Dhu,
0:15:00 > 0:15:04really started to make their presence here in Glencoe
0:15:04 > 0:15:08and moved away from the more traditional obvious features
0:15:08 > 0:15:11that had been developed by the likes of WH Murray,
0:15:11 > 0:15:14and on to the much steeper walls between.
0:15:14 > 0:15:17Interestingly enough,
0:15:17 > 0:15:21the Creagh Dhu were responsible for an incredible rise
0:15:21 > 0:15:23in Scottish rock climbing standards,
0:15:23 > 0:15:27predominantly by working classes, I suppose.
0:15:33 > 0:15:37Our route on Curved Ridge takes us into the rocky heart of the Buchaille.
0:15:37 > 0:15:41It was up here on the big walls and buttresses above us
0:15:41 > 0:15:46that working-class climbers tested themselves on the mountain,
0:15:46 > 0:15:48forging harder and harder routes.
0:15:48 > 0:15:51I haven't been up here since I was 17
0:15:51 > 0:15:54and it's something of a personal pilgrimage.
0:15:54 > 0:15:57This is where I learned the rudiments of climbing
0:15:57 > 0:16:01and looking at the awe-inspiring scenery around me,
0:16:01 > 0:16:04I have considerable respect for my younger self.
0:16:04 > 0:16:07Eventually we reach the summit of Crowberry Tower,
0:16:07 > 0:16:10a magnificent end to a classic day out.
0:16:10 > 0:16:13After all these years, it's great to get back in touch with
0:16:13 > 0:16:17the mountain that filled me with such awe and excitement as a boy.
0:16:17 > 0:16:21I think that's part of the attraction, isn't it?
0:16:21 > 0:16:25It's that sort of strange element of the unknown.
0:16:25 > 0:16:29Although the climb may have been done before,
0:16:29 > 0:16:31or it may not have been done before,
0:16:31 > 0:16:36that is part of the attraction, to explore the unknown
0:16:36 > 0:16:40and to, in your own way, feel that you are pioneering.
0:16:40 > 0:16:42It's very rewarding.
0:16:48 > 0:16:50On a day like today, one of the greatest rewards
0:16:50 > 0:16:55has to be the fantastic views across the vast expanse of Rannoch Moor.
0:16:55 > 0:16:59From up here, the tourist traffic on the busy A82 looks tiny
0:16:59 > 0:17:04and insignificant as it enters the dramatic scenery of Glencoe.
0:17:04 > 0:17:08In 1796, tourists were almost unknown
0:17:08 > 0:17:11this far from the lowland cities.
0:17:13 > 0:17:14In Sarah Murray's day,
0:17:14 > 0:17:17the road beyond the King's House Hotel
0:17:17 > 0:17:19was too rough for her carriage.
0:17:19 > 0:17:23Ever resourceful, she hitched a lift in a peat cart.
0:17:23 > 0:17:25In this undignified conveyance,
0:17:25 > 0:17:29she made her way through the wild and romantic glen.
0:17:29 > 0:17:33"Huge towers of rock forming a multitude of stages to the greatest height,
0:17:33 > 0:17:40"the whole mass appears an immense and inaccessible ruin of the finest architecture,
0:17:40 > 0:17:46"mouldering, defaced and become uneven by the vast lapse of time."
0:17:46 > 0:17:51Quite simply, this is a place of superlatives
0:17:51 > 0:17:54and there is nothing quite like this anywhere else in mainland Britain.
0:17:54 > 0:17:59Traffic passing through Glencoe slows down not because the road
0:17:59 > 0:18:01is dangerous in any particular way,
0:18:01 > 0:18:06but simply because drivers and passengers can't resist admiring
0:18:06 > 0:18:08this fantastic landscape.
0:18:15 > 0:18:18Most modern visitors reach for their cameras when they get here,
0:18:18 > 0:18:22but ever since Sarah Murray bumped and rattled her way through the glen,
0:18:22 > 0:18:27writers and artists have been inspired by what they saw.
0:18:27 > 0:18:30The landscape artist Horatio McCulloch came here.
0:18:30 > 0:18:32Images like his became icons,
0:18:32 > 0:18:36encapsulating the magical essence of the Highlands.
0:18:36 > 0:18:43Art made Glencoe a must-see destination on the tourist trail for 200 years.
0:18:46 > 0:18:48Leaving the glories of Glencoe,
0:18:48 > 0:18:51my route takes me north to Fort William.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54In Black's day, most tourists would have made the trip by steamer
0:18:54 > 0:18:57before sailing through the Caledonian Canal,
0:18:57 > 0:19:02an inland waterway that connects Fort William to Inverness.
0:19:04 > 0:19:09This is Neptune's Staircase, the entrance to the Caledonian Canal.
0:19:09 > 0:19:13Completed in 1822 and designed by the great Scottish engineering
0:19:13 > 0:19:18genius Thomas Telford, the staircase is a series of eight locks
0:19:18 > 0:19:22that lift boats 70ft above sea level.
0:19:22 > 0:19:25While tourists were encouraged to admire the genius
0:19:25 > 0:19:28of Victorian science and engineering that had made
0:19:28 > 0:19:33all this possible, the Queen herself was less than impressed.
0:19:33 > 0:19:36Sailing through Neptune's Staircase in 1873,
0:19:36 > 0:19:40Victoria found the whole business exceedingly tedious.
0:19:40 > 0:19:44To make matters worse, curious spectators were able to look down
0:19:44 > 0:19:48upon Her Majesty as she sailed below.
0:19:48 > 0:19:53Remarking on this role reversal, the young Queen was overheard to say,
0:19:53 > 0:19:57"We are not amused".
0:20:00 > 0:20:05The canal enters the southern end of the celebrated Loch Ness.
0:20:05 > 0:20:09There's more freshwater here than in all lakes of England and Wales put together.
0:20:09 > 0:20:14Today, Loch Ness is synonymous the world over with the monster.
0:20:14 > 0:20:20In fact, Nessie has made Loch Ness the most famous lake in the world.
0:20:20 > 0:20:23But what's striking is that neither Sarah Murray nor Black's guide
0:20:23 > 0:20:25make any mention of a mysterious beast
0:20:25 > 0:20:28lurking in the 800ft deep loch.
0:20:30 > 0:20:32I've joined Adrian Shine,
0:20:32 > 0:20:35who has studied the Loch Ness monster since the early 1970s,
0:20:35 > 0:20:39to find out when the modern myth of Nessie began.
0:20:39 > 0:20:44It was in 1933 that the manageress of the Drumnadrochit Hotel,
0:20:44 > 0:20:48now the Loch Ness Centre where the museum is,
0:20:48 > 0:20:51was driving back from Inverness when she saw something
0:20:51 > 0:20:54and yelled to her husband, "Stop! The Beast!"
0:20:54 > 0:20:55"The beast"?
0:20:55 > 0:20:58"The beast." Not, "Stop, you beast."
0:20:58 > 0:21:01"The beast." Which shows, there was a tradition,
0:21:01 > 0:21:04there was something that she knew about.
0:21:04 > 0:21:09Of course, you could say it's rather suspicious that it was a hotelier.
0:21:09 > 0:21:13Exactly, it's a bit of a conspiracy amongst hoteliers to boost
0:21:13 > 0:21:17the popularity of Loch Ness by inventing a Loch Ness monster.
0:21:17 > 0:21:21I had the privilege of meeting Mrs Mackay many years later.
0:21:21 > 0:21:25It turned out that she actually tried to conceal her story.
0:21:27 > 0:21:32Despite Mrs Mackay's reticence, the press got to hear about the beast.
0:21:32 > 0:21:35A series of silly-season articles quickly followed
0:21:35 > 0:21:37and Nessie was born,
0:21:37 > 0:21:40along with a string of photographs
0:21:40 > 0:21:42that seemed to show something in the loch.
0:21:42 > 0:21:45Adrian, you've studied this loch for the last 35 years.
0:21:45 > 0:21:49What conclusions have you come to about the authenticity of
0:21:49 > 0:21:54the legend, or whether there is in fact something living here?
0:21:54 > 0:21:59Well, eye witnesses are sincere and my problem is that 1,000 people
0:21:59 > 0:22:02have left recorded sighting reports.
0:22:02 > 0:22:05People you would trust in your everyday life,
0:22:05 > 0:22:07people who are sober,
0:22:07 > 0:22:11and they insist they've seen large creatures here.
0:22:11 > 0:22:15Yet science can't find them.
0:22:15 > 0:22:21From what Adrian is saying, it seems to me that Nessie belongs to the realm of myth and legend,
0:22:21 > 0:22:25feeding humanity's hunger for the mysterious and the unexplained.
0:22:25 > 0:22:29Loch Ness is a lost world in the same way
0:22:29 > 0:22:34that Jules Verne's great cavern under the earth was a lost world.
0:22:34 > 0:22:39The idea of such a thing still being with us, something so mysterious,
0:22:39 > 0:22:42so elusive, and yet, potentially, so terrible,
0:22:42 > 0:22:45I think appeals to something deep in human nature.
0:22:48 > 0:22:50From the mysterious waters of Loch Ness,
0:22:50 > 0:22:54my journey takes me over the hills to the Beauly Firth,
0:22:54 > 0:22:57where I join the route of a railway line that once took
0:22:57 > 0:23:00health-seeking Victorians to the village of Strathpeffer.
0:23:08 > 0:23:10Although the station is still here,
0:23:10 > 0:23:13the railway line that once connected it to the outside world
0:23:13 > 0:23:16has long gone, and my dramatic arrival
0:23:16 > 0:23:20is literally all smoke and mirrors, to give the impression
0:23:20 > 0:23:25of an busy railway station at the height of a great Victorian craze -
0:23:25 > 0:23:27taking the waters.
0:23:30 > 0:23:33Now a museum, the station once saw 20 trains a day arriving
0:23:33 > 0:23:37and departing with visitors queuing up to receive the benefits
0:23:37 > 0:23:40of drinking water saturated with mineral salts -
0:23:40 > 0:23:43a practice begun in Continental Europe,
0:23:43 > 0:23:46it spread to Britain in the 19th century.
0:23:46 > 0:23:50Elevated to a medical science, it became very fashionable
0:23:50 > 0:23:54to seek a spa cure for a host of medical conditions.
0:23:54 > 0:23:59In Scotland, Strathpeffer was the premier Highland resort.
0:23:59 > 0:24:04Today, Strathpeffer is no longer a spa,
0:24:04 > 0:24:08but the glory days have left their mark in the architecture of the town.
0:24:08 > 0:24:12Behind me is the Spa Pavilion, where all kinds of musical events
0:24:12 > 0:24:16were put on for the benefit of patients and their friends.
0:24:16 > 0:24:19Over there is the Pump Room, which is just about the only place
0:24:19 > 0:24:25in town where you can still get a good drink...of water, that is.
0:24:28 > 0:24:33Nowadays, the Pump Room is a curious combination of museum and bicycle hire shop.
0:24:33 > 0:24:37Among the exhibits, some of which seem in need of a reviving glass,
0:24:37 > 0:24:40I'm meeting up with historian Alastair Durie
0:24:40 > 0:24:44to learn more about the science formerly known as hydrotherapy.
0:24:44 > 0:24:48This is one of many such resorts
0:24:48 > 0:24:50throughout all of Europe in the 19th century.
0:24:50 > 0:24:54It looks like a bar here. We've got - what's that? Iron well.
0:24:54 > 0:24:56They're arranged in order of strength.
0:24:56 > 0:24:59The strongest here, the weakest down there,
0:24:59 > 0:25:02in terms of how much sulphur is in the water.
0:25:02 > 0:25:06That would help a doctor to schedule which treatment you would get.
0:25:06 > 0:25:09Do you want to try some?
0:25:09 > 0:25:15I think since I've made the effort to come this far I should have a wee sip, at least.
0:25:15 > 0:25:18Well, it should be said that this is supposed to be good,
0:25:18 > 0:25:22according to the label on the bottle -
0:25:22 > 0:25:26"Excellent against any lethargy of the body."
0:25:26 > 0:25:28So, that should cover everything.
0:25:33 > 0:25:37The ideal patient was one who needed regular treatment.
0:25:37 > 0:25:41An annual three-week break was quite often prescribed by doctors,
0:25:41 > 0:25:44with the patient's best interests at heart, of course!
0:25:44 > 0:25:47But not everyone was so impressed.
0:25:47 > 0:25:52The writer Robert Louis Stevenson wrote bitterly about his experience.
0:25:52 > 0:25:56"A beastly place inhabited by a wholly bestial crowd."
0:25:56 > 0:26:00Oh, dear - not much of an endorsement there!
0:26:00 > 0:26:02Do you notice an aroma?
0:26:02 > 0:26:04- Rotten eggs.- Yes.
0:26:04 > 0:26:07No doubt about that at all.
0:26:08 > 0:26:11And it tastes...
0:26:11 > 0:26:16Strange. A bit like a flat old ale.
0:26:16 > 0:26:18Right, brilliant.
0:26:18 > 0:26:20To be honest, this is just a glass of smelly water.
0:26:20 > 0:26:24It's not going to cure anybody, is it? It's all psychosomatic.
0:26:24 > 0:26:27There are two things about this.
0:26:27 > 0:26:31Firstly, there are people where it doesn't really matter what you give them,
0:26:31 > 0:26:34it's if they believe it's going to do them good.
0:26:34 > 0:26:39Secondly, there are conditions which are genuinely helped by these chemicals.
0:26:39 > 0:26:43- Right.- Don't forget also that this is just one part,
0:26:43 > 0:26:47it's the most important part of the regime.
0:26:47 > 0:26:50You're also getting baths, you're getting massage,
0:26:50 > 0:26:51you're getting showers.
0:26:51 > 0:26:57All of these things would help with treating things like skin conditions and whatever.
0:26:57 > 0:27:00Excellent. I think you should try some of this, Alastair.
0:27:04 > 0:27:06Perfect. I won't need any more for some time.
0:27:06 > 0:27:09I don't think you want any more for some time!
0:27:09 > 0:27:14It's sometimes amazing to think that patients survived the cures
0:27:14 > 0:27:16that were prescribed at the spa.
0:27:16 > 0:27:20These later included therapies that used electric shocks and radiation,
0:27:20 > 0:27:22all for the good of your health.
0:27:22 > 0:27:27But ultimately, the fate of Strathpeffer was determined
0:27:27 > 0:27:32by something beyond the control of doctors and therapists - fashion.
0:27:33 > 0:27:36People eventually got bored with the whole idea
0:27:36 > 0:27:40of spas and health resorts and advances in modern medicine,
0:27:40 > 0:27:42especially the discovery of antibiotics,
0:27:42 > 0:27:47made taking the waters seem somehow primitive and old fashioned.
0:27:51 > 0:27:55All this talk of health makes me feel in need of some therapy
0:27:55 > 0:27:58of my own, and as I head for the nearest bar,
0:27:58 > 0:28:01I reflect on how so many of us can be easily persuaded
0:28:01 > 0:28:03by health fads of one kind or another.
0:28:03 > 0:28:05In medieval times,
0:28:05 > 0:28:10lunatics hoped for a cure by immersion in St Fillan's Well.
0:28:10 > 0:28:16In the 1890s, people believed in the benefits of sulphurous water.
0:28:16 > 0:28:20In the 1930s, my grandmother was told by her doctor no less
0:28:20 > 0:28:23that smoking was actually good for her.
0:28:23 > 0:28:27Personally, I've always been inclined to believe in the benefits
0:28:27 > 0:28:31of vigorous exercise in Scotland's great outdoors,
0:28:31 > 0:28:36followed, of course, by a life-affirming pint of beer.
0:28:36 > 0:28:38Your good health.
0:28:38 > 0:28:40On my next grand tour,
0:28:40 > 0:28:43I'm in search of perfect isolation
0:28:43 > 0:28:46in the elemental beauty of the far north.
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