Scotland's Western Isles Coast

-Oh, my God!

-Heave, two, three.

Heave!

We're back, at the very edge of our isles.

But now we're on a whole new kind of adventure.

A unique, Great Guide to our coast.

But this is a guide beyond anything you'll find

in your average tourist brochure.

A guide crammed with local knowledge,

amazing discoveries and stunning secret spots.

Coast and our expert crew have spent

over ten years navigating this ever-changing natural wonder.

And now we're bringing it all together, and more,

to give you the ultimate guide to our coast.

We've selected eight stretches of British coast.

North, south, east, west, and some of the best bits in between.

Each week we'll be taking to the sea

in a remarkable array of boats and ships.

We'll have a completely fresh perspective on the coast.

We'll seek out charismatic characters...

Andy, fancy seeing you here!

..momentous events...

This is Britain's most deadly shoreline.

..secret spots and surprising stories.

There's no denying that there's a charge to be had

from holding something like this.

A brand-new view of our coast with all the inside info you need

to enjoy these shorelines like a local.

All the way, all the way!

This time, I'm heading for Scotland.

This is Coast...

The Great Guide.

On the West Coast of Scotland is an alluring island paradise.

Remote...

rocky...

breathtakingly beautiful.

Each island has its own personality,

but these scattered gems and their inhabitants

share a resilient, resourceful character.

Life here is far from easy...

..but the rewards are rich.

On a day like today, these islands are a heaven on earth

and every inch cries out to be explored.

But they're not for the unadventurous.

We know.

Do you know, I reckon this is the most astounding spot

I've ever trodden on in the British Isles. Unbelievable!

The Coast experts have been delving into

this intricate tangle of islands, lochs and sounds

for more than a decade...

Oh, wow!

Just look at that.

There's something almost a bit magical about it.

..digging deep into local knowledge...

Oh!

-Beauty!

-There you go.

..to tell you all you need to know about these shores.

And now we're back in a landscape that I truly love,

and we're going to discover just what it is

that makes these islands so special.

We're going to go off the beaten track,

we're going to throw away the traditional tourist books,

because this is OUR Great Guide to the Western Isles.

I'll be making voyages,

taking in some stunning sights...

..hopping on and off different boats

and different islands...

..sampling the best they have to offer...

That is magnificent.

..and meeting characters who have made these remote shores their home.

I'm so glad you're in. I've come ever such a long way!

On my island-hopping journey, I'll embark from Mull...

..voyage to Staffa...

..and on to remote Gometra.

Along the way, I'll compile our Great Guide

from a wider canvas of stories

on the vast stretch of coast that makes up these Western Islands.

From Sula Sgeir in the north,

to Ailsa Craig in the south...

..the Western Isles are a coastal cluster of hundreds.

The islands of Argyll, mere miles from the mainland.

The moody waters of the Minch

separate the Inner and Outer Hebrides.

And out on a western limb, St Kilda.

My journey begins on one of the Inner Hebrides' largest islands -

Mull.

The perfect springboard for an island adventure.

A magnet for tourists, Mull is famous for its seafood,

landed in picture-perfect harbours, like Tobermory.

But I'm bypassing the obvious

and heading for a lesser-known shore on the other side of the island.

Ulva Ferry - small but perfectly formed.

-Hi, Struan.

-How are you?

-Good.

-How are you?

-Very good.

'The seafood here is second to none and I'm getting a chance to head out

'and catch it with a pro.

'My water taxi is taking me out to one of Mull's prime fishing spots.

'A watery larder that's world renowned.

'Hand caught, small quantity.

'Fresh seafood deserves its place in our Great Guide.

'And it's independent fishermen, like David Monroe,

'who deliver their daily catch to the local restaurants.'

-Morning!

-Good morning.

OK.

Morning.

'I've got a special invite to watch this old hand at work.'

-Have you always made your living here?

-Yes. Yeah, pretty much.

It's a fairly tough way to make a buck, isn't it?

A lot of hard effort.

On a poor day it's very difficult,

but on good days it's very rewarding.

I have tried several other jobs,

but I keep coming back to fishing.

And what is it that you catch here?

What is the mainstay of your operation?

We're pretty much after velvet crabs, lobsters and brown crabs.

How good is the catch around here?

In my opinion, it's very good-quality stuff here.

The colder water...and shellfish that grow a bit slower,

so you tend to get a better meat yield from the shellfish.

So there's still a bit of a treasure trove up here if you know what you're doing?

That's the secret, knowing what you're doing.

'Alongside crabs and lobster,

'Mull's king scallops are a firm tourist favourite.'

These are fertile waters up here for all creatures small and great.

Warm, plankton-rich waters of the nearby Gulf Stream

pull in much bigger predators.

24 different species of whale, dolphin and porpoise

make this coast the most diverse in Britain.

The ideal spot for whale watching.

For our guide, Miranda Krestovnikoff

got up close and personal with some magnificent minke.

Right in front!

Oh, yes! Really close.

There's another one.

We're going to use an underwater camera to appreciate the true size

and beauty of these animals.

There was a whale coming in.

A whale coming this way here, at nine o'clock.

Have you got the whale there, Mike?

-'Yep.'

-Got it here! Yeah. Beautiful.

Absolutely beautiful.

-Excellent.

-Really sleek, but it's hard to keep up with them.

They keep swimming through frame really quickly.

Whoa!

Blimey! I have to say, it's spectacular from here.

Very streamlined. You see, you don't appreciate when you see them

on the surface just how streamlined they are.

Yep, it's coming closer in now.

It's coming right underneath us.

-Fantastic. Brilliant.

-Excellent. That's so close.

It's really close.

The same waters which attract the minke

also offer the perfect habitat for a much smaller sea creature.

That's standard size.

The kind of size restaurants are looking for.

-Here we go.

-You could come with me!

What do you say? Dinner for two?

Sounds good.

Only one of us will walk away, however.

'This lobster is destined for a local restaurant,

'and that's MY next port of call.'

I'm heading back to Mull's Ballygown Bay for a taste of the home-grown.

But the next story in our guide is on an island MUCH further north.

Sula Sgeir is home to a decidedly different delicacy,

where old customs die hard.

It's home to a hunt for gannet chicks, known as guga.

It's been going on since 1549.

Nick Crane investigated what it involves.

We lift them out of the nest with a ten-foot pole

with a clamp at the end.

I pass it onto the next person behind me,

who gives it a whack on the head.

From the time I pick it out of the nest to the time it's dead,

it's about three seconds.

We start plucking them, taking the feathers off.

The next part is what we call the factory.

Two of the boys actually take the down off the birds

by dipping them into the fire

and they are passed on to the next two guys,

who actually split them open to leave four quarters of prime guga.

We then salt them and make a pile of them.

There's a special way of doing it so that the meat doesn't go off.

We build a chute to the bottom of the isle.

When we're going home, the gugas go down on the chute.

Guga hunting continues, albeit under licence.

It's a fiercely defended way of life, unique to these isles.

I've arrived at Ballygown Bay.

A handful of houses, no shops, not even a pub.

I'm heading for a little-known tiny one-room restaurant.

People pour here for a slice of island life

and all that goes with it.

I'm here to meet a lady who's cast off metropolitan life,

embraced a simpler existence

and adopted the island's spirit of resourcefulness.

Jeanette?

-Hi.

-How are you?

-Neil, how do you do?

-I'm good. I've come for lunch.

-Good.

-I've got loads on.

-Lead the way.

Making a meal from the basic and the local

is something islanders do best.

And in Jeanette Cutlack's kitchen, nothing goes to waste.

Where do you get your ingredients

-and where do you get your ideas for what you're going to do?

-Well,

I'm lucky to be surrounded by all this lovely produce.

It's not just shellfish, there's lamb and beef and venison.

You know, we've got it all right here.

That's not a local accent I'm hearing, is it?

No, unfortunately not.

I'm from Brighton.

-Yep.

-How did you come to be here?

We, um, we came in 2008.

We just thought it was beautiful.

We came in April 2008, and by July we were here.

Alongside the game and seafood,

Jeanette produces a distinctively Scottish delicacy

that's a must for our guide.

As a Scot, I never pass up the promise of haggis.

And what is this about haggis? I've seen a sign outside.

You don't get many Brighton girls making haggis.

No, I know. I had to learn a lot, a lot of trial and error.

Mostly error. We're lucky to have a slaughterhouse on the island -

not all the islands have them.

So to use a product that would otherwise go to waste, you know,

that is a nice holistic approach to using all of the animal.

So your haggis is unique around here?

It is unique because all the meat that goes in it

is from the island or from neighbouring islands.

-Could I taste some haggis?

-Yes, I've got some here, just for you.

And in a natural casing as well.

Fantastic.

That might be the best haggis I've ever had.

Sincerely.

That is truly magnificent.

Jeanette's haggis definitely, definitely

goes into the Great Guide.

Home-made isn't a gimmick up here.

It's a necessity and a way of life.

It's how communities are built and stay afloat.

Islanders have a real knack

of picking up an opportunity and running with it.

The people here are experts at island alchemy,

transforming natural assets into home-grown industries.

From burning peat for fuel, to drying herring,

even the most humble of resources has its uses.

Like seaweed.

For our guide, on the island of Skye,

Alice Roberts investigated a secret ingredient

found in this everyday algae.

This is brown gold.

Seaweed. Strange as it seems,

there are chemicals in this that, 200 years ago,

were crucial to the glass-making industry.

To make glass, you need soda ash,

and until the late 1700s Britain's main source for that was Spain.

But then came war with Napoleon, and all imports stopped.

Shattering news for the glass industry.

Except you can also get soda ash from burning seaweed,

and that was the start of the brown-goldrush.

The beaches of the Western Isles are abundant in this seaweed, or kelp.

When burned, it produces soda ash.

So 200 years ago, these quiet shorelines

were ablaze with activity.

The remains of the workers' cottages can still be seen.

As the kelp industry boomed,

they housed entire families that depended on the seaweed

for their livelihood.

Our guide salutes the remarkable resourcefulness of islanders,

past and present.

This is our Great Guide to the Western Isles.

-Good morning.

-Good morning.

-Come aboard, sir.

-How you doing?

On THIS coast, the seas are the highways.

Boats, the best way to get from A to B.

And for these islands' 200,000 annual visitors,

there is a rich choice of vessel on offer.

I'm heading out on a boat like no other.

The Glen Massan, a former fishing vessel,

'has been lovingly restored and converted

'by her resourceful owner, Andy Thoms.'

What age of vessel was she, and what condition was she in?

She was a working fishing boat, she was built in 1975.

How much did you have to do to her to make her what she is today?

A lot. We had to take everything to bits.

There is a photograph of us taking the wheelhouse off her,

and the fish hold cleaned out - a massive task.

The engine taken out for restoration, and put back in again,

and then the whole of the accommodation and deckhouses

were added by us...later.

You say 1970s built, but you have created something

that looks much older, she is a real sort of period piece, somehow.

Yes, we wanted to keep everything in keeping with the old wooden boats.

So we've used a lot of mahogany, a lot of brass.

When you see her out here on a day like today,

you can absolutely see the potential of such a boat and such a place.

Yes. But even when you see them in the wild weather,

and you can hardly see them for the rain and the mist,

they still look imposing.

See you later.

I'm going aboard,

hitching a ride in style on this majestic boat.

I'm heading south, for Mull's Loch Scridain,

famous for its staggering array of wildlife.

It's where I am hoping to spot something very special.

Nature tourism is big business up here.

There is no better way to take it all in than on this vintage craft...

..as skipper Neil White knows.

I know there's something about moving at this kind of speed

over the water, just unties the knots in your rope somehow.

It's leisurely. We plan the itinerary dependent on the weather

and what the guests want to do, as best we can.

It's a great office, it's a great place to work.

Especially on a day like this. You couldn't get better.

Quiet cruising is the perfect way to spot some local wildlife.

Whether you prefer your nature experience to be floral,

feathery or 50 fathoms deep, Coast's experts have explored it all,

and the wildlife of the Western Isles of Scotland

is a definite must-see on our Great Guide.

These shores are a twitcher's paradise.

Hen harriers, golden plover, Arctic terns.

And around half of the British corncrake population

make these islands their summer home.

But it is Loch Scridain I have come to see -

a wildlife paradise, and one of the best places to spy a bird of prey,

renowned in these parts.

I was well warned not to come up here without a pair of binoculars

because some of the wildlife is pretty hard to spot

at the best of times.

Now, this stretch of forest here, hugging the coastline,

is the home territory for a nesting pair of white-tailed sea eagles.

Now, they are our largest and rarest bird of prey.

They were hunted and poisoned to extinction in 1916,

but in more recent years they have been successfully reintroduced

all over the Western Isles, and they are definitely here on Mull.

The pair that haunt this coastline hunt in Kilfinichen Bay,

just over there.

And their favourite snack is said to be seal-pup afterbirth.

Oh, yes!

Plentiful food...

..undisturbed territory...

..and a pick of coast, loch or freshwater

make this place manna for sea eagles.

They are thriving on this coast.

Although spotting them is more luck than skill.

If you prefer your birds smaller and somewhat cuter,

head for the Shiants,

a small group of islands 80-odd miles north of Mull.

For our guide, Miranda went bird catching,

in her search for Britain's oldest puffin.

EB 73152.

34 years old.

Over 100 in puffin years.

So you are catching them in the net here.

-How does this work?

-The bird flies into some slack net.

-This pocket.

-It forms a pocket, that's right.

So it doesn't harm the bird.

It holds it there safely, and we come along and extract it.

Hopefully these burrow-faithful birds return to the same nest site.

That gives us a chance to nab EB 73152.

We'd never spot him by sight!

One puffin looks pretty much like another.

The only way we can tell is simply through the ring.

That's it, cos the birds look exactly the same

once they get to adulthood.

I would say that this one is going to be over 15 years.

That was ringed in 1990, so that is going to be 26, 27 years old,

at least.

No sign of EB 73152, but surprisingly

there are lots of old puffins.

Wow, look at that.

1st of July, 1985.

That's nearly 30 years old.

That's really awesome.

I'm looking for one long-lived bird,

but this island is full of puffin pensioners.

It's remarkable to find they can grow so old offshore.

Oh, look at that!

Cuteness in the extreme.

-You want to swap?

-Well, if you're happy to.

-Yes, have a cuddle.

-That's not going to take my arm off, is it?

Oh, look at that.

That is just the best thing.

How sweet.

The OAP puffin might have eluded Miranda, but in recent years,

a puffin to beat EB 73152 has been discovered on the Shiants.

37 years old, a new British record.

At Loch Scridain...

Well, I'd settle for ANYTHING feathery right now.

Skipper Neil thinks that he has glimpsed a dark shadow above

the trees over there, and that could be the first sign of a sea eagle.

But for me,

nothing so far.

I'm not TOO disappointed.

Seven years ago, I did strike lucky.

Not on a boat...

..but on the tiny island of Canna.

And unfortunately for me, this pair of eagles didn't nest in a tree.

This is not the best fun I've ever had.

Let me assure you.

Oh! I'm here!

I'm here! Oh, I'm so pleased.

Right.

Jolly good.

OK.

I have to say, right, at first sight,

this does not look like a bird's nest as such to me.

Is this standard issue, just a flattened platform of debris?

This is it, yes.

Uh-huh.

Quite often it's built up -

at the beginning of the season it looks a lot better,

there's a lot of sticks and seaweed and various other things.

Then it lines it a bit with heather and various things like that.

By the end of the season, of course, the birds have been here,

you know, for several months.

So by the time they're finished with this, it's as you see it now.

Still no sign of the birds.

Until, finally...

It's iconic, isn't it? To see it against the Cuillin of Skye.

-Absolutely.

-What a backdrop.

So, just how big is that bird that we are looking at?

Well, it's the largest bird of prey we have got in the UK,

and that is an 8-foot wingspan approximately.

So that is huge, and it is often described as a flying barn door,

it's very big. It's also very broad.

A very, very broad wing.

So they are absolutely massive birds,

and there are different sizes between male and female.

We find the female is a much bigger bird than the male.

-That was amazing.

-That was great.

Now, as well as eagles,

I was promised mountain hares, otters, dolphins, seals.

So far,

nothing at all. But then,

wildlife cannot be expected to stick to the script.

And it hasn't!

The wildlife might not be performing,

but the scenery here has more than made up for it.

This is our Great Guide to the Western Isles.

To discover the hidden secrets of these shores, our expert team

have been island-hopping for more than a decade.

But, if you can only fit in a whistle-stop tour,

what are the must-see sights to say you've seen this sprawling coast?

This is our flying visit.

There's no end point or start point for the Western Isles.

You just have to island-hop.

Leave the mainland on a paddle steamer

and head out to the open sea.

Past the islands of Argyll.

Some inhabited, some abandoned.

Some just half an hour from the mainland.

The wild island refuge of Arran, one of my favourites.

Where molten volcanic rock has shaped the dramatic mountains.

These are known as the Small Isles.

They've got great Gaelic names.

Canna, Rum, Eigg and Muck.

The Inner Hebrides.

Occupied for over 4,000 years,

these tiny islands cling on to a traditional way of life.

Head north for Skye, and a climber's paradise.

Dramatic pinnacles and pillars of rock.

The setting for Nick to authentically recreate

an Edwardian climb of Skye's famous Cioch.

If you fall off one side,

I go off the other side and we counterbalance with the rope.

Look at that! There's the coast.

Unbelievable. Do you know,

I reckon this is the most astounding spot I have ever trodden on in the

British Isles. I think it really is.

Across the teeming waters of the Minch to the Outer Hebrides.

A 130-mile necklace of natural wonders.

The grandaddies of coastal geology,

with some rocks three billion years old.

Mingulay is an island carved by Mother Nature.

This island claims Scotland's only inshore coral reef,

recently designated a marine protection area.

Onto South Uist's Askernish,

where the dunes conceal an 18-hole Victorian golf course.

Ten years ago, I couldn't resist a quick round.

Ya dancer! Look at that!

-Not too shabby.

-That was a cracker.

-A disaster, obviously!

You wanted to play off the beach for your second shot!

Oh, I'm great on the beach!

Further north, Benbecula,

home to a landmark resembling a giant golf ball.

Hi-tech radar that has guarded Britain against rogue aircraft

since the Cold War.

Next stop, Harris.

Soft white sand.

Turquoise waters.

And famous for its tweed.

This would be a sartorial leap for me,

to get rid of the old anorak and present Coast in a genuine Harris.

-Oh, it's very comfortable.

-How's that for you?

-It's lovely. Oh, yes.

Now, that really is an improvement, don't you think?

-Yes.

-Coast and beyond!

Harris is separated from Lewis in name only.

They're parts of the same island

with a range of mountains in between.

The Butt of Lewis is the most north-westerly inhabited point

in Europe,

and has a coast rich in archaeological remains,

like the standing stones of Callanish.

The Vikings called these islands Havbredey -

the isles on the edge of the sea.

There is nothing but 2,000 or so miles

of Atlantic Ocean between these isles and North America.

But, if you only do the unmissable sights,

then you are missing so much.

Follow us for the bigger picture.

We are exploring Scotland's Western Isles for our Great Guide.

From Mull, I've sailed five miles to the mystical island of Staffa.

It's probably the most famous rock on Scotland's splintery edge.

60 million years old.

Staffa is the stuff of legend.

Untouched, uninhabited.

A place of pilgrimage for scientists and artists alike.

This is the first time I've ever seen this for real.

All the times I've been on the islands,

I've never made it out to Staffa and the cave, and it is a wonder.

It's very reminiscent of the Giant's Causeway, actually,

but with something more added, just to make it even better.

You get a real sense of the scale from here,

and the columns give it that feel of a cathedral.

It does look like something built and designed,

rather than just a creation of nature.

Staffa's hexagonal basalt columns were formed by molten lava,

slowly cooling as it erupted into a once-freezing atmosphere.

Staffa doesn't just LOOK good.

She sounds pretty spectacular as well.

Her Gaelic name, Uamh-Binn, means "melodious cave".

In 1829, she inspired a musical maestro.

Composer Felix Mendelssohn paid homage to Staffa

with his Hebrides Overture.

OVERTURE PLAYS

Also known as Fingal's Cave.

Why IS this cave so musical?

That's a question for our Great Guide.

Hermione Cockburn took acoustic expert David Sharp

deep inside to find out.

The sound is so different as you just come through the mouth

-of the cave to where we are here.

-It just completely changes.

It is so reverberant in here, isn't it? It is just so echoey.

'Maybe that's the musical secret of this chamber, its reverberation.

'So that's what David's going to measure.'

And how is the gun going to help us measure reverberation?

OK, well, the thing about a gun is that the gunshot is a very

high-energy burst of sound. So we get the initial burst of sound,

and then we get reflected sound and reverberating sound dying away

slowly afterwards, and we are going to measure that.

So my job is to fire the gun?

Don't forget your ear defenders.

No. Thank you!

OK.

Has it shown up on the trace?

It has shown up very nicely.

This big jump up is you firing the gun,

and then we can see the sound level drops off quite gradually as we get

the reflected sound just dying away slowly.

So actually, the reverberation time is about four seconds.

Most concert halls are designed to have a reverberation time somewhere

around two seconds, so this is more echoey

than a concert hall, in terms of its acoustics.

Fingal's Cave on Staffa,

one of the best sights and sounds on the planet.

I'm heading north for Gometra,

where I'll meet the island's only full-time resident.

My route will take me past a staggering array of landscapes.

And a stop to meet an expert who's explored the secrets

beneath these seas.

For this leg of my journey,

I've swapped boats - to sail these seas like a local.

Are you any good at coiling rope?

Er... I'm going to say yes.

Give it a go.

I'll get this tight.

'I'm on deck with Mark Jardine,

'a man who has turned his love of the sea into his livelihood,

'showing tourists the ropes on his traditional sailing boat,

'the Birthe Marie.'

Mark, are you from a seafaring family?

Strangely, I'm not.

I've always been obsessed with boats and the sea,

but both my mother and father

didn't come from a maritime background.

My mother was a nurse and my father was a teacher.

How did you end up on the water, then, full-time?

My father, when he was teaching,

had good school holidays in the summer,

and we would usually come to the West Coast,

to the West Coast of Scotland, to Iona principally,

so we were always on the shore, watching boats,

and I just found it fascinating.

My job in the summer is a dream job for me, and it's a lifestyle choice.

That's my excuse when I can't, at the end of the year,

show that I've made much money! But I've had a great time.

This is our Great Guide to the Western Isles and,

while I'm surrounded by water right now,

you can't come up here without taking in some stone.

Over millennia,

colliding continents,

erupting volcanoes...

..moving ice sheets...

and an ever-changing climate have created an extraordinarily diverse

geological landscape.

This is our inside guide to the rock around here.

'And it's an epic story.'

Our experts have delved deep to discover tales

of how these islands' inhabitants

have exploited rocky riches beneath their feet.

On three islands, three different stories.

Iona, and a beautiful stone, prized through the centuries.

Ailsa Craig, and a rock integral to one of the oldest sports

in the Winter Olympics.

And Easdale,

where a 200-year-old industry roofed the world.

We started with jeweller and adventurer Adam McIntosh

on the island of Iona,

in search of a secret seam of a legendary stone - green marble.

For our guide, Adam braved the Scottish seas.

It's freezing!

On my left here, we have the old marble quarry,

and the seam of marble supposedly runs under the ocean here,

so we are going to follow the path of the green marble

and hopefully find some nice gemstones.

A-ha!

Bingo!

Lovely big chunk of Scottish green marble.

-Moment of truth, man.

-It really is,

because when you've got all this seaweed and algae growing on it,

you just don't know what's inside.

-Shall we put it on and have a go?

-Go for it. Nice.

-There we go.

-There we go.

-The moment of truth.

Oh!

-Beauty!

-There you go.

-Absolutely...

-Like strips of

-green bacon.

-Dude, that is gorgeous.

-Wicked.

-Absolutely gorgeous.

The marble is from limestone that's been metamorphosised.

This green pigment here is serpentine.

It's from ancient seaweed.

It's about 2,800 million years old.

-Wow.

-Give or take a decade or two.

But for sure, it's stunning.

Iona's marble was made from seaweed and limestone.

But a volcano can take credit for the next rock in our guide.

60 million years ago, this landscape was littered with volcanoes.

When the molten rock cooled,

it created hard cores resistant to the sea.

Ailsa Craig is a hard granite plug,

whose rock comes with a Scottish sporting pedigree.

For our guide, Nick rediscovered

how the ancient geology was

tailor-made for curling.

-Can I pick it up?

-Yes, by all means.

NICK GROANS AND LAUGHS

It weighs a tonne!

40lb exactly.

Wow!

That is beautiful. Isn't that amazing?

Now that, that's the Common Ailsa. Or Ailsite.

The thing is, I'm used to granite being very rough.

Ah, yes.

-This is so smooth.

-It polishes up very well.

Yes.

That's the blue, the running part of the stone.

-That's the bit that slides on the ice.

-Slides on the ice, yes.

Beautiful. You'd never think that a hunk of rough granite hauled out

of the top of an old volcano could be turned into something like that.

Because of the rock's unrivalled toughness, for many competitors,

they are the curling stones of choice for the Winter Olympics.

So, curling stones will be coming from Ailsa Craig for years to come.

The granite from this island will find itself

shipped to far-flung corners of the globe.

But exporting rock is no new thing in the Western Isles.

Going into our guide is the slate that roofed homes across the world.

Discovering an industry that literally changed shape of an island

was a mission for Hermione Cockburn

on Easdale.

Easdale is tiny,

yet the village is surrounded by no fewer than seven quarries.

And as you tour the island, suddenly they come into view.

Oh, wow. Just look at that.

Beautiful clear pool.

You can see over there all the slate banked up and disappearing down into

the water. There's something almost a bit magical about it,

it's just beautiful.

The quarrying was so intensive,

the landscape looks moth-eaten on a massive scale.

Big chunks of Easdale have been removed slate by slate.

And this damage was done by hand.

Quarrymen worked with picks, shovels and muscle.

If you look at the slates close-up,

you can see that it's made up of lots of thin layers and it's got a

beautiful bluey black colour.

Now, it's formed from mud that was originally laid down on an ancient

ocean floor more than 500 million years ago,

and that mud was then heated and compressed

and formed a rock, this slate,

that splits very easily into fine sheets,

making it absolutely perfect for making hardy roof tiles.

SO perfect that over nine million slates a year were exported

from Easdale at the height of the industry in the 1860s.

The Western Isles,

where geology meets industry in a breathtaking setting.

I'm heading north for isolated Gometra.

But on the way, I've popped ashore.

I'm meeting someone who combines archaeology with getting wet.

I can't resist finding out what secrets rest

-beneath the waves on this coast.

-Hi.

-How are you?

-Nice to meet you.

You too.

Annabel Lawrence is a maritime archaeologist.

She runs a fascinating project...

..set up to identify and research wrecks in the area.

It relies on local divers and local knowledge

to piece together underwater mysteries.

How much stuff is out there, you know,

just out of sight because it's underwater?

We regularly dive and we know of at least 20 sites that are accessible.

But clearly, there's a lot more there.

The earliest sites that have been found are 17th-century.

We know that there is an Armada wreck at Tobermory that hasn't been

discovered, and we've got shipwrecks right up...

The latest one was 1975.

It is extraordinary to think of it, isn't it,

that you say there's an Armada wreck out there?

You know it's there, and even after all this time, since 1588,

-no-one has pinned it down.

-That's right.

But a ship from the Armada is not the only unusual wreck

these enigmatic waters conceal.

-What is this?

-Well, this is the remains of a Sunderland flying boat,

and these were the planes that were used to go out on sorties to drop,

you know, bombs on U-boats, basically.

It's a relatively small area in the scheme of things,

and yet there's so much mystery...

-That's right.

-..lost within.

The bit I love about it the most is that we can get people that may not

have the opportunity to get involved in these sorts of projects,

and they can actually be part of solving the puzzle.

I'm continuing my journey north for Gometra...

..home to just one full-time resident.

But the next story for our guide is somewhere even more remote.

41 miles beyond the Outer Hebrides.

The wild, wild west, St Kilda.

This archipelago is the remotest spot in Britain.

Its last human residents left in the 1930s.

But it's not completely isolated.

A wild bunch call this place home.

For our guide, Andy Torbet went in search

of some rambunctious residents with

scientific significance.

St Kilda is home to Britain's only truly wild population of sheep.

Foul, wintry rain is our welcome

to the most remarkable flock of sheep in our isles.

What's unique about these sheep is they are left

totally to their own devices.

They live or die without the help or intervention from humans.

They've had to fend for themselves and survive out here.

There is not another flock of sheep like this anywhere in the UK.

Jill Pilkington knows the flock better than most.

These sheep are unique because man hasn't managed them

for thousands of years -

there's no immigration or emigration from the island,

so we have a closed population.

These are the original sheep.

All those lovely white, fluffy animals you see

-prancing around the fields.

-Yes, man saw a bit of white on one

and said, "Oh, I'll breed from that."

A Bronze Age farmer would recognise these sheep.

They have lived virtually unchanged for at least 3,000 years.

The flock has been studied for decades.

These are lovely normal-horned males, big horns. Male.

'They're researching the genetics of breeding.'

Take a circumference and length of his testicles.

'November is the ideal time to study their breeding habits.'

I've been told, as winter approaches, love is in the air,

because, as the females come into oestrous right about now,

the rut is on.

During the rut, rams lock horns.

They fight for the right to have a female all to themselves.

The scientific study of this flock is vital,

providing experts with a unique insight into breeding,

but also ageing, that could one day be relevant to humans.

Cut off from the mainland, it's a tough existence for the sheep,

but a little bit of heaven for the scientists.

Whilst life for those scientists might be isolated,

it's at least only in short bursts.

After three hours at sea, my final destination is in sight.

And the person I've come to meet is the personification of cut-off.

This is Gometra.

A true wilderness.

A platform that surveys a myriad of islands and epic seas.

There's no road, just an eight-mile dirt track to the nearest house.

Only the intrepid make it to this island.

This place describes itself as the second-most-populated island in the

Staffa archipelago, but so far I haven't seen a soul.

If you fancy it, the island is currently searching

for new residents.

The only criteria is a willingness to tend 300 sheep and some

DIY skills to renovate the island's handful of properties.

The rewards on offer are rich.

Red deer, otters, feral goats, golden eagles.

As well as utter peace and quiet.

Look. Finally, some houses.

This is where I've arranged to meet off-grid granny Rhoda Munro.

Hello, hello.

I'm so glad you're in. I've come ever such a long way!

I was hoping you would be here soon.

-How are you? Which is you?

-The second one. OK.

Rhoda, how long have you lived here?

I have lived here nine years.

We moved here from Alva, where we had farmed for 27 years.

How many other residents are there here full-time?

Full-time, there's just me at the moment.

And what's it like?

I mean, it feels remote, to say the least.

Well, it IS remote, but it's very peaceful.

You've got to like your own company.

You're never lonely. You're only lonely if you want to be lonely.

If you felt lonely here, it's not the place for you.

How do you get water, power and the rest?

There's a spring just past the last cottage, up the hill.

I don't have power. I have a little generator

that I put on for a hour or so in the evening, just to catch up

on e-mails and anything else that comes through on the computer.

-Where does the rest of your light come from?

-Candles.

-Candles.

Candles.

-NEIL LAUGHS

-I've got a good line of candles.

I could tell you the best ones to burn.

Aye, candlepower.

-It's very romantic.

-What's the single best thing about Gometra?

Everywhere you turn, there's something different.

There's sheep, deer going past your door.

You can watch the boats on the loch.

You can see the sunset, the sunrise.

This whole island is magical.

How long will you stay here?

You, yourself and you?

When the time's right to leave, I'll know.

But I'm not ready to leave here yet.

But I'll know when I do, when the time comes.

Surviving island life is a test of strength, resilience and spirit.

Our Great Guide applauds Rhoda.

A woman who has found all she needs in her own company, and this island.

-Thanks, Rhoda.

-You're very welcome.

-And do come back soon.

-I will, I will.

-OK.

-Safe travels.

-Thank you.

After Rhoda's gone, I'LL be the only resident!

If you are searching out a slice of isolation,

our guide says Gometra is the one to put on your map.

As I head back to the mainland,

I'm leaving behind a cluster of islands

bursting with immeasurable riches,

communities,

histories,

natural wonders.

This westernmost edge of Britain has revealed a world of its own,

and proudly so. The inhabitants of these islands are inspirational,

inventive, they are happy. I guarantee anyone who comes up here,

as well as being struck by the wow factor,

will be overwhelmed by the desire

to come back again and again and again.