Episode 3 The River

The Scottish Borders...

a land steeped in history...

Good lad.

..and rivalry...

Pass the ball!

..with its own unique customs...

Wahey!

Where men are men, and sheep are afraid.

..and twisting through these lands for 97 miles...

The world famous Tweed.

In my view, it's the best salmon fishing river in Scotland.

Over eight months, we followed the river guardians...

I kind of look as if I've been arrested!

..we learn of old traditions...

Every morning, I love getting up to go and shoe horses.

..and embrace the new.

It's just another part of life here.

-ALL:

-..two, one, go!

Come on, Aidan!

As the modern Borders redefines its identity...

Welcome to life along The River.

At Upper Floors beat near Kelso,

a fishing team are preparing to tackle the river

in search of salmon.

Pick a fly. Today it's a black and yellow.

Er, there's fish about, so hopefully we should have some action.

Colin Bell is head ghillie here.

Today the pressure's on for him to find fresh fish

and help his clients land them.

We'll do a pool first called The Shot.

So, that's the pool up there.

We'll be starting in a boat from this bank here,

and then coming down here,

and, you know, hopefully we might find a fish.

So, I'm pretty confident, actually, for a change.

Colin has worked on the river for 24 years.

We're guides, you know, that's what we are.

Traditionally, from Kelso down the way they're known as boatmen,

and from Kelso up the way we're known as ghillies.

Today's group fish with Colin every year.

They rely on his intimate knowledge of the water

to help them catch that famous Tweed salmon.

This chap here, particularly, is like our expert, so...

Had the wrong line on.

Yeah!

We know them well. They come down - it's good to see them, you know?

And you just hope that they'll get some fish.

Quite satisfying, as a ghillie,

when you say that you'll get a fish in this spot here,

fly comes round and then the line stops,

and then the reel goes "Zzz-zzz-zzz,"

and it's just quite satisfying, that, you know?

Yesterday we were watching a guy fishing away, and he got a fish on.

Five minutes and it pinged off,

and I think I was more upset as the guy.

You've just - you've built up your morning

looking forward to something happening, you know?

So, it drives you mad.

Salmon have their own peculiar ways,

and Colin knows tight lines are never guaranteed.

You put the fly in the water and you hope for the best.

If it happens, it happens,

and if not, there's nothing you can do about it.

As long as you enjoy your day.

Ah, it's a good water today.

Maybe just let them hack away up here,

it might save somebody getting dropped.

12 months ago, at 26 years old,

Katie Scott became the youngest professional horse racing trainer

in Scotland.

Yeah, they've had a nice canter in the hills,

keep them happy and fresh.

It's the jump season,

and Katie is busy preparing horses for Kelso Races.

Even at the races, you can never really relax.

Obviously there's moments the horses run well and you enjoy it,

but it's very stressful,

especially if they maybe don't perform to what the owners expect.

Obviously you always want them to come out and do their best

for the owners, for yourselves, for the staff.

Developing a reputation for success begins with the horses -

and, with the races fast approaching,

helping them reach peak physical condition is her highest priority.

Freddie here's just getting a massage this afternoon,

off Niall, who's come over.

To give her an edge, she's called in specialist horse masseur Niall,

to fine-tune Freddie's muscles and joints.

It's nothing specifically wrong with him -

just maybe a niggle or two

that maybe makes him feel like he's not quite 100%

to somebody that knows him.

Aww, he likes that.

Ooh!

In the wild, or if you see horses turned out together,

it's natural for them to mutually groom,

so he responds by trying to do the same to me.

I'm 99% sure it's postural,

-it's the way he's carrying himself or holding himself.

-Yeah.

Later this week, Freddie, racing name Moscow Menace,

will be racing at Kelso.

Freddie, unfortunately, is waiting on good ground to race,

which doesn't look like happening...

any time in the near future, does it, Fredward? Eh?

Upriver, nestled in the Tweed Valley, is the town of Peebles.

PHONE RINGS

Hillside Outside.

Hillside Outside is a biking event company

set up by Fiona and Neil Dalgleish.

Ding-da-ling-ding-ding!

Ooh - it's getting exciting!

There's always a big family ride round.

Basically, Peebles High Street's shut, and families are invited

to come and ride round the High Street for 20, 30 minutes

before the Love Cross event starts,

which is like an obstacle race for bikes.

So, it's going to be - it'll be good! Good fun.

Fiona and Neil moved to Peebles eight years ago

to fulfil their lifelong biking dream.

Having been raised in the Valley, Neil returned home

after a graphic design career in Edinburgh.

When I left here, I didn't think I'd be coming back.

Pebbles was a place that everybody went to retire to.

It was a bit of a joke, really, in that respect.

I didn't envisage that it would be a happening place to return to, ever,

but that's exactly what it is now,

and I put the majority of that down to cycling.

The couple are riding the wave of an incredible biking boom

in the Tweed Valley.

This place has been revolutionised by the trails

that have gone into Glentress and Innerleithen

to make this the best mountain biking destination in Britain,

and a world-class one, too.

Fiona and Neil organise the TweedLove Bike Festival,

and with only 24 hours to go before the big event,

there's a lot to do.

Do you think we're going to need anything else?

To help turn a profit, they run a merchandise shop.

We hardly make any money, and actually,

selling T-shirts is one of the ways that we actually can make some dosh.

With all the team busy, Fiona is multitasking furiously.

I hope you've noticed our sign.

Enter this room at your peril.

But juggling work and a home life

is a tricky balance for the whole family.

Right, let's go. Is that your jacket?

-Do you need it?

-OK, I'll get it.

Calm down.

I'm not - I'm calm.

I'm very calm.

Right, hurry up, because I really do need to get the kids.

Yeah, Neil doesn't do a lot of childcare.

Hah!

I've got two full-time jobs,

and just the same amount of hours in the bloomin' day as he does.

But do you know what? There's not a boring moment.

There's not much boring time in my life, it has to be said.

Right, I'll be back in a tick.

The vital new T-shirts need to hit the printers.

-Hi, how are you doing?

-Not bad.

Fab-o, thank you very much.

And TweedLove needs some colour.

Red paint, huge tin, perfect colour, nice man.

That's another big tick-off.

Next stop - swimming lessons.

A cast away from the river in Kelso,

Tweedside Tackle are finally moving premises.

-Do you need to stir it?

-Yeah.

Doing the work herself,

owner Caroline Pilcher is trying to keep the expense

of the shop move to a minimum.

It's hard work, it's quite stressful and you do worry about it,

but you've just got to put everything back into perspective

and turn it into good fun.

Otherwise you could cry.

They have three weeks until the grand opening.

We'd really kind of suggest going more that weight...

But in the old shop,

Caroline's husband Tim has other priorities on his mind -

a new tweed jacket.

It's just something a little bit smarter to wear at work.

-Just remember, 34-inch waist.

-HE CLEARS THROAT

Travelling draper Richard Mackay sells world-famous tweed

all along the river.

That might have grown a bit because I've been going to the gym so much.

Tweed originated in the 18th century

and really started off in the west coast of Scotland,

but primarily then moved to the Borders and, really,

the mills originated round about the tweed

because they needed power, water power and things.

Effectively, your mills started up in Hawick, Galashiels, Selkirk.

You don't need the tummy one, do you?

Unfortunately I do, if you'd like to button it, sir.

Oh, Richard, could you warm your hands next time?

Really, I try and use all the kind of Border mills, if you can,

to actually support them and keep the kind of industry local.

That's brilliant, Richard. Really pleased with that, thank you.

Fishing is another industry that's still thriving on the River Tweed.

At Upper Floors, Colin is guiding Tony

to his special spot on the beat.

This pool here is called the Slates.

It's a great spot here. Probably catch, oh, gosh,

half our fish from here,

but at this height of water,

what we'll do is we'll go to the far side here and see how we get on.

So, Tony, you stay in the boat.

Using a traditional Tweed gillie method,

Colin moves Tony into position,

hand-lining the boat to get the best presentation for the fly.

Tony's casting away there.

If he was wading, he would let the line come round

and then he would take about a yard step downstream.

Because he's in the boat, he can't do that, so that's my job.

It's a nice way for me as well, cos I'm connected to the boat, as such.

You feel that you've got a bit of input.

He's just coming to a good spot now, in fact.

In the next, well, probably half a dozen casts,

if it's going to happen, it could happen, you know?

Then when it does happen, it's quite satisfying, you know?

So...

You're in the spot, Tony.

It's been raining for weeks at Katie Scott's Racing Yard,

but she still has to put her horses through their paces

ahead of the all-important Kelso races.

Snow, rain, sleet.

You can see the good ground disappearing into the distance

over the next week, yep.

One of Katie's regular jockeys, Steven,

is testing just how well they're jumping.

What was that?

It's just a warm-up for them.

The heavy ground isn't ideal, but if Kelso is wet, then Katie knows

she's given everyone the best chance of competing.

That's them done, they're both foot-perfect and ready to go.

There's no point in doing it over and over until they make a mistake.

Since she was six years old, Katie has been obsessed with horses.

This was the first pony I actually had for myself

and that's me probably doing one of my first ride outs on him

in the gala week.

Yeah, I don't suppose when you're young and you ride horses,

you probably don't think you'll end up doing it for a living.

Then probably like 14, 15, you start thinking maybe,

and I thought maybe not, I can remember.

Then it just sort of happened.

Katie's dad Murray has watched proudly

as his daughter's competitive edge has got sharper and sharper.

I think Katie's quite competitive.

If things don't go right, there's a tear,

but she's a good winner as well.

She always likes to be competitive

and always likes to be in the front end, I would say,

which is a good thing.

It's not always a winning day, it can't always be good at the races.

If there's 14 runners in a race,

there's 13 losers and that's the top and bottom of it

and there's a lot of racehorses

that run all their lives and never win a race.

There always is that bit of luck as well.

It's the day before race day

and head groundsman Brian is heading out to assess the course.

Everybody's got their own preference

on what they use, all right?

It doesn't look very much, but this is how I can tell.

This tells me how much print a horse is going to make on it.

If the stick goes in that, the horses are going to go faster.

But in the winter time, it's been going in to there.

You've got good to firm, good,

good to soft, and soft, and then, desperation, heavy.

Working away in the jockeys' changing rooms

is the course caretaker and Brian's wife Gillian.

These are the number cloths for the horses for tomorrow,

so every horse has a number on them so they can tell

when they look in the race card what the horse is.

We've been here 20 years. Well, 21 in November.

The jockeys and the trainers and all the people in the office

when they come on race days and that,

you get a good craic with them all.

I'll be sitting in the middle of the track in my car,

just watching what's going on

and I'll have a black and white flag in the car with me.

It's a hazard ahead flag,

so if something happened on the bend or something like that,

then I would have the flag and wave that and they would know

there was something to watch out for up ahead of them

and if something happens, then we've got to deal with it, you know?

Good.

Yeah, looking forward to tomorrow very much and just hope

everything goes well and there's no disasters.

On the river, Colin's hand-lining has paid off

as Tony's line goes magically tight.

We've just come down to the hotspot here and we've got a fish on,

so well done, Tony.

I'm going to pull the boat to the side here, into the gravel.

Tony will stay in the boat and I'll get the net

and hopefully net a nice, fresh, spring salmon.

Colin's river instincts have paid off.

-Strong wee fish, eh, Tony?

-Hmm?

Strong wee fish.

The worst thing you can do is be too timid with a fish

and give it slack line. Keep the line tight,

rod bent, that is perfect.

There's nothing better than spring salmon.

That is the best for quality and also you can see fighting

quality as well. It's fantastic.

This time, Tony.

-There we are. Spring salmon.

-Beautiful. Look at that.

-Now we're happy, eh, Tony?

-Absolutely, it's fantastic.

-A great prize.

-There might be another one down there.

-Well done.

-In the hotspot.

-That is a hell of a spot, isn't it?

Shaking!

Could I make a suggestion? That bit of string.

In Kelso, Caroline and Tim are struggling to manage not one

but two fishing shops.

People, when they come in, they say, "It's a big task."

I say, "No, I don't want any negatives, just positives."

But everyone does come in, they all suck through their teeth. "Big job."

And then they walk out again. It was fun, hasn't achieved anything!

I know it's a big job, you just need to get on with it.

It is good to have positivity!

Had a lot of negativity over the last few years.

With the business and, sadly, with my health. Yeah.

Seven years ago, Tim had a stroke.

I had a craniotomy,

which means this side of my skull is titanium.

They removed half my skull.

My life expectancy was down to single minutes.

Then after I left hospital with the stroke,

suddenly I lost my vision.

I think that was the only time I felt low.

I was in a wheelchair and I had no vision. It was just horrible.

But the couple never gave in and despite the stress of moving shop,

there is light at the end of the tunnel.

You just have to keep going,

you have to remain positive the whole time.

You have to smile about it, otherwise it just beats you

and you can't let things like that beat you.

Yep.

It's the crack of dawn in Kelso. And it is race day.

I've been in already and I've lit the fires and that,

so we've got five to light in the morning

so, yeah, one is blazing away here. It's nice.

This is the big fire today, we've got that going well.

Gillian has her own special way of letting the town know

if racing is on.

If we've got bad weather, people will watch to see if the smoke

comes out the chimneys,

because they say if the smoke is coming out of the chimneys,

well, the racing will be on because they've lit the fires.

No, definitely not. They're not soft.

It's good to soft, good in places.

Aye, at this time of the year sunshine and windy,

it can change during racing, you know.

It is cloudy down here at the minute, like.

I'll speak to you later, thanks.

That was my Murray Scott, Katie Scott's father.

He was hoping for a sunny, windy day.

If you get a sunny, windy day at this time of year,

the ground can actually change during racing.

But it is cold, it is not warm, it is cold and it is cloudy.

It is also an early start for Katie.

We normally like to have the horses there two hours before they run.

Hayley is getting this one in here ready to go. This is Moscow Menace.

Or Freddie, at home.

The highs and lows are so far apart,

it is quite difficult to not get sucked into it.

You have got to have your feet on the ground.

In Peebles, UK World Chocolate Master Ruth Hinks

has worked hard to launch her new chocolate school.

My new school, everybody is saying how wonderful it is.

It is just so nice and light and airy.

It's been eight years I've been dreaming about it,

but now it is finally here. So I have to pinch myself sometimes.

Compared to the unit in the industrial estate, you know,

to this, you can't really compare it.

So, no questions? Everybody enjoyed today?

-Brilliant.

-Good. What are you doing tonight? Watching a cycle race?

-BANGING

-While Sarah makes a bit more noise!

Her chocolate dreams may be fulfilled,

but Ruth's hectic schedule never relents.

This morning at half past five, my husband had a lie in,

he got in at nine.

And forgot the children.

Then I am going to run over to the swimming pool,

pick the kids up and then tonight we've got a cycling event in town.

My kids are with Granny and Grandad.

We'll bring them up to the high street with their bikes...I hope.

The Love Cross event is ramping up.

With only an hour to go, Fiona, Neil and her small team of volunteers

are putting the finishing touches to the course.

Oh, no, it's twisting.

My stomach is actually churning like a, I don't know,

a washing machine at the moment.

I suppose that's the adrenaline, isn't it?

Neil is on traffic duties.

The road is due to close in two minutes.

The thing is, this is for a comparatively small event.

This is, it's pretty challenging. I don't want that.

No, I want it down there.

Because after the family ride happens, this next part, Love Cross,

starts up and there's a whole lot of set-up on its own for that.

Why don't I come and help you, Ruby? The two weedy ones together.

We don't have enough staff.

We try and do pretty ambitious things with not enough people.

This is a mad scramble now. Yeah, totally. It's all good.

-That's my bike!

-It's also a family affair for Ruth.

Kids Aidan and Delphine will represent them all

in tonight's ride.

We did this last year. It's great fun.

The parents can also go around if they want.

We're not doing it this year because they are old enough to do it

themselves so we're just going to let them go.

As you can see, they are keen and eager. They are the first ones here.

The valley's youngest riders are turning out.

And Neil is almost ready to let them go.

-Now, what is the rule?

-Arms on at all times.

Arms on at all times.

No racing. It's not a race.

Oh, it's fantastic. You know, it's part of...

It's why I love living here.

We've got those amazing trails. For these people, it's fantastic.

What a community. I mean, it's like...

It's like a ski town in the Alps now, it really is,

except everyone rides bikes. It's brilliant.

And people are starting to think, if you don't ride a bike,

there's something wrong with you.

-OK, we're good. Are we going to do a countdown?

-ALL:

-Yeah!

-Yeah!

-Ready?

-ALL:

-Ten, nine, eight, seven,

six, five, four, three, two, one...

Go!

Come on!

Oh, my gosh!

Right, now, Delphine, we need to keep up.

And they're off! Hooray, they're off! Oh, they're so nice.

Well done!

Downriver, Tweedside Tackle are finally opening.

-Hello, how are you?

-Very well, how are you?

All right, thank you very much.

We were helped on our way to move, but at the end of the day,

it's been fantastic for us. Every cloud has a silver lining.

-How are you doing a bow?

-What? Are you doing a bow?

-No, how are you?

It's really lifted our spirits, and I think it will lift the business.

I think it'll be very, very good for us.

In true Tim and Caroline style, they launch the shop their way.

Smile!

OK.

-Yay!

-There you go.

Thank you.

-Cheers.

-Charlotte, blooming thank you, is all I can say.

-Yeah.

At Kelso Races, the gates have opened. Punters are arriving,

bookmakers are taking bets, jockeys are weighing in,

and all that's left now is for the horses to do their stuff.

Just do one lap of there.

In the parade ring, Katie is readying two of her horses,

Benefit In Kind, and Moscow Menace,

both running in the 2:20.

She also has owners to contend with...

It is quite nerve-racking. As long as he comes back safe, quite happy.

..and jockeys to brief.

Stephen, just make sure you're handy enough with him that,

-if he can, run a big race.

-Aye, aye, grand. Yeah.

No problem at all.

No, if you get nervous, you shouldn't be in this game.

So... That's when you get hurt.

Out on the course, head groundsman Brian

is doing some last-minute checks.

They're just about to line up now. It's coming to race time now,

and the starters will bring them forward,

and they'll start over there, and we'll watch them past here,

and we'll follow them all the way around.

Runners called in, get set, and they're off.

Oh, there we go.

So they're already going out, so we're sitting here,

and we're going to watch them over the first jump.

Everybody's over.

Oh, Ben, that wasn't too clever.

Benefit In Kind is sitting in fifth.

This is as fast as I've seen them going since October.

Go on, Freddie!

I hate that bit of the track there. It's horrible, isn't it?

That's them off on their final circuit now,

so if something happens, we've got plenty of time to tidy it up.

Go on, you two.

Two furlongs from the finish,

Benefit In Kind starts to push through the field.

..as they race towards this final bend, and once again,

they will virtually be in the air together, as they take the last...

but it's Generous Chief who has the lead now as they race

into the closing stages, and Generous Chief goes on to score.

It will be very tight for second.

Dr Beaujolais, then Benefit In Kind...

Benefit In Kind is third...

-Yeah, I'll go and catch him.

-..Moscow Menace, seventh.

It's not quite the win she hoped for, but with these conditions,

third is a great result to build on.

Good, that was good. So good to get them both home safely.

Moscow Menace ran an improved race, even though he wasn't placed.

Thought he was going to get up for second for a minute!

-Another half furlong, and you'd have been up for second.

-Yeah.

-Oh, definitely. He's run well.

-Right, you'd better go.

Thanks, Adam.

You can take him away. Well done. Thank you.

Yeah, so... Yeah, no, they both ran all right.

I thought Ben would maybe have had a good chance of winning,

but he's picked up some prize money,

and hopefully the owners will be happy with that.

You're not much of a sportsman if you're happy in third, are you?

On the streets of Peebles,

the family ride has been a success, but it's still all go.

We've got a very quick turnaround to get the next thing set up,

so it's going to be all hands on deck for that.

They have 15 minutes to get hay bales and obstacles

into position, not forgetting the water pistol gauntlet, of course.

I've got my clock. I've got my air gun thing.

Right, it's all right, we're good to go.

Love Cross 2016, go, go, go, go, go!

Riders from all over Scotland will be navigating Neil and Fiona's

course, over church steps and winding alleys,

to claim the coveted Love Cross crown.

I think this one is great for the town, because a lot of the time,

the big road events are miles and miles out,

and, you know, most folk that live here don't actually see any of it.

We reckon that there was about 1,000 people at the family ride.

Go on, Paul! Put a bit of effort in, son.

-Can you make it easier next year?

-Yeah!

With 70 riders tearing through the streets of Peebles,

it's another successful event for the TweedLove Team.

I'm very happy.

I'm so glad that it went well,

and everybody's said what a nice time they had.

That was a huge success, and we all loved it,

and it's a big part of TweedLove.

Oh, we had no idea it was going to turn out like this,

and there's just so many people into it now.

It's brilliant.

Next time, on The River,

the hunt is on for salmon poachers...

Small fish in this net. Don't know what we've got in the other net.

..the stud team have an important inspection of the troops...

Seems to give a bit of wow factor when it comes out.

-Don't see too many of these now.

-No, no.

..and Margaret has a bride to get down the aisle.