0:00:05 > 0:00:09Around the Scottish coast, there are dozens of islands -
0:00:09 > 0:00:13some great, others small - which are separated from the mainland
0:00:13 > 0:00:18by just a short stretch of water, sometimes just yards across.
0:00:19 > 0:00:24Early people were drawn to islands because, well, they're just that -
0:00:24 > 0:00:27separate, surrounded by water,
0:00:27 > 0:00:31an easily defended piece of land that's a world apart.
0:00:31 > 0:00:35But today, the very things that once made islands attractive
0:00:35 > 0:00:37have become obstacles,
0:00:37 > 0:00:43and many islanders find that just how the watery gap is overcome
0:00:43 > 0:00:46makes all the difference between staying or leaving.
0:00:48 > 0:00:52In this series, I'm on an island-hopping journey,
0:00:52 > 0:00:54which takes me to the Northern Isles,
0:00:54 > 0:00:58explores the Hebrides and tries to unravel the secrets
0:00:58 > 0:01:02of some of the remotest and most mysterious places in Europe.
0:01:04 > 0:01:06It's impossible to be precise
0:01:06 > 0:01:10about the total number of islands off Scotland's fabulous coast,
0:01:10 > 0:01:16but for my island-bagging purposes, I claim it's well over 250,
0:01:16 > 0:01:18and that's not counting the myriad of stacks,
0:01:18 > 0:01:21rocks and skerries lying just offshore.
0:01:23 > 0:01:26For this grand tour, I'm crossing the kyles
0:01:26 > 0:01:28to reach some of the smallest islands
0:01:28 > 0:01:31that lie close to Harris and Lewis.
0:01:46 > 0:01:48My journey takes me around the coast
0:01:48 > 0:01:51of the Long Island of Harris and Lewis,
0:01:51 > 0:01:55beginning on Scarp, travelling north to Great Bernera
0:01:55 > 0:01:57and then south-east to Scalpay.
0:01:59 > 0:02:03I'm starting on the rugged north coast of Harris,
0:02:03 > 0:02:06where I'm making the short half-mile crossing over the kyle
0:02:06 > 0:02:09to my first destination.
0:02:09 > 0:02:13The island of Scarp is a place I've always wanted to visit.
0:02:13 > 0:02:15It's over there, literally a few hundred yards
0:02:15 > 0:02:18from where I'm standing, on the Isle of Harris,
0:02:18 > 0:02:21yet it's frustratingly difficult to get to.
0:02:21 > 0:02:24There's no regular ferry service, no bridge,
0:02:24 > 0:02:27so to cross over, you have to make your own way.
0:02:31 > 0:02:35To get to Scarp today, I've hired a RIB.
0:02:35 > 0:02:38Making the crossing with me are two Scarp veterans,
0:02:38 > 0:02:41Donald John MacInnes and Hugh Dan MacLennan.
0:02:43 > 0:02:45My mother is the oldest
0:02:45 > 0:02:47living person at the moment who was born on Scarp.
0:02:47 > 0:02:51She's heading for her 91st birthday soon.
0:02:51 > 0:02:55And we used to come here every summer for our holidays.
0:02:55 > 0:02:59It has a hugely strong emotional attachment for me.
0:02:59 > 0:03:04I was born and brought up here. I was born here in 1947,
0:03:04 > 0:03:08and my family lived here until 1971.
0:03:08 > 0:03:09We were the last family -
0:03:09 > 0:03:11traditional family - to leave the island.
0:03:14 > 0:03:16Despite being so close to Harris,
0:03:16 > 0:03:19Scarp never had a proper ferry service.
0:03:19 > 0:03:21This was one of the reasons
0:03:21 > 0:03:25that people like Donald John's family began to leave,
0:03:25 > 0:03:28until the island was abandoned in the 1970s.
0:03:30 > 0:03:36Back in the 1950s, Scarp was a wholly Gaelic-speaking community.
0:03:36 > 0:03:39There were 19 families living in the village,
0:03:39 > 0:03:42which had a population of about 70 souls.
0:03:43 > 0:03:46Donald John takes us through the ruins
0:03:46 > 0:03:48to the house where he was born.
0:03:48 > 0:03:50This is where it all started for you, then, Donald John?
0:03:50 > 0:03:52- Is that right?- Yes, I suppose.
0:03:52 > 0:03:54I was born in this house.
0:03:54 > 0:03:57Originally, when the house was built in 1882,
0:03:57 > 0:04:01this was my grandfather's shop in here.
0:04:01 > 0:04:04- It's quite a small shop. - It was a small shop
0:04:04 > 0:04:07but he had lots in it, apparently. Sold boots and...
0:04:07 > 0:04:09- Boots?- Boots and food and fish
0:04:09 > 0:04:12and all sorts of things that people needed at that time.
0:04:12 > 0:04:16- This was the supermarket of North Harris.- Really?- Yeah, yeah.
0:04:16 > 0:04:18So, people would come from communities
0:04:18 > 0:04:20- on the mainland across here? - Well, yes.
0:04:20 > 0:04:23And he had boats and he would serve these communities, as well,
0:04:23 > 0:04:25so he did home deliveries, as well.
0:04:25 > 0:04:29- That's amazing.- This online thing is not a new thing at all.
0:04:29 > 0:04:31- It goes way, way back. - Shop, we drop.
0:04:31 > 0:04:32I mean, what's it like for you,
0:04:32 > 0:04:35sort of standing here in amongst the stones of the house
0:04:35 > 0:04:39where you were born? It must be quite a poignant place to come to.
0:04:41 > 0:04:43Poignant? Maybe not poignant.
0:04:43 > 0:04:46I like the idea of it going back to nature.
0:04:46 > 0:04:48Over the years, a lot of people have said to me,
0:04:48 > 0:04:50"Why don't you rebuild it?"
0:04:50 > 0:04:53But it would only ever be rebuilt as a holiday house,
0:04:53 > 0:04:56and I'm not so sure if I like that idea.
0:04:56 > 0:04:59I'd rather it just go back to the way it was.
0:05:02 > 0:05:05'Just down from Donald John's old family home
0:05:05 > 0:05:09'is a house that holds special memories for Hugh Dan.
0:05:09 > 0:05:12'Number 14, Scarp, is now a holiday home,
0:05:12 > 0:05:15'but this is where Hugh Dan's uncle and aunt lived
0:05:15 > 0:05:18'after they were married in 1952.'
0:05:21 > 0:05:24This old home movie captures the happy occasion,
0:05:24 > 0:05:28when the bride and groom were ferried and piped across the island
0:05:28 > 0:05:30in true Hebridean style.
0:05:31 > 0:05:33But things began to go awry
0:05:33 > 0:05:37when the newlyweds entered the matrimonial home.
0:05:37 > 0:05:38Somehow, they contrived
0:05:38 > 0:05:41when they were going to change back into their wedding finery
0:05:41 > 0:05:44to go and have the reception down in the schoolhouse,
0:05:44 > 0:05:47they went into the bedroom and locked the bedroom door,
0:05:47 > 0:05:50and couldn't get out because the key jammed or something like that.
0:05:50 > 0:05:53So, the end result was that they had to come out...
0:05:53 > 0:05:55- They were trapped.- Well, they were,
0:05:55 > 0:05:57and they had to come out of this window here
0:05:57 > 0:05:59in all their wedding finery.
0:05:59 > 0:06:01They had to be helped through this window
0:06:01 > 0:06:05before they then took off down with the whole mass, the whole island,
0:06:05 > 0:06:07down to the huge wedding reception
0:06:07 > 0:06:09which was taking place in the schoolhouse.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12- You remember that event, too. - I do. I was five years old,
0:06:12 > 0:06:16and my memory of it was the following morning
0:06:16 > 0:06:19going to school, walking right past here
0:06:19 > 0:06:22at something like half past eight in the morning going to the school,
0:06:22 > 0:06:26thinking that we were going to have a school day that day.
0:06:26 > 0:06:30And so we went across, we saw the last boats leaving the island
0:06:30 > 0:06:32- carrying the wedding guests... - The stragglers.
0:06:32 > 0:06:35The stragglers who had been up all night.
0:06:35 > 0:06:37..and the schoolteacher waving them goodbye.
0:06:37 > 0:06:40And as we went up to the school, the schoolteacher saw us.
0:06:40 > 0:06:42He was horrified and said, "There's no school today.
0:06:42 > 0:06:45"Off you go back home. Go home, go home!"
0:06:47 > 0:06:50The low stone walls below number 14
0:06:50 > 0:06:53are the ruins of the old village street.
0:06:53 > 0:06:56This is where the Scarp parliament met,
0:06:56 > 0:07:01taking significant decisions that affected the whole community.
0:07:01 > 0:07:04My grandfather was one of the senior elders
0:07:04 > 0:07:06in the structure they operated at the time.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09And he's the central figure in the picture
0:07:09 > 0:07:11of the Scarp parliament which we have.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14They would decide what they were going to do for the rest of the day,
0:07:14 > 0:07:15for the rest of the week.
0:07:15 > 0:07:19They would decide that on the basis of what time of year it was,
0:07:19 > 0:07:20what needed to be done.
0:07:20 > 0:07:24- And very significantly, no women. - No women.- A male-only parliament.
0:07:24 > 0:07:27Yes, it was, and that's just the way it was,
0:07:27 > 0:07:29because the women had different tasks
0:07:29 > 0:07:31and they would have been in the shearings,
0:07:31 > 0:07:34they were milking and they had other things to do.
0:07:34 > 0:07:36It was just the way it was.
0:07:36 > 0:07:39So, the men spent their morning making decisions
0:07:39 > 0:07:42while the women did all the work.
0:07:42 > 0:07:45In recognition of the good old days of patriarchy,
0:07:45 > 0:07:47I take a picture of Hugh Dan
0:07:47 > 0:07:51occupying his grandfather's seat in parliament.
0:07:54 > 0:07:56Scarp might have been remote,
0:07:56 > 0:07:59but it was endowed with many of the institutions
0:07:59 > 0:08:01that make up civil society -
0:08:01 > 0:08:05a parliament, a church and, of course, a school.
0:08:06 > 0:08:08- That's where you hang your... - Cloakroom, yeah.
0:08:08 > 0:08:11Big coat pegs for little people.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14And then into the single-room school here.
0:08:14 > 0:08:17- Primary school. - This was the classroom?
0:08:17 > 0:08:21This was it, this was it. Chimney in the corner there.
0:08:21 > 0:08:22In the old days,
0:08:22 > 0:08:27- everybody would bring a peat every day for the fire.- Really?
0:08:27 > 0:08:30The teachers here were very encouraging of kids
0:08:30 > 0:08:32to go and explore the world.
0:08:32 > 0:08:36Basically to educate yourself out of the place, in a way.
0:08:36 > 0:08:38That's the paradox of it, I suspect -
0:08:38 > 0:08:42that the people who were born and brought up here
0:08:42 > 0:08:45were invited to go and do things all over the world,
0:08:45 > 0:08:49but not on the island where they were born.
0:08:52 > 0:08:54Donald John went on to university
0:08:54 > 0:08:58and ended up working for the Scottish Government in Brussels,
0:08:58 > 0:09:01promoting economic development.
0:09:01 > 0:09:05The irony of coming from an underdeveloped island like Scarp
0:09:05 > 0:09:07isn't lost on him.
0:09:07 > 0:09:10Do you think the decline was inevitable, then?
0:09:10 > 0:09:14It was inexorable, for sure. Whether it was inevitable...
0:09:14 > 0:09:20I suspect that they could have built a causeway or a bridge across.
0:09:20 > 0:09:23- A bridge would have been a handy thing.- Oh, yeah, that's right.
0:09:23 > 0:09:25A helicopter, even, would have been really good.
0:09:27 > 0:09:31An aerial link was, in fact, proposed for Scarp.
0:09:31 > 0:09:34Not a helicopter, but a rocket.
0:09:34 > 0:09:37The story starts in the 1930s
0:09:37 > 0:09:40with the arrival of a young, self-styled entrepreneur
0:09:40 > 0:09:44and inventor from Germany, Gerhard Zucker.
0:09:44 > 0:09:49He decided he had a solution, or he said he had a solution,
0:09:49 > 0:09:53by proposing that rockets be launched from Scarp
0:09:53 > 0:09:55to the mainland of Harris
0:09:55 > 0:09:59which would carry communications such as letters and so on.
0:10:00 > 0:10:05Zucker arrived on Scarp on the 12th of July, 1934.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08He'd already pre-sold the idea,
0:10:08 > 0:10:11raising cash and producing special postage stamps
0:10:11 > 0:10:13to commemorate the occasion.
0:10:13 > 0:10:19These adorned letters, including one addressed to King George,
0:10:19 > 0:10:22but the demonstration was an embarrassing failure.
0:10:22 > 0:10:25Zucker's rocket exploded on the launch pad,
0:10:25 > 0:10:29showering Scarp with its payload of letters.
0:10:29 > 0:10:33To commemorate Zucker's failed space-age postal venture,
0:10:33 > 0:10:35I'm going to try sending my own rocket mail.
0:10:35 > 0:10:38Now, I've got a rocket here
0:10:38 > 0:10:42and I've written a letter to my dear old ma in Argyll,
0:10:42 > 0:10:47and it's simply a matter of attaching the letter to the rocket
0:10:47 > 0:10:50with the use of this attaching device known as a rubber band...
0:10:52 > 0:10:56..lighting the green touchpaper, in this case, and retiring.
0:10:56 > 0:10:57So, fingers crossed.
0:10:59 > 0:11:01Into the launcher...
0:11:03 > 0:11:04..and...
0:11:06 > 0:11:08..and retire.
0:11:08 > 0:11:10Go, Zucker!
0:11:12 > 0:11:13Wa-hey!
0:11:13 > 0:11:17EXPLOSION
0:11:17 > 0:11:19Looks like Ma's letter's gone up in smoke.
0:11:22 > 0:11:23Zucker's rocket post
0:11:23 > 0:11:27was never going to solve Scarp's communication problems,
0:11:27 > 0:11:30and as I set off for my next destination,
0:11:30 > 0:11:32I wonder how the island might have fared
0:11:32 > 0:11:35had the gap to the mainland been bridged.
0:11:37 > 0:11:39Travelling through Harris,
0:11:39 > 0:11:41I'm heading now to Great Bernera.
0:11:41 > 0:11:44Like Scarp, it's separated
0:11:44 > 0:11:47from the mainland by a narrow stretch of water,
0:11:47 > 0:11:50but unlike Scarp, it has a bridge,
0:11:50 > 0:11:53though, famously, there was a fight to get it built.
0:11:55 > 0:11:58It was a struggle against bureaucracy
0:11:58 > 0:12:00and the intransigence of the authorities.
0:12:00 > 0:12:05Without a bridge, the very future of the community was under threat.
0:12:05 > 0:12:09After a strenuous campaign, the islanders won the argument,
0:12:09 > 0:12:13and when this bridge was finally opened in 1953,
0:12:13 > 0:12:16over 4,000 people turned out for the occasion.
0:12:21 > 0:12:25Great Bernera is a lovely island.
0:12:25 > 0:12:28It's only six miles long,
0:12:28 > 0:12:32but the population of around 300 has a noble reputation
0:12:32 > 0:12:36for understanding the value of direct action.
0:12:36 > 0:12:40In the 19th century, at the height of the Highland Clearances,
0:12:40 > 0:12:43a group of young men threw stones at three bailiffs
0:12:43 > 0:12:48who'd come here to serve eviction notices on 57 homes.
0:12:48 > 0:12:51Now, one of the bailiffs was so incensed at this
0:12:51 > 0:12:52that he said to the young men,
0:12:52 > 0:12:55"If I had a gun, I'd shoot the lot of you,"
0:12:55 > 0:12:58which just inflamed the situation.
0:12:58 > 0:13:03A fight broke out, punches were thrown and a jacket torn.
0:13:06 > 0:13:07A few days later,
0:13:07 > 0:13:09one of the young men involved
0:13:09 > 0:13:11was arrested in Stornoway.
0:13:11 > 0:13:13When news reached Bernera,
0:13:13 > 0:13:15the community reacted angrily,
0:13:15 > 0:13:18and marched on the town demanding justice.
0:13:18 > 0:13:21It was a bold act of defiance,
0:13:21 > 0:13:24which resulted in a famous victory for the crofters,
0:13:24 > 0:13:28paving the way to securing crofters' rights.
0:13:28 > 0:13:30A few years ago, this cairn was built
0:13:30 > 0:13:34to commemorate what's become known as the Great Bernera Riot.
0:13:34 > 0:13:36And rather fittingly,
0:13:36 > 0:13:40it's made of stones that come from all the crofts on the island.
0:13:40 > 0:13:42It's really a very appropriate symbol
0:13:42 > 0:13:45of unity and collective action.
0:13:54 > 0:13:56Walking to the north end of the island,
0:13:56 > 0:14:00I'd come to an extraordinarily beautiful beach.
0:14:00 > 0:14:04This is Bosta, one of the jewels of the Hebrides.
0:14:06 > 0:14:09There are layers of history in the sand here
0:14:09 > 0:14:14that testify to human settlement going back thousands of years.
0:14:15 > 0:14:20In 1993, a storm uncovered a rare archaeological gem
0:14:20 > 0:14:22that gives a unique insight
0:14:22 > 0:14:26into what Hebridean life was like 2,000 years ago.
0:14:26 > 0:14:27Hi, Elizabeth.
0:14:27 > 0:14:30- Hello, and welcome to Bosta. - Nice to meet you.
0:14:30 > 0:14:33'This is the Bosta Iron Age House,
0:14:33 > 0:14:35'where Elizabeth MacLeod plays host to visitors
0:14:35 > 0:14:38'curious about the distant past.'
0:14:38 > 0:14:40Right, I'm going to mind my head coming in here.
0:14:40 > 0:14:44- We're going underground.- Very dark for a few minutes, as well.
0:14:44 > 0:14:47Wow. What an amazing space in here, Elizabeth.
0:14:47 > 0:14:49- It's much bigger than I thought it was going to be.- It is.
0:14:49 > 0:14:51It's deceiving from the outside
0:14:51 > 0:14:54because when you come in, you're coming underground.
0:14:54 > 0:14:56From the outside, you only see the roof.
0:15:00 > 0:15:0120 years ago,
0:15:01 > 0:15:06archaeologists excavated five Iron Age houses at Bosta.
0:15:06 > 0:15:09We're standing in a reconstruction
0:15:09 > 0:15:13based on the exact floor plans of what was discovered.
0:15:13 > 0:15:14And how many people do you think would have
0:15:14 > 0:15:17been living in this house back in the Iron Age?
0:15:17 > 0:15:20I can imagine ten, 15 living comfortably in each house,
0:15:20 > 0:15:24- if not more.- And that would be, what, an extended family?
0:15:24 > 0:15:25The extended families.
0:15:25 > 0:15:28You could easily have three generations in the one house.
0:15:28 > 0:15:29- Right, right.- Quite comfortably.
0:15:29 > 0:15:31You'd have the children sleeping on the platforms.
0:15:31 > 0:15:34- Just above you, there's a platform. - Oh, so there is.
0:15:34 > 0:15:36And a ladder going up.
0:15:36 > 0:15:39- So, when it was bedtime, the children were put upstairs...- Yes.
0:15:39 > 0:15:42..and leave the adults to kind of talk around the fire.
0:15:42 > 0:15:43Yes, and they could watch them,
0:15:43 > 0:15:46peeping over, listening to the old stories.
0:15:48 > 0:15:51Elizabeth spends much of her time here
0:15:51 > 0:15:54experimenting with Iron Age domestic life.
0:15:54 > 0:15:56She has cooked over the peat fire
0:15:56 > 0:16:00and has even learnt ancient pottery skills.
0:16:00 > 0:16:02With the Hebridean pottery,
0:16:02 > 0:16:05they would get their clay in river banks, streams, lochs.
0:16:05 > 0:16:08Then the clay would be taken home and worked at till it got smooth.
0:16:08 > 0:16:09And once the clay was smooth,
0:16:09 > 0:16:11- they would coil them. No wheel used.- Right.
0:16:11 > 0:16:14So, coiling them, building them up bit by bit
0:16:14 > 0:16:15and then leaving them to dry.
0:16:15 > 0:16:18They'd be fired by having a pit outside,
0:16:18 > 0:16:21light the peat fire, put the pot on top, cover with peat,
0:16:21 > 0:16:23leave in the fire for a number of hours,
0:16:23 > 0:16:27then taken out, and while the pots were still hot out of the fire,
0:16:27 > 0:16:32they'd be put into milk just for about 10, 20 seconds,
0:16:32 > 0:16:33lifted out, left to cool,
0:16:33 > 0:16:36and it's the fat of the milk that steeps through the pot,
0:16:36 > 0:16:37giving them that waterproof coating.
0:16:37 > 0:16:40- Really? That's the glaze?- That's the glaze.- That's the milk glaze?
0:16:40 > 0:16:41- And is it fireproof?- Yes.
0:16:41 > 0:16:44You can put it on the peat fire and you can cook in it?
0:16:44 > 0:16:46And I've tried doing that, and it does work.
0:16:46 > 0:16:49Oh, amazing. Well, I'm very impressed.
0:16:49 > 0:16:51Standing here is like going back in time.
0:16:51 > 0:16:53- It is.- Back to the Iron Age.
0:16:57 > 0:17:01Leaving Elizabeth, the peat smoke and the past behind,
0:17:01 > 0:17:06I say farewell to Bosta and head south to the island of Harris,
0:17:06 > 0:17:10where I take the old postman's path to Reinigeadal.
0:17:10 > 0:17:12Until quite recent times,
0:17:12 > 0:17:15many scattered communities along the east coast of Harris
0:17:15 > 0:17:20were only accessible by boat or rough track.
0:17:20 > 0:17:23In 1990, the tiny township of Reinigeadal
0:17:23 > 0:17:26became the last place in the whole of Britain
0:17:26 > 0:17:29to be connected to the road network.
0:17:29 > 0:17:34It's amazing to think that, until 1990,
0:17:34 > 0:17:38school kids from Reinigeadal would use this track twice a week
0:17:38 > 0:17:41to get to secondary school in Tarbert.
0:17:41 > 0:17:44This was literally the school run,
0:17:44 > 0:17:47but it must have been horrendous in winter.
0:17:52 > 0:17:55Today, this is a road of ghosts.
0:17:55 > 0:17:58Walking the track, I'm following in the footsteps
0:17:58 > 0:18:01of countless generations of islanders
0:18:01 > 0:18:05who came from several now lost communities along the coast.
0:18:05 > 0:18:08Places like Molinginish and Garyaloteger
0:18:08 > 0:18:10reduced to a sad huddle of stones
0:18:10 > 0:18:13and half-remembered names on the map.
0:18:16 > 0:18:20After a three-hour hike, I meet up with Kenny MacKay.
0:18:20 > 0:18:23Until the new road opened in 1990,
0:18:23 > 0:18:26Kenny was the postman who made a 14-mile return trip
0:18:26 > 0:18:29three times a week.
0:18:29 > 0:18:33- Enjoyed the walk?- I have indeed. How long were you the postman for?
0:18:33 > 0:18:37Well, 30 years. Oh, I enjoyed it quite a lot.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40Especially when the weather was good,
0:18:40 > 0:18:45- you could enjoy it and always meeting interesting people.- Mm-hm.
0:18:45 > 0:18:47'During his career as a postman,
0:18:47 > 0:18:50'Kenny carried the mail a total distance
0:18:50 > 0:18:54'in excess of 26,000 miles.
0:18:54 > 0:18:58'Come rain or shine, the post had to get through.'
0:18:58 > 0:19:00There was no telephone or anything.
0:19:00 > 0:19:04It was the postman that took all the local news into the village.
0:19:04 > 0:19:08- Mm-hm?- Yes.- So, you were like a sort of bush telegraph system.
0:19:08 > 0:19:13Exactly, yes. There was no drums, just the postman.
0:19:13 > 0:19:15You must have been very well known to the community, then...
0:19:15 > 0:19:18- Oh, yes.- ..all round here.- Yes. - They'd keep an eye open for you.
0:19:18 > 0:19:20As long as you didn't take any bills,
0:19:20 > 0:19:22- you were popular enough.- Right! HE LAUGHS
0:19:22 > 0:19:24I can't imagine there would have been many bills.
0:19:24 > 0:19:27- Wouldn't have been any electricity bills, would there?- No, no.
0:19:27 > 0:19:29The shop that was down there,
0:19:29 > 0:19:33it was mostly bartering with eggs and tweeds and socks and things.
0:19:33 > 0:19:35- There was a shop here? - Yes, there was a shop
0:19:35 > 0:19:39- and a store just here.- Really?- Yes. - What on earth did they sell?
0:19:39 > 0:19:43- Everything.- Really? - Yes. Oh, everything.
0:19:43 > 0:19:46Yeah, from a pair of boots to a gallon of paraffin.
0:19:47 > 0:19:50'This is a truly wild place
0:19:50 > 0:19:54'and people didn't choose to settle this coast.
0:19:54 > 0:19:58'They were dumped here by their landlords in the 19th century -
0:19:58 > 0:20:05'men, women, children, the old - and told to get on with it.'
0:20:05 > 0:20:10There's a lot of these wee villages all round the coast of Harris
0:20:10 > 0:20:13because they came here during the Clearances.
0:20:13 > 0:20:17They had no choice but trying to make a living off the coast.
0:20:17 > 0:20:19It must have been desperate
0:20:19 > 0:20:22because there's nowhere to grow crops or anything here.
0:20:22 > 0:20:24No, there would be nothing here.
0:20:24 > 0:20:29It was just a struggle to survive more than anything else.
0:20:30 > 0:20:33With no road, the struggle was hopeless.
0:20:33 > 0:20:37Cut off, the communities eventually died.
0:20:39 > 0:20:43The same fate may well have befallen the village of Reinigeadal,
0:20:43 > 0:20:48where the postman's path meets the new road which opened in 1990.
0:20:48 > 0:20:51It was a lifeline and arrived just in time
0:20:51 > 0:20:54to secure the future of this little township.
0:20:58 > 0:21:01Leaving Kenny, I continue my grand tour
0:21:01 > 0:21:04towards my final destination,
0:21:04 > 0:21:06the island of Scalpay.
0:21:09 > 0:21:10Like Great Bernera,
0:21:10 > 0:21:14Scalpay is connected to the Long Island by a bridge,
0:21:14 > 0:21:17in this case, a rather fine and impressive one
0:21:17 > 0:21:19which spans the narrow kyle.
0:21:20 > 0:21:25Before this bridge was built, you needed a boat to get to Scalpay,
0:21:25 > 0:21:29and a wee ferry crossed the kyle from a slipway just down there.
0:21:34 > 0:21:37The turntable ferry was once a common sight
0:21:37 > 0:21:39up and down the Scottish coast,
0:21:39 > 0:21:43and provided a picturesque way of getting to island destinations,
0:21:43 > 0:21:45but was hardly convenient.
0:21:47 > 0:21:52Today, the bridge that replaces the ferry connects a busy little island.
0:21:52 > 0:21:56At two miles square, Scalpay is fairly built-up,
0:21:56 > 0:21:59with a population of around 300.
0:21:59 > 0:22:01Although crofting has always been
0:22:01 > 0:22:05an important part of life here on Scalpay,
0:22:05 > 0:22:08for many years, much of the island's income
0:22:08 > 0:22:11has been derived from the sea.
0:22:11 > 0:22:16WOMEN SING IN GAELIC
0:22:16 > 0:22:18During the great herring fishing boom
0:22:18 > 0:22:20in the early years of the 20th century,
0:22:20 > 0:22:23Scalpay was a busy, cosmopolitan place,
0:22:23 > 0:22:27with boats, crews and fisher girls coming to an island
0:22:27 > 0:22:31where music and song played an important part in daily life,
0:22:31 > 0:22:34especially in the production of the cloth
0:22:34 > 0:22:37for which the islands are famous - tweed.
0:22:37 > 0:22:42WOMEN SING IN GAELIC
0:22:47 > 0:22:50Morag MacLeod has kindly gathered together
0:22:50 > 0:22:52some of the ladies of Scalpay
0:22:52 > 0:22:56to demonstrate the ancient tradition of waulking the tweed,
0:22:56 > 0:22:59where songs accompanied the work of treating the cloth.
0:23:04 > 0:23:09- What's the song all about, Morag? - It's a love song.
0:23:09 > 0:23:11Well, you could call it a love song. It's a mixture of texts.
0:23:11 > 0:23:14And the last verse that Chrissie sings is,
0:23:14 > 0:23:18"I'm longing for you to come with your pigidh..."
0:23:18 > 0:23:21Now, I'm not sure what... It's...
0:23:21 > 0:23:24- Sounds a bit rude.- No, no. - WOMEN LAUGH
0:23:24 > 0:23:26It's a thing for carrying whisky,
0:23:26 > 0:23:31- which would be the drink for them to get betrothed.- Oh, right.
0:23:31 > 0:23:32Is that kind of a betrothal drink
0:23:32 > 0:23:35- he's going to bring? - Yes, yes.- Right.
0:23:35 > 0:23:38'For some reason, I feel compelled to join in,
0:23:38 > 0:23:42'and I'm more than happy to prove my rhythmic prowess
0:23:42 > 0:23:43'to the ladies of Scalpay.'
0:23:45 > 0:23:48And why are we doing this? What's the point of this beating?
0:23:48 > 0:23:51- To shrink the tweed.- Right.
0:23:51 > 0:23:56- It's got to go from 32in to 28. - Really?
0:23:56 > 0:24:02So, it needs to be beaten and waulked to tighten up the weave.
0:24:02 > 0:24:06- And it's all about keeping up a rhythm.- Yes.
0:24:06 > 0:24:11I suppose that is partly why music lends itself to this activity.
0:24:11 > 0:24:14So, Chrissie, are you going to give us a wee song?
0:24:14 > 0:24:15A longing song?
0:24:17 > 0:24:21THEY SING IN GAELIC
0:24:25 > 0:24:28The waulking tradition is an ancient one,
0:24:28 > 0:24:30and was firmly part of the female domain.
0:24:30 > 0:24:34It gave women the opportunity to catch up, to sing,
0:24:34 > 0:24:36tell stories and jokes,
0:24:36 > 0:24:39all without the bothersome interference of their menfolk,
0:24:39 > 0:24:42a communal activity that produced the fabric
0:24:42 > 0:24:44that has become world-famous.
0:24:45 > 0:24:48But it's not just tweed that's woven here.
0:24:48 > 0:24:54Sheila Roderick is a Harris weaver. Her cloth of choice is linen,
0:24:54 > 0:24:57and it's worn by dream weavers of stage and screen.
0:24:57 > 0:25:00Now, Sheila, I'm familiar with Harris tweed,
0:25:00 > 0:25:03made from wool, woven on Harris. We're on Scalpay.
0:25:03 > 0:25:07This has been woven by you, but this is linen.
0:25:07 > 0:25:09Yes, made of linen. Yes, Belgian linen.
0:25:09 > 0:25:11And it's made on a Hattersley loom,
0:25:11 > 0:25:13exactly the same way as Harris tweed,
0:25:13 > 0:25:16using the same patterns, the same drafts, everything,
0:25:16 > 0:25:19but using linen instead of wool.
0:25:19 > 0:25:23Sheila trained as a traditional Harris tweed weaver 20 years ago,
0:25:23 > 0:25:27but then began to experiment and extend her repertoire.
0:25:27 > 0:25:30I decided I would use my skills on the loom
0:25:30 > 0:25:33and I would just look for something different to weave,
0:25:33 > 0:25:37and after a bit of discussion, I decided to go for linen.
0:25:37 > 0:25:40Knew nothing about linen at all. Literally nothing.
0:25:40 > 0:25:43I had to go to the library and take out a book about linen.
0:25:43 > 0:25:45I don't think I'd even seen a piece of linen before.
0:25:47 > 0:25:51This is the raw material that linen is woven from.
0:25:51 > 0:25:53It's flax.
0:25:53 > 0:25:57It starts out looking like the end of Harry Potter's broom,
0:25:57 > 0:26:01but after being worked to pound down its woody stems,
0:26:01 > 0:26:04it ends up as these beautiful, silk-like fibres.
0:26:04 > 0:26:07I mean, it's just like hair. It's like a beautiful wig.
0:26:07 > 0:26:09This is the original flaxen hair, isn't it?
0:26:09 > 0:26:10Flaxen hair, absolutely.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13- Flaxen-haired girl would have had hair like this.- Mm-hm.
0:26:13 > 0:26:16I can't believe, you know, the contrast between the two
0:26:16 > 0:26:18because it's actually the same material...
0:26:18 > 0:26:20- Yes, it is. - ..having gone through a process.
0:26:21 > 0:26:25Sheila's talent with textiles has won her orders for her designs
0:26:25 > 0:26:28from major film and television studios.
0:26:28 > 0:26:32Her credits include Captain Corelli's Mandolin,
0:26:32 > 0:26:33Casanova,
0:26:33 > 0:26:37The Pirates Of The Caribbean and The Hobbit.
0:26:37 > 0:26:40Do you have any samples that you can show me
0:26:40 > 0:26:44- that have graced the silver screen? - Yes, I've got one up here.
0:26:44 > 0:26:50This is the grey one that's up here is Gandalf's robe in The Hobbit.
0:26:50 > 0:26:53- Really?- We did a lot of linen for that.
0:26:53 > 0:26:56- It's a bit like the Turin Shroud, isn't it?- Yes.
0:26:56 > 0:26:58A hallowed piece of cloth. THEY LAUGH
0:26:58 > 0:27:01- Maybe slightly exaggerated. - Well, it was quite...
0:27:01 > 0:27:04I suppose it was the biggest production
0:27:04 > 0:27:05that we've actually been in,
0:27:05 > 0:27:09and I did a huge amount of material for it, I have to say.
0:27:09 > 0:27:11Do you get Hobbit fans coming here
0:27:11 > 0:27:14- in search of a piece of the original cloth?- Never had a Hobbit fan in.
0:27:14 > 0:27:19- Well, you might get one or two later on now, I think.- Maybe, yes.
0:27:19 > 0:27:22- Can I touch it? - Yes, you may touch it!
0:27:22 > 0:27:27I'm going to now touch Gandalf's gown.
0:27:29 > 0:27:33Wow, so close to stardom here on Scalpay.
0:27:35 > 0:27:36Who would have thought?
0:27:40 > 0:27:43Leaving Sheila and her beautiful linen,
0:27:43 > 0:27:46I buy enough cloth for a jacket and head back outside
0:27:46 > 0:27:51to climb Scalpay's not-very-high highest hill,
0:27:51 > 0:27:55to get a fresh perspective of this fascinating island.
0:27:57 > 0:28:02Wow. The views from this wee hill are truly superb.
0:28:02 > 0:28:04Down there, you can just make out the bridge
0:28:04 > 0:28:07connecting Scalpay to Harris.
0:28:07 > 0:28:09And through the mist is Clisham,
0:28:09 > 0:28:12the highest mountain in the Western Isles.
0:28:12 > 0:28:15And down there is the famous lighthouse,
0:28:15 > 0:28:18the first ever to be built in the Hebrides.
0:28:18 > 0:28:22And all around are islands both great and small,
0:28:22 > 0:28:25making this unassuming hill
0:28:25 > 0:28:29the perfect spot to end my grand tour.
0:28:31 > 0:28:35My next grand tour takes me north to Shetland,
0:28:35 > 0:28:39where I'll be travelling across the islands from west to east.