0:00:04 > 0:00:06We are a watery nation.
0:00:06 > 0:00:11Rivers shape our landscape and they made our history.
0:00:11 > 0:00:14But today they seem like forgotten highways into the back garden of Britain.
0:00:14 > 0:00:20So, where will they take me as I set off into white water?
0:00:20 > 0:00:23I'll take a crash course in kayaking skills...
0:00:23 > 0:00:25Whoo!
0:00:26 > 0:00:30Drift into some of the most beautiful landscape in the world...
0:00:30 > 0:00:32This is a great river for canoeing.
0:00:32 > 0:00:36And plunge up to my neck to feel the force for myself.
0:00:36 > 0:00:41I'm getting acquainted with the wild rivers of Scotland.
0:01:08 > 0:01:12Furious, powerful water charges through the Scottish highlands.
0:01:12 > 0:01:18And a river is never more powerful than when it's vertical, which is why I'm starting here
0:01:18 > 0:01:21at Kinlochleven, in the west of Scotland.
0:01:21 > 0:01:24I'm going to go down the side of a waterfall over there.
0:01:26 > 0:01:29It's called the Grey Mare's Tail,
0:01:29 > 0:01:31falls about 80 metres.
0:01:31 > 0:01:36It was called that by Edward VII, I think,
0:01:36 > 0:01:40who saw it and said it reminded him of his favourite horse.
0:01:40 > 0:01:42Oh, wow!
0:01:42 > 0:01:48Though I don't think Edward VII actually saw it from this angle, exactly.
0:01:48 > 0:01:55If you can hear a slight wobble in my voice it's because I'm terrified out of my mind.
0:01:55 > 0:01:57Ah!
0:01:57 > 0:02:02I do not like the feel of this.
0:02:02 > 0:02:04It's very, very slippery.
0:02:05 > 0:02:11'It isn't just angle and altitude that makes this abseil difficult, it's my harness...
0:02:11 > 0:02:13'It seems to want to cut me in half.'
0:02:13 > 0:02:15This is really hurting.
0:02:21 > 0:02:22Agh!
0:02:22 > 0:02:27I think exploring Scotland's rivers is going to be a serious undertaking.
0:02:27 > 0:02:29HE GROANS LOUDLY
0:02:30 > 0:02:32The water...
0:02:32 > 0:02:34that's charging past me here...
0:02:34 > 0:02:41weighs...just under a ton for every cubic metre.
0:02:41 > 0:02:46That means it can do a hell of a lot of damage.
0:02:47 > 0:02:53'I can barely keep my footing as the torrent tries to sweep me away. Its strength is astonishing.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56'The force battering me has been doing the same to the landscape
0:02:56 > 0:03:01'for thousands of years, fuelled by rainfall and snow melt.
0:03:08 > 0:03:13'This is just the beginning of a 100-mile trek across Scotland.'
0:03:16 > 0:03:19Let's have a look at where we're going.
0:03:19 > 0:03:24I've started at Kinlochleven, and from here I'm climbing uphill
0:03:24 > 0:03:27into the mountains, to a high, western edge
0:03:27 > 0:03:30nearly 1,200 feet above sea level.
0:03:30 > 0:03:33There, the water divides
0:03:33 > 0:03:36and I'll be heading down a much longer, gentle slope east,
0:03:36 > 0:03:42exploring rivers that join the longest in Scotland, the Tay, to end in Perth.
0:03:46 > 0:03:53The waterfall I came down flows into the Leven, a surprisingly sedate river by comparison.
0:03:53 > 0:03:56But, in fact, it used to be a much more powerful force.
0:03:56 > 0:03:59Somehow it has almost been stopped in its tracks.
0:03:59 > 0:04:02- There's a road to drive up? - There is a road.- That's good.
0:04:02 > 0:04:07I've arranged to meet Avril Watt, who knows all about who was responsible
0:04:07 > 0:04:10for challenging the power of nature.
0:04:13 > 0:04:15We're driving up, following the course of the river,
0:04:15 > 0:04:18although we're quickly hundreds of feet above it.
0:04:29 > 0:04:34The Leven was once a sizeable stream that charged down the mountains to the west coast.
0:04:34 > 0:04:38Its energy attracted the attention of engineers, who'd worked out
0:04:38 > 0:04:40how to convert water power into electricity
0:04:40 > 0:04:43as long ago as the 1880s.
0:04:43 > 0:04:47Huge amounts of electricity were needed to make aluminium,
0:04:47 > 0:04:50a new metal which would revolutionise industry.
0:04:50 > 0:04:53So high in the mountains, the river's power was harnessed by
0:04:53 > 0:04:59the Blackwater Dam creating an eight-mile long reservoir.
0:05:03 > 0:05:08The most fascinating thing, if you look at this dam and the size of it,
0:05:08 > 0:05:13that was made with pick, shovel, hammer...and men.
0:05:13 > 0:05:15Blood and sweat,
0:05:15 > 0:05:17that's what that was made of.
0:05:17 > 0:05:25Completed in 1907, this was the biggest dam in Europe, nearly a kilometre long and 26 metres high.
0:05:25 > 0:05:28It was an unprecedented feat of engineering.
0:05:28 > 0:05:34And, apart from the odd crane, the thousand workers had almost no machinery to help them make it.
0:05:34 > 0:05:35Now they were called navvies
0:05:35 > 0:05:40and we think of navvies as being generally Irish but they came from all over, didn't they?
0:05:40 > 0:05:44Exactly, a lot of these men were academics and well-read and business men.
0:05:44 > 0:05:48And through no fault of their own, possibly, they went down in life
0:05:48 > 0:05:50and this was the only way they could get money.
0:05:50 > 0:05:54After building a dam by hand, I should think these guys needed a drink.
0:05:54 > 0:05:59But the only place to get a drink was in Glencoe, a four-mile hike over the mountain.
0:05:59 > 0:06:04Contrary to public opinion, alcohol and the cold do not mix.
0:06:04 > 0:06:07So when the men came back, absolutely stotting,
0:06:07 > 0:06:11they would stumble, fall in the snow and they would die from hypothermia.
0:06:11 > 0:06:16But the next lot that came behind them, found them. They would rifle their pockets,
0:06:16 > 0:06:20take their jackets and their boots - if they were better than theirs - because that's how they lived.
0:06:20 > 0:06:23Well, it sounds a bit like one of those Wild West films, doesn't it?
0:06:23 > 0:06:26That's exactly what it was like, exactly.
0:06:26 > 0:06:28Up here was like the Wild West.
0:06:28 > 0:06:34Only a few hundred metres from the dam is the graveyard of some of the men who built it.
0:06:42 > 0:06:47It's not every body that was found because they died of hypothermia because they were drunk.
0:06:47 > 0:06:52There's only 19 graves here, compared with thousands of men that worked on the dam.
0:06:52 > 0:06:56And these gravestones, they're actually made of concrete.
0:06:56 > 0:06:58Yes, the same as the dam.
0:06:58 > 0:07:03It makes the dam itself seem like another giant gravestone.
0:07:03 > 0:07:07The only evidence of the workers' sacrifice that's left.
0:07:07 > 0:07:13Kinlochleven's aluminium factory has closed, no longer needing the energy the navvies harnessed.
0:07:15 > 0:07:20It's almost as if the river has been robbed of that power.
0:07:20 > 0:07:26The water is all coming into this reservoir from the east...
0:07:26 > 0:07:30and that's the way we're going to go.
0:07:33 > 0:07:39Blackwater Reservoir stretches towards the highest point of my trip, on Rannoch Moor.
0:07:39 > 0:07:42It's a vast and desolate place.
0:07:42 > 0:07:45Fifty square miles of peat, heather and bog.
0:07:45 > 0:07:49If you want to get across it, it helps to have one of these.
0:07:52 > 0:07:54HE LAUGHS
0:08:01 > 0:08:06Now the water from this little loch drains back the way I've come,
0:08:06 > 0:08:09west, into the reservoir and the dam.
0:08:09 > 0:08:10100 metres beyond it,
0:08:10 > 0:08:14this peaty bog doesn't look as if it's flowing anywhere but...
0:08:14 > 0:08:17in fact, this is where it starts a journey,
0:08:17 > 0:08:23sneaking off, oozing off, into the mist over there.
0:08:23 > 0:08:29A 'watershed' sounds like a dramatic thing, beyond which there might be sex and bad language.
0:08:29 > 0:08:34But here it simply means the moor has begun to gently slope east.
0:08:34 > 0:08:36And I'm going to go with it...
0:08:36 > 0:08:41And I suppose, nice, because it will be downhill from here...
0:08:42 > 0:08:47Except I don't think it's going to be a smooth descent...
0:08:49 > 0:08:50Come on!
0:08:50 > 0:08:53HE WHISTLES
0:09:02 > 0:09:04Leave it!
0:09:04 > 0:09:07Oh! Ah, ah!
0:09:07 > 0:09:10Come on!
0:09:10 > 0:09:11Ugh!
0:09:16 > 0:09:17HE YELLS
0:09:19 > 0:09:24The boggy water of Rannoch will eventually find its way to the sea more than 80 miles away.
0:09:24 > 0:09:28In between, many more rivers will join it,
0:09:28 > 0:09:32flowing through a succession of lochs before reaching the Tay.
0:09:32 > 0:09:37My first downstream experience will be on the River Gaur.
0:09:41 > 0:09:42It looks so wonderful.
0:09:42 > 0:09:48We're in a very, very remote bit of Perthshire, right at the top corner.
0:09:48 > 0:09:53We're not very far from where the four counties meet -
0:09:53 > 0:09:57Perthshire, Inverness-shire, Argyllshire, and the other one.
0:09:57 > 0:10:01I've forgotten what the other one is.
0:10:01 > 0:10:06We'll be coming to the Bridge of Gaur where, finally, I'll be able to get
0:10:06 > 0:10:10my Canadian Canoes onto the river and do a bit of paddling.
0:10:10 > 0:10:14These are beloved canoes, these ones.
0:10:14 > 0:10:17They've been with me for a good ten years now.
0:10:17 > 0:10:19Someone was selling them second-hand.
0:10:19 > 0:10:21The whole kaboosh.
0:10:21 > 0:10:24Trailer, two canoes, paddles, the lot.
0:10:24 > 0:10:27Now a sensible person would've thought, at that stage,
0:10:27 > 0:10:32why would anybody want to sell an entire hobby?
0:10:32 > 0:10:35But I've rather enjoyed owning them.
0:10:35 > 0:10:40Although I can't say I've mastered every mystery of this ancient form of transportation.
0:10:40 > 0:10:45They believe canoes were first used some 10,000 years ago.
0:10:45 > 0:10:50Dave Latham hasn't been around that long, but he knows a lot about them.
0:10:50 > 0:10:55Effectively, this is no longer known as a Canadian canoe though is it, is that right?
0:10:55 > 0:10:58I don't think it's ever been known as a Canadian canoe anywhere but the UK.
0:10:58 > 0:11:00What made a canoe so useful?
0:11:00 > 0:11:04It's very light, it can be made with the materials that they had around about them.
0:11:04 > 0:11:06It could go upstream, downstream.
0:11:06 > 0:11:11It could be carried very, very straightforwardly through portage trails, around rapids.
0:11:11 > 0:11:16Can you portage this on your own? Can you lift it up?
0:11:19 > 0:11:21And away we go. GRIFF LAUGHS
0:11:21 > 0:11:24Let's have a go, let me have a go.
0:11:24 > 0:11:28Watch this, Cadbury, it's as simple as...
0:11:28 > 0:11:30Heeyaah!
0:11:30 > 0:11:32Over, get underneath it.
0:11:34 > 0:11:37It's up!
0:11:37 > 0:11:40Don't drop it, don't let it roll.
0:11:41 > 0:11:45I got it this far. Ah two, ah three.
0:11:46 > 0:11:49It's a long way forward, my yoke.
0:11:49 > 0:11:51Ah well, it should be in the middle or it won't work.
0:11:51 > 0:11:54It's going over my shoulder now.
0:11:54 > 0:11:55Wha-ay!
0:11:58 > 0:12:01Now I know why somebody wanted to sell me their hobby.
0:12:01 > 0:12:04They'd probably slipped a disc!
0:12:06 > 0:12:14I prefer moving about on the river, though I notice that Dave has his own paddling technique.
0:12:14 > 0:12:19You paddle pretty much continuously on one side, do you?
0:12:19 > 0:12:22Until that side gets tired, yes, and then I'll swap over.
0:12:22 > 0:12:24But you paddle and then steer?
0:12:24 > 0:12:27I like to get the speed effect of having a paddle on both sides.
0:12:27 > 0:12:35I can get the speed on the one side without hardly any drag just by gently rolling my top hand over...
0:12:37 > 0:12:39- Thumb down, though.- Down?
0:12:39 > 0:12:42Yeah. Out and down.
0:12:44 > 0:12:49- A couple of thousand strokes and you'll have it cracked!- Hmm.
0:13:06 > 0:13:11The River Gaur flows into Loch Rannoch, which stretches nine miles east.
0:13:11 > 0:13:15I'm still 50 miles from Perth, and with night falling
0:13:15 > 0:13:19there's the perfect place to rest for me and my dog, Cadbury.
0:13:40 > 0:13:45- Good evening.- Good evening. I think I've got a room here, Rhys-Jones.
0:13:45 > 0:13:48Rhys-Jones. Yes, certainly.
0:13:48 > 0:13:49Room 40.
0:13:49 > 0:13:52- It's all right if I have the dog? - The dog is fine.
0:13:52 > 0:13:56To be honest, I was rather hoping you'd say that he wasn't allowed
0:13:56 > 0:13:58so that I could put him somewhere else!
0:13:58 > 0:14:02- Here we go, another sleepless night. - Good luck.
0:14:08 > 0:14:10Yes, I know. Yes, hotel room.
0:14:10 > 0:14:17He always gets in a complete state about a new hotel. I've got absolutely no explanation for it.
0:14:17 > 0:14:20He's spent the entire day sitting around in a sort of stupor
0:14:20 > 0:14:22and as soon as we get to the hotel he just can't wait.
0:14:22 > 0:14:26Just cannot wait. He's like a sort of canine hotel inspector.
0:14:27 > 0:14:29I'm here!
0:14:33 > 0:14:35Has he started whining?
0:14:38 > 0:14:41No. Not yet, but he will do.
0:14:41 > 0:14:45I've stuck him in the little ante room and in a little bit he'll start whining.
0:14:45 > 0:14:51He whines and pants and generally creates for about three, four hours
0:14:51 > 0:14:57and I finally relent and let him in here and at three in the morning he wakes up and licks me all over.
0:14:58 > 0:15:00- HE SIGHS - It's exhausting.
0:15:00 > 0:15:03This is real trial, human endeavour,
0:15:03 > 0:15:09having to share a room with a large chocolate Labrador.
0:15:09 > 0:15:11HE SIGHS
0:15:11 > 0:15:14CADBURY PANTS
0:15:14 > 0:15:18- That's it. Yep... - MIMICS PANTING
0:15:18 > 0:15:21DOG WHINES
0:15:34 > 0:15:40After a few scant hours of slobber-free sleep, it's time to get back on the water.
0:15:44 > 0:15:48Flowing out of Loch Rannoch to the east is the River Tummel.
0:15:48 > 0:15:52I'm hoping to paddle down to where the next loch begins.
0:15:56 > 0:15:59Here in Scotland, thanks to campaigners,
0:15:59 > 0:16:04as long as a river is navigable I am, apparently, allowed to canoe along it,
0:16:04 > 0:16:07whether the landowner wants me to or not.
0:16:07 > 0:16:14To test this out, Cadbury and I are to be joined by Mary Conacher, a kind of canoeing freedom fighter.
0:16:14 > 0:16:16Hello, Mary.
0:16:16 > 0:16:19- How are you? - How do you do, nice to see you.
0:16:19 > 0:16:24Now we're going on this next bit of the river...and you're fantastically well equipped here.
0:16:24 > 0:16:28That's the way you'll have to be. Look at the speed it's going.
0:16:28 > 0:16:31- I know. I'd better...- I think you'd better get dressed, yes.
0:16:31 > 0:16:33- I'd better get ready to canoe!- OK.
0:16:33 > 0:16:35I will!
0:16:37 > 0:16:39What's the appeal for you then?
0:16:39 > 0:16:41Oh, it's absolutely beautiful.
0:16:41 > 0:16:45Most canoeists love the countryside.
0:16:45 > 0:16:48Mary, we're quite at liberty to canoe this river, are we?
0:16:48 > 0:16:50Yes, you can.
0:16:50 > 0:16:55This is our canoeists' pathway, as it were, whereas other people
0:16:55 > 0:16:59have walking areas and cycling areas, we have the water.
0:16:59 > 0:17:02So we have the right to go just like everybody else.
0:17:02 > 0:17:06But that's certainly not true in most of England and Wales.
0:17:06 > 0:17:09You are just not allowed to put your boat in.
0:17:09 > 0:17:13No. We have responsible access to the countryside, basically.
0:17:13 > 0:17:17Rights of access are all very well, but the River Tummel has no respect for Scots law.
0:17:17 > 0:17:23It's powerful enough to impose restraining orders of its own on canoeists.
0:17:23 > 0:17:25I don't like the look of that down there.
0:17:26 > 0:17:30Downstream, dozens of huge trees are lying in our way.
0:17:30 > 0:17:35They've been ripped from their roots when the swollen river eroded the bank.
0:17:35 > 0:17:38It's literally a log-jam,
0:17:38 > 0:17:43and changes the gentle social paddle into something more challenging...
0:17:43 > 0:17:48It's the sort of a sense of nervousness that comes over me with THREE units.
0:17:48 > 0:17:53And one of them, the dog in particular, it's slightly like a loose cannon.
0:17:53 > 0:17:56- A crash helmet might come in handy as well.- OK.
0:17:56 > 0:18:00Indeed! There's no knowing what hard objects may lie under the water.
0:18:00 > 0:18:03Steering the correct course is going to be critical.
0:18:05 > 0:18:07Right, so we're going right now.
0:18:07 > 0:18:08Yes, going right.
0:18:08 > 0:18:10Going right.
0:18:15 > 0:18:16Yee-hee!
0:18:16 > 0:18:18Wait a minute, whoops!
0:18:18 > 0:18:21Whoa! Woh-oh!
0:18:22 > 0:18:25OK, we're through!
0:18:25 > 0:18:28- We're through! Yes! - MARY LAUGHS
0:18:33 > 0:18:38So if you can get past the obstacles, Scotland's 10,000 rivers are open to all...
0:18:38 > 0:18:43unlike a staggering 96% of rivers in England and Wales.
0:18:43 > 0:18:51Thanks to Scottish rights of way and Mary's skilful steering, I'm free to paddle on.
0:18:54 > 0:18:59This landscape has been changed by the power of rivers for thousands of years.
0:18:59 > 0:19:03Before trees and plants grew on the slopes and soaked up moisture,
0:19:03 > 0:19:07even more water poured into rivers and lochs from these mountains.
0:19:10 > 0:19:16I'm heading north to make a brief detour from the Tummel to see the
0:19:16 > 0:19:20best example of the effect a wild river can have on the landscape.
0:19:38 > 0:19:44These are the noble Bruar Waters, and when Rabbie Burns came here in the 18th century,
0:19:44 > 0:19:48he found the whole place actually was an open moorland and rather disappointing,
0:19:48 > 0:19:54so he wrote a poem to the landowner and he said, "Would then my noble master please,
0:19:54 > 0:19:57"to grant my highest wishes
0:19:57 > 0:20:03"to plant my banks with towering trees and bonny spreading bushes."
0:20:03 > 0:20:05Which is exactly what they did.
0:20:05 > 0:20:11Not these bushes or trees because it's all been replanted since then - change happens.
0:20:11 > 0:20:14But I'm here to examine a change...
0:20:14 > 0:20:20which is slightly more complicated to alter...
0:20:20 > 0:20:23and has taken slightly longer.
0:20:32 > 0:20:40When Ice Age glaciers melted around 12,000 years ago, the water cut into the rock and earth.
0:20:40 > 0:20:46Rivers added detail to a sculpture that had taken billions of years to form.
0:20:46 > 0:20:51Geologist Duncan Hay has offered to be my guide.
0:20:51 > 0:20:54We're going to examine some geology,
0:20:54 > 0:20:56at fairly close quarters here.
0:20:56 > 0:20:58- Intimately!- Good.
0:21:03 > 0:21:08Duncan's idea of a geology field trip is to risk his life canyoning -
0:21:08 > 0:21:12an adrenalin sport that guarantees an intimate relationship...
0:21:12 > 0:21:14with a canyon.
0:21:16 > 0:21:20He assures me this is the only way to read the physical textbook
0:21:20 > 0:21:23that the erosive power of the river has created.
0:21:25 > 0:21:27There's a fantastic bowl here.
0:21:27 > 0:21:30The water has come round and it's forming this eddy,
0:21:30 > 0:21:36that you see in here but we also have these little undulations into the rock,
0:21:36 > 0:21:39and so it's not just the water,
0:21:39 > 0:21:43- but it's these little pebbles that we can see actually in the bowl here.- Yeah.
0:21:43 > 0:21:45That's amazing! Look, here...
0:21:45 > 0:21:49in the actual bowl are beautiful pebbles.
0:21:49 > 0:21:51Beautifully rounded pebbles...
0:21:51 > 0:21:55and so these pebbles will come in, carried in by the water.
0:21:55 > 0:21:59As the water eddies round, these pebbles grind away at the rock underneath,
0:21:59 > 0:22:03rounding the rock underneath there and rounding the pebbles.
0:22:13 > 0:22:18It's a fairly extended process but the mountains are gradually being worn down by the climate.
0:22:18 > 0:22:24The water finds it way into the minute cracks and faults between the different types of rock.
0:22:24 > 0:22:27In winter, this freezes and cracks bits off.
0:22:29 > 0:22:32You can see this fantastic arch within the waterfall here.
0:22:32 > 0:22:34Oh, look at that!
0:22:34 > 0:22:39What the water has done is again exploited a weakness within the actual rock.
0:22:39 > 0:22:43And so what we could maybe think about is in the future that,
0:22:43 > 0:22:46as the water continually undermines this arch,
0:22:46 > 0:22:51is that once the material supporting these bedded rocks is removed
0:22:51 > 0:22:55then this arch will ultimately fail also.
0:22:56 > 0:23:00Erosion is greatest when the river gets really furious, when it's in spate.
0:23:00 > 0:23:03At those moments, the power of the water can be so strong
0:23:03 > 0:23:06that it can even destroy the very things that live in it.
0:23:12 > 0:23:16Downstream, the Bruar Water flows into the River Garry.
0:23:16 > 0:23:19I've come here just as salmon are ready to spawn.
0:23:19 > 0:23:25But when they do, millions of eggs can be washed away by spates caused by heavy rain and snowmelt.
0:23:25 > 0:23:28The men of the Tay and District Salmon Fisheries Board
0:23:28 > 0:23:32are on a rescue mission to save the eggs before they're laid.
0:23:32 > 0:23:35Their methods are, frankly, shocking.
0:23:35 > 0:23:38You don't actually stun them with the electricity?
0:23:38 > 0:23:43Not this way, no, we actually draw them into a net using these electro-fishing techniques.
0:23:43 > 0:23:47But there's enough electricity going through the water for me to keep the dog out of the way, is there?
0:23:47 > 0:23:49Yes, I would keep the dog out of the road, yes.
0:23:51 > 0:23:56The appropriately named Lee Fisher and his colleagues are electro-fishing.
0:23:56 > 0:24:00They're going to tickle the salmon by running an electric current through the water,
0:24:00 > 0:24:03which makes the fish swim up and into the path of a net.
0:24:03 > 0:24:06OK, so you'll put this right the way across.
0:24:06 > 0:24:08As far as the net will stretch from that bank to here.
0:24:08 > 0:24:09And then you switch it on?
0:24:09 > 0:24:14Then Craig will turn the generator on and we'll get the power going through it
0:24:14 > 0:24:17and we'll start walking down the water gently with the net dragging off the bottom.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20ENGINE STARTS Fishing!
0:24:20 > 0:24:24The salmon that reach the highest tributaries have swum upstream
0:24:24 > 0:24:30over 70 miles from the sea and 1,200 feet above sea level.
0:24:30 > 0:24:35That makes them the fittest and strongest of all salmon, and especially prized by anglers.
0:24:35 > 0:24:40Saving them from the destructive power of the river is vital for ecology -
0:24:40 > 0:24:43and business.
0:24:43 > 0:24:47A young cock fish here, has come in the net, the electricity has drawn him in.
0:24:47 > 0:24:49We'll release him out of the net.
0:24:49 > 0:24:51Now he's going to be transferred up to the tank
0:24:51 > 0:24:54to be taken down to the hatchery so that we can get his nice milt.
0:24:54 > 0:24:58How do you know that he's ready to do his spawning?
0:24:58 > 0:25:00It's just the time of year?
0:25:00 > 0:25:04Look at his tartan coat, look at his nice pink flesh.
0:25:04 > 0:25:08That's him turning into his mating colours so that he can attract the females.
0:25:10 > 0:25:14Normally, Mrs Salmon would lay her eggs in a gravelly hollow,
0:25:14 > 0:25:19and Mr Salmon would cover them with his milt to fertilise them.
0:25:19 > 0:25:23They have to hope a strong current doesn't interfere with their family planning.
0:25:23 > 0:25:25But these fish are lucky.
0:25:25 > 0:25:30Lee is going to make sure that their eggs are fertilised in the safety of his hatchery.
0:25:30 > 0:25:33That's a nice female, eh?
0:25:33 > 0:25:36Do you want to give that one to David or Murray over there?
0:25:36 > 0:25:40- Is that a good morning's work? - For the couple of pools we've covered, yes, fantastic.
0:25:40 > 0:25:44We've got them in the mobile tank here, and they'll be driven back?
0:25:44 > 0:25:49To our hatchery of which they're going into holding tanks ready to bring the spawning on.
0:25:49 > 0:25:54- And then you become Dr Lee...- Yes! - ..and start your obstetrics, do you?
0:25:54 > 0:25:56I do, yes, yes.
0:25:56 > 0:25:58I'm a father to millions.
0:25:58 > 0:26:00Are you?!
0:26:01 > 0:26:05Luckily, there's no fish equivalent of the Child Support Agency.
0:26:05 > 0:26:08At the hatchery, it's time for a biology lesson.
0:26:08 > 0:26:11No sniggering at the back, please.
0:26:11 > 0:26:12I'm going to run my hands down her belly.
0:26:14 > 0:26:16I'm not really putting any pressure on that at all...
0:26:16 > 0:26:19As you can see, it's just naturally coming out.
0:26:19 > 0:26:21That's her really ready to go.
0:26:21 > 0:26:23- Wow!- We've got nice dry eggs here.
0:26:23 > 0:26:27- Yeah.- I'm going to transfer them to a dry bowl
0:26:27 > 0:26:32and Davie's going to get the cock fish, and I'll take the milt and fertilise the eggs in this bowl.
0:26:32 > 0:26:35OK, just press it a wee bit harder. There you go, keep going, harder.
0:26:37 > 0:26:39There you go, that'll do it!
0:26:39 > 0:26:44And just gently go like that with the eggs for me. Enough water to just cover the eggs.
0:26:44 > 0:26:47A wee bit more, a wee bit more...
0:26:47 > 0:26:49So this is the moment of fertilisation.
0:26:49 > 0:26:51That's exactly it, yes.
0:26:51 > 0:26:54What the eggs are doing now is they're getting bigger
0:26:54 > 0:26:59and the hole at the top of the egg is opening up and sucking the sperm into the egg.
0:26:59 > 0:27:03Once it swells right up, it closes the hole over and that's the egg fertilised.
0:27:03 > 0:27:08This process is carried out on 11 rivers in the area.
0:27:08 > 0:27:11Each batch of eggs is carefully marked to ensure that the DNA,
0:27:11 > 0:27:14including the salmon's homing device, is kept intact.
0:27:14 > 0:27:19That means each fish will return to the river of its birth.
0:27:19 > 0:27:21These are the fully finished article.
0:27:21 > 0:27:24They're like marbles at this stage now, they've been fertilised.
0:27:24 > 0:27:26When they come out of the fish the eggs are quite soft.
0:27:26 > 0:27:29Now they've been in water they're absolutely bomb proof,
0:27:29 > 0:27:33- they're little tiny bullets, they're so strong and so tough. - For their own protection.
0:27:33 > 0:27:38For their own protection in the natural environment, sitting under stones and moving gravel beds.
0:27:38 > 0:27:41So what do we think are in here, 1,000 maybe?
0:27:41 > 0:27:44No, there's about 5,000 in there.
0:27:44 > 0:27:49But the rule of thumb for the hatchery is just about the three million egg mark in this hatchery.
0:27:50 > 0:27:55The eggs are put back into the rivers in the Spring, when the worst of the winter weather has past.
0:27:55 > 0:28:00If only a few survive the herons and the otters and the other fish,
0:28:00 > 0:28:04it'll still help to overcome the damage the wild river can cause.
0:28:10 > 0:28:14The Garry joins the River Tummel on its race southeast.
0:28:14 > 0:28:19I'm returning to that river at my next stop, Pitlochry.
0:28:21 > 0:28:26Here, hydroelectricity has left a considerable mark.
0:28:26 > 0:28:32Faskally Dam was built in the 1940s in defiance of Pitlochry's residents
0:28:32 > 0:28:37who weren't pleased about the idea of an enormous lump of concrete blocking their river.
0:28:39 > 0:28:44When they built it the locals were outraged, they refused to allow accommodation for the engineers
0:28:44 > 0:28:48because they thought it was going to ruin the tourist industry
0:28:48 > 0:28:52but, in fact, it created this absolutely staggeringly beautiful man-made loch.
0:28:58 > 0:29:03Now, half a million people visit the dam every year and presumably enjoy
0:29:03 > 0:29:06the scenery around the loch that's been created here.
0:29:06 > 0:29:10Many of Scotland's rivers are exploited for their energy.
0:29:10 > 0:29:14These vast power stations, mostly built in the 1950s and 60s,
0:29:14 > 0:29:21produce 85% of Britain's hydroelectricity - enough energy for almost 1.5 million homes.
0:29:21 > 0:29:26But years before we became obsessed with renewable energy in our age,
0:29:26 > 0:29:31the potential of river-power was being explored on a much smaller scale.
0:29:33 > 0:29:37Southwest of Pitlochry is the valley of Glen Lyon.
0:29:37 > 0:29:40Some say it's the most beautiful in Scotland.
0:29:45 > 0:29:49Its beauty is partly to do with its inaccessibility.
0:29:49 > 0:29:52There's one road in, and the same road out.
0:29:52 > 0:29:59The Glen and the River Lyon may be remote, but the area isn't lacking in ingenuity.
0:30:08 > 0:30:11- Good morning.- Welcome. Welcome, Griff. How nice to see you.
0:30:11 > 0:30:14Well, it's nice to be here on this...
0:30:14 > 0:30:16- dreich?- It is dreich, yes.
0:30:16 > 0:30:19Aye, it's dreich, aye.
0:30:19 > 0:30:24Alistair Riddell's forebears bought Glen Lyon house in the 19th century.
0:30:24 > 0:30:27Alistair spent his childhood here on the estate
0:30:27 > 0:30:31which once included much of the land in the glen and the village of Fortingall.
0:30:31 > 0:30:35Your family had come here and
0:30:35 > 0:30:39used this as a home and a shooting estate and a farm.
0:30:39 > 0:30:41When did the idea come about?
0:30:41 > 0:30:46They said, "Let's have some of our own electric power here". When did that start to happen?
0:30:46 > 0:30:53There was no power here up until about the mid-30s. There were no grid systems.
0:30:53 > 0:30:59It was all done on the back of wood, coal, paraffin lamps - just amazing.
0:31:01 > 0:31:07In 1935, Alistair's grandfather built a power system on the burn next to the house.
0:31:07 > 0:31:13Upstream, water was diverted and carried through an underground pipe to a turbine,
0:31:13 > 0:31:16which generated electricity for the house and the village.
0:31:16 > 0:31:22But keeping the whole shebang running when Alistair was a boy wasn't a straightforward operation.
0:31:22 > 0:31:28I remember, during a particularly bad storm, a blizzard, us little boys, were summoned out of bed.
0:31:28 > 0:31:32We went up in an old Land Rover about three or four kilometres
0:31:32 > 0:31:35and then we couldn't get through the snowdrifts.
0:31:35 > 0:31:39We then walked for about another kilometre through the spindrift.
0:31:39 > 0:31:43And we went there and cleaned the ice off the bars
0:31:43 > 0:31:49to allow the water to flow so that the village had heat!
0:31:49 > 0:31:52The system has changed little since then and still requires
0:31:52 > 0:31:55some elbow grease to remove debris from the water filter.
0:31:55 > 0:31:59And that should wash out over the face of the dam.
0:31:59 > 0:32:01- Yeah, yeah, there it goes.- Good.
0:32:01 > 0:32:06The principle of hydropower remains as simple as it was in 1935.
0:32:06 > 0:32:14So now, just in case we thought we could pass a rushing stream without actually plunging into it,
0:32:14 > 0:32:19we now have a system which I hope will win any doubters over because
0:32:19 > 0:32:23this is going to demonstrate how electricity is generated.
0:32:23 > 0:32:28We have a turning wooden spoon arrangement.
0:32:28 > 0:32:33Now just on the front here we have a little magnet, as it goes around,
0:32:33 > 0:32:39the principle is that by putting a little coil of copper wire in front of it, like this,
0:32:39 > 0:32:42this will produce an electric current.
0:32:42 > 0:32:46But, of course, we want to rotate the magnet and in order to do that
0:32:46 > 0:32:52we're going to stick our paddle wheel, our wooden spoons into the water,
0:32:52 > 0:32:53turning our...
0:32:53 > 0:32:55Oh, yes, fantastic!
0:32:55 > 0:32:57HE LAUGHS
0:32:57 > 0:33:02- Are we getting a rise in the numbers?- Yes! We are indeed.
0:33:02 > 0:33:04How exciting.
0:33:04 > 0:33:07And that is the generation of hydro-electric power.
0:33:07 > 0:33:09Who knows what these figures mean!
0:33:09 > 0:33:11No, exactly. I don't!
0:33:13 > 0:33:16You don't have to be an electrician to see the potential.
0:33:16 > 0:33:20Seven new mini-hydro schemes are being developed in Glen Lyon alone.
0:33:20 > 0:33:27Alistair believes that river power isn't just part of the remote glen's past, but its future as well.
0:33:27 > 0:33:29I think we've demonstrated our point.
0:33:29 > 0:33:32- Yes, I think we have.- Captain! We did it, well done! Good.
0:33:33 > 0:33:37The Lyon flows into the longest river in Scotland,
0:33:37 > 0:33:42and the one that will take me all the way to Perth, the River Tay.
0:33:44 > 0:33:46But before I venture down it,
0:33:46 > 0:33:48I'm pausing at Loch Tay.
0:33:48 > 0:33:53There were settlements here long before the coming of hydropower.
0:33:57 > 0:34:01A crannog is an artificial island.
0:34:01 > 0:34:07On them, people who lived over 5,000 years ago built settlements.
0:34:07 > 0:34:11This one has been re-created by archaeologists.
0:34:11 > 0:34:13Brilliant.
0:34:13 > 0:34:18They didn't actually use this place for the Lord Of The Rings, but they should have.
0:34:18 > 0:34:19It's getting a little "dreich",
0:34:19 > 0:34:21and I'm in need of shelter.
0:34:21 > 0:34:29The remains of 18 crannogs have been discovered on Loch Tay alone, There are thousands of others,
0:34:29 > 0:34:32they were built on most of Scotland's 30,000 lochs.
0:34:32 > 0:34:36For such ancient dwellings, they were rather well-made.
0:34:36 > 0:34:40They've got this fantastic roof, enormous great roof,
0:34:40 > 0:34:45built of alder poles and covered, here with reed, but originally with bracken.
0:34:45 > 0:34:50A lovely bracken floor, no damp course, obviously, so a little bit damp,
0:34:50 > 0:34:54and bracken thrust into these wattles
0:34:54 > 0:34:56on all sides which form the walls.
0:34:56 > 0:35:00Large, extended families would have lived in the crannog, but even with
0:35:00 > 0:35:05all those bodies, their main source of heat needed to be a fire.
0:35:05 > 0:35:08I've got all the bits and pieces here to warm myself up.
0:35:08 > 0:35:12Here's my bow, here's my, sort of, fire stick here
0:35:12 > 0:35:16and I'm going to put my fire stick into a little groovy patch here,
0:35:16 > 0:35:18and I'm going to groove it around.
0:35:18 > 0:35:22Obviously, as we all know, this makes friction
0:35:22 > 0:35:25and friction will generate heat,
0:35:26 > 0:35:28and heat will make fire.
0:35:33 > 0:35:36GROANING AND STRAINING
0:35:36 > 0:35:39GROANING CONTINUES
0:35:42 > 0:35:45HE GROANS LOUDLY
0:35:48 > 0:35:51HE PANTS
0:35:51 > 0:35:54Let's have a look...
0:35:54 > 0:35:59No, nothing at all...
0:35:59 > 0:36:00PANTING: Obviously by the time...
0:36:00 > 0:36:04Iron Age man had done this, he was feeling pretty hot anyway.
0:36:07 > 0:36:09Shall we get Gavin in to show us how to do it?
0:36:12 > 0:36:18It takes seconds for Gavin to show me why he's the resident fire-starter at the visitor centre.
0:36:18 > 0:36:21But a burning ember is just the start.
0:36:21 > 0:36:25I've got to gently manoeuvre my ember...
0:36:25 > 0:36:29into the punk.
0:36:35 > 0:36:38There was a lot of passive smoking in the Iron Age, I can say that.
0:36:50 > 0:36:52There we go...
0:36:52 > 0:36:57Then we have to sort of, tip it out, this very flame into this,
0:36:57 > 0:37:02into the flames there,
0:37:03 > 0:37:06and let it drag itself up.
0:37:07 > 0:37:12Handy for fishing, good for look-outs, blissful escape from midges?
0:37:12 > 0:37:19In fact, archaeologists aren't sure why ancient people put their crannogs out on the lochs.
0:37:19 > 0:37:26Perhaps they just built them because they could, like we build our houses on marinas.
0:37:26 > 0:37:32They rather fancied the idea of having a house on the water.
0:37:43 > 0:37:45Down, down...
0:37:45 > 0:37:47Down. Down.
0:37:47 > 0:37:51Good boy, good boy.
0:38:16 > 0:38:22Well, I've come down the river now about ten miles from Loch Tay to Grandtully.
0:38:22 > 0:38:28And I'm very glad that I'm not in my canoe because the river has become a bit of a challenge.
0:38:36 > 0:38:40This stretch of wild water forms the Grandtully Rapids on the River Tay.
0:38:40 > 0:38:43It's where aspiring athletes train for the canoe slalom.
0:38:43 > 0:38:47All three of Britain's representatives in the sport at the 2008 Olympics
0:38:47 > 0:38:51were Scots, and they all developed their skills at this mad place.
0:38:51 > 0:38:58Now it's the turn of the next generation, including Struan and Amber, to master those slalom gates.
0:38:58 > 0:39:03The idea is to go through them without touching them or missing them.
0:39:03 > 0:39:07Slalom is really discipline and technique, it's not just brute force,
0:39:07 > 0:39:09you need a lot of technique to get through it.
0:39:09 > 0:39:13So when you turn a corner, what do you do?
0:39:13 > 0:39:18Well, if you want to turn to the right, you lift up your left knee and bring it around.
0:39:18 > 0:39:22Left knee... And that means you tip into the water...
0:39:22 > 0:39:26- Into the way you're turning... - You lean into the wave, into the way you're turning.
0:39:26 > 0:39:31But you get to feel the water. So as you're going in, you want to get on
0:39:31 > 0:39:34the edge because you feel a bit of a wobble if you don't.
0:39:34 > 0:39:40But today the river, it's been raining quite a lot and it's pretty fast at the moment.
0:39:40 > 0:39:44- Yes, it's quite pushy.- Is that about the worst it gets here?
0:39:44 > 0:39:47No, recently, it's been really high.
0:39:47 > 0:39:49No, it's been like, I don't know...
0:39:49 > 0:39:51See that rock over there?
0:39:51 > 0:39:55It's been about a couple of feet over that, it's been really high, very pushy.
0:39:55 > 0:39:57What keeps you going?
0:39:57 > 0:39:59Adrenalin.
0:39:59 > 0:40:05And there's always the aim that you can get to the Olympics and you can win Olympic gold.
0:40:05 > 0:40:11Grandtully, the rapids itself, has been a slalom training site for years and years now.
0:40:11 > 0:40:17'Steve MacDonald is the instructor for the Scottish Canoe Association.'
0:40:17 > 0:40:23What makes this river at this point so good for your sport?
0:40:23 > 0:40:27The geography of the River Tay, it's coming out of Loch Tay which has got a huge catchment area.
0:40:27 > 0:40:29I mean, it's almost 16 miles long.
0:40:29 > 0:40:33So a massive amount of water floods into Loch Tay and then that's feeding the river.
0:40:33 > 0:40:36And that's why this works so well because you've got
0:40:36 > 0:40:39that volume consistently coming from such a big catchment area.
0:40:39 > 0:40:44The water level varies all the time but it's always quite, I mean, I call this pretty rough.
0:40:44 > 0:40:48It's always in a rough state, definitely.
0:40:48 > 0:40:54Sometimes, it's a little lower and a bit more technical, other times it's a bit bigger and a bit more bouncy,
0:40:54 > 0:40:59but all the time we can get good challenge for the athletes we're coaching on the rapids.
0:40:59 > 0:41:02So you think you can take ME down this, do you?
0:41:02 > 0:41:04Well, I'm very happy to take you down.
0:41:04 > 0:41:07It would be entirely up to yourself, are you up for it?
0:41:07 > 0:41:09- Gently round. Paddling on.- OK.
0:41:09 > 0:41:14Just keep that paddling going, this is what it'll be like, it's like riding a horse...
0:41:14 > 0:41:19'Watching from the bank is one thing. The rapids seem even bigger and faster when I'm in the water.
0:41:19 > 0:41:22'I have a feeling I'm going to get wet.'
0:41:22 > 0:41:26Over the wave and keep paddling, keep paddling.
0:41:26 > 0:41:30- OK, whoa! Gah!- Good man, well done.
0:41:30 > 0:41:35'I'm not sure how much more challenging experiences I need.'
0:41:35 > 0:41:37All the way to shore, Griff.
0:41:40 > 0:41:42Well, it was all over in a flash.
0:41:42 > 0:41:45It all happened so quickly!
0:41:45 > 0:41:51I felt a little bit like I was on the log flume at the fair.
0:41:53 > 0:41:57I think I need to find a bit of river that's a little less tumultuous.
0:41:57 > 0:42:00But first, I need to face the right way.
0:42:02 > 0:42:07Sometimes, I can drive for hours trying to find a place to turn the thing around.
0:42:07 > 0:42:10I should be able to do it here.
0:42:10 > 0:42:13Ooh, oh!
0:42:13 > 0:42:15They're long you see, they're 16 feet long on a trailer.
0:42:15 > 0:42:19And then it goes around, but there's not enough space to get around!
0:42:24 > 0:42:26- CRUNCHING SOUND - Oops!
0:42:26 > 0:42:28There was a stone there.
0:42:30 > 0:42:35It seriously doesn't matter how manoeuvrable the thing is on water,
0:42:35 > 0:42:38it's trying to make it do what it's supposed to do
0:42:38 > 0:42:43on land that's complicated with the trailer, but all I have to do...
0:42:43 > 0:42:45Oh, God, no! I...
0:42:47 > 0:42:48Let's think about this.
0:42:48 > 0:42:50I have to go...
0:42:52 > 0:42:54Yes, yes!
0:42:54 > 0:43:00There we are, that's just perfect, just absolutely first class.
0:43:03 > 0:43:07What was that, a 25-point turn?
0:43:15 > 0:43:19The Tay is much more gentle downstream of the slalom rapids.
0:43:19 > 0:43:23It appears less agitated and, in a way, it is.
0:43:23 > 0:43:25This stretch of the river is carefully managed.
0:43:25 > 0:43:29Its wildness is also big business.
0:43:29 > 0:43:33This is prime salmon fishing country.
0:43:33 > 0:43:38If I want to come here with five friends to fish for a week, it would cost me five grand.
0:43:38 > 0:43:43This stretch of river is valued at about two-three million quid.
0:43:43 > 0:43:47That's a very sophisticated economy
0:43:47 > 0:43:51for what is, essentially, a totally primordial business, hunting fish.
0:44:00 > 0:44:06It was the Victorians who turned Highland hunting and gathering into a city gentleman's sport.
0:44:06 > 0:44:11And for those partaking, vast lodges were built like Kinnaird House,
0:44:11 > 0:44:15a family retreat which now takes in even the dampest paying guests.
0:44:15 > 0:44:18It's very, very, pleasant indeed.
0:44:18 > 0:44:24In fact, it has the ambience of staying not so much in a hotel as in a, sort of,
0:44:24 > 0:44:26country estate, really.
0:44:26 > 0:44:30Staying in the sort of place that people used to come
0:44:30 > 0:44:33on holiday in the Highlands before they invented the rambler.
0:44:33 > 0:44:36I have a bit of a quandary here because, as a rambler,
0:44:36 > 0:44:40I have, of course, brought clothing for every possible eventuality.
0:44:40 > 0:44:47I've got Gore-Tex shells, I've got wetsuits, I've got dry suits, I've got waterproof boots,
0:44:47 > 0:44:55but I haven't got a sage green suit and a tie for walking around in a hotel like this.
0:44:55 > 0:45:02I just have to hope that Kinnaird's owner, Mrs Constance Cluett-Ward, won't disapprove.
0:45:02 > 0:45:06She first came here in the '60s as a guest of her future husband.
0:45:06 > 0:45:11I was very newly away from New York City, Park Avenue,
0:45:11 > 0:45:16if I may tell you. I felt, "Dear God, what do you do in Scotland?
0:45:16 > 0:45:20"What do you wear?" You know, what?
0:45:20 > 0:45:27So I went to an extremely good dress shop on Kings Road, where they knew me well.
0:45:27 > 0:45:31I was then a size eight, I'm delighted to tell you.
0:45:31 > 0:45:35And they fixed me up with some perfectly lovely clothes.
0:45:35 > 0:45:37Did you tell them you were going to Scotland?
0:45:37 > 0:45:41- Yes!- You did, you said "I'm going to Scotland for..." - "I'm going to Scotland."
0:45:41 > 0:45:48But they must have thought I meant Balmoral, God knows, though they dress like bums over there.
0:45:49 > 0:45:52I got here and discovered that
0:45:52 > 0:45:55no matter who they were, they dressed like bums.
0:45:55 > 0:45:58And so everybody jumped up in the morning and basically,
0:45:58 > 0:46:02- they engaged in country pursuits of one kind or another.- They did.
0:46:02 > 0:46:05Their favourite country pursuit was fishing.
0:46:05 > 0:46:09If their catch wouldn't fit in the oven, they'd stick it on the wall.
0:46:09 > 0:46:17It is a good collection of big fish caught right here or very nearby,
0:46:17 > 0:46:19by members of the Ward family.
0:46:19 > 0:46:25And your father-in-law one day caught the biggest fish he'd ever caught in his life.
0:46:25 > 0:46:28Well, yes, he did, it's up there.
0:46:28 > 0:46:31He and his ghillie put the fish on the front steps
0:46:31 > 0:46:38and he went in to his study and took huge puffs out of his best cigar.
0:46:38 > 0:46:45And a little while later, one of the Ward cousins, Lettice, aged 18,
0:46:45 > 0:46:49had caught a fish slightly larger,
0:46:49 > 0:46:56and they laid it down and they said of Sir John's fish, "Ooh, nice little tiddler!"
0:47:02 > 0:47:08By now, the 120 mile-long Tay is carrying water from several wild
0:47:08 > 0:47:14Highland rivers to the lowlands and my final destination, Perth.
0:47:17 > 0:47:25The volume of the river is swelled by rain and snowmelt from an area of almost 3,000 square miles.
0:47:25 > 0:47:31At Perth, the quantity of water in the Tay is the equivalent of the Thames and the Severn put together.
0:47:33 > 0:47:41During a flood in 1993, a flow of 2,268 cubic metres per second was recorded.
0:47:43 > 0:47:49At that rate it would take less than half an hour to give every person on the planet a pint of water.
0:47:49 > 0:47:52Flooding here is nothing new.
0:47:55 > 0:48:02This is the great Perth Bridge built in 1771 to replace another bridge
0:48:02 > 0:48:07which had been completely washed away about 150 years before.
0:48:07 > 0:48:14The Tay is subject to terrible floods and three years later, this bridge underwent a major test.
0:48:16 > 0:48:20The arches here, blocked up with ice and the water backed up
0:48:20 > 0:48:25but it stood up to the problem and it's been here ever since.
0:48:25 > 0:48:29But they've commemorated on the side of the bridge here
0:48:29 > 0:48:34some of the great floods since about 1800.
0:48:34 > 0:48:382006, it got up to here.
0:48:38 > 0:48:41That wasn't the highest...
0:48:41 > 0:48:431847, that's a pretty high one...
0:48:43 > 0:48:46but the worst one came in 1814.
0:48:50 > 0:48:57To try to control the Tay, £26 million worth of flood defences have been built.
0:48:57 > 0:49:01But away from the floodgates, the Tay remains uncontrollable.
0:49:02 > 0:49:04When it bursts its banks,
0:49:04 > 0:49:07the massive volume of water transforms the landscape.
0:49:07 > 0:49:09In 2006, floodwater here
0:49:09 > 0:49:13reached over a mile beyond the river's usual course.
0:49:13 > 0:49:18For the Hutton family, the Tay's power was devastating.
0:49:18 > 0:49:21So Roy, how high did the water come?
0:49:21 > 0:49:28This is probably the mark in here, just below the windows outside, so that would be about it.
0:49:28 > 0:49:30Take me through the night.
0:49:30 > 0:49:35Well, it had been raining for two days solid and I'd been down having a look at the Tay
0:49:35 > 0:49:38and it was getting nearer and nearer, it was maybe a foot,
0:49:38 > 0:49:40two feet below the top of the bank.
0:49:40 > 0:49:42And that's when we knew,
0:49:42 > 0:49:45"Oh, it's coming."
0:49:45 > 0:49:51And you don't have an upstairs here you have an attic, so it wasn't a question of "Let's all go upstairs."
0:49:51 > 0:49:52Oh, no, no.
0:49:52 > 0:49:57- You just had to go.- There's not much you can take in a couple of cars.
0:49:57 > 0:50:01We tried to put stuff up on top of tables to protect it, but the water
0:50:01 > 0:50:06coming in just toppled the tables over and it was gone anyway.
0:50:06 > 0:50:11For the last three years, Roy, his wife Val and their two children
0:50:11 > 0:50:16have been living in caravans, unable to move back to their ruined home.
0:50:16 > 0:50:19We'd been married about 20 years at that time and lost everything.
0:50:19 > 0:50:22So it was like 20 years of your life just never existed.
0:50:22 > 0:50:25And it's stupid things like pictures the kids made you at school,
0:50:25 > 0:50:29you can't replace them any more, it's done, happened.
0:50:29 > 0:50:32- Why have you stayed?- It's my home. - I'm doing what I'm told.
0:50:34 > 0:50:37No, we love it here, beautiful area, as you can see.
0:50:37 > 0:50:40And what is your plan now?
0:50:40 > 0:50:47House - roof off, and build up and make downstairs just storage and live upstairs.
0:50:47 > 0:50:51I don't care how many folk turn around and say to me, "Don't you think you should move?"
0:50:51 > 0:50:53Or, "I wouldn't be living there."
0:50:53 > 0:50:56Well, it's my home, I'm living there.
0:50:58 > 0:51:02Even as climate change threatens more frequent and more devastating floods,
0:51:02 > 0:51:06Roy and Val seem to accept that if you live near a wild river,
0:51:06 > 0:51:10you have to be prepared to accept what it can do.
0:51:10 > 0:51:14My instinct would be to stay clear of it, knowing what a danger it can be.
0:51:14 > 0:51:18But some people are definitely attracted to the river,
0:51:18 > 0:51:23rather than stay out of its way, they actually want to throw themselves into it.
0:51:23 > 0:51:30I'm meeting Frank Chalmers, he belongs to a club who like to get very close to the power of nature.
0:51:30 > 0:51:34It's called wild swimming.
0:51:34 > 0:51:37It's you against the elements. It's you.
0:51:37 > 0:51:44There's a pair of trunks, goggles and a hat against the wind and the waves, and sometimes, they win.
0:51:44 > 0:51:46But it's great fun.
0:51:46 > 0:51:50- Are there things coming down the river like logs and things like that?- There might be.
0:51:50 > 0:51:55That was a question I was asking expecting the answer, "No, there are none..."
0:51:55 > 0:51:59The club is in training for a cross-channel relay race.
0:51:59 > 0:52:02Today, they're practising their relay change-overs.
0:52:02 > 0:52:09Eight swimmers, including me, are each going to swim a leg of a mile-long stretch of the Tay.
0:52:09 > 0:52:12We're going to get into the water in succession from some boats.
0:52:12 > 0:52:16Joining me in mine is Beth McDonough.
0:52:16 > 0:52:19So you have done this sort of swimming in this sort of water before.
0:52:19 > 0:52:24- Yes.- Is it cold? - Yes, in November it's cold.
0:52:26 > 0:52:29The water is just eight degrees.
0:52:29 > 0:52:34At this temperature, I could be unconscious after 30 minutes and dead in an hour.
0:52:34 > 0:52:39I really don't want this to begin, but Frank looks like he can't wait.
0:52:41 > 0:52:44Frank's in the water and he's off already.
0:52:44 > 0:52:47What advice would you give me?
0:52:47 > 0:52:52Accept that first bit, your heart's going to race, but thereafter you're going to feel a lot better.
0:52:52 > 0:52:54That's it...accept that first bit.
0:52:54 > 0:52:57- Don't struggle too much.- Go with it.
0:53:01 > 0:53:07Well, Frank is now through the rapids, he did a couple of strokes
0:53:07 > 0:53:11of breaststroke, now he's carrying on, crawl all the way.
0:53:14 > 0:53:17I thought each leg was a good deal shorter than this.
0:53:17 > 0:53:18Frank got the toughest leg.
0:53:18 > 0:53:21- Did he? OK. - We'll remember that when we're in.
0:53:23 > 0:53:27Frank has gone a sort of bright pink colour.
0:53:27 > 0:53:31Apparently, that's the signal to change swimmers.
0:53:31 > 0:53:35It's Beth's turn to go pink, and I'm after her.
0:53:35 > 0:53:38- OK?- Yeah.
0:53:38 > 0:53:42- Good luck.- Thank you. Hoo!
0:53:44 > 0:53:46Frank, here we are, mate.
0:53:46 > 0:53:47Go on then. Up, oh!
0:53:49 > 0:53:55- Just went for my throat. - What happened? - I slipped right at the beginning.
0:53:55 > 0:54:02- Oh, no. Is it cold?- Well, there are three ways you can tell it's cold.
0:54:02 > 0:54:05One is it's like somebody has gone over your body with a blow torch,
0:54:05 > 0:54:11the second is even the enamel on your teeth hurts,
0:54:11 > 0:54:13and the third is...
0:54:13 > 0:54:18if you see a penis at the bottom of the boat it might be mine.
0:54:18 > 0:54:20- It feels like it's fallen off. - THEY LAUGH
0:54:20 > 0:54:23Wait a minute. Where's Beth now?
0:54:26 > 0:54:27It's not very warming, but...
0:54:27 > 0:54:30Pain is temporary, success is permanent.
0:54:30 > 0:54:34And what got you into it yourself?
0:54:34 > 0:54:40- Well, when I was a kid I got into it and I've just loved doing it ever since.- I was brought up in Epping.
0:54:40 > 0:54:45I had a swimming pool, but a heated swimming pool in Harlow, which we used to visit. I liked it heated.
0:54:45 > 0:54:50All too soon, Beth is coming to the end of her stint.
0:54:50 > 0:54:54There's something just not right about voluntarily leaving
0:54:54 > 0:54:58a rescue boat to get into water so cold it could cause cardiac arrest.
0:54:58 > 0:55:02What I do is I just slip myself in here, slide...
0:55:02 > 0:55:05Ah, ah, ah!
0:55:10 > 0:55:14I tell you what, I still can't breathe.
0:55:14 > 0:55:20- How far am I going?- Straight on.
0:55:20 > 0:55:23Next stop Dundee, 22 miles.
0:55:23 > 0:55:27Come on, Griff, that's fantastic, that's fantastic.
0:55:27 > 0:55:31I thought going downstream would be effortless, but the incoming tide
0:55:31 > 0:55:34is trying to cancel out the current.
0:55:34 > 0:55:36At least, I think that's what's happening.
0:55:36 > 0:55:39Am I going the right way?
0:55:43 > 0:55:46I was assured I'd only be in for three or four minutes.
0:55:46 > 0:55:51I've been in for ten, and it feels like ten hours.
0:55:58 > 0:56:01At last, swimmer number four.
0:56:01 > 0:56:03Where have you been?!
0:56:15 > 0:56:17That was fantastic, that was amazing!
0:56:17 > 0:56:20GRIFF GASPS
0:56:22 > 0:56:25I have to say....
0:56:25 > 0:56:30that was truly horrible.
0:56:30 > 0:56:34That really was utterly, utterly horrible.
0:56:34 > 0:56:37I want my hands back!
0:56:47 > 0:56:50That's your body shaking to get the heat back. It's a good thing.
0:56:50 > 0:56:53Yes, I expect it is(!)
0:56:53 > 0:56:56I hope they make you an honorary member.
0:56:56 > 0:57:01Yes, have two of my toes in memory...
0:57:01 > 0:57:05to hang up in the clubhouse.
0:57:09 > 0:57:14Ten minutes in the Tay and only four days to thaw out.
0:57:27 > 0:57:31My swim ends my 100-mile encounter with some of the country's wildest rivers.
0:57:31 > 0:57:39We might be tempted to think we can rise to their challenge or harness them or treat them as a playground.
0:57:39 > 0:57:44But whatever we do, this water remains reassuringly its own master,
0:57:44 > 0:57:47moulding the landscape and going its own way.
0:57:47 > 0:57:52At least until it finally escapes a few miles beyond Perth.
0:57:52 > 0:57:54For the next 20 miles,
0:57:54 > 0:58:01we're in an estuary and what has been an extraordinarily, powerful force
0:58:01 > 0:58:07will find itself absorbed into the huge anonymity of the sea.
0:58:34 > 0:58:37Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:37 > 0:58:40E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk