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 > 0:00:30This extraordinary enterprise of genius and folly
0:00:30 > 0:00:33began 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.
0:00:45 > 0:00:50And the customary crew have signed on for the voyage.
0:00:50 > 0:00:54Miranda explores an undersea worm city.
0:00:54 > 0:00:58Wonderful how they grow, they're just like gnarly tree roots.
0:01:01 > 0:01:04Mark is in search of Scotland's lost tribe.
0:01:04 > 0:01:08Look down there, so that's definitely Pictish.
0:01:08 > 0:01:11Nick discovers how Britain's boldest waterway
0:01:11 > 0:01:15was built through the heart of the Highlands.
0:01:17 > 0:01:22Alice seeks artistic inspiration in splendid isolation.
0:01:25 > 0:01:29And I'm messing about in boats, big ones...
0:01:30 > 0:01:33..and wee ones.
0:01:34 > 0:01:37This is coast to coast.
0:02:03 > 0:02:07We've crossed from western Ireland over to Glasgow.
0:02:07 > 0:02:11Our new adventure takes a remarkable watery short-cut right through
0:02:11 > 0:02:15the heart of the Highlands, from west coast to east coast.
0:02:17 > 0:02:20It's a journey that will leave us in Edinburgh,
0:02:20 > 0:02:23a mere 40 miles from where we begin.
0:02:31 > 0:02:36Glasgow was put on the map in the 18th century by Scotland's first millionaires,
0:02:36 > 0:02:41merchants whose wealth was founded on trade across the sea.
0:02:44 > 0:02:47Their artery to the wider world,
0:02:47 > 0:02:52the River Clyde, became famous for shipbuilding.
0:02:52 > 0:02:59Most of the old docks are overgrown now, but at the industry's height in the early-1900s
0:02:59 > 0:03:04this was home to 31 shipyards squeezed into a 15-mile stretch of river -
0:03:04 > 0:03:0860,000 workers churning out world-class ships.
0:03:11 > 0:03:16And I've come to the birthplace of the greatest of the Clyde-built liners.
0:03:18 > 0:03:21It's hard to believe walking along past all these sapling trees
0:03:21 > 0:03:24and the modern buildings in the background,
0:03:24 > 0:03:29but this was once the mighty John Brown's Shipyard, the birthplace of The Queen Mary.
0:03:32 > 0:03:38The Queen Mary began life in December 1930 as hull number 534.
0:03:38 > 0:03:44Slowly, the ship planned as the world's foremost passenger experience took shape.
0:03:49 > 0:03:56Launches on the Clyde were always celebrated, but none more so than The Queen Mary.
0:03:56 > 0:04:02As she slid into the water on the 26th September 1934, a mighty cheer echoed around the river.
0:04:06 > 0:04:11My mum and dad were both one year old in 1934 when The Queen Mary was launched,
0:04:11 > 0:04:15and they were both brought down by their respective families to witness the launch.
0:04:17 > 0:04:21Two years later The Queen Mary clinched the Blue Riband
0:04:21 > 0:04:23for fastest passage to America,
0:04:23 > 0:04:26taking just 4 days and 27 minutes to reach New York.
0:04:29 > 0:04:35These supermodels might have provided the glamour for the world stage, but the Clyde was also home
0:04:35 > 0:04:40to some different characters that the locals fell in love with - the Clyde puffers,
0:04:40 > 0:04:45tough little working boats that connected Glasgow to the Western Isles.
0:04:45 > 0:04:48The steam-powered puffers took coal,
0:04:48 > 0:04:53timber and grain out to Britain's furthest-flung communities.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56For the myriad of isles scattered the length of Scotland's west coast
0:04:56 > 0:04:58the puffers were a lifeline.
0:05:00 > 0:05:03And their crews became local heroes,
0:05:03 > 0:05:05immortalised by writer Neil Munro
0:05:05 > 0:05:09in his creation of skipper Para Handy.
0:05:09 > 0:05:14Aye, Dougie, she's making good speed there, we must be doing ten knots at least.
0:05:14 > 0:05:20Aye, and so she should, seeing the steam's 90% water and 10% whisky.
0:05:20 > 0:05:23The puffers are all gone now...
0:05:23 > 0:05:26well, almost all.
0:05:29 > 0:05:31WHISTLE SOUNDS
0:05:35 > 0:05:38This is the Vic 32,
0:05:38 > 0:05:42the last surviving coal-fired steam-powered Clyde puffer.
0:05:42 > 0:05:46You know, there are some things I get to do, some places I get to go,
0:05:46 > 0:05:50and there's only one word to describe them, and the word is...magical.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00Look at that, that's all the atmosphere you need.
0:06:01 > 0:06:06I wish you could smell it, there's this hot mineral oil smell,
0:06:06 > 0:06:10and you can just hear the beating heart, it's like a living thing,
0:06:10 > 0:06:12it's not a machine, it's alive.
0:06:13 > 0:06:15Gorgeous!
0:06:16 > 0:06:19Few of the men who sailed these boats westward remain.
0:06:19 > 0:06:24Stewart Pearson is one of them. He was a deck hand on the puffers.
0:06:24 > 0:06:27What was the life like for you? How were the crew with you?
0:06:27 > 0:06:31We were a cheery lot. The skipper had a great sense of humour,
0:06:31 > 0:06:33the mate was a bit of a character.
0:06:33 > 0:06:39But for all these guys were sort of rough diamonds, in bed at night in our bunks, Willie Stewart,
0:06:39 > 0:06:44the mate, would read Robert Burns, he had a Burns book and he used to read this every night.
0:06:44 > 0:06:48- That's quite cultured.- It was very cultured, I thought, it's really amazing, he loved Burns.
0:06:51 > 0:06:53You kind of get the impression
0:06:53 > 0:06:57that the skippers were a law unto themselves, and risk-takers.
0:06:57 > 0:07:02Yes, they were, they did their own thing. When they were sailing on these, between these islands,
0:07:02 > 0:07:05they did it by sort of pilotage, they didn't have charts, as such.
0:07:09 > 0:07:13They had their sturdy boats, but the puffer crews relied on a short cut
0:07:13 > 0:07:19to the isles, a seaway carved through the land - the Crinan Canal.
0:07:21 > 0:07:26For traders heading out from Glasgow, the construction of the Crinan Canal
0:07:26 > 0:07:29meant they could cut through a fearsome obstacle
0:07:29 > 0:07:30to the western seaboard.
0:07:30 > 0:07:32Before the canal's coast-to-coast route,
0:07:32 > 0:07:36boats had to navigate round the Mull of Kintyre,
0:07:36 > 0:07:40a 240-mile trek through some treacherous waters.
0:07:42 > 0:07:45So coming through here by contrast
0:07:45 > 0:07:47is just a walk in the park, I suppose?
0:07:47 > 0:07:49Och, absolutely.
0:07:49 > 0:07:51This is great, that's what the famous song says,
0:07:51 > 0:07:54"The Crinan Canal for me, don't want the wild rolling sea."
0:07:54 > 0:07:58# The Crinan Canal for me
0:07:58 > 0:08:03# I don't like the wild raging sea
0:08:03 > 0:08:07# The big falling breakers Would give me the shakers
0:08:07 > 0:08:13# The Crinan Canal for me It's the Crinan Canal... #
0:08:13 > 0:08:15The Crinan Canal starts life
0:08:15 > 0:08:18running parallel to the coast before cutting inland.
0:08:18 > 0:08:22It sliced journey times to the west coast from one-and-a-half days
0:08:22 > 0:08:24to just a few hours.
0:08:24 > 0:08:27It might have started as an industrial trade way,
0:08:27 > 0:08:31but it's now become known as Britain's most beautiful shortcut.
0:08:32 > 0:08:37# There's no shark or whale That would make you turn pale
0:08:37 > 0:08:40# Or shiver and shake At the knee... #
0:08:40 > 0:08:43Even so, it's not exactly plain sailing.
0:08:45 > 0:08:47Furthest away one, please, yeah.
0:08:49 > 0:08:51There are 15 locks to get through.
0:08:51 > 0:08:55It's all hands on deck,
0:08:55 > 0:08:57and off deck,
0:08:57 > 0:08:59and back on deck, again and again.
0:09:03 > 0:09:05WHISTLE TOOTS
0:09:08 > 0:09:11But it's a magical journey.
0:09:11 > 0:09:15All too soon you reach the last lock on the Crinan Canal.
0:09:15 > 0:09:17Once you're through that,
0:09:17 > 0:09:22there's nothing between you and the open sea of Scotland's west coast.
0:09:30 > 0:09:33A constellation of islands beckons,
0:09:33 > 0:09:36only a small fraction of them inhabited.
0:09:40 > 0:09:44This is Britain's wildest frontier.
0:09:46 > 0:09:51Many of the scattered communities out here once depended on the irrepressible Clyde puffers
0:09:51 > 0:09:54to bring them the necessities,
0:09:54 > 0:09:57and to export their goods to far-away markets.
0:09:59 > 0:10:02On one group of tiny islands off the Argyll coast,
0:10:02 > 0:10:07the locals' export activities left some big holes in their lives.
0:10:09 > 0:10:13Hermione is on a voyage to see what vanished.
0:10:14 > 0:10:19She's heading off to the little isle of Easdale.
0:10:23 > 0:10:27Easdale's one of the slate islands, so-called because of roof slate...
0:10:27 > 0:10:30lots and lots of it.
0:10:30 > 0:10:34Welcome to the islands that roofed the world.
0:10:36 > 0:10:38I'm meeting local author, Mary Withall,
0:10:38 > 0:10:42who's researched her home's curious claim to fame.
0:10:42 > 0:10:44- Here we are in Easdale.- Yes.
0:10:44 > 0:10:49There seems to be an awful lot of slate still here, not all of it's gone.
0:10:49 > 0:10:52It is the result of the slate-quarrying activity.
0:10:52 > 0:10:56When they pulled the slate out of the ground only about 60% of what
0:10:56 > 0:11:02they actually produced was usable slate, the rest of it was waste.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05It gives you a sense of how much actually must have been quarried.
0:11:05 > 0:11:09Yes, indeed, nine million slates a year
0:11:09 > 0:11:13at the peak of production, which was about 1860.
0:11:15 > 0:11:20Nine million slates a year - that's an awful lot of roofs!
0:11:20 > 0:11:24The Vikings may have used the slate for gravestones
0:11:24 > 0:11:29but it wasn't until the 18th century that the slate became big business.
0:11:29 > 0:11:33Men began chipping away at the ground beneath their feet,
0:11:33 > 0:11:35and steadily the holes got deeper.
0:11:38 > 0:11:41The quarrying was so intensive,
0:11:41 > 0:11:45the landscape looks moth-eaten on a massive scale.
0:11:45 > 0:11:49Big chunks of Easdale have been removed slate by slate.
0:11:52 > 0:11:55On nearby Belnahua, the quarries in the middle took away
0:11:55 > 0:12:01so much material, the island is now almost as much water as land.
0:12:01 > 0:12:05And this damage was done by hand.
0:12:06 > 0:12:10Quarrymen worked with picks, shovels and muscle,
0:12:10 > 0:12:14shifting slate loosened by gunpowder.
0:12:16 > 0:12:20The waste from their labours lies in piles all over the island.
0:12:25 > 0:12:30If you look at the slate close up you can see that it's made up
0:12:30 > 0:12:34of lots of thin layers, it's got a beautiful bluey-black colour.
0:12:34 > 0:12:37Now, it's formed from mud that was originally laid down
0:12:37 > 0:12:41on an ancient ocean floor more than 500 million years ago,
0:12:41 > 0:12:43and that mud was then heated and compressed
0:12:43 > 0:12:45and formed a rock, this slate,
0:12:45 > 0:12:49that splits very easily into fine sheets, making it absolutely perfect
0:12:49 > 0:12:51for making hardy roof tiles.
0:12:56 > 0:13:02Easdale is tiny, yet the village is surrounded by no fewer than seven quarries,
0:13:02 > 0:13:07and as you tour the island, suddenly they come into view.
0:13:09 > 0:13:12Oh, wow,
0:13:12 > 0:13:14just look at that!
0:13:14 > 0:13:16Beautiful, clear pool.
0:13:16 > 0:13:20You can see over there all the slate banked up and disappearing down into
0:13:20 > 0:13:23the water, there's something almost a bit magical about it.
0:13:23 > 0:13:27All that history preserved under water.
0:13:27 > 0:13:28It's just beautiful.
0:13:31 > 0:13:37There's still plenty of slate here, so where did all the quarriers go?
0:13:37 > 0:13:43Iain McDougall from the local museum has done some digging of his own.
0:13:43 > 0:13:45What happened at the end,
0:13:45 > 0:13:47what led to the demise of this whole industry?
0:13:47 > 0:13:54The initiating factor would be the gale in November 1881,
0:13:54 > 0:13:56the once-in-a-century gale.
0:13:56 > 0:14:01Southwesterly, coming from that direction, howling gale,
0:14:01 > 0:14:03hurricane-force winds, massive seas,
0:14:03 > 0:14:07crashing in, filled the quarries with water.
0:14:07 > 0:14:11The sea was reputed to be actually coming over the island,
0:14:11 > 0:14:15running through the houses and out into the harbour on the other side.
0:14:15 > 0:14:19Now, if you bear in mind in those days the quarry companies did not
0:14:19 > 0:14:21supply tools or anything like that,
0:14:21 > 0:14:24the men supplied their own tools, where were their tools?
0:14:24 > 0:14:26Under a 120 feet of water.
0:14:26 > 0:14:29So the island was destitute.
0:14:29 > 0:14:34No tools no work, no work no pay, no pay no food.
0:14:38 > 0:14:43Quarrying limped on until the early 1900's, but as a major industry
0:14:43 > 0:14:46it was all over.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49Fishing became more important,
0:14:49 > 0:14:53and in the 1950s Easdale was wired up with electricity.
0:14:53 > 0:14:55Tourism brought new work,
0:14:55 > 0:14:59and descendants of the original slate quarriers began to return.
0:14:59 > 0:15:03Now Easdale has about 60 residents.
0:15:03 > 0:15:06There are people here but no cars,
0:15:06 > 0:15:09so it's a great place to let kids run wild,
0:15:09 > 0:15:13and they've even found a use for all the abandoned slate.
0:15:15 > 0:15:17Easdale has re-invented itself
0:15:17 > 0:15:20as the stone-skimming capital of the world.
0:15:20 > 0:15:23The championships are held here every autumn.
0:15:23 > 0:15:29And I've got a couple of experts to show me their skimming secrets.
0:15:29 > 0:15:32You need to get a particular piece of slate, do we?
0:15:34 > 0:15:37Oh, excellent! And how do you stand - is it all in the stance?
0:15:37 > 0:15:39You put your foot there,
0:15:39 > 0:15:40and back foot there,
0:15:40 > 0:15:43and lean back and move forward with your arm
0:15:43 > 0:15:45- and then let loose. - What about holding the stone?
0:15:45 > 0:15:48You hold it like that, your thumb on top so it's...
0:15:48 > 0:15:50- Like that, is that OK?- Like that.
0:15:50 > 0:15:52- OK, Alan, you go.- OK.
0:15:56 > 0:15:58Brilliant! OK, let me give it a go.
0:15:58 > 0:15:59OK...
0:16:01 > 0:16:03No, that was hopeless!
0:16:03 > 0:16:05And I wasn't trying to do a rubbish one, honestly.
0:16:07 > 0:16:09Oh!
0:16:12 > 0:16:14- Quite good!- Not bad!
0:16:23 > 0:16:28The slate quarriers of Easdale made the best of what they had to hand.
0:16:30 > 0:16:37It's an time-old tale for west coast folk who toiled to build communities on such tricky terrain.
0:16:39 > 0:16:43As we cross back over to the mainland, the mountains rear up.
0:16:45 > 0:16:48Much of this coast is sparsely inhabited,
0:16:48 > 0:16:51like here at Loch Creran.
0:16:54 > 0:16:56There are no sizeable settlements
0:16:56 > 0:17:00on the shores of this loch, at least not above the water.
0:17:00 > 0:17:04Miranda's seeking the citizens beneath the waves.
0:17:06 > 0:17:09Loch Creran is a conservation area
0:17:09 > 0:17:11because of its incredible marine life,
0:17:11 > 0:17:13but what makes it so special
0:17:13 > 0:17:17are some very shy tube worms that are busy building their own city
0:17:17 > 0:17:20out there under the water - and this I've got to see.
0:17:22 > 0:17:25These waters conceal some curious little worms
0:17:25 > 0:17:29that build tube-shaped shells around themselves.
0:17:29 > 0:17:31Those tube worms have created
0:17:31 > 0:17:34their own version of a tropical coral reef,
0:17:34 > 0:17:37the largest of its kind in the northern hemisphere.
0:17:41 > 0:17:44It's down there somewhere, and I've got to find it.
0:17:47 > 0:17:49- Hi there.- Hi, how you doing?
0:17:49 > 0:17:56My guides in Loch Creran are David Hughes, a marine biologist, and Emily Venables, an oceanographer.
0:17:59 > 0:18:02David, it's a big old loch - where exactly are we going to find the worms?
0:18:02 > 0:18:05Well, we'll find them just over there in the shallows,
0:18:05 > 0:18:07all the way along the south shore.
0:18:07 > 0:18:14This loch's global claim to fame is down to the shells that the worms build around themselves.
0:18:14 > 0:18:18Each individual worm secretes a hard calcified tube around itself
0:18:18 > 0:18:20that it uses to protect itself.
0:18:20 > 0:18:23Normally, we find these worms just growing as single individuals
0:18:23 > 0:18:25on stones or bits of shell,
0:18:25 > 0:18:28but in a very small number of places
0:18:28 > 0:18:32you get large numbers of worms settling together, growing on top of each other.
0:18:32 > 0:18:38Those hard tubes are the building blocks of an underwater city, and I want to see it.
0:18:38 > 0:18:42Emily Venables is my tour guide.
0:18:42 > 0:18:44- OK?- OK!
0:18:51 > 0:18:53'And here we are.'
0:18:53 > 0:18:56What's incredible about these tubular reefs
0:18:56 > 0:19:01is that there's just silt everywhere on the bottom of the loch here,
0:19:01 > 0:19:03and suddenly you come across this little oasis.
0:19:03 > 0:19:08'Inside these tubes is a creature much like an earthworm,
0:19:08 > 0:19:13'but the only part you can see is its delicate fan of tentacles,
0:19:13 > 0:19:16'used to filter food from the water,
0:19:16 > 0:19:21'and the slightest disturbance causes them to pull back lightning-fast
0:19:21 > 0:19:23'into their hard tubes for protection.'
0:19:25 > 0:19:27I love it when you just swim over them and they all...
0:19:27 > 0:19:33It's like fireworks in reverse - they all just dart in very, very quickly.
0:19:33 > 0:19:39'Their hiding places are built on top of each other creating the worm city.'
0:19:39 > 0:19:43It's wonderful how they grow, they're just like gnarly tree roots.
0:19:43 > 0:19:48And incredibly tall as well, some of these look like two or three foot high.
0:19:51 > 0:19:56'These shy little worms fashion their tubes out of the same hard material
0:19:56 > 0:19:59'as other seashells - calcium carbonate.
0:19:59 > 0:20:03'But because they form vertical branch structures, they build up a reef
0:20:03 > 0:20:07'where other creatures come to hide or hunt.'
0:20:07 > 0:20:10There's so many things living here.
0:20:10 > 0:20:15We've got hermit crabs, we've got anemones, we've got sea urchins,
0:20:15 > 0:20:19just a whole cast of characters living in this little city.
0:20:19 > 0:20:22It's absolutely brilliant, teeming with life.
0:20:22 > 0:20:26That's what we wanted to see, the scallop just swimming away,
0:20:26 > 0:20:30it's like a pair of comedy sort of wind-up false teeth set.
0:20:30 > 0:20:33These are queen scallops, they're fascinating.
0:20:33 > 0:20:38They suck in some water and then they squirt it out really quickly like a jet.
0:20:40 > 0:20:44There's a huge amount of marine life living in this one little spot.
0:20:44 > 0:20:50And if it wasn't for the tube worms there wouldn't be all these creatures here.
0:20:55 > 0:21:01'Mooring boats and fishing are restricted in Loch Creran to protect the reefs.
0:21:03 > 0:21:07'We should treasure our underwater worm city.'
0:21:19 > 0:21:25Worms aren't the only big builders in these parts - the people have grand designs too.
0:21:28 > 0:21:33Navigating these waters by boat can be fraught with dangers.
0:21:36 > 0:21:39To sail from the west coast to the east coast
0:21:39 > 0:21:42means braving the storm-battered northern coastline of Scotland,
0:21:42 > 0:21:47a treacherous stretch of water barring the passage to the North Sea.
0:21:49 > 0:21:51So what if there were a short cut for ships
0:21:51 > 0:21:54right through the centre of Scotland?
0:21:56 > 0:21:59Well, here is that short cut -
0:21:59 > 0:22:01the Caledonian Canal.
0:22:01 > 0:22:08Started in 1803, it was one of Britain's biggest, boldest building projects.
0:22:08 > 0:22:12A mighty waterway running for 62 miles from the Atlantic
0:22:12 > 0:22:17to the North Sea through the mountainous heart of the Highlands.
0:22:17 > 0:22:22And we're embarking on a journey along it.
0:22:22 > 0:22:25It starts with a tight squeeze,
0:22:25 > 0:22:30which looks a little too small for today's ocean-going cruise ships, like this one I'm on.
0:22:33 > 0:22:36I tell you, this is going to have to be a neat trick.
0:22:36 > 0:22:39This is a big ship
0:22:39 > 0:22:42and it's got to travel all the way across country
0:22:42 > 0:22:44in a space no wider than that.
0:22:50 > 0:22:56The Caledonian Canal wasn't built for narrow boats but for much larger sea-going vessels.
0:22:56 > 0:23:01Still, ships have grown quite a bit in the last 200 years.
0:23:01 > 0:23:04No sooner have we got through obstacle number one,
0:23:04 > 0:23:08than we're confronted with eight lock gates in a row.
0:23:08 > 0:23:11This is known as Neptune's Staircase.
0:23:11 > 0:23:16Like everything to do with this waterway, it's on a colossal scale.
0:23:16 > 0:23:21Neptune's Staircase took 900 men nearly four years to construct.
0:23:22 > 0:23:27Step by step, the 728-tonne Lord of the Glens
0:23:27 > 0:23:29is raised 64 feet into the air
0:23:29 > 0:23:34to begin its voyage through the middle of Scotland out to the east coast.
0:23:37 > 0:23:41How was this waterway built, and why was it built?
0:23:43 > 0:23:46Nick is on the trail of an epic tale.
0:23:48 > 0:23:53Travelling along this canal you start to get a sense of the scale -
0:23:53 > 0:23:56it was an extraordinary undertaking.
0:23:56 > 0:24:02The plans were drawn up just over 200 years ago by Thomas Telford.
0:24:02 > 0:24:07Telford's design for this waterway cleverly combined bold engineering
0:24:07 > 0:24:11with Scotland's spectacular landscape.
0:24:11 > 0:24:18Just look at this incredible view -
0:24:18 > 0:24:23probably the most stupendous valley in the British Isles...
0:24:23 > 0:24:25the Great Glen.
0:24:25 > 0:24:29Right, here's a map of northern Scotland.
0:24:29 > 0:24:35Glasgow is down here, and here is the Great Glen slashing across Scotland
0:24:35 > 0:24:39from one side to the other, from the Atlantic here to the North Sea here.
0:24:39 > 0:24:43In the bed of the Great Glen are three freshwater lochs, Loch Lochy,
0:24:43 > 0:24:47Loch Oich and the largest of them, Loch Ness.
0:24:47 > 0:24:54What Telford wanted to do - and here is his master plan - is link them all up by canals.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57Here's Loch Lochy, here's Loch Oich and here's Loch Ness,
0:24:57 > 0:24:59so he had to create canals
0:24:59 > 0:25:01here, here, here
0:25:01 > 0:25:02and here - four of them.
0:25:02 > 0:25:07If he could do that he could create a waterway, which linked the North Sea with the Atlantic.
0:25:11 > 0:25:16This short cut was planned to slash journey times and protect shipping
0:25:16 > 0:25:22from storms at sea, but there was another even greater prize at stake.
0:25:22 > 0:25:27Some 200 years ago the Highlands were in crisis.
0:25:27 > 0:25:30For years landowners had been throwing tenants off their land to
0:25:30 > 0:25:37make way for sheep farming, a period known as the Highland Clearances.
0:25:37 > 0:25:40People were leaving in their droves,
0:25:40 > 0:25:44their abandoned homes swallowed by the heather.
0:25:44 > 0:25:49There was a village here once, now it's gone back to nature.
0:25:49 > 0:25:54So many people were emigrating that the Government became anxious that the Highlands would soon be empty -
0:25:54 > 0:25:58people needed jobs as an incentive to stay.
0:25:58 > 0:26:01Bright idea - how about getting them digging?
0:26:04 > 0:26:10The Government put dispossessed Highlanders to work digging the Caledonian Canal.
0:26:10 > 0:26:14In the days before heavy machinery, carving this monster waterway
0:26:14 > 0:26:18would keep thousands busy with backbreaking work.
0:26:18 > 0:26:23The state poured vast sums of money into the enterprise.
0:26:23 > 0:26:27Here was a job creation scheme on a massive scale.
0:26:29 > 0:26:35I'm meeting historian Anthony Burton, who knows what was expected of the novice navvies.
0:26:35 > 0:26:37- Hello.- Hello.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42This is a beautiful spot. I've seen some of the canal now, this is like
0:26:42 > 0:26:46the Panama Canal, this is something that changed British geography.
0:26:46 > 0:26:48Absolutely, this was THE civil engineering triumph
0:26:48 > 0:26:52of the age and it's all down to this, the spade.
0:26:52 > 0:26:55This was done by blokes, and it was blokes from the Highlands.
0:26:55 > 0:26:59The Highland Clearances, the Highlands were desperately poor -
0:26:59 > 0:27:04in one day, 200 Highlanders appeared en masse having walked all the way
0:27:04 > 0:27:07- from Skye to come and work on this canal.- They were desperate for work.
0:27:07 > 0:27:12They were desperate for work but they had to reach the standard of the professional navvy
0:27:12 > 0:27:16and the professional navvy, they reckoned, could shift 12 cubic yards a day.
0:27:18 > 0:27:23Three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine,
0:27:23 > 0:27:2610, 11, 12.
0:27:26 > 0:27:30Right, OK, so come on back. Now if you're an experienced navvy,
0:27:30 > 0:27:37you're going to be digging a trench roughly waist-deep from here to there.
0:27:37 > 0:27:42- Every day.- Every single day, do you want to have a go to see how much hard work's involved?
0:27:42 > 0:27:44- All right, all right. - Be my guest, carry on.
0:27:46 > 0:27:50I suppose this is probably what they did, just take the turf off first.
0:27:50 > 0:27:53Yes, that's right.
0:27:53 > 0:27:57So this soft Londoner
0:27:57 > 0:28:00- is getting a bit knackered already. - I'm not surprised.
0:28:00 > 0:28:03You're getting into the rough stuff now, getting some stones down there.
0:28:03 > 0:28:07- One more clod and...- It's going to get harder and harder as you go down.
0:28:08 > 0:28:12I'm just trying to imagine, given that I'm soaked in sweat and my back's aching,
0:28:12 > 0:28:16what it meant to the people who were obliged to dig it by hand.
0:28:16 > 0:28:20What would you say, if you met one of them now, if you could flip back through time?
0:28:20 > 0:28:23Is this better than starving? Because that was the other option.
0:28:23 > 0:28:27Or would you rather get on a ship and go to Canada?
0:28:27 > 0:28:29I'd keep digging, I think.
0:28:29 > 0:28:32- I think I would too.- Even though it's absolutely back-breaking.
0:28:32 > 0:28:34- But I've done enough... - I'm sure you have!
0:28:34 > 0:28:38..to know how incredibly tough they must have been to pull it off.
0:28:41 > 0:28:47They dug and they dug for 19 years along a total of 22 miles,
0:28:47 > 0:28:51they dug this channel, 15-feet deep.
0:28:52 > 0:28:57Little by little the canal breathed life back into the Highland economy,
0:28:57 > 0:29:03but the navvies couldn't have achieved this gigantic task without some help from nature -
0:29:03 > 0:29:09a series of freshwater lochs along the length of the Great Glen.
0:29:12 > 0:29:18Connecting these natural waterways was the key to completing the Caledonian Canal.
0:29:21 > 0:29:27On their route was the mightiest loch of them all, Scotland's most famous...
0:29:27 > 0:29:29Loch Ness.
0:29:33 > 0:29:39Deep enough to hold the fresh water from every lake in England and Wales put together.
0:29:44 > 0:29:52So enormous it's said that every human on planet Earth could fit beneath its surface...
0:29:52 > 0:29:55three times over!
0:30:00 > 0:30:06Adrian Shine originally came to these waters to hunt the Loch Ness monster.
0:30:06 > 0:30:10What he did find was a fascinating insight into the boats
0:30:10 > 0:30:17that once used this waterway as part of the Caledonian Canal coast-to-coast short cut.
0:30:18 > 0:30:20- This is rather exciting. - It is, isn't it?
0:30:20 > 0:30:22Does it matter which way into the water it goes?
0:30:22 > 0:30:26No, no, just...just pop it in.
0:30:27 > 0:30:32This is the remote camera technology Adrian used to explore the deep.
0:30:35 > 0:30:38- Now lower away, lower away. - Watching the screen,
0:30:38 > 0:30:40that's it, watching the screen.
0:30:43 > 0:30:49Skimming across the floor of the loch with his underwater camera in 2002,
0:30:49 > 0:30:53Adrian stumbled across something that, for me, is an intriguing clue
0:30:53 > 0:30:56to the fate of the Caledonian Canal.
0:30:56 > 0:31:00You know, suddenly this wall of wood came up in front of us,
0:31:00 > 0:31:06there was the name - Pansy, and the Banff registration number.
0:31:06 > 0:31:08Fascinating, because often with wrecks
0:31:08 > 0:31:10you have trouble identifying them.
0:31:10 > 0:31:12Well, we didn't have any trouble with this.
0:31:14 > 0:31:18The registration tells us that Pansy wasn't a grand trading ship,
0:31:18 > 0:31:23she was a sail-powered fishing boat much like this one.
0:31:23 > 0:31:28The Pansy foundered in Loch Ness whilst using the Caledonian Canal
0:31:28 > 0:31:30to reach new fishing grounds.
0:31:31 > 0:31:35Fishing boats found the canal useful but finding the wreck of a large
0:31:35 > 0:31:41merchant ship in Loch Ness is about as likely as spotting the monster.
0:31:41 > 0:31:46Within a few years of the Caledonian Canal's completion in 1822
0:31:46 > 0:31:53many merchant vessels had grown too big to use this coast-to-coast short cut.
0:31:53 > 0:31:57It never became the mighty trade route that was planned.
0:31:59 > 0:32:04If that wasn't bad enough the project had gone three times over budget.
0:32:04 > 0:32:11Many thought it was a white elephant, a colossal waste of public money,
0:32:11 > 0:32:14but approaching the end of the canal here at Inverness,
0:32:14 > 0:32:20I can't help feeling that its success shouldn't be measured in pounds and pence.
0:32:25 > 0:32:31Yes! This is the very last lock on the Caledonian Canal,
0:32:31 > 0:32:38so that's salt water, that's the Moray Firth, and out there is the North Sea.
0:32:38 > 0:32:43You know, this isn't just a great waterway, it's a great survivor.
0:32:43 > 0:32:48Over the years many people have come up with many reasons to close it down,
0:32:48 > 0:32:53but here's one to keep it open - it's an awesome achievement.
0:33:00 > 0:33:07We're just over half way on our epic 400-mile journey around and through Scotland.
0:33:07 > 0:33:13The Caledonian Canal has taken us from west coast to east. This is the North Sea.
0:33:15 > 0:33:20And there's another huge construction project in these parts,
0:33:20 > 0:33:23one that was designed to terrify the Highlanders into submission.
0:33:26 > 0:33:34After the Jacobite Uprising and the bloody defeat of the rebels at the Battle of Culloden in April 1746,
0:33:34 > 0:33:39the British government was determined to suppress future conflict at any cost.
0:33:39 > 0:33:44Part of the solution they arrived at is hidden in here.
0:33:44 > 0:33:47The entrance wasn't built for a warm welcome.
0:33:49 > 0:33:51It's the gateway to a fearsome weapon
0:33:51 > 0:33:56built by the British government to suppress Highland rebellion.
0:33:56 > 0:33:58Welcome to Fort George.
0:34:06 > 0:34:11It's as awe-inspiring now as it was daunting to Highlanders when it was built.
0:34:11 > 0:34:19Any who harboured thoughts of rebellion had only to gaze upon these ramparts to think again.
0:34:20 > 0:34:24It held a force of 1,600 soldiers.
0:34:27 > 0:34:34Inside here, somehow, it still feels a little bit like 1769, the year the place was completed.
0:34:34 > 0:34:39Even then, though, it was ready and prepared for a war that was already over.
0:34:41 > 0:34:45Just like the Caledonian Canal, Fort George was a white elephant.
0:34:45 > 0:34:51It went twice over budget and took so long to build that by the time it was finished
0:34:51 > 0:34:54the threat of a Highland uprising had evaporated.
0:34:56 > 0:35:01But the fort isn't the only legacy here of rebellious times.
0:35:01 > 0:35:04The world-famous Black Watch Regiment
0:35:04 > 0:35:08was established in the aftermath of the Jacobite Rebellion in 1715
0:35:08 > 0:35:11from Highlanders loyal to the British crown.
0:35:11 > 0:35:15Now they use Fort George as their base for operations all around the world.
0:35:17 > 0:35:22The Black Watch had originally been set up to watch the Highlands.
0:35:22 > 0:35:28Now the conflict in Afghanistan means their eyes are on lands far from these shores.
0:35:44 > 0:35:49Across the water, Invergordon's where oil rigs come for maintenance,
0:35:49 > 0:35:52but the boom times of the North Sea are over.
0:35:52 > 0:35:55New business depends on finding more oil.
0:35:59 > 0:36:06Out in the deep ocean the drillship Stena Carron is searching out fresh reserves two miles under the waves.
0:36:10 > 0:36:16The enormous depth and pressure mean the oil men use remotely-operated vehicles.
0:36:16 > 0:36:22When these ROV's are on downtime it's a rare chance for marine biologist Daniel Jones
0:36:22 > 0:36:26to turn the remote control cameras on some extraordinary creatures,
0:36:26 > 0:36:29which thrive 4,000 feet underwater.
0:36:30 > 0:36:31This is what it's all about.
0:36:31 > 0:36:35A huge amount of life down here, despite the crushing pressures
0:36:35 > 0:36:36and the low temperatures.
0:36:38 > 0:36:42That's great, it's such a beautiful animal, it's amazing to see it swimming like that.
0:36:42 > 0:36:44Quite unusual behaviour for an octopus
0:36:44 > 0:36:49but these deep-sea species often have interesting and unusual behaviours.
0:36:54 > 0:36:58So this is the giant sea spider called Colossendeis.
0:36:58 > 0:37:00Quite unusual to get animals this big on the sea floor.
0:37:00 > 0:37:03These sea spiders can grow up to about this size.
0:37:05 > 0:37:08We've found this anemone that we're really interested to capture,
0:37:08 > 0:37:11we want to have a look at it under a microscope in a laboratory.
0:37:11 > 0:37:16So we're going to use the ROV to deploy one of these sampling tubes
0:37:16 > 0:37:18and capture over the top of the animal.
0:37:18 > 0:37:21It's an extremely delicate task trying to catch this anemone,
0:37:21 > 0:37:24which is about this size,
0:37:24 > 0:37:29in a little core tube with an ROV that weighs two tonnes. That's it.
0:37:40 > 0:37:43Oil might be today's bounty of the North Sea,
0:37:43 > 0:37:48but in the early-1800s these shores were teeming with herring.
0:37:49 > 0:37:54A building boom began to cash in on the silver darlings of the sea.
0:37:55 > 0:38:00A new fishing community was planned on the Moray Firth at Burghead.
0:38:02 > 0:38:06Mark's there to discover what was built...and what was lost.
0:38:08 > 0:38:13This has all the hallmarks of a 200-year-old new town.
0:38:13 > 0:38:18Look at this, rows of little cottages all built at the same time.
0:38:20 > 0:38:22These streets are the work
0:38:22 > 0:38:25of town planners from the Georgian era.
0:38:25 > 0:38:32And at the business-end of town, a rather splendid harbour.
0:38:32 > 0:38:38Starting in 1805, the town and harbour were built to land herring,
0:38:38 > 0:38:41part of improving life for the Highlanders.
0:38:41 > 0:38:45But it's not all quite as it appears.
0:38:45 > 0:38:49From another point of view this unique little new town
0:38:49 > 0:38:54was an unfortunate piece of Georgian vandalism.
0:38:57 > 0:39:01From up here you can see the grid plan of the town.
0:39:01 > 0:39:05At the end of the houses there's a grassy area with massive earthworks,
0:39:05 > 0:39:11remains of something much older built by the Picts.
0:39:14 > 0:39:21The Picts were a mysterious tribe living in this part of Scotland some 2,000 years ago.
0:39:21 > 0:39:29This is one of their most important sites, but it's largely been flattened by the fishing port.
0:39:29 > 0:39:36To get an idea of the scale of the Pictish fort that was here, I've joined archaeologist Fraser Hunter.
0:39:38 > 0:39:41So where exactly are we in this fort?
0:39:41 > 0:39:45Well, this is a mid-18th century map of the site, here's the..
0:39:45 > 0:39:47there's two halves to the site, an upper and lower half,
0:39:47 > 0:39:49and we're standing there.
0:39:49 > 0:39:51On this ridge up the middle.
0:39:51 > 0:39:53This is one of the huge stone-built ramparts
0:39:53 > 0:39:56that divided the upper part of the site.
0:39:57 > 0:40:04These massive banks of earth are all that remain of the Picts' 1,500-year-old fort.
0:40:07 > 0:40:10And then looking across, where are all these?
0:40:10 > 0:40:14Well, underneath those houses, sadly.
0:40:14 > 0:40:18- So it's all gone.- A whole half is now covered over by the village.
0:40:21 > 0:40:24No wonder the Picts remain such a mystery.
0:40:24 > 0:40:27They ruled large parts of Scotland for centuries,
0:40:27 > 0:40:33but this seat of Pictish power was destroyed to build a fishing port.
0:40:35 > 0:40:40The new town wiped out precious clues to the culture of the Picts,
0:40:40 > 0:40:46but there are some tantalising glimpses of what was lost.
0:40:46 > 0:40:49See up here, the two pentangles?
0:40:49 > 0:40:51Oh, yes, look there and there!
0:40:51 > 0:40:55Those are things you get, again, on a number of pieces of Pictish sculpture.
0:40:55 > 0:40:59If we go on in, gosh, it's enormous!
0:40:59 > 0:41:02- It's fantastic, isn't it? - Absolutely massive.
0:41:02 > 0:41:09Deeper into the cave, a more grisly discovery in the 1920s - piles of human bones.
0:41:10 > 0:41:14The evidence we have indicates a whole range of odd things going on,
0:41:14 > 0:41:19back into deep pre-history, back into the late Bronze Age and Iron Age, so 3,000, 2,000 years ago
0:41:19 > 0:41:21this cave is being used for special purposes.
0:41:21 > 0:41:25Do you want to come back outside and I'll show you some stuff?
0:41:25 > 0:41:31Back in daylight, Fraser reveals the bones that were buried for so long.
0:41:31 > 0:41:34We have some of the bones from the excavations,
0:41:34 > 0:41:36this is human neck vertebrae.
0:41:36 > 0:41:40Look! It's been chopped.
0:41:40 > 0:41:43- And you think that one's been chopped..- Ooh!
0:41:43 > 0:41:47Whoever owned that met a very nasty fate.
0:41:47 > 0:41:50It's a beheading, somebody's been decapitated,
0:41:50 > 0:41:55and most of the vertebrae surviving from the site show that, and also a range of people.
0:41:55 > 0:41:57Those two are both adult, but this one is a juvenile.
0:41:57 > 0:42:01Juvenile... It's a grisly place.
0:42:01 > 0:42:05Yeah, a powerful place, a significant place.
0:42:05 > 0:42:08Perhaps this cave is where the Burghead Picts
0:42:08 > 0:42:12butchered their enemies, and even their enemies' children.
0:42:15 > 0:42:19The culture of the Picts remains an enigma.
0:42:19 > 0:42:21Their fort at Burghead was flattened,
0:42:21 > 0:42:26but the few precious artefacts that survive have a real power.
0:42:30 > 0:42:31Wow!
0:42:31 > 0:42:33Oh, fantastic.
0:42:33 > 0:42:36Oh, isn't that amazing?!
0:42:37 > 0:42:41- Absolutely fantastic. - One of the Burghead bulls.
0:42:41 > 0:42:45Most of them are found long after they've been knocked out of their original settings,
0:42:45 > 0:42:51and many of them, as you can see here, have also been damaged and re-used as building stones.
0:42:51 > 0:42:56It's thought that up to 30 of these bull stones were set into the walls of the fort,
0:42:56 > 0:42:58but only six have survived.
0:42:58 > 0:43:02It's almost a totem or a symbol of this site and its inhabitants.
0:43:04 > 0:43:11The bull stones are a precious connection with the once powerful Picts,
0:43:11 > 0:43:17but who knows how many more of their treasures are buried among the houses of Burghead?
0:43:27 > 0:43:30We're working out way down Scotland's eastern shoreline.
0:43:32 > 0:43:37It's a wonderful contrast to the mountainous west coast.
0:43:45 > 0:43:48Endless beaches stretch down the shore,
0:43:48 > 0:43:49waiting to be explored.
0:43:53 > 0:43:58A long, straight run of sand is interrupted by the oil city of Aberdeen.
0:44:00 > 0:44:04But we're headed a few miles beyond,
0:44:04 > 0:44:06to the little fishing port of Stonehaven.
0:44:14 > 0:44:19On the eve of every New Year, the villagers spend the day preparing for the big night ahead.
0:44:19 > 0:44:22Susan Leiper's one of them.
0:44:22 > 0:44:26Well, tonight in Stonehaven it's Hogmanay,
0:44:26 > 0:44:30it's the night where we swing our fire balls in the high street.
0:44:30 > 0:44:34This will be my tenth year of being a fire-ball swinger, and I absolutely love it.
0:44:34 > 0:44:39So this is what a fireball looks like when it's been made up
0:44:39 > 0:44:40and before it gets lit.
0:44:40 > 0:44:44In this there's old pairs of jeans, cardboard.
0:44:44 > 0:44:48There's bits of newspaper and briquettes.
0:44:48 > 0:44:52This one's about ten pounds in weight, which is heavy enough.
0:44:53 > 0:44:59So at 12 o'clock, the piper starts to march down the road, and the first fire-ball swinger is off.
0:44:59 > 0:45:02That's the point of no return, really.
0:45:10 > 0:45:13This is where it all starts to kick in.
0:45:13 > 0:45:17I'm really, really nervous, every year I'm like this at this point.
0:45:18 > 0:45:21- ALL:- Five, four, three, two, one...
0:45:31 > 0:45:34Yeah! Whoo-hoo!
0:45:39 > 0:45:42Yay! Whoo-hoo!
0:45:43 > 0:45:47I'm shattered! I've got no energy left!
0:45:52 > 0:45:58And you can feel the atmosphere's absolutely electric, and I just love it, I absolutely love it.
0:46:00 > 0:46:04Yeah! Whoo-hoo!
0:46:11 > 0:46:16Stonehaven may sparkle with fire briefly at the start of each year,
0:46:16 > 0:46:21but this coast is capable of spectacular displays at any time.
0:46:21 > 0:46:24The grey North Sea is famous for its black moods,
0:46:24 > 0:46:27when ferocious storms batter this shore.
0:46:28 > 0:46:33And sometimes they feel the fury in the tiny village of Catterline.
0:46:34 > 0:46:40A little line of houses perches high on the hillside out of the sea's reach,
0:46:40 > 0:46:44but Catterline's most celebrated resident didn't shelter from the storms.
0:46:44 > 0:46:46She embraced the raging water.
0:46:49 > 0:46:53Alice is following in the footsteps of a famous artist.
0:46:57 > 0:46:59I've got a photo here of a lone painter
0:46:59 > 0:47:01working intensely on the shore.
0:47:01 > 0:47:05You can see her facing the sea, which is boiling around the rocks,
0:47:05 > 0:47:09and she's wearing her oilskins with paint pots around her feet
0:47:09 > 0:47:11and some brushes over here.
0:47:11 > 0:47:14And this is a very big canvas, which she must be having to stabilise
0:47:14 > 0:47:18against the wind, and there's her motorbike propped up.
0:47:18 > 0:47:21Now, the artist is Joan Eardley,
0:47:21 > 0:47:25and the photograph was taken of her just here at Catterline.
0:47:27 > 0:47:31Joan Eardley was one of Britain's most important modern artists,
0:47:31 > 0:47:36and she had a long love affair with the shore at Catterline.
0:47:40 > 0:47:44This little cottage was her studio in the 1950s and '60s.
0:47:44 > 0:47:47Locals call it the Watchie.
0:47:47 > 0:47:50The Watchie was Joan's vantage point on the sea
0:47:50 > 0:47:52that so captured her heart.
0:47:52 > 0:47:56To explore the attraction, I'm off to meet a young artist
0:47:56 > 0:48:00who's also fallen under Catterline's subtle spell.
0:48:00 > 0:48:07Anna King continues the tradition Joan Eardley started - women artists coming here to paint.
0:48:07 > 0:48:12- Hello, Anna.- Hi.- How's it going? - Good, thanks.- Are you feeling inspired?
0:48:12 > 0:48:14- That's lovely, actually.- Yeah.
0:48:14 > 0:48:20I've got this lovely photo here of Joan facing out to sea and painting this really stormy sea.
0:48:20 > 0:48:23I think she painted everything around Catterline.
0:48:23 > 0:48:26I think she kind of got to know every inch of the village
0:48:26 > 0:48:28and the sea and everything.
0:48:28 > 0:48:30In fact, if you want to have a look at some paintings,
0:48:30 > 0:48:33you can see that's the south row of cottages there.
0:48:33 > 0:48:36That's lovely, that's the row up on the top of the hill, isn't it?
0:48:36 > 0:48:40A bit of a different day from today, with snow on the ground!
0:48:43 > 0:48:47It seems like quite a wild place, it seems that Jane really liked that.
0:48:47 > 0:48:51- These paintings, that one of the sea there... - It's the wildness of it.
0:48:51 > 0:48:54The sea there is actually coming over this jetty, isn't it?
0:48:54 > 0:48:56So really crashing through.
0:49:00 > 0:49:04So was it Joan herself that first drew you to Catterline?
0:49:04 > 0:49:06I like her paintings and I'd heard of her,
0:49:06 > 0:49:10but it was more the opportunity of getting to stay in the Watchie,
0:49:10 > 0:49:11the wee cottage up there.
0:49:11 > 0:49:18There's nothing to do except paint and make art, so it's pretty good for getting work done.
0:49:20 > 0:49:23The Watchie works for many artists.
0:49:23 > 0:49:28The potential of this special place was first spotted by Joan Eardley in the 1950s.
0:49:30 > 0:49:32There's something about this space
0:49:32 > 0:49:36that inspires canvas after canvas,
0:49:36 > 0:49:39and it's not hard to see why.
0:49:39 > 0:49:44This is a view that Joan Eardley would have been very familiar with,
0:49:44 > 0:49:48and I've got a recording of her voice here that I'm going to listen to.
0:49:52 > 0:49:57'When I'm painting in...in the north east,
0:49:57 > 0:50:00'I hardly ever move out of the village.
0:50:00 > 0:50:03'I hardly ever move from one spot.
0:50:03 > 0:50:09'I do feel that the more you know something, the more you can get out of it, that is the north east.
0:50:10 > 0:50:16'There's just vast waste and vast seas, vast areas of cliff.
0:50:19 > 0:50:21'Well, you've just got to paint it.'
0:50:27 > 0:50:32Joan Eardley painted the violent seascapes of Catterline time and again,
0:50:32 > 0:50:35a love affair that became an obsession.
0:50:37 > 0:50:40She asked her friends in this little coastal village
0:50:40 > 0:50:44to watch for approaching storms, so they could call her in Glasgow,
0:50:44 > 0:50:49and she could jump on her motorbike, dashing to the coast, ready to paint straightaway.
0:50:50 > 0:50:54But she was racing against time.
0:50:54 > 0:50:59In 1963, Joan put on an exhibition of her work in London,
0:50:59 > 0:51:06and it was critically acclaimed, but tragically, just as her fame was blossoming, she herself was dying.
0:51:06 > 0:51:09She'd been diagnosed with breast cancer earlier that year,
0:51:09 > 0:51:12and by August she was dead.
0:51:12 > 0:51:15She was only 42 years old.
0:51:19 > 0:51:24Joan Eardley was cremated and her ashes were scattered here at Catterline,
0:51:24 > 0:51:26but she left us a precious gift.
0:51:26 > 0:51:29Not only do her pictures survive,
0:51:29 > 0:51:31the Watchie, the studio Joan loved,
0:51:31 > 0:51:34is here for artists to discover for themselves
0:51:34 > 0:51:39what it was about Catterline that so captivated Joan.
0:51:39 > 0:51:45For me, it's the extraordinary emptiness that's so striking.
0:51:45 > 0:51:49Maybe that's the inspiration Joan Eardley found here -
0:51:49 > 0:51:52the space to be alone with the elements.
0:52:04 > 0:52:09The stark loneliness of this shoreline is soon swallowed by the mighty River Tay.
0:52:12 > 0:52:16On our journey down the east coast, we've reached Dundee.
0:52:16 > 0:52:20This city's links with its proud industrial past
0:52:20 > 0:52:22are measured out in bridges...
0:52:24 > 0:52:26..and ships.
0:52:26 > 0:52:30Discovery, the ship that took Scott to the Antarctic in 1901.
0:52:32 > 0:52:36But I've come to rekindle an old passion of my own.
0:52:39 > 0:52:41How about this?
0:52:41 > 0:52:43Not a lighthouse, but a lightship.
0:52:43 > 0:52:46Now that's a bright idea.
0:52:48 > 0:52:53The North Carr lightship looks like a boat with a big light plonked onto the top,
0:52:53 > 0:52:56but below deck there's something missing.
0:52:56 > 0:53:01This is a ship with no propeller and no engine to drive on, either.
0:53:01 > 0:53:06The ship spent months anchored off the coast of Fife, manned by a crew of 11.
0:53:09 > 0:53:16Imagine 11 sea dogs moored at sea in this thing, an oversized tin can.
0:53:16 > 0:53:21They kept the light burning, and no doubt saved countless lives.
0:53:22 > 0:53:27But on December 8th 1959, this lightship wasn't saving lives.
0:53:27 > 0:53:29It was claiming them.
0:53:29 > 0:53:32As the east coast was lashed by terrible blizzards,
0:53:32 > 0:53:37the anchor chain that had held the North Carr fast for so long snapped.
0:53:39 > 0:53:44The lightship herself was heading for disaster on the very rocks she was there to warn against.
0:53:44 > 0:53:46The crew sent out a mayday.
0:53:49 > 0:53:53The lifeboat Mona responded to the distress call.
0:53:53 > 0:53:56She battled her way through enormous waves,
0:53:56 > 0:54:00attempting to save the lightship and the 11 men trapped on board.
0:54:02 > 0:54:08But that lifeboat, the Mona, never reached the lightship or the men sheltering inside her.
0:54:08 > 0:54:12Come daybreak, the crew aboard here had survived,
0:54:12 > 0:54:16but the bodies of seven of the lifeboat men were found washed up on a nearby beach.
0:54:16 > 0:54:20The body of the eighth lifeboat man was never found.
0:54:24 > 0:54:32The North Carr lightship eventually finished service in 1975 and was moored permanently here in Dundee.
0:54:34 > 0:54:37She leaves me with mixed feelings.
0:54:37 > 0:54:40No doubt the North Carr saved lives,
0:54:40 > 0:54:41but she also cost lives.
0:54:48 > 0:54:52As the coast turns a corner into the wide waters of the Firth of Forth,
0:54:52 > 0:54:56we're approaching our destination, Edinburgh.
0:55:00 > 0:55:04Famously the financial heart of Scotland, much of the city's wealth
0:55:04 > 0:55:08has been built on sea trade and in former days shipbuilding,
0:55:08 > 0:55:12where the capital embraces the water at the docks of Leith.
0:55:14 > 0:55:19Engineering excellence spilled out of Edinburgh along its shore.
0:55:19 > 0:55:23The mighty rail bridge has become a global symbol for the city.
0:55:25 > 0:55:29But there's a less well-known engineering innovation from these parts
0:55:29 > 0:55:32that's had a huge impact worldwide.
0:55:32 > 0:55:39Just over 200 years ago, the world's first practical steamboat was being invented not far from here.
0:55:41 > 0:55:46In 1803, this coal-fired boat, the Charlotte Dundas,
0:55:46 > 0:55:51became the first steamer powerful enough to pull more than her own weight.
0:55:51 > 0:55:54This was the boat that launched the Steam Age.
0:55:58 > 0:56:04Now goods and people could be transported faster and further than ever before,
0:56:04 > 0:56:08and there are some who still keep their steam heritage alive.
0:56:08 > 0:56:10Permission to come aboard?
0:56:10 > 0:56:11Yes, certainly!
0:56:11 > 0:56:14Tom Peebles built the Talisker himself.
0:56:14 > 0:56:18Those early pioneers of the Steam Age would be at home onboard.
0:56:25 > 0:56:30What is it for you, or for anyone, about steam? What's the draw?
0:56:30 > 0:56:35It's kind of hard to describe it, but you know when something
0:56:35 > 0:56:37gets you going,
0:56:37 > 0:56:41and steam, the smell of the engine, the coal, the whole thing.
0:56:41 > 0:56:45You can feel, smell and hear everything that goes on.
0:56:45 > 0:56:47They won't go without a lot of attention
0:56:47 > 0:56:50and a kiss and a cuddle at night before you go away.
0:56:51 > 0:56:54- That's entirely between you and your boat!- Yes!
0:56:57 > 0:56:59WHISTLE TOOTS
0:57:01 > 0:57:07We've almost come full circle, after a 400-mile journey around and through Scotland,
0:57:07 > 0:57:10to end up off the coast of Edinburgh,
0:57:10 > 0:57:12only 40 miles from Glasgow, where we started.
0:57:16 > 0:57:19Connecting great cities with wild frontiers,
0:57:19 > 0:57:23uniting west and east coasts,
0:57:23 > 0:57:28it's the engineering feats of the people who lived on these shores that made that journey possible.
0:57:31 > 0:57:34From the vast Queen Mary...
0:57:35 > 0:57:39..to the irrepressible puffers,
0:57:39 > 0:57:43via the audacious Caledonian Canal
0:57:43 > 0:57:46to this wee speedster.
0:57:46 > 0:57:52My journey began with steam, and it ends with steam.
0:57:55 > 0:57:58Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:57:58 > 0:58:01E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk