0:00:04 > 0:00:08For Victorian Britons, George Bradshaw was a household name.
0:00:08 > 0:00:11At a time when railways were new,
0:00:11 > 0:00:15Bradshaw's guidebook inspired them to take to the tracks.
0:00:15 > 0:00:21I'm using a Bradshaw's guide to understand how trains transformed Britain,
0:00:21 > 0:00:26its landscape, its industry, society and leisure time.
0:00:26 > 0:00:30As I crisscross the country, 150 years later,
0:00:30 > 0:00:33it helps me to discover the Britain of today.
0:00:52 > 0:00:56My journey towards Edinburgh chugging along the route of the
0:00:56 > 0:00:59Flying Scotsman has brought me to County Durham,
0:00:59 > 0:01:04where I'll look at the rolling stock of today and reflect on a Victorian
0:01:04 > 0:01:07author's view of Wonderland.
0:01:07 > 0:01:10I'll smoke out a fishy story in Northumberland,
0:01:10 > 0:01:14before crossing the border into Scotland to enjoy nature conservancy.
0:01:23 > 0:01:27This trip has taken me up the East Coast Main Line from London's
0:01:27 > 0:01:30King's Cross, through the counties of Hertfordshire,
0:01:30 > 0:01:35Bedfordshire and on via Cambridgeshire to the market town of Newark.
0:01:35 > 0:01:37I visited the former port of Stockton,
0:01:37 > 0:01:42and I'm heading to the coastal towns of Alnmouth and Dunbar before
0:01:42 > 0:01:43finishing at Edinburgh.
0:01:46 > 0:01:50This leg starts in north-east England, calling at Darlington,
0:01:50 > 0:01:53before moving on to the harbour town of Alnmouth.
0:01:53 > 0:01:58I'll end across the Scottish border in Dunbar.
0:01:58 > 0:02:02On this journey I step through the looking glass...
0:02:02 > 0:02:03Michael, are you all right?
0:02:06 > 0:02:11..prove there's no smoke without fire when it comes to Northumbrian delicacies...
0:02:11 > 0:02:13Right, quite enough of that, I think!
0:02:15 > 0:02:16Bye-bye, kippers.
0:02:17 > 0:02:20..and rock the boat over Scottish waters.
0:02:20 > 0:02:22My thoughts on the coracle?
0:02:22 > 0:02:26Possibly the most impractical thing I've ever set eyes on.
0:02:35 > 0:02:38My first stop will be Newton Aycliffe,
0:02:38 > 0:02:44a new town founded in 1947 but Bradshaw's remarks,
0:02:44 > 0:02:48"Passing Aycliffe we reach Shildon, at which place the Stockton and
0:02:48 > 0:02:52"Darlington Company have their locomotive works."
0:02:52 > 0:02:57In railway terms, we are on ancient hallowed ground,
0:02:57 > 0:03:03because the first trains ran between Stockton and Darlington in 1825.
0:03:09 > 0:03:14On the 27th September of that year, the world's first steam train to run
0:03:14 > 0:03:19on a public railway made its maiden journey.
0:03:19 > 0:03:24George Stephenson himself drove Locomotion No 1 and people
0:03:24 > 0:03:27travelled miles to witness the momentous occasion.
0:03:38 > 0:03:40Having witnessed the birth of public railways,
0:03:40 > 0:03:43this area now has a part in their future.
0:03:43 > 0:03:49Two centuries on, Hitachi chose to open a state-of-the-art train factory here.
0:03:49 > 0:03:52Plant manager, Darren Cumner, is showing me around.
0:03:53 > 0:03:56Darren, this is absolutely spectacular.
0:03:56 > 0:04:01Obviously, completely brand-new and masses of exciting railway activity
0:04:01 > 0:04:04going on. When did you join the project?
0:04:04 > 0:04:06So, I joined May 2012.
0:04:06 > 0:04:08It was a green field at that stage.
0:04:08 > 0:04:12It really was a green field, just sort of cows in the field.
0:04:12 > 0:04:15We are here in one of the most modern railway facilities in the world,
0:04:15 > 0:04:20but we're also close to the origin of steam-powered railways.
0:04:20 > 0:04:23Do you have any sense of that railway history?
0:04:23 > 0:04:26Yes, we're close to where the birthplace of the railways was.
0:04:26 > 0:04:28Our test track actually runs by the side of that.
0:04:29 > 0:04:34In Victorian times, the area was a hive of railway activity.
0:04:34 > 0:04:39In their heyday, locomotive works in Shildon and Darlington employed
0:04:39 > 0:04:41thousands of workers building locomotives,
0:04:41 > 0:04:44carriages and wagons for a burgeoning market.
0:04:47 > 0:04:50The last railway wagon works closed in 1983.
0:04:51 > 0:04:55By then, road haulage had overtaken rail freight,
0:04:55 > 0:04:57and the industry was in decline.
0:04:59 > 0:05:03Railway technology has advanced dramatically since the 19th century.
0:05:05 > 0:05:09These trains are shipped as shells from Japan and are fitted out by the
0:05:09 > 0:05:11workforce in Newton Aycliffe.
0:05:14 > 0:05:16They then undergo rigorous testing,
0:05:16 > 0:05:20both on and off track before joining the fleet.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26So what are the types of train that you're making here?
0:05:26 > 0:05:29So, on the left-hand side here is the 8200.
0:05:29 > 0:05:31This is for the Edinburgh to Glasgow improvement programme,
0:05:31 > 0:05:33so it's our commuter train.
0:05:33 > 0:05:36And on the right-hand side is Intercity Express programme
0:05:36 > 0:05:39and these are high-speed trains which are going to run on the
0:05:39 > 0:05:42East Coast Main Line and Great Western Main Line.
0:05:42 > 0:05:47There are presently 600 employees and the plan is for the workforce to
0:05:47 > 0:05:50grow by another 300, mainly local people.
0:05:50 > 0:05:54I can count the number of people who are not from the north-east on one hand.
0:05:54 > 0:05:57We wanted an employee that could work as a team and we've been very,
0:05:57 > 0:06:00very fortunate that people have got a lot of transferable skills and
0:06:00 > 0:06:03we're delighted with the workforce we have.
0:06:03 > 0:06:08- Nicky Bones is one such employee. - Nice to meet you.- Good to see you.
0:06:08 > 0:06:10- What is this contraption here? - This is the traverser.
0:06:10 > 0:06:14So we use this to transfer the train from one production line to another,
0:06:14 > 0:06:18and when the car is finished, to deliver down the track to the test house.
0:06:19 > 0:06:21Thank you very much.
0:06:21 > 0:06:23- Two doors down.- OK.
0:06:23 > 0:06:24- Shall I do that?- Yes.
0:06:24 > 0:06:26To the left.
0:06:32 > 0:06:36I have sometimes driven a train before but never sideways.
0:06:51 > 0:06:55Once the train has been assembled, it will be able to carry over 600
0:06:55 > 0:07:00passengers, and travel up to 140mph.
0:07:00 > 0:07:02But before being put to use,
0:07:02 > 0:07:05it needs to pass the all-important test drive.
0:07:05 > 0:07:07Michael Tait is at the controls.
0:07:07 > 0:07:11Very good to see you. And you're going to drive us what kind of distance?
0:07:11 > 0:07:13About a kilometre or so down the test track.
0:07:13 > 0:07:16Well, an exciting moment for me to be in this brand-new train.
0:07:16 > 0:07:18- Shall we get in position and go? - Brilliant.
0:07:24 > 0:07:28Michael, we are inching our way out of the shed,
0:07:28 > 0:07:30will we get up any speed at all?
0:07:30 > 0:07:32Yes, we'll take it around 16mph.
0:07:32 > 0:07:35And is that enough speed for you to test what you need to?
0:07:35 > 0:07:39Yes, we can perform all our tests heading east and west up and down
0:07:39 > 0:07:40the test track.
0:07:40 > 0:07:44We are running along by the Network Rail track and we've
0:07:44 > 0:07:47reached a speed limit of 15mph!
0:07:47 > 0:07:48We can go for it.
0:07:50 > 0:07:54This train will undergo testing over thousands of hours,
0:07:54 > 0:07:56before being released to the mainline.
0:08:04 > 0:08:09I'm leaving the test tracks to resume my journey on the public railway.
0:08:09 > 0:08:10Next stop, Darlington.
0:08:15 > 0:08:17- TANNOY:- Michael Portillo has joined us for the ride
0:08:17 > 0:08:20He's still working his way through Bradshaw's Guide
0:08:20 > 0:08:22We're going to be on the BBC
0:08:22 > 0:08:25So I hope you're not somewhere you shouldn't be!
0:08:29 > 0:08:32Graham Palmer is the rhyming conductor.
0:08:32 > 0:08:34- Hello!- Hello, Michael.
0:08:34 > 0:08:36- Nice to see you.- Thank you for the rhymes.
0:08:37 > 0:08:40You're responsible for poetry in all your announcements, are you?
0:08:40 > 0:08:42Guilty as charged, yes!
0:08:42 > 0:08:46- How long have you been doing that? - Back in December 2014,
0:08:46 > 0:08:49we were asked to deliver a season's greeting.
0:08:49 > 0:08:52Be an angel this Christmas and be pleasant and nice
0:08:52 > 0:08:55To your fellow passengers and rail staff alike
0:08:55 > 0:08:58So I made up a rhyme till the end of the year
0:08:58 > 0:09:00The passengers loved it, they'd clap and they'd cheer
0:09:00 > 0:09:03Then after that, they asked, we like it in rhyme
0:09:03 > 0:09:05We'd like you to do it all of the time
0:09:05 > 0:09:08But the best thing about working the train as I do
0:09:08 > 0:09:11Is when a customer says, "Nice journey, thank you!"
0:09:11 > 0:09:14So do you always speak in rhyme or do you actually speak in prose as well?
0:09:14 > 0:09:16Well, I do speak in prose as well.
0:09:16 > 0:09:19It would be so easy to say I'm a poet and I didn't know it.
0:09:19 > 0:09:21I say things in rhyme all the time,
0:09:21 > 0:09:24but I assure you, I do speak in prose as well, Michael!
0:09:24 > 0:09:28- And the passengers do love it? - They do, they really enjoy it.
0:09:28 > 0:09:31One of our drivers said, "I bet you can't make a rhyme for each station."
0:09:31 > 0:09:36I love a challenge so now I've got at least one rhyme for each station.
0:09:36 > 0:09:40What was the most difficult station to make a rhyme out of?
0:09:40 > 0:09:42Newton Aycliffe is difficult for a rhyme, actually.
0:09:42 > 0:09:45Your next station's Newton Aycliffe, that's your next call
0:09:45 > 0:09:47So please take your luggage and children and all.
0:09:47 > 0:09:49I just throw a few things in.
0:09:49 > 0:09:53It doesn't actually need to rhyme with the actual station.
0:09:53 > 0:09:54Well, thank you, Graham.
0:09:54 > 0:09:59- You've cheered my journey up and I'm sure you've cheered many travellers' journeys.- Thank you, Michael.
0:09:59 > 0:10:02Enjoy the rest of your journey in our beautiful part of the world.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08- TANNOY:- Thank you for travelling Northern rail,
0:10:08 > 0:10:10have a safe onward journey and join us again.
0:10:13 > 0:10:17I need to alight at Darlington to reach my next destination,
0:10:17 > 0:10:18Croft-on-Tees.
0:10:21 > 0:10:24Located a few miles away, its bridge over the River Tees marks
0:10:24 > 0:10:27the boundary between North Yorkshire and County Durham.
0:10:32 > 0:10:36"Croft-on-Tees, with an old church," says Bradshaw's,
0:10:36 > 0:10:42"is a fashionable place, much frequented by invalids on account of its mineral waters."
0:10:42 > 0:10:45Here, a young man spent his formative years.
0:10:45 > 0:10:50His bubbling imagination produced tales that were surreal,
0:10:50 > 0:10:55which for 150 years have entertained and terrified children in equal
0:10:55 > 0:10:58measure. I should know, I was one of them.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05That young man was Charles Dodgson,
0:11:05 > 0:11:08who became better known under the pen name Lewis Carroll.
0:11:12 > 0:11:16Historian Chris Lloyd takes me through the looking glass.
0:11:18 > 0:11:20Chris, it is a stunning rectory.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23What's the connection with Lewis Carroll?
0:11:23 > 0:11:26Well, he moved here in 1843 when his father became rector of Croft,
0:11:26 > 0:11:29so this became their family home.
0:11:29 > 0:11:33He was 11 years old, a shy, stammering boy.
0:11:33 > 0:11:35Croft, at that time, was actually quite a prosperous place,
0:11:35 > 0:11:39partly because of the railway, because just a couple of years earlier,
0:11:39 > 0:11:42the first section of the East Coast Main Line had opened.
0:11:42 > 0:11:44And was the boy interested in the railway?
0:11:44 > 0:11:46I think he was almost obsessed by it, actually.
0:11:46 > 0:11:47You are suddenly thrust amongst it,
0:11:47 > 0:11:50this great powerful steam-snorting technology.
0:11:50 > 0:11:53He loved it. In fact, in the garden here,
0:11:53 > 0:11:56he had his own little toy railway that he set up.
0:11:56 > 0:12:00It was a wheelbarrow with a big barrow on it and a couple of trucks
0:12:00 > 0:12:03behind it and him and his brothers and sisters used to play here.
0:12:03 > 0:12:06They had stations and refreshment rooms and they had timetables.
0:12:06 > 0:12:07They had a timetable, did they?
0:12:07 > 0:12:10The timetable was very important in the whole proceedings.
0:12:10 > 0:12:14In fact, Bradshaw was very, very important in this whole thing,
0:12:14 > 0:12:20because in 1855, he wrote a three-act mock operatic parody
0:12:20 > 0:12:23of your book, of Bradshaw.
0:12:23 > 0:12:27- Really?- Yes. He called it, La Guida Di Bragia.
0:12:27 > 0:12:31And the book itself actually appeared in there as a book with
0:12:31 > 0:12:35arms and legs trying to restore law and order to the mayhem.
0:12:35 > 0:12:38Where was this stuff coming from? He had such a vivid imagination.
0:12:38 > 0:12:42He had a vivid imagination but he was bringing in all the things that
0:12:42 > 0:12:45were around him as well, to make it really realistic.
0:12:45 > 0:12:48Of course, in Bradshaw's day, everybody would be wandering around
0:12:48 > 0:12:51looking at their old-fashioned pocket watches going,
0:12:51 > 0:12:54"Oh, no, tyranny of time, I'm late, I'm late, I'm late,"
0:12:54 > 0:12:58which is what the White Rabbit of course does in Alice In Wonderland.
0:13:00 > 0:13:05St Peter's Church stands just across from the rectory garden and
0:13:05 > 0:13:07Lewis Carroll knew it well.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10There are all sorts of strange stories in the stonework.
0:13:10 > 0:13:13Take this, for example, a 13th century carving, but have a look there.
0:13:13 > 0:13:15A wonderful cat face.
0:13:15 > 0:13:19Now, Michael, have a place at the altar and say your prayers.
0:13:19 > 0:13:21- Ooh!- The faces change.
0:13:21 > 0:13:24Imagine you're an 11-year-old boy so you're much smaller and go and
0:13:24 > 0:13:27see what it's doing now.
0:13:29 > 0:13:31It's the most curious thing, as you said.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34You've just got a grin and not a cat at all.
0:13:34 > 0:13:35It is the Cheshire Cat.
0:13:37 > 0:13:41Carroll was also inspired by a local Saxon legend.
0:13:41 > 0:13:45It was said that the region had once been in the grip of a fearsome
0:13:45 > 0:13:47dragon who ruthlessly burnt its enemies.
0:13:49 > 0:13:51In Alice Through The Looking Glass,
0:13:51 > 0:13:54the Jabberwocky is a story of the dragon who does terrible things and
0:13:54 > 0:13:55needs to be slayed.
0:13:55 > 0:13:59Here it is, here is the stanza of Anglo-Saxon poetry,
0:13:59 > 0:14:01and because it's Through The Looking Glass,
0:14:01 > 0:14:04the first stanza was published back to front,
0:14:04 > 0:14:07so you need a looking glass to read it.
0:14:07 > 0:14:12And in the looking glass I read, "Twas brillig and the slithy toves,
0:14:12 > 0:14:18"Did gyre and gimble in the wabe, All mimsy were the borogoves,
0:14:18 > 0:14:20"And the mome raths outgrabe."
0:14:20 > 0:14:23- Complete nonsense! - Divine nonsense!
0:14:27 > 0:14:30Outside, hidden away in the bushes,
0:14:30 > 0:14:33there is yet another fount of inspiration for Lewis Carroll.
0:14:36 > 0:14:39- Well, well, well.- Yes, it's a well, Michael.
0:14:39 > 0:14:41A spa well, actually.
0:14:41 > 0:14:45Erm... In Lewis Carroll's day, gullible people from London would
0:14:45 > 0:14:49come up on the mainline to the train, to the station near his house,
0:14:49 > 0:14:54to come and take these rather foul-scented sulphurous waters.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57They believed that it had magical properties, and when they drank
0:14:57 > 0:14:59them, they would do magical things to their bodies.
0:14:59 > 0:15:03And that, I think, is the real nub of Alice In Wonderland.
0:15:03 > 0:15:05Because Alice tumbles down the rabbit hole,
0:15:05 > 0:15:08and there she finds a bottle with "Drink me" on it.
0:15:08 > 0:15:11And so she drinks the water just like they drank this water,
0:15:11 > 0:15:14and it does magical things to her body.
0:15:21 > 0:15:23Michael, are you all right?
0:15:25 > 0:15:26Ah! I'm late!
0:15:26 > 0:15:29I'm late! I've got a train to catch, I'm late! I'm late!
0:15:50 > 0:15:52Any refreshments?
0:15:52 > 0:15:53Thank you, no.
0:16:01 > 0:16:02Next stop, Alnmouth.
0:16:02 > 0:16:06Bradshaw's tells me that the area has grown up under the protection of
0:16:06 > 0:16:08the Dukes of Northumberland,
0:16:08 > 0:16:13whose noble baronial castle covers a height over the River Aln.
0:16:13 > 0:16:17Below those lofty summits for hundreds of years before the invention of
0:16:17 > 0:16:21tobacco, the ordinary folk were already smoking.
0:16:33 > 0:16:38Alnmouth is a coastal village whose maritime traffic declined with the
0:16:38 > 0:16:42advent of the railways. But what the trains took away in sea trade,
0:16:42 > 0:16:44they substituted with tourism.
0:16:44 > 0:16:47Located on the East Coast Main Line,
0:16:47 > 0:16:50Alnmouth became a popular Victorian seaside destination.
0:16:52 > 0:16:56Today, tourists also come for the magnificent Alnwick Castle.
0:16:58 > 0:17:02A little further north along the coast lies Craster,
0:17:02 > 0:17:06a village renowned for a culinary delicacy on which I'm hooked -
0:17:06 > 0:17:07smoked kipper.
0:17:09 > 0:17:13Neil Robson is the fourth-generation of this smoking family firm.
0:17:16 > 0:17:19Have you any idea, Neil, how long people have been smoking fish?
0:17:19 > 0:17:23Oh, well, these smoke houses were built in 1856.
0:17:23 > 0:17:27But I mean, the smoking of fish has gone on a lot longer than that.
0:17:28 > 0:17:34Vikings smoked fish, Lindisfarne Gospels mentioned the smoking of fish.
0:17:34 > 0:17:37What made people first want to smoke fish?
0:17:37 > 0:17:39Well, originally it was preserve them.
0:17:39 > 0:17:43They would be heavily salted and they would have a lot more smoke on them.
0:17:43 > 0:17:46Not really to enhance the flavour like it is now.
0:17:46 > 0:17:47People like the smoke flavour.
0:17:47 > 0:17:49And then why in Craster?
0:17:49 > 0:17:51Craster was quite a big fishing port at one time.
0:17:51 > 0:17:55The herring that came past this part of the coastline were probably at
0:17:55 > 0:17:58their best. That's how we got our reputation.
0:17:58 > 0:18:01There was a good oil content and they were a nice size.
0:18:01 > 0:18:03So as the herring came innocently around the coast, you nabbed them.
0:18:03 > 0:18:07We did indeed. They'd be brought to shore and we smoked them.
0:18:07 > 0:18:09We sent them down to London by train, actually.
0:18:09 > 0:18:13My grandfather used to have to go to the local station by about
0:18:13 > 0:18:17seven o'clock in the morning to get them down to Billingsgate for the next day market.
0:18:17 > 0:18:21But there haven't been any herring landed in Craster for 30, 40 years.
0:18:21 > 0:18:22So where did this fellow come from?
0:18:22 > 0:18:26That was actually, it started off in the North Sea.
0:18:26 > 0:18:28It was caught by a Scottish boat.
0:18:28 > 0:18:30But it was actually landed in Norway.
0:18:31 > 0:18:33You're a well travelled fish, aren't you?
0:18:33 > 0:18:34A well travelled fish, yeah.
0:18:34 > 0:18:37You've been in the industry a while.
0:18:37 > 0:18:39Do you remember supplying the railways?
0:18:39 > 0:18:43I mean, my memory is that no self-respecting gentleman could board the
0:18:43 > 0:18:45Flying Scotsman and not order kippers for breakfast.
0:18:45 > 0:18:48Well, we probably didn't supply the Flying Scotsman,
0:18:48 > 0:18:51but certainly kippers were always an integral part of the breakfast menu
0:18:51 > 0:18:54in the old British railway days.
0:18:54 > 0:18:56I think they ought to bring them back.
0:18:58 > 0:19:00Kippers remain a British favourite,
0:19:00 > 0:19:04and the company supplies leading supermarkets across the country.
0:19:05 > 0:19:09As a continuing tradition, the smoking of herring requires new
0:19:09 > 0:19:11generations of workers to be trained.
0:19:11 > 0:19:13And I get hauled in.
0:19:13 > 0:19:16This is the first stage of the process, Michael.
0:19:16 > 0:19:18We need to split the fish.
0:19:18 > 0:19:20So, we need to load the wheel...
0:19:21 > 0:19:26- ..just by pushing the fish gently into the grips there.- Right.
0:19:27 > 0:19:29We'll miss every other one.
0:19:29 > 0:19:32- Aha.- Just because you're with your first time on the machine.
0:19:32 > 0:19:34OK, then.
0:19:34 > 0:19:37Apart from the use of machines to split the herring,
0:19:37 > 0:19:40not much has changed in the curing process.
0:19:40 > 0:19:44The fish is placed in a solution of water and salt.
0:19:45 > 0:19:50Another 20 kilos of fish into the brine.
0:19:50 > 0:19:54And then just arrange them so they're flesh down, flatten them out.
0:19:54 > 0:19:55Fleshy side down.
0:19:56 > 0:19:58That's so they're in contact with the brine.
0:20:02 > 0:20:05- There we are!- Thank you.
0:20:05 > 0:20:10And hung in smoke houses where a combination of white wood shavings
0:20:10 > 0:20:13and oak sawdust is lit to smoulder for hours.
0:20:15 > 0:20:17Right, quite enough of that, I think.
0:20:20 > 0:20:21Bye-bye, kippers.
0:20:25 > 0:20:28The kippers spend up to 16 hours in the smokehouse.
0:20:31 > 0:20:32Of course, I have a train to catch,
0:20:32 > 0:20:35but fortunately there's a batch ready to eat.
0:20:37 > 0:20:38Handsome rack of kippers.
0:20:41 > 0:20:43Smelling divine.
0:20:43 > 0:20:45I have appreciated this is a thoroughly manual process.
0:20:45 > 0:20:49What's your tip? How long will it be before I don't smell of kipper?
0:20:49 > 0:20:52Oh, 48 hours, I would imagine.
0:21:07 > 0:21:11A kipper in a bun with a view of Dunstanburgh Castle,
0:21:11 > 0:21:12which was built in the 14th century.
0:21:12 > 0:21:15They were already smoking herrings by then.
0:21:15 > 0:21:19But my guess is that when all the buildings of the 21st century are
0:21:19 > 0:21:22remembered only in history books, they'll be smoking them still.
0:21:49 > 0:21:51My train tracks hug the Northumberland coast.
0:21:53 > 0:21:55I pursue my journey across the Scottish border.
0:21:56 > 0:21:58My next stop will be Dunbar.
0:21:58 > 0:22:03The guidebook tells me it's a seaport town situated at the mouth
0:22:03 > 0:22:06of the Firth of Forth on a gentle eminence.
0:22:06 > 0:22:10The appearance of the country in every direction is striking and
0:22:10 > 0:22:13picturesque. Long before my Bradshaw's,
0:22:13 > 0:22:18the mind of a young Dunbar boy had been shaped by the place's natural
0:22:18 > 0:22:23beauty in a way that would transform a far-off land.
0:22:37 > 0:22:42Dunbar can thank its location for some of Scotland's sunniest weather,
0:22:42 > 0:22:46but it has also made it a repeated battleground.
0:22:48 > 0:22:53Its castle was once one of the most important fortresses in the country,
0:22:53 > 0:22:56but by the time of my Bradshaw's, it was already in ruins.
0:23:00 > 0:23:02Here lived John Muir,
0:23:02 > 0:23:07a man of vision who went on to play a pivotal role in protecting the
0:23:07 > 0:23:09natural wonders of the United States.
0:23:12 > 0:23:16Jo Moulin is a museum officer at John Muir's birthplace.
0:23:18 > 0:23:21So what impact did this beautiful,
0:23:21 > 0:23:23craggy environment have on the young Muir?
0:23:23 > 0:23:26It certainly gave him his passion for wild places.
0:23:26 > 0:23:30Several books of his have been published and there was a wonderful
0:23:30 > 0:23:33book called The Story Of My Boyhood And Youth, and the first chapter
0:23:33 > 0:23:36of that really sets the scene for his childhood in Dunbar.
0:23:36 > 0:23:40And it goes along the lines of, "When I was a boy in Scotland,
0:23:40 > 0:23:43"I was fond of everything that was wild,
0:23:43 > 0:23:47"and all my life I've been growing fonder and fonder of wild places and
0:23:47 > 0:23:48- "wild creatures."- Beautiful.
0:23:51 > 0:23:56In 1849, John Muir's family moved to a farm in the United States.
0:23:56 > 0:24:00It was only a matter of time before he would explore his new country's
0:24:00 > 0:24:02vast wilderness.
0:24:02 > 0:24:06He went on an incredible 1,000 mile walk from Indiana to the
0:24:06 > 0:24:10Gulf of Mexico, and then from there ended up in California.
0:24:10 > 0:24:14And his arrival in California saw him in Yosemite Valley,
0:24:14 > 0:24:17and that was really where he was based for a lot of his life.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20He travelled to every major continent around the world,
0:24:20 > 0:24:24but he devoted a lot of his life and his studies to Yosemite Valley.
0:24:26 > 0:24:29During his time in the Yosemite Valley, Muir became
0:24:29 > 0:24:32concerned about the effect on the environment of felling the
0:24:32 > 0:24:35magnificent giant redwood trees.
0:24:35 > 0:24:38He became an ardent defender of the forest.
0:24:39 > 0:24:41What did he do with this passion?
0:24:41 > 0:24:44He wrote. He wrote a series of newspaper articles,
0:24:44 > 0:24:50and those writings rose awareness of the issues and resulted in a letter
0:24:50 > 0:24:52from the President of the United States,
0:24:52 > 0:24:54from President Theodore Roosevelt, who said,
0:24:54 > 0:24:58"I'd like you to take me camping in Yosemite on my own,
0:24:58 > 0:25:00"with nobody else around us."
0:25:00 > 0:25:02What an extraordinary thing.
0:25:02 > 0:25:05President of the United States asks a Scotsman from Dunbar to go camping
0:25:05 > 0:25:07with him. What was the result of that?
0:25:07 > 0:25:11The result was a bill that was passed in Congress that set in
0:25:11 > 0:25:14motions the creation of the US National Park Service.
0:25:17 > 0:25:19His legacy lives on.
0:25:19 > 0:25:23A new generation of nature lovers is exploring the river in coracles,
0:25:23 > 0:25:26a traditional basket-like craft.
0:25:26 > 0:25:29These have been made locally for the John Muir awards.
0:25:32 > 0:25:37East Lothian junior rangers Rachel and Fraser have invited me to join them...
0:25:40 > 0:25:43..provided I can get afloat, of course.
0:25:55 > 0:25:56LAUGHTER
0:25:58 > 0:26:00My thoughts on the coracle?
0:26:00 > 0:26:04Possibly the most impractical thing I've ever set eyes on.
0:26:04 > 0:26:06Almost impossible to paddle.
0:26:06 > 0:26:09If you tilt your head, you're likely to capsize.
0:26:11 > 0:26:15Like a fairground ride, and therefore, lots of fun.
0:26:23 > 0:26:26Rachel, you're a junior ranger. What does that mean?
0:26:26 > 0:26:30We help the ranger service do different things.
0:26:30 > 0:26:35So we do quite a lot of conservation stuff to do with the plants.
0:26:35 > 0:26:41So we cut back different species of gorse at beaches to help different
0:26:41 > 0:26:44plants regrow, and do quite a lot of hedge clearing as well.
0:26:44 > 0:26:47Ah! And do you enjoy it?
0:26:47 > 0:26:51Yeah. I love going to the beaches here, they're so nice.
0:26:51 > 0:26:55Tell me honestly, do you think we're going to survive this horrible ride?
0:26:55 > 0:26:58Maybe. Hopefully!
0:26:58 > 0:26:59I'd say about 50-50.
0:27:10 > 0:27:13Although the Industrial Revolution brought pollution to the countryside,
0:27:13 > 0:27:18the railways enabled people to visit places of natural beauty.
0:27:18 > 0:27:23Whether in John Muir's native Scotland or in the United States,
0:27:23 > 0:27:26where he inspired the National Parks.
0:27:26 > 0:27:31Even the highly imaginative rail enthusiast, Lewis Carroll, could not
0:27:31 > 0:27:35have conceived the sleek high-speed trains of today.
0:27:35 > 0:27:39Though I think he would have shared my disappointment that in the
0:27:39 > 0:27:43restaurant cars, they are unlikely to be serving Craster kippers.
0:27:51 > 0:27:54'Next time, I'll need plenty of brawn...'
0:27:55 > 0:27:57Go! Oh!
0:27:57 > 0:28:00- It's quite heavy, isn't it? - It's very heavy.
0:28:00 > 0:28:02'..a strong stomach...'
0:28:02 > 0:28:06Here we have a book made from the skin of a murderer.
0:28:06 > 0:28:07My goodness.
0:28:07 > 0:28:09'..and a musical ear.'
0:28:09 > 0:28:11Here goes, everybody.