0:00:05 > 0:00:10In 1840, one man transformed travel in Britain.
0:00:10 > 0:00:12His name was George Bradshaw,
0:00:12 > 0:00:17and his railway guides inspired the Victorians to take to the tracks.
0:00:18 > 0:00:21Stop by stop, he told them where to travel,
0:00:21 > 0:00:24what to see and where to stay.
0:00:25 > 0:00:28Now, 170 years later, I'm making a series of journeys
0:00:28 > 0:00:31across the length and breadth of the country
0:00:31 > 0:00:35to see what of Bradshaw's Britain remains.
0:00:57 > 0:01:00Still guided by my 19th century Bradshaw's handbook,
0:01:00 > 0:01:03I'm completing my journey through the Scottish Highlands.
0:01:03 > 0:01:08Today, I'm on the western extension of the West Highland line
0:01:08 > 0:01:11that takes me to Mallaig.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14This railway was built at the cost of many lives
0:01:14 > 0:01:17so that others could enjoy this journey -
0:01:17 > 0:01:18and what a stunning journey it is.
0:01:18 > 0:01:23This is the line that reaches the places that are unreachable
0:01:23 > 0:01:29and, refreshingly, it's so much more interesting than a journey by car.
0:01:30 > 0:01:32It took over 3,000 navvies four years
0:01:32 > 0:01:36to build this 40-mile stretch of the West Highland line
0:01:36 > 0:01:38and it transformed the local economy.
0:01:38 > 0:01:42It was completed at the end of the 19th century,
0:01:42 > 0:01:46so I've swapped my usual Bradshaw's for a later edition
0:01:46 > 0:01:49to help me trace the legacy of industries that once thrived here.
0:01:51 > 0:01:54On this leg of the journey, I'll be discovering
0:01:54 > 0:01:58how the railways helped to train the first generation of commandos...
0:01:58 > 0:02:00This is wonderful.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03A friendly agent enters and says, "I have important information -
0:02:03 > 0:02:07"an enemy ammunition train will pass through Lochailort on its way
0:02:07 > 0:02:10"to the naval base at Mallaig at 1115 hours. It must be wrecked."
0:02:10 > 0:02:12'..visiting a coastal village,
0:02:12 > 0:02:16'transformed by the trains into Britain's biggest herring port.'
0:02:16 > 0:02:18Did the kippers go on the train?
0:02:18 > 0:02:21There wasn't a box of fish landed here that didn't go by train.
0:02:21 > 0:02:26'..and crossing the sea to Skye to find out how modern crofters make a living.'
0:02:26 > 0:02:29This is a savoury smoked salmon cheesecake.
0:02:31 > 0:02:34You haven't lived till you've tasted that.
0:02:39 > 0:02:42I've been travelling up the West Coast of Scotland
0:02:42 > 0:02:44and through the Highlands,
0:02:44 > 0:02:45along a spectacular railway
0:02:45 > 0:02:48that's been voted the most scenic in the world.
0:02:48 > 0:02:52I'm now embarked on the final stretch of the route.
0:02:56 > 0:03:00From Lochailort, I'll travel to Mallaig, where the line ends,
0:03:00 > 0:03:04before taking a ferry over the sea to Skye.
0:03:08 > 0:03:12As I head towards my first stop, I'm passing through scenes
0:03:12 > 0:03:16that delighted Victorian visitors when the railway opened.
0:03:16 > 0:03:20My Bradshaw's guide gives great descriptions of mountain countryside.
0:03:20 > 0:03:22"No sooner is one defile passed over
0:03:22 > 0:03:25"than a second range of hills comes into view,
0:03:25 > 0:03:29"which contains another, and a strath of uninhabited country."
0:03:31 > 0:03:37In the 19th century, much of this wild landscape was given over to sporting estates.
0:03:37 > 0:03:42Many had private railway halts for the convenience of wealthy visitors,
0:03:42 > 0:03:46like Inverailort House, my first destination.
0:03:54 > 0:03:57This stunning country brings us to Lochailort,
0:03:57 > 0:04:00a place which for many, many years,
0:04:00 > 0:04:03people have been coming for hunting and shooting,
0:04:03 > 0:04:07but in recent history, it attracted a different sort of person all together.
0:04:10 > 0:04:14In 1940, this remote estate was requisitioned
0:04:14 > 0:04:17to create the first ever school for guerilla warfare.
0:04:17 > 0:04:21With regular forces retreating from German-occupied Europe,
0:04:21 > 0:04:25it was time to think beyond conventional tactics.
0:04:25 > 0:04:29Former hunting lodge, Inverailort House, was a perfect location
0:04:29 > 0:04:32for an unorthodox experiment in military training,
0:04:32 > 0:04:37as Stuart Allan, of National Museums Scotland, explains.
0:04:37 > 0:04:39- Stuart, hello.- How do you do.
0:04:39 > 0:04:43- Why here? - Well, there are a number of reasons.
0:04:43 > 0:04:48Principally the practical reasons are that this type of environment
0:04:48 > 0:04:52gave everything that was required for that kind of work.
0:04:52 > 0:04:56There was tough mountain country for sending trainees out on exercise.
0:04:56 > 0:04:59We're close to the sea, there's a sea loch just across from us.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02They could practice boat work and landings and so on.
0:05:02 > 0:05:06And also, it was remote, it was out of the way, this was secret.
0:05:07 > 0:05:11The nearby railway was crucial in choosing Inverailort.
0:05:11 > 0:05:14Much of the area was accessible only by train,
0:05:14 > 0:05:17so the military could control who came in and out.
0:05:17 > 0:05:21It also allowed a steady stream of raw trainees
0:05:21 > 0:05:24to travel quickly to this wilderness.
0:05:24 > 0:05:27I heard that if you were a new recruit,
0:05:27 > 0:05:29you might come under live fire when you arrived.
0:05:29 > 0:05:32Certainly people have told me this was one method
0:05:32 > 0:05:36whereby people were unsettled on arrival.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39Charges would go off and they'd be harried down here to the camp,
0:05:39 > 0:05:41which was over the line.
0:05:41 > 0:05:44Also, they wanted to practise blowing up railway lines?
0:05:44 > 0:05:46Well, this was certainly part of the course.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49Demolitions was one big element.
0:05:49 > 0:05:54In the exercises, the railway was often a target, as the records show.
0:05:54 > 0:05:55This is wonderful.
0:05:55 > 0:05:59"A friendly agent enters and says, 'I have important information -
0:05:59 > 0:06:01'an enemy train will pass through Lochailort on its way
0:06:01 > 0:06:04'to the naval base at Mallaig at 11.15 hours.
0:06:04 > 0:06:06'That train must be wrecked.
0:06:06 > 0:06:09'The station is guarded and the railway likely to be patrolled,
0:06:09 > 0:06:11'but there are no guards this side of the bridge.'
0:06:11 > 0:06:14"At that, the agent takes off his beard and cloak
0:06:14 > 0:06:17"and proves to be an instructor in disguise."
0:06:17 > 0:06:19- That's fantastic! - It sounds a bit unlikely.
0:06:19 > 0:06:23I sense the instructors were enjoying themselves while they were here.
0:06:23 > 0:06:28One of the founders of the school was the powerful Highland landowner, Lord Lovat.
0:06:28 > 0:06:32He saw that traditional estate skills like deer stalking
0:06:32 > 0:06:35could be adapted for tracking and attacking enemies.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38They were improvising, so they brought civilian stalkers
0:06:38 > 0:06:41from Lovat's estates here
0:06:41 > 0:06:44and used these techniques to teach those kind of skills.
0:06:44 > 0:06:48The training here included knife-fighting and the kind of things
0:06:48 > 0:06:53that soldiers previously would not necessarily have been expected to do.
0:06:53 > 0:06:57It was considered that brutal times required brutal methods,
0:06:57 > 0:07:00and the whole kind of culture of deer stalking
0:07:00 > 0:07:03was brought in as a kind of sense of being professional
0:07:03 > 0:07:05about the job of killing.
0:07:05 > 0:07:09The recruits were taught to be on their guard at all times.
0:07:09 > 0:07:12Mock combat could erupt anywhere, even inside the house,
0:07:12 > 0:07:15led by a team of unorthodox instructors.
0:07:17 > 0:07:21An officer who trained here told me that the first time he came in here,
0:07:21 > 0:07:23he was encountered with two men.
0:07:23 > 0:07:26Suddenly, they came tumbling down the stairs and came at the bottom,
0:07:26 > 0:07:30and emerged in a sort of crouched position, ready to kill.
0:07:30 > 0:07:32They were retired policemen from Shanghai.
0:07:32 > 0:07:34They were called Fairburn and Sykes,
0:07:34 > 0:07:39and their speciality was unarmed combat and knife-fighting,
0:07:39 > 0:07:42because Shanghai in the '30s
0:07:42 > 0:07:45was a pretty dicey place, criminal gangs and so on.
0:07:45 > 0:07:47So people like that were brought in,
0:07:47 > 0:07:51and polar explorers, some of whom had been with Scott in the Antartic.
0:07:51 > 0:07:53Again, quite elderly men,
0:07:53 > 0:07:58but they had skills which were not normal military skills at that time,
0:07:58 > 0:08:04and they would teach about endurance in low temperatures, diet, that kind of thing.
0:08:04 > 0:08:07So it really was a mixing place of all the talents
0:08:07 > 0:08:09that could possibly be required?
0:08:09 > 0:08:14Certainly at the beginning, there was enormous freedom from the War Office
0:08:14 > 0:08:17to just let them get on with it and sort something out.
0:08:17 > 0:08:20They pulled in people they knew and people who knew people,
0:08:20 > 0:08:22and assembled this original team.
0:08:22 > 0:08:26It was never quite the same after that, it became more regularised,
0:08:27 > 0:08:31but the elements of field craft, of demolitions, using the country,
0:08:31 > 0:08:34teaching small boats skills, all that stayed
0:08:34 > 0:08:38and became the basis of what we still know as commando training.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42The approach was radical in its day,
0:08:42 > 0:08:44but it had support from the highest level.
0:08:44 > 0:08:48Churchill always had a sympathy with this kind of special endeavour.
0:08:48 > 0:08:51He was interested in its aggressive spirit.
0:08:51 > 0:08:53In 1940, when everything is in crisis,
0:08:53 > 0:08:57we're going to do something that's going to take the fight to the enemy,
0:08:57 > 0:08:59we're not just going to sit here and wait,
0:08:59 > 0:09:03and that's the kind of thinking where this type of enterprise
0:09:03 > 0:09:05appealed to Churchill
0:09:05 > 0:09:09and produced complete new structures like the commandos.
0:09:09 > 0:09:11I find it quite a moving place.
0:09:11 > 0:09:14It certainly has an atmosphere.
0:09:19 > 0:09:24I'm very stirred by stories of wartime courage and ingenuity,
0:09:24 > 0:09:28and the idea that young recruits arriving here at Lochailort
0:09:28 > 0:09:29for special training
0:09:29 > 0:09:34might be subjected to a mock-ambush using live ammunition
0:09:34 > 0:09:36is amazing.
0:09:36 > 0:09:39These are remarkable stories
0:09:39 > 0:09:41and extraordinary people.
0:09:45 > 0:09:46Morning.
0:09:46 > 0:09:49- This one is first...- Thank you.
0:09:53 > 0:09:57I'm now on my way to Mallaig, on the coast,
0:09:57 > 0:10:00travelling along some of the last tracks to be laid
0:10:00 > 0:10:02in Victorian Britain.
0:10:16 > 0:10:18The great railway building age
0:10:18 > 0:10:21coincided with the life of Queen Victoria
0:10:21 > 0:10:23and most of it was done within her reign.
0:10:23 > 0:10:26I find it poignant to think that this magnificent railway,
0:10:26 > 0:10:29running through her beloved Scotland,
0:10:29 > 0:10:31was completed in 1901,
0:10:31 > 0:10:35just as the Queen entered the last months of her life.
0:10:36 > 0:10:38The aim of this new railway
0:10:38 > 0:10:41was to connect the abundant fishing grounds of the West Coast
0:10:41 > 0:10:43with the rest of the country.
0:10:43 > 0:10:47The place eventually chosen for the terminus of the line
0:10:47 > 0:10:49was the tiny hamlet of Mallaig.
0:10:49 > 0:10:50"Welcome to Mallaig."
0:10:50 > 0:10:54Mallaig had good reason to welcome the railways,
0:10:54 > 0:10:57because before the coming of the trains,
0:10:57 > 0:11:00this was a small village, a collection of cottages,
0:11:00 > 0:11:05but with the railway, it was possible to start a large herring fleet
0:11:05 > 0:11:08and to supply fish, through the railway,
0:11:08 > 0:11:11to all parts of Scotland and further south.
0:11:11 > 0:11:15The railways were the making of Mallaig.
0:11:18 > 0:11:23The line converted what had been a community of just 28 houses
0:11:23 > 0:11:26into a substantial herring port.
0:11:26 > 0:11:30Trains took fish out and brought coal in,
0:11:30 > 0:11:34enabling Mallaig to employ the newest steam ships to boost the catch.
0:11:34 > 0:11:36Beside the station,
0:11:36 > 0:11:40smoking sheds sprang up to turn the herring into kippers.
0:11:40 > 0:11:43I'm taking a tour of the docks with Elliot Ironside,
0:11:43 > 0:11:47whose family once depended on the herring trade.
0:11:47 > 0:11:49So your mother was a kipper girl, Elliot?
0:11:49 > 0:11:51Yes, she was, she certainly was.
0:11:51 > 0:11:54I remember well going out to watch her kippering,
0:11:54 > 0:11:58and one of the lasting memories was of all the women singing,
0:11:58 > 0:12:00- they sang a lot of hymns. - Did they?
0:12:00 > 0:12:02Sang and worked all day long.
0:12:02 > 0:12:04In the height of the herring season,
0:12:04 > 0:12:07local kipper girls like Elliot's mother
0:12:07 > 0:12:09were joined by itinerant labour,
0:12:09 > 0:12:12who used the railways to follow the herring around the coast.
0:12:12 > 0:12:14Did the kippers go out on the train?
0:12:14 > 0:12:20There wasn't a box of fish landed here that didn't go by train, not one box.
0:12:20 > 0:12:23The women had to get up at five o'clock in the morning,
0:12:23 > 0:12:25pack the kippers into special boxes.
0:12:25 > 0:12:27They were loaded into vans and away they went,
0:12:27 > 0:12:30attached to the quarter-to-eight passenger train.
0:12:30 > 0:12:34From 1948, Elliot himself worked on the railways,
0:12:34 > 0:12:37which carried smoked kippers and fresh herring.
0:12:37 > 0:12:39If there was just very light fishing,
0:12:39 > 0:12:42they used to attach vans to the back of the passenger trains,
0:12:42 > 0:12:44maybe up to ten vans,
0:12:44 > 0:12:49but when the fishing was heavier, they ran special trains
0:12:49 > 0:12:51made up entirely of fish.
0:12:52 > 0:12:54The herring trade continued to boom
0:12:54 > 0:12:59and, by the '60s, Mallaig was the biggest herring port in Europe.
0:12:59 > 0:13:03But that wasn't to last. Years of overfishing took their toll
0:13:03 > 0:13:08and in 1977, a ban on catching herring was imposed.
0:13:08 > 0:13:12The fish trains became a thing of the past.
0:13:12 > 0:13:15Does it make you sad to see the station not what it once was?
0:13:15 > 0:13:17Sometimes, yes.
0:13:17 > 0:13:22To work on the railway, it was hard work at times,
0:13:22 > 0:13:25but I enjoyed working at it, it was great.
0:13:25 > 0:13:28The calibre of guys that you worked with,
0:13:28 > 0:13:32fantastic men. The old drivers were really something else.
0:13:32 > 0:13:36Luckily for Mallaig, that wasn't the end of fishing.
0:13:36 > 0:13:40These days the town is famed for langoustines.
0:13:42 > 0:13:44I'm going out on one of the langoustine boats
0:13:44 > 0:13:48that fishes around Mallaig with Duncan McKellick and his crew.
0:13:48 > 0:13:50Very good to see you. Hi, guys.
0:13:50 > 0:13:53Great pleasure. How are you doing?
0:13:53 > 0:13:56Every day, they put out to sea
0:13:56 > 0:14:01to check what they've caught in their traditional cages, or creels.
0:14:03 > 0:14:08Langoustines thrive on the muddy beds of the nearby sea lochs.
0:14:08 > 0:14:12They're also known as Norwegian lobster or Dublin Bay prawns
0:14:12 > 0:14:14and their tails are made into scampi.
0:14:16 > 0:14:20- You're sorting them into different sizes?- Different sizes, yes.
0:14:20 > 0:14:24- We've got large, medium and small, three grades.- Isn't that a beauty?
0:14:24 > 0:14:27- I guess that could give you quite a nasty nip?- Yes.
0:14:27 > 0:14:29Even through your rubber gloves?
0:14:29 > 0:14:31Right through the rubber gloves.
0:14:31 > 0:14:33- Right to the bone. - So you need to take care.
0:14:33 > 0:14:35Yeah, yeah.
0:14:35 > 0:14:37Do you get bitten quite often?
0:14:37 > 0:14:39Yes.
0:14:39 > 0:14:41Too often, I don't like it.
0:14:41 > 0:14:45It's one of these things you never get used to. Very painful.
0:14:45 > 0:14:50,Today a third of the world's langoustines are landed in Scotland,
0:14:50 > 0:14:53worth nearly £100 million a year.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56But they haven't always been so highly prized.
0:14:56 > 0:14:59They used to shovel them over the side, get rid of them,
0:14:59 > 0:15:03the trawlers, when they were after fish. They were just a nuisance.
0:15:03 > 0:15:06- There was no market in those days? - No market for them, no.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10But it's purely changed.
0:15:10 > 0:15:14Just as the railways transformed the herring trade here,
0:15:14 > 0:15:16air freight has made langoustines profitable
0:15:16 > 0:15:17for fishermen like Duncan.
0:15:17 > 0:15:19These will be packed tonight
0:15:19 > 0:15:24and then they'll be boxed, the temperatures lowered,
0:15:24 > 0:15:28and then they'll be live in the market in Barcelona tomorrow.
0:15:28 > 0:15:31That's where we get really good money for them.
0:15:31 > 0:15:34Does anybody eat them here in Scotland?
0:15:34 > 0:15:35Not so much, no.
0:15:35 > 0:15:41Some of the hotels do, but it's a very limited market.
0:15:42 > 0:15:47With these, when they go to Spain, they're just sold straight away.
0:15:47 > 0:15:49They can't get enough of them.
0:15:49 > 0:15:52That's funny, I'd be happy to eat them here in Scotland.
0:15:53 > 0:15:56I'd be a lot happier if more people did eat them,
0:15:56 > 0:15:58that'd be better.
0:15:58 > 0:16:01So how many langoustines would you pick up in a day, any idea?
0:16:01 > 0:16:06It sort of varies between 18 to 30 stone, thereabouts.
0:16:07 > 0:16:10- 18 to 30 stone?- Yeah.
0:16:10 > 0:16:12- You still use old money.- Yeah.
0:16:12 > 0:16:16- Sounds like a lot, because they don't weigh much, do they?- No, no.
0:16:17 > 0:16:22The fisheries work hard to ensure that langoustines remain sustainable.
0:16:22 > 0:16:24By using these traditional creels,
0:16:24 > 0:16:28they can return young or pregnant langoustines to the sea.
0:16:28 > 0:16:32But the cages do entice other sea creatures.
0:16:32 > 0:16:33Oh you've got a nice octopus there.
0:16:33 > 0:16:37He's really got a hold on you there. A lot of suction there.
0:16:37 > 0:16:39It's amazing how they change colour.
0:16:39 > 0:16:42If you put him on the white he'll turn white.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45Or if he's threatened, he'll turn red.
0:16:45 > 0:16:50- Look at the change. He's having a go at your langoustines.- Yeah.
0:16:50 > 0:16:53They're a bit of a blight for us because they go into the creel
0:16:53 > 0:16:55and they munch everything in the creel.
0:16:55 > 0:16:58- They get there first, before you. - Yeah.
0:16:58 > 0:17:00Lots of empty shells.
0:17:00 > 0:17:03Hopefully, we won't see him again.
0:17:08 > 0:17:11Bradshaw would certainly have written about the success
0:17:11 > 0:17:13of the new langoustine industry.
0:17:13 > 0:17:18He loved to trumpet the good and had a habit of not mentioning the bad,
0:17:18 > 0:17:22like the appalling midges here that blight Highland holidaying.
0:17:22 > 0:17:26Even Queen Victoria, in her diaries, complained of being bitten.
0:17:26 > 0:17:30I'm anxious to avoid that royal fate.
0:17:30 > 0:17:32Hi, have you been holidaying in the Highlands?
0:17:32 > 0:17:34We arrived yesterday, in the rain.
0:17:34 > 0:17:37Ah, have you not experienced the midges yet?
0:17:37 > 0:17:40A few. We've got some spray on, just to try and keep them away.
0:17:40 > 0:17:43Have you thought of wearing one of these nets?
0:17:43 > 0:17:45That's a bit over the top. It's not that bad.
0:17:45 > 0:17:49- You've just arrived, haven't you? - Yeah, is that famous last words?
0:17:49 > 0:17:52At the end of your holiday, I'll ask if you should have brought a net.
0:17:52 > 0:17:53- Good luck.- Thank you.
0:17:53 > 0:17:56- Are you on holiday in Scotland? - Yes.
0:17:56 > 0:17:58Have you had any trouble with the midges?
0:17:58 > 0:18:03No, luckily they leave me alone, but they love my husband.
0:18:03 > 0:18:05- They love your husband!- Yes.
0:18:05 > 0:18:07- You mean they eat him.- Alive!
0:18:07 > 0:18:10But why don't they touch you, do you think?
0:18:10 > 0:18:13I don't know. I eat lots of garlic.
0:18:13 > 0:18:16It could be the diet, I eat lots of herbs, garlic.
0:18:16 > 0:18:19Natural, organic foods.
0:18:19 > 0:18:25Ian loves his fish and chips and he loves cooked breakfasts.
0:18:25 > 0:18:27So you think, maybe, midges like fish and chips
0:18:27 > 0:18:29and don't like garlic?
0:18:29 > 0:18:31That's the best tip I've heard.
0:18:31 > 0:18:34I've heard you've got to use creams, you've got to wear a net,
0:18:34 > 0:18:37but you've given me the answer now, eat garlic.
0:18:38 > 0:18:42Well, maybe that's a repellant too far.
0:18:42 > 0:18:44I'm leaving Mallaig to cross the water to Skye,
0:18:44 > 0:18:47my final destination on this journey.
0:18:49 > 0:18:51By the time my guidebook was written,
0:18:51 > 0:18:54this island was no longer the preserve of hardy climbers
0:18:54 > 0:18:57and was attracting a range of visitors
0:18:57 > 0:19:00who'd toured the Highlands by rail.
0:19:02 > 0:19:05My Bradshaw's guide says of Skye,
0:19:05 > 0:19:07"The coast is broken up into several wild bays,
0:19:07 > 0:19:11"some edged by cliffs 400 feet and 700 feet high,"
0:19:11 > 0:19:15and he says, "It's an island nearly 50 miles long,
0:19:15 > 0:19:19"separated by the Channel or Sound of Sleat,
0:19:19 > 0:19:22"only half a mile broad at the narrowest point."
0:19:22 > 0:19:25I think there's a hint there, a gleam in the Victorian eye,
0:19:25 > 0:19:28the possibility of a rail bridge linking Skye,
0:19:28 > 0:19:30but that was never built.
0:19:30 > 0:19:33The first bridge constructed at the end of the 20th century
0:19:33 > 0:19:37was a road bridge, and so the Island of Skye had to get by
0:19:37 > 0:19:39without the advantages of Mallaig,
0:19:39 > 0:19:42without the advantages of being linked by rail
0:19:42 > 0:19:44to the rest of the United Kingdom.
0:19:47 > 0:19:50There were and are no trains on Skye,
0:19:50 > 0:19:53but Bradshaw's tells readers arriving by steamer
0:19:53 > 0:19:56where best to admire the island's rugged beauty.
0:19:56 > 0:19:59My guide describes its "wild and lonely inlets"
0:19:59 > 0:20:01and "steep, dark mountains",
0:20:01 > 0:20:04but says little about the island's people
0:20:04 > 0:20:06and perhaps that's not surprising.
0:20:06 > 0:20:10In the decades before my guidebook was published,
0:20:10 > 0:20:12Skye's population had plummeted,
0:20:12 > 0:20:16during what was known as the Highland Clearances.
0:20:19 > 0:20:22I'm meeting historian John Norman MacLeod,
0:20:22 > 0:20:25at the ruined village of Leitir Fura,
0:20:25 > 0:20:27to find out more.
0:20:27 > 0:20:30So we've obviously met in a desolate village.
0:20:30 > 0:20:32The Highland Clearances, what were they?
0:20:32 > 0:20:34Well, the term Highland Clearances
0:20:34 > 0:20:40refers to a process in history from about 1750 to 1880,
0:20:40 > 0:20:44when the people were removed from their ancestral homes.
0:20:44 > 0:20:47Some of these clearances were quite violent?
0:20:47 > 0:20:51Yes. In some areas, houses were obviously burnt,
0:20:51 > 0:20:53their walls were knocked down,
0:20:53 > 0:20:57trees were planted within the ruined steadings, as well,
0:20:57 > 0:20:58to stop people coming back.
0:20:58 > 0:21:02This ruthless policy was carried out by Highland landlords
0:21:02 > 0:21:03and their agents.
0:21:03 > 0:21:08Short of money, they'd decided that sheep farming offered the best option.
0:21:08 > 0:21:13Large sheep farms, they were introduced round about the 1780s to the Highlands.
0:21:13 > 0:21:16The best land was given over to the sheep farm,
0:21:16 > 0:21:21the people were moved to the less profitable, less fertile areas.
0:21:21 > 0:21:24People across the Highlands were forced onto small,
0:21:24 > 0:21:27barely fertile patches of land, known as crofts,
0:21:27 > 0:21:30while others were left with no choice
0:21:30 > 0:21:32but to move to the cities or emigrate.
0:21:32 > 0:21:37Immigration ships came in and took the people away.
0:21:37 > 0:21:44There were two instances in particular, in 1837 and also in 1853,
0:21:44 > 0:21:47when people from Glengarry were taken overseas to Canada.
0:21:47 > 0:21:49What were conditions like on the ships?
0:21:49 > 0:21:53Ah, atrocious. There was over-crowding.
0:21:53 > 0:21:56There was obviously disease, typhoid.
0:21:56 > 0:21:59People regarded them as "the coffin ships".
0:21:59 > 0:22:03The conditions were worse than on slave ships, in many ways.
0:22:04 > 0:22:09It's thought hundreds of thousands left the Highlands and Islands,
0:22:09 > 0:22:12and life for those who stayed was hard.
0:22:12 > 0:22:15Farming a tiny croft was barely sustainable
0:22:15 > 0:22:18and the crofters lived under the constant threat of eviction.
0:22:18 > 0:22:22What srikes me is that this goes on way into the Victorian era.
0:22:22 > 0:22:26The Victorians were social reformers, they abolished slavery -
0:22:26 > 0:22:28did they turn a blind eye to the Highlands?
0:22:28 > 0:22:31Well, the Highlands were very much isolated
0:22:31 > 0:22:35and certainly they weren't very much on the conscience of the nation at the time.
0:22:35 > 0:22:40But in later years, certainly, more was written about the Highlands.
0:22:40 > 0:22:42There were journalist arriving
0:22:42 > 0:22:46and giving accounts of actual clearances, as well.
0:22:46 > 0:22:49In the 1880s, the crofters began to fight back
0:22:49 > 0:22:52with rent strikes and protests,
0:22:52 > 0:22:56and in 1886, they won legal rights to their land.
0:22:56 > 0:22:59With public attention drawn to their plight,
0:22:59 > 0:23:02there were calls for better transport to boost the economy -
0:23:02 > 0:23:05an argument that helped to get the West Highland line built.
0:23:05 > 0:23:07What's the story today?
0:23:07 > 0:23:10Well, the story today is that Skye...
0:23:10 > 0:23:13in Skye, the population is increasing.
0:23:13 > 0:23:16In 1971, I think there were about 7,000 people,
0:23:16 > 0:23:19now we're talking over 10,000 people in Skye.
0:23:19 > 0:23:22In this area alone, the population had doubled...
0:23:22 > 0:23:27In Sleat, the population has doubled in the last 30 years.
0:23:27 > 0:23:31So it is an area which is certainly regenerating.
0:23:31 > 0:23:34These days, people are migrating TO Skye,
0:23:34 > 0:23:38lured by the prospect of a slower pace of life.
0:23:38 > 0:23:41Traditional crofting is still protected,
0:23:41 > 0:23:43and although not easy, it appeals to some -
0:23:43 > 0:23:45like Kenny and Angela Scott.
0:23:45 > 0:23:46- Hello, Michael.- Good to see you.
0:23:46 > 0:23:50- Good to see you.- Kenny, hello. - How are you doing?
0:23:50 > 0:23:53Angela, what brought you here? You're an American, aren't you?
0:23:53 > 0:23:57- Yes, I am. I'm born and bred in Brooklyn, New York.- Brooklyn?
0:23:57 > 0:24:00Yes. Far from home, but this is home now.
0:24:00 > 0:24:03And why, what made you make the change?
0:24:03 > 0:24:07Well, 16 years ago, I came over on a holiday
0:24:07 > 0:24:10and I just fell in love with Scotland. I felt so relaxed.
0:24:10 > 0:24:13I had sort of a high-pressure lifestyle,
0:24:13 > 0:24:15I was an attorney in New York,
0:24:15 > 0:24:20and I just felt all the pressure sort of slide away
0:24:20 > 0:24:22and thought, "This is where I need to live."
0:24:22 > 0:24:26I've never looked back. 15 years and it's been the best thing I ever did.
0:24:26 > 0:24:28What does it mean nowadays to be a crofter?
0:24:28 > 0:24:32Well, basically, it's much the same as it used to be,
0:24:32 > 0:24:34which is like subsistence farming,
0:24:34 > 0:24:36small-scale subsistence farming, really.
0:24:36 > 0:24:41And as I look around, I guess this is what you do, I see sheep,
0:24:41 > 0:24:42an awful lot of hens.
0:24:42 > 0:24:45- What else do you do? - Well, we grow a few potatoes.
0:24:45 > 0:24:49We're planning for polytunnels to grow more of our own vegetables,
0:24:49 > 0:24:54and hopefully sell surplus in a little farm shop setting, as well.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57- You've got a smokehouse too?- Yes.
0:24:57 > 0:24:58What are you smoking there?
0:24:58 > 0:25:02We smoke venison, which is usually local, wild venison.
0:25:02 > 0:25:07We smoke salmon, a variety of cheeses and nuts
0:25:07 > 0:25:10and a few other bits and pieces as they come to us.
0:25:10 > 0:25:14- Mackerel, kippers, things like that. - You've got me salivating.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19Things have moved on since Bradshaw's time
0:25:19 > 0:25:23and now some crofters manage to go beyond subsistence farming.
0:25:23 > 0:25:28Kenny and Angela's smokehouse is a profitable small business.
0:25:28 > 0:25:30Where are you getting your lovely salmon from?
0:25:30 > 0:25:33This is Wester Ross salmon.
0:25:33 > 0:25:37Basically, it's freedom food salmon
0:25:37 > 0:25:39where they've got more room in their cages.
0:25:41 > 0:25:43Just pop that in that brine there.
0:25:44 > 0:25:48So, you put the salmon in the brine, what happens next?
0:25:48 > 0:25:52We leave this in here to brine for a certain period of time.
0:25:52 > 0:25:56Then it goes into the other fridge there to dry off
0:25:56 > 0:25:57before it goes into the smoker.
0:25:58 > 0:26:01The secret is controlling the temperature.
0:26:01 > 0:26:04The smoke is cooled to below 30 degrees
0:26:04 > 0:26:06before it's piped into the smoker.
0:26:06 > 0:26:10- This is really business in miniature, isn't it?- It is.
0:26:10 > 0:26:12A tiny little smoker. Look at that!
0:26:12 > 0:26:15- The finished article there. - That looks fabulous.
0:26:16 > 0:26:21Kenny and Angela sell their smoked products across the United Kingdom.
0:26:21 > 0:26:23Angela, you're the slicer?
0:26:23 > 0:26:26I am indeed. Usually trim off all the edges first,
0:26:26 > 0:26:31so that it's not too tough or too smoky
0:26:31 > 0:26:34We just take a long slice
0:26:34 > 0:26:37like that.
0:26:37 > 0:26:38There we go.
0:26:41 > 0:26:43- Please.- There you go.
0:26:43 > 0:26:45Oh, thank you very much.
0:26:46 > 0:26:47Look at that.
0:26:50 > 0:26:53- Marvellous. - Thank you, we do our best.
0:26:53 > 0:26:55The salmon's superb,
0:26:55 > 0:26:59and Angela's also brought a little bit of Brooklyn to the Highlands.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02- You can't be serious?- Made with our own smoked cream cheese.
0:27:02 > 0:27:05Smoked salmon cheesecake. with smoked cheese.
0:27:07 > 0:27:09Mmm.
0:27:09 > 0:27:13- You haven't lived till you've tasted that.- Thank you.- That's fantastic.
0:27:14 > 0:27:17As my journey up Scotland's West Coast draws to an end,
0:27:17 > 0:27:20it strikes me that the advent of the railways
0:27:20 > 0:27:23started a process that continues to this day.
0:27:23 > 0:27:25Successive technological advances,
0:27:25 > 0:27:29from trains to aeroplanes to the internet,
0:27:29 > 0:27:32have done no harm to these starkly beautiful places,
0:27:32 > 0:27:35but they've made them less remote.
0:27:35 > 0:27:38This journey has been different from my others.
0:27:38 > 0:27:41I haven't just been jumping on and off trains
0:27:41 > 0:27:43following my Bradshaw's guide.
0:27:43 > 0:27:49I've been absorbed by the story of the extraordinary West Highland line
0:27:49 > 0:27:51threading its way through wild terrain,
0:27:51 > 0:27:55connecting tiny, but vibrant communities.
0:27:55 > 0:27:59Following it has introduced me to some dark history
0:27:59 > 0:28:01of battles and Highland Clearances,
0:28:01 > 0:28:07but thanks to that magnificent achievement of Victorian engineering,
0:28:07 > 0:28:11the sumptuous beauty of Scotland is open to any one of us
0:28:11 > 0:28:14for the price of a train ticket.
0:28:35 > 0:28:38Subtitles by Red Bee Media
0:28:38 > 0:28:41Email subtitling@bbc.co.uk