A Rock and a Hard Place Grand Tours of Scotland's Lochs


A Rock and a Hard Place

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The beautiful scenery of the far north-west of Scotland was created

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by some of the most powerful and destructive forces in nature.

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The hills and lochs of this wilderness are part of an ancient landscape

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that is said to have been formed millions of years ago

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by a truly cosmic impact.

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Lochs are Scotland's gifts to the world

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and are the product of an element that we have in spectacular abundance -

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water. It's been estimated that there are more than 31,000 lochs in

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Scotland. They come in all shapes and sizes from long fjord-like sea

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lochs, great freshwater lochs of the Central Highlands to the innumerable

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lochans that stud the open moors.

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In this series I am on a loch-hopping journey across Scotland,

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discovering how they shaped the character of the people who live

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close to their shores. For this Grand Tour I am heading from loch

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to rock bottom.

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My journey starts in Sutherland and travels along the length of

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Loch Shin to Loch Laxford.

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I then get to grips with our rocky past in some of Scotland's deepest

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limestone caves,

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before climbing a sugar-loaf mountain which is a sweet way to

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end any Grand Tour.

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This is the village of Lairg which lies at the southern end of Loch Shin,

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and this is the Wee Hoose.

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The story goes it was built in 1824 by a local poacher, Jock Broon.

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The island that Jock's house stands on was given to him as a reward by a

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local laird for teaching him how to distil whisky.

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Having become a member of the landed gentry, even if only in a small way,

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Jock felt that he needed a house to consolidate his new social status.

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And that was the biggest that he could build

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on his diminutive estate.

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Sadly, Jock didn't enjoy the pleasures of land ownership for long.

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He died after shooting himself in the foot.

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At least, that's what locals tell you.

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But whatever the truth, his Wee Hoose makes a fine talking point.

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What makes Jock's Wee Hoose seem even smaller is the country round about.

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This is a place of big skies and far horizons where the human scale

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is diminished.

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And to make you feel even smaller, the size of an ancient cosmological

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event that happened here shrinks you to the point of nonexistence.

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Aeons ago - geologists reckon at least 1.2 billion years ago -

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a huge asteroid hurtled from deep space and collided with the Earth

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with unimaginable force.

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Incredibly, the impact was right here, just a few kilometres

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from Lairg. It must have made one hell of a bang.

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Evidence of a huge impact crater with a diameter of 40km has

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been discovered from anomalies in gravity surveys.

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The crater is the only one of its kind known in Britain.

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The asteroid collided so long ago that during the 1.8 billion years

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that have passed,

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the crater was obliterated by later geological convulsions

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which include a clash of long-vanished continents.

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The hills around here have played a hugely important role in developing

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our understanding of the forces that created the landscape,

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and in particular how mountains were built.

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It took some very clever scientific detective work to figure out how.

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This is Loch Laxford,

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which has given its name to a geological feature which scientists

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believe is evidence for a continental collision.

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In 1883, two Victorian geologists - Ben Peach and John Horne - ventured

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north in an attempt to settle a fierce debate about how this

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-landscape was formed.

-That is the black rock in front of us.

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Katherine Goodenough is a rock doctor with the British Geological Survey.

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She is taking me on a hike following in the footsteps of Peach and Horne.

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They achieved world renown by unravelling the secrets of how these

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mountains were created.

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These are some of the oldest rocks in the UK -

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something like almost 3 billion years old.

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What you can see here is that we have got these black rocks and then

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cutting through them you have these pink stripes.

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And these are granite so they were actually formed by partial melting

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-of the black rock.

-What is the relationship between this and the

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process known as mountain building?

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We know this black rock,

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the stretches we can see in it were formed during continental collision.

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When two continents collide they are like bulldozers -

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they force up mountain ranges just as you see in the Himalaya.

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And when that happens you have a mountain range on the surface and

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deep down in the roots of the mountain you can get melting.

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And so you can see these sheets of newer rock that were formed when

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that melt has crystallised.

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And they kind of squeezed through the older rock, did they, to form those layers?

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Squeezed through the older rock, exactly.

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The area around Loch Laxford is known today as the Laxford Shear Zone,

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where rocks were squeezed like toothpaste deep beneath the earth.

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This is part of the wreckage of a continental collision.

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It is exactly that.

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And the shear zone that you are talking about,

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the collision zone as I would understand it, extends how far?

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This collision zone extends out to the coast there but we can trace

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similar structures out into Greenland.

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Because of course once upon a time Greenland and Scotland were

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connected as part of the same continent.

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Peach and Horne's pioneering work put geologists on a road to discovery.

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It would eventually lead to plate tectonic theory -

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an understanding of how entire continents move and collide over

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unimaginable periods of time.

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They were the first to come here and realise that these rocks that we are

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looking at were incredibly complex and preserved a whole range of different

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geological events and they called this the fundamental complex.

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The fundamental complex?

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The fundamental complex. And of course they didn't have the clever

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analytical techniques we have now but their observations were

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absolutely superb and we still make use of those observations today.

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The geology of this part of Sutherland has created a landscape

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of rugged mountains and beautiful lochs.

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Passing Loch More and Loch Stack, I return to Loch Shin.

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At 25km long, this is the biggest body of freshwater

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in Sutherland, famous for its salmon and trout.

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I have a very early memory of seeing my first ever salmon on this loch.

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It was just after dawn on the morning of my fifth birthday and I

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was down here and the water was like glass,

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when suddenly a huge salmon leapt up and then disappeared.

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I was absolutely amazed - I had never seen anything like it.

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And the memory has stayed with me ever since.

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Returning to the scene of this vision 50 years later, I enlist the

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help of top ghillie George Leligdowicz.

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He has promised to help me catch a fish.

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Not a salmon this time, but a trout

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for which Loch Shin is rightly famous.

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So, George, do you think this is a good day for fishing?

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It certainly is. We have a good wave on the water and the other good

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thing is we haven't got any midges.

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-That is a very important consideration.

-It certainly is.

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Fish have always managed to elude me but I am hoping for success with

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George - I am going to be relying on his knowledge, guile and these.

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An amazing collection of flies you've got here, George.

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-Over 1,000.

-Really?

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Yes. Just to give you an example, daddy-longlegs.

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There is a vast array of garish designs with weird names like Hairy Mary

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or Gold Bead Hare's Ear or - my personal favourite -

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the Woolly Bugger.

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These don't look like any insects I've seen...

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-Correct.

-..flying around here.

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Correct. Some flies I would say are tied to catch the angler

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as well as the fish.

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The true origins of the art of fly tying are lost in the mists of time

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but it is said that the Chinese used kingfisher feathers to lure fish

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3,000 years ago.

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And according to legend a medieval nun called Juliana once used

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a fly to land her catch.

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The art of fly tying using distinct patterns was perfected in the

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18th century, when fishing became a leisure pursuit.

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During the age of Empire, bright feathers of tropical birds were used

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to lure salmon from the peaty waters of Loch Shin.

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But today, as we are fishing for trout, we are using a fly

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that imitates a more native species.

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That is called a phantom midge fly there.

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-And do they work?

-They work very well, actually.

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Ironically, it is Loch Shin's real midges that get the upper hand

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by biting me before I even get the chance to cast my midge fly.

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George has chosen a special spot on the far shore, where he says I am

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almost guaranteed to hook a trout.

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My best tally with one guest in a day was 55 trout.

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-Good grief.

-Yeah.

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We were literally getting a fish every third or fourth cast.

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Having presented me with a challenge I can't hope to match,

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George gets back to basics with some casting tips.

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Can I just show you quickly? Watch.

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You go, flick, flick.

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See that? Flick, flick.

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The more effort you put in...

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The worse it is.

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Yeah. So very, very, very little effort.

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OK?

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OK, very little effort.

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So for all these years, I have just been trying too hard.

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Maybe if we had a big, big juicy worm on the end...

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But it seems my midge fly isn't delivering.

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After an hour of fruitless casting I reckon the only thing I am likely to

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catch in this weather is a cold.

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Leaving the ever-hopeful George and Loch Shin's reluctant trout,

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I head north-west and back to the coast to a pinch point

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between two lochs.

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This is Kylesku

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at the junction of Loch Cairnbawn and Loch Gleann Dubh.

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For centuries, travellers heading north or south had no choice but to

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cross the kyle by boat - the famous Kylesku ferry.

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And if they missed the last ferry at night, they faced a 100-mile detour.

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The village of Kylesku existed because of the ferry,

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but it is changed days now.

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The last ferry stopped running in 1984,

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replaced by this impressive and elegant bridge.

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Beneath its shadow are the remains of one of the old ferries.

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This is a rather sad sight.

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After its last run, the ferry was hauled ashore and abandoned

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to the elements. It looks like the elements are winning.

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And up here is the old swing bridge where cars would have been trundled

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aboard then carried across the kyle.

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That's the old ramp. It would have been put ashore to allow cars to

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drive on board and there is even the ghost of the name -

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The Maid Of Kylesku, I think.

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Nature is taking over.

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Even got sea pinks growing from the old deck.

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Leaving the old wreck, I head over the Kylesku bridge battling against

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wind and rain in weather that has taken a decided turn for the worse.

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I'm heading for a memorial overlooking Loch Cairnbawn -

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a stone monument that commemorates the men who trained here during

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World War II for a daring and deadly

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raid on the German battle cruiser Tirpitz,

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which was hiding in a Norwegian fjord.

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The idea was to deploy a new and untested secret weapon, the X-Craft.

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These were mini submarines crewed by up to four men -

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the original X-Men of their day -

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and their mission was to infiltrate heavily defended enemy harbours

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and to wreak havoc.

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Six X-Craft took part in the raid.

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None survived, but their mission was a success -

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the Tirpitz was seriously damaged and disabled,

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only to be finished off by the RAF before she could sail again.

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The bravery of the men who undertook this near-suicidal mission was

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exceptional. The surviving crew members were awarded

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the Victoria Cross

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and this humble memorial commemorates their connection

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with this little part of Scotland.

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The road south from Kylesku threads its way below the flanks of

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a complex mountain called Quinag,

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which in Gaelic apparently translates as the "milking pail",

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though why this might be, I have no idea.

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The southern summit of Quinag overlooks one of the most beautiful

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and serene lochs in Sutherland - Loch Assynt.

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As if the view wasn't lovely enough, this beautiful stretch of water also

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comes with a mythological creature of unsurpassed gorgeousness,

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whose fate was sealed right here at Ardvreck Castle.

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According to local legend, as they say,

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this castle was built by Clan MacLeod with the help of the devil.

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Naturally, there is always a price to pay for enlisting the services of

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Beelzebub - in this case it was Eimhir,

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the MacLeod chief's beautiful daughter.

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The evil one wanted her to be his bride.

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Now unsurprisingly, Eimhir was unhappy with this arrangement and in

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despair she threw herself from the tallest tower of Ardvreck Castle.

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But, strangely, her body was never discovered.

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Instead it is said that she plunged into the deep waters of Loch Assynt

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and swam down into a cave, where she transformed herself,

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becoming the beautiful and elusive Mermaid of Assynt.

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When the loch's waters rise above normal levels,

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legend says it is because of Eimhir's tears of grief.

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The tragic story of Eimhir and the devil also offers a mythological

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explanation for the contorted landscape of Assynt.

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The devil was in a hellish rage

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because Eimhir had evaded his clutches

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but he got his revenge by hurling hot rocks across the landscape.

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Which isn't that far from the truth, when you think about the asteroid

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which impacted Scotland 1.2 billion years ago.

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And as for the caves that Eimhir chose to hide in, well,

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there are lots of them,

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including one that's partially filled with a secret loch deep

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inside a mountain, which is where I am heading next.

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Alan. A speleologist if I ever saw one.

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Yes, indeed, fully kitted.

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Alan Jeffreys and his team of cavers have spent many years exploring

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Assynt's vast underground system of passages and tunnels which stretch

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several kilometres beneath the mountains.

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Alan wants to take me literally to rock bottom

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to explore a fascinating underground world and a type of loch I have

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never seen before.

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The first bit is a bit low but you can stand up after that.

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A bit low? It's very low!

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Hence the overalls.

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Just think of something you've lost under the bed.

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Right.

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Never to be seen again.

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The cave system takes us into the heart of Cnoc Nan Uamh,

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the Hill of the Caves,

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where a fast-flowing torrent roars through the darkness.

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After two hours of wriggling and squirming,

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climbing and wading through water,

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we have only managed to travel about 500 metres.

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But it's far enough to reach an extraordinary sight.

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This is amazing.

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It's almost surreal being down here.

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-Take a seat.

-Wow.

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A ringside seat in a spectacular location.

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-It's cathedral-like.

-It is a natural cathedral.

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-You are quite right.

-And it's all

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worn out by the erosive power of water.

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The erosive and acidic power of water.

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Water picks up acid from the soil

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and the peat on the surface and over

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thousands - sometimes millions - of years, it dissolves the limestone.

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That's an amazing sight.

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A lake in front of us, a black lake.

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And how deep is that lake?

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It's about eight metres deep and it has been dived horizontally

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for about 145 metres.

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There has been no exit yet, it pinched down to nothing.

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I can't think of anything worse than plunging eight metres into that

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black water and then making my way through an unknown passage

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to goodness knows what end in a cave under the ground.

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Yes, we are all lunatics.

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It's a common joke that climbers, that little worn-out phrase,

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"Why do you climb mountains?"

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"Because they are there."

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But for us it is because it MIGHT be there.

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We just don't know. Human beings are curious.

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What is round the next corner?

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BOTH: It could be this.

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Indeed. Some of the best caves in Britain have been long, arduous,

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tight crawls and then, suddenly, boom, you intersect something huge.

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And that is what we're all about - finding new caves.

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The first person in here...

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..is the first person in the history of the Earth to set foot and set his

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eyes on this. And it's a bit cheaper than going to the to moon

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to do the same thing. But then in the primitive times,

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people were afraid to come into caves because they thought there

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were bogles or ghosts in them.

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And you can see why, because the human imagination is such...

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In fact, I think being a slightly superstitious person myself,

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I need to make a little offering to whatever is down here, particularly

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-in the dark depths.

-Why not?

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You never know, it might be a mermaid.

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Well, that would be a bonus.

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Do you think she would appreciate that?

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Not if she is sitting directly underneath.

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It's a pretty poor offering, that.

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I think maybe it gives us a good chance of getting out anyway.

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Having made my offering to Eimhir, the Mermaid of Assynt,

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it's time to return to the surface, following the river that emerges

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from the cave and flows eventually into the sea,

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and to a village that takes its name from the loch where it is situated.

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This is Lochinver, on the loch called Loch Inver.

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The village is the largest in this part of Sutherland,

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and is an important fishing port.

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Fish landed here makes its way to southern Europe,

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but I'm not here for the seafood.

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Much as I love fish, I am also very partial to pies, and Lochinver

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has become famous for them.

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A huge array of pies you've got here.

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Yes. We have 15 savoury and six sweet.

0:21:020:21:05

Chestnut and mushroom.

0:21:050:21:07

Vegetable curry. Pork, apple and cider.

0:21:070:21:09

Have you got a favourite of your own?

0:21:090:21:11

My favourite is the pork apple cider.

0:21:110:21:13

-I think I might take one of those.

-One of them, yes, sir.

0:21:130:21:17

How many pies would you sell on a good day, do you reckon?

0:21:170:21:19

In the height of summer it would be between 400 and 500.

0:21:190:21:22

That is a lot of pies.

0:21:220:21:23

-It is a lot of pies.

-And are they made on the premises?

0:21:230:21:26

Yes, they are made fresh every day.

0:21:260:21:27

-Good grief.

-Secret recipe, though.

0:21:270:21:29

Right, OK. Mum's the word.

0:21:290:21:31

-There you go.

-Thank you.

0:21:310:21:33

-There we are, sir.

-Thank you very much.

0:21:330:21:35

-Enjoy your pie.

-Cheers now.

0:21:350:21:36

Leaving Lochinver, I am hiking to my final destination,

0:21:430:21:47

the mighty Suilven.

0:21:470:21:49

But as I reach the start of my climb, the weather closes in again.

0:21:490:21:54

Even the most experienced hill walker and climber can be caught out

0:21:560:22:00

by the unpredictable Scottish climate,

0:22:000:22:03

and it's easy to lose your bearings.

0:22:030:22:06

Fatigue and exposure to the elements can quickly affect your faculties.

0:22:060:22:11

Before you know it, you can find yourself in a desperate

0:22:110:22:14

life-threatening situation.

0:22:140:22:17

Grid reference is November Charlie 147 25...

0:22:170:22:21

Thankfully, there are committed and experienced people who can be called

0:22:210:22:25

upon to come to the rescue.

0:22:250:22:27

On a hillside, Assynt Mountain Rescue team

0:22:280:22:31

are on a training exercise.

0:22:310:22:33

Many people owe their lives to their timely interventions.

0:22:330:22:37

A key member of the team is Molly,

0:22:400:22:42

and I am about to discover for myself

0:22:420:22:45

just how she and dogs like her have become indispensable saviours in the

0:22:450:22:49

most challenging conditions.

0:22:490:22:51

My role as a volunteer casualty

0:22:540:22:56

begins with a very enthusiastic greeting.

0:22:560:22:59

I've been saved!

0:22:590:23:02

-Hello.

-Hello. Hello.

0:23:020:23:04

-RADIO:

-Go ahead.

0:23:060:23:07

We found a casualty, I can give you his location, grid reference, over.

0:23:070:23:14

Assynt, go ahead, ready to receive.

0:23:140:23:16

I will just get a quick assessment

0:23:160:23:17

of your breathing. How are you feeling with your breathing?

0:23:170:23:20

-Any pain in your chest or anything like that?

-No pain in my chest yet.

0:23:200:23:23

-OK.

-I'm just worried if your hands are cold.

0:23:230:23:25

I'll tell you what I'll do, if you are breathing nice and easily,

0:23:250:23:28

that all feels nice...

0:23:280:23:30

The Assynt Mountain Rescue team has been saving lives for many years.

0:23:300:23:35

It depends on the skills of volunteers.

0:23:350:23:37

-So this is the team.

-These are our hearty volunteers, yes.

0:23:370:23:42

And, Charlie, this is your dog, Molly.

0:23:420:23:44

This is Molly the collie.

0:23:440:23:46

She is a Sarda Scotland search-and-rescue dog.

0:23:460:23:49

-How old is Molly?

-She is six and a half now.

0:23:490:23:51

Molly and her canine chum Assynt belong to an illustrious group

0:23:530:23:57

of Scottish search-and-rescue dogs.

0:23:570:24:00

The man who first saw the potential for dogs to find the lost and

0:24:010:24:05

injured in Scottish hills was the climbing legend Hamish MacInnes.

0:24:050:24:10

The techniques he developed are still used to train dogs like Molly

0:24:110:24:15

to find casualties, should someone like me need help.

0:24:150:24:19

So the dog will come in,

0:24:190:24:23

she will bark at you and then she will come back to me and take me

0:24:230:24:27

back in to you.

0:24:270:24:29

-Just like Lassie?

-Just like Lassie.

0:24:290:24:31

They're so intelligent, as well.

0:24:310:24:33

Usually the handler gets in the way.

0:24:340:24:36

It is the dog that is actually doing the work.

0:24:360:24:38

It knows it needs to go and seek something.

0:24:380:24:41

Absolutely. And it is driven by play, really.

0:24:410:24:45

For her, the whole reward is playing with you.

0:24:450:24:48

So this is all just a game.

0:24:480:24:50

She loves this, this is what she absolutely loves to do.

0:24:500:24:54

Having been restored to full mountain vigour

0:24:570:25:00

by the playful Molly,

0:25:000:25:02

I wait for the clouds to lift before continuing on my way,

0:25:020:25:06

heading for the summit of Suilven.

0:25:060:25:08

Suilven isn't a high mountain by Scottish standards,

0:25:100:25:13

being just 731 metres above sea level,

0:25:130:25:17

but it's certainly dramatic.

0:25:170:25:19

Viewed end-on, it has the classic sugar-loaf outline.

0:25:190:25:23

The lung-bustingly steep path I am taking leads to a breach

0:25:260:25:30

in Suilven's defences.

0:25:300:25:32

Geologists love this mountain

0:25:380:25:41

and to be fair they love the whole of Assynt.

0:25:410:25:44

But the landscape you can see below me with its low hills

0:25:440:25:48

and lochans is composed of an ancient rock called gneiss,

0:25:480:25:53

spelt with a "G".

0:25:530:25:55

And it was formed deep within the Earth millions of years ago.

0:25:550:25:59

In fact, the rock is thought to be part of a lost continent that is

0:25:590:26:03

at least 3,000 million years old.

0:26:030:26:07

And that makes you think, doesn't it?

0:26:070:26:09

The next significant geological event occurred

0:26:130:26:16

about 1,000 million years ago when rivers and lakes deposited

0:26:160:26:21

a thick layer of sand and mud and buried the old landscape.

0:26:210:26:25

The sand and mud then became the rock that now makes up Suilven.

0:26:250:26:30

During the ice ages, the sandstone was worn away by the action of

0:26:300:26:35

glaciers, except in a few places

0:26:350:26:37

where it was tough enough to survive.

0:26:370:26:39

Many of the curiously shaped and dramatic mountains of Assynt

0:26:410:26:45

are those nuggets of resistance,

0:26:450:26:48

and Suilven is definitely one of the toughest.

0:26:480:26:52

HE PUFFS

0:26:520:26:54

It's amazing to think of the aeons of time that it has taken to form

0:26:580:27:03

this extraordinary landscape,

0:27:030:27:05

and how insignificant and puny we are in this immensity.

0:27:050:27:09

And yet we all try to leave our mark on the world -

0:27:110:27:14

like here.

0:27:140:27:15

Now, this is a bizarre sight, it's almost surreal.

0:27:160:27:20

I don't know who was responsible but someone has built a great wall,

0:27:200:27:25

a giant dry-stane dyke on the final summit slopes of Suilven.

0:27:250:27:30

Now apparently it was built to mark a boundary,

0:27:300:27:34

a boundary of ownership.

0:27:340:27:36

Now that is a futile gesture, surely.

0:27:360:27:39

But it makes me think, in an age when wall building has become

0:27:390:27:44

popular again, I wonder who picked up the bill for this one.

0:27:440:27:48

For the first time in days,

0:27:520:27:55

Suilven's beautiful ridge is clear of cloud.

0:27:550:27:58

The summit dome is an unexpectedly smooth grassy area -

0:27:580:28:03

just the spot for a picnic,

0:28:030:28:05

a place to contemplate the view which takes in the hills and lochs

0:28:050:28:10

of Assynt in a grand sweep that reminds you of the enormity

0:28:100:28:15

of geological time.

0:28:150:28:17

With the world at my feet, I can't think of a better place

0:28:170:28:20

to end my Grand Tour from Lairg to Lochinver, and to enjoy a pie.

0:28:200:28:25

Join me for my final loch-hopping tour, when I will be heading

0:28:310:28:35

up the Trossachs from lake to loch.

0:28:350:28:38

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