Far from the Madding Crowd Grand Tours of the Scottish Islands

'For centuries, travellers have found a safe haven

'and sanctuary among the islands of the Hebrides.'

This landscape of sheltered bays, sweeping horizons

and distant headlands has drawn a host of visitors,

all looking to escape the turmoil of the modern world.

'In this series, I'm on a grand tour of the Scottish islands,

'visiting the Orkneys in the north,

'and travelling as far as the island of Gigha in the southwest.

'Generations of travellers have set out to explore

'the magic of the Scottish islands.

'I'm following in their footsteps, exploring remote

'and fascinating places scattered around our coastline

'and meeting the people who call these islands home.'

-Hairpin left. Oh, sorry about that.

-Come on, Paul, keep up.

'For this grand tour, I'm heading for Mull

'and its satellite islands, discovering why they've

'become bolt holes from the hustle and bustle of the modern world.'

The Isle of Mull is the second largest island

of the Inner Hebrides, lying close to the coast of Argyll.

My voyage takes me around its deeply indented 300-mile coastline,

where I'll visit offshore islands

that have offered both a refuge and an inspiration.

'I've joined the crew of this traditional fishing boat

'as we set off to sail around the Ross of Mull -

'a long peninsula that thrusts into the dangerous Atlantic.'

I'm heading to the beautifully named island of Erraid,

sailing through a scattering of rocky islets and skerries.

It's just over there.

'Mark Jardine is the skipper of this beautifully restored ketch,

'which operates as a charter vessel in the waters around Mull.'

It's a very gentle breeze, but it's just serving our purpose.

How long do you think it will take us at this speed?

-We're doing 1.4 knots.

-It could take...

-A couple of hours.

It could take a day trip to go just to Erraid today.

'The seas here are full of hazards to shipping -

'reefs and skerries known collectively as the Torran Rocks.'

In this day and age, with modern navigational aids,

it's a lot easier, but it's still an area to treat with respect.

-A lot of those rocks are just below the surface.

-Deadly, then.

-Just ready to get you.

-Hopefully we're going to avoid them.

The great thing is to avoid getting

a rock named after your skipper, you know?

The Torran Rocks took such a toll

on shipping that a lighthouse was eventually commissioned.

Designed by Thomas Stevenson, of the famous family of civil engineers,

it's known as the lighthouse of Dubh Artach - the black rock.

Construction began in 1867 and ran for five years.

Thomas Stevenson was the father of Robert Louis Stevenson,

who penned such classics as Kidnapped and Treasure Island.

As a young boy,

Stevenson came to know this corner of Scotland very well indeed.

Erraid is a small island, covering just one square mile.

When the lighthouse of Dubh Artach was under construction,

Erraid became the workers' base.

The young Robert Louis Stevenson visited here,

walking along these shell sands, drinking in the atmosphere.

This was the imaginative source

behind Stevenson's tropical Treasure Island

and also the location that the writer chose

for the shipwrecked hero of Kidnapped, David Balfour,

to pull himself ashore,

having spent the night clinging to a broken mast.

"In about an hour of kicking and splashing,

"I had got well in between the points of a sandy bay

"surrounded by low hills.

"The sea was here quite quiet.

"There was no sound of any surf and I thought in my heart I had

"never seen a place so desert and desolate."

David Balfour thought he was marooned here on Erraid,

cut off from the outside world.

And, for a few days, he was forced to eat a diet of

shellfish and limpets,

until he discovered that Erraid is an island only at high tide.

At low tide, it was quite possible to walk from the island to Mull.

He must have felt such a chump!

Reaching Mull - without getting my feet wet - I'm faced with

the problem of how to explore the island's many highways and byways.

In order to get around this beautiful island,

I've chosen a green form of transport -

this electric bike.

Now, I've been told that the batteries are charged

with electricity that comes from wind turbines.

So let's see if I can go like the wind!

Ooh! Yes, yes, we're off!

'Hmm. No faster than a moderate breeze.

'But quietly comfortable and sedate.

'Plenty of time to take in the scenery

'as I make my way around the rocky coast

'and through a landscape of towering rocks and big skies.

'Close to the village of Bunessan,

'I come to a memorial at a crossroads.'

This unassuming monument is dedicated to

the memory of Mary MacDonald, who was born in 1789.

Now, Mary never left the island but her legacy travelled the world.

ORGAN PLAYS: Morning Has Broken

'Mary wrote the original Gaelic hymn which, in the 20th century, became

'Morning Has Broken - a smash hit that was covered by many a popster,

'from Cat Stevens, Demis Roussos and even the whistling Roger Whittaker.

'With the tune of Morning Has Broken going around inside my head,

'I cycle to towards Glen Forsa, which, according to the guide books,

'is the location for one of the prettiest airports in the country.

'Or should that be airfield?

'I meet the manager, David Howitt, at the control tower-cum-shed.

'David's connection with Glen Forsa goes back to the early days

'when the airfield was opened in 1966.

'Since then, he's met a host of illustrious aviators

'who've touched down here.'

They've varied.

From Robert Morley, Robert Wagner, Bette Davis,

Tom Cruise.

-Tom Cruise came here?

-Yeah.

-Top Gun himself?

-Top Gun himself.

Yes indeed. Delightful man as well.

I had the pleasure of driving him around the island.

Among the rich and famous to visit Glen Forsa was a veteran pilot and

musician who arrived on Christmas Eve 1975 to celebrate his birthday.

Peter Gibbs would become the focus of this country's

most perplexing aviation mystery.

During World War II, he had been a Spitfire pilot,

seeing action in North Africa and at D-Day.

In peacetime, he began a musical career as a professional violinist.

That Christmas Eve,

he enjoyed a birthday meal with his girlfriend and then surprised

everyone by deciding to fly a night-time circuit of the airfield.

He was never seen alive again.

What he did is he took off, climbed out over the Sound of Mull

and then performed a basic circuit as it's called in aviation.

And you saw this take place?

Oh, I was standing right there, watching it.

The basic circuit is downwind and then you turn on what is

known as base leg, before you turn onto what is known as final -

the final approach. You usually lose aircraft behind the trees -

you can see the trees there -

when they go to turn onto final, for a minute or so,

maybe not as long as that. 30 seconds or so.

They're obscured by the trees.

So we were expecting him to come back in but he never did.

It soon became clear that Peter Gibbs was never coming back.

Despite the efforts of an RAF search and rescue team,

neither he nor his aircraft could be found.

It was as if Peter Gibbs had vanished from the face of the earth.

Four months later, his body was found by a shepherd,

Donald MacKinnon. It was found 400 feet up a hill just about a mile

-and a half down the road from here.

-Was there an autopsy on the body?

Oh, yes. An RAF dentist actually confirmed,

without any doubt at all, it was Peter Gibbs by dental records. And...

-And what was the cause of death?

-Exposure.

-Exposure?

-Yeah.

-There were no injuries?

-Slight grazing on the left shin.

That was it.

If Peter Gibbs had been killed in a plane crash,

you would expect him to have suffered serious injuries.

You'd also expect wreckage to have been found nearby.

But there was nothing.

So where was the missing plane?

The aircraft had done a...you know, just disappeared completely

but the tyre and wheel, which I still have here,

they were washed up across the shore.

Since Peter Gibbs' mysterious death,

there have been several claims to have found

the aircraft in the seas around Mull, none of them conclusive.

So did Gibbs ditch in the sea and swim ashore?

What militates against that is the fact that the fatal accident enquiry,

both the RAF doctor and the pathologist,

said there was absolutely no trace of saltwater or marine deposits

in the flying boots or the clothing or the watch.

-It's a mystery, isn't it? I mean, I'm flummoxed.

-Inexplicable.

All kinds of wild speculation has grown up

around the mysterious death of Peter Gibbs

and it's incredible to think that, after all these years,

there's so many questions that remain unanswered.

'Leaving the perplexing and disturbing tale

'of Peter Gibbs behind, it's time to move on.

'Lying close to Mull's western shore is Ulva - the wolf's island.

'Today, it's almost forgotten by the world

'but, like a lot of Scottish islands,

'its current status belies its historical importance.

'From Ulva Ferry, a short crossing in an open boat takes

'visitors from Mull to the island.'

For over 1,000 years,

Ulva was owned by the ancient Clan MacQuarrie

until the last chief was forced to sell up

to pay off his debts in the 18th century.

Back then, about 700 people lived on the island.

Today, the population is just seven

and none of them are MacQuarries.

But, despite the loss their ancestral home,

the influence of Clan MacQuarrie on world affairs has been enormous.

Lachlan MacQuarrie was born on Ulva in 1762,

a poor relative of the last MacQuarrie chief.

Like many impoverished Gaels,

Lachlan found an opportunity for advancement in the Army.

Rising through the ranks, MacQuarrie was appointed

governor of New South Wales and the notorious prison colony there.

'His enlightened and progressive approach to governorship

'helped Australia to become established as a country

'and not just a dumping ground for convicts.'

MacQuarrie's success earned him the fortune he desired as a young man

and, at the age of 45, he was able to return to Mull

and buy his uncle's estate.

'But Lachlan's homecoming wasn't easy.

'The government refused to award him

'the pension he thought he was entitled to.

'On a trip to London to plead his case, he fell ill and died.

'According to his wishes, he was buried on Mull,

'close to the island of his birth.'

This inscription proclaims him as "the father of Australia"

and, with so many places named after him,

from MacQuarrie Street in Sydney to the MacQuarrie River,

perhaps that's no exaggeration.

For a man who'd spent all his adult life overseas,

it's appropriate that Lachlan MacQuarrie chose

to end his days here, enfolded among the hills of his native land.

It is very peaceful here.

ENGINE ROARS

Mull might be an idyllic island sanctuary but, once a year,

the tranquillity is shattered by the arrival of 150 rally cars,

taking part in the famous Mull Rally.

'Emerging through the dust cloud is rally driver Louise Thomson,

'a Mull local and one of the few female competitors.'

Louise, that was quite an entrance. How are you doing?

-I'm good, thank you. Lovely to meet you.

-And you, too.

-Yeah.

Now, the Mull Rally, Louise,

is a really important event in the motorsport calendar.

-How did you get involved in it?

-I got involved through

my family being involved 45 years ago when the rally first started.

My father was involved with the organising committee

-and then he competed as well.

-Right, so it's in your blood, is it?

-Yes.

Yeah, it is. I navigated first with a female driver

and I competed, I think, about six times as a navigator.

-But I always thought that women had a terrible sense of direction.

-Oh!

The female navigators are very, very good.

I'm thinking of possibly joining you cos I'm a pretty good map reader,

very good navigator, so I reckon that I'd love the opportunity

of sitting beside you for a while and see if I can't get you lost.

-No, that's absolutely great, yeah.

-OK?

-Yeah, no problem. Let's jump in.

ENGINE ROARS/TYRES SCREECH

-Is it a serious competition...

-Yes.

-..the Mull Rally?

-Very serious.

People take it very seriously. It's a challenge.

It's a very tough challenge on the driver and on the car.

How is it rated in the rallying world?

-It's rated as the best rally in the world.

-Really?

-Yes.

Do you think the single-track roads have got something to do with that?

Absolutely, yes.

And how fast do these cars go?

This little car can do probably close to 100mph

and the top guys, at top speed, are probably going 120, 130-plus mph.

At these speeds, and on these roads, reaction time is key.

I'm beginning to see how crucial the navigator's job is.

I need to know... When you're driving at high speed, you need to know

whether the bend's going left or right and the degree of the bend.

Otherwise, if you get it wrong, we could have a serious accident.

'Oh, dear.

'I hope I haven't overestimated my navigation skills.'

A flat crest and flat... Oh!

-Hairpin left?

-A hairpin left.

-Oh, sorry about that.

-Come on, Paul, keep up.

-A long square right.

Caution. Medium left over bridge.

Flat right. 500.

Flat left over crest.

400.

Well, I think I've passed the test.

We've managed to cover what seems to be most of Mull

in the blink of an eye and without serious incident.

But I can't say I'll be sorry to get back on my bike

and make a more sedate entrance at my next destination.

Tobermory - Mary's Well in Gaelic - is the capital of Mull

and largest town and home to about 700 people.

Although, in the summer months,

tourists swell the population several times over.

Tobermory Bay is a great natural harbour

and has been used as a safe anchorage for centuries.

In a yacht moored in the bay,

I'm meeting a man for whom sailing became a way of life

and a means of escaping the pressures of the modern world.

'Hamish Haswell-Smith has been voyaging among the Scottish islands

'for over 50 years.'

Hamish, you are the author of the celebrated, I have to say,

Scottish Islands, a true Bible for any sailor or

lover of the West Coast of Scotland, and it's very many varied islands.

In fact, this is part of the inspiration behind my own journey.

Now, I'm fascinated to know

what was your attraction to the Scottish islands?

I think it's the sheer variety

but coupled with the fact of the number of lovely anchorages.

And the other thing I like with Scotland is you can

get on some of the small, uninhabited islands and you can feel,

"I'm the first person ever to stand on this island,"

which you know you're not, really, but you can imagine you are.

One of the delightful things about this book,

apart from the historical information, is the way that

you've illustrated it with your own line drawings and watercolours.

Now, for someone without an artistic sensibility,

what's so inspiring about the islands of the West Coast?

Well, I think the light is certainly one of the things.

You get all the effects of light here.

A place like, say, Iona has attracted so many painters

because the light is something that's quite different.

You've got beautiful, white shell sands, you've got wonderful sea

of turquoises and greens and blues and all sorts of lovely colours.

'I love taking photographs.

'But, unlike me, Hamish captures treasured moments with

'exquisitely drawn sketches and water colours.

'He makes it look so easy.'

Is this Castlebay? It's just a few lines

but it's instantly recognisable

because of Kisimul Castle. It's wonderful.

Even when it's raining,

if you're out at sea and suddenly a little bit clears

and there's a shaft of sunlight comes shining down and it catches

an island or some distant mountains,

the number of potential paintings that you can make out of all that

is absolutely fantastic.

The ancient and mysterious Inch Kenneth is one of the many

islands described in Hamish's book.

For centuries, people have come here to find peace and sanctuary.

Inch Kenneth is one of

the most historically important islands in all of Scotland.

Like Iona, it was once a significant religious centre and, as a result,

there are a number of high status burials

surrounding the island's ruined chapel.

'It's the tiniest of islands - a sheltered crescent of fertile land

'nestling beneath the stark and forbidding cliffs of Ben More.'

As well as high-ranking members of Clan MacLean,

kings of Scotland and Norway are also buried here.

Perhaps the island's most famous recent owners were the Mitfords,

a minor aristocratic English family.

They bought the island in the politically turbulent 1930s

and they themselves were ideologically divided

between communism on one side and fascism on the other.

During the war, Inch Kenneth became a refuge

for the most notorious member of the family -

the hapless Unity Mitford, who took her love for fascism

and for Adolf Hitler to personal extremes.

'Writer Lorn Macintyre, himself from Mull, takes me into

'the Mitfords' island home where Unity Mitford hid from the world.'

How did she get to know Hitler? How did Unity get to know him?

-Well, Unity is an example of a modern stalker.

-Right.

She went to a restaurant in Munich

called the Osteria Bavaria and she sat, day after day,

Friday after Friday, cos she knew that Hitler

and his henchmen, plus his dog, came in for lunch.

And, in time, it paid off

because Hitler then invited her across for lunch.

And, of course, he became smitten with her

because he saw her as an English rose.

She was a very beautiful woman, she was aristocratic, etc.

Unity Mitford became the English voice of the Nazi Party in Germany.

In the lead up to war, she addressed massed political rallies

and delivered anti-Semitic speeches.

She was infatuated with Hitler.

When Austria was taken over by the Nazis in 1938,

she had special tickets to go there

and she raced her car to Vienna to welcome her beloved Fuehrer.

-She was... For Unity...

-Oh, yes, she...

-..the Fuehrer was "the beloved Fuehrer".

-Oh, yes.

The beloved Fuehrer, until the end of her days.

In this house...

..Hitler could do no wrong.

When Unity was told about the millions of Jews

that had died in gas chambers, she said, "Not at all.

"They died in an epidemic."

Idolising the Fuehrer, Unity loved being at Hitler's side.

But when Britain declared war on Germany in 1939,

her world fell apart.

How did Unity react when war was declared on Germany?

She had a little revolver.

She went into the English garden on the Sunday morning in Munich

and she shot herself in the head because she said she could

not bear her beloved Germany and her beloved Britain to be at war.

Unity was a broken woman when she returned to Inch Kenneth

with a bullet lodged in her brain.

Her condition and the remoteness of Inch Kenneth made Unity

an exile from the world.

Isolated and alone, she spent the last few years

of her life in a fantasy world,

conducting imaginary services in the ruined chapel

and staring out to sea,

perhaps in the hope of signalling to a passing U-boat.

The end came in 1948.

'She contracted meningitis and was taken to the mainland,

'where she died with the bullet still in her brain.'

She was just 34.

'It's time to put some distance between me,

'Inch Kenneth and the doleful memories of sad Unity Mitford

'and her devotion to the Nazi cause.

'In fact, I feel it's time for a little therapy.'

And to get it, I'm heading for the Treshnish Islands,

which lie in a chain about three miles west of Mull.

'To get to there, I'm joining Iain Morrison, who regularly makes

'the crossing with visitors who are all hoping to meet

'the island's rather special inhabitants.'

-Iain, what is the island right on the bow here?

-That's Lunga.

This is the one we are headed for now. This is where we go every day.

Does anyone live on Lunga?

No. No. Just puffins and guillemots and razorbills and kittiwakes

and fulmars and shags and a whole lot of other birds.

-So it's a sea bird city.

-Absolutely. Absolutely.

For those uninitiated in the ways of the wild,

getting ashore on Lunga can be something of an ordeal.

'And once safely on land, you are here to stay,

'at least until the boat returns with the jetty.

'And then what?

'There's nothing much here.

'Except the puffins, of course.

'And there are plenty of them to entertain

'even the most cynical of city dwellers.'

-Iain, why do people come out here to Lunga?

-Well, you can see them

all arrayed along the edge of the cliff there. These are the boys,

these puffins. That's the whole reason.

But they do come out for all the other birdlife as well.

Thousands of guillemots and lots of other sea birds.

That's the main reason.

What would you say is the great allure of puffins

over other sea birds?

They're very, very attractive. Very comical.

Some places, they call them sea parrots.

Various other names that they've got that indicate a comical creature,

I think. And the way they get about, they kind of puff around.

-Do you think we identify with them in some way?

-Probably.

I think we're probably quite like them, really.

I believe that's why they're studying us. You know,

I tell people that they're doing an ongoing study of homo sapiens

and they should be...the people should be on their best behaviour.

Iain describes these encounters as puffin therapy -

a way of decluttering the urban mind and getting close to nature.

People feel, or seem to be a lot happier

when they come off this island after two hours communing with

these creatures than they are when they arrive.

I love them more than any other little bird on this whole planet.

I just adore them.

They don't seem bothered when we're, you know, inches away.

They seem quite happy.

It seems some kind of mutual respect between humans and animals.

It's brilliant. I've never seen it anywhere else.

Last year we missed out on this tour. We couldn't get on it.

So we came back, really, this year, just to come and see the puffins

and it's been incredible.

I think that's what I love about them.

The humour of the birds. They're very funny.

I just wish I could talk their language.

Having achieved a positive and contented mental state,

I leave the puffins and their soothing vibes,

to wander higher on the island.

'Until the 1820s,

'Lunga was inhabited and boasted a population of about 20.

'Amazing to think that people once lived out here.

'Leaving the empty houses with the ghosts of a lost way of life,

'I climb to the highest point on this tiny island.'

Wow. Look at that. The view from here is truly magnificent.

A great sweep of islands on the horizon,

from Iona and Erraid to the south of me,

behind me, Ben More and Ulva

and, below me, the Treshnish islands,

all of them offering respite from the modern world.

'Join me on my next Grand Tour

'when I'll be lost in the mists on Jura,

'and luxuriating in the gardens of Gigha.'