0:00:02 > 0:00:08Wild Scotland, some of the greatest country anywhere in the world.
0:00:11 > 0:00:14And to prove that, I am taking a coast-to-coast walk
0:00:14 > 0:00:17across the Highlands from Argyll to Easter Ross.
0:00:21 > 0:00:25But it's also a journey into a rich and often turbulent past.
0:00:25 > 0:00:27I want to follow in the footsteps
0:00:27 > 0:00:29of those who have trod these byways before me,
0:00:29 > 0:00:32especially the early Christian missionaries
0:00:32 > 0:00:34who made this land their home.
0:00:37 > 0:00:38So why don't you join me
0:00:38 > 0:00:41on what I've simply called The Pilgrim's Trail?
0:00:53 > 0:00:57I am on the island of Iona, just off the west coast of Mull,
0:00:57 > 0:01:00long considered the cradle of Christianity in Scotland.
0:01:01 > 0:01:06It was to here that Columba, or Colmcille, arrived in 563,
0:01:06 > 0:01:08and it was from here that he set forth
0:01:08 > 0:01:12to evangelise the ancient kingdoms of Dalriada and Alba.
0:01:20 > 0:01:26It's 1,450 years since Colmcille arrived here on Iona,
0:01:26 > 0:01:31and today I reckon I am probably as captivated by the place as he was.
0:01:31 > 0:01:34Iona really is a green, fertile jewel
0:01:34 > 0:01:38set amongst all these rough islands off the western seaboard.
0:01:38 > 0:01:41But more than that, there is a real tangible sense of history here
0:01:41 > 0:01:44that has attracted people for centuries.
0:01:51 > 0:01:54Just like Colmcille, Iona is going to be the starting point
0:01:54 > 0:01:57for my personal journey of discovery,
0:01:57 > 0:02:01a pilgrimage, if you like, across Scotland's north and northeast
0:02:01 > 0:02:05to another centre of archaeological importance.
0:02:05 > 0:02:10This is a site that some people claim is as important as Iona,
0:02:10 > 0:02:12or maybe even more important.
0:02:16 > 0:02:20My final destination on the northeast coast has been
0:02:20 > 0:02:25described by leading archaeologists as Scotland's best-kept secret.
0:02:25 > 0:02:29We have a major centre, the far northeast of Scotland.
0:02:29 > 0:02:32Their sculpture is the most beautiful sculpture that was being made
0:02:32 > 0:02:34in Europe at that time, unmatchable.
0:02:34 > 0:02:38From ornamental point of view, from the beautiful composition,
0:02:38 > 0:02:42biblical knowledge, you know, really tremendous.
0:02:42 > 0:02:45These were state-of-the-art in Europe at that time.
0:02:48 > 0:02:51Right now, I'm at the very start of my Pilgrim's Trail,
0:02:51 > 0:02:54and I wanted to begin in the same way as St Columba
0:02:54 > 0:02:56to get a taste of what such a journey
0:02:56 > 0:02:58would have been like for him,
0:02:58 > 0:03:01so I have enlisted the help of an expert.
0:03:01 > 0:03:04Six years ago, Stan Reeves led a project in Edinburgh
0:03:04 > 0:03:09to build a boat similar to the ones used by the Celtic monks.
0:03:09 > 0:03:11This currach is the result.
0:03:11 > 0:03:13She's ready for off.
0:03:13 > 0:03:18You will find that the oars are too long, and your hands are crossed.
0:03:18 > 0:03:25- OK.- So as you pull them, you will take all the skin off your knuckles.
0:03:25 > 0:03:28- Right.- So obviously just be careful,
0:03:28 > 0:03:32and we will just take it nice and gently, you know.
0:03:32 > 0:03:35It's getting in that's the problem.
0:03:35 > 0:03:39The bowman keeps her nose into the waves.
0:03:39 > 0:03:42- OK, you are in control.- In you go. - Oh, I'll get the leg over.
0:03:42 > 0:03:48So then my job, or the third man in, is just to push her off the shore.
0:03:48 > 0:03:51OK, shuffle down, yeah? OK.
0:03:51 > 0:03:55Oh, it feels good to sit down. OK, now.
0:03:55 > 0:03:56OK, right pull away.
0:03:59 > 0:04:02# Row, me hearties Row, row, row... #
0:04:04 > 0:04:06Stan, tell me a wee bit
0:04:06 > 0:04:10about Colmcille's journey from Ireland to Iona.
0:04:10 > 0:04:14Well, as I understand it, he would have journeyed
0:04:14 > 0:04:18making hops along the coast, and he would have come in probably
0:04:18 > 0:04:22a currach very similar to this, but bigger -
0:04:22 > 0:04:24possibly 30, 40 feet.
0:04:24 > 0:04:29But, of course, the bigger currachs would have two sails as well.
0:04:29 > 0:04:32Give me an idea of the sort of distances these people travelled.
0:04:32 > 0:04:36We know from the development of monasteries along the west coast,
0:04:36 > 0:04:40they were travelling up and down the west coast
0:04:40 > 0:04:43on a regular basis, and they were going up to Orkney and Shetland.
0:04:43 > 0:04:47And then, of course, there is the big story of St Brendan,
0:04:47 > 0:04:50who's almost a contender with Columba,
0:04:50 > 0:04:54who is supposed to have made it to North America.
0:04:54 > 0:04:57Again, it would have been maybe over a period of two or three years,
0:04:57 > 0:05:02jumping from island to island in a 40-foot boat
0:05:02 > 0:05:07covered with...ox hides.
0:05:07 > 0:05:11Whereas the smaller boats like this would have been calf hide
0:05:11 > 0:05:15or seal skin or whatever was available.
0:05:15 > 0:05:17And when did you decide that you actually wanted to build one?
0:05:17 > 0:05:21I was working on a community development project in Tollcross.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24It was a chap, Alan Tolmie, and we got talking and said,
0:05:24 > 0:05:26"Why don't we build something
0:05:26 > 0:05:29"that local people can re-engage with the canal?"
0:05:33 > 0:05:36At that time, the adult learning project was very involved
0:05:36 > 0:05:38working with migrants,
0:05:38 > 0:05:41so we actually had some local people from Tollcross,
0:05:41 > 0:05:45but a lot of people from right across the world, from the Andes,
0:05:45 > 0:05:48were involved, and an Egyptian,
0:05:48 > 0:05:51a young woman from Tajikistan and...
0:05:51 > 0:05:56- Where? - Tajikistan, which is very far east,
0:05:56 > 0:05:59right beside China, up in the mountains.
0:05:59 > 0:06:02So it was a pretty exotic crew, you know.
0:06:02 > 0:06:03And what has come out of it
0:06:03 > 0:06:06is something that is actually quite beautiful.
0:06:06 > 0:06:08They are very, very beautiful.
0:06:08 > 0:06:11They are beautiful because they are functional.
0:06:11 > 0:06:15The people that made them were poor and they were using timber
0:06:15 > 0:06:18that might just have been stuff that was washed up on the shore.
0:06:18 > 0:06:20Where did you get all the materials from?
0:06:20 > 0:06:26The framework...is made from old scaffolding boards.
0:06:26 > 0:06:30The framework is all connected with the seats or thwarts.
0:06:30 > 0:06:34They are church pews, donated by the Greyfriar's Project.
0:06:35 > 0:06:39The whole thing is held together by what we call knees
0:06:39 > 0:06:42and they are beautiful inch-and-a-quarter thick oak,
0:06:42 > 0:06:45which are the ends of the pews.
0:06:45 > 0:06:48The most expensive item are the screws,
0:06:48 > 0:06:51which are maybe not that traditional -
0:06:51 > 0:06:54they might just have used pegs - and they are bronze.
0:06:54 > 0:06:56And the total cost?
0:06:56 > 0:07:00- Probably about £180. - That's not bad, is it?
0:07:02 > 0:07:06My journey from west to east is about 250 miles.
0:07:06 > 0:07:10From Iona and Mull, I head over to the mainland at Lochaline,
0:07:10 > 0:07:15and then it's north and west through Morvern to Strontian,
0:07:15 > 0:07:16Loch Sheil and Glenfinnan,
0:07:16 > 0:07:20followed by the wild and remote hills of Morar.
0:07:20 > 0:07:23The second part of my walk takes in three beautiful glens -
0:07:23 > 0:07:27Affric, Strathfarrar and Strathconon -
0:07:27 > 0:07:30before ascending the mighty Ben Wyvis.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33After that, it's east to the Dornoch Firth
0:07:33 > 0:07:35and the end of my walk at the North Sea.
0:07:37 > 0:07:40Right now, though, my journey by currach has brought me
0:07:40 > 0:07:43to Inch Kenneth, and I am here because it's another island
0:07:43 > 0:07:46inhabited by those early Christian monks.
0:07:47 > 0:07:49Today, no-one lives here permanently.
0:07:49 > 0:07:54The custodian, Carol Perry, is originally from Ireland.
0:07:54 > 0:07:57Now she lives just across the waters of Loch Na Keal.
0:07:57 > 0:07:59It is sometimes hard to get here
0:07:59 > 0:08:02because it's an effort to bring all your stuff with you,
0:08:02 > 0:08:04but once you are here, you don't want to leave.
0:08:04 > 0:08:07It strikes me that your journey has been very similar to St Columba's.
0:08:07 > 0:08:10Yes, pretty much, yes.
0:08:10 > 0:08:14Coming from Ireland up to Scotland and, yes, a similar journey.
0:08:14 > 0:08:17But I think his was possibly a bit more exciting.
0:08:17 > 0:08:22Is this island the kind of poor relation to Iona?
0:08:22 > 0:08:26We don't think so, but I think we are probably biased.
0:08:26 > 0:08:28We find it has more solitude anyway
0:08:28 > 0:08:32because obviously we haven't got people flocking here and crowds.
0:08:32 > 0:08:36You know, we can come in on our boat on a nice, calm day, cut the engine
0:08:36 > 0:08:40and you really do think it's spiritual, it's got that feel to it.
0:08:40 > 0:08:45Other than the birds and maybe the sheep, that is all you hear.
0:08:45 > 0:08:47You do think, "Oh, there is a God there somewhere
0:08:47 > 0:08:51"and he is looking after us and he is providing all this,"
0:08:51 > 0:08:53and it's a lovely feeling, indeed.
0:08:54 > 0:08:57Even having a ruined chapel, to us, I think
0:08:57 > 0:08:59it seems to have more character.
0:09:00 > 0:09:03Yes, this is impressive - these big windows and things.
0:09:03 > 0:09:05They are beautiful, they are indeed, yes,
0:09:05 > 0:09:07and they have got the wee alcoves.
0:09:07 > 0:09:12It was very basic, as everywhere was way back then.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15They were definitely hardy beasts, coming out here!
0:09:15 > 0:09:19They would travel using the seas and these sounds as highways.
0:09:19 > 0:09:22Have we lost a lot of the skills that these Celtic people had?
0:09:22 > 0:09:24I think so, yes, in a lot of ways.
0:09:24 > 0:09:26Nowadays people are realising that,
0:09:26 > 0:09:29with the cost of foods and everything else, being self-sufficient,
0:09:29 > 0:09:32growing your own stuff is a wonderful thing to be able to do.
0:09:32 > 0:09:34And that is what they HAD to do,
0:09:34 > 0:09:37they had no options - they had to be able to grow their own food
0:09:37 > 0:09:41or nurture it with the cattle and sheep and whatever.
0:09:41 > 0:09:44- Can we learn from these people? - Totally, totally, yes.
0:09:44 > 0:09:47It would be great if we all got given a handbook
0:09:47 > 0:09:51of ancient skills of survival in the bygone days,
0:09:51 > 0:09:54and if we could only just choose a couple of things from there
0:09:54 > 0:09:56just to get through everyday life.
0:09:56 > 0:09:58It would... Yeah, I think we could all do with a handbook.
0:10:09 > 0:10:12Even at this early stage in my pilgrimage,
0:10:12 > 0:10:14I am on my third island -
0:10:14 > 0:10:18Iona, Inch Kenneth, and I am now on the Isle of Mull,
0:10:18 > 0:10:22climbing Ben More, the highest mountain on the island
0:10:22 > 0:10:26and the only Munro in Scotland that you have to get a ferry to.
0:10:29 > 0:10:31"Ben More" means "the big hill"
0:10:31 > 0:10:34and the only problem with an island Munro
0:10:34 > 0:10:37is you have got to climb it all the way from sea level.
0:10:59 > 0:11:02There are a number of routes to the summit of Ben More.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05Most Munro baggers take the easy route from Loch Na Keal,
0:11:05 > 0:11:07straight up the hill and back down again.
0:11:07 > 0:11:10But I am taking a route that I think adds a wee bit more interest.
0:11:10 > 0:11:12I am following the river up from the loch side.
0:11:12 > 0:11:17I am going to climb up over this subsidiary top called A'Chioch,
0:11:17 > 0:11:19from where there is a beautiful tight ridge that goes onto
0:11:19 > 0:11:22the summit slopes of Ben More.
0:11:22 > 0:11:24It just adds a little element of excitement to the day.
0:11:34 > 0:11:38I should maybe point out that I am not climbing Ben More
0:11:38 > 0:11:41out of a sense of pilgrimage.
0:11:41 > 0:11:45Our Celtic ancestors very rarely climbed to the top of mountains.
0:11:45 > 0:11:47They were more concerned with through routes
0:11:47 > 0:11:49going from point A to point B,
0:11:49 > 0:11:51and going to the summits of mountains to enjoy the view
0:11:51 > 0:11:53and the physical exercise,
0:11:53 > 0:11:56or putting Scotland's Munros in a book and ticking them off,
0:11:56 > 0:11:58is very much a modern phenomenon.
0:12:00 > 0:12:04But I am climbing Ben More today out of a sense of nostalgia,
0:12:04 > 0:12:07because this mountain was my last Munro
0:12:07 > 0:12:09the first time I climbed all Scotland's Munros.
0:12:09 > 0:12:11And I remember the day clearly.
0:12:11 > 0:12:13My wife and I climbed up by the river here,
0:12:13 > 0:12:15and it was a pretty nasty, misty day.
0:12:15 > 0:12:18The wind was blowing and it was wet,
0:12:18 > 0:12:20and on A'Chioch we met a couple coming down and they said
0:12:20 > 0:12:23it was too misty for them, they were a bit frightened of getting lost.
0:12:23 > 0:12:25So I said to them, "We are going to the top,
0:12:25 > 0:12:28"I have got a bottle of champagne to celebrate my last Munro.
0:12:28 > 0:12:30"Come with us and join the party."
0:12:30 > 0:12:33So we climbed up there in the rain and the wind, and I have to say,
0:12:33 > 0:12:38it's probably the most depressing celebration I have ever been to.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43My wife and the two other walkers sat with long faces,
0:12:43 > 0:12:45shivering on the summit, just desperate to go down
0:12:45 > 0:12:49and get a hot shower and get warmed up as quickly as possible.
0:12:49 > 0:12:52So today I hope conditions will be a good bit better than that!
0:12:52 > 0:12:55This will be the fourth time I have been on this mountain
0:12:55 > 0:12:57and I have never really had a good view from the top,
0:12:57 > 0:12:59so fingers crossed for today.
0:13:12 > 0:13:14The trail is becoming a bit more interesting now.
0:13:14 > 0:13:17You see how it's narrowing quite nicely.
0:13:17 > 0:13:19And that is the summit of A'Chioch,
0:13:19 > 0:13:22the literal translation of that is "the pap" or "the nipple".
0:13:48 > 0:13:49The summit of A'Chioch...
0:13:49 > 0:13:53but it's a wee bit murky-looking up ahead
0:13:53 > 0:13:55and I have this feeling that Ben More
0:13:55 > 0:13:57is going to do the dirty on me again.
0:14:09 > 0:14:13You know, so many people just think of Ben More as a big lump of a hill,
0:14:13 > 0:14:16but by taking this route over A'Chioch,
0:14:16 > 0:14:18you really see the best of the mountain.
0:14:18 > 0:14:22And there are real similarities between this ridge I am on just now
0:14:22 > 0:14:25and the ridges of the Skye Cuillin.
0:14:26 > 0:14:30And that is maybe not surprising, because 60 million years ago
0:14:30 > 0:14:33this was a huge volcano, as was the Cuillin of Skye -
0:14:33 > 0:14:35it's the same rock.
0:14:45 > 0:14:47I kind of knew I was tempting fate
0:14:47 > 0:14:51when I suggested that Ben More was going to do the dirty on me,
0:14:51 > 0:14:55and that's really tempting the mountain gods.
0:14:55 > 0:14:56But, you know, I have been blessed,
0:14:56 > 0:14:58and this is the first time in four visits that
0:14:58 > 0:15:03I have got a view from the summit of Ben More, and what a view it is!
0:15:03 > 0:15:05We are high above the Hebrides Sea there,
0:15:05 > 0:15:09I've got the whole of the Ardmeanach Peninsula stretched out behind me,
0:15:09 > 0:15:12leading right out to Iona away in the distance.
0:15:12 > 0:15:15And on the mainline side of Mull, there is just ridge after ridge
0:15:15 > 0:15:19of green hill, it's absolutely beautiful.
0:15:19 > 0:15:21Oh, it's just great to be up here,
0:15:21 > 0:15:24but I can see my route away down below me,
0:15:24 > 0:15:27and it's a long way, so I had better not hang about.
0:15:38 > 0:15:42With views like this, I am in no hurry to leave Mull,
0:15:42 > 0:15:44yet in all the years I have visited here,
0:15:44 > 0:15:46I have never really noticed
0:15:46 > 0:15:49the brochs, burial cairns and standing stones
0:15:49 > 0:15:51that remind us of another age.
0:15:52 > 0:15:55Someone who has spent the last 54 years exploring
0:15:55 > 0:15:58the island is Meg Douglass.
0:15:58 > 0:16:02A former teacher here, she has walked almost every yard of it.
0:16:02 > 0:16:05So who better to tell me about the people who were living here
0:16:05 > 0:16:09when Columba landed, our Pictish ancestors?
0:16:09 > 0:16:13They had farms, the people who lived on Mull. They had cattle.
0:16:13 > 0:16:16I found out they had cattle, they had sheep, they had goats.
0:16:16 > 0:16:21They had access to whatever deer or whatever wild boars
0:16:21 > 0:16:24and things that were in the forest that covered most of Mull.
0:16:24 > 0:16:29They could shoot, they had any sort of wood they wanted for fires,
0:16:29 > 0:16:32they had oak to make a dugout boat with
0:16:32 > 0:16:34if they wanted a wooden boat,
0:16:34 > 0:16:36and all the fish in the sea.
0:16:36 > 0:16:39They had the stone to build their houses, they had the wood,
0:16:39 > 0:16:42they had the thatches.
0:16:42 > 0:16:44They had everything.
0:16:44 > 0:16:47Colmcille, of course, brought
0:16:47 > 0:16:50what we now know as Christianity to these areas.
0:16:50 > 0:16:54What was their superstition, what was their religious thinking?
0:16:54 > 0:16:57It would be fire, water and light.
0:16:57 > 0:17:00I have been told that the three standing stones at Gruline
0:17:00 > 0:17:03in the field and by the old school and one on the hill...
0:17:03 > 0:17:07You can go up the hill on the first day of summer,
0:17:07 > 0:17:11and when the sun comes up, it does fall in a line,
0:17:11 > 0:17:15so that they would know that was the sun coming.
0:17:15 > 0:17:19But by the same token, the Pictish were quite a warlike race.
0:17:19 > 0:17:23I think everybody was. It was a case of protect your own,
0:17:23 > 0:17:25because when the Vikings came, they put up a fight.
0:17:28 > 0:17:31They would all have a task to do - the spinning, the weaving,
0:17:31 > 0:17:34the collecting the wool, the looking after the animals, the baking,
0:17:34 > 0:17:36the making of the stew.
0:17:36 > 0:17:38It would be the men that would bring in the meat,
0:17:38 > 0:17:43but the women would have to skin it and use every bit of it
0:17:43 > 0:17:45so that it would be a full-time job.
0:17:47 > 0:17:50And the long winter nights would be spent spinning and weaving.
0:17:52 > 0:17:54I would like to have lived then
0:17:54 > 0:17:57because they had everything they wanted.
0:17:57 > 0:18:00They were much more... This is awful to say,
0:18:00 > 0:18:03they were much more civilised than the present generation.
0:18:04 > 0:18:06I am not sure I would have enjoyed life back then.
0:18:06 > 0:18:09I am not so much a hunter-gatherer,
0:18:09 > 0:18:13more of a pop-down-to-the-local-cafe man.
0:18:13 > 0:18:16And I value my leisure time -
0:18:16 > 0:18:19it's what I have used over the years to explore our wild places.
0:18:22 > 0:18:25I have just come down from the high hills of Mull,
0:18:25 > 0:18:28making my way down this Glenforsa,
0:18:28 > 0:18:30down towards the coastline at Fishnish,
0:18:30 > 0:18:35and I find myself in a very different kind of landscape.
0:18:35 > 0:18:39This is a managed landscape, a farmed landscape,
0:18:39 > 0:18:43with sheep and cattle and conifer plantations,
0:18:43 > 0:18:48and it's just such a different feel from the wild land of the high tops.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54And it would have been different again in Columba's day.
0:18:54 > 0:18:57I guess in those days, he would have travelled through a glen like this
0:18:57 > 0:19:00and the valley bottom would have been covered
0:19:00 > 0:19:02in scrub birch and scrub oak,
0:19:02 > 0:19:04and there were probably wild boars in the woods.
0:19:04 > 0:19:06And the people would have been farming,
0:19:06 > 0:19:08but much, much smaller farms,
0:19:08 > 0:19:11and their huts would have been huddled together for protection.
0:19:14 > 0:19:17And, you know, I guess in another 100 years, 150 years' time,
0:19:17 > 0:19:20this landscape could well have changed again.
0:19:25 > 0:19:28And you might like to go back even further in time,
0:19:28 > 0:19:31to, say, 12,000 years ago,
0:19:31 > 0:19:35when the great retreating glaciers were forming this valley
0:19:35 > 0:19:37as they ground their way down towards
0:19:37 > 0:19:40what we now know as the Sound of Mull.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55I'm on the final stretch of my walk through Mull
0:19:55 > 0:19:58and I have found this lovely forestry track
0:19:58 > 0:20:01that takes me round the Fishnish point to the ferry terminal
0:20:01 > 0:20:03quite close to the coast,
0:20:03 > 0:20:06because I have just realised that I have gone from sea level at Iona
0:20:06 > 0:20:08to the very top of Mull's highest mountain
0:20:08 > 0:20:11and then back down to sea level again.
0:20:11 > 0:20:13And there is part of me feels just a wee bit sad that
0:20:13 > 0:20:16I am going to be leaving the islands and the coastline behind.
0:20:23 > 0:20:26Well, the sunlit hills of Morvern are beckoning to me
0:20:26 > 0:20:28across the water, so that's where I am heading.
0:20:53 > 0:20:56I'm on the mainland now, at Lochaline in Morvern,
0:20:56 > 0:21:00and this is the old pier of Lochaline,
0:21:00 > 0:21:03for many years known as "the relief pier" because it was
0:21:03 > 0:21:07financed by the Highland Relief Board as a way of creating work
0:21:07 > 0:21:11for 31 Morvern families who had been victims of the potato blight.
0:21:11 > 0:21:14The people who worked here weren't paid in cash,
0:21:14 > 0:21:19they were paid in bags of oat and wheat meal -
0:21:19 > 0:21:2314 bags a week for the men and 5 bags a week for the women.
0:21:23 > 0:21:27Now, if life in the days of the Picts had been pretty full-on,
0:21:27 > 0:21:31things didn't get very much easier for many families in the Highlands.
0:21:43 > 0:21:46There is a lot of talk at the moment about the potential
0:21:46 > 0:21:51industrialisation of the Highlands through renewable energy,
0:21:51 > 0:21:53but that sort of industrialisation isn't new.
0:21:53 > 0:21:57For years and years they have been mining white silica sands
0:21:57 > 0:21:59here at Lochaline and exporting it throughout the world.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04And during the war, they used this very fine sand
0:22:04 > 0:22:05to make submarine periscopes.
0:22:13 > 0:22:16My route takes me along the shores of Lochaline,
0:22:16 > 0:22:18the loch of the ford of the pool.
0:22:18 > 0:22:21And what a wonderful natural harbour this is,
0:22:21 > 0:22:24this natural inlet from the Sound of Mull,
0:22:24 > 0:22:27and I am sure many sailors have appreciated the safety
0:22:27 > 0:22:31in coming in here, because the Sound of Mull can become quite wild.
0:22:31 > 0:22:34Indeed, there are four pretty major wrecks
0:22:34 > 0:22:36lying at the bottom of the Sound of Mull,
0:22:36 > 0:22:39and those wrecks attract divers from all round the country.
0:23:01 > 0:23:04In 1930, the people who lived out in St Kilda,
0:23:04 > 0:23:09that far-flung rocky outpost on the Atlantic, were evacuated,
0:23:09 > 0:23:13and many of the people came to live here in the Lochaline area.
0:23:13 > 0:23:16And it must have been a real culture shock for them to move from that
0:23:16 > 0:23:23windswept rocky place to the green, sheltered landscapes of Morvern.
0:23:23 > 0:23:27And I have been told that many of the families from time to time
0:23:27 > 0:23:29would bring themselves up from the village of Lochaline
0:23:29 > 0:23:33into this Glendhu just to experience again
0:23:33 > 0:23:36something of the windswept qualities, the ruggedness,
0:23:36 > 0:23:37the bareness, the remoteness.
0:23:37 > 0:23:39And I can sympathise with that.
0:23:39 > 0:23:43Even today, moving up from Lochaline - its busy ferry port,
0:23:43 > 0:23:47the yachts and the industry - into a glen like this
0:23:47 > 0:23:49is just like night and day.
0:23:59 > 0:24:02I have not quite left the industrial world behind me -
0:24:02 > 0:24:04these are the old cottages
0:24:04 > 0:24:06of the former workers of the lead mine.
0:24:10 > 0:24:13Dating back to the 18th and 19th centuries,
0:24:13 > 0:24:15it's strange to imagine the bustle and activity
0:24:15 > 0:24:18of the women working the crofts and tending their animals
0:24:18 > 0:24:21while the men laboured underground.
0:24:21 > 0:24:23It's very different today.
0:24:36 > 0:24:40I am intrigued that this glen is called Glendhu
0:24:40 > 0:24:44because it's anything other than a dark or a black glen.
0:24:44 > 0:24:46In fact, it's green and it's spacious
0:24:46 > 0:24:48and it's open and it's lovely and airy.
0:24:48 > 0:24:50I have never been here before
0:24:50 > 0:24:53and that is one of the nice things about doing a pilgrimage -
0:24:53 > 0:24:56it takes you into areas otherwise you probably wouldn't visit.
0:24:58 > 0:25:02In many ways, it's a walk over the high passes rather than the peaks,
0:25:02 > 0:25:04through lonely glens rather than isolated tops.
0:25:04 > 0:25:08But there is absolutely nothing to stop you, if you wanted,
0:25:08 > 0:25:09crossing one of the ridges on either side,
0:25:09 > 0:25:12getting up high and doing some peaks.
0:25:12 > 0:25:15You don't have to follow me, you can do your own pilgrimage.
0:25:20 > 0:25:22My own route takes me north
0:25:22 > 0:25:25and downhill into the main settlement around here.
0:25:27 > 0:25:29I am in the village of Strontian,
0:25:29 > 0:25:31and I am going to meet the man who describes himself
0:25:31 > 0:25:33as a slow-moving nomad.
0:25:35 > 0:25:37One of the places he has moved through slowly
0:25:37 > 0:25:41is the Sunart oakwoods just over here,
0:25:41 > 0:25:43so I am intrigued to find out more.
0:25:46 > 0:25:47This is such a lovely example
0:25:47 > 0:25:50of the ancient nature of the Sunart oakwoods.
0:25:50 > 0:25:52I am totally lost in admiration,
0:25:52 > 0:25:54the way that this branch coming down here -
0:25:54 > 0:25:57knobbly, bending the way back, doing a kind of corkscrew -
0:25:57 > 0:26:01is resting on this ostensibly dead tree, but is it dead?
0:26:01 > 0:26:05Is it now forming part of this great oak limb that's come down here
0:26:05 > 0:26:09laden with ferns and mosses, lichens dripping off it?
0:26:10 > 0:26:14What can I say? The trees love each other, is that too farfetched?
0:26:14 > 0:26:16- I don't think so. - You should go and hug one.
0:26:16 > 0:26:17Well, no, I draw the line there.
0:26:17 > 0:26:19THEY LAUGH
0:26:19 > 0:26:22Gerry Loose worked here for 18 months.
0:26:22 > 0:26:26Taking his inspiration from these hills and glens,
0:26:26 > 0:26:29he is producing a book that celebrates this place.
0:26:29 > 0:26:32It's simply called Ardnamurchan Almanac.
0:26:34 > 0:26:36He has had a variety of jobs -
0:26:36 > 0:26:38beginning as a dairy farmer in County Kerry,
0:26:38 > 0:26:41he has been a horticulturist, an ecologist,
0:26:41 > 0:26:44a landscape gardener and a writer.
0:26:45 > 0:26:48So how would he describe himself now?
0:26:48 > 0:26:50Do you know, that is a question I always dread, to be truthful!
0:26:50 > 0:26:53I am a poet. If I am known for anything, I am a poet.
0:26:53 > 0:26:57And I also make works in the landscape
0:26:57 > 0:27:00that I hope take people by surprise.
0:27:00 > 0:27:02They are to do with trees, plantings, you know,
0:27:02 > 0:27:06sometimes I plant trees, sometimes I use things which are already there.
0:27:06 > 0:27:09And do you see poetry in the landscape?
0:27:09 > 0:27:10Poetry is in the landscape,
0:27:10 > 0:27:12poetry is everywhere, it is an attitude of mind.
0:27:12 > 0:27:15Sorry, I don't want to sound didactic here, but, yeah, it's...
0:27:15 > 0:27:18If you open your mind to it, it's already there,
0:27:18 > 0:27:22and I think what poets CAN do is to write that down.
0:27:22 > 0:27:24It's almost like a form of...
0:27:24 > 0:27:26I get shot down for this by all the poets,
0:27:26 > 0:27:28but it's almost a form of reporting.
0:27:30 > 0:27:32It can be a lot more, it can be dreaming...
0:27:32 > 0:27:38it can be bone idleness, which is frequently my starting point.
0:27:38 > 0:27:40And then if you empty the mind,
0:27:40 > 0:27:43if you clear the mind, you can fill it again
0:27:43 > 0:27:44with different kinds of things
0:27:44 > 0:27:48and those different kinds of things, in my case, are poetry,
0:27:48 > 0:27:50are ways of seeing the world.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59Gerry, can you remember what your feelings were
0:27:59 > 0:28:01when you first encountered these oakwoods?
0:28:01 > 0:28:07A growing sense of awe, I suppose, that here were trees
0:28:07 > 0:28:11that had been here, you know, for millennia.
0:28:11 > 0:28:14I will never see the things that they have seen
0:28:14 > 0:28:16because I simply won't live as long, and it is really...
0:28:16 > 0:28:19It is both humbling and inspiring at the same time
0:28:19 > 0:28:22to realise there are things that have been around so long.
0:28:23 > 0:28:26I was walking around and looking at things that
0:28:26 > 0:28:28I could make poems from,
0:28:28 > 0:28:32and just generally imbibing the entire landscape,
0:28:32 > 0:28:35everything that was here - the animals, the flora, the fauna.
0:28:35 > 0:28:38Trees particularly, obviously, because it's a temperate oakwood,
0:28:38 > 0:28:42a temperate rainforest essentially for this part of the world.
0:28:42 > 0:28:44And then, of course, I was six months in and realised that
0:28:44 > 0:28:46I hadn't written a single poem,
0:28:46 > 0:28:49and I couldn't get any poetry out of it, I couldn't add to it.
0:28:49 > 0:28:53So I took a different tack and started writing prose,
0:28:53 > 0:28:57and just recording the people I met, their stories,
0:28:57 > 0:29:01the plants I met, their stories, if you like, the sightings of deer.
0:29:01 > 0:29:05Anything that happened, like a diary, a journal, an almanac.
0:29:06 > 0:29:09If I can't write poetry because the poetry already exists,
0:29:09 > 0:29:11it's in the landscape, it IS the landscape,
0:29:11 > 0:29:15I don't need to embroider that, what's the best thing I can do?
0:29:15 > 0:29:19I can record my own perceptions of some of the things that it's about.
0:29:19 > 0:29:22What did you learn from that experience?
0:29:22 > 0:29:24I learned a lot about midges, I can tell you!
0:29:24 > 0:29:26I am still learning that as we go along!
0:29:26 > 0:29:30- I can see that.- Aye. What did I learn specifically from it?
0:29:30 > 0:29:32I learned to appreciate...
0:29:33 > 0:29:36..from other poets - people like the doctor of Rahoy,
0:29:36 > 0:29:39John MacLachlan - what it might have been like.
0:29:39 > 0:29:42He was active round about the time sheep were coming in here,
0:29:42 > 0:29:44and the passion that he felt
0:29:44 > 0:29:49and the derision that he felt for lowland shepherds and their flocks
0:29:49 > 0:29:52and how it was destroying, not just the landscape,
0:29:52 > 0:29:54but it was destroying his entire culture.
0:29:55 > 0:29:59Crofters around here, they used to run their cattle in among the trees,
0:29:59 > 0:30:00and it kept it to a kind of...
0:30:00 > 0:30:04almost like a parkland, almost like a savanna.
0:30:04 > 0:30:07All that went with the coming of the sheep,
0:30:07 > 0:30:11and the people were extraordinarily vituperative about that.
0:30:11 > 0:30:14Their lives were being destroyed. Who wouldn't be?
0:30:16 > 0:30:19What came through for me was the passion that people felt,
0:30:19 > 0:30:21and it comes in the songs as well,
0:30:21 > 0:30:24it's the oral traditions as well as the written ones.
0:30:44 > 0:30:47I am now nearly a third of the way through my walk to the east coast,
0:30:47 > 0:30:51and have some of Scotland's best scenery to look forward to.
0:30:51 > 0:30:55I am heading towards Glenfinnan, then up and over a high pass
0:30:55 > 0:30:57to scoot round the very edges of Knoydart.
0:30:58 > 0:31:01After that, it's onwards towards Kintail
0:31:01 > 0:31:04and Glen Affric, the halfway point of my journey.
0:31:10 > 0:31:12I have come over the hill from Strontian
0:31:12 > 0:31:16and down to Loch Sheil, which stretches for 17 miles
0:31:16 > 0:31:20from its foot at Acharacle right up to its head here at Glenfinnan.
0:31:22 > 0:31:25The loch itself barely rises above sea level,
0:31:25 > 0:31:29indeed, a few thousand years ago it was a sea loch.
0:31:29 > 0:31:31And you can see that today if you go to Acharacle
0:31:31 > 0:31:34where the ground there is all very flat and very, very marshy.
0:31:36 > 0:31:40The loch is connected to the sea by the River Shiel,
0:31:40 > 0:31:43and early last century, steamers would make their way from the sea
0:31:43 > 0:31:45up the River Shiel into Loch Shiel
0:31:45 > 0:31:47where it would service the bloomeries,
0:31:47 > 0:31:52the charcoal furnaces that were situated on both sides of the loch.
0:31:55 > 0:31:58It was an industry that was to virtually decimate
0:31:58 > 0:32:02the natural indigenous oakwoods that lined all these slopes,
0:32:02 > 0:32:06oakwoods very similar to the ones we saw at Sunart.
0:32:15 > 0:32:17Loch Sheil may not be a sea loch any longer,
0:32:17 > 0:32:20but I don't think there is much doubt that it would have been
0:32:20 > 0:32:25used as a watery highway by those early Celtic travellers.
0:32:25 > 0:32:29One of them, a contemporary of Colmcille called St Finnan,
0:32:29 > 0:32:31actually set up his cell on an island
0:32:31 > 0:32:33just a wee bit further down the loch.
0:32:37 > 0:32:41Someone else who used Loch Shiel as a highway was
0:32:41 > 0:32:44Charles Edward Stuart, the Young Pretender.
0:32:45 > 0:32:50He arrived from France at Loch Nan Uamh near Arisaig in July 1745,
0:32:50 > 0:32:53along with his trusted lieutenants,
0:32:53 > 0:32:55who became known as the Seven Men of Moidart.
0:32:55 > 0:32:59Now, the story goes that he took a rowing boat, and they actually
0:32:59 > 0:33:02rowed up the length of Loch Shiel all the way to Glenfinnan,
0:33:02 > 0:33:05where his Jacobite supporters must have been disappointed, because
0:33:05 > 0:33:10they expected him to arrive at the head of a rather large French army.
0:33:12 > 0:33:14It was a sadly inauspicious beginning
0:33:14 > 0:33:17to what should have been a full-scale military campaign
0:33:17 > 0:33:20to regain the throne for his exiled father.
0:33:31 > 0:33:34After some early successes,
0:33:34 > 0:33:38most notably at the Battle of Prestonpans just outside Edinburgh,
0:33:38 > 0:33:42Charles managed to get his Highland army as far south as Derbyshire.
0:33:42 > 0:33:46But there was a potential for some much more serious opposition
0:33:46 > 0:33:48so he turned back to Scotland,
0:33:48 > 0:33:52and eventually that fateful day on Culloden Moor when his Highland army
0:33:52 > 0:33:55was not only routed but savaged
0:33:55 > 0:33:58by the forces of the Duke of Cumberland.
0:33:58 > 0:34:00It was a day that was to signal
0:34:00 > 0:34:02the end of the patriarchal clan system in Scotland,
0:34:02 > 0:34:06a day that was to signal the end of the Highland way of life.
0:34:06 > 0:34:07But it was also a day that started
0:34:07 > 0:34:11a new chapter in the life of Charles Edward Stuart,
0:34:11 > 0:34:15because from Culloden he fled to the islands and the Western Highlands
0:34:15 > 0:34:18and started a several-month-long journey
0:34:18 > 0:34:21that even hill walkers today would find tough.
0:34:32 > 0:34:34The Glenfinnan Monument -
0:34:34 > 0:34:36this was the site of the gathering of the clans
0:34:36 > 0:34:39where Bonnie Prince Charlie raised his standard
0:34:39 > 0:34:42but, you know, I am not terribly fussy about man-made monuments,
0:34:42 > 0:34:46I much prefer the natural monuments that surround this place,
0:34:46 > 0:34:50like Sgurr Ghiubhsachain up there, or Beinn Odhar Mhor up there,
0:34:50 > 0:34:53or the two lovely Munros up behind us here,
0:34:53 > 0:34:56Sgurr nan Coireachan and Sgurr Thuilm.
0:34:56 > 0:34:58And I don't really fancy a night in the heather tonight,
0:34:58 > 0:35:01so I am off to find some more comfortable accommodation.
0:35:14 > 0:35:17You know, I couldn't come to Glenfinnan without celebrating
0:35:17 > 0:35:20one of the most glorious railway lines in the world -
0:35:20 > 0:35:22the West Highland Line.
0:35:22 > 0:35:23And what better way to do that
0:35:23 > 0:35:27than spending a night in a converted railway car?
0:35:32 > 0:35:35Oh, wow! Come and have a look at this. Whoo!
0:35:36 > 0:35:38The restaurant car.
0:35:38 > 0:35:39Gosh, this is lovely,
0:35:39 > 0:35:41it's so resonant of the 1950s.
0:35:41 > 0:35:45And this must be the kitchen. Yeah, it is the kitchen.
0:35:45 > 0:35:48Wow, this is well-organised and well laid out,
0:35:48 > 0:35:51they've even got a bottle of wine for me.
0:35:53 > 0:35:55Now, what's up here, I wonder?
0:35:55 > 0:35:59Oh, look at this! God, this really brings back memories!
0:35:59 > 0:36:01I feel like a wee boy coming in here.
0:36:01 > 0:36:04Look at this, the sleeping compartments. Gosh, this is good.
0:36:04 > 0:36:07I have got so many memories of going up these corridors
0:36:07 > 0:36:09when I was a kid, sticking my head out the window,
0:36:09 > 0:36:12my mother saying, "Don't put your head out, it will get knocked off."
0:36:12 > 0:36:13Oh, this is terrific.
0:36:13 > 0:36:15Oh, yeah, look at that.
0:36:15 > 0:36:18This...looks OK.
0:36:18 > 0:36:21Oh, yes, very comfortable, I could just crash out right now.
0:36:23 > 0:36:25Oh, dear.
0:36:33 > 0:36:37So often, no two days in Scotland are the same,
0:36:37 > 0:36:40and this morning is no exception.
0:36:40 > 0:36:42I have left Glenfinnan and I am heading northeast towards
0:36:42 > 0:36:46Loch Arkaig, and the weather is definitely not at its best.
0:36:46 > 0:36:49Sharing this part of the journey with me
0:36:49 > 0:36:51is one of our leading naturalists.
0:36:51 > 0:36:53Kenny Taylor has travelled
0:36:53 > 0:36:56throughout Europe, Africa and America.
0:36:56 > 0:37:01He has spent his life developing an interest that began in childhood.
0:37:01 > 0:37:03At the age of five, my uncle gave me
0:37:03 > 0:37:07a copy of the Observer's Book Of Birds, but I pored over this.
0:37:07 > 0:37:12And then I was allowed, at an early age, to just stravaig out
0:37:12 > 0:37:17into what were then the wilds at the edge of Kirkintilloch.
0:37:17 > 0:37:18There was an old sand quarry
0:37:18 > 0:37:21that had scrubbed over with willows and things.
0:37:21 > 0:37:23And I didn't have binoculars for several years,
0:37:23 > 0:37:26and I am really pleased that I didn't
0:37:26 > 0:37:31because if there was a willow warbler singing from one of the bushes,
0:37:31 > 0:37:33in order to find out more about it,
0:37:33 > 0:37:37I would need to kind of sneak up on it and listen to it and look at it.
0:37:38 > 0:37:39And, of course, that, to me,
0:37:39 > 0:37:43made a link between the excitement of being...
0:37:43 > 0:37:47I think I was imagining myself as an Indian, a Plains Indian,
0:37:47 > 0:37:50and sneaking up to get close to things like willow warblers,
0:37:50 > 0:37:53which would have surprised the Lone Ranger.
0:37:53 > 0:37:57Was it simply a case of being in a wild area with wild things,
0:37:57 > 0:37:58was that the attraction?
0:37:58 > 0:38:00I think it was, and that's an attraction
0:38:00 > 0:38:04that has stayed with me right through the decades since.
0:38:04 > 0:38:10So it's almost like my ultimate goal sometimes in places, is to
0:38:10 > 0:38:15have that sort of connection that isn't a totally intellectual one.
0:38:20 > 0:38:23Used to do this with a net rather than a...
0:38:23 > 0:38:24There we are.
0:38:25 > 0:38:28Look, great, that's a good, fat tadpole
0:38:28 > 0:38:32and that's going to be a fine frog before too long.
0:38:32 > 0:38:36I can kind of picture it hopping away around here in this glen
0:38:36 > 0:38:40in a few weeks' time, as something completely different,
0:38:40 > 0:38:42so in some ways, I'm just...
0:38:42 > 0:38:46In a very small way, I am actually in awe of this little creature.
0:38:46 > 0:38:49There it is, it's little more than an inch long
0:38:49 > 0:38:52and it's going to completely restructure itself
0:38:52 > 0:38:53in the next wee while,
0:38:53 > 0:38:55and then be part of the life of these hills
0:38:55 > 0:38:58for, if it's lucky, two or three years, maybe.
0:39:03 > 0:39:06I remember once, years ago, actually swimming in the Spey
0:39:06 > 0:39:07where I used to live at Laggan.
0:39:07 > 0:39:12Within half a minute, I was picked up by a wee school of minnows.
0:39:12 > 0:39:15And that was one of the best wildlife watching experiences
0:39:15 > 0:39:18that I have ever had in any country,
0:39:18 > 0:39:20because, for the first time,
0:39:20 > 0:39:22it wasn't me that had hoiked them out of their element
0:39:22 > 0:39:24and was looking at them in a jar.
0:39:24 > 0:39:27Suddenly I was the object of interest for them,
0:39:27 > 0:39:30and actually swimming with these minnows for a few minutes,
0:39:30 > 0:39:33I am not joking, I rate that up with watching wildlife
0:39:33 > 0:39:38on the Serengeti Plains, with being in the wilds of the Arctic.
0:39:38 > 0:39:41Kenny, it always intrigues me when I go for a walk with a naturalist,
0:39:41 > 0:39:44how I am looking for routes up the hill and climbs.
0:39:44 > 0:39:46On a day like this in Glen a'Chaorainn
0:39:46 > 0:39:48going over to Glen Pean here,
0:39:48 > 0:39:50I am basically just kind of looking at the skyline,
0:39:50 > 0:39:52thinking, "Not very far to go now."
0:39:52 > 0:39:55What are you looking at? Are you looking for different things?
0:39:55 > 0:39:58I am often looking at what's very close to me.
0:39:58 > 0:40:01As we have been coming along, I am keeping looking at
0:40:01 > 0:40:03some of the flowers that are out at the moment.
0:40:03 > 0:40:08I mean, it's a good time for the wild mountain thyme to be blooming,
0:40:08 > 0:40:10just behind you I have seen some pig nuts
0:40:10 > 0:40:13and that's immediately reminding me of how difficult it is
0:40:13 > 0:40:17to actually grub pig nuts out and taste them.
0:40:17 > 0:40:22The burn that's coming tumbling down the glen beside us,
0:40:22 > 0:40:24I'm both appreciating the sound of the water,
0:40:24 > 0:40:28but I am also thinking, "Are we going to hear a dipper?" for example.
0:40:28 > 0:40:31So I have just got to watch it not to have sensory overload!
0:40:33 > 0:40:37If the mist did come down and we have this grey clag around us,
0:40:37 > 0:40:38are you still looking for things?
0:40:38 > 0:40:41Are you looking for the microscopic, for example?
0:40:41 > 0:40:43Oh, aye, yeah, because when you look at
0:40:43 > 0:40:45any one of the rock that's around us,
0:40:45 > 0:40:47without exaggerating too much, we could probably spend,
0:40:47 > 0:40:53or I could spend, an hour just looking in detail at one boulder here
0:40:53 > 0:40:57and finding wee beasties that are living under the lichens.
0:41:00 > 0:41:03I notice that some people seem to think
0:41:03 > 0:41:05that you need the big spectacular
0:41:05 > 0:41:09for it to count as wildlife watching and appreciation
0:41:09 > 0:41:10and, to me, the opposite is true,
0:41:10 > 0:41:12that almost wherever you are,
0:41:12 > 0:41:15there is going to be interesting things.
0:41:17 > 0:41:19It's not like the TV programme
0:41:19 > 0:41:23where they say, well, the badger will appear four and a half minutes in,
0:41:23 > 0:41:27or the wildebeest will get felled by a lion at ten minutes.
0:41:27 > 0:41:30You don't know what's coming next.
0:41:37 > 0:41:40Well, we are at the top of the pass, I am heading off down to Glen Pean
0:41:40 > 0:41:42and the head of Loch Arkaig.
0:41:42 > 0:41:44Do you think this is an old through route
0:41:44 > 0:41:46that people have used for centuries, perhaps?
0:41:46 > 0:41:48It looks a wee bit like it.
0:41:48 > 0:41:51It's a very logical way through the hills, isn't it?
0:41:51 > 0:41:54And I hope it will be for you when you are later walking here,
0:41:54 > 0:41:58because the mist keeps swirling in, so it's quite a challenging route.
0:42:10 > 0:42:13BIRDS TWITTER
0:42:16 > 0:42:20Another day and another kind of Scottish weather
0:42:20 > 0:42:23but, hey, I am not complaining, it's absolutely magnificent.
0:42:23 > 0:42:26I am at a place called Strathan at the head of Loch Arkaig,
0:42:26 > 0:42:29and I was quite keen to pause here for a little bit,
0:42:29 > 0:42:33just to consider the loch and its secret.
0:42:33 > 0:42:35Two weeks after Charles Edward Stuart
0:42:35 > 0:42:38left the shores of Scotland for ever,
0:42:38 > 0:42:41a French sailing ship arrived at Arisaig
0:42:41 > 0:42:45with 40,000 Louis d'or gold coins,
0:42:45 > 0:42:49a contribution from the King of France to the Jacobite cause,
0:42:49 > 0:42:50but, unfortunately, it was too late.
0:42:51 > 0:42:57And instead of being able to finance a third Jacobite rebellion,
0:42:57 > 0:43:00the money did nothing but spread dissention,
0:43:00 > 0:43:03envy and greed amongst the remaining Jacobite leaders,
0:43:03 > 0:43:06so much so that two or three of the clan chiefs
0:43:06 > 0:43:09ferreted some of that money away and they hid it,
0:43:09 > 0:43:13and they hid it somewhere in the depths of Loch Arkaig
0:43:13 > 0:43:15and, to this day, it's never been found.
0:43:34 > 0:43:36I am actually leaving Strathan
0:43:36 > 0:43:38with a wee bit of a heavy heart this morning,
0:43:38 > 0:43:41because so often in the past that has been the starting point
0:43:41 > 0:43:44for so many wonderful forays down Glen Dessary
0:43:44 > 0:43:47to the head of Loch Nevis and the hills of Knoydart,
0:43:47 > 0:43:50without doubt one of my favourite areas in Scotland.
0:43:51 > 0:43:54But instead, today, I am turning my face east,
0:43:54 > 0:43:57because in this particular route
0:43:57 > 0:43:59that I have chosen for this wee pilgrimage
0:43:59 > 0:44:00I will be passing through
0:44:00 > 0:44:03what are some of the finest mountain areas in Scotland.
0:44:03 > 0:44:04I am looking forward to it.
0:44:15 > 0:44:18I have only just started thinking of this pilgrimage route
0:44:18 > 0:44:21as a coast-to-coast. Of course, that is exactly what it is.
0:44:21 > 0:44:25Now, if you think of a pilgrimage as a journey
0:44:25 > 0:44:29between one significant location and another
0:44:29 > 0:44:30then I guess you can't get
0:44:30 > 0:44:35more of a defining start and end to a journey than the sea.
0:44:36 > 0:44:40I think this is probably about the sixth coast-to-coast route
0:44:40 > 0:44:42that I have done across Scotland.
0:44:42 > 0:44:45When you think of it, the possibilities are almost endless.
0:44:50 > 0:44:54Oh, you know, it must be about 25 degrees today...
0:44:54 > 0:44:55HE PANTS
0:44:55 > 0:44:57..and we are just not used to that.
0:44:57 > 0:45:02We are so much more used to wind and rain and mist.
0:45:02 > 0:45:05But you don't actually have to carry a lot of water with you,
0:45:05 > 0:45:08although there is always that danger of dehydration,
0:45:08 > 0:45:10because we are surrounded by great water.
0:45:10 > 0:45:14This is uisge beatha, the water of life.
0:45:14 > 0:45:16It is so good, they make whisky from it.
0:45:28 > 0:45:30Wow! Not only is it fiercely hot today,
0:45:30 > 0:45:35but up here it is a...cleg nightmare!
0:45:36 > 0:45:38God, they are biting all the time.
0:45:40 > 0:45:44The late Alastair Borthwick, a very fine outdoor writer,
0:45:44 > 0:45:48once said that the English name for the cleg was the horsefly,
0:45:48 > 0:45:52and never has an insect been so misnamed.
0:45:52 > 0:45:56The horse, he said, was a kind, benevolent creature,
0:45:56 > 0:45:58the cleg is far from that.
0:46:16 > 0:46:21Down below me lies Glen Kingie and a wee touch of deja vu,
0:46:21 > 0:46:24because a couple of years ago I walked along Glen Kingie
0:46:24 > 0:46:27as I was walking from Aberdeen to Knoydart.
0:46:29 > 0:46:32Today I will be walking in the other direction
0:46:32 > 0:46:36and, indeed, this walk over the pass represents a bit of a watershed
0:46:36 > 0:46:40on this pilgrimage because it is taking me north of the Great Glen.
0:46:40 > 0:46:43And when I get down, I want to take a wee diversion
0:46:43 > 0:46:46into the Great Glen, into Glenmore itself.
0:47:09 > 0:47:12I'm in the Great Glen or Glenmore,
0:47:12 > 0:47:14high above the village of Inverfarigaig
0:47:14 > 0:47:16on the south side of Loch Ness.
0:47:16 > 0:47:19And I wanted to come here because very, very close by
0:47:19 > 0:47:24is the site of Dun Deardail, a very early Pictish fort
0:47:24 > 0:47:28associated with the Celtic princess Deirdre,
0:47:28 > 0:47:32who apparently fled from Ulster with her lover, Naoise,
0:47:32 > 0:47:35and the sons of Uisnech, hereditary knights of the Red Branch.
0:47:37 > 0:47:39Deidre's story is more often
0:47:39 > 0:47:42connected to Loch Etive and Ben Starav,
0:47:42 > 0:47:46but I think it just shows that these people in those early days
0:47:46 > 0:47:48travelled quite extensively around the Highlands.
0:47:51 > 0:47:53I am also quite interested in the fact that the name Naoise,
0:47:53 > 0:47:55according to a lot of modern scholars,
0:47:55 > 0:48:01is perhaps the derivation of the word "Ness" as in "Loch Ness"
0:48:01 > 0:48:04and, on a more personal level, I am intrigued by the thought
0:48:04 > 0:48:10that my own name, son of Neish, has that same source in Naoise.
0:48:11 > 0:48:14But according to St Adamnan,
0:48:14 > 0:48:18the first biographer of Colmcille or St Columba,
0:48:18 > 0:48:21St Columba made a journey up Loch Ness,
0:48:21 > 0:48:24heading for Inverness to visit the High King of the Picts.
0:48:24 > 0:48:27But it is said that on the way up the loch,
0:48:27 > 0:48:31one of his monks had an encounter with a great sea monster.
0:48:31 > 0:48:35Apparently, the monk was injured and Columba himself went to his rescue
0:48:35 > 0:48:37and summoned all the forces of heaven
0:48:37 > 0:48:40to drive this great sea monster back into the depths.
0:48:42 > 0:48:45And that was the first recorded encounter with what
0:48:45 > 0:48:49we now know as Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster.
0:48:49 > 0:48:51All that happened down below me here,
0:48:51 > 0:48:54but now I am going to make my way to another site which is said to be
0:48:54 > 0:48:57the largest Pictish site in the country.
0:49:02 > 0:49:06I've spent over 40 years exploring our hills and moors and glens
0:49:06 > 0:49:08and the history that shaped them.
0:49:08 > 0:49:12Even so, it's easy to miss what's literally underneath our feet.
0:49:12 > 0:49:15On the opposite side of Loch Ness lies Garbeg,
0:49:15 > 0:49:19the site of an ancient settlement and now home to Fiona Younie.
0:49:21 > 0:49:25Here there are over 25 burial mounds and other remains.
0:49:25 > 0:49:29They're scattered all over, you know, on a wide area,
0:49:29 > 0:49:36and down there, that bit there, we have got the Pictish cemetery.
0:49:36 > 0:49:38Has there been much excavation work done here?
0:49:38 > 0:49:40Well, there was excavation about...
0:49:40 > 0:49:46probably about 25 years ago and they found a grave.
0:49:46 > 0:49:48Aye, and there was...
0:49:48 > 0:49:52They found a body in it, buried upright, you know, sitting.
0:49:52 > 0:49:56You could see the skull, you could see the skull and the teeth.
0:49:56 > 0:49:59Why did you first become aware of the site?
0:49:59 > 0:50:02Well, my father was very interested in it,
0:50:02 > 0:50:06and I've sort of taken over from him the last few years.
0:50:06 > 0:50:07To be honest, I am up here
0:50:07 > 0:50:10and it just looks like a big upland moorland
0:50:10 > 0:50:15and I am not quite sure what is Pictish remains or not.
0:50:15 > 0:50:17Give me an idea of the extent of...
0:50:17 > 0:50:20the former habitation?
0:50:20 > 0:50:24It goes as far as the trees and right down.
0:50:24 > 0:50:28See the big stone there, aye, standing stone,
0:50:28 > 0:50:30and right beyond there, right on to the flat.
0:50:30 > 0:50:34And, of course, all round here as well.
0:50:34 > 0:50:36You just wonder how they lived up here then.
0:50:37 > 0:50:39But what's it like living here now?
0:50:39 > 0:50:43Well, the wintertime, sometimes it's quite bad.
0:50:43 > 0:50:47You know, you come up and you can't even hardly see
0:50:47 > 0:50:50for the snow, it's just a whiteout, or a blizzard.
0:50:50 > 0:50:53- But today, I mean, it's magic. - Oh, it's beautiful.
0:50:53 > 0:50:56It must give you immense satisfaction to think that
0:50:56 > 0:51:00here you are living in a place where there's been people living
0:51:00 > 0:51:02since the very, very earliest mists of time.
0:51:02 > 0:51:03Yeah, it's very important.
0:51:03 > 0:51:06Is that really since your father did a lot of work here?
0:51:06 > 0:51:08Yeah, yeah, he did a lot of work and he was really interested,
0:51:08 > 0:51:10he was up here a lot of times.
0:51:10 > 0:51:13And that is where he is now, that's why he wanted to be here.
0:51:13 > 0:51:14What, you buried him up here?
0:51:14 > 0:51:17Aye, he is buried up here with the Picts, that is where he wanted to be.
0:51:17 > 0:51:19- I will show you where he is.- OK.
0:51:19 > 0:51:24He is up here just a wee bit. He was just walking along one day
0:51:24 > 0:51:27and he said, "Well, that's the place, in amongst the Picts' graves,"
0:51:27 > 0:51:29that was five years ago.
0:51:29 > 0:51:32- That's his headstone. - That is some headstone!
0:51:32 > 0:51:35- Aye, that is some headstone. - How did you get that in there?
0:51:35 > 0:51:39Well, I think John, my brother, took it on with the tractor bucket.
0:51:39 > 0:51:41And is there a lot of stones under here too?
0:51:41 > 0:51:46Yeah, that was the way that the Picts were buried - the stones,
0:51:46 > 0:51:50you know, little round stones the full length of his grave there.
0:51:50 > 0:51:53- That's what your father wanted? - That's what he wanted.
0:51:53 > 0:51:56And it's a wonderful place to be buried. What was the funeral like?
0:51:56 > 0:51:58- Oh, it was tremendous.- Yeah.
0:51:58 > 0:52:03There was a lot of bottles of whisky came up, there was 20 bottles.
0:52:03 > 0:52:06- 20?- 20, and none went down!
0:52:06 > 0:52:08HE LAUGHS
0:52:08 > 0:52:09There was 300 or 400
0:52:09 > 0:52:13and they were staggering off the hill, all directions they came down.
0:52:13 > 0:52:15That sounds more like a good wake!
0:52:15 > 0:52:17- Aye, it was a ceilidh. - It was a ceilidh.
0:52:17 > 0:52:18Aye, that's what he wanted,
0:52:18 > 0:52:20so it was really good, it was a nice day too.
0:52:20 > 0:52:24You can't get a better view, can you? That's why he is here -
0:52:24 > 0:52:27he can see the west, east and right round.
0:52:38 > 0:52:42Back on track again and I have been following the line of Glen Loyne
0:52:42 > 0:52:48below the mist-covered corries of Spidean Mialach and Gleouraich.
0:52:48 > 0:52:51And I have been following this lovely old stalkers' path
0:52:51 > 0:52:53which is carrying me over the shoulder of Creag a'Mhaim
0:52:53 > 0:52:56and will take me down to the old drovers' road
0:52:56 > 0:52:57that once ran between Cluanie
0:52:57 > 0:52:59and the great cattle markets of the south.
0:53:09 > 0:53:12You know, we are so fortunate in Scotland, we are so blessed
0:53:12 > 0:53:14that we have this wonderful network
0:53:14 > 0:53:17of old drovers' roads and stalkers' paths.
0:53:17 > 0:53:21Both of them are a legacy of former land uses in the Highlands.
0:53:22 > 0:53:26And, although stalkers still use a lot of the stalkers' paths,
0:53:26 > 0:53:30many of them today are used only by lonely stravaigers like myself.
0:53:30 > 0:53:34And we should be particularly thankful to the drovers.
0:53:34 > 0:53:36They carried with them a little bag of oatmeal,
0:53:36 > 0:53:38that was their staple diet.
0:53:38 > 0:53:41And for a wee change now and again they would blood the cattle,
0:53:41 > 0:53:44they would just nick the cattle and mix the blood with the oatmeal
0:53:44 > 0:53:46and warm that up over the fire.
0:53:46 > 0:53:48And that was the origins of black pudding.
0:53:56 > 0:53:58HE WHISTLES TUNEFULLY
0:54:01 > 0:54:02So often we assume that
0:54:02 > 0:54:05our favourite Highland views are never changing,
0:54:05 > 0:54:08have been the same since time immemorial
0:54:08 > 0:54:10because, really, most of us don't like change.
0:54:10 > 0:54:13But if you look at the loch behind me, Loch Cluanie,
0:54:13 > 0:54:15and its neighbouring loch, Loch Loyne,
0:54:15 > 0:54:19they were greatly changed in the 1950s when they were enlarged
0:54:19 > 0:54:23for hydro-electric purposes and a great big dam was built
0:54:23 > 0:54:26to regulate the water flow at the end of Loch Cluanie.
0:54:27 > 0:54:29Today we sort of accept the enlarged lochs
0:54:29 > 0:54:32and the dam as part of the Highland scene.
0:54:32 > 0:54:35It can look a wee bit untidy, though,
0:54:35 > 0:54:38when you get these tidemarks when the water level is lowered.
0:54:38 > 0:54:42Those tidemarks remind me of the words of the late
0:54:42 > 0:54:47Alfred Wainwright who says, "Man works with such clumsy hands."
0:55:04 > 0:55:06Is this not absolutely fantastic?
0:55:06 > 0:55:09This is a place that never fails to fool me.
0:55:09 > 0:55:12It's the gateway to Kintail and Glen Affric
0:55:12 > 0:55:15with, between them, over 20 Munros,
0:55:15 > 0:55:17it's a Munro bagger's paradise.
0:55:37 > 0:55:39I am wandering through a'Chaorainn Mor,
0:55:39 > 0:55:41the great glen of the rowan,
0:55:41 > 0:55:43although there's not many rowans left today.
0:55:43 > 0:55:45In fact, the place is pretty treeless, really,
0:55:45 > 0:55:49apart from one or two small rowans at the far end of the glen.
0:55:49 > 0:55:52But it's an interesting word, "rowan", it means "red tree",
0:55:52 > 0:55:55and it comes from the Norse word "ron".
0:55:55 > 0:55:57And that reminds us of the Norse influence,
0:55:57 > 0:56:01the Viking influence, in this western seaboard of Scotland
0:56:01 > 0:56:03and, of course, the northeastern parts of Scotland
0:56:03 > 0:56:04around Caithness and Moray.
0:56:07 > 0:56:12Much has been made today of how the Norse Vikings came to Scotland
0:56:12 > 0:56:14and eventually settled and intermarried
0:56:14 > 0:56:18and were often given positions of great political power.
0:56:18 > 0:56:22One thinks of the great warrior Thorfinn the Raven Feeder,
0:56:22 > 0:56:26who became the first mormaer of Moray, effectively giving him
0:56:26 > 0:56:30the fiefdom of the whole of the north of Scotland.
0:56:30 > 0:56:34But we shouldn't forget that the early Viking raiders were
0:56:34 > 0:56:39driven by a blood lust, they were on a crusade of death.
0:56:39 > 0:56:43There was the stories of the great Viking sagas.
0:56:43 > 0:56:48When they came and conquered and pillaged and murdered,
0:56:48 > 0:56:52they would decapitate the heads from those they had defeated,
0:56:52 > 0:56:53from the men,
0:56:53 > 0:56:55and wash the blood from their faces
0:56:55 > 0:56:59and then hang the heads from their belts like a badge of honour.
0:56:59 > 0:57:02What they did to the womenfolk doesn't bear recounting,
0:57:02 > 0:57:05it was very much a black time in Scotland's history.
0:57:19 > 0:57:24Well, that's me about halfway through my coast-to-coast pilgrimage
0:57:24 > 0:57:27and it's been fascinating to learn something of the people
0:57:27 > 0:57:30who have lived here before us and of the legacies that they left for us.
0:57:31 > 0:57:35It's always a curious feeling, wandering through these quiet
0:57:35 > 0:57:38and lonely glens and realising that, at one time,
0:57:38 > 0:57:41they were busy through routes,
0:57:41 > 0:57:43resounding to the sounds of Celtic priests
0:57:43 > 0:57:48or Vikings or fugitives and redcoat armies.
0:57:48 > 0:57:50Even the people who simply earned
0:57:50 > 0:57:52their day-to-day living in these places -
0:57:52 > 0:57:55the lead-mine workers, the deerstalkers, the hydro workers.
0:57:57 > 0:58:00And I am quite excited at the prospect of more to come.
0:58:00 > 0:58:03I am going to be wandering through more of these lonely glens,
0:58:03 > 0:58:05through some of the most scenic parts of Scotland -
0:58:05 > 0:58:08Glen Affric, Glen Cannich, the Mullardoch hills,
0:58:08 > 0:58:10down lonely Strathconon
0:58:10 > 0:58:13to the mighty Munro of the northeast, Ben Wyvis,
0:58:13 > 0:58:15before dropping down to the sea.
0:58:18 > 0:58:22So join me, if you can, for the second part of The Pilgrim's Trail.