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BIRDSONG | 0:00:02 | 0:00:05 | |
This is Coast. | 0:00:08 | 0:00:10 | |
Bunching together on beaches. | 0:00:39 | 0:00:42 | |
Hitting the waves. | 0:00:44 | 0:00:47 | |
Climbing crags. | 0:00:47 | 0:00:49 | |
Flying or fishing. | 0:00:51 | 0:00:53 | |
Pier or promenade. | 0:00:54 | 0:00:57 | |
We really do love to be beside the seaside. | 0:00:58 | 0:01:02 | |
For me, it doesn't get any better than this. | 0:01:05 | 0:01:09 | |
Hauling canvas, salt spray in your face. | 0:01:09 | 0:01:13 | |
But we all have our own passions for the pure joy of the coast. | 0:01:13 | 0:01:18 | |
We're setting sail in pursuit of those pursuits | 0:01:20 | 0:01:24 | |
that give us pleasure at our seaside leisure. | 0:01:24 | 0:01:27 | |
My passion for climbing has brought me to western Scotland. | 0:01:29 | 0:01:34 | |
Calm seas belie a towering test of nerve | 0:01:35 | 0:01:39 | |
awaiting me on the Isle of Skye. | 0:01:39 | 0:01:41 | |
This is a moment I've long savoured in my imagination. | 0:01:44 | 0:01:48 | |
Now the reality of the task ahead is sinking in. | 0:01:48 | 0:01:52 | |
I've got a date with destiny. | 0:01:54 | 0:01:57 | |
Just across the water over there, there's a climb I've long coveted. | 0:01:57 | 0:02:02 | |
A gigantic anvil of ancient stone hidden away | 0:02:02 | 0:02:05 | |
in the depths of Scotland's most fearsome mountain range. | 0:02:05 | 0:02:10 | |
I'm heading for a jagged outpost on Skye. | 0:02:11 | 0:02:15 | |
The Cuillin Ridge. | 0:02:15 | 0:02:17 | |
These torn teeth of ancient rock run from coast to coast | 0:02:17 | 0:02:21 | |
and they conceal my challenge. | 0:02:21 | 0:02:23 | |
The Cioch. | 0:02:23 | 0:02:25 | |
A protruding spear of stone. | 0:02:25 | 0:02:28 | |
It was only climbed for the first time in 1906. | 0:02:28 | 0:02:34 | |
Now it's my turn. | 0:02:34 | 0:02:36 | |
These pinnacles witnessed some epic dramas of early mountaineering. | 0:02:37 | 0:02:42 | |
I'm going back to those days | 0:02:42 | 0:02:45 | |
to discover how the Cioch took centre stage. | 0:02:45 | 0:02:49 | |
It wasn't until the Victorian era | 0:02:51 | 0:02:54 | |
that gentlemen and lady explorers began climbing for pleasure. | 0:02:54 | 0:02:58 | |
By the early 20th century, | 0:03:01 | 0:03:02 | |
the Isle of Skye was becoming a Mecca for the new mountaineers. | 0:03:02 | 0:03:07 | |
That was largely thanks to two men who are still inseparable. | 0:03:08 | 0:03:13 | |
They forged a friendship on the rock etched for eternity in stone. | 0:03:13 | 0:03:18 | |
Here lies one John Mackenzie | 0:03:20 | 0:03:23 | |
head to toe with one Norman Collie. | 0:03:23 | 0:03:26 | |
These were the two pioneering mountaineers | 0:03:26 | 0:03:29 | |
who first completed the climb I'm about to attempt. | 0:03:29 | 0:03:33 | |
They rest in the shadow of the coastal peaks | 0:03:36 | 0:03:39 | |
they explored together for half a century. | 0:03:39 | 0:03:42 | |
This brooding landscape is shrouded in mystery. | 0:03:45 | 0:03:49 | |
John Mackenzie and Norman Collie | 0:03:49 | 0:03:51 | |
took many of its secrets to their graves. | 0:03:51 | 0:03:54 | |
To discover the endless joys they found in these mountains, | 0:03:54 | 0:03:57 | |
I need to see them through their eyes. | 0:03:57 | 0:04:00 | |
For over 100 years, climbers have begun their adventures on Skye | 0:04:03 | 0:04:07 | |
at the Sligachan Hotel. | 0:04:07 | 0:04:09 | |
This is Normal Collie sitting in this inn. | 0:04:12 | 0:04:16 | |
Collie was a gentleman. | 0:04:16 | 0:04:18 | |
A professor of chemistry at University College London. | 0:04:18 | 0:04:20 | |
He lived and he worked in the capital, | 0:04:20 | 0:04:23 | |
but his heart was here on the island of Skye. | 0:04:23 | 0:04:26 | |
He was to become one of the greatest climbers of the age. | 0:04:26 | 0:04:30 | |
And here is John Mackenzie on the summit of Sgurr nan Gillean. | 0:04:30 | 0:04:33 | |
And here he is again on the ridge of the Black Cuillins. | 0:04:33 | 0:04:37 | |
Mackenzie was a highlander, a man of Skye. | 0:04:37 | 0:04:40 | |
He worked as a gillie employed by gentlemen | 0:04:40 | 0:04:43 | |
who wanted to go hunting and fishing. | 0:04:43 | 0:04:45 | |
And that's how the Scot John Mackenzie | 0:04:45 | 0:04:47 | |
met the Englishman Norman Collie. | 0:04:47 | 0:04:49 | |
Aged 27, Collie came to Skye on holiday in 1886. | 0:04:50 | 0:04:57 | |
Dressed much like this. | 0:04:57 | 0:05:00 | |
Well, the boots weigh a tonne | 0:05:00 | 0:05:02 | |
and the soles are covered in steel teeth | 0:05:02 | 0:05:05 | |
to help them grip on wet grass and rock. | 0:05:05 | 0:05:08 | |
I'm not quite sure how this stuff will perform in the wind and rain, | 0:05:08 | 0:05:11 | |
but if this lot was good enough for the original mountain men... | 0:05:11 | 0:05:15 | |
it's good enough for me. | 0:05:15 | 0:05:17 | |
Young Norman Collie had all the gear, | 0:05:20 | 0:05:22 | |
but as yet, not a clue about climbing. | 0:05:22 | 0:05:26 | |
And to make exploring harder, | 0:05:26 | 0:05:28 | |
there were no detailed maps of the Cuillin mountains. | 0:05:28 | 0:05:31 | |
To show him the way, Norman engaged John Mackenzie. | 0:05:33 | 0:05:37 | |
Coincidently, my guide is also called John. John Lyall. | 0:05:40 | 0:05:45 | |
Oh! Perfect. | 0:05:48 | 0:05:51 | |
This track we've been following is pretty well-worn, isn't it? | 0:05:51 | 0:05:54 | |
But going back 150 years, why were the Cuillins so little known? | 0:05:54 | 0:05:59 | |
Well, no-one had any reason to go up there. | 0:05:59 | 0:06:01 | |
They're just rock. They're just massive rocky, spiky peaks. | 0:06:01 | 0:06:04 | |
And no-one, none of the local people had a reason to go up there. | 0:06:04 | 0:06:08 | |
Their animals grazed low down. | 0:06:08 | 0:06:09 | |
I first saw the Black Cuillins here as a teenager | 0:06:09 | 0:06:12 | |
coming up here mountaineering in winter. | 0:06:12 | 0:06:15 | |
And, er...I found them pretty intimidating, | 0:06:15 | 0:06:17 | |
I don't mind admitting it. | 0:06:17 | 0:06:19 | |
They're spikier, they're sexier mountains than any in Britain. | 0:06:19 | 0:06:22 | |
They just rise straight out of the sea and so much rock. | 0:06:22 | 0:06:26 | |
People say they're the nearest thing we have to alpine peaks. | 0:06:26 | 0:06:29 | |
But I think they're better than that. | 0:06:29 | 0:06:31 | |
And we've got this view out over the minster, | 0:06:31 | 0:06:34 | |
the Inner Isles and outer Hebrides. | 0:06:34 | 0:06:35 | |
There's nowhere quite like it. | 0:06:35 | 0:06:37 | |
With me as English gentleman Professor Collie | 0:06:40 | 0:06:43 | |
and John as his guide John Mackenzie, | 0:06:43 | 0:06:46 | |
we're going to attempt the route they created. | 0:06:46 | 0:06:48 | |
They were the first to find and climb the Cioch. | 0:06:48 | 0:06:52 | |
So this big cliff in front of us here is Sron na Ciche. | 0:06:54 | 0:06:57 | |
It's a thousand feet high. | 0:06:57 | 0:06:59 | |
And up in the middle of that is the Cioch. | 0:06:59 | 0:07:01 | |
I don't know if you can see, there's a big like X feature. | 0:07:01 | 0:07:04 | |
A big wide crack comes up | 0:07:04 | 0:07:06 | |
and then the Cioch is right in the middle of that X. | 0:07:06 | 0:07:09 | |
So X marks the spot. | 0:07:09 | 0:07:10 | |
You'd never think there's even a feature up there. | 0:07:10 | 0:07:13 | |
It just looks like a very rugged wall of rock. | 0:07:13 | 0:07:15 | |
It's not obvious how to get to it. | 0:07:15 | 0:07:17 | |
And that was what was part of the problem for Collie | 0:07:17 | 0:07:20 | |
was to try and find a way to it. | 0:07:20 | 0:07:22 | |
They set off with just a hemp rope, | 0:07:23 | 0:07:26 | |
hobnail boots and each other to put their trust in. | 0:07:26 | 0:07:30 | |
So, this is where we have to put the rope on to go further up? | 0:07:40 | 0:07:43 | |
Yeah. It just gets a bit more serious, the drops around us, so... | 0:07:43 | 0:07:47 | |
-I'll just get you to stop on this ledge and I'll run the rope. -OK. | 0:07:49 | 0:07:53 | |
-OK, Nick. -Coming. | 0:07:57 | 0:07:59 | |
We know their route, but those bold pioneers made it up as they went. | 0:08:00 | 0:08:05 | |
Wearing vintage gear including their footwear, | 0:08:07 | 0:08:11 | |
snaking upwards feels painfully authentic. | 0:08:11 | 0:08:14 | |
The boots are probably the most excruciating weapons of torture | 0:08:14 | 0:08:20 | |
I've ever fitted to my own feet. | 0:08:20 | 0:08:22 | |
Braving uncharted territory, | 0:08:23 | 0:08:26 | |
finally, in 1906, Norman Collie and John Mackenzie made a breakthrough. | 0:08:26 | 0:08:33 | |
-So there's the Cioch. -Wow! Look at that! | 0:08:33 | 0:08:36 | |
Fantastic! | 0:08:36 | 0:08:38 | |
You can suddenly see it. | 0:08:38 | 0:08:40 | |
This great anvil of rock has haunted my imagination for ages. | 0:08:41 | 0:08:48 | |
And today's the day I get to climb it. | 0:08:48 | 0:08:51 | |
But even now, to stand atop the Cioch seems a faraway dream. | 0:08:53 | 0:08:59 | |
How did Mackenzie and Collie get to the edge? | 0:09:00 | 0:09:04 | |
Like the pioneers, our only protection on this precipitous route | 0:09:05 | 0:09:09 | |
is a single hemp rope. | 0:09:09 | 0:09:11 | |
John's rope should stop me from falling, but what if he falls? | 0:09:11 | 0:09:15 | |
The leader never falls. That was the saying of the day. | 0:09:15 | 0:09:19 | |
Nowadays, people fall off climbing a lot, | 0:09:19 | 0:09:23 | |
but in these days, you just didn't fall off. | 0:09:23 | 0:09:27 | |
So you've got two cracks now for your feet. | 0:09:30 | 0:09:33 | |
One for your left and one for your right. | 0:09:33 | 0:09:36 | |
These old boots are like gigantic chocks, aren't they? | 0:09:37 | 0:09:40 | |
Yeah, yeah. You just wedge them in. | 0:09:40 | 0:09:42 | |
And they're so stiff, it means they're really secure. | 0:09:42 | 0:09:44 | |
So, John, is this the kind of protection | 0:10:05 | 0:10:07 | |
Mackenzie and Collie would have used when they climbed up here? | 0:10:07 | 0:10:10 | |
Yeah. Just using the rope. | 0:10:10 | 0:10:12 | |
In this situation, just jamming it into the crack | 0:10:12 | 0:10:15 | |
and then the friction of the rope running around that | 0:10:15 | 0:10:18 | |
and me pulling down in this direction. | 0:10:18 | 0:10:20 | |
If you fall off there, | 0:10:20 | 0:10:21 | |
the rope just jams further into the crack and you're secure. | 0:10:21 | 0:10:24 | |
And I'll go out across here. | 0:10:26 | 0:10:29 | |
Hold on. | 0:10:31 | 0:10:32 | |
-Wow! -It's below us now. -It's spectacular! | 0:10:42 | 0:10:46 | |
What do you think was going through Collie and Mackenzie's heads | 0:10:46 | 0:10:48 | |
when they came around the corner we've just come around | 0:10:48 | 0:10:51 | |
and they suddenly saw it in front of them? | 0:10:51 | 0:10:53 | |
"We've cracked it!" | 0:10:53 | 0:10:54 | |
They would have known this was it. They'd got it. | 0:10:54 | 0:10:57 | |
The best picnic site in Britain. | 0:10:57 | 0:10:58 | |
NICK LAUGHS | 0:10:58 | 0:11:00 | |
-It's almost in touching distance. -It is. | 0:11:13 | 0:11:17 | |
It's like unlocking a maze. | 0:11:17 | 0:11:19 | |
We've been up and down, side to side | 0:11:19 | 0:11:21 | |
up cracks, along ledges down chimneys...and there it is. | 0:11:21 | 0:11:26 | |
It's got a bit of a sting in the tail. | 0:11:26 | 0:11:28 | |
How are we going to get along there? | 0:11:28 | 0:11:30 | |
You're going to walk along it initially. | 0:11:30 | 0:11:32 | |
Further down, it gets a bit more rounded | 0:11:32 | 0:11:33 | |
and if you want to get down on your backside, that's fine. | 0:11:33 | 0:11:36 | |
This is where the rope technique gets interesting. | 0:11:36 | 0:11:39 | |
A bit more alpine. | 0:11:39 | 0:11:40 | |
If you fall off one side, I go off the other side, | 0:11:40 | 0:11:43 | |
then we counterbalance with the rope. That's the idea. | 0:11:43 | 0:11:46 | |
I think we'd better make sure that doesn't happen. | 0:11:46 | 0:11:48 | |
-Just stay on the crest. -Yeah. | 0:11:48 | 0:11:50 | |
Jeepers! | 0:11:52 | 0:11:54 | |
This is something else. | 0:11:54 | 0:11:55 | |
I used to slide down banisters as a small boy, | 0:11:56 | 0:11:59 | |
but this beats all the banister-sliding I've ever done. | 0:11:59 | 0:12:01 | |
Right. | 0:12:15 | 0:12:17 | |
That may not have been very elegant, | 0:12:17 | 0:12:19 | |
but it's still a technical issue now, which is getting up that. | 0:12:19 | 0:12:23 | |
Shall I wait here, John? | 0:12:23 | 0:12:25 | |
I really cannot believe this is happening. | 0:12:39 | 0:12:41 | |
Standing on top of the Cioch. | 0:12:44 | 0:12:45 | |
Unbelievable. | 0:12:48 | 0:12:49 | |
Oh! | 0:12:52 | 0:12:53 | |
Do you fancy a swordfight(?) | 0:12:56 | 0:12:58 | |
NICK LAUGHS | 0:12:58 | 0:13:00 | |
Look at that! There's the coast. | 0:13:00 | 0:13:03 | |
All the way. Fantastic Outer Hebrides. | 0:13:03 | 0:13:06 | |
Unbelievable! | 0:13:06 | 0:13:08 | |
Do you know, I reckon this is the most astounding spot | 0:13:08 | 0:13:11 | |
-I've ever trodden on in the British Isles. -Mm. | 0:13:11 | 0:13:13 | |
I think it really is. | 0:13:13 | 0:13:16 | |
-It feels almost... -Sacred. | 0:13:16 | 0:13:18 | |
I was just going to use that word. It's a sacred place. | 0:13:18 | 0:13:20 | |
Yeah. I think amongst climbers, places like this are special. | 0:13:20 | 0:13:23 | |
I can imagine Collie taking his friends up here, | 0:13:23 | 0:13:26 | |
sitting here with bottles of wine and having a picnic and talking, | 0:13:26 | 0:13:29 | |
looking out to this view. | 0:13:29 | 0:13:31 | |
It's, er...it's kind of special. | 0:13:31 | 0:13:33 | |
I think Victorians are meant to shake hands at a moment like this. | 0:13:35 | 0:13:39 | |
Well done, old boy. | 0:13:39 | 0:13:40 | |
Thank you, trusted guide. | 0:13:40 | 0:13:43 | |
-Well done. -Thank you, John, very much. | 0:13:43 | 0:13:46 | |
Such moments of great joy are short-lived. | 0:13:47 | 0:13:51 | |
But the friendship of the men who were the first to stand here in 1906 | 0:13:51 | 0:13:56 | |
endured for years. | 0:13:56 | 0:13:58 | |
Englishman Norman Collie went on to explore mountains around the world, | 0:14:01 | 0:14:06 | |
but climbed on with John Mackenzie, | 0:14:06 | 0:14:08 | |
always returning to renew the bond with his Scottish guide. | 0:14:08 | 0:14:12 | |
I can empathise, having made my own bond with my guide, John Lyall. | 0:14:14 | 0:14:20 | |
Together, Mackenzie and Collie | 0:14:20 | 0:14:22 | |
explored these mountains year after year. | 0:14:22 | 0:14:27 | |
That is until 1933, when John Mackenzie died. | 0:14:27 | 0:14:31 | |
His friend Norman Collie was a private man, | 0:14:34 | 0:14:38 | |
not used to public displays of affection. | 0:14:38 | 0:14:40 | |
But Norman penned an obituary for John. He wrote... | 0:14:41 | 0:14:45 | |
"There is no-one who can take his place. | 0:14:45 | 0:14:49 | |
"Those who knew him will remember him as a perfect gentleman. | 0:14:49 | 0:14:53 | |
"One who never offended by word or deed. | 0:14:53 | 0:14:57 | |
"He has left a gap that cannot be filled. | 0:14:57 | 0:15:00 | |
"There was only one John." | 0:15:00 | 0:15:03 | |
When he retired, Norman Collie left England for his beloved Skye. | 0:15:09 | 0:15:14 | |
He lived at the Sligachan Hotel | 0:15:15 | 0:15:17 | |
where he'd stayed on his first visit some 40 years before. | 0:15:17 | 0:15:21 | |
Norman commissioned a portrait | 0:15:22 | 0:15:24 | |
of his climbing companion John Mackenzie. | 0:15:24 | 0:15:27 | |
The picture kept him company in the hotel during his final years. | 0:15:28 | 0:15:33 | |
Norman Collie would sit alone in the window, | 0:15:33 | 0:15:36 | |
looking up at the mountains he'd shared with his friend. | 0:15:36 | 0:15:40 | |
A partnership reunited when Collie died in 1942. | 0:15:40 | 0:15:45 | |
In the tiny cemetery at Bracadale at his request, | 0:15:46 | 0:15:50 | |
Norman lies next to John Mackenzie. | 0:15:50 | 0:15:53 | |
The joy they found in the mountains of Skye is with them for ever. | 0:15:53 | 0:15:57 | |
We're exploring pursuits that bring us joy on our coast. | 0:16:11 | 0:16:16 | |
My journey has brought me to Scotland's Western Isles, | 0:16:17 | 0:16:21 | |
where I've conquered the Cioch to find my new favourite view. | 0:16:21 | 0:16:26 | |
Do you know, I reckon this is the most astounding spot | 0:16:28 | 0:16:31 | |
that I've ever trodden on in the British Isles. | 0:16:31 | 0:16:34 | |
And it was worth every blister. | 0:16:34 | 0:16:36 | |
This has been a real pleasure cruise, and it's not over yet. | 0:16:40 | 0:16:44 | |
I'm on the way to one of my favourite natural wonders. | 0:16:46 | 0:16:50 | |
This is one last sight I've just got to share with you. | 0:16:50 | 0:16:54 | |
Many say it's better to journey than to arrive. | 0:16:57 | 0:17:02 | |
But some destinations bring a special joy all of their own. | 0:17:02 | 0:17:08 | |
The unbridled beauty of Loch Coruisk is picture-perfect. | 0:17:09 | 0:17:14 | |
Nestled in the heart of Skye, | 0:17:21 | 0:17:23 | |
this cauldron of water stirs the soul. | 0:17:23 | 0:17:27 | |
How can your spirits not soar where sea and mountains meet? | 0:17:33 | 0:17:39 | |
We're blessed to have so many sites | 0:17:39 | 0:17:41 | |
of such stunning beauty around our shores. | 0:17:41 | 0:17:45 | |
Discovering the ones that have a meaning for you | 0:17:45 | 0:17:48 | |
is the real joy of our coast. | 0:17:48 | 0:17:51 |