0:00:04 > 0:00:11This is Great Britain. Over a third of our country is made up of mountains.
0:00:11 > 0:00:14And I'm going to travel through them.
0:00:15 > 0:00:22It's a journey that's going to take me across the peaks of Scotland, along the backbone of the Pennines,
0:00:22 > 0:00:26through the hills of the Lake District and into my homeland, Wales.
0:00:28 > 0:00:31As it happens, I was brought up in Essex.
0:00:31 > 0:00:33These days I live in the heart of Central London,
0:00:33 > 0:00:38where the highest thing I see every day was built by contractors.
0:00:38 > 0:00:40The mountains are a new territory to me.
0:00:40 > 0:00:45I want to find out what our upland ranges are really like.
0:00:45 > 0:00:50How have they shaped us, our culture and our history?
0:00:50 > 0:00:58I'm going to start in the far north of Scotland, a vast and incredibly beautiful wilderness.
0:00:58 > 0:01:02I'll experience the rituals of getting to the summit...
0:01:02 > 0:01:03So maybe you should kiss the cairn?
0:01:03 > 0:01:07If you kiss in these conditions, you end up with your tongue stuck.
0:01:07 > 0:01:10You don't have to use your tongue!
0:01:10 > 0:01:13..take part in some colourful local customs...
0:01:13 > 0:01:15- I'm not too old to do this?- Oh, no.
0:01:17 > 0:01:22..and stay in the some of the most challenging accommodation I think I've ever tried to sleep in.
0:01:23 > 0:01:30I'm going to find out what draws people to live in this wild and spectacular place.
0:01:30 > 0:01:35These are the mountains of Northwest Scotland.
0:01:53 > 0:01:56Am I really in the United Kingdom?
0:01:56 > 0:02:01This looks more like Greenland or Siberia.
0:02:01 > 0:02:06These are the Northwest Highlands, a cold country by the look of it,
0:02:06 > 0:02:12stretching from the far north of Scotland to the islands off the Scottish west coast.
0:02:12 > 0:02:17To drive here from London would take 14 hours, assuming the roads are open.
0:02:17 > 0:02:24No trains reach here and it would be a very long way by boat, so I've made other arrangements.
0:02:26 > 0:02:31These hills are made even more blank by such a heavy fall of snow.
0:02:31 > 0:02:34Man seems to have been wiped from the surface
0:02:34 > 0:02:38and I have to trust my pilot's navigation skills to know that we've arrived.
0:02:42 > 0:02:47It feels like I'm being deposited at the ends of the Earth.
0:02:47 > 0:02:52But those are definitely mountains over there and this is rather wonderful.
0:02:52 > 0:02:58Well, here I am at the northernmost part of mainland Britain, virtually the northernmost part.
0:02:58 > 0:03:06This is the Kyle of Tongue in Scotland, and the Arctic Circle is closer than the south of Britain.
0:03:06 > 0:03:12I'm in a region called Sutherland, Britain's icy desert.
0:03:12 > 0:03:18In fact, it's only marginally more populated than the Sahara.
0:03:18 > 0:03:24It only takes a moment's thought to know that Sutherland means Land of the South.
0:03:24 > 0:03:29Some of the original settlers here came from the north - the Vikings.
0:03:29 > 0:03:33Even then, they were looking for an escape from their own overcrowded country.
0:03:33 > 0:03:36They came here to explore and so have I.
0:03:40 > 0:03:45I'm going to start tomorrow morning somewhere over there on Ben Hope
0:03:45 > 0:03:49which is 3,000 feet high,
0:03:49 > 0:03:52and then 41 feet on top of that for good measure.
0:03:54 > 0:04:00Today, there's very little left of the Vikings, except for the odd place name.
0:04:00 > 0:04:05The village I'm heading to, Tongue, comes from a Norse word, "tunga",
0:04:05 > 0:04:08referring to the tongue-shaped coastline.
0:04:10 > 0:04:18Luckily, since the night seems to be coming on at about three o'clock in the afternoon, it's not far to walk.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22HE RINGS BELL
0:04:23 > 0:04:27Can I help you? Oh, gosh, you're rather covered in snow!
0:04:27 > 0:04:33If the Vikings came here looking for somewhere with a bit more daylight and a bit less snow,
0:04:33 > 0:04:36I think they might have been disappointed.
0:04:38 > 0:04:44When the gales hit on Ben Hope, I've been told the temperature can drop to minus 30 Celsius.
0:04:44 > 0:04:50This is not the mountain climbing I'm used to, so I thought I'd better check I had the right kit.
0:04:51 > 0:04:54Different weights of socks.
0:04:54 > 0:04:59I don't know how you decide that before you set off. Do you sort of go...
0:04:59 > 0:05:03"Well, is it gonna be a heavy sock day, or a light sock day?"
0:05:03 > 0:05:11Presumably depending on whether you feel it's gonna get enormously sort of cold but...don't know, we'll see.
0:05:11 > 0:05:14How you judge that I don't know, perhaps you ask for advice on that.
0:05:14 > 0:05:19Go down to the hotel and you say to the lady in reception...
0:05:19 > 0:05:23"Well, huh! Heavy sock day today, Mr Jones."
0:05:23 > 0:05:26A whistle! Em... when a mist comes down,
0:05:26 > 0:05:30if you've broken a leg, or you're in trouble then you blow...um...
0:05:30 > 0:05:34then you blow steadily once every three minutes,
0:05:34 > 0:05:38or is it three times a minute, and they come and rescue you.
0:05:38 > 0:05:42I'd better look that up before I go out, I think.
0:05:42 > 0:05:50There's a sense as you see all these objects that it's all a little bit scary, in a funny sort of way.
0:05:50 > 0:05:54It's all there to remind you that what you're dealing with is not
0:05:54 > 0:06:00a quick Sound Of Music, Hills Are Alive, running about having a yodel.
0:06:02 > 0:06:09In the morning, there are fresh falls of snow and I'm advised it is indeed a heavy sock day.
0:06:12 > 0:06:17It's a 12-mile drive from Tongue to Ben Hope and we pass absolutely nobody.
0:06:19 > 0:06:26This is the sort of country where a four-wheel drive is a way of life, not a fashion accessory.
0:06:27 > 0:06:32The name Ben Hope derives from old Norse and it means Hill of the Bay.
0:06:34 > 0:06:38It's what the Vikings first saw when they arrived in their longboats
0:06:38 > 0:06:42and from the top, I'm hoping to be able to see the route they took.
0:06:44 > 0:06:47My companion for the ascent is Cameron McNeish.
0:06:47 > 0:06:53Cameron is a writer and a mountain guide and he's quite used to making
0:06:53 > 0:06:57his way across a howling waste, just for a bit of fun.
0:06:57 > 0:07:02- There she is. - So, Cameron, that's Ben Hope.
0:07:02 > 0:07:07That's Ben Hope. It's quite a nice mountain, it looks quite tricky from here, but it's not too difficult.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10It looks dramatic because the way the cliffs fall away at the side,
0:07:10 > 0:07:13- and you've got this big escarpment of rock here.- Right.
0:07:13 > 0:07:18I think you have to remember that these mountains are Arctic, they're not like the Alps.
0:07:18 > 0:07:22The Alps are a bit sort of soft and nice weather and lots of sunshine.
0:07:22 > 0:07:27- Right.- We're talking about Arctic mountains.- Good!- That's why we have to be dressed properly.
0:07:27 > 0:07:31Yes. I've got my stuff here. Do you wanna have a look here?
0:07:31 > 0:07:33- Yeah.- I just wanna check that I put on the right stuff...- Yeah.
0:07:33 > 0:07:35I am a bit nervous about the idea.
0:07:35 > 0:07:40- OK, what have you got underneath here?- I've got about six layers... - Can I just undress you?
0:07:40 > 0:07:45- Granny vests and...whatever. Anyway look, so...- OK, OK you've got that. - I've got a fleecy fleece on...
0:07:45 > 0:07:51- OK.- And then a base layer, and...probably too much have I got on!
0:07:51 > 0:07:57- My God, Griff, I think you've grossly overdressed.- Am I? I'm worried about the Arctic conditions!
0:08:00 > 0:08:03I'm leading the way here, of course, and you're the guide.
0:08:03 > 0:08:07You're making some nice footsteps for me to follow.
0:08:07 > 0:08:12Already the walk up is beginning to feel like an extended search for a lost ski pole.
0:08:12 > 0:08:15This is a test of my endurance, but then,
0:08:15 > 0:08:18this is a mountain that attracts people who want to test themselves.
0:08:18 > 0:08:20Ben Hope is a Munro -
0:08:20 > 0:08:24a Scottish mountain over 3,000 feet.
0:08:24 > 0:08:29The Munros are named after Sir Hugh Munro who catalogued them in 1891.
0:08:29 > 0:08:34Sir Hugh never actually climbed every one, but he spawned a new hobby.
0:08:34 > 0:08:38Ever since, people have been collecting them like trophies, or stamps.
0:08:38 > 0:08:43These mad fools have a name - Munro baggers.
0:08:43 > 0:08:45How many have you bagged?
0:08:45 > 0:08:50- I've bagged them all. Er...twice, twice.- Right.- I'm almost through my third round.
0:08:50 > 0:08:53- Does it, does this count?- Yeah.
0:08:53 > 0:08:56This'll count to your third?
0:08:56 > 0:08:58- So how many did you say there were? - 284.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01284 - I can't do the maths, but that's over 500 you've done.
0:09:01 > 0:09:05- It's a lot.- Well, you've done nearly 1,000.- Och, yeah, I've done some of them numerous times.
0:09:05 > 0:09:09- Climbing mountains is a silly thing to do.- No, no, no, quick.
0:09:09 > 0:09:13- I won't be a Munro bagger, will I, really?- Well!
0:09:13 > 0:09:15Cos I won't have bagged very many.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18Well, even if you bagged one, that makes you a Munro bagger.
0:09:18 > 0:09:23Does it? Oh, so I can call myself a Munro bagger when I go to the pub?
0:09:23 > 0:09:27'The first person to bag the lot was the Reverend A E Robertson in 1901.
0:09:27 > 0:09:31'It took him ten years.
0:09:31 > 0:09:37'Currently there are over 3,500 people who've done the complete set,
0:09:37 > 0:09:41'though mostly, I understand it, in the summer.'
0:09:43 > 0:09:48- But there's something beautiful about this virgin snow, isn't there?- Yeah.
0:09:48 > 0:09:51- It's almost quite sensual.- Ah... it's absolutely gorgeous.
0:09:51 > 0:09:59What we need to find just over the top of this ridge is a little Swiss cafe with some umbrellas out.
0:09:59 > 0:10:03- And a glass of gluhwein.- In fact, no. One of the great things is that we haven't got a hope of finding...
0:10:03 > 0:10:09- No, not a hope in hell.- I do have one in my backpack, actually, you'll be pleased to know.
0:10:09 > 0:10:13- Yeah.- It included two young ladies to serve us some hot spiced wine.
0:10:17 > 0:10:22For the dedicated Munro bagger, Ben Hope it is the most prized of all the Munros
0:10:22 > 0:10:25because it's the furthest north and the most remote.
0:10:25 > 0:10:31Looking out from it, halfway up, it definitely feels like the middle of nowhere.
0:10:33 > 0:10:37This being Scotland, the weather can change in seconds,
0:10:37 > 0:10:40and as we near the summit, it does.
0:10:40 > 0:10:42The wind suddenly gets up, and the views vanish.
0:10:44 > 0:10:47I'd looked up how to whistle a distress call -
0:10:47 > 0:10:53six blasts a minute - but on a day like today, who on earth would hear me?
0:10:53 > 0:10:56- This is definitely the summit we're coming to?- Yeah, we're not too far.
0:10:56 > 0:10:59I don't believe you, you see, Cameron.
0:10:59 > 0:11:01We're about 50 metres away from it.
0:11:01 > 0:11:04I think you're taking the mickey out of me, mate!
0:11:04 > 0:11:07I'm kind of guessing, though, I must admit.
0:11:07 > 0:11:08We could be anywhere.
0:11:08 > 0:11:13But I'm encouraged by the fact we're on fairly level ground,
0:11:13 > 0:11:17suggesting the summit plateau, and the wind's blowing pretty hard now,
0:11:17 > 0:11:20which would suggest we're on the top of something.
0:11:20 > 0:11:24It is, that's true. How will we know when we make it to the top?
0:11:24 > 0:11:26- There'll be a great big cairn.- Right.
0:11:26 > 0:11:33And there'll be a thing called a trig pillar. An old trigo...trigonometrical point.
0:11:33 > 0:11:37Apparently, the view from here is marvellous.
0:11:41 > 0:11:43Hey, there it is! Hey!
0:11:43 > 0:11:44- Ah... Ah...- Well done!
0:11:54 > 0:11:56- Ah...- Well, done, congratulations.
0:11:58 > 0:12:00- Excellent.- Good man.
0:12:00 > 0:12:02- Ah...terrific.- Put it there. - Look at that.- Well, done.
0:12:02 > 0:12:06But look, what a beautiful object, as well. Look at that.
0:12:06 > 0:12:12- On a good day, you can look over in that direction and see the Orkney Islands in the Pentland Firth.- Good.
0:12:12 > 0:12:17- Over that, on a really good day, you might see Iceland.- Good!
0:12:17 > 0:12:21We look over there and we can see... Paris over there and...
0:12:21 > 0:12:23You've got the whole of the UK behind you.
0:12:23 > 0:12:27The first Munroist, the Reverend E A Robertson,
0:12:27 > 0:12:34when he reached his last Munro, he kissed the cairn and THEN his wife, so maybe you should kiss the cairn.
0:12:34 > 0:12:38No, no. If you kiss in these conditions, you end up with your tongue stuck.
0:12:38 > 0:12:43- Well, you don't have to use your tongue.- Tongue OR lips!
0:12:43 > 0:12:48Just imagine that, the Mountain Rescue called in to say, "Emergency, emergency!
0:12:48 > 0:12:53"Griff Rhys Jones is stuck to the trig point."
0:12:53 > 0:12:55Oh, enough, enough! Now listen, we're only halfway through.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58- We've still got to get down. Come on. - OK. Is that it?
0:12:58 > 0:13:03- Yeah!- Daddy! We've come all this way and we've to go home already? I wanna to build a snowman!
0:13:03 > 0:13:08- Let's get down. Come on, come on. - I wanna build a snowman.
0:13:08 > 0:13:10I want to play a game of snowballs.
0:13:10 > 0:13:12I want to...
0:13:17 > 0:13:20Well, I had seen the summit, if not the view.
0:13:20 > 0:13:24Now all that remained was the long journey down.
0:13:24 > 0:13:30The winter night was closing in and Cameron knew that we had to get off the mountain quickly.
0:13:34 > 0:13:38The Vikings may be long gone, but there are people here somewhere.
0:13:38 > 0:13:4313,500 are scattered over 2,000 square miles
0:13:43 > 0:13:48of seemingly inhospitable landscape, and the numbers are going up.
0:13:48 > 0:13:54There are still outsiders coming in and looking for something in these remote places.
0:13:57 > 0:14:0212 miles northeast of Ben Hope is the tiny community of Skerray... population 83.
0:14:02 > 0:14:09The post office is the heart of the village, and the surrounding countryside.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12It's the only shop for ten miles in any direction.
0:14:12 > 0:14:17Neither of the postmistresses, Marilyn nor Meg, is a native.
0:14:17 > 0:14:24We moved up here 26 years ago from the central belt of Scotland and have no regrets, none whatsoever.
0:14:24 > 0:14:26People thought we were quite mad.
0:14:26 > 0:14:31They both love this country, but not everyone comes here to struggle in it.
0:14:31 > 0:14:33Never climbed a mountain in my life.
0:14:33 > 0:14:36Meg tells me what I'm missing, but I know what I'm missing.
0:14:36 > 0:14:41- What are you missing?- Sweat, exhaustion, terror, exposure, chill.
0:14:41 > 0:14:45That's what I'm missing, as far as I'm concerned, up a mountain.
0:14:45 > 0:14:49Well, do you know on yesterday's experience I think...
0:14:49 > 0:14:53what is it - sweat, exhaustion, exposure, terror, chill. We didn't get much terror.
0:14:53 > 0:14:55- No?- But all the others we had, yes.
0:14:55 > 0:14:58Well, there you are, it proves a point, doesn't it?
0:14:58 > 0:15:04Yeah, well, perhaps you can enjoy the wilderness without treating it as a personal challenge.
0:15:04 > 0:15:09It is, after all, enough of a struggle just to get from A to B around here.
0:15:09 > 0:15:16Luckily I'm in exactly the right place to catch the only form of public transport available to me.
0:15:19 > 0:15:24This is the modern equivalent of the horse-drawn mail coach - the post bus.
0:15:24 > 0:15:28Postman Paul turned out not to be a native Highlander either.
0:15:28 > 0:15:33He swapped tame Wiltshire for wild Sutherland.
0:15:33 > 0:15:38It's a different world. There's hills there, there's mountains. And I love it, love it being here.
0:15:38 > 0:15:41Why, why do you think this is a good place?
0:15:41 > 0:15:44Everybody knows everybody.
0:15:44 > 0:15:47Everybody's helpful.
0:15:48 > 0:15:52I could certainly see that the post van was helpful.
0:15:52 > 0:15:56There don't seem to be any alternative ways of getting about.
0:15:56 > 0:15:58Is this your first time on a post bus?
0:15:58 > 0:16:02I didn't even know they existed! Do they exist a lot in outlying places all over Britain?
0:16:02 > 0:16:05- There's over a hundred in Scotland. - You're the only public transport?
0:16:05 > 0:16:07Yeah, there is nothing else.
0:16:07 > 0:16:13They must rely on you pretty much. Just the post - because most of the things they get come by post.
0:16:13 > 0:16:19Well, I deliver newspapers as well, so they actually get their daily newspaper from me as well.
0:16:19 > 0:16:26It's easy to forget just how different ordinary life can be in this corner of Great Britain.
0:16:26 > 0:16:29Of course, it's that difference that brings people
0:16:29 > 0:16:34like the post office ladies and Paul the postman here in the first place.
0:16:34 > 0:16:37Popping out for a pint of milk may become a serious expedition,
0:16:37 > 0:16:41but the sense of belonging in a community is strong.
0:16:41 > 0:16:46The post bus drops me 12 miles west of Skerray by the shores of Loch Eriboll,
0:16:46 > 0:16:50ten miles long and the deepest sea loch in Britain.
0:16:50 > 0:16:55And it's overlooked by a new and intriguing intruder into the empty landscape.
0:16:55 > 0:16:59I'm greeted by strange shapes and forms.
0:16:59 > 0:17:03These are the works of an artist, Lotte Glob.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06The wilderness is her gallery.
0:17:06 > 0:17:09Lotte is a bit of a Viking invader herself.
0:17:09 > 0:17:12She was drawn here nearly 40 years ago from her native Denmark.
0:17:12 > 0:17:18She loved this bare country so much, she had a house specially designed for her to give her the best outlook
0:17:18 > 0:17:21over the empty hills that inspire her.
0:17:21 > 0:17:25But her art is more than a picture of the view.
0:17:25 > 0:17:29The landscape provides the raw material which she uses in a novel way.
0:17:29 > 0:17:36Lotte takes stones from the hills and in a gas-fired kiln, she plays with geological time.
0:17:36 > 0:17:39- The rock...- Melts, yeah.
0:17:39 > 0:17:44- It's white heat.- What temperatures does it have to reach to melt rock?
0:17:44 > 0:17:48Well, I fire it to about 1,320 Centigrade.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51- So essentially what you do is create a volcano in there.- Yes.
0:17:51 > 0:17:58Each rock reacts differently to the heat, so Lotte can create new shapes and sculptures,
0:17:58 > 0:18:01some in the form of books.
0:18:01 > 0:18:04And these are the actual melted rocks here?
0:18:04 > 0:18:06Yes. Um...
0:18:06 > 0:18:11this was, these are pure rocks, different kind of rocks.
0:18:11 > 0:18:14- Which you have picked up in the hills.- Yeah, in the hills.
0:18:14 > 0:18:21Just to see it melted like this, to see the rock in this sort of glass form and the bits that've come here
0:18:21 > 0:18:28is to suddenly be aware of the extraordinary forces that created it in the first place.
0:18:28 > 0:18:31Yes, yes, that's what's so exciting.
0:18:31 > 0:18:36And the whole of everything that we're standing on was created by that process.
0:18:40 > 0:18:45Lotte's attraction to this landscape isn't just the rocks she can melt,
0:18:45 > 0:18:49it's the solitude she can feel here.
0:18:51 > 0:18:58I don't suppose the wilds of Northern Scotland ever looked more of a wilderness than they do today.
0:18:58 > 0:19:02You can just see nothing as far as the eye can see,
0:19:02 > 0:19:06just nothing except, of course, a deserted cottage which somehow
0:19:06 > 0:19:11makes it even more of a wilderness, more empty.
0:19:11 > 0:19:12But it wasn't...
0:19:12 > 0:19:14wasn't always the case.
0:19:16 > 0:19:19Nowadays there are more people in one square mile of London
0:19:19 > 0:19:24than in the whole of Sutherland's 2,000 square miles.
0:19:24 > 0:19:29But the Highlands were once home to more than half Scotland's population.
0:19:29 > 0:19:3614 miles southwest of Lotte's house is Loch Naver, and a sober reminder of what happened to them.
0:19:37 > 0:19:39This is Grummore.
0:19:42 > 0:19:4522 families used to live here.
0:19:45 > 0:19:51117 people scattered in houses all over this hillside
0:19:51 > 0:19:56until the Duchess of Sutherland decided to clear them away.
0:19:56 > 0:20:03This was known as the Highland Clearances, a notorious moment in Scottish history.
0:20:03 > 0:20:08In the 18th century, landowners who presided over these wilderness regions began, systematically,
0:20:08 > 0:20:14evicting their tenants from the settlements they'd occupied for perhaps thousands of years.
0:20:14 > 0:20:20They replaced the Highlanders with herds of far more profitable sheep.
0:20:20 > 0:20:26The Clearances started around the 1760s and continued for 100 years.
0:20:26 > 0:20:32An estimated 150,000 people were turfed out of their homes, often violently.
0:20:32 > 0:20:39A few stone ruins are now all that remain of their villages.
0:20:44 > 0:20:48Most of the people cleared from the Highlands had no option
0:20:48 > 0:20:52but to move south to towns and cities, or to emigrate for ever.
0:20:54 > 0:20:58Those who stayed were forced onto poor land near the coast,
0:20:58 > 0:21:03often remaining tenants of the very landlords who had broken up their communities in the first place.
0:21:03 > 0:21:08They had to scratch out a living from the land, and so crofting -
0:21:08 > 0:21:12low-level subsistence farming - began.
0:21:12 > 0:21:17Today there are over 17,500 crofts in the Highlands.
0:21:17 > 0:21:22Most are still tenants of landlords who own vast estates.
0:21:22 > 0:21:25But a few crofters are ringing the changes in these hills.
0:21:25 > 0:21:33One is Alan MacRae. He farms a croft in Assynt, 24 miles southwest of the ruins at Grummore.
0:21:33 > 0:21:37- Hello, there, hello.- Can I get... is it all right to disturb you now?
0:21:37 > 0:21:42- It's all right. I'm just gonna feed some of the young beasts up there. - Can I come with you?- Aye, sure.
0:21:44 > 0:21:49- This croft's been in your family for a long time.- Yes, it has.
0:21:49 > 0:21:52My father and his father before him.
0:21:52 > 0:21:58- Several generations ago, my forbears were cleared into Assynt here.- Yes.
0:21:58 > 0:22:01We've been here ever since.
0:22:03 > 0:22:10- To run a smallholding in this fairly tough sort of area means you have to work quite hard.- Well, I...
0:22:10 > 0:22:14it's a way of life, you know, I mean, I never consider myself doing work...
0:22:14 > 0:22:19- You have to like doing it.- Yes. - Otherwise you wouldn't do it.
0:22:19 > 0:22:22Come on...come on, come on.
0:22:22 > 0:22:25Come on, you silly beasts.
0:22:26 > 0:22:29Basically, if you want to live here
0:22:29 > 0:22:35you have to turn your hand to a lot of things, and you have to do a lot to help yourself.
0:22:35 > 0:22:40You cannot generate the kind of cash surplus that enables you to get people to do things for you.
0:22:40 > 0:22:43You've got to more or else do it yourself most of the time.
0:22:46 > 0:22:52Highland people have a deep commitment to this country, and Alan did do it for himself.
0:22:52 > 0:22:5815 years ago, Alan led a drive to buy back land.
0:22:58 > 0:23:03He wanted the crofters to own their own property, not be tenants of a big landlord.
0:23:03 > 0:23:09With a hundred other like-minded men and women, he formed the Assynt Crofters' Trust
0:23:09 > 0:23:17which, in 1992, succeeded in buying back 21,000 acres of their communal upland grazing.
0:23:19 > 0:23:21In winning the land,
0:23:21 > 0:23:24the Assynt crofters
0:23:24 > 0:23:31have struck a historic blow for people on the land right throughout the Highlands and Islands.
0:23:31 > 0:23:34Since then, the trust has built a hydroelectric scheme
0:23:34 > 0:23:40and several houses for the local community, and the primary school roll has doubled.
0:23:42 > 0:23:47Before I left, I went for a warming cup of tea above Alan's barn,
0:23:47 > 0:23:52which incredibly, he built himself, brick by brick, over the last 20 years.
0:23:52 > 0:23:55I'm a great believer that you should stand on your own feet.
0:23:56 > 0:24:01I believe life is what you make it, and you have to get cracking.
0:24:01 > 0:24:07He has hot and cold running water, though no central heating that I was aware of.
0:24:07 > 0:24:11Alan's croft is pretty basic but it's a life he believes in.
0:24:11 > 0:24:15For Alan, the emptiness of this country is not a blessing but a curse.
0:24:15 > 0:24:19He wants to see more people here doing what he's doing.
0:24:19 > 0:24:25It's perfectly possible to put people back out there on the land. I'm quite sure of that.
0:24:25 > 0:24:30I'm quite sure there are people with the appetite to use it if they've got the opportunity.
0:24:30 > 0:24:36People like me who come along and think this place has a certain beauty because it's so empty,
0:24:36 > 0:24:38what do you say to me?
0:24:38 > 0:24:44Well, I don't see that the future of the Highland people should be sacrificed to suit people like you.
0:24:44 > 0:24:50No, I don't, they're our heritage and we need to hang on to it.
0:24:50 > 0:24:56I, I firmly believe that the crofters are the people
0:24:56 > 0:25:00best suited to protect the land up here.
0:25:02 > 0:25:08I came here with mixed feelings about what sounded a bit like a land grab to me
0:25:08 > 0:25:11but I left totally won over by Alan's commitment and passion.
0:25:11 > 0:25:17People care deeply about this extraordinary hump-backed country.
0:25:17 > 0:25:22But of course the difficult land itself is a lot older than Highlanders and Vikings
0:25:22 > 0:25:29and, as I journey south, it's time to go back further to investigate the forces that created it.
0:25:29 > 0:25:34Not far from Alan's house, I'm told, there is a sacred mountain.
0:25:34 > 0:25:40Sacred not to the locals, Picts or Vikings, but to geologists.
0:25:40 > 0:25:42This is Suilven.
0:25:42 > 0:25:48It's a Norse word meaning pillar mountain, and the Vikings could see it from the sea.
0:25:48 > 0:25:56They arrived and they used it as a sea mark, and all I know about it is it's 2,398 feet high.
0:26:08 > 0:26:10Yeah.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13I'm not climbing that, it's ridiculous.
0:26:13 > 0:26:15I'm assured there's an easy route up it.
0:26:17 > 0:26:19It looks completely unclimbable.
0:26:23 > 0:26:25Unbelievable.
0:26:27 > 0:26:29But there's no turning back now.
0:26:29 > 0:26:34Suilven is like a monument to the foundations of the Earth.
0:26:34 > 0:26:37The rocks on which it sits are some of the oldest in the world.
0:26:47 > 0:26:52The other thing, of course, that's notable about Suilven is that it...
0:26:52 > 0:26:57it rises up out of an inaccessible wilderness of heather and bog,
0:26:57 > 0:27:03and that's why I've had to trudge five miles to get here
0:27:03 > 0:27:10and what I'm going to do is I'm gonna rest overnight, before starting the climb proper,
0:27:10 > 0:27:11in a bothy.
0:27:11 > 0:27:17And I think that is probably the bothy over there.
0:27:19 > 0:27:22Well, I hope so, anyway.
0:27:22 > 0:27:27The term "bothy" comes from the Gaelic word bothan meaning "hut".
0:27:27 > 0:27:30Most are deserted shepherds' cottages, which have been adopted
0:27:30 > 0:27:34and looked after by walkers and climbers as rough and ready shelters.
0:27:34 > 0:27:37Not too rough, I hope.
0:27:37 > 0:27:40DOOR CREAKS GENTLY
0:27:40 > 0:27:44Ah...it's dark in here.
0:27:48 > 0:27:49Oh!
0:27:58 > 0:28:00Well, phew...
0:28:00 > 0:28:04I feel like the Count of Monte Cristo now in the...
0:28:04 > 0:28:10This is night in the bothy.
0:28:10 > 0:28:15Bothy. Let's have a look around and see what we've got.
0:28:15 > 0:28:17I don't know if you can see that.
0:28:17 > 0:28:19That's, em...
0:28:19 > 0:28:23that's the loo, let's put it that way.
0:28:23 > 0:28:24What else have we got here?
0:28:24 > 0:28:28Wait a minute, we have here...
0:28:28 > 0:28:30a book.
0:28:31 > 0:28:35Suil...Suileag. Suileag.
0:28:36 > 0:28:38So here are my instructions.
0:28:38 > 0:28:42I have to leave the bothy clean and tidy for the next visitors.
0:28:42 > 0:28:47I have to reduce the fire risk by keeping the fire small. OK...
0:28:47 > 0:28:52And cold presumably! Not burning highly combustible material such as plastics,
0:28:52 > 0:28:56and making sure the fire is out before I leave. I can do that.
0:28:56 > 0:29:02Take all my rubbish away with me, use the spade - we found the spade - to bury human waste.
0:29:04 > 0:29:10The temperature could fall tonight to minus eight, apparently, outside.
0:29:10 > 0:29:13"Whether you visit the mountains to climb, to walk,
0:29:13 > 0:29:19"or simply to gaze at the scenery, you will soon find that you use a considerable amount of energy.
0:29:19 > 0:29:23"It's therefore important that you eat well,"
0:29:23 > 0:29:26says my essential guide,
0:29:26 > 0:29:29and so...I've got some...
0:29:29 > 0:29:32"boil in the bag".
0:29:36 > 0:29:38That's it, get in, there we go.
0:29:47 > 0:29:50Mmm... Actually, that's delicious.
0:29:50 > 0:29:54It tastes a lot better than it looks in the bottom of the bag there -
0:29:54 > 0:29:57it tastes delicious, and it's quite hot.
0:30:07 > 0:30:12Suilven's incredibly ancient mass towered over me in the moonlight.
0:30:12 > 0:30:17I was miles from anywhere and anyone, and I have to admit,
0:30:17 > 0:30:19it felt rather magical.
0:30:29 > 0:30:36The temperature in the night did fall to minus eight degrees but with the dawn, things got moving again.
0:31:02 > 0:31:07The morning light provided a crisp, clear view of the crest of Suilven.
0:31:07 > 0:31:11To help me understand how this startling mountain was formed,
0:31:11 > 0:31:17I'm going up with geologist Peter Nienow, who had an even earlier start than I did.
0:31:17 > 0:31:22He isn't just a geologist. Luckily, he's a skilled mountaineer too.
0:31:22 > 0:31:24How long do you think it'll take us to get up?
0:31:24 > 0:31:29- It'll be about two or three hours from here.- And you've done it before?
0:31:29 > 0:31:33A couple of times, but I've never seen the view from the top so...
0:31:33 > 0:31:36- It's rare.- Cross fingers. It is rare.- Is it?- Yeah.
0:31:36 > 0:31:40The reason Suilven is so special to geologists is because you can see
0:31:40 > 0:31:45the layers of sandstone that make up the mountain mass.
0:31:45 > 0:31:51Each was formed by deposits of mineral sediment resting on the seabed.
0:31:51 > 0:31:53As more and more layers built up,
0:31:53 > 0:31:58the pressure solidified the sediment into rock, with the oldest rock on the bottom.
0:31:58 > 0:32:00So these rocks...
0:32:00 > 0:32:03how old are these? Let's start with them.
0:32:03 > 0:32:06So these rocks, the rocks that we're on are...
0:32:06 > 0:32:11well, the oldest are about 3.3 billion years old.
0:32:11 > 0:32:16Sorry, I have to stop for just a minute for two reasons -
0:32:16 > 0:32:22one cos I'm knackered, and the other reason is because I can never get my head around billions, so how many?
0:32:22 > 0:32:25So that's 3,300 million years old.
0:32:25 > 0:32:283,000 million years old.
0:32:28 > 0:32:34About that. Up to 3,300 million, so they're some of the oldest rocks in the world.
0:32:34 > 0:32:36So what are the, what are the...
0:32:36 > 0:32:42what are the basic forces, then, that create mountains?
0:32:42 > 0:32:45The basic forces are plate tectonics.
0:32:45 > 0:32:50Basically, we've got continents that are floating on a magma,
0:32:50 > 0:32:53which is a liquid deeper down in the Earth,
0:32:53 > 0:32:57and that liquid has got convection currents, it's continually moving.
0:32:57 > 0:33:04The plates are floating on that, like a crust of porridge that's drying but floating on a warmer porridge.
0:33:04 > 0:33:07Basically, the plates are moving round,
0:33:07 > 0:33:11and the best example is somewhere like the Himalayas in India.
0:33:11 > 0:33:16The Indian subcontinent has come and crashed into the Asian continent,
0:33:16 > 0:33:20and the pressures have led to mountain uplift.
0:33:22 > 0:33:30400 million years ago, this mountain uplift created a range the size of the Himalayas where we're standing.
0:33:30 > 0:33:3660 million years ago, continental drift ripped this part of Scotland away from North America
0:33:36 > 0:33:42and 20,000 years ago, almost all of Suilven would have been submerged
0:33:42 > 0:33:46under billions of tons of ice and we could have skated to the top.
0:33:46 > 0:33:51But today, we're just going to have to take a slightly more difficult route.
0:33:51 > 0:33:55- How on earth are we gonna get up that? - It's quite steep, but it'll be fine.
0:33:55 > 0:34:01We're heading straight up that gully to the coll on the lowest point of the skyline,
0:34:01 > 0:34:08so we're just gonna sort of contour, and then traverse up to the foot of the gully, and then head straight up.
0:34:08 > 0:34:15We'll see whether we need ice axe and crampons, but we'll decide that nearer the gully.
0:34:15 > 0:34:18OK, let's have a go.
0:34:23 > 0:34:28Eventually, Peter decided we wouldn't need crampons to give us extra grip.
0:34:28 > 0:34:31Instead, we kick into the steep snow slope,
0:34:31 > 0:34:36jumping ahead thousands of years in geological time with each footstep.
0:34:38 > 0:34:44It got steeper and steeper and more and more slippery.
0:34:44 > 0:34:50That is just...amazing.
0:35:00 > 0:35:04Oh! I thought we were coming out onto something flat.
0:35:04 > 0:35:08That...is extraordinary.
0:35:11 > 0:35:13So, we still had a bit to go.
0:35:13 > 0:35:18Admiring the view became less important than watching where we were putting our feet.
0:35:18 > 0:35:24One slip on this icy, metre-wide path, and there would be a thousand-foot fall
0:35:24 > 0:35:27back the way we'd come.
0:35:30 > 0:35:35- This is like a roof.- It's amazing, isn't it?
0:35:37 > 0:35:42And when we reached the summit, the reward was simply astonishing.
0:35:46 > 0:35:48- Not bad, is it?- No.
0:35:48 > 0:35:49I have to admit, I had the jitters.
0:35:49 > 0:35:53On that last bit, my knees went weak and trembly.
0:35:53 > 0:35:59I'm not sure they went weak and trembly because of the beauty of the view, or because of the effort
0:35:59 > 0:36:05of clambering up here through the snow and ice, but what an extraordinary vision.
0:36:08 > 0:36:14And it's a vision created by immeasurable natural forces.
0:36:14 > 0:36:20This landscape has been made, as it were, by what you specialise in, which is glaciers.
0:36:20 > 0:36:26The sort of final sculpting has been created by glaciers.
0:36:26 > 0:36:33When Britain was covered by an ice sheet, part of the ice sheet flowed out here, removing the sandstone,
0:36:33 > 0:36:38and Suilven, supposedly, is aligned this way because of the way the ice has flowed round it,
0:36:38 > 0:36:43- so the ice has been flowing round it...- Going either side of it? - ..and streamlined it.
0:36:43 > 0:36:48Just being up on the shark's fin of Suilven was a unique and enthralling experience.
0:36:48 > 0:36:55It slices out of the wilderness and tells its story through its own extraordinary shape.
0:36:57 > 0:37:00What we need now is either a helicopter or...
0:37:00 > 0:37:04- Paraglider.- ..paraglider. - You could just...
0:37:04 > 0:37:05- One between two.- ..jump off.
0:37:07 > 0:37:09I didn't want to leave.
0:37:09 > 0:37:16This was a panorama of a pristine wonderland and I was lucky to see it.
0:37:16 > 0:37:19But it was time to move on.
0:37:19 > 0:37:25My exploration of some of our most remote mountains would not be ending in the far north.
0:37:25 > 0:37:30Next, I had to cross the sea, to an island off its coast.
0:37:32 > 0:37:3460 miles southwest of Suilven
0:37:34 > 0:37:40lies the largest and most famous island of the Inner Hebrides - the Isle of Skye.
0:37:40 > 0:37:44The gap between it and the mainland is less than a mile,
0:37:44 > 0:37:50yet Skye has preserved the distinct identity of an inaccessible place,
0:37:50 > 0:37:57with 350 miles of coastline and some of the most astonishing rock formations in the country.
0:37:57 > 0:38:01The south of Skye is dominated by the Cuillin mountains,
0:38:01 > 0:38:07a crown of peaks and pinnacles that rises sheer out of the sea.
0:38:07 > 0:38:10The Highland Clearances reached this island too.
0:38:10 > 0:38:15Even today, Skye continues to struggle to hold on to its younger residents.
0:38:15 > 0:38:20People love this place, but sometimes they need to go where the work is.
0:38:20 > 0:38:27The bridge that comes in is also the way out and the road to the south.
0:38:27 > 0:38:31The snow was going, this suddenly felt like civilisation.
0:38:31 > 0:38:33Even the bus was a bit of a shock.
0:38:33 > 0:38:36Roads, lorries, people.
0:38:36 > 0:38:44I was disorientated. I needed to get my bearings and Janice McPherson was on hand to give me some advice.
0:38:44 > 0:38:47Is it a long way from civilisation, where you live, then?
0:38:47 > 0:38:50No, I'm just about five minutes' walk from the village.
0:38:50 > 0:38:52And the place to head for, where's that?
0:38:52 > 0:38:55The Tongadale, it's quite a homey pub.
0:38:55 > 0:39:00- Is it?- Yeah.- Right. So what would you recommend I do tonight?
0:39:00 > 0:39:05- Tonight either Tongadale, or up to the ceilidh.- OK, there's a ceilidh tonight.
0:39:05 > 0:39:09- Yeah.- I thought ceilidhs were just for tourists. - No, no. Everybody goes.
0:39:09 > 0:39:11- Seriously, they just get together and go dancing?- Yeah.
0:39:11 > 0:39:14- Do Scottish dancing just for fun? - Just for fun, yeah.- OK.
0:39:14 > 0:39:17Have you done any Scottish dancing ever?
0:39:17 > 0:39:21No. Don't you want to do any dancing? No.
0:39:21 > 0:39:26Well, I wasn't sure myself, but I had reached my stop.
0:39:26 > 0:39:32I was staying in a hotel right underneath the Black Cuillin mountains
0:39:32 > 0:39:38and the only reason my guesthouse was here at all was to put up the climbers who'd been coming here
0:39:38 > 0:39:44for 100 years to have a crack at what I'd been told was Britain's only Alpine range.
0:39:44 > 0:39:46- Hello.- Hi, there.
0:39:46 > 0:39:49Is this the Sligachan Hotel?
0:39:49 > 0:39:51Sligachan Hotel, we pronounce it Slig-a-han.
0:39:51 > 0:39:54- The Slug-a-han Hotel. - Sligachan. No' bad.
0:39:54 > 0:40:00Right. Thank you. Tell me, that's Gaelic... That's Gah-lic or Gay-lic?.
0:40:00 > 0:40:01I would say Gah-lic.
0:40:01 > 0:40:03Garlic?
0:40:03 > 0:40:07- Ga...Gaelic.- What, like in the... in the tuber or whatever.- Gaelic.
0:40:07 > 0:40:10OK, fine. Well, I have a room booked, so I believe.
0:40:10 > 0:40:16- You certainly have.- Thank you very much.- Room 17, good view of the Cuillins up there.- Yes, thank you.
0:40:16 > 0:40:20- Your room's just straight ahead up the stairs and to the left.- OK.
0:40:21 > 0:40:23I had to get to Portree.
0:40:23 > 0:40:29Before I took on the challenge of the Cuillins, I had to take on the challenge of a ceilidh.
0:40:29 > 0:40:32- I'm not too old to do this, am I? - Oh, no, no, no.
0:40:32 > 0:40:35You've got plenty dancing years yet.
0:40:35 > 0:40:39- Oh, have I? Well, we shall see. - We shall see, we'll find out.
0:40:39 > 0:40:45After the wilderness of Ben Hope and Suilven, where there are often 20 miles between settlements,
0:40:45 > 0:40:49it was quite nice to be surrounded by a lot of people again.
0:40:50 > 0:40:53Some of the Highlands might feel deserted,
0:40:53 > 0:40:56but Skye's population is actually increasing,
0:40:56 > 0:41:03with more and more people drawn to its landscape, its mountains and its dancing.
0:41:03 > 0:41:11In 20 years, the number of people living here has increased by nearly a third.
0:41:16 > 0:41:22Too early the next morning, I had an urgent appointment just north of the hotel.
0:41:22 > 0:41:25A Gaelic language lesson.
0:41:25 > 0:41:30Gaelic was the language of most of Scotland for about 1,500 years, until the 18th century.
0:41:30 > 0:41:34Today, only some 60,000 people speak it.
0:41:34 > 0:41:39Ceilidh was a Gaelic word that was easier to say than to spell.
0:41:39 > 0:41:41I'd had trouble with Sligachan,
0:41:41 > 0:41:48and, if I didn't watch out, I was still calling it Gay-lic, which is a word for the Irish language.
0:41:48 > 0:41:49I needed some help,
0:41:49 > 0:41:54so I went to a local primary school where Gaelic is taught.
0:41:54 > 0:41:56Before I attempt to climb any of them,
0:41:56 > 0:42:01I want to learn how to pronounce the names of Skye's mountains.
0:42:10 > 0:42:13Madainn mhath.
0:42:17 > 0:42:23'Blimey! The teacher's being a bit strict. I'd better concentrate.'
0:42:23 > 0:42:28- Right, Griff.- Sgurr De-arg. No?
0:42:28 > 0:42:29How does it go?
0:42:31 > 0:42:34- Sgurr Dearg.- SKOOR...JERRIG?
0:42:34 > 0:42:40'Gaelic is a language rich in meaning. Sgurr Dearg means red peak.'
0:42:40 > 0:42:43Sgurr nan Gillean.
0:42:43 > 0:42:45Sgurr nan Gillean.
0:42:45 > 0:42:48Sgurr nan Gillean.
0:42:48 > 0:42:51'Sgurr nan Gillean means the peak of the young men,
0:42:51 > 0:42:55'and this...looks impossible.'
0:42:55 > 0:42:59Sgurr Michich...
0:42:59 > 0:43:01Mhic...
0:43:01 > 0:43:04Choinnich, Choinnich. No.
0:43:04 > 0:43:08No. No. Sgurr Mhic Choinnich.
0:43:08 > 0:43:11SKOOR VEECH KONNICH.
0:43:14 > 0:43:19These names I'm learning, or trying to learn, have a real human history to them.
0:43:19 > 0:43:23Many of the individual Cuillin mountains have been named after people,
0:43:23 > 0:43:29the explorers, the pioneers who first went up there in the 1880s.
0:43:29 > 0:43:32The sport of mountaineering began in the Alps.
0:43:32 > 0:43:36It was only later in the century that climbers began to look
0:43:36 > 0:43:40at a lower but equally exciting range closer to home.
0:43:40 > 0:43:44The most famous of Skye's mountaineers were an unlikely pair
0:43:44 > 0:43:48brought together by their affection for the Cuillin mountains.
0:43:48 > 0:43:53Norman Collie, a scientist from Manchester, came to Skye in 1886.
0:43:53 > 0:43:58He employed the son of a local crofter, John Mackenzie, as a guide.
0:43:58 > 0:44:04Collie and Mackenzie formed a regular climbing partnership, despite their class differences.
0:44:04 > 0:44:09In 1890, they surveyed the whole of the Cuillin range, the first to do so.
0:44:09 > 0:44:15Observers said that, although they were great climbing companions, they exchanged few words.
0:44:15 > 0:44:22Their unspoken understanding of the mountains was enough to form a friendship that lasted 40 years.
0:44:22 > 0:44:26Their names are memorialised in the hills today.
0:44:26 > 0:44:29Sgurr Mhic Choinnich, Mackenzie's peak for Mackenzie,
0:44:29 > 0:44:34and Sgurr Thormaid, Norman's peak for Collie.
0:44:35 > 0:44:43After Mackenzie died in 1933 at the age of 77, Collie continued to climb here in memory of his old friend.
0:44:43 > 0:44:49Today, though, they're reunited in this unexpected shady patch of green.
0:44:54 > 0:45:01In the end, Collie asked to be buried next to Mackenzie, the mathematician and the shepherd.
0:45:01 > 0:45:09I don't know whether Mackenzie ever really understood the extent of the affection that Collie had for him.
0:45:09 > 0:45:12He was always known as a rather self-contained man,
0:45:12 > 0:45:20and the graves are made of stones from the Cuillin, which they first explored together.
0:45:22 > 0:45:29The mountains may often have been named after the men who climbed them 125 years ago.
0:45:29 > 0:45:32But they belonged to someone else.
0:45:32 > 0:45:36In fact, they still do.
0:45:36 > 0:45:39Though perhaps not for much longer.
0:45:39 > 0:45:44The Cuillin Mountains are up for sale.
0:45:44 > 0:45:49You can go into an estate agent in Edinburgh and get yourself one of these.
0:45:49 > 0:45:56This is the brochure for the Cuillins - an entire mountain range for sale.
0:45:56 > 0:46:0214 miles of coastline and, crucially, 11 Munros, separate Scottish mountains over 3,000 feet,
0:46:02 > 0:46:07and nine additional tops over 3,000 feet.
0:46:07 > 0:46:10And then in very small writing here,
0:46:10 > 0:46:15it says, "Viewing strictly by appointment." So under no circumstances
0:46:15 > 0:46:20are you allowed to pop and have your own look at the mountains,
0:46:20 > 0:46:25even though, apparently, you are free to climb them any time you like.
0:46:25 > 0:46:29It's recommended by the estate agent that you take one of those short men
0:46:29 > 0:46:33in a pinstriped suit with alligator shoes tottering up the path.
0:46:34 > 0:46:42Here's a picture of a peak and presumably they're thinking, "This could be you,"
0:46:42 > 0:46:49or whether it's to encourage you to think you'd be able to stand on the peak and shout, "Get off my land!
0:46:50 > 0:46:54"This is now privately owned, these mountains."
0:46:54 > 0:46:57That's a very lavish offer,
0:46:57 > 0:47:01but as yet, they have no buyers.
0:47:01 > 0:47:05The Cuillins are the property of the Clan MacLeod,
0:47:05 > 0:47:11who still own the mountains that were once part of a territory which covered more than half of Skye.
0:47:11 > 0:47:16They also own this rather imposing piece of property - Dunvegan Castle -
0:47:16 > 0:47:22built 850 years ago as a fortress when rival clans - huge extended families -
0:47:22 > 0:47:26had bitter neighbourly disputes over this island.
0:47:26 > 0:47:31Today the castle is still home to the Chief of the Clan, John MacLeod.
0:47:33 > 0:47:36Of course it was designed to be impregnable.
0:47:37 > 0:47:40So how on earth do I get in it?
0:47:53 > 0:47:57Ah... through the back door, of course.
0:48:02 > 0:48:05- Oh...hello.- Hello.
0:48:05 > 0:48:09My name's Griff, I've come to see the Chief of the Clan MacLeod.
0:48:09 > 0:48:11- That's John MacLeod.- Hello.
0:48:11 > 0:48:14- Oh...hello.- And welcome.
0:48:14 > 0:48:15Nice to see you.
0:48:15 > 0:48:19And you. I believe you're gonna show me round the castle?
0:48:19 > 0:48:23- If that's what you want to see. - That's what I'd love to see, thank you very much.
0:48:23 > 0:48:26And explain a little bit about the Cuillins as we go.
0:48:26 > 0:48:30- OK.- Is that all right? - I'll try.- Good, thank you very much.
0:48:30 > 0:48:32Well, do you want to lead on?
0:48:35 > 0:48:40The castle is one of the major tourist attractions on the Isle of Skye
0:48:40 > 0:48:45and the whole house is like a picture-book history of the island.
0:48:45 > 0:48:49Originally, the MacLeods held the south and their bitter rivals the MacDonalds the north.
0:48:49 > 0:48:56The MacLeods are certainly not incomers to Skye, or at least not since the 1260s.
0:48:56 > 0:49:02Here, your ancestors surround you - what number clan chief are you?
0:49:02 > 0:49:04Number 29.
0:49:04 > 0:49:08Chief John is descended from Viking royalty -
0:49:08 > 0:49:14a son of King Olav the first was clan chief number one.
0:49:14 > 0:49:19- It's quite a good sort of lineage to be able to look back on. - Bunch of savages!
0:49:22 > 0:49:25This is a terrific outfit.
0:49:25 > 0:49:30Well, that was when the tartan was proscribed, and people weren't allowed to wear kilts.
0:49:30 > 0:49:34That was against the law. So that was his invention.
0:49:34 > 0:49:39- He was a dreadful fellow.- Was he?- He was an awful man, a wicked man.
0:49:39 > 0:49:44He was reputed to have murdered his first wife in the dungeon, who was this MacDonald lady.
0:49:46 > 0:49:48- Oh...dear.- Eh...
0:49:48 > 0:49:52He was a real bad hat, he really was. He was a wicked man.
0:49:52 > 0:49:55But I do like that wall of paintings.
0:49:59 > 0:50:02The Cuillins have been MacLeod land for 850 years.
0:50:02 > 0:50:06They are the dominant feature of what is left of the clan's territory.
0:50:06 > 0:50:10I wondered why John MacLeod would ever consider selling them,
0:50:10 > 0:50:13but then he took me on a guided tour of the east wing.
0:50:13 > 0:50:16This is the part of the castle the tourists don't see.
0:50:18 > 0:50:20This is where his visitors have to stay.
0:50:20 > 0:50:25And my guests were sleeping in this room and they told me
0:50:25 > 0:50:31they had to put up an umbrella in the middle of the night when they were in bed in this room.
0:50:31 > 0:50:37So the roof is... It's dripping on me here! So the roof is...
0:50:37 > 0:50:41- the roof has gone.- The roof has gone, it's completely gone.
0:50:41 > 0:50:45How much of the castle is in a dilapidated state?
0:50:45 > 0:50:49- The degradation is something that's seeping through the walls...- Right.
0:50:49 > 0:50:52..and it's really castle-wide.
0:50:56 > 0:50:59Oh, God! Look at this!
0:50:59 > 0:51:01Oh, no, how awful!
0:51:01 > 0:51:06This was once my favourite room.
0:51:08 > 0:51:14What are the estimates now for the repair of this side of the castle?
0:51:14 > 0:51:18It's somewhere around £19.2 million.
0:51:18 > 0:51:24£19.2 million is a lot of money, even if you are clan royalty,
0:51:24 > 0:51:29so John MacLeod wants to sell off some of his biggest assets.
0:51:30 > 0:51:34So you decided five years ago, or thought five years ago,
0:51:34 > 0:51:40that you could raise some money to pay for this by selling off some of the Cuillin?
0:51:40 > 0:51:43That's the only bit of land that we have left
0:51:43 > 0:51:48and...so I thought in today's world somebody might want to buy them.
0:51:48 > 0:51:53Quite a lot of people on the island didn't want you to sell them.
0:51:53 > 0:51:58I didn't want to sell them myself, either. I can understand that.
0:51:58 > 0:52:02What about the people who said you didn't have the right to sell them?
0:52:02 > 0:52:07- I thought that was very insulting. - Were they MacDonalds, by any chance?
0:52:12 > 0:52:17On consideration, I don't think even a rival clan is going to take on this land now.
0:52:17 > 0:52:21What sort of a braveheart would step forward to buy them?
0:52:21 > 0:52:25They're part of the identity of Skye, there are many on the island
0:52:25 > 0:52:29who strongly object to the idea of putting them on the property market.
0:52:29 > 0:52:35As for me, having learned their history, how to pronounce their names and their owner's intentions,
0:52:35 > 0:52:39it was time to make an appointment to view.
0:52:39 > 0:52:46There are 11 Munros making up the massive serrated horseshoe of the Black Cuillin.
0:52:46 > 0:52:51The terrifying jagged ridge, the longest in Britain at nearly seven miles,
0:52:51 > 0:52:56provides some of the most difficult climbing in the country.
0:52:56 > 0:52:58Climbers love the crazy Cuillins.
0:52:58 > 0:53:02Apart from the deadly drops, narrow gullies and exposed pinnacles,
0:53:02 > 0:53:07the magnetism of the rock means navigating by compass is dangerously unreliable.
0:53:09 > 0:53:12I'm going to try to tackle one of the central peaks -
0:53:12 > 0:53:17Bruach na Frithe, which means the slope of the deer forest.
0:53:18 > 0:53:25Like the pioneer Norman Collie, I've taken the precaution of enlisting some local guides.
0:53:25 > 0:53:32Eoghain McKinnon, Paddy Stevenson and Sarah Kay walk and climb here almost every week.
0:53:32 > 0:53:35Eoghain's the local electrician, and seems not to have noticed
0:53:35 > 0:53:38that it's freezing cold, and there's a strong wind blowing.
0:53:38 > 0:53:42I feel a complete southern softie in my waterproof shell.
0:53:45 > 0:53:51The names of the new pinnacles, the ones I haven't learned so far, seem to want to tell me something.
0:53:51 > 0:53:54This is Am Basteir.
0:53:54 > 0:53:56Ah...Am Basteir, what does that mean?
0:53:56 > 0:53:58Eh...the executioner.
0:53:58 > 0:54:01I don't know how it ever got the name.
0:54:01 > 0:54:04And this is a dangerous ridge, people fall off this?
0:54:04 > 0:54:08- Well, it has...takes quite a few casualties.- Does it?- Yes.
0:54:08 > 0:54:15The forbidding mountains get their name, the Black Cuillin, from the dark gabbro rock.
0:54:15 > 0:54:18It's loved by climbers because of the grip it allows,
0:54:18 > 0:54:22but it doesn't make climbing on gabbro entirely a cake-walk.
0:54:22 > 0:54:25You've got to watch out for the patches of basalt.
0:54:25 > 0:54:30Within it, there's loads of basalt dykes that have intruded up through the gabbro
0:54:30 > 0:54:35- and in the wet, they can be dicey, so you're going along thinking... - So the basalt is...
0:54:35 > 0:54:40Super-grippy gabbro right beside super-slippy basalt.
0:54:40 > 0:54:45That basalt is very shattered in places, so you think you've got a nice hold,
0:54:45 > 0:54:47and it'll just come off in your hand.
0:54:47 > 0:54:52- Painting a lovely picture, aren't we? - No, no! You're not! No, I mean...
0:54:52 > 0:54:56I'm feeling more confident all the time. At least the wind's died down.
0:54:57 > 0:55:01We seemed to be walking up into God's building site.
0:55:01 > 0:55:07The rock has been shattered and heaped into piles of gravel
0:55:07 > 0:55:12by the ice and the rain, and most of our journey is sheer, unending trudge.
0:55:12 > 0:55:16- I tell you what I'm finding, though, Paddy.- Yeah?
0:55:16 > 0:55:21- The business of climbing a mountain is mostly looking at your feet.- Yes.
0:55:21 > 0:55:27You spend a lot of time checking that you're not gonna stick your foot on the wrong bit and fall over.
0:55:27 > 0:55:31It's quite important to look where you're putting your feet.
0:55:31 > 0:55:37- I think you should stop and look back. Look at that. - Yeah, that's what it's all about.
0:55:37 > 0:55:41What's that one called there, that sort of sugar-loaf mountain?
0:55:41 > 0:55:43That's Glamaig.
0:55:43 > 0:55:46What we were climbing was even more impressive.
0:55:46 > 0:55:49The massive rock formations dwarf everything around.
0:55:49 > 0:55:52These may not be the highest mountains in the world,
0:55:52 > 0:55:57but the way they rise straight up out of the sea gives us an overpowering perspective.
0:55:57 > 0:56:01We dominate miles of Scottish wilderness.
0:56:01 > 0:56:03- The sun.- Look at that. - The sun and everything.
0:56:03 > 0:56:08The sun lying all over the, all over the island and the water.
0:56:08 > 0:56:11- Loch Brackadale out there. - Except here.- Yeah.
0:56:11 > 0:56:13We've lain under a dark cloud
0:56:13 > 0:56:17all the way up, which sort of hides...
0:56:17 > 0:56:22the very top of the Black Cuillin, aptly named, I think.
0:56:22 > 0:56:24Oh...look at this.
0:56:28 > 0:56:31But the summit was still an hour away.
0:56:35 > 0:56:40The higher we climbed, the closer we seemed to get to the heart of the Cuillin.
0:56:50 > 0:56:53Here we are.
0:56:53 > 0:56:55The race to the summit.
0:56:59 > 0:57:03Terrific, panoramic, all-round views.
0:57:03 > 0:57:08- Look at all those other ones you've got left to do.- Yes, yes!
0:57:08 > 0:57:10And from here, you get some sense
0:57:10 > 0:57:14of the extraordinary fantasy landscape...
0:57:14 > 0:57:17stretching away.
0:57:17 > 0:57:20The top is a true vantage point.
0:57:20 > 0:57:25I can see the country as a whole, this extraordinary corner of Britain.
0:57:25 > 0:57:32Marching away to the far north via range after range of mountains is a wild and difficult place.
0:57:32 > 0:57:38For thousands of years, people have struggled to exist in this country and struggled to control it.
0:57:38 > 0:57:43The last family to live in the Cuillins
0:57:43 > 0:57:47finally deserted their farmhouse in the early 1900s,
0:57:47 > 0:57:54which, coincidentally, was about the same time as the first climbers arrived here.
0:57:54 > 0:58:01And today, people are still retreating from the wilderness, going where the jobs are
0:58:01 > 0:58:08and where life is softer, but they're sort of being replaced by a strange combination...
0:58:08 > 0:58:11of adventurers, and seekers...
0:58:11 > 0:58:13nutters.
0:58:13 > 0:58:15And I suppose...
0:58:16 > 0:58:19..having climbed a bit,
0:58:19 > 0:58:21I'm beginning
0:58:21 > 0:58:23to see why.
0:58:26 > 0:58:31Next time on Mountain, I'll explore the beautiful Lake District.
0:58:31 > 0:58:36I'll push myself to the limit on the toughest climb of my life
0:58:36 > 0:58:40and discover how we fell in love with these inspirational mountains.
0:59:12 > 0:59:14Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:59:14 > 0:59:18E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk