0:00:03 > 0:00:06Islands have attracted human settlement
0:00:06 > 0:00:07since the dawn of history.
0:00:09 > 0:00:13For centuries, different peoples and different cultures
0:00:13 > 0:00:16have built their communities in places far out to sea.
0:00:18 > 0:00:21Hundreds of islands cluster around Scotland's coast.
0:00:21 > 0:00:24Many are home to thriving communities,
0:00:24 > 0:00:27but many more are uninhabited.
0:00:27 > 0:00:29But that wasn't always the case.
0:00:33 > 0:00:35It's a human instinct to explore,
0:00:35 > 0:00:39and the allure of a distant island was just as irresistible
0:00:39 > 0:00:43to our early ancestors as it is for me today.
0:00:44 > 0:00:48So it's no hardship to be on an island-hopping grand tour,
0:00:48 > 0:00:50which journeys to the Northern Isles,
0:00:50 > 0:00:54explores the Hebrides and discovers the secrets
0:00:54 > 0:00:56of some of the remotest places in Europe.
0:00:58 > 0:01:00For this grand tour,
0:01:00 > 0:01:03I'm travelling to some extremely hard-to-reach islands
0:01:03 > 0:01:05that lie far enough from the coast
0:01:05 > 0:01:08to be rarely glimpsed on the horizon.
0:01:08 > 0:01:09They're so remote, in fact,
0:01:09 > 0:01:14that they're seldom visited or even mentioned on everyday maps.
0:01:29 > 0:01:33My journey takes me to the once inhabited island of Heisgeir,
0:01:33 > 0:01:36scales the highest mountain on Harris,
0:01:36 > 0:01:39sails around the gannet city of Sula Sgeir
0:01:39 > 0:01:41and makes final landfall
0:01:41 > 0:01:44on the extraordinarily remote island of North Rona.
0:01:46 > 0:01:49This is going to be one of the most difficult grand tours to make,
0:01:49 > 0:01:53because every island destination is uninhabited,
0:01:53 > 0:01:56so there are no ferries and there are no proper piers.
0:01:56 > 0:01:58To make matters even worse,
0:01:58 > 0:02:01Scotland's rather unpredictable weather means
0:02:01 > 0:02:05that I might not even get to any of the islands I want to explore.
0:02:05 > 0:02:06But here's hoping.
0:02:08 > 0:02:12Today, I'm sailing west of the Uists and ten miles out into the Atlantic,
0:02:13 > 0:02:16heading towards a group of now uninhabited islands,
0:02:16 > 0:02:18known in Gaelic as Heisgeir.
0:02:20 > 0:02:24Joining me is a group of people with strong Heisgeir connections.
0:02:25 > 0:02:28Angus Moy is the island's last survivor.
0:02:28 > 0:02:31He was born there in 1932.
0:02:32 > 0:02:34Travelling with him are his children,
0:02:34 > 0:02:37some of whom have never visited the island before.
0:02:38 > 0:02:43Julie Fowlis is a renowned Gaelic singer. Her connections run deep.
0:02:43 > 0:02:48Her great-great-grandmother was born in a croft on the island.
0:02:48 > 0:02:53For Patrick Morrison, this trip is a pilgrimage to his father's family.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56They were the last people to live permanently on Heisgeir.
0:03:08 > 0:03:11Heisgeir, also known as the Monachs,
0:03:11 > 0:03:14is actually three islands linked together at low tide,
0:03:14 > 0:03:17making it possible to walk from one to the other.
0:03:18 > 0:03:22A century ago, over 100 people lived here,
0:03:22 > 0:03:26but the village was finally abandoned in the early 1950s,
0:03:26 > 0:03:28a few years after the lighthouse closed.
0:03:29 > 0:03:33Today it is quite cut off from the outside world.
0:03:36 > 0:03:39There's no pier or jetty on Heisgeir.
0:03:39 > 0:03:42The lack of a proper landing stage didn't make life easy
0:03:42 > 0:03:44for the islanders.
0:03:45 > 0:03:48And it's certainly no easier today,
0:03:48 > 0:03:52although some seniors in our group seem to be managing rather well.
0:03:53 > 0:03:55HE SPEAKS GAELIC
0:03:57 > 0:04:00Eventually, an assortment of family members, friends,
0:04:00 > 0:04:04dogs and musical instruments are safely ashore.
0:04:04 > 0:04:08For Angus Moy, this is his first visit for many years.
0:04:08 > 0:04:12- What's it like coming back, Angus? - Oh, it's great coming back.
0:04:12 > 0:04:14You feel something.
0:04:14 > 0:04:18There's something on the island that makes you feel something.
0:04:18 > 0:04:22- It's the atmosphere of the place. - Aye, it must be something like that.
0:04:23 > 0:04:25It's a beautiful, beautiful place.
0:04:25 > 0:04:26Oh, it is.
0:04:26 > 0:04:28It was a wonderful life.
0:04:28 > 0:04:34I mean, what a life we had compared to the kids nowadays.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37You always had something to do, like feeding hens and ducks
0:04:37 > 0:04:42and after sheep, and taking home the cows, milking.
0:04:42 > 0:04:45Och, you did everything from the time you were so big.
0:04:47 > 0:04:49You never got bored in those days?
0:04:49 > 0:04:50No.
0:04:52 > 0:04:56Angus remembers Heisgeir as a very fertile island.
0:04:56 > 0:04:58The land was ploughed by horse,
0:04:58 > 0:04:59right up to the sandline,
0:04:59 > 0:05:01and bread was baked from oats
0:05:01 > 0:05:04that were grown and milled on the island.
0:05:05 > 0:05:08It's amazing to think that Angus knew many of the people
0:05:08 > 0:05:10in these photographs.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13They seem to come from another age.
0:05:14 > 0:05:17For daughter Iona, this is her first visit
0:05:17 > 0:05:19to her father's birthplace.
0:05:19 > 0:05:22It's amazing. I just feel like, you know...
0:05:23 > 0:05:26I've never been before, I've never lived here before,
0:05:26 > 0:05:29but because it's such a big part of Dad's life
0:05:29 > 0:05:31and we've always spoken about it...
0:05:32 > 0:05:35..I just feel like, I don't even know, more than excited.
0:05:37 > 0:05:39- I can imagine.- This is like really coming home.
0:05:40 > 0:05:43That's the church over there.
0:05:43 > 0:05:47I mind coming out of the end of that house there.
0:05:47 > 0:05:49I was only a wee child at the time.
0:05:49 > 0:05:51My granny,
0:05:51 > 0:05:54she had a chair out the side of the house,
0:05:54 > 0:05:57listening to the music coming out of that church.
0:05:57 > 0:05:59How come she wasn't at church?
0:05:59 > 0:06:00- She was looking after me. - Oh, I see.
0:06:00 > 0:06:02I was too young to go to church.
0:06:04 > 0:06:06It's a wonderful place.
0:06:06 > 0:06:08A wonderful, wonderful place.
0:06:13 > 0:06:15Leaving Angus Moy and his family
0:06:15 > 0:06:18to explore the ruins of their ancestral home,
0:06:18 > 0:06:21I explore more of this beautiful island,
0:06:21 > 0:06:24where the history of human habitation goes back centuries.
0:06:27 > 0:06:32Among the first people to live here was a community of nuns.
0:06:32 > 0:06:35Unusually for women of a religious bent,
0:06:35 > 0:06:38these nuns were famed as much for
0:06:38 > 0:06:41their exceptional physical strength as for their piety.
0:06:41 > 0:06:46But they would soon have to share their island retreat.
0:06:46 > 0:06:50Later in the 10th century, a group of monks established a community
0:06:50 > 0:06:52on the little island of Shillay,
0:06:52 > 0:06:55over there where the lighthouse now stands.
0:06:55 > 0:06:59But history doesn't record what relations the monks over there
0:06:59 > 0:07:01had with the nuns over here.
0:07:01 > 0:07:04Though I suspect the Amazonian ladies
0:07:04 > 0:07:07could take care of themselves.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10WOMAN SINGS IN GAELIC
0:07:13 > 0:07:18Of course, an island is the perfect place for a religious retreat.
0:07:19 > 0:07:23But the people who settled here later weren't looking for seclusion.
0:07:25 > 0:07:27They worked the land and fished the seas
0:07:27 > 0:07:31because they could make a good living.
0:07:31 > 0:07:32A way of life that's been immortalised
0:07:32 > 0:07:37in the rich tradition of island poems and songs.
0:07:37 > 0:07:39SINGING CONTINUES
0:07:48 > 0:07:53Julie Fowlis is a celebrated Gaelic singer and musician,
0:07:53 > 0:07:56whose family roots on Heisgeir go back generations.
0:07:57 > 0:08:02I join her to search for her great-great-grandmother's house.
0:08:02 > 0:08:04A very useful crofting map we've got here,
0:08:04 > 0:08:06- showing all the crofts on Heisgeir. - Yes.
0:08:06 > 0:08:09So where would your ancestors have lived then, according to this?
0:08:09 > 0:08:12This one here, which is I, which is actually here.
0:08:12 > 0:08:14- That one over there?- Yes.
0:08:14 > 0:08:17- It's a rather tumbledown-looking affair.- I know.
0:08:17 > 0:08:18It would have been a fine house in its day.
0:08:18 > 0:08:22I guess it's a long time since my own folks were here.
0:08:22 > 0:08:24- So you've got Heisgeir blood...- Yes.
0:08:24 > 0:08:27- ..coursing through your veins, haven't you?- I suppose so!
0:08:27 > 0:08:28What does it feel like coming here,
0:08:28 > 0:08:30getting in touch with your ancestors?
0:08:30 > 0:08:32It's always lovely to come back.
0:08:33 > 0:08:37Every time I come here, you get a real sense of the people
0:08:37 > 0:08:40who lived here and the kind of life that they had.
0:08:40 > 0:08:42You're reminded of that very sharply when you're here.
0:08:42 > 0:08:46Just how on the edge they lived.
0:08:46 > 0:08:48You can see the houses all very close together.
0:08:48 > 0:08:51It must have been a very tight-knit community.
0:08:51 > 0:08:52I think there certainly was.
0:08:52 > 0:08:55I think they had to be a close-knit community working together
0:08:55 > 0:08:57in order to survive out here.
0:08:57 > 0:09:00You know, it's not just on the edge of the Western Isles,
0:09:00 > 0:09:02it's on the edge of Scotland, it's on the edge of Europe.
0:09:05 > 0:09:09The struggle against the elements created its own rhythm,
0:09:09 > 0:09:12which found expression not just in working the land,
0:09:12 > 0:09:14but in words and song.
0:09:15 > 0:09:17Life was so much simpler and it was a lot harder, too,
0:09:17 > 0:09:23but from that sprung so much beautiful poetry and song.
0:09:23 > 0:09:25I think there's something very deep here,
0:09:25 > 0:09:28the way that people connected with the landscape and their environment,
0:09:28 > 0:09:30they had such an understanding.
0:09:30 > 0:09:32They really understood the land, they understood the sea.
0:09:32 > 0:09:37There was a connection there between the islanders and their environment
0:09:37 > 0:09:40that was...they had to really understand where they were,
0:09:40 > 0:09:42- otherwise they wouldn't have survived.- It's not just
0:09:42 > 0:09:46- a romantic connection...- No, it's not.- ..it's a profound, practical connection...- Totally.
0:09:46 > 0:09:49..that also has this kind of wonderful life-affirming quality to it at the same time.
0:09:49 > 0:09:55And from that connection sprung poetry and song.
0:09:55 > 0:09:58It was lovely to hear Angus's stories of the dances
0:09:58 > 0:10:01that used to happen just in the fields here.
0:10:01 > 0:10:04He was describing how there might be a fiddle player or a box player.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07They would play for the dances and they would sit high up on the wall
0:10:07 > 0:10:10- so they could be heard and they would play some tunes...- Over there?
0:10:10 > 0:10:13Just over there. ..and people would dance, you know.
0:10:13 > 0:10:16All these things really bring the place to life, you know.
0:10:16 > 0:10:19There's something still there within those walls, within the stone,
0:10:19 > 0:10:22just that has their presence still there in it.
0:10:22 > 0:10:25Perhaps I feel that more by looking at the songs
0:10:25 > 0:10:26and listening to the stories
0:10:26 > 0:10:29and maybe that is a way to connect you to the place
0:10:29 > 0:10:31and to connect you to the landscape still,
0:10:31 > 0:10:33despite there being no-one left here.
0:10:35 > 0:10:40JULIE SINGS IN GAELIC
0:11:04 > 0:11:07The Gaelic-speaking community on isolated Heisgeir
0:11:07 > 0:11:11found life increasingly difficult.
0:11:11 > 0:11:14As well as living on one of the remotest Scottish islands,
0:11:14 > 0:11:18they also had to battle with a hostile environment.
0:11:20 > 0:11:24Eventually, erosion caused an exodus from Heisgeir.
0:11:24 > 0:11:25In the early 19th century,
0:11:25 > 0:11:31a terrible storm swept large amounts of topsoil and pasture
0:11:31 > 0:11:32clean into the sea.
0:11:32 > 0:11:35And with nowhere to plant their crops or graze their animals,
0:11:35 > 0:11:38the people were forced to leave.
0:11:40 > 0:11:45By the early 1940s, only Angus Moy and his family were left.
0:11:45 > 0:11:46And when they moved,
0:11:46 > 0:11:50all the island homes stood empty.
0:11:50 > 0:11:54But then, in a remarkable turnaround, people came back.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57Padruig Morrison's grandfather, from Grimsay in North Uist,
0:11:57 > 0:12:00had a dream to resettle the island.
0:12:01 > 0:12:05In 1945, and after the Second World War,
0:12:05 > 0:12:10and after the last families left Heisgeir in '43,
0:12:10 > 0:12:13my grandfather, Patrick Morrison,
0:12:13 > 0:12:17having been away in the First World War himself -
0:12:17 > 0:12:21and he'd seen lots of the atrocities of the world -
0:12:21 > 0:12:25saw that this was a lovely, fertile, beautiful place
0:12:25 > 0:12:27and, being one of the Grimsey fishermen,
0:12:27 > 0:12:31they came out here every summer to fish for lobsters
0:12:31 > 0:12:34and he thought that it should be resettled.
0:12:34 > 0:12:37So he was re-colonising the place after it had become abandoned?
0:12:37 > 0:12:39That's it.
0:12:39 > 0:12:43He said if there's half a dozen families, it would be viable.
0:12:43 > 0:12:46And there was this plan made with four families in total,
0:12:46 > 0:12:48him and three others.
0:12:48 > 0:12:51But when it came to the day, only his one went out.
0:12:51 > 0:12:53- The others chickened out? - They did, yeah.
0:12:53 > 0:12:55They lost faith in his dream?
0:12:55 > 0:13:00In fact, the Grimsey people did think it was a bit mad at the time.
0:13:00 > 0:13:01So out they came,
0:13:01 > 0:13:0412 journeys it took them to take all their stuff out.
0:13:05 > 0:13:07They took the house over there with the chimney on.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10- The one with the chimney, that's where they stayed?- Yeah.
0:13:10 > 0:13:12He thought there could be this cooperative here
0:13:12 > 0:13:14where folk could fish if they wanted to,
0:13:14 > 0:13:16or those that wanted to work on the land could do that,
0:13:16 > 0:13:20and they would work together and sustain each other on the island.
0:13:20 > 0:13:23I think they had about 16 cattle, 16 head of cattle here.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27It was really good fun and they saw the Grimsey fisherman coming in
0:13:27 > 0:13:31in the summer and there would be parties with the fiddle
0:13:31 > 0:13:36and the melodeon, singing, story- telling, the old-style tradition.
0:13:36 > 0:13:42A surprising summer visitor was the broadcaster Richard Dimbleby.
0:13:42 > 0:13:45He came to report on how resettling the island was going.
0:13:46 > 0:13:51They've got lots of unusual visitors and one was this programme
0:13:51 > 0:13:55that was being done by the famous Richard Dimbleby - Down Your Way.
0:13:55 > 0:13:57- Richard Dimbleby himself?- Himself.
0:13:57 > 0:14:00He was interviewing folk in their own community
0:14:00 > 0:14:02and spoke to my grandfather.
0:14:02 > 0:14:05He explained how he thought this could be viable
0:14:05 > 0:14:07and it was a great place to be
0:14:07 > 0:14:10and it really would be good if more families came out.
0:14:12 > 0:14:15What it did attract was perhaps not what he had in mind,
0:14:15 > 0:14:18but some Cambridge botanists came up
0:14:18 > 0:14:20and they were very interested in the place.
0:14:20 > 0:14:23And in fact, in '52, they bought the schoolhouse.
0:14:26 > 0:14:29Botanists, however eager,
0:14:29 > 0:14:33are not the sort of incomers the island community needed to survive.
0:14:34 > 0:14:38After they left, life for the family became increasingly difficult,
0:14:38 > 0:14:42forcing Padruig's grandfather to make the painful decision
0:14:42 > 0:14:44to abandon Heisgeir.
0:14:45 > 0:14:47I suppose he was a little sad,
0:14:47 > 0:14:51but they were the happiest years of his life, he said.
0:14:51 > 0:14:54And he had this idea of a co-operative working here,
0:14:54 > 0:14:56where you had those that wanted to fish, could fish.
0:14:56 > 0:14:59Those who wanted to plough the land, they could plough the land
0:14:59 > 0:15:00and you'd have folk working here.
0:15:00 > 0:15:03- It's a great dream.- Great dream, great dream.
0:15:03 > 0:15:06Is it like an early form of social engineering?
0:15:06 > 0:15:10- Absolutely.- The ideal community in a place like this.
0:15:10 > 0:15:12It is... Now, it's like paradise.
0:15:19 > 0:15:23Leaving idyllic Heisgeir and its host of memories,
0:15:23 > 0:15:25I head back across the sea
0:15:25 > 0:15:28to my next destination, the Isle of Harris,
0:15:28 > 0:15:32where I have an appointment with a summit of consequence.
0:15:35 > 0:15:38Clisham is the highest mountain in the Hebrides.
0:15:38 > 0:15:42It's not a Munro but, at 2,600ft,
0:15:42 > 0:15:44it's still quite a significant wee mountain.
0:15:48 > 0:15:53The first recorded ascent of Clisham was made in 1817,
0:15:53 > 0:15:56by an Aberdonian naturalist of Hebridean descent.
0:15:56 > 0:15:58The remarkable William MacGillivray.
0:15:59 > 0:16:02William MacGillivray was an extraordinary man,
0:16:02 > 0:16:05who came from the humblest of backgrounds.
0:16:05 > 0:16:09He was illegitimate and then abandoned at birth.
0:16:09 > 0:16:12But brought up here on Harris by an uncle.
0:16:12 > 0:16:15William then went on to Aberdeen University
0:16:15 > 0:16:19where he became one of Scotland's greatest naturalists.
0:16:19 > 0:16:23His work inspired and impressed Charles Darwin, no less.
0:16:23 > 0:16:27William MacGillivray was also a celebrated walker
0:16:27 > 0:16:29and great mountaineer.
0:16:32 > 0:16:36As a student, MacGillivray walked from Aberdeen to London
0:16:36 > 0:16:38to visit the British Museum.
0:16:38 > 0:16:43A round trip of over 1,000 miles.
0:16:43 > 0:16:47In his quest for specimens, he explored the Cairngorms,
0:16:47 > 0:16:51making the first recorded ascents of many peaks in the process.
0:16:51 > 0:16:55In 1817, while staying with his uncle on Harris,
0:16:55 > 0:16:59he decided to scale the mighty Clisham and wrote...
0:16:59 > 0:17:03"In spite of hail and snow and the furious whirlwinds,
0:17:03 > 0:17:05"I made my way to the summit
0:17:05 > 0:17:08"where I enjoyed a very sublime spectacle."
0:17:09 > 0:17:11Hey! It's the top.
0:17:13 > 0:17:17I've just stepped out of the wind for a moment to take in the view,
0:17:17 > 0:17:21which must be as sublime as it was back in William MacGillivray's day.
0:17:21 > 0:17:23From the summit here of Clisham,
0:17:23 > 0:17:26you can see most of the long island of Harris & Lewis
0:17:26 > 0:17:28stretching way up there to the north
0:17:28 > 0:17:32and down to the south you can see the Uists on the horizon.
0:17:36 > 0:17:40From my vantage point on Clisham, I'm heading back out to sea
0:17:40 > 0:17:43and to the isolated rock of Sula Sgeir
0:17:43 > 0:17:46and then on to the remarkable North Rona,
0:17:46 > 0:17:49which lies 45 miles north of the tip of Lewis.
0:17:51 > 0:17:55It was once home to the remotest island community in Europe.
0:17:56 > 0:18:00Now, I'm really excited, because for the last two years
0:18:00 > 0:18:02I've been trying desperately to get to these lonely islands
0:18:02 > 0:18:05of Sula Sgeir and North Rona.
0:18:05 > 0:18:06But the weather, even in summer,
0:18:06 > 0:18:10has always proved to be just too rough to make a landing.
0:18:10 > 0:18:13But this morning it seems absolutely perfect.
0:18:13 > 0:18:16So if I do get there, if I do get to these islands,
0:18:16 > 0:18:19they will be the remotest islands I will have ever visited.
0:18:19 > 0:18:21So, fingers crossed.
0:18:25 > 0:18:28This feels like a real expedition.
0:18:28 > 0:18:31And we are travelling to the middle of nowhere.
0:18:32 > 0:18:37It's going to take us at least five hours to reach our destination,
0:18:37 > 0:18:40perhaps longer, in seas that are getting rougher by the minute.
0:18:41 > 0:18:45With me is archaeologist George Geddes.
0:18:45 > 0:18:49How did people first know that North Rona even existed?
0:18:49 > 0:18:51Because it's practically invisible.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54Well, I imagine it is invisible for most of the time
0:18:54 > 0:18:55from mainland Scotland.
0:18:55 > 0:18:58Most of the time it's definitely invisible, but on a good day
0:18:58 > 0:19:00- you can see it from the high hills of Lewis.- Right.
0:19:00 > 0:19:02And from the mainland.
0:19:02 > 0:19:05So the possibility, I suppose, is that somebody just saw it
0:19:05 > 0:19:08and thought, "Let's go and see that place and see what it's like."
0:19:08 > 0:19:11That's the allure of an island on the horizon -
0:19:11 > 0:19:13it always draws you to it, doesn't it?
0:19:15 > 0:19:19After weathering some pretty rough seas for over four hours,
0:19:19 > 0:19:22a lonely sentinel comes into view.
0:19:22 > 0:19:27That dangerous-looking rock is called Sula Sgeir or Gannet Rock.
0:19:27 > 0:19:28And since time immemorial,
0:19:28 > 0:19:32it's attracted gannet hunters to its dangerous shores.
0:19:37 > 0:19:42Every August, men from Ness and Lewis sail north
0:19:42 > 0:19:44and clamber up the steep rocks,
0:19:44 > 0:19:48where they are still licensed to hunt guga, or unfledged gannets.
0:19:50 > 0:19:55This film was made in 1952 and shows how they landed their supplies
0:19:55 > 0:19:59and how they made use of these centuries-old stone bothies,
0:19:59 > 0:20:01where they stayed for up to three weeks,
0:20:01 > 0:20:04while catching the young gannets with long poles.
0:20:07 > 0:20:11The birds were then skinned and smoked over a peat fire
0:20:11 > 0:20:14before being carefully packaged for the folks at home,
0:20:14 > 0:20:19where the guga is still considered to be an epicurean delight
0:20:19 > 0:20:22and enjoyed on tables throughout Lewis to this day.
0:20:26 > 0:20:32Leaving Sula Sgeir, we continue north-east for a further 14 miles.
0:20:32 > 0:20:36After a total journey time of almost six hours, we finally reach our goal
0:20:36 > 0:20:41and the very last of my island destinations - North Rona.
0:20:43 > 0:20:48So there we are - Land ho! - the fabled North Rona.
0:20:48 > 0:20:49And seeing it from the boat,
0:20:49 > 0:20:53you really appreciate just how remote North Rona is.
0:20:53 > 0:20:55But what is absolutely staggering,
0:20:55 > 0:20:59is that people lived out here for hundreds of years.
0:21:01 > 0:21:05It's seldom that the seas are calm enough to permit a landing
0:21:05 > 0:21:08on this cliff-girt island, where there is no pier or jetty.
0:21:09 > 0:21:13In fact, conditions have to be well-nigh perfect,
0:21:13 > 0:21:18which makes a landfall on North Rona a rare and special thing,
0:21:18 > 0:21:20as these early tourists discovered.
0:21:22 > 0:21:24'We scrambled up 60ft of rock.
0:21:26 > 0:21:29'We have achieved the almost impossible.
0:21:29 > 0:21:30'We have landed on North Rona.'
0:21:34 > 0:21:37That film was made in 1958,
0:21:37 > 0:21:41but landing today is just as hard as it was back then.
0:21:41 > 0:21:43More like a commando raid,
0:21:43 > 0:21:46requiring all the balance and poise I can muster...
0:21:47 > 0:21:49..which isn't much.
0:21:49 > 0:21:51- George, we've made it.- Yes.
0:21:51 > 0:21:54After two and a half years of waiting to get here,
0:21:54 > 0:21:57I'm finally setting foot on North Rona.
0:21:58 > 0:22:01George, I have to say, one of the first things that strikes me
0:22:01 > 0:22:03is just how green it is here.
0:22:03 > 0:22:06Lush, a lush and green place with great grazing.
0:22:06 > 0:22:10It was always known for good grass for cattle and sheep.
0:22:10 > 0:22:11Is that why people came here?
0:22:11 > 0:22:14It's certainly one of the advantages, yes.
0:22:15 > 0:22:20'Before the last permanent residents left in the 1830s,
0:22:20 > 0:22:23'early travellers commented on the locals they met here.
0:22:23 > 0:22:25'It's said they took their names
0:22:25 > 0:22:28'from the colour of the sky and the clouds
0:22:28 > 0:22:29'and were wonderfully hospitable,
0:22:29 > 0:22:34'blessing visitors and showering them with gifts of grain.
0:22:34 > 0:22:36'But how on earth did they make a living
0:22:36 > 0:22:38'on this wild and lonely island?'
0:22:38 > 0:22:40What would they have grown here?
0:22:40 > 0:22:43Certainly, at its biggest population of about 30,
0:22:43 > 0:22:46they were mainly growing barley. That's what it was known for.
0:22:46 > 0:22:48It's an incredible thought, in such a windy place,
0:22:48 > 0:22:52to have a field of grain, fields of golden barley waving in the breeze.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55Absolutely, yes. Had we been here say 300 years ago,
0:22:55 > 0:22:59we might well have been standing in a growing field of barley.
0:23:03 > 0:23:05'Walking through the ancient graveyard,
0:23:05 > 0:23:10'the first building we come to is a tiny chapel, dedicated to St Ronan,
0:23:10 > 0:23:14'who's reputed to have lived here and given his name to the island.
0:23:16 > 0:23:18'Judging by the size of the chapel door,
0:23:18 > 0:23:21'he must have been a very small saint indeed.'
0:23:21 > 0:23:25Is there a reason for this, or were they just very small people?
0:23:25 > 0:23:27It's partly that it's been silted up.
0:23:27 > 0:23:29Was it a devotional thing, you had to get on your knees?
0:23:30 > 0:23:34Wow, this is a very significant place.
0:23:34 > 0:23:37Yes, this is potentially one of the earliest Christian buildings
0:23:37 > 0:23:40in Scotland. If not THE earliest.
0:23:41 > 0:23:44So this little cell, sometimes called an oratory,
0:23:44 > 0:23:46a little private chapel,
0:23:46 > 0:23:50has often been thought of as St Ronan's cell.
0:23:50 > 0:23:52So, like a monk's cell, if you like.
0:23:53 > 0:23:56'It was a tradition of monks of the early Celtic Church
0:23:56 > 0:24:00'to seek out remote islands for contemplation and prayer.
0:24:01 > 0:24:04'It's amazing to think that this simple building
0:24:04 > 0:24:07'could be over 1,000 years old.'
0:24:07 > 0:24:10Down on my hands and knees to face the Almighty.
0:24:11 > 0:24:15'Despite the darkness, we can just make out the cobbled roof.'
0:24:16 > 0:24:19I wonder what prayers were said in this tiny space.
0:24:21 > 0:24:24Huddled close to the chapel is the village,
0:24:24 > 0:24:26once home to a community of 30 people.
0:24:28 > 0:24:29What's the address of this house, George?
0:24:29 > 0:24:32This is Number One, Number One, Rona.
0:24:32 > 0:24:35- The Rona house? - The last occupied house.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39'The few visitors that made the trip to North Rona
0:24:39 > 0:24:44'often remarked on how the houses were built practically underground
0:24:44 > 0:24:47'to protect the islanders from the elements.'
0:24:47 > 0:24:49If we were in here and people were living here,
0:24:49 > 0:24:51it would be quite smoky, it would be really dark
0:24:51 > 0:24:53and it would be really smelly.
0:24:53 > 0:24:55Full of smells that we find kind of odd,
0:24:55 > 0:24:59cos there would be cattle here, fish they'd collected,
0:24:59 > 0:25:01the seabirds, which are smelly at the best of times.
0:25:01 > 0:25:04- Rich, pungent aroma?- Absolutely.
0:25:04 > 0:25:09But standing here, looking across at this wonderful wide horizon,
0:25:09 > 0:25:12I see not the slightest hint of land anywhere.
0:25:12 > 0:25:17I just cannot get over the idea that people lived here for so long.
0:25:17 > 0:25:19It's 45 miles to the nearest landfall.
0:25:19 > 0:25:21But what were they doing here?
0:25:21 > 0:25:24The real driver, as far as we know, for people living here
0:25:24 > 0:25:27in the historical period, if you like,
0:25:27 > 0:25:29in the last few hundred years,
0:25:29 > 0:25:33is basically that they were here to pay rent to the guys on Lewis
0:25:33 > 0:25:35who owned the island.
0:25:36 > 0:25:40Effectively, they were rent slaves in a feudal society
0:25:40 > 0:25:43and utterly dependent on their laird.
0:25:44 > 0:25:49It's hard to believe, but the islanders didn't even have a boat.
0:25:49 > 0:25:53But the landlord thoughtfully sent one every year to collect the rent.
0:25:53 > 0:25:58And sometimes to keep them supplied with life's essentials.
0:25:58 > 0:26:01Occasionally, what would happen is a Rona man would need a wife,
0:26:01 > 0:26:02for example.
0:26:02 > 0:26:07He would say to the guy who'd come out from the north of Lewis,
0:26:07 > 0:26:09"Can you see if you can try and find a wife for me?"
0:26:09 > 0:26:13And the next year they would bring out somebody who was...
0:26:13 > 0:26:16- Some poor unlikely wife? - Or perhaps an absolute cracker!
0:26:18 > 0:26:19It's difficult to know.
0:26:19 > 0:26:22Waiting with bated breath to see what the women were like.
0:26:22 > 0:26:24And, similarly, if there wasn't enough men here,
0:26:24 > 0:26:27there was an exchange of people between Ness and Rona
0:26:27 > 0:26:30to try and keep the population relatively well managed.
0:26:30 > 0:26:32The most important thing to understand
0:26:32 > 0:26:34about these most remote of Scottish islands
0:26:34 > 0:26:38is that they don't work unless they are connected.
0:26:38 > 0:26:41So if a community like this really was isolated,
0:26:41 > 0:26:43it would end quite quickly.
0:26:43 > 0:26:45Rona's caught up in a bigger world.
0:26:46 > 0:26:50They were never just living an isolated life.
0:26:50 > 0:26:54It's kind of adrift now, though. It's uninhabited. It is cut off.
0:26:54 > 0:26:55Pretty isolated now.
0:26:55 > 0:26:58It is, but beautiful.
0:27:01 > 0:27:04North Rona is as lonely as it gets
0:27:04 > 0:27:07for a traveller among the Scottish islands.
0:27:07 > 0:27:12Never before have I been to a place where I felt isolation so acutely
0:27:12 > 0:27:14in an almost physical way.
0:27:15 > 0:27:18Other visitors had a similar reaction.
0:27:19 > 0:27:22When the early traveller John McCulloch
0:27:22 > 0:27:24came to North Rona in the 1830s,
0:27:24 > 0:27:28he was impressed by the people and the isolation that he found here.
0:27:28 > 0:27:32And he tried to imagine for himself what it must be like to live here.
0:27:32 > 0:27:36At first he thought, "Perhaps it's like being on a ship,"
0:27:36 > 0:27:39but then he realised that a ship travels
0:27:39 > 0:27:41with the expectation of arrival.
0:27:41 > 0:27:46But North Rona is anchored for ever in the wild and turbulent sea
0:27:46 > 0:27:47and is going nowhere.
0:27:47 > 0:27:49And that really is remote.
0:27:52 > 0:27:56North Rona is the perfect place for me to end my grand tour
0:27:56 > 0:27:59of the Scottish islands.
0:27:59 > 0:28:01Making these films
0:28:01 > 0:28:04has been a wonderful experience and a great privilege.
0:28:05 > 0:28:06Over four series,
0:28:06 > 0:28:09I've travelled to some of the most beautiful places in Britain
0:28:09 > 0:28:12and to the remotest islands in Europe.
0:28:12 > 0:28:13Travelling through
0:28:13 > 0:28:15the Inner and the Outer Hebrides and exploring
0:28:15 > 0:28:18the Northern Isles from Stroma
0:28:18 > 0:28:20to Muckle Flugga.
0:28:20 > 0:28:26In total, I've been to just 87 of our 250 islands.
0:28:26 > 0:28:29So I've only just scratched the surface, really.