Shetland to Orkney Coast


Shetland to Orkney

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The Northern Isles, where the Atlantic meets the North Sea.

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Giant rock stacks, treacherous seas, secret bays and over 170 islands

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This is the northernmost extreme of the British Isles.

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Over there, it's the Arctic Circle.

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In that direction, it's Norway.

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This is the very edge.

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Our new adventures start at the tip of Shetland

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down to the tail of Orkney.

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Along the way, I'm joined by some familiar faces.

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Alice Roberts examines an ancient Shetlander.

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That's someone who lived 1,800 years ago.

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Nick Crane hunts for evidence of a giant killer wave!

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A wall of water 20 metres high.

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Miranda Krestovnikoff

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is on the trail of Orkney's elusive underwater thief - the octopus.

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And Mark Horton searches for hidden dangers that wreck unwary ships.

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12, 11... We should be keeping our fingers crossed. ..10.

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This is terrifying.

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Me? My destination is one of the most amazing sights

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in the British Isles and a great adventure.

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Welcome to the story of Coast in the Northern Isles.

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You could be forgiven for thinking Shetland and Orkney

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are located in boxes off Scotland -

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it's usually how they appear on maps.

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In fact, we're headed 250 miles north of Aberdeen.

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From Shetland, we're hopping over to Fair Isle, before we reach Orkney

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and our final destination - the Old Man of Hoy.

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Our journey begins at the very top - Muckle Flugga.

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This lighthouse is the first sighting

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of British soil for northern seafarers.

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What a fantastic place to start our journey on Unst,

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the most northerly inhabited island in the British Isles.

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I already know a few things about Shetland - it hasn't got any trees,

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it's had an oil boom

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and its history is more Scandinavian than Scottish.

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But when you get here you find this - an early warning station.

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Saxa Vord used to track German U-boats and Soviet aircraft.

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But it's not on red alert any more. Now the island's going green.

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This tiny car runs on hydrogen gas!

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'It's the brainchild of Unst man Ross Gazey.' Ross.

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-Hi, Neil.

-How you doing?

-Not too bad.

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What is a hydrogen-powered car doing on Unst?

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Well, I had this idea for hydrogen power

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and all the things it could be used for

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and this car has become part of that.

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Where do you get hydrogen from?

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You don't see a lot of that in the cold counter at the supermarket!

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We actually make our own hydrogen from wind power and tap water.

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-You're pulling my leg.

-Not at all.

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We take electrical power from the wind turbines that we have

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and we use it to generate hydrogen from tap water

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and you do that just by passing your electrical current through water

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and it breaks water down into hydrogen and oxygen.

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-Couldn't give us a lift, could you?

-No problem. Jump in.

-Excellent.

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'This car's got no harmful emissions.

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'The only thing that comes out of the exhaust is water.'

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What is the top speed of the vehicle?

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45 miles an hour.

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Hi-tech hydrogen cars might be the island's future,

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but right now this one's taking me on a journey back in time.

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I'm travelling down the east coast of Shetland to Baltasound.

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This is exactly the sort of scene I was expecting -

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just a few houses and buildings dotted about.

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There's not a soul to be seen.

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It's very peaceful and quiet.

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But I know for a fact that here at Baltasound,

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it wasn't always this way.

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This was once a boom town.

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In its heyday the prize was silver, the "silver darlings of the sea"

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- herring.

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'Ian Napier knows the story.'

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What would this bay have looked like at the height of the herring boom?

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It would have been a real hive of industry.

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There's a record of as many as 16,000 people here

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for the herring season.

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So this place would just have been, well, crowded.

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Yeah. I mean, you hear stories

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about being able to cross the bay without getting your feet wet.

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There were more than 2,000 fishing boats

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based in Shetland for the season.

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There would have been a series of piers

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and each one would have had a little huddle of buildings with it.

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When the fleet was in, it must have been very crowded.

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At its peak in 1905, almost a quarter of a million barrels

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of cured herring were packed here

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and dispatched to Eastern Europe.

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It created opportunities.

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The gutting and the packing of the herring into the barrels

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was all done by women.

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There would have been thousands of women working here.

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It was perhaps the first time

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that they had had the opportunity to earn cash.

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The boom was inevitably followed by bust.

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By the 1930s, bigger, faster ships started to bypass Baltasound

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and this small harbour fell silent.

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Shetlanders have to live with the ebb and flow of opportunities.

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The history of their struggle

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is written around the ribbon of this coast.

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Remarkable secrets of an ancient civilization

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are beginning to emerge at Sandwick Bay.

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When coastal erosion revealed curious stones,

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the foundations of a 2,000-year-old settlement,

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the islanders got together

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with a team of archaeologists to unearth their Iron Age past.

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It's the discovery of a virtually intact skeleton

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that makes this dig so exciting.

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Who is this?

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And what can their burial tell us about this ancient society?

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It's a mystery that bone expert Dr Alice Roberts hopes to solve.

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Now this dig is quite special to me

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because it's a chance to find out more about prehistoric Shetland

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and to find out specifically

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about the lives of people in the Iron age here on Unst,

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but also to meet one of those people.

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The islanders are working with Dr Olivia Lelong and her team

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to investigate this community and their unusual buildings.

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It is literally right on the shore, isn't it?

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Yeah, you can see the wall standing up here,

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and it would have carried on up,

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probably curving around like that with the slabs

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forming walls and the roof.

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And all of this construction is going on in stone,

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which is very weird compared with the rest of Britain

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where you've got a lot of timber round houses

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being built in the Iron Age.

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Here you've got buildings with stone floors, stone walls, stone roofs.

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Yes, just using what they had in clever ways.

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They didn't have trees

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so they used the materials they had to hand.

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The discovery of hearths, fish and animal bones and pottery

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suggests that these are homes.

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But who was living here?

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I've been asked to put my skills as a bone expert to the test

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and examine the remains of this ancient islander.

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The bones have been carbon dated at 1,800 years old,

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but that's all that's known.

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It is quite unusual to have bones this well preserved,

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so this means the better preserved they are,

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the more they can tell us.

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We'll be able to tell whether this person's male or female,

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how tall they were,

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how healthy they were in childhood,

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and that's somebody who lived 1,800 years ago on Unst.

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The volunteers have christened the skeleton their "Pictish Princess".

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The Picts lived in northern Scotland around 1,800 years ago,

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a date that matches these bones.

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So Pictish maybe, but a princess?

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What does the skeleton tell us?

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Is it a she or a he?

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If you just take one of these pelvic bones and just look at it.

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And the narrowness of that would very much lead me to the conclusion

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that this is likely to be male.

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In terms of what you can look for on the skull,

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there is a ridge above the ear hole just here.

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So that's masculine. And quite a nose!

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I'm going to say on balance I think it's a male

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and it's a male with quite a nose on him.

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Now I know the sex,

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I can calculate his height from his bone measurements.

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Five foot seven, so he's the same height as me.

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There's no evidence of disease or malnutrition here.

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This coastline provided a rich,

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varied diet for these Iron Age people.

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The teeth are in pretty good condition, actually.

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There's no tooth decay.

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So this is a young adult,

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who if they were alive today, wouldn't need to have any fillings.

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'We're gradually piecing together what life was like

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'for this ancient community but there's more.'

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-Are these some of the artefacts that were buried with it?

-Yes.

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That's amazing that it was actually found

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in the excavation. It's so tiny.

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It's a spiral of copper alloy bronze

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with two little rings of what might be glass.

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-That's amazing.

-This was placed just beside the mouth.

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There's various theories about what they were.

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I think the most popular

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is that they were mirrors or a picture of the moon.

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It almost looks like it's got craters on it, doesn't it?

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-It's one of these things we'll never know.

-Probably not.

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'But there is one thing I can say for certain.'

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It's not a Pictish princess, it's a male skeleton.

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Really? A boy. A Pictish prince.

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-A Pictish prince, yeah.

-There you go.

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This coast once nurtured a people who didn't just survive here,

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they had an appreciation of beauty,

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they made exquisite things

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and they shared a culture where respect for the dead was important.

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1,800 years ago,

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a young man was buried on this beach looking out to sea,

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and this burial and in fact the whole excavation

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has brought together the community

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to uncover its own heritage

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and to find out what it really means to be an islander on Unst.

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Over 100 islands make up Shetland,

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creating a coastline that's a staggering 900 miles long.

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On mainland Britain, you're never more than 72 miles from the sea.

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Here on Shetland, that maximum distance is three miles.

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Life here is about as coastal as it gets.

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Living so close to the sea certainly isn't stress free.

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These islands are in the firing line

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for some of the most severe storms in the British Isles.

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Force ten gales and 30-foot waves are common.

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The north-west mainland is the worst hit -

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it bears the brunt of the North Atlantic storm track.

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That's where Nick Crane is headed.

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I'm on the coast of Esha Ness,

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one of the most remote spots in the British Isles.

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On one side, hundreds of acres of bog and moor, on the other side,

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the North Atlantic.

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Between the sea and the land, a narrow coastal battleground.

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On the defence, the ancient rocks of Shetland.

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On the attack, the power of waves.

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This is the Grind O' Da Navir.

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The rock was created millennia ago by volcanic lava flow.

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Now all that remains of the cliff top is a spectacular amphitheatre

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hewn out of the rock by gigantic storm waves.

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I want to know how the titanic battle

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between sea and rock reshapes this coast.

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Someone who's as captivated by the sea's power as I am

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is local geologist Allen Fraser.

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I was out here on 12th January last year when we had a really big storm,

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one that quarried out these boulders.

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In 2005, Allen recorded this video.

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It captures the aftermath of a 70mph gale

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that tore into the rock, leaving its mark on the cliff top.

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This is a massive boulder field, isn't it?

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There's a very large boulder beach here.

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I first thought this was a quarry

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and I wondered why on Earth would anyone want to build a quarry here.

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In a way, I was right because it is a quarry but not a manmade quarry.

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I've never seen anything like it anywhere.

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I'll show you some fresh quarrying marks.

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A large block has been prised off the cliff.

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-You can see how fresh it is.

-That's impressive.

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So these rocks getting pulled out of the bedrock

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and then just flung back and back and back

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-until they hit the big ridge at the back.

-That's right, yep.

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So this is where it's coming through here - the gateway?

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-Yes.

-The sea bursts through this narrow opening.

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It's like someone turning a power hose onto these rocks.

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When you've got a really big storm,

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a wave would actually fill it right up,

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just tearing through this gap.

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Just a great wall of water coming through there,

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plucking off boulders and hurling them backwards.

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It's making me uncomfortable standing here

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in the firing line of that gateway.

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Yes, perhaps we should move on!

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These boulders have been tossed like pebbles.

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It's just one of the ways waves have transformed this landscape.

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This coast is strewn with clues,

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clues which reveal the terrifying power of the sea.

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You just have to know where to look.

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Across the loch from one of the UK's biggest oil terminals,

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I'm on the hunt for signs of a cataclysmic event which hit

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these islands thousands of years ago.

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'Apparently the evidence is hidden in the peat banks of Sullom Voe.'

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Lovely beach you've brought me to here, Adrian.

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'Geomorphologist Adrian Hall is going to show me what to look for.'

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-This is peat.

-Well, I know that.

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It's got a wonderful environmental history locked in there.

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-We've got the modern vegetation here.

-That's where we are today.

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And then here we've got the dried-out peat

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and then clear layers in the peat.

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And then when we get down to about here,

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we've got a very, very clear change.

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It's mainly sand, but as you can see there are lumps of gravel.

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Yeah, a sudden change of colour, isn't there? And texture.

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But even more striking are these lumps of peat

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which clearly have been torn up from some pre-existing peat bank.

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Let's just have a look at that. The sand layer is really quite thick

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with marine organisms in it,

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so you've got to have a process that brings this material

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from the sea bed and up onto land.

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-So what it is?

-There's only one thing that can produce deposits of sand

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-20 metres above sea level and that's a tsunami.

-A tidal wave?!

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A tidal wave.

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The sand layer buried in this peat is evidence of a tsunami

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that hit this coastline 7,000 years ago.

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It was caused by a gigantic underwater avalanche

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on the continental slope off Norway.

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When a mass of sediment collapsed onto the sea bed,

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it generated killer waves destined for Shetland 250 miles away.

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Well, the first hunter-gatherers

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were already on Shetland 7,500 years ago,

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so we've got to imagine this as a broad open valley,

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the sea far, far out there, and then suddenly on the horizon,

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there would be a wall of water and it would be moving very rapidly.

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So it funnelled down Sullom Voe

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and got constrained between the two shores.

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it would build and grow until eventually

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you were looking at a wall of water 20m high.

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And then it would break and surge forward into this area,

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carrying the debris and hurling it against the land.

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The low lying parts of Shetland would have been completely overwhelmed.

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This ancient tsunami reached as far south as the English border.

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The tsunami which struck these islands was a freak event,

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but the waves being generated by North Atlantic weather patterns

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are not and they can be just as ferocious.

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Big waves are going to reach further inland.

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Life on the edge could get a lot more precarious.

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This coast might be inhospitable

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but that hasn't deterred generations of invaders.

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The Vikings landed here and sited their capital

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at the harbour village of Scalloway.

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These islands do feel very different from the rest of Scotland.

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They were under Norwegian rule right up until the 15th century.

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The ties to Norway are very, very strong.

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They were never stronger, though, than during the Second World War.

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In 1940, Nazi Germany invaded Norway.

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Shetland's neighbour needed help

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and the North Sea offered a lifeline to Norwegian resistance fighters.

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The islands became the base for a daring, secret operation -

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the Shetland Bus.

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The "bus" was a fleet of fishing boats

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which smuggled people out and agents in to occupied Norway.

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Many lives were saved and many lost.

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The islanders have never forgotten the sacrifice of these men.

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The names, the age, when they died and the boats that they were on.

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23, 28, 21, 21. Just wee boys.

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Just boys.

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'Karen Anderson's father was one of the Norwegian sailors who survived.

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'At 23 years old, Kare Iversen risked everything for his homeland.'

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So how did your dad get involved in that story?

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Dad escaped from Norway in 1941

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in his father's boat

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and they came across to Shetland and he was approached

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to see if he was suitable for the Shetland Bus and he was.

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Most of their missions were carried out in winter,

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when the dark nights provided some cover for the 500-mile round trip

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across the North Sea to Norway.

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Ammunition was stored at Scalloway Castle

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while resistance fighters and refugees

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found shelter with the locals.

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The men became heroes.

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After the war, their bravery was celebrated

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in the Norwegian feature film The Shetland Gang.

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It was very dangerous because they didn't know

0:22:350:22:37

what they were going across to Norway to face.

0:22:370:22:39

The weather was against them

0:22:390:22:41

and the Norwegian fishing boats they were using weren't big.

0:22:410:22:45

He said if he was captured,

0:22:450:22:47

that they all had a cyanide pill to take,

0:22:470:22:50

rather than be interrogated by the Germans.

0:22:500:22:53

Losses were heavy - over 100 died in storms or German attacks.

0:22:540:22:59

But many lives were saved.

0:23:030:23:06

By the end of the war, more than 350 refugees had been carried to safety.

0:23:060:23:10

How much does the story of the story of Shetland Bus

0:23:180:23:21

-still mean to people in Shetland?

-Oh, a great deal.

0:23:210:23:24

I'm very proud of my dad. Really.

0:23:240:23:27

I mean, I cannae say in words how I feel about what...not only him,

0:23:270:23:31

but what other Norwegian boys did.

0:23:310:23:33

It's part of Scalloway's history, always will be.

0:23:330:23:38

These islands have provided safe refuge to many.

0:23:590:24:02

Its rich, unspoilt coastline is a haven for wildlife.

0:24:020:24:05

Seals are at home in these well-stocked waters

0:24:070:24:10

and there's a large population of otters.

0:24:100:24:13

'I'm catching a ride with skipper Tom Jamieson

0:24:180:24:20

'who knows the seas off this coast.'

0:24:200:24:22

-All right, Tom.

-Hello, Neil.

0:24:220:24:24

What kind of wildlife is supposed to be out here?

0:24:240:24:27

We've had minke whales in.

0:24:270:24:29

And also killer whales.

0:24:290:24:31

We never used to see killer whales - there are more of them around now.

0:24:310:24:35

These waters aren't just teeming with wildlife.

0:24:400:24:43

North Sea shipping passes the southern tip of Shetland

0:24:430:24:45

on its way to the Atlantic.

0:24:450:24:47

At Garths Ness, one vessel's journey would end in disaster.

0:24:500:24:54

At 5.10am on the 5th January 1993,

0:24:560:24:59

the coastguard received a distress call from the crew of an oil tanker

0:24:590:25:03

whose engines had broken ten miles off the coast of Sumburgh Head.

0:25:030:25:08

Gusts of up to 97 miles an hour were driving the oil tanker Braer ashore.

0:25:110:25:16

After a six-hour struggle, she ran aground.

0:25:160:25:19

84,000 tonnes of toxic crude oil spewed out into the sea,

0:25:210:25:25

creating the worst environmental disaster

0:25:250:25:28

ever to hit the British coast.

0:25:280:25:30

Coastguards managed to winch the crew to safety,

0:25:330:25:36

but Shetland's wildlife was not so lucky.

0:25:360:25:39

Seabird colonies, seals, shellfish, fish hatcheries,

0:25:390:25:44

grazing bays were all badly polluted.

0:25:440:25:46

Shetland braced itself for the worst.

0:25:480:25:51

The storm raged for almost a month,

0:25:510:25:53

seriously hampering the clean-up campaign.

0:25:530:25:56

But the brutal power of the waves

0:25:560:25:58

started to work in the islanders' favour.

0:25:580:26:01

Ultimately the sea's power broke up the oil

0:26:030:26:06

and helped clean up the shores.

0:26:060:26:08

The sheer force of the pounding water

0:26:120:26:14

acted like a giant washing machine,

0:26:140:26:16

churning up the oil and dispersing it out to sea.

0:26:160:26:19

These islands are constantly at the mercy of the elements,

0:26:210:26:25

but on this occasion, nature came to the rescue.

0:26:250:26:28

Shetland may feel like a different world to the mainland,

0:26:420:26:46

but to some people, it IS the mainland.

0:26:460:26:49

24 miles out to sea is Fair Isle.

0:26:490:26:53

Three miles long and a mile and a half wide,

0:26:550:26:57

you're only ever three-quarters of a mile from the sea here.

0:26:570:27:01

This is home to fewer than 80 people,

0:27:010:27:03

many drawn here by a way of life

0:27:030:27:06

that is hard to find anywhere else in the UK.

0:27:060:27:10

SHIPPING FORECAST: Thundery rain or showers. Moderate or good.

0:27:100:27:15

Fair Isle, south four or five,

0:27:150:27:17

occasionally six becoming variable three or four.

0:27:170:27:21

Rain or showers - moderate with fog patches, occasionally good later.

0:27:210:27:26

'I think lots of people will know of Fair Isle

0:27:260:27:30

'from the shipping forecast.

0:27:300:27:33

'I'm Dave Wheeler.'

0:27:330:27:34

'I'm a weather observer on Fair Isle'

0:27:340:27:37

doing regular weather observations every hour of the day

0:27:370:27:41

from six in the morning till six at night

0:27:410:27:43

for 35 years now.

0:27:430:27:46

12.4.

0:27:490:27:51

0.1mm of rain.

0:27:530:27:56

People do ask me quite frequently what the weather is going to do.

0:27:570:28:01

-Tomorrow will not be too bad a day.

-Boat tomorrow?

0:28:020:28:05

Yeah, it looks like a boat day.

0:28:050:28:07

'I hope I can give them a good service.' OK, bye!

0:28:100:28:13

'If I'm wrong, they don't hold it against me.'

0:28:130:28:16

Hello, puss!

0:28:170:28:20

This is the sunshine recorder.

0:28:200:28:22

Hmm, no sun. Surprise, surprise!

0:28:260:28:29

And we said, what, visibility? Hmm, 50 metres visibility.

0:28:320:28:37

Dense fog.

0:28:370:28:39

We hope for a better day tomorrow.

0:28:390:28:42

SHIPPING FORECAST: Fair Isle, south four or five,

0:28:440:28:46

occasionally six, moderate with fog patches, occasionally good later.

0:28:460:28:51

Over 67 different islands make up Orkney,

0:28:560:28:59

or, as they were known to their Viking rulers, Orkneyjar -

0:28:590:29:02

seal islands.

0:29:020:29:04

Nowadays the island-hopping lifestyle of the locals

0:29:080:29:11

has led to a unique claim to fame.

0:29:110:29:13

People come from all over the world

0:29:150:29:17

to fly less than two miles between Papa Westray and Westray.

0:29:170:29:21

Here we are then, wheels up on the world's shortest scheduled flight.

0:29:280:29:33

I have to say, it's all going very well so far.

0:29:330:29:36

This journey usually takes a couple of minutes,

0:29:380:29:41

but it's been done in just 69 seconds

0:29:410:29:43

when it made the Guinness Book of Records.

0:29:430:29:45

Somebody once told me that the most dangerous part of flying

0:29:450:29:49

is taking off and landing,

0:29:490:29:51

but that's all this flight is - a take-off and a landing.

0:29:510:29:54

This flight might seem a little extravagant,

0:29:540:29:57

but the £14 fare is subsidised

0:29:570:30:00

because it's an important link for these remote communities.

0:30:000:30:03

And we're down!

0:30:030:30:05

Tourism certainly adds to the traffic around Orkney

0:30:120:30:15

but 260 years ago, it was trade that dominated these waters

0:30:150:30:20

and navigation was a nightmare.

0:30:200:30:23

These islands, like the rest of the British Isles,

0:30:270:30:31

were surrounded by largely uncharted waters.

0:30:310:30:34

But in the 18th century, that was all about to change.

0:30:340:30:38

Over in Kirkwall,

0:30:400:30:42

Mark Horton is discovering how one Orcadian made our seas safer.

0:30:420:30:47

In 1743, a curious advertisement turned up in newspapers

0:30:490:30:53

and coffee houses throughout Britain.

0:30:530:30:56

A local schoolmaster from here in Orkney, Murdoch McKenzie

0:30:560:31:02

planned to make a really detailed chart

0:31:020:31:04

of these treacherous waters and was desperately needing sponsors

0:31:040:31:08

to help pay for his ambitious project.

0:31:080:31:10

Orkney was the hub for north Atlantic trade routes,

0:31:140:31:19

but hazardous tides and uncharted seas meant shipwrecks were common.

0:31:190:31:25

With finance from traders and merchants,

0:31:250:31:29

Murdoch McKenzie set about charting Orkney's coast

0:31:290:31:32

in ways that would revolutionise mapmaking around the world.

0:31:320:31:37

'Local sailor Sandy Firth has studied McKenzie's pioneering work.

0:31:410:31:47

'He even owns a rare copy of his original survey.'

0:31:470:31:51

Is this the actual folio of charts?

0:31:510:31:55

Yeah, it's one of them, the bound edition of McKenzie's survey.

0:31:550:31:58

-1750.

-1750.

0:31:590:32:02

McKenzie was the first man to start putting in these symbols.

0:32:020:32:07

Now they indicate the nature of the bottom of the sea.

0:32:070:32:10

He gives you the state of the tide at different times

0:32:100:32:16

and the direction of it.

0:32:160:32:18

And no-one had bothered to do that up until now.

0:32:180:32:20

No and McKenzie's little symbols that you'll see here

0:32:200:32:24

are still used to this day in admiralty charts.

0:32:240:32:26

I've got a good idea. I want to survey this bay

0:32:280:32:32

and lets see if we can actually make a map

0:32:320:32:35

using the same methods as McKenzie used himself.

0:32:350:32:38

'McKenzie devised a method of charting any position at sea

0:32:400:32:44

'by using fixed reference points on land.'

0:32:440:32:47

-There we go. Spot on. Around 69 degrees roughly.

-69.

0:32:470:32:54

'McKenzie realised it wasn't only essential

0:32:560:33:00

'for sailors to know where they were at sea

0:33:000:33:03

'but also what hidden dangers were lurking under the water.

0:33:030:33:08

'He gathered samples from the ocean floor using a rope and lead weight

0:33:080:33:12

'covered in tallow - animal fat.'

0:33:120:33:15

The tallow should pick up what's on the bottom, shouldn't it?

0:33:150:33:19

-There's two bits of leather there.

-Two fathoms.

-Two fathoms.

0:33:230:33:26

And...

0:33:260:33:28

-Looks like mud on the bottom, doesn't it?

-Genuine mud.

0:33:300:33:34

Just like McKenzie did it.

0:33:340:33:36

Murdoch McKenzie's methods changed the way we view the underwater world.

0:33:380:33:43

Over 260 years after he first charted the coast of Orkney,

0:33:430:33:49

the science of surveying he did so much to inspire has advanced to this.

0:33:490:33:54

This coastguard vessel is equipped as a state-of-the-art survey ship.

0:33:590:34:04

'Rob Spillard is the officer whose mission is to boldly go'

0:34:100:34:15

where the charts may not necessarily be reliable.

0:34:150:34:19

You can see just to the south of this island here,

0:34:200:34:24

there's a 26 metre contour.

0:34:240:34:26

We had an incident just a few days ago.

0:34:260:34:29

A vessel grounded just off that island we can see out there.

0:34:290:34:33

It's done about a million pounds worth of damage to the vessel.

0:34:330:34:36

They put in a note that 26m was wrong

0:34:360:34:38

and it's shallower.

0:34:380:34:39

They claim to have grounded at 11m

0:34:390:34:42

and so we're here today to try and prove

0:34:420:34:44

whether the chart is right or wrong

0:34:440:34:46

and make it safer for others making the same passage.

0:34:460:34:49

This is real detective work.

0:34:500:34:54

There's an obstruction hidden out there that's already wrecked one vessel.

0:34:540:34:58

Next time, it may be fatal.

0:34:580:35:02

So how do you actually measure depth in the 21st century?

0:35:020:35:06

As opposed to doing it with a lead line and a linesman

0:35:060:35:09

and measuring one depth every minute,

0:35:090:35:12

we can measure several thousand depths every second.

0:35:120:35:15

We do that by sending out pings of sound into the water

0:35:150:35:17

underneath the ship and then listening for the return.

0:35:170:35:20

The quicker the echo, the shallower the water.

0:35:200:35:24

By measuring return data,

0:35:240:35:26

the team can produce a remarkably clear picture

0:35:260:35:30

of what lies below the surface.

0:35:300:35:32

This German U-boat from the First World War

0:35:320:35:35

was discovered on the sea bed just off Orkney.

0:35:350:35:38

But today we're looking for something much nearer the surface -

0:35:400:35:45

an obstruction that's caused serious damage.

0:35:450:35:48

The ship's sailing back and forth over the suspicious area,

0:35:480:35:51

gathering thousands of depth readings.

0:35:510:35:54

So we're coming past where the vessel ran aground.

0:35:550:35:58

If you look at this screen here,

0:35:580:36:00

you can see all the rockiness on the starboard side

0:36:000:36:02

as we get close to the rock so you should be able to see the rock as we get close to it.

0:36:020:36:06

As we go over top of the rock.

0:36:060:36:08

So the depth under the keel is that figure up there.

0:36:130:36:16

It is, yeah. As we get closer to where the vessel grounded,

0:36:160:36:19

that figure will decrease as the sea bed comes up to meet us.

0:36:190:36:22

When the altitude figure here goes to about five metres,

0:36:220:36:25

that's when we need to put on our life jackets.

0:36:250:36:27

So the obstruction could still be out there?

0:36:290:36:32

Yes, it is quite touch and go actually.

0:36:320:36:34

'The soundings are showing

0:36:340:36:35

'that the charted depth of 26 metres is wrong.

0:36:350:36:39

'But what we don't yet know is

0:36:390:36:41

'just how close below us these rocks are lying.'

0:36:410:36:44

12...11...

0:36:440:36:48

We should be keeping our fingers crossed.

0:36:500:36:52

Ten... This is terrifying!

0:36:520:36:55

We've gone down to nine.

0:36:550:36:58

RAPID BEEPING

0:37:000:37:03

'And then we find it!

0:37:030:37:05

'Just 7.5 metres below us,

0:37:050:37:07

'a massive rock much closer to the surface than charted

0:37:070:37:11

'and a major risk to shipping.'

0:37:110:37:13

If we'd gone over that at very low tide,

0:37:130:37:15

we'd have been very, very close to touching it.

0:37:150:37:18

So that's the actual structure of the rock.

0:37:180:37:20

You can see the crinkles and crevices.

0:37:200:37:22

This area's made of rock.

0:37:220:37:24

It's amazing.

0:37:240:37:25

'We're about to make a new mark on the chart of our coastal waters.

0:37:270:37:32

'I'm sure Murdoch McKenzie would have approved!'

0:37:320:37:36

Really what's so amazing is that we could do it in an afternoon.

0:37:380:37:44

If you'd had to do this with a lead line,

0:37:440:37:47

it would have taken a long, long time to do.

0:37:470:37:50

So this new technology not only save money

0:37:500:37:52

-but saves lives as well.

-Absolutely.

0:37:520:37:54

-A good day's work.

-You did very well, actually.

0:37:540:37:57

Shipwrecks might seem like the end of the line,

0:38:090:38:13

but folk up here learn to make the most of whatever the coast provides.

0:38:130:38:17

Wrecks have always fascinated me -

0:38:200:38:23

huge sculptures of rusted steel forms,

0:38:230:38:26

which have kind of been torn apart and thrown up on the coast.

0:38:260:38:31

I'm Sam McDonald. I'm a marine wildlife sculptor really.

0:38:310:38:36

The sea has always been a constant inspiration to me.

0:38:370:38:40

I love it because you go into another world.

0:38:400:38:42

The rust is an amazing colour -

0:38:440:38:46

you get so many different hues and tones that are very beautiful,

0:38:460:38:52

especially when contrasted with the ultramarines and blues

0:38:520:38:55

underneath the water.

0:38:550:38:56

Then every now and again you'll get flashes of life

0:38:560:39:00

with the fish shoals.

0:39:000:39:02

Really my work is about me sharing a moment with nature

0:39:020:39:07

and then trying to recapture it in metal.

0:39:070:39:09

'I did once count how many hammer blows there were in a fish,'

0:39:130:39:19

and there were 987 in one of these fish.

0:39:190:39:22

The weight and ugliness of a wreck

0:39:220:39:25

is kind of contrasting with the fish themselves,

0:39:250:39:30

so I like the fact that something so powerful has ended up

0:39:300:39:33

rotting away on the bottom of the sea,

0:39:330:39:35

with these fish darting in and out of it.

0:39:350:39:37

Living and working with this glorious, fertile landscape

0:39:470:39:51

runs through the DNA of Orkney folk.

0:39:510:39:53

People have been living here since Neolithic times.

0:39:570:40:01

Wherever you go, there are signs of ancient cultures.

0:40:010:40:06

Over on the Bay of Skaill lies the village of Skara Brae.

0:40:070:40:12

Welcome to island life...3000 BC.

0:40:160:40:20

This place was occupied continuously for 600 years

0:40:320:40:36

and then for reasons that we don't know and don't understand,

0:40:360:40:39

it was abandoned forever.

0:40:390:40:41

The village is set down into a hollow.

0:40:430:40:46

It's dug in to get out of the wind.

0:40:460:40:47

Now this is rare privileged access.

0:40:570:40:59

Nobody really gets in here any more.

0:40:590:41:01

When you get in, there is a sense in which it's cosy.

0:41:030:41:07

The builders really understood

0:41:070:41:08

how to make the most out of this building material.

0:41:080:41:11

Cos the walls are curving up

0:41:110:41:13

so that they're coming over like an igloo shape.

0:41:130:41:17

This is a big central hearth here.

0:41:170:41:20

In the winter months, there'd be a big fire here.

0:41:200:41:23

These areas are for sleeping in.

0:41:240:41:26

There's a recess back there for personal belongings,

0:41:260:41:30

and all of the houses have a dresser like this one.

0:41:300:41:34

So perhaps there'd be other personal belongings

0:41:340:41:37

or special objects would be on display here.

0:41:370:41:40

Before Stonehenge, this village was here. That's how old it is.

0:41:410:41:46

Of course, the most intriguing mystery of this place

0:41:470:41:51

are the people who lived here.

0:41:510:41:53

We know so little about them. We don't know what language they spoke.

0:41:530:41:56

We don't know if they followed a religion and, most of all,

0:41:560:42:00

we don't know why they left.

0:42:000:42:02

That's the big mystery of Skara Brae to me.

0:42:040:42:07

There are many things that might attract you to live on Orkney.

0:42:330:42:37

One is the crime rate - it's the lowest in Scotland.

0:42:370:42:41

But local fishermen are still the victims

0:42:410:42:44

of regular raids on their lobster pots.

0:42:440:42:48

The prime suspect has a reputation as a very flexible thief.

0:42:510:42:56

Miranda Krestovnikoff is on the trail of the elusive octopus.

0:42:560:43:02

Spotting an octopus in the sea

0:43:020:43:05

is harder than finding that famous needle in a haystack.

0:43:050:43:08

They're shy and clever animals and remarkably good at hiding,

0:43:080:43:12

but here in Orkney is one of the best places in the UK to find them.

0:43:120:43:16

That's because these seas are full of their favourite food -

0:43:180:43:22

lobster.

0:43:220:43:23

I'm on the hunt for an octopus with Daniel Wise,

0:43:230:43:27

a marine biologist who's been studying the island's waters.

0:43:270:43:32

He reckons the best place to see this slippery customer

0:43:320:43:36

is a little-known dive site called Inga Ness,

0:43:360:43:39

but it's not going to be easy.

0:43:390:43:42

Octopus are really clever animals. They're an active mobile hunter,

0:43:420:43:47

they can change the colour and texture of their skin

0:43:470:43:50

to suit the environment that they're in.

0:43:500:43:53

They can also squeeze into the smallest of crevices and holes.

0:43:530:43:56

So if they don't want to be found, they won't be found.

0:43:560:44:00

Let's go.

0:44:000:44:02

Inga Ness is a rock stack in the water,

0:44:020:44:06

a peak that time has weathered flat

0:44:060:44:08

so now it barely stands proud of the tide mark.

0:44:080:44:11

Below the waves though,

0:44:110:44:13

this pinnacle shows its true dramatic nature,

0:44:130:44:16

with a sheer drop to the ocean bed.

0:44:160:44:19

'Our first sighting is a lion's mane jellyfish.

0:44:210:44:25

'This animal has a sting in its tail

0:44:250:44:28

'and tentacles that can grow as long as 30 feet.'

0:44:280:44:31

Miranda, watch for its tentacles

0:44:310:44:34

cos they will sting and it is painful.

0:44:340:44:36

It's so beautiful.

0:44:360:44:38

'Smooth rock paves the sea floor, giving the landscape a barren feel.

0:44:430:44:47

'But the lack of vegetation

0:44:470:44:49

'makes it easy to find our first lobster pot.'

0:44:490:44:53

I don't think there's anything in this one unfortunately.

0:44:530:44:56

Just carry on a bit. There might be one later.

0:44:560:44:59

Yeah, I'm sure we'll find some more.

0:44:590:45:01

'Not far from the empty pot though is an unexpected surprise -

0:45:010:45:04

'a wolf fish.'

0:45:040:45:06

You normally see them in a crevice or a hole.

0:45:060:45:09

They are quite hard to spot.

0:45:090:45:11

And this one doesn't look that big. Is this a juvenile?

0:45:110:45:14

That's right. They do grow a lot bigger.

0:45:140:45:16

Look at those fearsome teeth!

0:45:160:45:19

'Trying to hide amongst the seaweed, a lobster is on the prowl,

0:45:230:45:27

'an unusual sight before sundown.'

0:45:270:45:30

See how the one claw is larger than the other claw?

0:45:300:45:34

That claw is called the crushing claw and it is used to crush prey.

0:45:340:45:38

I guess we might have disturbed him from his lair,

0:45:390:45:43

maybe given him a fright.

0:45:430:45:44

'It's soon clear though

0:45:440:45:46

'that it was something else keeping this lobster on its toes.

0:45:460:45:50

'Nearby, almost perfectly camouflaged against the rocks,

0:45:500:45:54

'an octopus sits quietly.'

0:45:540:45:56

It's so beautiful. If you get up close, you can see as it's moving,

0:45:560:45:59

it's just gently changing colour every time it moves.

0:45:590:46:02

It is blending in absolutely beautifully with the background.

0:46:020:46:05

'Special cells in the skin called chromatophores

0:46:050:46:08

'make the octopus a master of disguise.

0:46:080:46:11

'These change colour and texture in a matter of seconds,

0:46:110:46:15

'allowing this elusive creature to blend in with his surroundings

0:46:150:46:19

'and escape detection.

0:46:190:46:20

'They can also squeeze through the smallest of holes.

0:46:230:46:27

'Only metres away, we catch an octopus red-handed.'

0:46:270:46:32

That's beautiful!

0:46:320:46:35

It's like liquid, it's so fluid.

0:46:350:46:38

'It's sneaked into a pot and is eyeing up a lobster,

0:46:410:46:45

'planning to turn it into a gourmet dinner.

0:46:450:46:48

'The beak of the octopus is its only bone-like structure.

0:46:500:46:55

'It bites through the hard shell of the lobster

0:46:550:46:58

'and injects venom to paralyse its victim.

0:46:580:47:00

'But as troublesome as these master robbers may be for fishermen,

0:47:030:47:07

'it's hard not to have a sneaking admiration for their ingenuity.'

0:47:070:47:12

The sea has been a source of rich pickings since the dawn of time,

0:47:210:47:25

and at Billia Croo, they're exploiting it 21st century style.

0:47:250:47:30

It's amazing the things you find in unexpected places.

0:47:350:47:40

In that wee concrete shed,

0:47:400:47:41

they're wiring up for an electrical revolution

0:47:410:47:44

that might help save the planet.

0:47:440:47:46

Ever felt like you're being watched?

0:47:480:47:50

Up here, they're setting their sights on energy from the sea.

0:47:500:47:54

'A new generation of islanders, like Barry Johnston,

0:47:540:47:57

-'see their future in marine energy.'

-Hello there, Neil.

0:47:570:48:00

-Hello, Barry.

-Nice to meet you.

0:48:000:48:02

-You too. Could you have got a more remote location?

-Not really!

0:48:020:48:06

What is the camera watching?

0:48:060:48:09

At the moment the camera's watching a test area out here in the ocean,

0:48:090:48:12

and the purpose of this test area

0:48:120:48:14

is to try out new tidal and wave energy systems.

0:48:140:48:17

What is it about the seas around Orkney

0:48:170:48:21

that makes them the best for wave energy?

0:48:210:48:24

They're really just so exposed.

0:48:240:48:26

There's no land masses between us and America

0:48:260:48:29

so it's so open and the waves are so powerful.

0:48:290:48:31

In the seas off Orkney lies the potential

0:48:360:48:38

for a substantial supply of green energy.

0:48:380:48:42

This machine is designed to convert wave motion into electricity.

0:48:420:48:46

It's called Pelamis and it's one design of what wave power

0:48:460:48:50

could look like in the very near future.

0:48:500:48:52

It's being tested here in some of the roughest waters imaginable.

0:48:520:48:57

How does Pelamis actually generate power?

0:49:000:49:04

Pelamis is a long cylindrical structure

0:49:040:49:07

with hinged joints down its length.

0:49:070:49:09

Those hinged joints move in the wave action

0:49:090:49:11

and are resisted by high pressure hydraulic cylinders.

0:49:110:49:14

So it's actually the way that the Pelamis resists the waves

0:49:140:49:18

-that creates the electricity?

-That's right, yes.

0:49:180:49:21

The key to this design is the seesaw motion at the joints.

0:49:240:49:28

As each wave passes, oil is forced through hydraulic motors

0:49:280:49:32

linked to generators to produce electricity.

0:49:320:49:34

What about on a calm day like today?

0:49:400:49:42

Would Pelamis still switch on light bulbs

0:49:420:49:44

with just that amount of action?

0:49:440:49:46

Absolutely. Pelamis is designed to be efficient in seas like these,

0:49:460:49:51

so there's lots of energy even on a day like this.

0:49:510:49:54

It's not just the waves that make Orkney good for marine energy.

0:49:580:50:02

Here they can measure the amount the power systems produce

0:50:020:50:06

as they connect them to the national grid at this substation.

0:50:060:50:10

The testing centre here in Orkney

0:50:150:50:16

plans to be busy evaluating new devices.

0:50:160:50:19

Soon, this single machine could generate electricity for 500 homes,

0:50:190:50:25

maybe the first drops in a new ocean of green energy.

0:50:250:50:28

So far, we've travelled over 150 miles

0:50:360:50:38

on our journey south from Shetland.

0:50:380:50:41

The final stretch takes us over the water again to Hoy.

0:50:410:50:44

Hoy means "high island" and that's exactly what this is.

0:50:470:50:52

These sea cliffs are some of the most impressive in Britain.

0:50:520:50:57

Earlier today,

0:51:070:51:09

two climbers set out to tackle Orkney's most famous landmark.

0:51:090:51:13

The Old Man of Hoy stands 450 feet tall

0:51:210:51:24

on the shores of the Pentland Firth.

0:51:240:51:27

This magnificent sea stack used to be attached to the headland,

0:51:280:51:33

but the elements have slowly eroded the soft red sandstone

0:51:330:51:36

to create this solitary pinnacle.

0:51:360:51:38

No-one knows how much longer the Old Man will stand

0:51:400:51:44

before he falls into the sea.

0:51:440:51:47

This morning, driving rain and strong winds greeted Andy Cave

0:51:520:51:56

and fellow climber Simon Nadin at the start of their ascent.

0:51:560:52:00

-Are you excited, Simon?

-'In this weather,

0:52:000:52:02

'the slippery unstable rock is even more dangerous.'

0:52:020:52:06

-Not looking in its best conditions, I must admit.

-Yeah.

0:52:060:52:10

Better than being in the office though.

0:52:100:52:12

-Maybe.

-Definitely.

0:52:120:52:14

But despite the conditions, they've decided to give it a go.

0:52:140:52:18

I'm off to catch up with the guys to find out what makes this stack

0:52:180:52:21

the one every climber wants to bag.

0:52:210:52:24

Simon and Andy have been climbing for three hours.

0:52:310:52:34

The weather has improved

0:52:340:52:35

and their chances of reaching the top are looking better.

0:52:350:52:38

-Are you all right there?

-Yeah.

0:52:510:52:52

-How was that pitch?

-I've got a bit of a lather on.

0:52:520:52:55

You've got a bit of a lather on there, kid!

0:52:550:52:58

I reckon we're gonna have midges all the way up.

0:52:580:53:01

We can't handle the midges but we're coping with the sea stack.

0:53:010:53:06

'Hello, Andy. It's Neil, can you hear me?'

0:53:240:53:27

All right, Neil, how's it going, mate?

0:53:270:53:29

I'm fine but then I'm on the mainland.

0:53:290:53:31

How's it been going so far?

0:53:310:53:33

We were a bit worried really because it's been raining

0:53:330:53:36

and in the mist it was very easy to slip off.

0:53:360:53:39

Our hands were covered in green slime

0:53:390:53:41

and our feet were covered in bird poo

0:53:410:53:43

so it was just horrible, very insecure.

0:53:430:53:45

But I think now we are less worried

0:53:450:53:47

and just concentrating on the job really.

0:53:470:53:50

Right, I'll let you crack on.

0:53:500:53:52

The Old Man was first conquered in 1966.

0:53:550:54:00

It was a three man team -

0:54:000:54:02

Chris Bonington, Tom Patey and Rusty Baillie.

0:54:020:54:05

Even Everest had been climbed many years

0:54:050:54:08

before anyone knocked off this monster

0:54:080:54:10

and it was such a success

0:54:100:54:11

that the climb was recreated the following year.

0:54:110:54:15

That time, the TV cameras were in attendance.

0:54:150:54:18

Covering the ascent for television

0:54:200:54:22

was as challenging as climbing the Old Man himself.

0:54:220:54:25

# Ain't no mountain high Ain't no valley low

0:54:250:54:30

# Ain't no river wide enough, baby... #

0:54:300:54:33

Everything had to be brought from the mainland.

0:54:330:54:36

30 tonnes of equipment were hauled over the moors

0:54:360:54:39

to create an outdoor studio.

0:54:390:54:41

But as the transmission date approached, so did a westerly gale.

0:54:450:54:51

The temporary studios were wrecked.

0:54:510:54:54

But the team rallied round.

0:54:540:54:56

# No wind, no rain

0:54:560:55:00

# Or winters cold can stop me, baby... #

0:55:000:55:05

It was the first live programme of its kind.

0:55:060:55:09

Over 20 million viewers tuned in over three nights

0:55:090:55:12

to watch Chris Bonington and his team

0:55:120:55:15

make nail-biting television history.

0:55:150:55:18

Somewhere there are four climbers, four radio cameramen.

0:55:180:55:24

There you can see the radio camera men on the gallery.

0:55:260:55:30

This is the hardest move on this, I think.

0:55:300:55:34

I have somehow got to turn round here

0:55:340:55:37

and I've got rather a bad hand-jam right inside the crack.

0:55:370:55:41

I've got to swing right round.

0:55:410:55:43

Climbing the Old Man of Hoy today

0:55:540:55:57

is just as demanding and no less dangerous.

0:55:570:56:00

-That's nice.

-Nice finish.

-Yes, very good. That's stunning.

0:56:110:56:14

That's moving.

0:56:140:56:17

-Is it?

-Yeah. Stay up there, I'll come up in a bit.

0:56:170:56:21

It took the original team two days to find a route to the summit.

0:56:210:56:25

Climbing in their footsteps, it's taken our guys around five hours.

0:56:250:56:29

Nice one, excellent.

0:56:290:56:34

I'm absolutely stunned. I can't believe you did it,

0:56:360:56:39

given how miserable it was when you started out this morning.

0:56:390:56:42

I know. We're pretty surprised too

0:56:430:56:45

but it's a privilege to be up here, it really is.

0:56:450:56:48

We have to show respect for Chris Bonington and co

0:56:480:56:50

who made the first ascent,

0:56:500:56:52

which has enabled us to reach this point.

0:56:520:56:55

We've climbed all over the world

0:56:550:56:57

but there's not many places as cool as this.

0:56:570:56:59

Up here in the Northern Isles, you can't help but notice that life

0:57:130:57:17

is defined as much by the sea as it is by the land.

0:57:170:57:20

People here have to learn to be resilient.

0:57:220:57:25

Life on the edge is precarious but often exhilarating.

0:57:250:57:29

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

0:58:070:58:10

Email [email protected]

0:58:100:58:12

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