0:00:05 > 0:00:10In 1840, one man transformed travel in Britain.
0:00:10 > 0:00:13His name was George Bradshaw, and his railway guides
0:00:13 > 0:00:18inspired the Victorians to take to the tracks.
0:00:18 > 0:00:22Stop by stop, he told them where to travel, what to see,
0:00:22 > 0:00:24and where to stay.
0:00:26 > 0:00:31Now, 170 years later, I'm making a series of journeys across the length and breadth of the country
0:00:31 > 0:00:34to see what of Bradshaw's Britain remains.
0:00:50 > 0:00:54Over the next few days, I'll be travelling along a railway route
0:00:54 > 0:00:57that's been described as the most scenic in Britain.
0:00:57 > 0:00:59Through the West Highlands, to the Isle of Skye.
0:01:02 > 0:01:04This part of my journey begins in
0:01:04 > 0:01:07one of the most heavily populated parts of Scotland.
0:01:07 > 0:01:09But it's also the route that points towards
0:01:09 > 0:01:13the highlands and islands, and Bradshaw's guide anticipates
0:01:13 > 0:01:16a succession of beautiful and varied scenery,
0:01:16 > 0:01:20and remarks that "any traveller for pleasure has only to choose
0:01:20 > 0:01:25"the first conveyance westward, to find what he seeks and be gratified."
0:01:26 > 0:01:31It's a line that brought thousands of tourists to these mountains
0:01:31 > 0:01:32for the first time,
0:01:32 > 0:01:37and my Bradshaw's guide helped them to find their feet in this unknown territory.
0:01:43 > 0:01:45On today's leg of the journey,
0:01:45 > 0:01:47I'll be discovering how Queen Victoria attracted
0:01:47 > 0:01:50train loads of tourists to Loch Lomond.
0:01:50 > 0:01:54This is very valuable, I can see it's signed by Victoria.
0:01:54 > 0:01:56That's a real treasure that you've got that.
0:01:56 > 0:02:00Finding out how Scottish timber fuelled the rail boom.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03We have fast-growing trees for things like railway sleepers,
0:02:03 > 0:02:06that was one of the big demands in the 19th century.
0:02:06 > 0:02:12And learning how a great sailing ship took her name from a witch in a poem.
0:02:12 > 0:02:14It comes from a Burn's poem, Tam o' Shanter.
0:02:14 > 0:02:18He can't help himself and he jumps up and he shouts, "Weel done, Cutty Sark!"
0:02:22 > 0:02:24I started this journey in Ayr,
0:02:24 > 0:02:27and I'm now moving north towards the Highlands.
0:02:27 > 0:02:30I'll be taking the picturesque West Highland Line,
0:02:30 > 0:02:32travelling through rugged moor and mountain,
0:02:32 > 0:02:36all the way to the Inner Hebrides and the Isle of Skye.
0:02:38 > 0:02:42On this stretch, I'll visit the former shipyards in Dumbarton,
0:02:42 > 0:02:45and reach the shores of Loch Lomond at Tarbet,
0:02:45 > 0:02:49as I head for the villages of Crianlarich and Tyndrum.
0:02:50 > 0:02:52I'm beginning in the Clyde estuary,
0:02:52 > 0:02:57once the centre of Scotland's shipbuilding industry.
0:02:57 > 0:03:01The industrial revolution made many fortunes along the River Clyde,
0:03:01 > 0:03:05but of course it also produced the enormous transformation of the landscape,
0:03:05 > 0:03:07maybe emphasising the differences
0:03:07 > 0:03:10between lowland Scotland and the Highlands,
0:03:10 > 0:03:12where I'll be headed shortly.
0:03:12 > 0:03:14But now as you move along the Clyde,
0:03:14 > 0:03:17what's most in evidence are the effects of de-industrialisation,
0:03:17 > 0:03:21as some of the trades and crafts of the 19th century are wound up.
0:03:24 > 0:03:27One town changed beyond recognition since Bradshaw's day
0:03:27 > 0:03:30is my next stop, Dumbarton.
0:03:34 > 0:03:38Back then, busy workshops lined the quays
0:03:38 > 0:03:40and mighty vessels took shape in the shipyards.
0:03:40 > 0:03:44Bradshaw's guide says "Dumbarton is built in a level
0:03:44 > 0:03:48"tract of country near the confluence of the River Leaven and the Clyde,"
0:03:48 > 0:03:52and I can see behind me the very point where the two rivers meet,
0:03:52 > 0:03:55and it says, "It also has the advantage of possessing
0:03:55 > 0:04:01"a spacious and convenient harbour." And that strikes me as pretty sad
0:04:01 > 0:04:05because I'm on the site of what was once Denny's shipyard.
0:04:06 > 0:04:10And there's nothing left. I can hardly believe it.
0:04:10 > 0:04:16In Bradshaw's time, Denny's was just one of several shipyards that
0:04:16 > 0:04:18occupied the banks of the river.
0:04:20 > 0:04:24In the 19th century, the railways helped the yards to expand,
0:04:24 > 0:04:27bringing coal and metals to the slipways.
0:04:27 > 0:04:28By the early 20th century,
0:04:28 > 0:04:33one in five of the world's ships was built on the Clyde.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37Bruce, good morning.
0:04:37 > 0:04:41'I'm meeting Bruce Biddulph, whose family worked in the shipbuilding trade.'
0:04:41 > 0:04:45- Is this really the site that was once Denny's shipyard? - Yes, this is it.
0:04:45 > 0:04:49It stretched from the rock over there right along the river,
0:04:49 > 0:04:53just to before that tower and you had three or four slipways here.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56And the reason they could build the ships so big here was
0:04:56 > 0:04:59because they launched them down this river into the Clyde.
0:04:59 > 0:05:03I came here today by train but there's no sign of railway lines around here,
0:05:03 > 0:05:04were there railway lines?
0:05:04 > 0:05:07Oh, yes, there were two lines came off the main line
0:05:07 > 0:05:13into the MacMillan Yard and into Denny to supply materials, so, you know, they were big concerns.
0:05:13 > 0:05:17- Essential part of the process, to get the steel in, and so on. - Very much so, yes.
0:05:19 > 0:05:22'Although the Clyde was well known for producing steam ships,
0:05:22 > 0:05:26'Dumbarton's shipyards also built one of world's most famous
0:05:26 > 0:05:28'sailing ships, the Cutty Sark.'
0:05:29 > 0:05:31'She was launched right here, in 1869.'
0:05:31 > 0:05:37This is a bit puzzling to me, what were they doing building a sailing ship at the end of the 19th century?
0:05:37 > 0:05:40In part, it was prejudice on the ship owner's part
0:05:40 > 0:05:43because they didn't trust steam entirely.
0:05:43 > 0:05:46But apart from that, prior to the Suez Canal opening,
0:05:46 > 0:05:49the sailing ship was actually more reliable going round
0:05:49 > 0:05:53the cape in Africa on the Indian and Chinese trades.
0:05:53 > 0:05:56It's a bit like now with electric cars. We can build them,
0:05:56 > 0:05:59but we don't have the facilities to look after them,
0:05:59 > 0:06:01in those days it was the same idea.
0:06:01 > 0:06:04A lack of engineers and a lack of facilities if the ship broke down.
0:06:04 > 0:06:07So sailing ships were still pretty viable in those days.
0:06:07 > 0:06:12The Cutty Sark was a new type of composite sailing ship.
0:06:12 > 0:06:15She had an iron frame and a wooden hull,
0:06:15 > 0:06:17and on the trade routes to Australia
0:06:17 > 0:06:20she was even faster than the best steam ships.
0:06:20 > 0:06:24She was originally commissioned by a Scottish entrepreneur,
0:06:24 > 0:06:27who gave her her unusual name.
0:06:27 > 0:06:31I've never understood what Cutty Sark means, where did the name come from?
0:06:31 > 0:06:34It comes from a Burn's poem, Tam o' Shanter.
0:06:34 > 0:06:36Tam gets drunk one night and he sees the witches
0:06:36 > 0:06:39and the Devil having a bit of a cavort.
0:06:39 > 0:06:41And he spots one young witch, who's rather pretty,
0:06:41 > 0:06:45and she's dressed immaculate in white, and he's captivated by her,
0:06:45 > 0:06:49and he can't help himself and he jumps up and he shouts,
0:06:49 > 0:06:55"Weel done, cutty sark," and "cutty sark" refers to the white shift that she's wearing
0:06:55 > 0:06:59so imagine a large sailing ship covered in sail,
0:06:59 > 0:07:01then she just looks like a white shirt on the sea.
0:07:03 > 0:07:09Denny's shipyard continued to produce innovative ships right up until the 1960s.
0:07:09 > 0:07:14But increasing competition from abroad finally forced it to close.
0:07:15 > 0:07:21One part of Dumbarton, at least, hasn't changed since Bradshaw's day.
0:07:21 > 0:07:24My guidebook says, "The ancient castle of Dumbarton
0:07:24 > 0:07:27"stands on the summit of a high and precipitous two-headed rock,
0:07:27 > 0:07:30"and is a place of great antiquity"
0:07:30 > 0:07:35If Bradshaw returned, perhaps only the sight of the great fortress
0:07:35 > 0:07:39securing the harbour would convince him that he was in Dumbarton.
0:07:44 > 0:07:48While in Dumbarton, which has lost its industries,
0:07:48 > 0:07:53I felt that sense of pride at once what was achieved here.
0:07:54 > 0:07:57And now I'm on my way to Loch Lomond, a place which, fortunately,
0:07:57 > 0:08:04has never been over-developed, and which remains one of the gems of Scotland.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18Well, now I'm properly embarked on the West Highland Line.
0:08:18 > 0:08:22And all the way along the route, we get these fantastic views of sea
0:08:22 > 0:08:28and loch and mountain, it really is one of the most striking railway journeys in the world,
0:08:28 > 0:08:32and a fantastic piece of Victorian engineering.
0:08:34 > 0:08:38My Bradshaw's warns me to look out for my next destination.
0:08:40 > 0:08:43"Five miles to the north-west of Dumbarton, the traveller
0:08:43 > 0:08:48"from the south obtains the first view of the celebrated Loch Lomond,
0:08:48 > 0:08:54"the most beautiful and picturesque of all the Scottish lakes".
0:09:00 > 0:09:03I'm getting off at the loch side station of Tarbet
0:09:03 > 0:09:07to explore one of the sights best loved by Victorian tourists.
0:09:08 > 0:09:14All along the West Highland Line, the stations are beautifully kept and wonderfully set,
0:09:14 > 0:09:19and Tarbet had the advantage of having not only a railway station,
0:09:19 > 0:09:21but also a steamship pier.
0:09:21 > 0:09:25And it soon became a favourite with Queen Victoria herself.
0:09:27 > 0:09:31Before the railways, only affluent tourists could afford to visit
0:09:31 > 0:09:34the remote Scottish Highlands.
0:09:34 > 0:09:37Thereafter, the middle classes could follow in the footsteps
0:09:37 > 0:09:40of Queen Victoria, by taking the train to Loch Lomond
0:09:40 > 0:09:41for holidays or day trips.
0:09:44 > 0:09:47Bradshaw's guide is incredibly enthusiastic about Loch Lomond,
0:09:47 > 0:09:51and on a day like today you can see exactly why.
0:09:51 > 0:09:56"Loch Lomond is justly considered one of the finest lakes in Scotland.
0:09:56 > 0:09:59"A lake of incomparable beauty, as in its dimensions,
0:09:59 > 0:10:04"exceeding all others in variety, as it does in extent and splendour".
0:10:04 > 0:10:07And then, of course, Bradshaw gives you practical tips.
0:10:07 > 0:10:10"Steamers up and down Loch Lomond daily in the summer
0:10:10 > 0:10:12"call at Tarbet and Inversnaid,
0:10:12 > 0:10:17"the landing places for Inverary, Loch Katrine and the Trossachs".
0:10:17 > 0:10:19And it's for Inversnaid that I'm now bound.
0:10:23 > 0:10:27Queen Victoria is known to have explored the loch on steam cruises,
0:10:27 > 0:10:32and a boat still provides the best means to appreciate this extraordinary lake.
0:10:41 > 0:10:43I first got to know Loch Lomond very recently.
0:10:43 > 0:10:46Just a few weeks ago, I came here on holiday,
0:10:46 > 0:10:50and I was astonished by it. Of course, I'd heard the name very often
0:10:50 > 0:10:52but I didn't realise it was 23 miles long,
0:10:52 > 0:10:55I wasn't prepared for the size.
0:10:55 > 0:10:59And it's so beautiful, it's so green and so wonderfully unspoiled.
0:11:03 > 0:11:07I'm landing at the Inversnaid Hotel, where in the 19th century
0:11:07 > 0:11:11coaches took tourists on to the wilder reaches of the loch shores.
0:11:15 > 0:11:18I'm here to learn why this part of her kingdom captured
0:11:18 > 0:11:20Queen Victoria's heart.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23- Hello, ladies.- Hello.- I'm Michael.
0:11:23 > 0:11:27'Mary Haggarty and Heather McTavish are life-long local residents.'
0:11:27 > 0:11:31Queen Victoria herself came here?
0:11:31 > 0:11:33Queen Victoria visited here, yes.
0:11:33 > 0:11:35She probably visited on more than one occasion.
0:11:35 > 0:11:38And I was told that after Prince Albert died,
0:11:38 > 0:11:40she and Albert had bought Balmoral,
0:11:40 > 0:11:45that she didn't like to go to Balmoral for a while because it had such painful memories,
0:11:45 > 0:11:46therefore, she used to come here.
0:11:46 > 0:11:49She went into deep mourning after Prince Albert died.
0:11:49 > 0:11:51But also her daughter married the Duke of Argyll,
0:11:51 > 0:11:54which would have brought her to this area.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57And this would always have been, sort of, near to her heart.
0:11:58 > 0:12:02Victoria's husband, Albert, died suddenly in 1861,
0:12:02 > 0:12:05and the Queen never ceased to grieve.
0:12:05 > 0:12:10Astonishingly, Heather has what appears to be an original document,
0:12:10 > 0:12:14underlining the depth of Victoria's sorrow.
0:12:14 > 0:12:17Well, my father was a Victorian and lived all his life
0:12:17 > 0:12:22here in these parts, and I found this letter just amongst papers.
0:12:22 > 0:12:27Goodness. This is very valuable, I can see it's signed by Victoria.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30And it's dated June 22nd 1884.
0:12:31 > 0:12:34"I'm anxious to express to all the women of Great Britain
0:12:34 > 0:12:42"and Ireland how deeply touched and grateful I am by their very kind
0:12:42 > 0:12:46"and generous present of the statue of my beloved husband."
0:12:46 > 0:12:50That's a real treasure that you've got that! It tells you,
0:12:50 > 0:12:53you know, that's years after the death of Albert,
0:12:53 > 0:12:57- and still very touched by anything that has to do with his memory. - I had a very Victorian father.
0:12:57 > 0:13:00So you had this tremendous connection with the Victorian world?
0:13:00 > 0:13:04Yes, he was 63 when I was born and I'm 79 now,
0:13:04 > 0:13:06so this is going a long way back.
0:13:06 > 0:13:09Heather's father was born around the time
0:13:09 > 0:13:11that my Bradshaw's guide was written,
0:13:11 > 0:13:15but he didn't share Bradshaw's enthusiasm for the railways.
0:13:15 > 0:13:19Your father made a speech, he talked about the coming of the railway,
0:13:19 > 0:13:21and he was rather negative about it.
0:13:21 > 0:13:22He said, well, first of all,
0:13:22 > 0:13:25he talked about a thousand men being employed to build it,
0:13:25 > 0:13:29and that four policemen had their hands full on a Saturday night.
0:13:29 > 0:13:33Obviously, the navvies were getting drunk on a Saturday night.
0:13:33 > 0:13:39But he said when the railway was finished so was old Arrochar, "we were no longer".
0:13:39 > 0:13:41That's right.
0:13:41 > 0:13:45Although Heather's father believed the railways changed his community for the worse,
0:13:45 > 0:13:48others saw the benefits the trains could bring.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51They got their provisions, their papers.
0:13:51 > 0:13:53Their post was dropped off by the trains.
0:13:53 > 0:13:55Children went to school.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58The train would stop and they'd just climb up the ladder
0:13:58 > 0:14:02and get dropped off at night, so the railway made its own community.
0:14:02 > 0:14:04It certainly changed,
0:14:04 > 0:14:08but I maybe would say it did open up the villages.
0:14:09 > 0:14:11'I've loved this afternoon spent on the shores of Loch Lomond.
0:14:11 > 0:14:16'But now it's time to cross the water back to Tarbet to find my bed for the night.'
0:14:16 > 0:14:19- Hello, Jenny.- Hello.
0:14:19 > 0:14:24This time, I'm catching a lift with ranger team leader, Jenny Rogers.
0:14:24 > 0:14:29- Put one of these on.- Thank you very much indeed. Right, thank you, we're all set.
0:14:29 > 0:14:30Ready to go.
0:14:34 > 0:14:39'Her patrol boat's full of kit for monitoring this remarkable lake.'
0:14:41 > 0:14:45So Michael, this is about roughly the deepest part of the loch, we're in about 610 feet.
0:14:47 > 0:14:49- That's your depth metre there. - Yep, depth metre here.
0:14:49 > 0:14:53It's about as deep as it gets, and its deepest point is about 190 metres deep,
0:14:53 > 0:14:56which is about as deep as the North Sea in the deepest parts.
0:14:56 > 0:15:01- Really?- Yeah, or you can get three Nelson's Columns or the Eiffel Tower, with the top peeking out.
0:15:01 > 0:15:06- And despite this enormous depth, no monster lurking beneath? - No monster that we've seen, no,
0:15:06 > 0:15:08but we'll leave that up to Loch Ness.
0:15:10 > 0:15:15'Jenny's dropping me off right outside my hotel.'
0:15:15 > 0:15:16- Bye bye.- Thanks then.
0:15:26 > 0:15:29The Tarbet Hotel started life as a coaching inn,
0:15:29 > 0:15:36but in the 19th century it underwent a huge expansion, to accommodate the new influx of travellers.
0:15:36 > 0:15:40- Hello!- Good afternoon. - Michael Portillo checking in please.
0:15:40 > 0:15:44- Good afternoon, sir. - Very nice to see you.
0:15:44 > 0:15:45Bye.
0:15:45 > 0:15:51'My Bradshaw's Guide recommends it as "the finest and most commodious on the lake."'
0:15:56 > 0:15:59Good morning, come on in, come on in.
0:15:59 > 0:16:05Now as you can see I have a pretty good vista here over trees and mountains but
0:16:05 > 0:16:09if you want a panorama of the loch, you have to come in to the bathroom.
0:16:10 > 0:16:13Now just look at that!
0:16:13 > 0:16:15Isn't that fantastic?
0:16:15 > 0:16:17A loo with a view.
0:16:21 > 0:16:25For the rest of this Scottish journey I shan't be able to use
0:16:25 > 0:16:28the 1860s Bradshaw's that I usually rely on,
0:16:28 > 0:16:32because the line I'm following was built only in the 1890s.
0:16:32 > 0:16:39So I've picked up a later edition to guide me as I continue north from Tarbet to Crianlarich.
0:16:39 > 0:16:45As the train approached I could hear it powering up the steep gradient into the station
0:16:45 > 0:16:50and I can't disguise my excitement about the West Highland Line.
0:16:50 > 0:16:57Before this was built, many of these places were accessible only by horse, by mail coach,
0:16:57 > 0:17:02possibly by steamer, and the West Highland Line brought
0:17:02 > 0:17:08all these communities and made these splendours of Scotland accessible to all the country and imagine
0:17:08 > 0:17:15the task of building this line, up steep gradients, through the mountains and across Rannoch Moor.
0:17:15 > 0:17:16What an achievement.
0:17:22 > 0:17:26Work began on the West Highland Line in 1889.
0:17:26 > 0:17:32It was one of the most challenging railways to build, through some of the most rugged terrain in Britain.
0:17:32 > 0:17:38This stretch skirts the western shore of the loch, and travels through ancient Scottish woodland.
0:17:42 > 0:17:45The trees I'm passing now are like a traditional Scottish forest,
0:17:45 > 0:17:49I'm seeing a lot of oak trees, I'm seeing the occasional Caledonian pine.
0:17:49 > 0:17:52Of course now they block the view.
0:17:52 > 0:17:57In Victorian times they wouldn't have been many trees here and very often the steam trains caused fires
0:17:57 > 0:18:00and there were forest fires and the view would have been better.
0:18:00 > 0:18:04But on the other hand, along the railway line now,
0:18:04 > 0:18:07there's the opportunity for the forest to take root again,
0:18:07 > 0:18:10for the traditional forest to re-establish itself.
0:18:13 > 0:18:20My next stop is Crianlarich, once a great transport hub for the timber trade.
0:18:20 > 0:18:25Until recently, passenger services shared this line with logging trains,
0:18:25 > 0:18:29moving south from local stations to the saw mills.
0:18:29 > 0:18:33- Bye bye now.- Take care, enjoy the rest of your journey.- Thank you.
0:18:33 > 0:18:39Wow the scenery just gets better and better the further north you go.
0:18:42 > 0:18:48The view is superb, but s very different from what Victorian visitors would have seen.
0:18:48 > 0:18:51By Bradshaw's day, these hills had been stripped
0:18:51 > 0:18:56of their native forests by centuries of tree felling and grazing.
0:18:57 > 0:19:03Now, they're dotted with large conifer plantations, which have changed the landscape once again.
0:19:05 > 0:19:08- Hello, how are you? Are you walking the West Highland Way?- Yes, we are.
0:19:08 > 0:19:12Now, what do you think of the landscape you've seen so far?
0:19:12 > 0:19:14It's beautiful. From Loch Lomond to...
0:19:14 > 0:19:17the first couple of days aren't anything to write home about
0:19:17 > 0:19:22but from Loch Lomond to here is brilliant, it's worth it.
0:19:22 > 0:19:25There's a lot of plantation here isn't there and these are not
0:19:25 > 0:19:28indigenous trees, do you think that's a problem?
0:19:28 > 0:19:33It is across Scotland because they don't look as nice and they're not nice to walk through
0:19:33 > 0:19:35because they're dead places, they're too dense.
0:19:35 > 0:19:40But some of the woodland that's more native, that's been really nice.
0:19:40 > 0:19:42Thank you, bye bye, good luck.
0:19:45 > 0:19:48'I'm not a big fan of Scotland's conifer plantations either,
0:19:48 > 0:19:53'so I'm keen to find out how they've spread through the Highlands' since Bradshaw's era.
0:19:53 > 0:19:55- Mairi, good morning!- Good morning.
0:19:55 > 0:19:59'Mairi Stewart is a woodland historian.'
0:19:59 > 0:20:04Lovely spot... Looking across the loch, the trees that I'm looking at almost by the water's edge,
0:20:04 > 0:20:08that would be the traditional, the indigenous tree for Scotland, would that be right?
0:20:08 > 0:20:11- The native woods, yes, of Scotland. - What trees are they?
0:20:11 > 0:20:16Mainly birch but there's oak, there's hazel, there's some rowan and willow.
0:20:16 > 0:20:21Now higher up the slope I'm seeing what I imagine is a commercial plantation of timber, is that right?
0:20:21 > 0:20:23That is commercial, spruce plantation,
0:20:23 > 0:20:27planted probably sometime in the second half of the 20th century.
0:20:27 > 0:20:30I don't like those very much, I think they spoil the landscape
0:20:30 > 0:20:35but I suppose at many periods in our history, we've needed timber very, very badly in Britain.
0:20:35 > 0:20:38Absolutely, up until the 19th century it was terribly important.
0:20:38 > 0:20:42Everything, housing, utensils for farming,
0:20:42 > 0:20:46saddles were made of timber, everything you could think about
0:20:46 > 0:20:51which we wouldn't regard as being made of timber today was required for life in Scotland in the past.
0:20:51 > 0:20:59By the end of the 19th century, all this activity had reduced Scotland's forests to an all-time low.
0:20:59 > 0:21:02But landowners found a possible solution.
0:21:02 > 0:21:06New conifers that were being brought in in the 18th and 19th century
0:21:06 > 0:21:10became the tree of commercial timber exploitation.
0:21:10 > 0:21:14So, we have fast-growing trees for things like railway sleepers.
0:21:14 > 0:21:19That was one of the big demands in the 19th century.
0:21:21 > 0:21:27As industrialisation accelerated, even these new plantations couldn't keep pace with the demand for wood.
0:21:27 > 0:21:33Then, in 1914, war brought even greater needs.
0:21:33 > 0:21:39Everything required timber. The crates that took the biscuits to the troops in the trenches,
0:21:39 > 0:21:45the trenches themselves, even aeroplanes were made of timber and it was a real crisis for Britain.
0:21:47 > 0:21:54The country needed a reliable source of home-grown wood, so in 1919, the Forestry Commission was set up,
0:21:54 > 0:21:58and rows of conifers were planted across Scotland.
0:21:58 > 0:22:01It was the start of a new timber industry
0:22:01 > 0:22:06that untill recently exported logs along the line from Crianlarich.
0:22:07 > 0:22:13Sadly, the timber trains are no more, but luckily for me, passengers still travel from here.
0:22:13 > 0:22:17Before my next train, I'm checking out he station tea room.
0:22:17 > 0:22:24I've heard they run a special service for hungry travellers that's been on offer for over 100 years.
0:22:24 > 0:22:25Hello. Good morning.
0:22:25 > 0:22:29I wondered if you could show me your ancient food orders?
0:22:29 > 0:22:30Of course.
0:22:32 > 0:22:36These are obviously telegrams that have been sent up
0:22:36 > 0:22:42from Glasgow, they're dated 1901 so they're way over 100 years old.
0:22:42 > 0:22:46This is the well to do from Glasgow coming up, ordering their breakfasts
0:22:46 > 0:22:51- and packed lunches, whatever. - What does that say?
0:22:51 > 0:22:55Tea, ham and eggs, et cetera...
0:22:55 > 0:23:00These have probably come up by morse code and had to be translated.
0:23:00 > 0:23:02Breakfast for two, is that what it says?
0:23:02 > 0:23:05And then it specifies exactly what they want?
0:23:05 > 0:23:09- So there's nothing new under the sun is there? - No, people still do the same thing.
0:23:09 > 0:23:13This morning we had a telephone call about 10 mins before the train comes
0:23:13 > 0:23:19in from the previous station saying please can we have two bacon rolls when we arrive and a coffee so
0:23:19 > 0:23:25it's ready for them cause the train just stops long enough to get the token to go on to the next station.
0:23:25 > 0:23:31I should've called ahead, because now there's no time for bacon sandwich as I've a train to catch.
0:23:36 > 0:23:40I'm going only five miles up the track, to Tyndrum.
0:23:48 > 0:23:54As I approach the village, I'm at the gateway to Scotland's famous Grampian Mountains.
0:24:00 > 0:24:05Ladies and gentlemen, we're approaching Tyndrum Lower. Tyndrum Lower the next station stop.
0:24:11 > 0:24:18So this is Tyndrum Lower Station and my Bradshaw's Guide is ecstatic about the mountains.
0:24:18 > 0:24:20"Where the Grampians first rise,
0:24:20 > 0:24:24"for almost the whole breadth of the country, the high grounds are penetrated by straths
0:24:24 > 0:24:32"and glens of considerable extent, each traversed by its own streams and diversified by numerous lakes.
0:24:32 > 0:24:37"Several of the mountains in this district are upwards of 3,000 feet high."
0:24:37 > 0:24:40Which, of course, is the definition of a Munro.
0:24:48 > 0:24:53Scotland's Munros take their name from a man cut from the same cloth as George Bradshaw.
0:24:53 > 0:25:00In 1891 Sir Hugo Munro carefully listed 283 peaks over 3,000 feet,
0:25:00 > 0:25:06and to this day keen climbers proudly bag them one by one.
0:25:07 > 0:25:09A bit strenuous for me.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12I've come to Tyndrum intrigued by plans to revive an activity
0:25:12 > 0:25:16that hit the headlines in Bradshaw's time, gold mining.
0:25:16 > 0:25:18Chris!
0:25:19 > 0:25:20Good to see you.
0:25:20 > 0:25:23'Mining Engineer Chris Sangster believes there could be
0:25:23 > 0:25:26'as much as five tonnes of gold hidden in Tyndrum's hills.'
0:25:26 > 0:25:30Five tonnes of gold is worth a bob or two I imagine?
0:25:30 > 0:25:36Between 150-200 million at the moment, depending on the gold price, yes, it's a significant deposit.
0:25:36 > 0:25:39- Worth getting up in the morning for isn't it?- Oh, indeed, indeed.
0:25:39 > 0:25:45'In 1869, Scotland had its very own short-lived gold rush.
0:25:45 > 0:25:49'600 hopeful adventurers descended on Helmsdale,
0:25:49 > 0:25:52'but it was all over within a year.
0:25:52 > 0:25:56'Attempts were made to revive gold mining here in the 1980s,
0:25:56 > 0:26:00'but then the gold price was too low to make it viable.'
0:26:07 > 0:26:11'The gold is found in a seam of quartz, but it's not easy to see.'
0:26:11 > 0:26:17The gold occurs as very, very fine particles. 90% or it less than 0.1 of a millimetre.
0:26:17 > 0:26:20So you don't see gold underground here or very, very, rarely here.
0:26:20 > 0:26:26So it doesn't just come out as lovely chunks of gold, you have to do something to it?
0:26:26 > 0:26:29No I wish it did but that's a little bit of an urban myth.
0:26:29 > 0:26:33'To extract gold from the rock, miners first hew it out in big chunks,
0:26:33 > 0:26:35'and then grind it into a fine powder.'
0:26:35 > 0:26:39When you start taking the rock out, how much gold will you find inside?
0:26:39 > 0:26:42In a tonne of the vein material
0:26:42 > 0:26:45we've got about ten grammes per tonne of gold.
0:26:45 > 0:26:50That equates to about one wedding ring, just more than one wedding ring,
0:26:50 > 0:26:54in a tonne of rock. To mine our five tonnes of gold that we have here
0:26:54 > 0:26:58we're going to have to move half a million tonnes of rock.
0:27:01 > 0:27:06It's a massive effort to produce small quantities of gold
0:27:06 > 0:27:07but if Chris succeeds
0:27:07 > 0:27:12there's a chance the West Highland Line could one day be hauling treasure from these mountains.
0:27:18 > 0:27:22I've been overwhelmed on my journey today by the beauty of the Highlands
0:27:22 > 0:27:28and struck by how important the railway is to connecting remote communities.
0:27:28 > 0:27:31But as my trip to Dumbarton reminded me, people need jobs
0:27:31 > 0:27:37and whilst tourism is very, very big in the Highlands other industries are needed, too.
0:27:37 > 0:27:39Timber's one of them.
0:27:39 > 0:27:42And maybe gold mines will be part of the future.
0:27:46 > 0:27:48On my next journey...
0:27:48 > 0:27:51I'll be discovering how Victorian railway engineers
0:27:51 > 0:27:54conquered Britain's most desolate wilderness...
0:27:54 > 0:27:56The bogs on the moor
0:27:56 > 0:27:59sucked everything up that the engineers laid.
0:27:59 > 0:28:05Part of the railway you see here, north of the station has been floated on brushwood and turf.
0:28:05 > 0:28:09Visiting a shooting estate favoured by the political elite...
0:28:09 > 0:28:11These guys, they were tough.
0:28:11 > 0:28:17There was a whole sort of cult, of course, amongst very many of these people of being tough.
0:28:17 > 0:28:19And deer stalking was part that.
0:28:19 > 0:28:23And learning how the railways helped to make whisky world famous...
0:28:23 > 0:28:27This is from pretty much the exact time of the railways arriving in Oban.
0:28:27 > 0:28:29I can see the railway here, can't I?
0:28:29 > 0:28:32Here's the station, here's a train puffing along.
0:28:32 > 0:28:36Yeah, that'd be probably one of the first pictures of the railway.
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