0:00:27 > 0:00:30Even as a native Scot,
0:00:30 > 0:00:33I find the island of Arran utterly breathtaking.
0:00:33 > 0:00:36It's hard to believe that all this rugged magnificence
0:00:36 > 0:00:39is a stone's throw from the urban sprawl of Glasgow.
0:00:45 > 0:00:49Over two million people live across the Firth of Clyde from Arran,
0:00:49 > 0:00:52just a 55-minute ferry ride away.
0:00:52 > 0:00:55For an isolated island it's very well connected.
0:00:55 > 0:00:59That's the sort of contrast that Arran takes in its stride,
0:00:59 > 0:01:02with its dramatic variety of landscapes.
0:01:02 > 0:01:05Jagged peaks tower above peaceful shores.
0:01:07 > 0:01:14Apparently Arran owes its mountainous landscape to the time when, 60 million years ago,
0:01:14 > 0:01:19two vast continents that had been stuck together started to drift apart.
0:01:21 > 0:01:24And Scotland was right on the fault line.
0:01:24 > 0:01:28The continent that would become America and Greenland went one way,
0:01:28 > 0:01:30Europe went the other,
0:01:30 > 0:01:33and in between the Earth's crust was stretched to breaking point.
0:01:33 > 0:01:36That created volcanoes.
0:01:36 > 0:01:40And it's molten rock that shaped Arran's spectacular mountains.
0:01:42 > 0:01:47The upshot of all this wild geology is that Arran's become a very popular place to be -
0:01:47 > 0:01:49and not just for tourists.
0:01:50 > 0:01:54Arran has the feel of a wild island refuge.
0:01:54 > 0:01:57With Glasgow only 30 miles away as the crow flies,
0:01:57 > 0:02:00is it any wonder that many mainland folk
0:02:00 > 0:02:03want to make it their own bolt-hole from the rat race?
0:02:09 > 0:02:14'Fiona Laing, who's giving me a lift down Arran's west coast,
0:02:14 > 0:02:16'couldn't resist the island's pull.
0:02:16 > 0:02:19'She uprooted here 13 years ago.
0:02:21 > 0:02:25'Like many coasters, she juggles umpteen jobs,
0:02:25 > 0:02:29'from fire-fighting to farm help. And she delivers the newspapers.
0:02:31 > 0:02:35'Fiona's learned that people might come to Arran for peace and quiet,
0:02:35 > 0:02:37'but they like to do it on their own terms.'
0:02:37 > 0:02:40- Is that you?- That's me finished.
0:02:42 > 0:02:47So what's this with the newspapers? I thought island life was about getting away from all of that.
0:02:47 > 0:02:49By and large it is, but there's a strange obsession.
0:02:49 > 0:02:52I've heard of people that wouldn't come to live here
0:02:52 > 0:02:55cos they don't get their newspaper till after 11 o'clock in the winter,
0:02:55 > 0:02:58and that stops them coming.
0:03:00 > 0:03:03I guess getting away from it all is different for everyone,
0:03:03 > 0:03:07but some things you just have to get used to.
0:03:07 > 0:03:12It's an island, and every now and then it's truly an island, because there is no communication by boat.
0:03:12 > 0:03:16That's it. You're stuck here. You get on with it, and I like that.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19I like to know the weather's still in control sometimes.
0:03:19 > 0:03:24And what are the qualities that make the perfect islander?
0:03:24 > 0:03:26Waterproof?
0:03:26 > 0:03:29Impervious to rain and wind?
0:03:29 > 0:03:30It's not always like this.
0:03:30 > 0:03:33Most of the time! No, not always like this.
0:03:33 > 0:03:38You just have to relax and accept things the way they happen,
0:03:38 > 0:03:41and don't be so headstrong about doing things.
0:03:41 > 0:03:43And, because it's a small community
0:03:43 > 0:03:45everybody interacts a bit more with each other.
0:03:45 > 0:03:49So maybe that's the quality that makes it a wee bit special?
0:03:49 > 0:03:53Yeah. A different kind of person, a special kind of person, lives here.
0:03:57 > 0:04:01I'd be foolish to think of life here as idyllic.
0:04:01 > 0:04:04Making a living and coping with the weather, it's no piece of cake.
0:04:04 > 0:04:10And yet Arran reminds me of what I love about the coast from here down to England.
0:04:10 > 0:04:15It feels as remote and wild as anywhere in Scotland.