0:00:05 > 0:00:09Scotland's vast west coast.
0:00:09 > 0:00:13Bringing the industrial revolution to this galaxy of inlets and islands
0:00:13 > 0:00:17was an epic engineering adventure.
0:00:17 > 0:00:19Tough little boats were built
0:00:19 > 0:00:22and massive waterways were dug,
0:00:22 > 0:00:26shipping short cuts connecting coast to coast.
0:00:26 > 0:00:33This extraordinary enterprise of genius and folly began some 200 years ago,
0:00:33 > 0:00:35in Scotland's great maritime cities.
0:00:37 > 0:00:41Bold pioneers steamed out from Glasgow in boats
0:00:41 > 0:00:45both great and small. Now we're following in their wake.
0:01:11 > 0:01:15We've crossed from western Ireland over to Glasgow.
0:01:15 > 0:01:19Our new adventure takes a remarkable watery short-cut right through
0:01:19 > 0:01:23the heart of the Highlands, from west coast to east coast.
0:01:25 > 0:01:28It's a journey that will leave us in Edinburgh,
0:01:28 > 0:01:31a mere 40 miles from where we begin.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39WHISTLE SOUNDS
0:01:43 > 0:01:45This is the Vic 32,
0:01:45 > 0:01:50the last surviving coal-fired steam-powered Clyde puffer.
0:01:50 > 0:01:54You know, there are some things I get to do, some places I get to go,
0:01:54 > 0:01:58and there's only one word to describe them, and the word is...magical.
0:02:05 > 0:02:08Look at that, that's all the atmosphere you need.
0:02:09 > 0:02:14I wish you could smell it, there's this hot mineral oil smell,
0:02:14 > 0:02:18and you can just hear the beating heart, it's like a living thing,
0:02:18 > 0:02:21it's not a machine, it's alive.
0:02:21 > 0:02:22Gorgeous!
0:02:24 > 0:02:27The steam-powered puffers took coal, timber
0:02:27 > 0:02:31and grain out to Britain's furthest-flung communities.
0:02:31 > 0:02:35For the myriad of isles scattered the length of Scotland's west coast,
0:02:35 > 0:02:37the puffers were a lifeline.
0:02:39 > 0:02:44And their crews became local heroes, immortalised by writer Neil Munro
0:02:44 > 0:02:47in his creation of skipper Para Handy.
0:02:48 > 0:02:53Aye, she's making good speed, eh? Must be doing ten knots at least.
0:02:53 > 0:02:59Aye, and so she should, seeing the steam's 90% water and 10% whisky!
0:02:59 > 0:03:02Few of the men who sailed these boats westward remain.
0:03:02 > 0:03:07Stewart Pearson is one of them. He was a deck hand on the puffers.
0:03:07 > 0:03:10What was the life like for you? How were the crew with you?
0:03:10 > 0:03:13We were a cheery lot. The skipper had a great sense of humour,
0:03:13 > 0:03:15the mate was a bit of a character.
0:03:15 > 0:03:22But for all these guys were sort of rough diamonds, in bed at night in our bunks, Willie Stewart,
0:03:22 > 0:03:26the mate, would read Robert Burns, he had a Burns book and he used to read this every night.
0:03:26 > 0:03:31- That's quite cultured.- It was very cultured, I thought, it's really amazing, he loved Burns.
0:03:33 > 0:03:39You kind of get the impression that the skippers were a law unto themselves, and risk-takers.
0:03:39 > 0:03:45Yes, they were, they did their own thing. When they were sailing on these, between these islands,
0:03:45 > 0:03:48they did it by sort of pilotage, they didn't have charts, as such.
0:03:52 > 0:03:56They had their sturdy boats, but the puffer crews relied on a short cut
0:03:56 > 0:04:02to the isles, a seaway carved through the land - the Crinan Canal.
0:04:04 > 0:04:08For traders heading out from Glasgow, the construction of the Crinan Canal
0:04:08 > 0:04:11meant they could cut through a fearsome obstacle
0:04:11 > 0:04:13to the western seaboard.
0:04:13 > 0:04:15Before the canal's coast-to-coast route,
0:04:15 > 0:04:18boats had to navigate round the Mull of Kintyre,
0:04:18 > 0:04:22a 240-mile trek through some treacherous waters.
0:04:25 > 0:04:30So coming through here by contrast is just a walk in the park, I suppose?
0:04:30 > 0:04:31Och, absolutely.
0:04:31 > 0:04:34This is great, that's what the famous song says,
0:04:34 > 0:04:37"The Crinan Canal for me, don't want the wild rolling sea."
0:04:37 > 0:04:41# The Crinan Canal for me
0:04:41 > 0:04:45# I don't like the wild raging sea
0:04:45 > 0:04:50# The big falling breakers Would give me the shakers
0:04:50 > 0:04:56# The Crinan Canal for me It's the Crinan Canal... #
0:04:56 > 0:05:00The Crinan Canal starts life running parallel to the coast before cutting inland.
0:05:00 > 0:05:06It sliced journey times to the west coast from one-and-a-half days to just a few hours.
0:05:06 > 0:05:09It might have started as an industrial trade way,
0:05:09 > 0:05:14but it's now become known as Britain's most beautiful shortcut.
0:05:15 > 0:05:19# There's no shark or whale That would make you turn pale
0:05:19 > 0:05:23# Or shiver and shake At the knee... #
0:05:23 > 0:05:25Even so, it's not exactly plain sailing.
0:05:27 > 0:05:29Furthest away one, please, yeah.
0:05:32 > 0:05:34There are 15 locks to get through.
0:05:34 > 0:05:37It's all hands on deck,
0:05:37 > 0:05:39and off deck,
0:05:39 > 0:05:42and back on deck, again and again.
0:05:45 > 0:05:48WHISTLE TOOTS
0:05:51 > 0:05:53But it's a magical journey.
0:05:53 > 0:05:57All too soon you reach the last lock on the Crinan Canal.
0:05:57 > 0:05:59Once you're through that,
0:05:59 > 0:06:05there's nothing between you and the open sea of Scotland's west coast.
0:06:13 > 0:06:15A constellation of islands beckons,
0:06:15 > 0:06:18only a small fraction of them inhabited.
0:06:23 > 0:06:27This is Britain's wildest frontier.
0:06:28 > 0:06:34Many of the scattered communities out here once depended on the irrepressible Clyde puffers
0:06:34 > 0:06:40to bring them the necessities, and to export their goods to far-away markets.
0:06:42 > 0:06:45On one group of tiny islands off the Argyll coast,
0:06:45 > 0:06:49the locals' export activities left some big holes in their lives.
0:06:51 > 0:06:55Hermione is on a voyage to see what vanished.
0:06:57 > 0:07:02She's heading off to the little isle of Easdale.
0:07:05 > 0:07:10Easdale's one of the slate islands, so-called because of roof slate...
0:07:10 > 0:07:13lots and lots of it.
0:07:13 > 0:07:16Welcome to the islands that roofed the world.
0:07:18 > 0:07:24I'm meeting local author Mary Withall who's researched her home's curious claim to fame.
0:07:24 > 0:07:26- Here we are in Easdale.- Yes.
0:07:26 > 0:07:31There seems to be an awful lot of slate still here, not all of it's gone.
0:07:31 > 0:07:35It is the result of the slate-quarrying activity.
0:07:35 > 0:07:39When they pulled the slate out of the ground only about 60% of what
0:07:39 > 0:07:45they actually produced was usable slate, the rest of it was waste.
0:07:45 > 0:07:48It gives you a sense of how much actually must have been quarried.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51Yes, indeed, nine million slates a year
0:07:51 > 0:07:56at the peak of production, which was about 1860.
0:07:57 > 0:08:02Nine million slates a year - that's an awful lot of roofs!
0:08:02 > 0:08:07The Vikings may have used the slate for gravestones
0:08:07 > 0:08:12but it wasn't until the 18th century that the slate became big business.
0:08:12 > 0:08:18Men began chipping away at the ground beneath their feet, and steadily the holes got deeper.
0:08:20 > 0:08:27The quarrying was so intensive, the landscape looks moth-eaten on a massive scale.
0:08:27 > 0:08:32Big chunks of Easdale have been removed slate by slate.
0:08:34 > 0:08:37On nearby Belnahua, the quarries in the middle took away
0:08:37 > 0:08:44so much material, the island is now almost as much water as land.
0:08:44 > 0:08:47And this damage was done by hand.
0:08:48 > 0:08:56Quarrymen worked with picks, shovels and muscle, shifting slate loosened by gunpowder.
0:08:58 > 0:09:02The waste from their labours lies in piles all over the island.
0:09:08 > 0:09:12If you look at the slate close up you can see that it's made up
0:09:12 > 0:09:17of lots of thin layers, it's got a beautiful bluey-black colour.
0:09:17 > 0:09:19Now, it's formed from mud that was originally laid down
0:09:19 > 0:09:23on an ancient ocean floor more than 500 million years ago,
0:09:23 > 0:09:25and that mud was then heated and compressed
0:09:25 > 0:09:28and formed a rock, this slate,
0:09:28 > 0:09:31that splits very easily into fine sheets, making it absolutely perfect
0:09:31 > 0:09:33for making hardy roof tiles.
0:09:35 > 0:09:41There's still plenty of slate here, so where did all the quarriers go?
0:09:41 > 0:09:46Iain McDougall from the local museum has done some digging of his own.
0:09:46 > 0:09:51What happened at the end, what led to the demise of this whole industry?
0:09:51 > 0:09:57The initiating factor would be the gale in November 1881,
0:09:57 > 0:09:59the once-in-a-century gale.
0:09:59 > 0:10:04Southwesterly, coming from that direction, howling gale,
0:10:04 > 0:10:10hurricane-force winds, massive seas, crashing in, filled the quarries with water.
0:10:10 > 0:10:14The sea was reputed to be actually coming over the island,
0:10:14 > 0:10:18running through the houses and out into the harbour on the other side.
0:10:18 > 0:10:22Now, if you bear in mind in those days the quarry companies did not
0:10:22 > 0:10:28supply tools or anything like that, the men supplied their own tools, where were their tools?
0:10:28 > 0:10:30Under a 120 feet of water.
0:10:30 > 0:10:33So the island was destitute.
0:10:33 > 0:10:37No tools, no work, no work, no pay, no pay, no food.
0:10:42 > 0:10:47Quarrying limped on until the early 1900s, but as a major industry
0:10:47 > 0:10:50it was all over.
0:10:50 > 0:10:56Fishing became more important, and in the 1950s Easdale was wired up with electricity.
0:10:56 > 0:11:02Tourism brought new work, and descendants of the original slate quarriers began to return.
0:11:02 > 0:11:07Now Easdale has about 60 residents.
0:11:07 > 0:11:12There are people here but no cars, so it's a great place to let kids run wild,
0:11:12 > 0:11:16and they've even found a use for all the abandoned slate.
0:11:18 > 0:11:24Easdale has re-invented itself as the stone-skimming capital of the world.
0:11:24 > 0:11:27The championships are held here every autumn.
0:11:27 > 0:11:32And I've got a couple of experts to show me their skimming secrets.
0:11:32 > 0:11:35You need to get a particular piece of slate, do we?
0:11:40 > 0:11:42Brilliant! OK, let me give it a go.
0:11:42 > 0:11:43OK...
0:11:45 > 0:11:47No, that was hopeless!
0:11:47 > 0:11:49And I wasn't trying to do a rubbish one, honestly.
0:11:51 > 0:11:53Oh!
0:11:56 > 0:11:58- Quite good!- Not bad!
0:12:07 > 0:12:12The slate quarriers of Easdale made the best of what they had to hand.
0:12:14 > 0:12:21It's a time-old tale for west coast folk who toiled to build communities on such tricky terrain.
0:12:23 > 0:12:27As we cross back over to the mainland, the mountains rear up.
0:12:29 > 0:12:32Much of this coast is sparsely inhabited,
0:12:32 > 0:12:36like here at Loch Creran.
0:12:38 > 0:12:44There are no sizeable settlements on the shores of this loch, at least not above the water.
0:12:44 > 0:12:48Miranda's seeking the citizens beneath the waves.
0:12:50 > 0:12:53Loch Creran is a conservation area
0:12:53 > 0:12:56because of its incredible marine life,
0:12:56 > 0:12:57but what makes it so special
0:12:57 > 0:13:01are some very shy tube worms that are busy building their own city
0:13:01 > 0:13:04out there under the water - and this I've got to see.
0:13:06 > 0:13:13These waters conceal some curious little worms that build tube-shaped shells around themselves.
0:13:13 > 0:13:18Those tube worms have created their own version of a tropical coral reef,
0:13:18 > 0:13:21the largest of its kind in the northern hemisphere.
0:13:25 > 0:13:28It's down there somewhere, and I've got to find it.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34- Hi there.- Hi, how you doing?
0:13:34 > 0:13:40My guides in Loch Creran are David Hughes, a marine biologist, and Emily Venables, an oceanographer.
0:13:43 > 0:13:47David, it's a big old loch - where exactly are we going to find the worms?
0:13:47 > 0:13:49Well, we'll find them just over there in the shallows,
0:13:49 > 0:13:51all the way along the south shore.
0:13:51 > 0:13:58This loch's global claim to fame is down to the shells that the worms build around themselves.
0:13:58 > 0:14:02Each individual worm secretes a hard calcified tube around itself
0:14:02 > 0:14:04that it uses to protect itself.
0:14:04 > 0:14:07Normally, we find these worms just growing as single individuals
0:14:07 > 0:14:09on stones or bits of shell,
0:14:09 > 0:14:12but in a very small number of places
0:14:12 > 0:14:16you get large numbers of worms settling together, growing on top of each other.
0:14:16 > 0:14:22Those hard tubes are the building blocks of an underwater city, and I want to see it.
0:14:22 > 0:14:26Emily Venables is my tour guide.
0:14:26 > 0:14:28- OK?- OK!
0:14:35 > 0:14:37'And here we are.'
0:14:37 > 0:14:40What's incredible about these tubular reefs
0:14:40 > 0:14:45is that there's just silt everywhere on the bottom of the loch here,
0:14:45 > 0:14:47and suddenly you come across this little oasis.
0:14:47 > 0:14:52'Inside these tubes is a creature much like an earthworm,
0:14:52 > 0:14:57'but the only part you can see is its delicate fan of tentacles,
0:14:57 > 0:15:00'used to filter food from the water,
0:15:00 > 0:15:05'and the slightest disturbance causes them to pull back lightning-fast
0:15:05 > 0:15:07'into their hard tubes for protection.'
0:15:09 > 0:15:12I love it when you just swim over them and they all...
0:15:12 > 0:15:17It's like fireworks in reverse - they all just dart in very, very quickly.
0:15:17 > 0:15:23'Their hiding places are built on top of each other, creating the worm city.'
0:15:23 > 0:15:27It's wonderful how they grow, they're just like gnarly tree roots.
0:15:27 > 0:15:32And incredibly tall as well, some of these look like two or three foot high.
0:15:35 > 0:15:40'These shy little worms fashion their tubes out of the same hard material
0:15:40 > 0:15:43'as other seashells - calcium carbonate.
0:15:43 > 0:15:47'But because they form vertical branch structures, they build up a reef
0:15:47 > 0:15:52'where other creatures come to hide or hunt.'
0:15:52 > 0:15:54There's so many things living here.
0:15:54 > 0:15:59We've got hermit crabs, we've got anemones, we've got sea urchins,
0:15:59 > 0:16:03just a whole cast of characters living in this little city.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06It's absolutely brilliant, teeming with life.
0:16:06 > 0:16:10That's what we wanted to see, the scallop just swimming away,
0:16:10 > 0:16:14it's like a pair of comedy sort of wind-up false teeth set.
0:16:14 > 0:16:17These are queen scallops, they're fascinating.
0:16:17 > 0:16:23They suck in some water and then they squirt it out really quickly like a jet.
0:16:24 > 0:16:28There's a huge amount of marine life living in this one little spot.
0:16:28 > 0:16:34And if it wasn't for the tube worms, there wouldn't be all these creatures here.
0:16:39 > 0:16:45'Mooring boats and fishing are restricted in Loch Creran to protect the reefs.
0:16:47 > 0:16:51'We should treasure our underwater worm city.'
0:17:03 > 0:17:09Worms aren't the only big builders in these parts - the people have grand designs too.
0:17:12 > 0:17:17Navigating these waters by boat can be fraught with dangers.
0:17:21 > 0:17:23To sail from the west coast to the east coast
0:17:23 > 0:17:26means braving the storm-battered northern coastline of Scotland,
0:17:26 > 0:17:31a treacherous stretch of water barring the passage to the North Sea.
0:17:33 > 0:17:35So what if there were a short cut for ships
0:17:35 > 0:17:38right through the centre of Scotland?
0:17:41 > 0:17:43Well, here is that short cut -
0:17:43 > 0:17:46the Caledonian Canal.
0:17:46 > 0:17:52Started in 1803, it was one of Britain's biggest, boldest building projects.
0:17:52 > 0:17:57A mighty waterway running for 62 miles from the Atlantic
0:17:57 > 0:18:01to the North Sea through the mountainous heart of the Highlands.
0:18:01 > 0:18:06And we're embarking on a journey along it.
0:18:06 > 0:18:09It starts with a tight squeeze,
0:18:09 > 0:18:15which looks a little too small for today's ocean-going cruise ships, like this one I'm on.
0:18:17 > 0:18:20I tell you, this is going to have to be a neat trick.
0:18:20 > 0:18:23This is a big ship
0:18:23 > 0:18:26and it's got to travel all the way across country
0:18:26 > 0:18:28in a space no wider than that.
0:18:34 > 0:18:40The Caledonian Canal wasn't built for narrow boats but for much larger sea-going vessels.
0:18:40 > 0:18:45Still, ships have grown quite a bit in the last 200 years.
0:18:45 > 0:18:48No sooner have we got through obstacle number one,
0:18:48 > 0:18:52than we're confronted with eight lock gates in a row.
0:18:52 > 0:18:55This is known as Neptune's Staircase.
0:18:55 > 0:19:00Like everything to do with this waterway, it's on a colossal scale.
0:19:00 > 0:19:05Neptune's Staircase took 900 men nearly four years to construct.
0:19:07 > 0:19:11Step by step, the 728-tonne Lord of the Glens
0:19:11 > 0:19:13is raised 64 feet into the air
0:19:13 > 0:19:18to begin its voyage through the middle of Scotland out to the east coast.
0:19:26 > 0:19:33We're just over halfway on our epic 400-mile journey around and through Scotland.
0:19:33 > 0:19:39The Caledonian Canal has taken us from west coast to east. This is the North Sea.
0:19:41 > 0:19:46And there's another huge construction project in these parts,
0:19:46 > 0:19:49one that was designed to terrify the Highlanders into submission.
0:19:52 > 0:20:00After the Jacobite Uprising and the bloody defeat of the rebels at the Battle of Culloden in April 1746,
0:20:00 > 0:20:05the British government was determined to suppress future conflict at any cost.
0:20:05 > 0:20:10Part of the solution they arrived at is hidden in here.
0:20:10 > 0:20:13The entrance wasn't built for a warm welcome.
0:20:15 > 0:20:17It's the gateway to a fearsome weapon
0:20:17 > 0:20:22built by the British government to suppress Highland rebellion.
0:20:22 > 0:20:24Welcome to Fort George.
0:20:32 > 0:20:37It's as awe-inspiring now as it was daunting to Highlanders when it was built.
0:20:37 > 0:20:45Any who harboured thoughts of rebellion had only to gaze upon these ramparts to think again.
0:20:46 > 0:20:49It held a force of 1,600 soldiers.
0:20:53 > 0:21:00Inside here, somehow, it still feels a little bit like 1769, the year the place was completed.
0:21:00 > 0:21:05Even then, though, it was ready and prepared for a war that was already over.
0:21:07 > 0:21:11Just like the Caledonian Canal, Fort George was a white elephant.
0:21:11 > 0:21:16It went twice over budget and took so long to build that by the time it was finished
0:21:16 > 0:21:20the threat of a Highland uprising had evaporated.
0:21:21 > 0:21:27But the fort isn't the only legacy here of rebellious times.
0:21:27 > 0:21:30The world-famous Black Watch Regiment
0:21:30 > 0:21:34was established in the aftermath of the Jacobite Rebellion in 1715
0:21:34 > 0:21:37from Highlanders loyal to the British crown.
0:21:37 > 0:21:41Now they use Fort George as their base for operations all around the world.
0:21:43 > 0:21:48The Black Watch had originally been set up to watch the Highlands.
0:21:48 > 0:21:54Now the conflict in Afghanistan means their eyes are on lands far from these shores.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04We're working out way down Scotland's eastern shoreline.
0:22:06 > 0:22:10It's a wonderful contrast to the mountainous west coast.
0:22:19 > 0:22:22Endless beaches stretch down the shore,
0:22:22 > 0:22:23waiting to be explored.
0:22:27 > 0:22:32A long, straight run of sand is interrupted by the oil city of Aberdeen.
0:22:34 > 0:22:38But we're headed a few miles beyond,
0:22:38 > 0:22:40to the little fishing port of Stonehaven.
0:22:47 > 0:22:53On the eve of every New Year, the villagers spend the day preparing for the big night ahead.
0:22:53 > 0:22:55Susan Leiper's one of them.
0:22:55 > 0:22:59Well, tonight in Stonehaven it's Hogmanay,
0:22:59 > 0:23:03it's the night where we swing our fire-balls in the high street.
0:23:03 > 0:23:08This will be my tenth year of being a fire-ball swinger, and I absolutely love it.
0:23:08 > 0:23:12So this is what a fire-ball looks like when it's been made up
0:23:12 > 0:23:14and before it gets lit.
0:23:14 > 0:23:18In this there's old pairs of jeans, cardboard.
0:23:18 > 0:23:22There's bits of newspaper and briquettes.
0:23:22 > 0:23:25This one's about ten pounds in weight, which is heavy enough.
0:23:27 > 0:23:33So at 12 o'clock, the piper starts to march down the road, and the first fire-ball swinger is off.
0:23:33 > 0:23:36That's the point of no return, really.
0:23:43 > 0:23:47- ALL:- Five, four, three, two, one...
0:23:47 > 0:23:49CHEERING
0:23:57 > 0:24:00Yeah! Whoo-hoo!
0:24:05 > 0:24:08Yay! Whoo-hoo!
0:24:09 > 0:24:14I'm shattered! I've got no energy left!
0:24:19 > 0:24:24And you can feel the atmosphere's absolutely electric, and I just love it, I absolutely love it.
0:24:26 > 0:24:30Yeah! Whoo-hoo!
0:24:37 > 0:24:42Stonehaven may sparkle with fire briefly at the start of each year,
0:24:42 > 0:24:47but this coast is capable of spectacular displays at any time.
0:24:47 > 0:24:50The grey North Sea is famous for its black moods,
0:24:50 > 0:24:53when ferocious storms batter this shore.
0:24:55 > 0:24:59And sometimes they feel the fury in the tiny village of Catterline.
0:25:00 > 0:25:06A little line of houses perches high on the hillside out of the sea's reach,
0:25:06 > 0:25:11but Catterline's most celebrated resident didn't shelter from the storms.
0:25:11 > 0:25:13She embraced the raging water.
0:25:15 > 0:25:20Alice is following in the footsteps of a famous artist.
0:25:23 > 0:25:25I've got a photo here of a lone painter
0:25:25 > 0:25:28working intensely on the shore.
0:25:28 > 0:25:32You can see her facing the sea, which is boiling around the rocks,
0:25:32 > 0:25:35and she's wearing her oilskins with paint pots around her feet
0:25:35 > 0:25:37and some brushes over here.
0:25:37 > 0:25:41And this is a very big canvas, which she must be having to stabilise
0:25:41 > 0:25:44against the wind, and there's her motorbike propped up.
0:25:44 > 0:25:47Now, the artist is Joan Eardley,
0:25:47 > 0:25:51and the photograph was taken of her just here at Catterline.
0:25:53 > 0:25:57Joan Eardley was one of Britain's most important modern artists,
0:25:57 > 0:26:02and she had a long love affair with the shore at Catterline.
0:26:06 > 0:26:10This little cottage was her studio in the 1950s and '60s.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13Locals call it the Watchie.
0:26:13 > 0:26:17The Watchie was Joan's vantage point on the sea
0:26:17 > 0:26:18that so captured her heart.
0:26:18 > 0:26:23To explore the attraction, I'm off to meet a young artist
0:26:23 > 0:26:26who's also fallen under Catterline's subtle spell.
0:26:26 > 0:26:33Anna King continues the tradition Joan Eardley started - women artists coming here to paint.
0:26:33 > 0:26:38- Hello, Anna.- Hi.- How's it going? - Good, thanks.- Are you feeling inspired?
0:26:38 > 0:26:40- That's lovely, actually.- Yeah.
0:26:40 > 0:26:46I've got this lovely photo here of Joan facing out to sea and painting this really stormy sea.
0:26:46 > 0:26:49I think she painted everything around Catterline.
0:26:49 > 0:26:52I think she kind of got to know every inch of the village
0:26:52 > 0:26:54and the sea and everything.
0:26:54 > 0:26:57In fact, if you want to have a look at some paintings,
0:26:57 > 0:27:00you can see that's the south row of cottages there.
0:27:00 > 0:27:03That's lovely, that's the row up on the top of the hill, isn't it?
0:27:03 > 0:27:07A bit of a different day from today, with snow on the ground!
0:27:12 > 0:27:15So was it Joan herself that first drew you to Catterline?
0:27:15 > 0:27:17I like her paintings and I'd heard of her,
0:27:17 > 0:27:23but it was more the opportunity of getting to stay in the Watchie, the wee cottage up there.
0:27:23 > 0:27:29There's nothing to do except paint and make art, so it's pretty good for getting work done.
0:27:31 > 0:27:34The Watchie works for many artists.
0:27:34 > 0:27:40The potential of this special place was first spotted by Joan Eardley in the 1950s.
0:27:42 > 0:27:44There's something about this space
0:27:44 > 0:27:48that inspires canvas after canvas,
0:27:48 > 0:27:51and it's not hard to see why.
0:27:51 > 0:27:55This is a view that Joan Eardley would have been very familiar with,
0:27:55 > 0:27:59and I've got a recording of her voice here that I'm going to listen to.
0:28:04 > 0:28:08'When I'm painting in...in the north east,
0:28:08 > 0:28:11'I hardly ever move out of the village.
0:28:11 > 0:28:14'I hardly ever move from one spot.
0:28:14 > 0:28:20'I do feel that the more you know something, the more you can get out of it, that is the north east.
0:28:22 > 0:28:28'There's just vast waste and vast seas, vast areas of cliff.
0:28:30 > 0:28:33'Well, you've just got to paint it.'
0:28:39 > 0:28:44Joan Eardley painted the violent seascapes of Catterline time and again,
0:28:44 > 0:28:47a love affair that became an obsession.
0:28:49 > 0:28:52She asked her friends in this little coastal village
0:28:52 > 0:28:56to watch for approaching storms, so they could call her in Glasgow,
0:28:56 > 0:29:01and she could jump on her motorbike, dashing to the coast, ready to paint straightaway.
0:29:02 > 0:29:05But she was racing against time.
0:29:05 > 0:29:10In 1963, Joan put on an exhibition of her work in London,
0:29:10 > 0:29:18and it was critically acclaimed, but tragically, just as her fame was blossoming, she herself was dying.
0:29:18 > 0:29:21She'd been diagnosed with breast cancer earlier that year,
0:29:21 > 0:29:24and by August she was dead.
0:29:24 > 0:29:26She was only 42 years old.
0:29:30 > 0:29:36Joan Eardley was cremated and her ashes were scattered here at Catterline,
0:29:36 > 0:29:38but she left us a precious gift.
0:29:38 > 0:29:41Not only do her pictures survive,
0:29:41 > 0:29:42the Watchie, the studio Joan loved,
0:29:42 > 0:29:46is here for artists to discover for themselves
0:29:46 > 0:29:51what it was about Catterline that so captivated Joan.
0:29:51 > 0:29:57For me, it's the extraordinary emptiness that's so striking.
0:29:57 > 0:30:01Maybe that's the inspiration Joan Eardley found here -
0:30:01 > 0:30:04the space to be alone with the elements.
0:30:15 > 0:30:20The stark loneliness of this shoreline is soon swallowed by the mighty River Tay.
0:30:24 > 0:30:28On our journey down the east coast, we've reached Dundee.
0:30:28 > 0:30:32This city's links with its proud industrial past
0:30:32 > 0:30:34are measured out in bridges...
0:30:36 > 0:30:38..and ships.
0:30:38 > 0:30:42Discovery, the ship that took Scott to the Antarctic in 1901.
0:30:44 > 0:30:48But I've come to rekindle an old passion of my own.
0:30:51 > 0:30:53How about this?
0:30:53 > 0:30:55Not a lighthouse, but a lightship.
0:30:55 > 0:30:58Now that's a bright idea.
0:31:00 > 0:31:05The North Carr lightship looks like a boat with a big light plonked onto the top,
0:31:05 > 0:31:07but below deck there's something missing.
0:31:07 > 0:31:13This is a ship with no propeller and no engine to drive on, either.
0:31:13 > 0:31:18The ship spent months anchored off the coast of Fife, manned by a crew of 11.
0:31:21 > 0:31:28Imagine 11 sea dogs moored at sea in this thing, an oversized tin can.
0:31:28 > 0:31:32They kept the light burning, and no doubt saved countless lives.
0:31:34 > 0:31:39But on December 8th 1959, this lightship wasn't saving lives.
0:31:39 > 0:31:41It was claiming them.
0:31:41 > 0:31:44As the east coast was lashed by terrible blizzards,
0:31:44 > 0:31:49the anchor chain that had held the North Carr fast for so long snapped.
0:31:50 > 0:31:56The lightship herself was heading for disaster on the very rocks she was there to warn against.
0:31:56 > 0:31:58The crew sent out a mayday.
0:32:01 > 0:32:05The lifeboat Mona responded to the distress call.
0:32:05 > 0:32:07She battled her way through enormous waves,
0:32:07 > 0:32:12attempting to save the lightship and the 11 men trapped on board.
0:32:14 > 0:32:20But that lifeboat, the Mona, never reached the lightship or the men sheltering inside her.
0:32:20 > 0:32:24Come daybreak, the crew aboard here had survived,
0:32:24 > 0:32:28but the bodies of seven of the lifeboat men were found washed up on a nearby beach.
0:32:28 > 0:32:32The body of the eighth lifeboat man was never found.
0:32:36 > 0:32:44The North Carr lightship eventually finished service in 1975 and was moored permanently here in Dundee.
0:32:45 > 0:32:49She leaves me with mixed feelings.
0:32:49 > 0:32:52No doubt the North Carr saved lives,
0:32:52 > 0:32:53but she also cost lives.
0:33:00 > 0:33:04As the coast turns a corner into the wide waters of the Firth of Forth,
0:33:04 > 0:33:08we're approaching our destination, Edinburgh.
0:33:11 > 0:33:15Famously the financial heart of Scotland, much of the city's wealth
0:33:15 > 0:33:20has been built on sea trade and in former days shipbuilding,
0:33:20 > 0:33:24where the capital embraces the water at the docks of Leith.
0:33:25 > 0:33:31Engineering excellence spilled out of Edinburgh along its shore.
0:33:31 > 0:33:34The mighty rail bridge has become a global symbol for the city.
0:33:37 > 0:33:41But there's a less well-known engineering innovation from these parts
0:33:41 > 0:33:44that's had a huge impact worldwide.
0:33:44 > 0:33:50Just over 200 years ago, the world's first practical steamboat was being invented not far from here.
0:33:53 > 0:33:58In 1803, this coal-fired boat, the Charlotte Dundas,
0:33:58 > 0:34:02became the first steamer powerful enough to pull more than her own weight.
0:34:02 > 0:34:06This was the boat that launched the Steam Age.
0:34:10 > 0:34:16Now goods and people could be transported faster and further than ever before,
0:34:16 > 0:34:20and there are some who still keep their steam heritage alive.
0:34:20 > 0:34:21Permission to come aboard?
0:34:21 > 0:34:23Yes, certainly!
0:34:23 > 0:34:26Tom Peebles built the Talisker himself.
0:34:26 > 0:34:30Those early pioneers of the Steam Age would be at home onboard.
0:34:36 > 0:34:42What is it for you, or for anyone, about steam? What's the draw?
0:34:42 > 0:34:47It's kind of hard to describe it, but you know when something
0:34:47 > 0:34:49gets you going,
0:34:49 > 0:34:53and steam, the smell of the engine, the coal, the whole thing.
0:34:53 > 0:34:57You can feel, smell and hear everything that goes on.
0:34:57 > 0:34:59They won't go without a lot of attention
0:34:59 > 0:35:02and a kiss and a cuddle at night before you go away.
0:35:03 > 0:35:05- That's entirely between you and your boat!- Yes!
0:35:09 > 0:35:11WHISTLE TOOTS
0:35:13 > 0:35:19We've almost come full circle, after a 400-mile journey around and through Scotland,
0:35:19 > 0:35:22to end up off the coast of Edinburgh,
0:35:22 > 0:35:24only 40 miles from Glasgow, where we started.
0:35:26 > 0:35:32My journey began with steam, and it ends with steam.