Episode 18 Landward

Hello and a very warm welcome to Landward.

This week, we're on the move as we journey

to the beautiful Kintyre peninsula in south-west Scotland.

I'll go on foot to see what the Kintyre Way has to offer

before joining up with Sarah and Euan at a meeting point on the Mull of Kintyre.

We're taking three different routes and three modes of transport.

Hopefully, we'll converge at the south of the peninsula.

And I'm going by sea to Campbeltown to find out

how this newly reinstated ferry link is benefiting the Kintyre economy. So that just leaves Euan.

I'll be taking the long and winding road in my trusty camper van

and stopping at some local businesses that make a living from the natural resources.

And we'll discover how Kintyre inspired a certain ex-Beatle.

I'm starting my journey here at Tarbert harbour at the north end of the Kintyre Way.

-Helping me is route manager Andy Holtby. Good to see you, Andy.

-Dougie, how are you?

-Very well. Good day for it. Shall we have a wee wander?

-Let's go.

Opened in 2006, the Kintyre Way criss-crosses the entire length of the peninsula.

It's about seven days to do the whole length

or if you have the time, or lack of time, you can just do a weekend.

-It means you have to come back and do some more.

-How popular has the trail been?

The trail is becoming more and more popular. People are looking for something different,

a new location to go to.

What have the benefits been to the community, setting this trail up?

I think the benefits are many.

It brings economic benefits to the peninsula

and over the next two years, we want to employ three apprentices

and they will help myself and the Kintyre Way team to improve the Kintyre Way,

to extend it and help us market it as well,

so we're trying to give something back, but it gives people a chance to explore another part of Scotland

that, due to its location, not many people know about.

I want to see more people coming in and experiencing what Kintyre has to offer.

We're in Tarbert now. Where does it finish?

You'll be finishing in Dunaverty which is 89 miles down the trail.

-That's where I have to meet Euan and Sarah.

-Yes.

-I'd better get on with it.

-Good luck. Enjoy your walk.

-All the best to you.

-Take care. Bye now.

'Unfortunately, I don't have seven days to do the whole trail, so just a few selected highlights from me.

'More soon.'

I'm going the old-fashioned way. I'm taking a ferry from Ardrossan in Ayrshire direct to Campbeltown.

It's a service that has started up again this summer after a gap of 70 years.

In the old days, ferries and steamers linked the mainland to the Kintyre peninsula.

At the outbreak of the Second World War, the ferry service was discontinued.

Since then, the only direct route to Kintyre has been by road

and it's a long journey around Loch Fyne and down the peninsula.

In recent years, locals have been campaigning for improvements to their transport links.

The service came about through Transport Scotland's ferries review.

They were in touch with local communities in Kintyre

and a desire to have a link between Kintyre and Ayrshire came from that.

Transport Scotland then made up a timetable and asked us to implement it for a three-year trial period.

-How are things going so far?

-Very well. Numbers are very good.

I wasn't sure how we'd get on, but I'm very pleased with the numbers we've had so far.

As it was the Kintyre communities that asked for it, the locals from Kintyre are using it very heavily,

but we are getting tourists and, on a Sunday, we have round-trippers from Glasgow.

-How often do you use the ferry?

-This is the first time we've used it.

-What do you think?

-I think it's great.

For a small amount of subsidy, I think it'll open up Campbeltown and Kintyre

which is badly needing some new life breathed into it.

It's pretty smooth. You get to sit out and enjoy the scenery and take the sea air and just relax.

It takes all the pressure off the travelling experience.

You know, it's always like this in Scotland(!)

With the new ferry service running three times a week,

I'm now off to find out how it will benefit the Kintyre economy.

1,600cc of air-cooled engine can power this beast

at speeds in excess of 25 miles an hour through the Scottish countryside.

All we know, it's called a caravanette.

MUSIC: "The Long And Winding Road" by The Beatles

# Don't leave me waiting... #

GEARS JUDDER

# ..lead me to your door... #

It's not hard to see why the Kintyre peninsula is often thought to be an island

and with a width of no more than 11 miles across, the sea is never far away.

# I've seen that road before... #

So with such close proximity to the sea,

the array of seafood that's available locally is just incredible

and I'm on my way to a business that serves up whatever has landed on these shores.

# It always leads me here

# Leads me to your door... #

-Good morning.

-Good morning.

I've had a look at the menu. I can't decide. What would you recommend?

If you want to taste everything, I would go for a seafood platter.

-I'll have a seafood platter.

-Seafood platter.

-Yeah.

The salmon all comes from my brother on Arran.

We do oysters, queenies, which are queen scallops,

king scallops, mussels, langoustine...

Kippers, because they're local.

I think that... Oh, crab, some local crab.

I think there is a demand for simple seafood, very fresh, very simple.

People want to be able to get it very close to where it's caught

and Kintyre is one place it is.

-So people come from quite a long way to get here? It is a bit remote.

-They do appear to now.

Yeah, they come in their hordes on some days.

-What about camper vans? How many of them do you get?

-We have a lot of camper vans.

Lots of little V-Dubs and all sorts of...big ones, little ones.

And it really can be as simple as that,

although the odd stunning location, the best seafood that you can get

and chuck in the odd medieval castle

and people will come from miles around to what is a remote place.

And the best bit of the lot is that Sarah and Dougie have no idea what they're missing.

'As I continue along the Kintyre Way, here at Claonaig, the woodland is really spectacular.

'Stan Phillips from SNH is going to explain why it's so special.'

-How are you?

-Very well. And yourself?

-Yeah. Good to see you. Shall we head on?

-Mm-hm.

-My goodness, this is an incredible place, isn't it?

-Hmm, it is.

-It looks astonishing.

-Like a fairy wood.

-Yeah, exactly.

Stan, this place is almost like a film set from The Hobbit.

What are we looking at here?

This is one of the old Atlantic oak woods that you get quite a lot on the west coast of Scotland here.

This is just a fragment of what used to be here, but Argyll is pretty good for the amount of oak wood it's got.

And knowing this area as I do, I know it rains a lot here.

I imagine the climate is important to these trees.

The climate's maybe not so important for the trees,

but for the species that live on them, it's really important,

so the number of wet days that we have here

is crucial to the mosses, liverworts and lichens that live on these trees and the rocks.

In terms of the number of species here, there's almost nowhere else on Earth with this level of diversity,

so in terms of its European importance, these sites are really, really important.

Let's have a closer look. We're standing in the middle here.

-There's a really interesting species on that branch over there.

-OK, let's have a look, shall we?

Have a look at this. Here's a hand lens for you.

It's actually called Lepidozia cupressina, but I call it "worms".

Oh, wow! That's incredible.

Because it looks like a whole bunch of small, green worms.

-Yeah, almost like fingers as well.

-North Kintyre seems to be particularly good for this one.

Just how important is this species then?

This species is just indicative of the types of species that these woods are stuffed full of.

There's very many liverworts that you find in this wood that only occur on the west coast of Scotland

and that's indicative of a really high quality habitat.

If you do stop to look at these ancient woodlands,

the number of species here is incredible.

Add to that the amount of precipitation in these parts

and you could say this is Scotland's rainforest.

With the new ferry service providing another way of reaching this remote area,

it is hoped that more tourists visit Kintyre,

but are local businesses geared up for a growing tourist trade?

Here in Campbeltown, I'm going to speak to members of the Explore Campbeltown group,

a collective who are trying to give the area a solid brand.

Campbeltown was an industrial town, making whisky, shipyards, shipbuilding.

That all declined over the years and we weren't set up for tourists.

We didn't know what we had to offer.

We were left with a rethink

as to what Campbeltown should do for its future.

-Local businesses have had to change their mindset?

-Absolutely.

I think people are now appreciative that people will come this far down

and when they get here, we have to make sure there is something to keep them here.

We decided as a group of businesses that we've got some incredibly good products going out of Campbeltown

and if we could market them together under an umbrella of Explore Campbeltown,

there was a way of getting into homes that we wouldn't get in with a website.

We formed a sort of co-operative and now have 150 businesses in Campbeltown joined up,

everybody using the same logo on all of the products and every business is doing exactly that.

It's a way of getting round the world without being an obvious advert.

One of the founding members of the Explore Campbeltown directory

is Ewen Macdonald of the Machrihanish Holiday Park.

People don't realise what we've got down here.

We're not on the way to anywhere, so we have to get it across to people

that we are a destination worth coming to see.

To have Explore Campbeltown in place, it's a one-stop shop.

On the whole, are numbers up?

Yes, in the last 12 months, there's a notable change in the amount of visitors coming to the area.

The next time we're visiting, you'll try and persuade us all to fit into a bell tent?

I'm sure we'll find space for you.

Thank you.

With local businesses pulling together and better transport links to the area,

the signs are that visitors are coming to Kintyre in bigger numbers.

This is an industry that in a fragile local community seems to have a bright future.

'Later on in the programme, I get a chance to try surfing.

'Find out how I get on.'

Here we go. Wish me luck.

I'm now about halfway through my walk. I'm just coming into Carradale

and I'm looking for a new company that's giving everyone the chance to get out on the Kintyre Way.

'Carradale Bikes And Buggies is a community-owned company run by volunteers.

'As well as mountain bikes, they hire off-road buggies.

'The inspiration came from a programme almost as popular as Landward.'

I was watching Top Gear one time.

They had three very disabled servicemen, amputees in fact,

and they said to them,

"There's a hill right up there over some rough country. We'll challenge you to get to the top."

'And Hammond and Clarkson did their own concoction of buggies.'

There's no question mine is faster than yours.

'While these three guys got on commercially available, off-road type buggies.'

Go forward. Do a bit of convoy formation here.

'But it made a very serious point.

'There were people with severe disabilities who were able to access the countryside.'

I made a few enquiries and found out which were the buggies that were the best, that came out best,

so, after that, we bought two of them.

Michael, how long have you been using these buggies?

A few months now.

I've had an operation on my leg and it meant that walking around wasn't so easy,

so it just made sense to hire the buggies every so often

and get out and go for a ride.

How easy are they to use?

Well, so far, very easy.

This one is just a twist grip

and it's got two settings - tortoise...

-I see that. Tortoise and hare.

-And hare, yes.

Currently going "tortoise", so I can talk to you.

What does it let you do that you wouldn't have been able to do?

I had an accident on my bike, so I've torn ligaments and muscles and tendons and, um...

-It's been very difficult because I'm normally fairly active.

-Yeah.

So it's let me get out and about.

Sheila and Mike, thanks for putting the buggies through their paces.

Unfortunately, I've got to walk the rest of the way. Nice meeting you.

-Nice to meet you too, Dougie. Hope the walk goes well.

-Thank you.

-Bye.

-Cheery-bye.

-Bye-bye.

'Join me later for a seabird spectacular.'

I'm now south of Carradale at the impressive Torrisdale Castle.

I'm looking for the lady of the house, Mary Macalister Hall,

and apparently, she's tucked away in a less than grand setting.

-Mary...

-Hello.

-This isn't where the lady of the house would normally hang out, is it?

-No, this used to be the laundry.

-It looks fantastic.

But now it's my place of work.

-What are you doing?

-I'm turning sheepskins.

At the moment, I'm getting this one out.

They're very heavy when they're wet,

so the easiest way to deal with them is to roll them up like that.

I've been in a few tanneries and they smell. I was bracing myself as I came in. There's nothing.

No, no smell. I don't use any chemicals.

I use tree bark.

What kind of trees?

Well, traditionally, in this country, they would have used oak bark,

but if you use oak bark, you've got to soak them for literally months.

They used to say a year and a day to tan a cow hide,

but I use imported mimosa bark

which has got masses of tannin in it and it's two weeks in there which is a big difference.

And is it just sheep you do?

I do deer.

Sometimes people bring in roadkill.

I haven't had any of that for quite a long time. The odd fox from a gamekeeper, but mostly sheep.

Why did you decide you wanted to do that? You don't sit at breakfast and say, "I want to be a tannery."

No, well, I didn't actually decide it. My mother decided about 40 years ago.

We lived on a small island off Skye called Soay

and there were lots of beautiful Shetland sheep there which we ate.

You didn't want to get rid of the skin, so she experimented on different ways of preserving them.

When they moved here, she was looking for another source of income and this is how it all started.

-What do you do with them?

-You can have them beside the bed, in front of the fire, in a chair.

That's the chair I sit in when I'm brushing them out.

And a car seat, child seat, cot.

-You pop this one in the water?

-This one is going in the water.

-I'll let you do it. You've got the gloves.

Not that there's anything nasty in there that would harm your hands, but my hands are in water all the time.

So that was skin when it went in there and it's now leather.

I'll put it in here and all that, um...

..brown will start leeching out of it.

-Mary, thank you very much.

-You're welcome.

-Fascinating stuff.

-Good.

-I'm off in my camper van. I'll leave you to your washing.

This part of the world is renowned for its spectacular scenery and wildlife,

but there is another activity that seems to draw people from all over the UK.

Surfing, dude!

'This is Westport Beach near Machrihanish.

'When conditions are good, you can find 30 to 40 surfers here.'

-Not too far back...

-'Instructor Peter Ellerton is giving me a lesson.'

It keeps you in the right place, so you end up with your feet on the end,

lying nicely on the board in that way.

Quick flip and up you get.

That's really nice. You're a natural.

'So, natural, am I?

'OK, let's hit the waves.'

Here we go. Wish me luck.

'OK, let's get vertical.

'Almost.

'Nearly.

'OK, this time...'

OK, so definitely more beach whale than surf chick.

I could have stood up, but time's marching on. I've got to meet up with the boys.

Walking the Kintyre Way is a great way to see wildlife

and I'm told that right here at the southern tip of Machrihanish Bay is a wonderful place to observe it.

-How are you?

-Morning, Dougie.

-Good to see you.

-Nice to see you too.

-Shall we head inside?

-Yeah, sure.

-It's an amazing place.

Welcome to the Machrihanish Seabird Observatory.

-So this is where the magic happens?

-Yeah.

My goodness! What a view!

Straight away, look, a few gannets outside diving.

That's almost a daily feature in summer and late summer.

Walking along here, this just looked like a wee shed on the shore, but it's anything but that.

It's an extraordinary place. Why was it sited here?

Well, it was sited here mainly for the autumn migration

which is a lot greater than it is in the spring because there are more birds around.

Especially during gales, we get large numbers of seabirds going by here.

-Sometimes up to 10,000 Manx shearwaters in a day.

-Really?

-Yeah.

I'd better get a move on if I'm going to meet up with Euan and Sarah,

but if you have time and you want a great wildlife experience, this is the place to come.

# It always leads me here

# Leads me to your door... #

In 1966, a very famous Paul McCartney bought a 200-acre farm here on the Kintyre peninsula,

a place to relax and spend time with his family,

as well as a refuge from the headiness and hysteria surrounding The Beatles.

In a tribute to the twisting and turning B842,

he wrote the song The Long And Winding Road.

# The long and winding road... #

But the area was immortalised into popular consciousness in 1977

with the song Mull Of Kintyre.

It was the first single ever to sell over two million copies

and was the biggest-selling hit single of the '70s.

# Mull of Kintyre

# Oh, mist rolling in from the sea

# My desire... #

The promotional video was filmed here at Saddell Beach with members of the Campbeltown Pipe Band.

John Brown was a member of the band and both played on the track and took part in the iconic video.

-John...

-Euan.

-How do you do?

-Not bad.

-So this was the beach?

-This is the very one, aye.

Initially, we never really believed it.

The pipe major said, "We're going to be doing a recording with Paul McCartney."

He produced the music in front of us and said, "We've got a couple of weeks to learn this."

PIPE BAND PLAY: "Mull Of Kintyre"

It was a lovely day. The sun was shining. Beautiful day.

And we marched across this beach, the whole way across from that side over to this side.

-We had a few takes which was hard going on this surface.

-Not easy.

Bad enough walking, never mind playing the pipes on it.

# Mull of Kintyre Oh, mist rolling in... #

John, were you ready for the transformation into a rock star?

I was only 16. It was all pretty much to take in, to be honest with you.

-What was Paul McCartney like to work with?

-He was a gentleman, a really nice guy, down to earth.

-What did you feel about the song itself?

-Never in a million years did we think it would do what it did.

Och, you still... You're on this beach and you get flashbacks of what it was like all these years ago.

It was 36 years ago. It's a long time. You still get a good feeling.

# Carry me back to the Mull of Kintyre... #

At night, a lot of the locals came up.

A few hundred people came up for the end of the video, the bonfire scene.

It was great, a great atmosphere.

# My desire is always to be here

# Oh, Mull of Kintyre... #

At this point, I'm supposed to be going to the other side of the peninsula to meet Sarah and Dougie,

-but there's a bit of a...

-TURNS ON IGNITION

-A bit of a problem.

-ENGINE SPLUTTERS

ENGINE SPLUTTERS AND DIES

# To the long and winding road

# You left me standing here

# A long, long time ago

# Don't keep me waiting here

# Lead me to your door

# Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah... #

-Hey, hey, Mr V!

-How are you?

-We meet again.

-How was your walk?

-Good, yeah, fantastic. Long.

-Sore feet?

-No, I'm fine. I'm absolutely fine. It was really good. But where's Euan?

-Good point.

-Where is Euan?

-I'm hearing stories that things didn't go particularly well for him.

-OK. In what way?

-Apart from the obvious.

-We'll let him reveal all when he finally arrives.

-Hello!

-Oh, here we go. Got a tune for us?

No, I'm going to spare you that.

-What happened?

-The camper van. Trusty camper van, not so trusty.

Decided to... We left it a long way away.

-How was the surfing?

-Fantastic. It was the highlight or not getting up on the board was my highlight.

-Your highlight?

-The Seabird Observatory, alive with wildlife.

My highlight would have been a camper van!

Here we are on the southern tip of Kintyre and, sadly, the end of our Kintyre special.

We just have time to tease you about what's on next week's programme.

We'll be meeting the small cows with the big taste,

otherwise known as Dexter cattle.

Please join us for that and much, much more next week, Friday night, seven o'clock on BBC Two Scotland.

-In the meantime, from all of the team in Kintyre, thank you so much for your company. Bye-bye.

-Bye.

-Bye.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd