0:00:11 > 0:00:15This is Sutherland in north-west Scotland.
0:00:15 > 0:00:17It's a bleak landscape -
0:00:17 > 0:00:19towering mountains,
0:00:19 > 0:00:22scarcely a tree, unforgiving tracts of untamed wilderness.
0:00:22 > 0:00:26Not a comfortable destination for a mapmaker.
0:00:26 > 0:00:31But one young man in the late 1500s thought it was spectacular.
0:00:38 > 0:00:44When Timothy Pont set out to survey his homeland, he was in his 20s, and Scotland was in trouble.
0:00:44 > 0:00:52Witch burning, rebellious clans, cattle rustling, banditry, wolves - the Scots had the lot.
0:00:52 > 0:00:57Only a particularly brave, or perhaps foolhardy, map maker would tackle a country like this.
0:01:02 > 0:01:06I'm going to take an incredible journey in Pont's footsteps
0:01:06 > 0:01:09across the last remaining wilderness in Britain.
0:01:09 > 0:01:15I want to discover what Pont charted on these, the very first detailed maps of Scotland.
0:01:15 > 0:01:17Were they accurate? And, most importantly,
0:01:17 > 0:01:22what drove one man to attempt to map such a vast and inhospitable land?
0:01:51 > 0:01:56Timothy Pont's maps of the north-west of Scotland may be rough sketches.
0:01:56 > 0:02:00But they are the field work of an exceptional mapmaker.
0:02:00 > 0:02:07Never before had the rivers and towns, the forests and mountains been set down in such detail.
0:02:07 > 0:02:09This was clan territory.
0:02:09 > 0:02:15It was dangerous, and what Pont provided for the first time was a way through the Highlands.
0:02:18 > 0:02:22The Highlands were the most rebellious and lawless part of the country.
0:02:22 > 0:02:25And that's what fascinates me.
0:02:25 > 0:02:31Round here, even royal messengers didn't dare deliver the King's letters to clan chiefs.
0:02:31 > 0:02:37So, how did Pont do his survey without losing himself or his head?
0:02:37 > 0:02:40My route will take me from the shores of Loch Maree
0:02:40 > 0:02:46to the far north-west of Sutherland, deep in the heart of Britain's last true wilderness.
0:02:46 > 0:02:52I'll be crossing a holy loch, tracking a bandit's highway, and my goal is the mysterious
0:02:52 > 0:02:56and frighteningly named Way of the Wolves. It's gonna be quite some journey.
0:02:59 > 0:03:02They're not the easiest maps to follow,
0:03:02 > 0:03:07and that's because Pont's sketches depict individual geographical scenes.
0:03:07 > 0:03:09They don't give you the big picture.
0:03:09 > 0:03:13Certain things stand out very clearly, though -
0:03:13 > 0:03:17particularly the lochs.
0:03:17 > 0:03:18This is Loch Maree.
0:03:18 > 0:03:22We know Pont came here because he was no armchair cartographer.
0:03:22 > 0:03:25He visited places that were scarcely known,
0:03:25 > 0:03:27like these islands.
0:03:27 > 0:03:31He mapped all 24 of them and he gave names to 16.
0:03:31 > 0:03:35The trouble is that he didn't show us where on the loch the islands are,
0:03:35 > 0:03:37and I can't see a single one of them from here.
0:03:37 > 0:03:42I've a suspicion that he can only have mapped those islands by looking down on them from above.
0:03:42 > 0:03:46So I need to get across that loch and up a mountain.
0:03:57 > 0:04:01Pont was not commissioned to do his survey.
0:04:01 > 0:04:05It's possible that it was his father's idea.
0:04:05 > 0:04:10Robert Pont was a key figure in Scottish religious and political circles
0:04:10 > 0:04:16and he may have hoped that, by mapping Scotland, his son could win the favour of the King.
0:04:16 > 0:04:19The King of Scotland was James VI.
0:04:19 > 0:04:23His mother, Mary Queen of Scots, had been a cousin to Elizabeth I.
0:04:23 > 0:04:28Now that Mary was dead, James became heir to the English throne as well.
0:04:28 > 0:04:32And that gave Scotland a bit of an inferiority complex.
0:04:32 > 0:04:36Compared to well mapped England, Scotland was still a blank on the map.
0:04:36 > 0:04:41The King knew next to nothing about his hills, his rivers, his boundaries
0:04:41 > 0:04:45and especially where his loyal and rebellious subjects were.
0:04:45 > 0:04:48Timothy Pont set out to change all that.
0:04:51 > 0:04:57The place on the far side of the loch is known as Letterewe. It means "middle of the loch".
0:04:57 > 0:05:02And it took a very brave man to come here as a visitor in the 16th century.
0:05:02 > 0:05:06The locals were not exactly renowned for their hospitality.
0:05:08 > 0:05:11Part of the problem was religion.
0:05:11 > 0:05:15Some of the clans hung on to the old faith, Catholicism,
0:05:15 > 0:05:21and they didn't care much for the Protestant King and the tide of Protestantism sweeping the nation.
0:05:23 > 0:05:25Today, things are a bit quieter,
0:05:25 > 0:05:29although, according to one of the local estate workers, Bill Hart,
0:05:29 > 0:05:32memories of those violent days still linger.
0:05:32 > 0:05:35When our mapmaker, Timothy Pont, came here 400 years ago,
0:05:35 > 0:05:39would he have been made welcome by the people living on the loch?
0:05:39 > 0:05:43He'd have been welcomed as long he wasn't preaching religion.
0:05:43 > 0:05:45Religion got the people's backs up in them days.
0:05:45 > 0:05:51There was a story in 1711 of a minister came to Letterewe
0:05:51 > 0:05:53called John Morrison,
0:05:53 > 0:05:58and he came to preach his form of religion to the islanders and they took offence.
0:05:58 > 0:06:03And they took him out to a place called Fool's Rock, which is a small island as you cross the loch.
0:06:03 > 0:06:08On there, they staked him out, stripped him naked and left him to the midges.
0:06:08 > 0:06:13And it was only because there was a lady on the estate that sort of took a soft spot
0:06:13 > 0:06:19for this John Morris, that she sailed out after dark and rescued him from his plight on the island.
0:06:19 > 0:06:20And he managed to escape from it.
0:06:20 > 0:06:23But there was others that didn't.
0:06:23 > 0:06:29Where do you think Timothy Pont was standing when he sketched the islands of Loch Maree?
0:06:29 > 0:06:32He seems to be above the islands looking down on them.
0:06:32 > 0:06:36Is there a mountain around here that he might have been using as a viewpoint?
0:06:36 > 0:06:39Yes, I think, if you look at the islands...
0:06:39 > 0:06:42If you came across to Letterewe to start with,
0:06:42 > 0:06:45he'd have taken this path that runs up along a ridge
0:06:45 > 0:06:51that we call Spy Point, which looks down over Isle Maree, you can see all the islands from that point.
0:06:51 > 0:06:53How would I get there from Letterewe?
0:06:53 > 0:06:58From Letterewe, you would follow the path round past the river to the cairn, then you would
0:06:58 > 0:07:03bear left at the cairn, down over a bridge which crosses a very, very fast-flowing stream.
0:07:03 > 0:07:07And you cross that and follow the path out till you arrive at the Spy Point.
0:07:17 > 0:07:20Spy Point is around 1,000ft above the loch and the islands.
0:07:20 > 0:07:22So that's quite a climb.
0:07:35 > 0:07:39I always get really excited walking ancient trackways.
0:07:39 > 0:07:45This trackway has been excavated from the mountain side by countless hooves and feet.
0:07:45 > 0:07:49It's probably been in use for at least 1,000 years - possibly twice that long.
0:07:50 > 0:07:55Bill told me to look out for a fork in the path, marked by a cairn.
0:07:55 > 0:07:59I've got to the fork and the cairn, but the cairn's one of the smallest I've ever seen -
0:07:59 > 0:08:04it's absolutely tiny, and in thick mist you could walk straight past this without even seeing it.
0:08:04 > 0:08:07These mountains would be very dangerous,
0:08:07 > 0:08:11and this is one of the problems that Pont faced when he was up here mapping.
0:08:11 > 0:08:18Much like me, Pont must have relied hugely on local knowledge and he may have made some use of guides.
0:08:18 > 0:08:22They'd know where to get the best views, the names of hills and rivers,
0:08:22 > 0:08:26the distances he'd have to cover and - very important -
0:08:26 > 0:08:30the landmarks to help you stay out of danger
0:08:30 > 0:08:35from the bogs and the bandits and the wolves.
0:08:39 > 0:08:4377 of Pont's maps survive,
0:08:43 > 0:08:44and he must have made many more.
0:08:44 > 0:08:51All of them entailed long walks, fast-flowing mountain streams and ferocious weather.
0:09:08 > 0:09:12This is it! The exact spot that Timothy Pont stood.
0:09:15 > 0:09:21I can see the entire loch, all the islands - what a fantastic place.
0:09:38 > 0:09:42What strikes you about these maps is that they glorify Scotland.
0:09:42 > 0:09:45They're a remarkable picture of the history,
0:09:45 > 0:09:48the geography and the architecture of the 16th century.
0:09:48 > 0:09:50In fact, they're not maps at all,
0:09:50 > 0:09:53but collections of working notes,
0:09:53 > 0:09:55miraculously preserved for 400 years.
0:09:55 > 0:09:59Did Pont really hope that the King would eventually see them?
0:09:59 > 0:10:01Nobody really knows.
0:10:01 > 0:10:05What we do know is that the King and his ministers were becoming aware
0:10:05 > 0:10:09that Scotland's Highlands were rich in untapped resources.
0:10:09 > 0:10:13Just look how carefully he's marked this forest and the river running through it.
0:10:13 > 0:10:18Over here, he's shown a slate quarry.
0:10:18 > 0:10:22But if you're an army on the march, or you're collecting taxes,
0:10:22 > 0:10:25you might want to know what food the land can provide.
0:10:25 > 0:10:26Down here beside the loch,
0:10:26 > 0:10:30he's shown an area that's very good for hunting deer.
0:10:30 > 0:10:33And beside it, a river that's full of salmon.
0:10:33 > 0:10:37The maps are covered with thousands of place-names.
0:10:37 > 0:10:41All the important towns are here, of course, like Forres up here,
0:10:41 > 0:10:43but also individual buildings.
0:10:43 > 0:10:49Mills, a church here and a castle up here.
0:10:50 > 0:10:52But what about transport?
0:10:52 > 0:10:57How did people get around in the 16th century using a map like this? Pont provided some of the answers.
0:10:57 > 0:11:01His coastline has all the harbours marked.
0:11:01 > 0:11:05There's even a ship here to show you where you can drop anchor.
0:11:05 > 0:11:08Inland, there are no roads on the map, but what he does do
0:11:08 > 0:11:14is mark mountain passes to help you find your way between one remote part of the Highlands and another.
0:11:16 > 0:11:18But some places on this map are so remote that you
0:11:18 > 0:11:22really have to wonder how on earth anybody ever got there.
0:11:22 > 0:11:27This area on Pont's map is called Extreme Wilderness.
0:11:27 > 0:11:31And at one end of this extreme wilderness is Wolf's Way -
0:11:31 > 0:11:37my eventual destination - and I don't yet know how I'm going to get there.
0:11:37 > 0:11:40Well, tomorrow I'll be heading up the windswept glens and passes
0:11:40 > 0:11:45Pont himself travelled through, trying to find remains of what Pont actually saw.
0:11:45 > 0:11:49But the chances of getting lost in this colossal landscape
0:11:49 > 0:11:53are just as likely today as they were in the 16th century.
0:11:53 > 0:11:56Pont's maps had better be reliable.
0:12:10 > 0:12:12So how did Pont create his maps of Scotland?
0:12:12 > 0:12:16No evidence of him using any surveying equipment.
0:12:16 > 0:12:22The maps themselves suggest he followed rivers up valleys, sketching as he went.
0:12:22 > 0:12:28The rivers provided a grid, which enabled him to fix the positions of everything else.
0:12:28 > 0:12:30This is Glen Gruinard,
0:12:30 > 0:12:33the River Gruinard tumbling along the bottom here.
0:12:33 > 0:12:36It's one of the key rivers on Pont's grid.
0:12:36 > 0:12:42He marks trees along both sides of the river, and along the shores of Loch Na Sealga,
0:12:42 > 0:12:43further up the glen.
0:12:43 > 0:12:45No trees here, though.
0:12:47 > 0:12:49Trees do disappear,
0:12:49 > 0:12:53but it's rare for them to vanish without leaving any trace at all.
0:12:53 > 0:12:55So I'm on the lookout.
0:12:59 > 0:13:01I've found one.
0:13:01 > 0:13:04Half a metre down in that black peat on the other river bank
0:13:04 > 0:13:07is a tree-trunk sticking out horizontally.
0:13:07 > 0:13:12It's been exposed by the water rushing down the glen. And there's another one right beside it.
0:13:12 > 0:13:16Two trees - and there's another one over there.
0:13:16 > 0:13:20And another one. In fact, it goes all the way up the glen.
0:13:20 > 0:13:24There's a whole row of tree-trunks and tree roots sticking out,
0:13:24 > 0:13:26just as Timothy Pont mapped them!
0:13:29 > 0:13:34This Glen may look empty and untouched, but a quick look at
0:13:34 > 0:13:39Pont's map and you realise that this was once a busy and populated place.
0:13:39 > 0:13:43There are settlements marked right up the glen, like this one here.
0:13:43 > 0:13:46But how on earth did the inhabitants survive?
0:13:50 > 0:13:54I've arranged to meet Bill Whyte, the gamekeeper on the Gruinard estate,
0:13:54 > 0:14:00to see if he knows what the glen was like in Pont's time, and why it's changed.
0:14:02 > 0:14:07One of the things I'm very curious about is some notes that Pont wrote beside his map of Glen Gruinard.
0:14:07 > 0:14:10He writes that the rivers have plentiful salmon,
0:14:10 > 0:14:16there are fir trees growing down beside the river banks, and that it's an excellent place for hunting.
0:14:16 > 0:14:19Red deer are to be found all year round, it's an almighty park of nature.
0:14:19 > 0:14:22Doesn't look like that now.
0:14:22 > 0:14:26There's still quite a few salmon come into the river.
0:14:26 > 0:14:29There's not as many as there was in his time,
0:14:29 > 0:14:31but there's still a few coming in.
0:14:31 > 0:14:36The deer - we've still got about 900 deer on the place.
0:14:36 > 0:14:38Nine deer per square kilometre.
0:14:38 > 0:14:41It's plenty for our needs.
0:14:41 > 0:14:44And the trees - trees haven't been round here for a long time.
0:14:44 > 0:14:46What happened to them?
0:14:46 > 0:14:51A lot of them would've been used for fuel and building,
0:14:51 > 0:14:55and some would have been lost naturally, just with the course of the river.
0:14:55 > 0:15:00I think, probably, as well, at one time Gruinard was a very big sheep farm,
0:15:00 > 0:15:04and any of the natural regen that was trying to come through,
0:15:04 > 0:15:06the sheep would just nibble at them.
0:15:06 > 0:15:10What's happened to all the crofts and settlements that Pont's marked
0:15:10 > 0:15:12on his map of Glen Gruinard - where did they go?
0:15:12 > 0:15:16I think Gruinard was cleared in the early 1800s.
0:15:16 > 0:15:20Most of the people were moved out.
0:15:20 > 0:15:25- Just cleared off the land? - Just cleared off the land for sheep and deer.
0:15:25 > 0:15:29Well, the other question I've got for you, Bill, because I'm a bit stumped,
0:15:29 > 0:15:32is where and how did Pont travel up the glen,
0:15:32 > 0:15:35because this is a new track, the one up the valley bottom.
0:15:35 > 0:15:36Yep. There is...
0:15:36 > 0:15:41If you look over to the side here, there's an old drove road which comes up through that gully.
0:15:41 > 0:15:44It's a bit overgrown. There's grass and heather all over it
0:15:44 > 0:15:48but there's definitely two ridges with the flat down through it.
0:15:48 > 0:15:49You'll find it OK.
0:16:06 > 0:16:12There's no doubt that if there was a drove road through this valley, Pont would have used it.
0:16:12 > 0:16:18Drove roads were routes used to drive cattle across country to the markets where they were to be sold.
0:16:18 > 0:16:23They were usually higher up, above the flood plain and the boggy ground.
0:16:26 > 0:16:32I've reached a shoulder, a leveller part of the mountain,
0:16:32 > 0:16:37and there's something rather odd happening here, because the stream I've been following
0:16:37 > 0:16:40is crossed by another stream at right angles.
0:16:40 > 0:16:43And streams don't cross each other at right angles,
0:16:43 > 0:16:49so I'm just wondering whether this other stream I've just found isn't a stream at all but the drove road.
0:16:49 > 0:16:51I'll have to follow it to find out.
0:16:53 > 0:16:58In the 16th century, you took your life in your hands, travelling these roads.
0:16:58 > 0:17:01Cattle markets didn't really exist then,
0:17:01 > 0:17:05and the people who herded cattle along here could be ugly sorts -
0:17:05 > 0:17:08cattle rustlers or cut-throat bandits.
0:17:08 > 0:17:14According to a friend, Pont himself was often attacked and robbed of his money and his precious maps.
0:17:16 > 0:17:22Well, it's nearly dark now, and I've been following this stream of boulders for several hundred metres.
0:17:22 > 0:17:26It's also hailing and snowing, but I know I'm on the drove road now.
0:17:26 > 0:17:29Coming up here, they've pushed boulders to the side
0:17:29 > 0:17:32to stop the animals falling down the mountainside.
0:17:32 > 0:17:38Also, as I've been walking up, I've been noticing the peat has been getting harder and harder underfoot.
0:17:38 > 0:17:44It's been compressed by hundreds and thousands of hooves into a clay-like hardness.
0:17:44 > 0:17:47And this is where Timothy Pont came to make his map.
0:17:47 > 0:17:50I'm walking in the footsteps of my hero.
0:18:10 > 0:18:14For Pont, mountains and hills were every bit as important as rivers.
0:18:14 > 0:18:19They defined his landscape and he drew over 300 of them on his maps.
0:18:19 > 0:18:26One of the most distinctive is the one he calls Skormyvar, with this wicked-looking pair of fangs.
0:18:29 > 0:18:34It should be the next mountain on my route north, at the head of Glen Sguaib.
0:18:34 > 0:18:40I'm intrigued to know whether Pont's peaks stand out as much in reality as they do on his map.
0:18:47 > 0:18:51Question - why did Pont go to all this trouble?
0:18:51 > 0:18:56After all, he could have depicted a mountain as a simple pointed triangle.
0:18:56 > 0:19:01Why did he think the King and his armies needed to now the exact shape of things?
0:19:03 > 0:19:05I'm nearing the head of the glen now
0:19:05 > 0:19:09and I think I've solved the puzzle about the mountain.
0:19:09 > 0:19:14English maps of the time showed mountains all looking the same - small, rounded molehills.
0:19:14 > 0:19:18But Pont's mountains all have personalities, very distinct shapes.
0:19:18 > 0:19:21As I've been walking, I've been looking at the two fangs,
0:19:21 > 0:19:25thinking that's what he meant me to head for. But that's not what he intended.
0:19:25 > 0:19:29He's trying to draw my eye towards the gap between the fangs.
0:19:29 > 0:19:31This is a mountain pass.
0:19:31 > 0:19:36It's also the shortest route between the Atlantic that way and the North Sea over there.
0:19:36 > 0:19:39It's the old high road between the two coasts.
0:19:42 > 0:19:43Clever man.
0:19:43 > 0:19:48Like so many maps, Pont's makes most sense when you're using it on the ground.
0:19:56 > 0:19:59Down from the mountains now, and I'm heading north.
0:19:59 > 0:20:05On the way is Ardvreck Castle - one of the major buildings on Pont's map.
0:20:05 > 0:20:10What's significant about this place is the date it was built - 1590.
0:20:11 > 0:20:17There's some doubt about when Pont did his survey, but we know
0:20:17 > 0:20:21he'd finished it by 1601, when he became a minister in Caithness.
0:20:24 > 0:20:29The castle confirms that Pont's map of this area must belong to the decade before.
0:20:29 > 0:20:36Ardvreck was brand-new when Pont passed by here in the 1590s on his way towards the Extreme Wilderness.
0:20:45 > 0:20:51Nothing could be wetter and riskier than where I'm about to go next.
0:20:51 > 0:20:53On the last leg of my journey,
0:20:53 > 0:20:58I'm going to try and reach the wildest region Pont ever mapped.
0:21:00 > 0:21:05All I've got to go on is the Gaelic on Pont - "Bhellach Maddy", the Way of the Wolf.
0:21:05 > 0:21:10So far, nobody who's tried has managed to find it on the ground.
0:21:10 > 0:21:15It appears to be somewhere between two mountains - Beinn Dearg and Farrmheall.
0:21:15 > 0:21:17But where exactly is it?
0:21:19 > 0:21:23I think I need some help understanding Gaelic.
0:21:23 > 0:21:26That means finding a native speaker.
0:21:26 > 0:21:29Pont was travelling at a time when Gaelic was dying out
0:21:29 > 0:21:34as the official administrative language of the Highlands.
0:21:34 > 0:21:36Pont's maps provide a wonderful record
0:21:36 > 0:21:43of the Gaelic he heard spoken, but his Gaelic place-names are also important for another reason.
0:21:43 > 0:21:46They come out of a very practical way of viewing landscape.
0:21:46 > 0:21:48They're not romanticised.
0:21:48 > 0:21:53They have a job to do, as route markers or as warnings.
0:21:54 > 0:22:01This will be my last bit of warmth and shelter before I enter the wilderness.
0:22:01 > 0:22:05I fixed up a meeting with Johnny Morrison, who's lived in this area
0:22:05 > 0:22:10for 40 years and knows all about the local Gaelic place-names.
0:22:10 > 0:22:13Johnny, what does "Bhellach Maddy" mean?
0:22:13 > 0:22:16I believe it refers to a wolf.
0:22:16 > 0:22:19It could also refer
0:22:19 > 0:22:21to a fox.
0:22:21 > 0:22:25A fox is madadh, madadh ruadh.
0:22:25 > 0:22:30- In old Gaelic, are the words for dogs, wolves, foxes interchangeable?- Yes, they are.
0:22:30 > 0:22:34In most places, and particularly in more modern times,
0:22:34 > 0:22:40it's cu or coin - coin the plural, which are dogs. But cu is a dog.
0:22:40 > 0:22:45So if I was going looking for a Gaelic place-name from 400 or 500 years ago,
0:22:45 > 0:22:51maybe I should look at places on the modern Ordnance Survey map that are called after foxes or dogs.
0:22:51 > 0:22:53Well, here we have it here.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56Down here is Alltan a' Choin Duibhe.
0:22:56 > 0:23:00- What does that mean? - That's a black dog.- Ah!
0:23:00 > 0:23:05Allt is a burn. Alltan is a small burn and duibhe is black.
0:23:05 > 0:23:06Alltan a' Choin Duibhe.
0:23:06 > 0:23:10- The Stream of the Black Dogs?- Yes. A small burn of the black dogs.
0:23:10 > 0:23:15That's right between Farrmheall and Beinn Dearg, the two mountains.
0:23:15 > 0:23:18I think I'm going to find the place I'm looking for.
0:23:18 > 0:23:21So it's roughly in the right place.
0:23:21 > 0:23:26The question is will the Stream of the Black Dogs lead me to the Wolf's Way.
0:23:35 > 0:23:38Last day, and all I have to do is find a mountain pass
0:23:38 > 0:23:44in a wilderness which used to be populated by wolves. Er... yes.
0:23:45 > 0:23:50Well, I've got my clue. Now I've just got to find the Stream of the Black Dogs.
0:23:50 > 0:23:52A very forbidding wilderness calls.
0:24:01 > 0:24:05I'm now entering the northernmost territory on Pont's Highland map.
0:24:05 > 0:24:09Nothing but rough moorland and bog and mountains...
0:24:10 > 0:24:12..oh, and a few deer and sheep.
0:24:13 > 0:24:17You won't find a single soul living out here
0:24:17 > 0:24:20and I'm ten miles or so from the nearest village.
0:24:20 > 0:24:24A simple trip, a sprained ankle, and you could die out here.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27Conclusion - tread carefully.
0:24:32 > 0:24:35I just don't know how he did it.
0:24:35 > 0:24:38My feet are wet, my fingers are freezing,
0:24:38 > 0:24:43and I'm picking my way through yet another sucking bog.
0:24:45 > 0:24:48Even when you know you're in the right glen,
0:24:48 > 0:24:53it's incredibly difficult to find a route...
0:24:53 > 0:24:54Oof!
0:24:54 > 0:24:58..along the base of that glen,
0:24:58 > 0:25:00because it's flooded.
0:25:00 > 0:25:07There's so much standing water that, when you do reach something that looks green and solid,
0:25:07 > 0:25:11it just sinks under your feet and you can go in up to your knees.
0:25:15 > 0:25:20I've checked the Ordnance Survey map and I've reached the Stream of the Black Dogs, Alltan a' Choin Duibhe.
0:25:20 > 0:25:24So I'm on the right track or, at least, I'm in the right bog.
0:25:30 > 0:25:36If the name "Black Dogs" does hark back to a time when wolves roamed here, it would make sense.
0:25:36 > 0:25:39This terrain is pretty convincing wolf country.
0:25:39 > 0:25:44And according to the Ordnance Survey, there should be a mountain pass somewhere up ahead -
0:25:44 > 0:25:48Bealach Coir' a' Choin - "the pass of the corrie of the dogs".
0:25:48 > 0:25:51Or perhaps, in the past, "of the wolves".
0:26:06 > 0:26:11Pont was mapping during the Little Ice Age, when the weather was much colder than it is now
0:26:11 > 0:26:14and the storms were a lot more dangerous.
0:26:14 > 0:26:19The natural landscape he was trying to map was also trying to kill him.
0:26:22 > 0:26:28Snow's one thing, rain's another, but hail just strips the skin off your face. It's horrible!
0:26:32 > 0:26:34I'm getting seriously worried now.
0:26:34 > 0:26:39Keen as I am to find the pass, I'm running out of light.
0:26:39 > 0:26:44I do not want to get stuck out here in the freezing dark.
0:26:56 > 0:26:58But it looks like I'm in luck.
0:27:11 > 0:27:13This is it -
0:27:13 > 0:27:18Bealach Coir' a' Choin - the Pass of the Corrie of the Dogs - or wolves. That's it down there.
0:27:23 > 0:27:28You might wonder why Timothy Pont came to this very bleak and inhospitable place.
0:27:28 > 0:27:34The answer is that this is the route between the two most northerly settlements on his map.
0:27:34 > 0:27:38Wolf's Way, believe it or not, is the only way between Durness, all the way over there,
0:27:38 > 0:27:40and Sandwood, all the way over there.
0:27:45 > 0:27:50Looking back on this journey, at what Pont achieved, I can see his thinking.
0:27:50 > 0:27:53How could the King turn his back on this country
0:27:53 > 0:27:57when it could be laid out like this before his eyes?
0:27:59 > 0:28:04Sadly, Pont died before any of his Highland map could be published,
0:28:04 > 0:28:07but the story does have a happy ending.
0:28:07 > 0:28:1340 years on, Pont's maps became the main source for the first atlas of Scotland,
0:28:13 > 0:28:17printed in 1654 by a Dutchman named Blaeu.
0:28:17 > 0:28:24At last, Scotland was no longer a blank on the page, but one of the best-mapped countries in the world.
0:28:24 > 0:28:29After the years of hazardous surveying, Pont's vision was finally realised,
0:28:29 > 0:28:35and Timothy Pont confirmed as the bravest mapmaker Scotland had ever known.
0:28:46 > 0:28:49Subtitles by BBC Broadcast - 2005
0:28:49 > 0:28:54E-mail us at subtitling@bbc.co.uk