0:00:03 > 0:00:07The Grampian Mountains - the granite heart of the Highlands,
0:00:07 > 0:00:11a picture postcard landscape of magnificent summits,
0:00:11 > 0:00:16clear running rivers, dark forests and sheltered lochs.
0:00:16 > 0:00:19Everything that defines the holiday image of Scotland
0:00:19 > 0:00:22can be found amongst these hills and glens.
0:00:22 > 0:00:27For over 250 years, tourists have been coming to the Highlands
0:00:27 > 0:00:32to enjoy this spectacular scenery. But on beating a path north,
0:00:32 > 0:00:37these same tourists have help change for ever the very things they came to admire -
0:00:37 > 0:00:42the culture, the landscape and, above all, the charms of nature.
0:00:45 > 0:00:47In this series, I'm retracing the routes
0:00:47 > 0:00:51taken by some of the first tourists to Scotland.
0:00:51 > 0:00:56From as early as 1820, publishers began printing guide books
0:00:56 > 0:00:59showcasing the glories of the countryside.
0:00:59 > 0:01:03Black's Picturesque Guide To Scotland was one of the first,
0:01:03 > 0:01:06and a copy has been in my family for generations.
0:01:06 > 0:01:11It was always in the glove compartment of my father's car
0:01:11 > 0:01:12when we went on holiday.
0:01:12 > 0:01:16Now, four decades on, I'm letting Black's guide me again.
0:01:16 > 0:01:21On my grand tour, I'll also discover the works of some early travel writers
0:01:21 > 0:01:24who came to Scotland to appreciate the charms of nature.
0:01:37 > 0:01:40My journey starts in a sequestered glen,
0:01:40 > 0:01:43discovers the delights of two-wheel travel,
0:01:43 > 0:01:48and uncovers the wildlife riches of Scotland's biggest national park.
0:01:48 > 0:01:52All compelling reasons for tourists to flock to the Highlands.
0:01:52 > 0:01:56To the admirer of nature, says Black's,
0:01:56 > 0:02:00"No part of Europe affords more varied landscape than Scotland,
0:02:00 > 0:02:05"whose incomparable scenery induces vast numbers of foreigners
0:02:05 > 0:02:09"to visit the land of gleaming lakes and healthy mountains."
0:02:09 > 0:02:16Sounds to me as if the hills were alive to the sound of tourists even then.
0:02:18 > 0:02:23Now, what was true in the 19th century is even truer today.
0:02:23 > 0:02:28In fact, in some places, tourism has almost reached saturation point
0:02:28 > 0:02:33and tourists are in danger of damaging the very thing they came to see -
0:02:33 > 0:02:36nature in all its charming beauty.
0:02:38 > 0:02:42This is Glen Lyon, which is described by my guide
0:02:42 > 0:02:45as one of the loveliest glens in the Highlands.
0:02:45 > 0:02:50To keep my impact on the environment to an absolute minimum,
0:02:50 > 0:02:53I've opted for an appropriately green form of transport -
0:02:53 > 0:02:58- this magnificent old Humber bicycle complete with a bell. - BELL RINGS
0:02:58 > 0:03:03How about that? Now I'm off.
0:03:05 > 0:03:08With bicycle clips and bonnet firmly in place,
0:03:08 > 0:03:12I'm all set to enjoy the charms of Glen Lyon,
0:03:12 > 0:03:17which Black's guide book dubiously claims to be located at the centre of Scotland.
0:03:17 > 0:03:21But I have to agree with Black's description of the road I'm taking.
0:03:21 > 0:03:25"This new road opens up the beauties of the ravine.
0:03:25 > 0:03:31"As we proceed up the glen, we catch glimpses through the tree-clad banks of the stream,
0:03:31 > 0:03:34"now leaping sportfully from crag to crag,
0:03:34 > 0:03:37"now smoothed in clear black pools."
0:03:37 > 0:03:42I can see why Black's was inspired to verse. It's lovely.
0:03:45 > 0:03:48Cycling down glorious Glen Lyon,
0:03:48 > 0:03:51I come to the picturesque village of Fortingall.
0:03:51 > 0:03:54The thatched roofs strike an odd note of bucolic Englishness
0:03:54 > 0:03:57in the heart of the Scottish Highlands,
0:03:57 > 0:04:00but there's been a long history of incomers
0:04:00 > 0:04:04in this part of rural Perthshire.
0:04:04 > 0:04:08In fact, the name Fortingall is derived from an old Gaelic word
0:04:08 > 0:04:12meaning "the fort of the strangers". Accordingly to local legend,
0:04:12 > 0:04:16the strangers were once soldiers from the legions of Rome.
0:04:16 > 0:04:20If this tale is true, then it would suggest that Fortingall
0:04:20 > 0:04:24has been on the map for at least 2,500 years or so,
0:04:24 > 0:04:29and incredible as it may seem, there's living proof to back up the story,
0:04:29 > 0:04:32and you can find it right here in this graveyard.
0:04:34 > 0:04:36'Forester Mike Strachan leads me
0:04:36 > 0:04:41'to a special enclosure where I'm given privileged access
0:04:41 > 0:04:45'to a yew tree so ancient that it's in all the record books.
0:04:45 > 0:04:47'Beneath its venerable branches, Mike tells me more.'
0:04:49 > 0:04:52Mike, how old is this amazing tree?
0:04:52 > 0:04:57Well, estimates vary from 3,000 to 4,000 to 5,000...
0:04:57 > 0:04:586,000 7,000, 8,000.
0:04:58 > 0:05:01But I think the conservative approach
0:05:01 > 0:05:03is to give it 5,000 years anyway.
0:05:03 > 0:05:07There's a lot of archaeological information locally that would support that.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10So this tree would have been here if the Romans were here?
0:05:10 > 0:05:12It was definitely here when the Romans were.
0:05:12 > 0:05:16We know that people were living here at least 4,500 years ago,
0:05:16 > 0:05:18and the Romans were here 2,000 years ago.
0:05:20 > 0:05:25Long before monks built the first church here 1,200 years ago,
0:05:25 > 0:05:29the yew tree was scared to pagan Celts, who helped ensure its protection.
0:05:29 > 0:05:31They used it for medicinal purposes.
0:05:31 > 0:05:35You needed it for your longbows and arrows, and the oldest piece
0:05:35 > 0:05:38of longbow that we know from Scotland is about 6,000 years old.
0:05:38 > 0:05:40- Found in a bog in Dumfries.- Oh.
0:05:40 > 0:05:42So yew has been a very, very important tree.
0:05:42 > 0:05:47I know there's a legend that connects this tree and the story of Christ.
0:05:47 > 0:05:50Well, yes, that's correct.
0:05:50 > 0:05:56The Romans sent an emperor here to visit the Scottish king - Metallanus at the time.
0:05:56 > 0:06:00And the envoy, the Roman envoy, that came was a bit friendly with some of the local women.
0:06:00 > 0:06:04They had a child. The child was allegedly born under this tree.
0:06:04 > 0:06:09And then they went back to Rome, and that child is allegedly Pontius Pilate.
0:06:12 > 0:06:16So Pontius Pilate, who infamously ordered the crucifixion of Christ,
0:06:16 > 0:06:20once played in the branches of this yew tree.
0:06:20 > 0:06:23But Mike is rightly sceptical of the story.
0:06:23 > 0:06:28Jesus died 13 years before the Romans even arrived in Britain.
0:06:28 > 0:06:30But one thing is true.
0:06:30 > 0:06:35For millennia, countless visitors have taken their toll.
0:06:35 > 0:06:41Today's tourist sees only a shell of this once mighty sacred tree.
0:06:41 > 0:06:43There are stories that over the last 300 years,
0:06:43 > 0:06:49people have collected souvenirs from the tree and cut bits down, made bits of furniture.
0:06:49 > 0:06:54There are talks of Hallowe'en fires and people driving through in coaches and horses.
0:06:54 > 0:06:58In some ways, I suppose, you could argue that this tree
0:06:58 > 0:07:03is an early example of the impact of tourism on the environment.
0:07:03 > 0:07:07Well, it is, yes, you're quite right. But in terms of tourism...
0:07:07 > 0:07:13I mean, this tree has been visited by people for 1,000, 2,000, 5,000 years.
0:07:13 > 0:07:17Is this perhaps the most visited and longest visited attraction in Scotland?
0:07:21 > 0:07:26Back in the saddle, it's downhill all the way to Aberfeldy,
0:07:26 > 0:07:30a town whose proud boast it is to be the very centre of Scotland.
0:07:32 > 0:07:35According to some tourist literature that I've read,
0:07:35 > 0:07:39Aberfeldy's claim to be at the geographic centre of Scotland
0:07:39 > 0:07:44can be demonstrated using this - a cut-out map of Scotland - and a pen.
0:07:44 > 0:07:48Now, the idea is that you balance the map on the tip of the pen,
0:07:48 > 0:07:51and the point at which you get a perfect balance
0:07:51 > 0:07:53is the exact geographic centre
0:07:53 > 0:07:59of Scotland, which I reckon could be anywhere
0:07:59 > 0:08:03within a 50-mile radius of Aberfeldy. So who knows?
0:08:05 > 0:08:10But Aberfeldy's fame doesn't merely rest on the dubious claim
0:08:10 > 0:08:13to be the most perfectly balanced town in Scotland.
0:08:13 > 0:08:17It was a visit by the poet Robert Burns that brought the town
0:08:17 > 0:08:18to public attention.
0:08:18 > 0:08:21Burns was captivated,
0:08:21 > 0:08:24not as he usually was by the charms of some young lady,
0:08:24 > 0:08:28but by the woods and waterfalls lying above the town.
0:08:28 > 0:08:32And he immortalises this in his poem The Birks O' Aberfeldy.
0:08:32 > 0:08:36And ever since, tourists have been making a pilgrimage here
0:08:36 > 0:08:39to see the source of his poetical inspiration.
0:08:43 > 0:08:46"The braes ascend like lofty wa's,
0:08:46 > 0:08:49"The foaming stream, deep-roaring fa's,
0:08:49 > 0:08:53"O'er-hung wi' fragrant spreading shaws,
0:08:53 > 0:08:55"The Birks of Aberfeldy."
0:08:55 > 0:09:00It's a curious thing, but the birch trees of the poem have almost all gone,
0:09:00 > 0:09:02as they had in Black's day,
0:09:02 > 0:09:07which says that they had been superseded almost entirely by rowan.
0:09:07 > 0:09:11It seems the environment was changing even then.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18The waterfall at the Birks o' Aberfeldy
0:09:18 > 0:09:23is just one of literally dozens of cascades mentioned by Black's,
0:09:23 > 0:09:27and it's a striking feature of early tourism
0:09:27 > 0:09:32that waterfalls generally exercised a powerful influence over the Victorian imagination.
0:09:32 > 0:09:35Early tourists loved waterfalls.
0:09:35 > 0:09:38They simply couldn't get enough of them,
0:09:38 > 0:09:41and the bigger and more powerful they were, the better.
0:09:41 > 0:09:45There was an irresistible appeal in the sight of a river in spate
0:09:45 > 0:09:47crashing over the rocks.
0:09:50 > 0:09:55My own favourite early tourist, Sarah Murray, was a waterfall addict.
0:09:55 > 0:10:00Writing in 1796, she seemed to find something more than just excitement
0:10:00 > 0:10:03in watching the foaming power of water.
0:10:03 > 0:10:06"The noise was beyond belief,
0:10:06 > 0:10:11"and the spray deprived me of my sight and breath.
0:10:11 > 0:10:14"Every now, I was by intervals enabled to look
0:10:14 > 0:10:19"and to breathe, to admire and, I might say, almost adore."
0:10:19 > 0:10:24Post Sigmund Freud and his weird world of psychic sexual symbolism,
0:10:24 > 0:10:27I think most of us would feel too self-conscious
0:10:27 > 0:10:31to describe our relationship with water quite like this.
0:10:31 > 0:10:35But white, foaming cascades still have a power to thrill
0:10:35 > 0:10:39and in ways that Sarah Murray could never have conceived.
0:10:41 > 0:10:44Just downstream from Aberfeldy, the beautiful River Tay
0:10:44 > 0:10:49changes from a languidly flowing river into a series of rapids
0:10:49 > 0:10:54where I've come to experience the modern challenge of white-water rafting.
0:10:57 > 0:10:59Now first positions.
0:11:01 > 0:11:03And paddle forward.
0:11:13 > 0:11:15'This is a breath-taking experience,
0:11:15 > 0:11:19'and for a moment, I become almost like Sarah Murray,
0:11:19 > 0:11:23'gasping in moist adoration of my watery surroundings.
0:11:25 > 0:11:31'Fortunately, I pull myself together before I get too carried away.'
0:11:34 > 0:11:36Paddles up in the air!
0:11:36 > 0:11:38'Once we've got the rapids behind us,
0:11:38 > 0:11:40'I have a chance to catch my breath
0:11:40 > 0:11:43'and to chat to rafting guide Dee MacDermott
0:11:43 > 0:11:45'about the benefits of an outdoor lifestyle.'
0:11:45 > 0:11:49- What is the thrill, really? - It's just adrenalin.
0:11:49 > 0:11:50All adrenalin sports...
0:11:50 > 0:11:53I think, if you're into that kind of thing anyway,
0:11:53 > 0:11:55if you're into an outdoor lifestyle
0:11:55 > 0:11:59and lots of activities, lots of sports, it's just great fun.
0:11:59 > 0:12:02Like, it's so nice going down the river every day. It's a lovely job.
0:12:02 > 0:12:05- It's exciting. I'll give you that. - Yeah.- It's very exciting.
0:12:05 > 0:12:10- Do you have to be a special kind of person to enjoy white-water rafting, do you think?- Maybe, maybe.
0:12:10 > 0:12:13On our course, we did loads of white-water swimming.
0:12:13 > 0:12:18So you come down these rapids just swimming in quite high water over and over again, all day long.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21It was great fun, so sometimes me and the guides go out afterwards
0:12:21 > 0:12:24and just swim down the rapids a few times just for the craic.
0:12:24 > 0:12:27So maybe you do have to be that kind of person.
0:12:27 > 0:12:32I suppose it gives you an opportunity as well to experience the charms of nature
0:12:32 > 0:12:35- as you're floating down a quieter bit of the river.- Yeah, definitely.
0:12:35 > 0:12:38There's a bit called Church Pool that you see.
0:12:38 > 0:12:41- That tends to be where you see the most amount of birds.- Uh-huh.
0:12:41 > 0:12:46So you get buzzards quite a lot of the time. It always seems to be on the same corner.
0:12:46 > 0:12:48You get herons flying around in pairs.
0:12:48 > 0:12:51- I saw dippers as well. - Dippers, yeah.
0:12:51 > 0:12:55One of my friends got hit in the face by a dipper when he was doing a raft trip.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58- He must have done something to deserve that.- Shifty eyes!
0:13:02 > 0:13:06Six miles downstream is the once important village of Logierait.
0:13:08 > 0:13:12For many years, Logierait was served by ferries crossing the River Tay.
0:13:12 > 0:13:16Travellers would often break their journey here
0:13:16 > 0:13:19before heading north to Inverness or south to Perth.
0:13:19 > 0:13:24Perhaps the most prestigious guest to visit Logierait was Queen Victoria.
0:13:24 > 0:13:29Her royal tour to admire the charms of nature was interrupted
0:13:29 > 0:13:33when the great monarch herself was forced to answer a call of nature.
0:13:33 > 0:13:38Caught short, the imperial personage popped in to use the loos of Logierait.
0:13:38 > 0:13:43History doesn't record what she left by way of a tip.
0:13:44 > 0:13:48Luckily for the Queen, porcelain facilities were available at Logierait.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51But quite often they weren't,
0:13:51 > 0:13:54and travellers were forced to use other means,
0:13:54 > 0:13:57which often caused discomfort, embarrassment or both.
0:13:58 > 0:14:01Thanks to the ever resourceful Victorians, help,
0:14:01 > 0:14:04or should I say relief, was soon at hand
0:14:04 > 0:14:08in the form of this extraordinary and rather disturbing-looking device
0:14:08 > 0:14:11known as the patent India Rubber Urinal.
0:14:11 > 0:14:15Now, long before trains were equipped with on-board loos,
0:14:15 > 0:14:20this contraption was considered to a solution to the problem of a full bladder.
0:14:20 > 0:14:24The idea was to strap it around your waist like that,
0:14:24 > 0:14:30so that it would hang discretely and invisibly beneath your outer garments.
0:14:30 > 0:14:31According to the inventor,
0:14:31 > 0:14:35the key and unique feature of this device was the valve,
0:14:35 > 0:14:39which ensured a one-way flow of liquids through the system.
0:14:39 > 0:14:41No wash-back, then.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49Back on my bike, I pedal north.
0:14:49 > 0:14:51Following the route suggested by Black's,
0:14:51 > 0:14:54I enter the picturesque village of Pitlochry,
0:14:54 > 0:15:00which I note with dismay also claims to be the centre of Scotland.
0:15:02 > 0:15:04Queen Victoria made Pitlochry famous.
0:15:04 > 0:15:09After the railway was built, it developed into a fashionable Highland resort.
0:15:09 > 0:15:13But when the caravanning pioneer William Gordon Stables arrived
0:15:13 > 0:15:19in 1886, he found the village too over-developed for his tastes.
0:15:19 > 0:15:24"The little town is almost too civilised for my gypsy ideas of comfort.
0:15:24 > 0:15:28"There are loudly dressed females and male mashers,
0:15:28 > 0:15:30"so I felt inclined to fly through."
0:15:32 > 0:15:36Curiously, my Victorian guide book is rather sensitive
0:15:36 > 0:15:40about what it considers to be appropriate Highland attire
0:15:40 > 0:15:44and politely asks tourists to refrain from excess.
0:15:45 > 0:15:49"It is too evident that many of our southern brethren consider
0:15:49 > 0:15:52"the plaid a passport through the Highlands.
0:15:52 > 0:15:56"And while it is a fact that the Scottish Lowlander is seldom seem
0:15:56 > 0:16:02"in such a costume, the English too frequently adopt this dress."
0:16:02 > 0:16:07From the evidence, I don't think they were shy in coming out with the kilt.
0:16:07 > 0:16:14"The English seem to love the sheer theatricality of swirling kilts aboon their knees."
0:16:17 > 0:16:20From the tweed and tartan of Pitlochry, Blair Atholl
0:16:20 > 0:16:23is my next destination.
0:16:23 > 0:16:30Described by Black's as "a Highland hamlet noted for the wild scenery amid which it is situated".
0:16:33 > 0:16:38This is Blair Castle, just outside the village of Blair Atholl.
0:16:39 > 0:16:45Every May, the grounds of Blair Castle provide the spectacular venue
0:16:45 > 0:16:48for the Atholl Gathering and Highland Games,
0:16:48 > 0:16:51'where I've come to meet Bruce Robb, who, amongst other things,
0:16:51 > 0:16:54'has been tossing the caber here for years.'
0:16:54 > 0:16:59I've read that the whole thing was really cooked up in Victorian times
0:16:59 > 0:17:02to kind of impress people with their physical prowess of the Highlanders,
0:17:02 > 0:17:05and before that, there wasn't really a Highland Games at all.
0:17:05 > 0:17:06Is that right?
0:17:06 > 0:17:08I think it goes back hundreds if not thousands of years,
0:17:08 > 0:17:10where you had clans competing to see who is the best athlete
0:17:10 > 0:17:14and put them forward as their best warrior when they went
0:17:14 > 0:17:16into battle and stuff, so I think it goes back a long, long way.
0:17:16 > 0:17:18- So it's quite a proving ground, was it? - Yeah, yeah, I think so.
0:17:18 > 0:17:21Just to find who was the biggest, the strongest and fastest
0:17:21 > 0:17:25and so on, so I think there's definitely a history that says it goes back a very long way.
0:17:25 > 0:17:28Which sports are you involved in? Which things do you throw?
0:17:28 > 0:17:31Well, today I'll be doing the Scots hammer, er, the caber,
0:17:31 > 0:17:36weight over the bar, er, the sheaf, which you do over a bar as well,
0:17:36 > 0:17:38and the shot put, and weight for distance as well.
0:17:38 > 0:17:41- Are you quite good with caber? - Yeah, not too bad.
0:17:41 > 0:17:45It takes a bit of practice, bit of a knack, so, yeah, I'm not too bad.
0:17:45 > 0:17:50What's the origins of that, cos it seems a bizarrely exotic thing to do, to throw a tree?
0:17:50 > 0:17:53Och, there's... various, various myths,
0:17:53 > 0:17:57but I think one of them is that it was to do with the loggers.
0:17:57 > 0:17:59They used to toss them into the river so they could float them
0:17:59 > 0:18:01downstream to the harbour to take away on boats and stuff.
0:18:01 > 0:18:04In their spare time, they couldn't think of anything better to do than show off?
0:18:04 > 0:18:07I think, well aye, aye. Look what I can do with a tree, yeah.
0:18:07 > 0:18:12I have to admit I do have a soft spot for Highland Games,
0:18:12 > 0:18:14especially the beer tent.
0:18:14 > 0:18:18But not all tourists were so well disposed towards the colour,
0:18:18 > 0:18:20the pageantry or the music.
0:18:20 > 0:18:24When the patriotic Scot and caravan pioneer William Gordon Stables
0:18:24 > 0:18:28came here, even his enthusiasm was challenged.
0:18:28 > 0:18:32"Half a dozen pipers are strutting about in full Highland dress
0:18:32 > 0:18:35"with gay ribbons floating above their chanters.
0:18:35 > 0:18:39"Every piper is playing a tune that pleases himself best,
0:18:39 > 0:18:44"so that, upon the whole, the music is of a somewhat mixed character."
0:18:46 > 0:18:50Leaving the sound of skirling pipes for connoisseurs to enjoy,
0:18:50 > 0:18:54I continue north along a section of a National Cycle Network
0:18:54 > 0:18:59called Route 7 which connects Glasgow to Thurso in the far north of Scotland.
0:18:59 > 0:19:03I think these cycle routes are a brilliant initiative.
0:19:03 > 0:19:07They encourage modern cyclists out into the countryside on routes
0:19:07 > 0:19:11that are either traffic-free or, like this one, traffic light.
0:19:14 > 0:19:19My old Humber bike is designed more for contemplation than speed,
0:19:19 > 0:19:20which is fine by me.
0:19:20 > 0:19:24Why work up a sweat when there's so much scenery to enjoy?
0:19:26 > 0:19:29Back in Victorian times, only the wealthy could afford
0:19:29 > 0:19:32the pleasures of cycling.
0:19:32 > 0:19:35But after mass production, bikes became increasingly affordable,
0:19:35 > 0:19:39and soon, ordinary working people were taking to the open road.
0:19:40 > 0:19:44Today, the bikes may have changed, but the passion is the same.
0:19:45 > 0:19:52Cycle guide Scot Tares caters for modern tourists who want to explore the Highlands on two wheels.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55A lot of folk have all said that...
0:19:55 > 0:19:59the bike's one of the greatest inventions that mankind's ever made.
0:19:59 > 0:20:01- Do you reckon? - Yeah. Oh, definitely, yeah.
0:20:01 > 0:20:05All the different uses it's been put to,
0:20:05 > 0:20:08it's been just a fantastic form of transport. When you...
0:20:08 > 0:20:14you're riding along on your bike, you experience the smells and the...
0:20:14 > 0:20:17you see a lot more than you would shut up in a big metal box.
0:20:17 > 0:20:21And, Scot, can you tell me why people come from all over the world
0:20:21 > 0:20:23to go cycling here in Scotland?
0:20:23 > 0:20:25What's the attraction?
0:20:25 > 0:20:29I think Scotland's got just some fantastic scenery.
0:20:29 > 0:20:33A really varied scenery and a lot different to the rest of Europe.
0:20:33 > 0:20:36We've got an absolutely wonderful network of roads,
0:20:36 > 0:20:39particularly around Highland Perthshire.
0:20:39 > 0:20:42Do you see yourself as a guide to the scenery as well?
0:20:42 > 0:20:43Definitely.
0:20:43 > 0:20:47I've been cycling all over the world and all over Europe,
0:20:47 > 0:20:50and every time I came back to Scotland, I thought "You know what?
0:20:50 > 0:20:52"We've got it all here.
0:20:52 > 0:20:54"Why go elsewhere when everything's here on our doorstep?"
0:20:54 > 0:20:57It is stunning, but I also wonder, your know,
0:20:57 > 0:21:00are you not in danger of bringing lots of people
0:21:00 > 0:21:04onto the road and maybe, in a generation from now, you won't be able
0:21:04 > 0:21:08to move with the number of bikes on the highways and byways.
0:21:08 > 0:21:10I think that would be fantastic.
0:21:10 > 0:21:15I think, just in a generation where everyone's getting bigger
0:21:15 > 0:21:20and heavier, it's a fantastic way to keep fit,
0:21:20 > 0:21:22see the scenery, be green and just...
0:21:22 > 0:21:24just enjoy yourself.
0:21:24 > 0:21:27Well, I'm shedding a few pounds, I can tell you.
0:21:29 > 0:21:33'Scot tells me that his tours offer the pedalling enthusiast
0:21:33 > 0:21:35'yoga classes, spa treatments,
0:21:35 > 0:21:38'massages and bike maintenance classes
0:21:38 > 0:21:41'as part of a day's tour.
0:21:41 > 0:21:44'At the pace they're going, I'm not surprised that cyclists
0:21:44 > 0:21:48'and their machines need a little TLC.'
0:21:52 > 0:21:55North of Blair Atholl, the road begins to climb
0:21:55 > 0:21:57towards the Drumochter Pass.
0:21:58 > 0:22:02Early tourists were struck by the grandeur of the scenery.
0:22:02 > 0:22:07It seemed a pristine environment, undisturbed by human hands.
0:22:07 > 0:22:10Travelling through the Highlands in 1796,
0:22:10 > 0:22:14Sarah Murray was moved by what she saw.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17"Even this extensive wild please me
0:22:17 > 0:22:20"and gave me scope to boundless reflection.
0:22:20 > 0:22:24"My senses were lost to everything but admiration."
0:22:27 > 0:22:31The summit of the Drumochter Pass is 1,300 feet above sea level.
0:22:31 > 0:22:34From up here, my route north takes me
0:22:34 > 0:22:36through the ancient district of Badenoch.
0:22:39 > 0:22:43This is the Highland village of Newtonmore,
0:22:43 > 0:22:48which also competes at being the very centre of Scotland.
0:22:48 > 0:22:51Newtonmore may be famous for many things, but this claim
0:22:51 > 0:22:55to be at the geographic centre of Scotland is new to me.
0:22:55 > 0:22:59However, I've been reliably informed that convincing evidence lies
0:22:59 > 0:23:01just outside the town.
0:23:01 > 0:23:03I've got a map, I've got the co-ordinates,
0:23:03 > 0:23:08so I think I'll just have to go and see for myself.
0:23:09 > 0:23:11Finding it proves very tricky.
0:23:11 > 0:23:14I've been told to look out for a stone with cross on it,
0:23:14 > 0:23:17but there's nothing remarkable to be seen.
0:23:19 > 0:23:21It's supposed to be around here somewhere.
0:23:21 > 0:23:26The geographic centre of Scotland. The beating heart of old Caledonia.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32It's supposed to be on a stone somewhere around here.
0:23:32 > 0:23:35Finally, I find it.
0:23:35 > 0:23:39A simple mason's mark on a stone in this drystane dyke,
0:23:39 > 0:23:43indicating the very epicentre of Scottishness.
0:23:43 > 0:23:46You know, for such a significant spot, you'd somehow expect
0:23:46 > 0:23:48a big monument to be here.
0:23:48 > 0:23:52But out of respect for the nation, I've brought my own flag,
0:23:52 > 0:23:57which I'll plant. The very brave heart of Scotland.
0:23:57 > 0:23:59Brilliant.
0:24:02 > 0:24:06From the centre of Scotland, an easy cycle ride brings me
0:24:06 > 0:24:09into the heart of the Cairngorm National Park.
0:24:09 > 0:24:12When Sarah Murray came here,
0:24:12 > 0:24:16she too was stuck by the beauty of this land of mountain and forest.
0:24:16 > 0:24:20"The crags are covered with wood, and the verdant meads
0:24:20 > 0:24:24"are ornamented with fine trees and within sight
0:24:24 > 0:24:27"of the Cairngorm Mountains, whose hollow cliffs
0:24:27 > 0:24:30"are filled with never-melting snow."
0:24:30 > 0:24:36The Cairngorm area has only been a national park since 1999.
0:24:36 > 0:24:40But long before its treasures were enshrined in legislation,
0:24:40 > 0:24:44people were coming here to enjoy the abundant charms of nature.
0:24:47 > 0:24:52The area is still rich in wildlife and is famously home to the osprey,
0:24:52 > 0:24:56a bird that has come to symbolise the fortunes of the Cairngorms.
0:24:56 > 0:25:00I've joined Rob Lambert on the shores of Loch an Eilein
0:25:00 > 0:25:05to find out why this became a favourite haunt of Victorian tourists.
0:25:05 > 0:25:08They were coming here to see this wonderful landscape.
0:25:08 > 0:25:11The interplay of the mountains and the forest.
0:25:11 > 0:25:15As more and more of the decades went by in the 19th century,
0:25:15 > 0:25:19birds and, in particular, ospreys became a hugely important part
0:25:19 > 0:25:22of that Highland vista and that experience.
0:25:22 > 0:25:25And you start to get the first written observations
0:25:25 > 0:25:29about ospreys by the tourists in the 1870s and 1880s and 1890s,
0:25:29 > 0:25:34and that builds into a genuine concern for the fate of the ospreys.
0:25:37 > 0:25:40Early eco-tourists could watch nesting ospreys
0:25:40 > 0:25:43on Loch an Eilein, which Black's describes
0:25:43 > 0:25:47as the last remaining haunt of the osprey in Scotland.
0:25:47 > 0:25:52By 1899, they were down to a single nesting pair.
0:25:52 > 0:25:54We're standing here looking at this castle
0:25:54 > 0:25:56and we're looking at a monument,
0:25:56 > 0:26:00if you like, to the history of nature conservation in Britain.
0:26:00 > 0:26:03And the Grants of Rothiemurchus, who own this estate,
0:26:03 > 0:26:06were pioneers in that conservation effort.
0:26:06 > 0:26:10So much so, that in 1893, the Zoological Society of London
0:26:10 > 0:26:14awarded them a medal for their sort of osprey conservation efforts.
0:26:14 > 0:26:19Such enlightened estate management was to no avail.
0:26:19 > 0:26:22By 1916, the osprey in Britain was extinct -
0:26:22 > 0:26:26shot by sportsmen and persecuted by gamekeepers -
0:26:26 > 0:26:29but then something amazing happened.
0:26:29 > 0:26:34The big return occurred in 1954 when ospreys did come back.
0:26:34 > 0:26:39And immediately, the RSPB in Scotland, along with the Grants of Rothiemurchus,
0:26:39 > 0:26:42who were involved in other organisations
0:26:42 > 0:26:44in nature conservancy, set up a watch.
0:26:44 > 0:26:47But even then, the nests were disturbed
0:26:47 > 0:26:50and robbed on a number of occasions, and then George Waterston
0:26:50 > 0:26:55who was Director of the RSPB in Scotland, made what some see
0:26:55 > 0:26:59as one of the most visionary decisions in the history of British nature conservation,
0:26:59 > 0:27:02and he decided to open up the nest to public scrutiny,
0:27:02 > 0:27:05to bring people in to show them ospreys,
0:27:05 > 0:27:07to get them enthused by ospreys.
0:27:07 > 0:27:10To drive forward, if you like, a change in attitudes towards birds of prey.
0:27:12 > 0:27:14The gamble paid off.
0:27:14 > 0:27:18There are now over 200 nesting pairs across the country.
0:27:18 > 0:27:24Every year, over 300,000 visitors come to watch the ospreys,
0:27:24 > 0:27:28pumping £3.5 million into the Highland economy.
0:27:31 > 0:27:35The story of the osprey's remarkable return from extinction leads me
0:27:35 > 0:27:38to reflect on the impact of tourism.
0:27:38 > 0:27:40It doesn't always have to be negative.
0:27:41 > 0:27:45From the edge of the Cairngorm plateau, there are stunning views
0:27:45 > 0:27:47back along the course of my journey
0:27:47 > 0:27:51and across a landscape that has changed enormously
0:27:51 > 0:27:54since the first tourists followed Black's guide book.
0:27:54 > 0:27:58Roads now thread their way through the glens, bringing holiday-makers
0:27:58 > 0:28:02to towns that have doubled in size to serve their needs.
0:28:05 > 0:28:09But if you get high enough, it's still possible to find peace and quiet,
0:28:09 > 0:28:13to be restored by the magnificence of the landscape.
0:28:17 > 0:28:20If it's the solitude of the high summits you're after,
0:28:20 > 0:28:24then this is the perfect place to contemplate the charms of nature.
0:28:27 > 0:28:29Join me on my next Grand Tour,
0:28:29 > 0:28:34when I'll be paddling my own canoe in search of the spirit of Scotland.