The Canoe Boys The Adventure Show

This month on The Adventure Show we're reliving the past.

All the way back to the 1930s.

With the help of replica boats from the time,

I'm going to recreate one of the great pioneering journeys

of Scottish canoeing.

For me, it's a journey into the unknown,

a test of strength, endurance and commitment.

We are following in the wake of two exceptional people

who changed the history of paddling.

They were known simply as the Canoe Boys.

This is their story. And ours.

It's an adventure that is going to be fantastic.

It's exploring parts of the country that I've never been to

but know so much about and I've really wanted to come

and see for a long, long time.

This trip is going to be a great physical exertion,

a great physical challenge, but one that, definitely, I look forward to.

On this trip I'll have some of the best days of my life...

This is absolutely stunning.

..and, unfortunately, some others I'd rather forget.

HE GRUNTS

I've had enough.

Once I was a professional footballer with a bit of a short fuse.

Now I'm a novice paddler but I'm still not always in control.

One thing's for sure, I'll need to be a quick learner,

because these West Coast waters can be unforgiving.

It's not the physical being able to do it.

It's the mental thing of...

..can I keep paddling for however long?

And I couldn't do this by myself.

So I'm with one of Scotland's most experienced canoeists, Brian Wilson.

It's going to be a hard task for Michael.

He's a fit and able guy and I'm sure he's got good coordination

but getting used to any new kind of boat is not an easy thing to do.

He's not a boatman. So, he's got his work cut out.

But I would say that getting used to one of these

is not going to be any harder than getting used to

a normal, modern sea kayak.

In fact, in many ways, it's going to be a little bit easier

because you don't feel trapped in it. It's broader and more spacious.

It handles very well. I think things are looking good.

I couldn't be in a safer pair of hands.

This is the man who, at the tender age of 22, kayaked 1,800 miles

round the coastline of Scotland

and he lived to tell the tale.

I didn't know 22 was a young age. It was the eldest I'd ever been.

I thought, "This is a good time to go and do something,

"to explore parts of Scotland

"and find that it's almost like a new country, one that you don't know."

Go around the corner and you're discovering stuff

almost as if it's a foreign land.

Well, it was all quite new to me, then.

And I just wanted to do more of what I had enjoyed doing

and not stop at the end of a ten-day trip or two-week trip.

I'll need every bit of Brian's experience for the journey ahead.

It's a kayaking classic.

We're starting at the small village of Crinan

and paddling past the islands of Luing and Seil to Oban.

Then, it's open water for the crossing to Mull

before heading up to Ardmore

and tackling the notoriously difficult waters

around Ardnamurchan Point.

From there, we'll be making for the Small Isles,

where we camp the night on Eig.

Then, the final stretch north-east to Mallaig

and a last paddle up Kylerhea to Skye.

But, don't forget, I'm no kayaker, so before we set off,

a quick crash course for me in Crinan harbour.

And that's when reality sets in.

-I'm going to hit this boat.

-Stick it in on the left-hand side.

-All right.

-All right.

-That was nicely avoided.

-Almost hit that one, almost hit this one.

-Yes. Looking good.

It's not arms. It's... It's all from the turn.

You know, it's amazing, after stopping professional sport

and you do lots of different sports, you realise how so many of them,

when you talk to proper people, it's the core.

-Of course. Strength and balance. Balance awareness.

-Yeah.

Look in the direction of where you want to go,

rather than look at the paddle.

I think he's trying to race me back in here.

Trying to get out of your way.

The journey we are embarking on was first undertaken

over 80 years ago by two young men, Alastair Dunnett and Seumas Adam.

Embracing the original spirit of adventure,

they did it with virtually no money and boats that are

a million miles away from the hi-tech models of today.

Right.

But one thing hasn't changed, they had very little experience

and neither do I.

So, I can't quite believe I'm doing this,

but with a little practice I'm on the move.

We're following in the paddle strokes of two young men

eager to prove themselves and see their country in a new light.

That's exactly how I feel.

This was almost like the symbolic start of the Canoe Boys' journey

because, all of a sudden, it feels like you're out into the open

and the wilderness.

The open sea, and, for them,

it was their first big piece of tidal water.

The challenge of getting the timing right

for going through the Dorus Mor

and everything that's to the north and west of that

becomes a lot more serious.

But I've got you to take care of me.

Well, we'll stick together.

Glorious stuff.

Even if you come past the same piece of coast several times,

each time you see it, you might poke into a different corner

and stop for longer and look back and the weather changes

and the tide changes.

It always seems a little bit different.

You've always got that thing about seeing a headland up ahead

and thinking, "What's around the back of that?"

That's the thing that I'll cling on to

when my arms are ready to fall off.

"I just need to get around that headland."

But we wouldn't have even got onto the water

without an enormous stroke of good luck.

The boats we're paddling are Lochaber canoes

and they're highly unusual.

They're not one solid construction but come in three parts.

There's only one still in existence and, by great good fortune,

it's now in the Scottish Maritime Museum in Irvine.

Even more remarkable is the museum's offer to build us two replica boats.

So, six months before we set off, apprentices

and staff start the meticulous work of putting these boats together.

This is the middle section. We'll put it up on the bench.

This, we believe, was found in a barn in Devon.

It's a 1934 Lochaber canoe. They're held together through tension.

There's a wire that comes from this eyebolt here,

up to the bow of the boat, underneath the keel,

all the way back and up to the eyebolt on that other part of the middle section.

And that's tightened up with the use of bottle screws,

so it puts the hull under a lot of tension.

It forces the three parts together.

It's the last remaining canoe of its kind in existence,

as far as we know, in the world.

This one's not seaworthy any more. The canvas is degraded.

And the timbers in it are a bit defunct now.

So we're going to build replicas.

We're going to be taking off the canvas from the sides of the boat

on just the back, here, to expose the inside,

so we can see the skeleton of the boat, essentially.

So, we'll see the stringers, the keel, sternpost

and all the other parts we need

to get templates and measurements off.

So, then, we can manufacture up the parts that we need

for the new ones.

There we go.

That's one.

The opportunity that they have is to take a historic vessel,

look at its construction, take it to pieces,

work it up and then recreate it and, hopefully,

produce something that'll be similar but in today's standards

and better built than it was originally.

There weren't really plans. They just had the patent number.

That's all we could find for this boat.

So, we're going off completely by what the actual boat looks like.

So the inside of the middle section and the inside of either end.

Most boat building these days is quite modern.

So, they constructed a 22-foot boat recently

and that was using plywood and epoxy glue.

The Lochaber canoe is a completely new thing to them. So...

apart from being very historical, they're getting

involved in what they regard as remaking history, if you like.

So, they had to do the forensic investigation

to get inside the boat

and construct it, so, although there is modern methods employed,

this is technology that has been surpassed.

I need to take the measurements from the width,

the length and the depth of them all

and, then, if they have an angle,

try and replicate the angle with a bevel.

This is the template for a section here.

The same size, same angle, the same depth of cut in it.

And, then, this is for the ribs at the side.

This section here.

So, this would go like so.

If you go to buy a canoe now it would be blown plastic,

or fibreglass, carbon fibre, I believe they use now.

This is reasonably primitive.

I wouldn't like to go to sea in one of these boats myself.

But there you go!

After months of hard work, the canoes are nearly finished

and the apprentices have done a great job.

The boats look like works of art

but we still need to do the most important test of all,

to find out if they'll float.

Clearly, this is a job for Brian, not me.

-Hello!

-Hi there!

-Fantastic.

-How do you do?

-How do you do? Brian.

-Ben and Connor, the boys that are building the canoes.

-Hi, guys.

That's fantastic.

Well, I was told it would be like a floating fish box

but it's an awful lot nicer than that, isn't it?

That's where you can keep the fish.

Now, we've not put the deck covering on this

because we don't know where you're going to sit.

We want the area you're going to sit

spread out as small as we can make it.

Yes, aye. That's great.

And the cable runs right through...

-The cable runs right round...

-..the inner tackle, there. Yeah.

-Up to this one.

-At first, we were looking at skeletons of it.

Without the canvas. We were like, "Is it going to look nice?

"Is it going to look that nice?"

I was actually quite pleasantly surprised by it.

When you've got all the trimmings and the skids

and all that on it, it's not a bad thing to look at.

It's nice to look at. We'll try and keep it in good condition for you.

-That's fine. Aye.

-Have you weighed it?

Ah, great! That's not heavy. That's great.

So, we know what it's made of.

We know what it's made, based on, but we don't know if it floats yet.

-Yeah. That's...

-That's what today's for.

-Aye. We'll see if it holds up.

I think she'll float.

This is the first time I've built

anything like these three-stage canoes.

It's been an experience.

It should go well, hopefully. Fingers crossed, anyway.

This is a new... a whole new idea for us.

Right, guys.

Moment of truth.

Good luck to you.

It will float. Eh?

-That's lovely. Looks nice.

-There we go.

-Grip the hull till I'm ready and I'll shove you out.

-Even better.

I think it's very pretty. It looks lovely on water.

We didn't know how it was going to perform.

We didn't know what it was going to look like on the water.

It was the performance that we were worried about.

This has surprised me a lot.

It doesn't look very much like a modern kayak

but it handles as good as quite few modern kayaks.

You don't have the same amount of grip

and control of it but you can adjust what you're doing

by changing the seating position,

which is a bit more like an open canoe.

Brilliant!

Love it! I want one!

Everyone at the Scottish Boat Building School

has done a fantastic job,

which heaps the pressure on me and takes away my best excuses.

With just a few hours of paddling under my belt,

both my boat and I are going to face our first big test.

Ahead of me lies something every paddler knows about.

The whirlpools of the Dorus Mor.

My plan is simple.

Ignorance is bliss.

It's not a place to be underestimated

but Michael's picking this up very quickly, the boats are really good.

I think, if we just judge the tides and the weather right, it's not...

-It's nothing to get too...

-It's nothing to worry about.

I like that. I like that confidence and belief, Brian.

It's one thing listening to Brian and his confident patter,

it's quite another when you talk to the local folk.

They call it the Big Doors. The Tidal Gates.

It's where currents meet.

Some of the fishermen say

it can be worse than the Corryvreckan at times.

It's a bit like a river flowing between two rocks.

You can get pinnacles, like mountains, or hills,

on the seabed that cause trouble as well

and the water can flow to that and it has to flow around it.

So all these things that you can't see

contribute to these turbo channels.

You get tide against wind, you can get into trouble.

Paddle wider on your right-hand side, as well.

Big, wide strokes on the right.

I'm looking forward to it. I'm saying that now.

Once you get me at the other end... Hopefully, get me at the other end!

..then I might change my tune.

It's not the kind of place you want to take for granted

and just assume it's going to be easy

but it is quite possible to do your predictions and work out

when it's going to be handleable and when it's better avoided.

OK, so you see where all the commotion is.

You'll start to feel a strong pull that way.

Just in front of us is the main stream running west.

When the original Canoe Boys were here, 80-odd years ago,

this was the moment when adventure turned to danger.

Years later, Alastair Dunnett wrote about

their extraordinary journey

and relived every dramatic detail of that passage

through the infamous Dorus Mor.

"Straining towards the forbidding, dark barrier at the gap,

"our closer vision decomposed it into a sudden moving turbulence,

"as if mighty fish were distantly shoaling in the Dorus.

"The wall seemed to dart and strike us,

"here the paddles felt new forces that made them kick in our grip,

"as if hands in the water had seized to wrestle them from us.

"We were now in a moving group of whirlpools

"and the noise was a hissing thunder.

"On the other side of our hulls of cloth and slats,

"the sea gathered below our thighs,

"like a horse bunching for the gallop."

Only the breaking bits can push you over.

They're starting to push you around a wee bit. Turn it right round.

Then go in point first, if you can. Nice and slow.

Put your hands just a wee bit wider.

Punch into it, Michael. Lean forward.

Give it a bit of welly.

Head towards the front of the boat.

Keep heading out to sea. This way.

-Yahoo!

-Well done.

That was phenomenal.

OK. I may have been a bit rough around the edges

but I've managed to survive my first real test of rough water.

So, from now on, I'm going to call myself a Canoe Boy.

And, like me, what the original Canoe Boys, Alastair and Seumas,

lacked in experience, they more than made up for in enthusiasm.

But they didn't undertake their trip just for the adrenaline rush

of pushing themselves to the limit and beyond.

Even today there are links to that bygone age, and one of them

is Alastair's son, Ninian Dunnett.

They were certainly looking for adventure,

but it was a particular sort of adventure they wanted.

Alastair and Seumas had taken a scunner to the very English idea

of adventure being something that meant high jinks in the jungle

of colonial India or escapades on the rugger fields of Eton,

and they knew there was an alternative because the two of them

had been amongst that first generation of working-class Scots

in the 1930s who'd made their escape out into the Highlands,

who'd come, particularly from industrial Glasgow,

and taken the bus and hitchhiked and made their way out to the hills

and found a land of adventure on their doorstep.

In later life, Alastair Dunnett

and Seumas Adam would become well-known Scottish journalists.

At the time of this trip, they were merely starting out

on their careers, though.

So, what better way to finance their journey than by writing about it

and the people that they met along the way?

What they couldn't have predicted, though, was how their expedition

captivated the whole nation and turned them into celebrities.

They had a little floating press office

and they were sending dispatches back from wherever they landed

to newspapers that had an appetite for it.

This is Alastair's original scrapbook from the trip.

It's not bound in leather, as you can see.

Here are all the headlines that the press were eager to make use of.

"Canoeists battle with a gale",

"Canoeists and rough seas".

Of course, they were writing these things themselves,

probably with some hilarity.

And they were told by people who thought they were experts

that what they were doing was sheer folly.

"It's too late in the year" was the thing that rang...

the phrase that came out most commonly.

But the truth of it is, of course, that the time of year was

the least of their problems.

Apart from youth and fitness

and absolute will to achieve what they set out to do,

they were very close to being literally out of their depth.

And I now know exactly what that feels like, but we are entering

calmer waters and our next stop is the busy port of Oban.

When Alastair and Seumas came here, arriving by kayak was unknown.

Those pioneers could never have foreseen the massive difference

between their three-part Lochaber canoes

and today's highly sophisticated models.

On these boats, they've got this drop-down skeg at the back.

I remember people really struggling to try

and keep the boat going in a straight line.

And then the hatches are completely waterproof

and they've just added a new one, this one on the foredeck here.

For a while, the cockpits went really small

and now they've gone a lot bigger

and part of it is so you can climb in and out really easily.

But also, it's the clothing.

Nowadays it's pretty much a dry sport.

So, when you think about the kit and the gear that the Canoe Boys

were using to make their journey, just...

Nobody would dream of doing something like that these days!

-No, no.

-Sit in six inches of water all the way.

-Yeah, the whole time.

I guess they didn't even have sponges. They'd have a bailer?

They maybe had a little bit of cloth or something.

-Yeah, a bailing packet or something.

-They definitely had bailers, yeah.

Yeah. But, no...

And some of the boats even have a little electric pump

that comes on automatically so it just keeps the boat really dry.

Next we'll see a wee paddle on the side that has got wee buttons

and you just sit back and on you go!

And the average age of people taking it up isn't young.

It's quite a bit older than you.

And I hear there are people giving up football and taking it up!

LAUGHTER

After 25 miles, I'm not quite the novice I was,

but I'm definitely still on a very steep learning curve.

And here comes another stiff test, my first big open-water crossing.

It's nine miles to Duwart Castle over on Mull.

I'm feeling every bit the adventurer,

even a bit cocky, and I almost know which end of the boat is which.

-Let's spin round, Michael, so you can get the front facing.

-OK.

First, there's a quick paddle to the island of Kerrera.

But there's one thing we can't control and that's the weather.

However gung ho I may be, Brian, with his years of experience,

knows this crossing demands respect.

-Are you all set for this, Michael?

-Aye. It's a really good feeling.

A real sense of excitement and genuine adventure.

-A proper crossing.

-Yeah, a proper crossing.

At Oban, you're...

you're walking down on the beach onto the waterfront

and putting the boats in.

So...

genuine excitement and I'm really looking forward to it.

It's going to be good.

-Obviously it's a bit overcast now.

-Hopefully, it will clear up.

What do you think? When we get round the back of Kerrera,

what's your thoughts about the weather?

I think it will clear up, but what I'm worried about most

is the wind forecast, which is for picking up as the day goes on.

So we need to be able to judge whether our crossing is short enough

to be able to get there before it changes significantly.

I think maybe we'll get away with it.

You're confident enough I can navigate my way across?

I've no doubts about you. It's the wind I'm worried about.

-I cannae control that, unfortunately.

-No.

So, we'll cross as far as the north end of Kerrera to start with.

Give us a wee place to have a rest, sort things out

and just look ahead to Mull and decide if it's doable just now

-or whether it requires waiting a wee while.

-Yeah.

-All right?

And, hopefully, we'll just crack on,

get the turn of the tide to take us up the Sound of Mull.

I suppose there's always an element of...

you've just got to suck it and see.

As much as you look from Kerrera,

there's an element of just getting out there and then you'll get

a fair idea of whether we need to turn back or what.

We needn't be frightened to turn back.

If that's the decision, that's what we'll do.

Getting to Kerrera is the easy part.

Now we must decide

if we can do the big stretch to Mull in these conditions.

To my mind, it doesn't look that bad or that far across,

but I think we've established how much I know!

I think from quite early on you realise that what you're

looking at isn't the whole picture. Sometimes it looks like...

it's not far from here to Mull. You can see it perfectly clearly.

Half an hour later you might not see it any more,

and you've got to know what else is happening with the tide

and the wind, and we know today the wind might pick up quite badly so

we don't want to get into a position where we are caught out with that.

We want to be sure that, if it does,

it takes us in the right direction and we're not going to meet

the wrong kind of tide coming out of the Sound of Mull.

You just line up all these things.

The tide, you know what the wind is doing, and then,

no matter what happens, really,

you're not going to get very far wrong.

For me, I think that sometimes with experience it almost stops you

from doing certain things in a negative way as well.

Innocence of youth,

and sometimes I look at youngsters that come through, they rush in

and it's amazing how they can pick up great performances or results,

whereas, with experience, you look at situations in a different

-way and it almost hinders you at times.

-Yes, I think so.

I mean, that phase of being young and indestructible...

..going for things almost in a spirit of ignorance,

but enthusiasm and positivity,

that can carry you through an awful lot,

and if you survive the situations you're in, you actually learn

a lot which feeds into how you make decisions later on.

Compared with Brian's major expeditions

around the Scottish coast

and his circumnavigation of Ireland, this is a relatively short journey.

But, for me, I've already got that feeling of being completely

removed from my normal life and I'm discovering that there is more

to this trip than simply paddling, and I suspect that Brian is, too.

You do get into that mode where the things that are important

are the really basic things like weather and tides.

And chocolate! LAUGHTER

But you can very easily leave behind the stuff

that diverts you all the time.

You can leave behind the GPS and phones and things

if you choose to and within a couple of days be completely away

from all of those other cluttered things that mess up your head,

and be reduced to a very simple way of living, which is quite hard

to give up again once you've had a couple of weeks of living like that.

There were times, surely,

when you were doing your big trips that you had bouts of loneliness?

Definitely. There were some times when I was very lonely, very worried

and had nobody to speak to about how to tackle certain headlands

and so on, and that's not great.

But those times are quite short and they are mixed up with long

periods of what you wouldn't really call loneliness, just solitude.

Just peaceful solitude.

And the great thing about travelling on your own is even more of that

same feeling of independence.

It's kind of more concentrated.

The Scottish trip was such a turning point in my life.

It just kind of formed me a wee bit, just the way I am about things.

It just came at the right time and was scary enough

and new enough and all that sort of thing.

Reminiscing is all very well, but it won't get us to Mull.

This is a very busy stretch of water that will need my total

concentration if I'm going to avoid an embarrassing accident.

I think we are going to go right through

the middle of a sailing race.

NERVOUS LAUGHTER

There's quite a few of them coming around there, isn't there?

There's quite an assortment of different sizes of boats

and things, if it is a race.

-Is this the big CalMac coming through?

-Yep.

-There's a CalMac behind you, Brian.

-Right.

We're going to be the meat in the sandwich here!

Well, these two CalMacs are trying to avoid each other.

What are we going to do?

We're going to be stuck in the middle.

Yeah, stick close together, though, so it's easy for them.

-This will be a wee bit of swell.

-There will be a wash off this, yeah.

LAUGHTER

And if they pass each other at the same time,

there will be a wash off both of them. That's one thing, though.

The CalMac boats in this area are so used to small craft,

sailors and yachts and dinghies and whatever.

Kayakers, too, I suppose.

It's great, as well, seeing all the other boats

and then seeing the CalMac ferry.

It's all happening! It's a busy bit of water.

-This is absolutely stunning.

-Fantastic, isn't it?

First time I've been to Oban. Brilliant!

First time I've been to Mull.

Kayaked over.

And not just a kayak, an 80-year-old replica.

A bit of plywood with a hole in it.

You know...

This sort of thing, it's not the physical being able to do it,

it's the mental thing of "Can I keep paddling for however long?"

It's also just getting the chance to do something like this.

-Well, totally.

-This is quite a unique little opportunity.

Absolutely.

It's about going out there and doing it.

I mean... I wouldn't ever know whether I was able to do this until

you go and do it!

Getting a bit of life in the water at last.

Can you see the tide race out there?

Extending out from the island there?

It's just a run of white caps you can see on the...

Yeah, yeah. I can see it.

Basically, it's just a rock shelf.

Where deep water hits shallow water, it breaks,

the same as on a beach, but it's not just breaking.

The tide is actually pushing on past that.

Just keep a wee bit of power up. And just blast through it.

It won't feel as choppy as what we were in yesterday.

Oh! Whoa!

-Was that a wobble?

-Yeah.

A wee wobble.

There's nothing blocking the swell coming through.

We're completely open now to the south.

And the wind is picking up a little bit.

Keep your paddling quite wide on the wobbly side.

That's good, Michael.

Nice one! Keep it going.

It's so difficult to tell where it's coming from.

It's fairly speeded us up there.

I can't believe how far past that point!

-It's miles back.

-I know.

When you get a bit of action like that,

all of a sudden half an hour disappears.

And there's the castle just here.

And if your energy is flagging, I usually find

at the end of that you're ready to go for another couple of hours.

Aye, it pumps the adrenaline. It's brilliant!

These boats are handling really well in that stuff.

They are staying really high.

I took a couple of waves on board, but not much.

I took a couple of things. That was it.

Whoo! We made it!

LAUGHTER

Arriving on the Isle of Mull for the first time

just around the back of Duart Castle.

No' bad!

So the original journey the Canoe Boys were in that same tide race

and lost a couple of hours because they were going against the tide.

-Is that right?

-Or didn't have the help of it.

And you can imagine how that would be

-to try and go against.

-To go against it.

It puts lots of people off doing that crossing,

or they'll time it so that they avoid the tide race.

He did it like it was just natural.

Ignorance is bliss,

and lack of experience definitely works in your favour.

For me, you know, thinking about that,

if you'd sat over there and went,

"Right, there's a potential we'll hit a tide race

"and this'll happen, that'll happen,"

it's like planting seeds in your head.

Just seeing it, and you were so calm, and you just said,

"Right, look, Michael, aim for it, paddle hard, no problem."

That may have been as good as any goal I've scored,

or even as good as playing for Scotland.

I'm like a wee kid in a sweet shop,

and there is plenty more sweets to be had on this journey.

From Duart Castle,

we head up the Sound of Mull,

then there is more open water,

first to Ardnamurchan,

then Eigg, and on to Mallaig.

Our final paddle will take us

up the Sound of Sleat to Skye.

But our next stop is the capital of Mull, Tobermory.

And when Alastair and Seumas arrived here,

they got a tremendous welcome.

One of those cheering them on was a wee lad called Duncan McGilp.

Now, he is almost 90,

and nothing could stop him from coming to meet us in our boats.

So you do recognise them?

Oh, yes, I recognise the construction.

That's exactly...

And when you look at these boats,

do they look quite a good reconstruction?

-Aye.

-Quite similar?

They're splendid. Yes, very impressed by them.

-Was that the first time something like this was seen here?

-Oh, yes.

There was great excitement

among our age and great anxiety among our parents' age,

in case we were tempted to go out in them.

To go too far.

And I remember my mother and several other adults

down on the old pier, they came ashore, there,

down to shake them by the hand and tell them...

.."You're very foolhardy, I'm glad I'm not your mother."

-What age were you at the time they came through?

-I was eight.

We were, we were all out, including my father,

and he was the provost of the town, he was at... This was the...

His council came out to see how the boss was faring.

He managed very well.

-Did people think they would get all the way to the Hebrides?

-No.

No, very surprised that they managed to get across...

Get as far as this.

Especially on that day. It was a very wild day.

When the original Canoe Boys came this way,

they encouraged the local people to try out their boats.

It is a lifetime ago since Duncan McGilp last sat

in one of these Lochaber canoes,

and he is keen to get in it again.

-Stand here.

-Yes, right in the middle is the best.

Nicely done.

-There you go.

-They're quite long.

They are home-made, too. Very good.

Back in 1934, Duncan and the other Tobermory kids

were captivated by these boats.

Their parents were more cautious.

Many of them said the Canoe Boys had left it too late in the year

for such an ambitious journey.

So, with a tight schedule to keep, it is time for us to move on

and paddle up to the north-west of Mull.

We've had favourable conditions,

but back when Alastair and Seumas did this,

they struggled up this coastline

as they battled against strong winds and pounding seas.

Just have to step in and...lift the boats up carefully.

They had actually wanted to go straight over to Ardnamurchan Point,

but were driven back to Mull,

so had to camp overnight in an abandoned croft at Ardmore.

We've retraced their steps.

I wonder...

I wonder how far this cottage is from here,

that Alastair was talking about in the book.

And it is just a...like, a crofter's cottage.

Yeah, quite a well-built stone place,

but I don't suppose there's much of it left, 80 years on.

Yeah, it's a fair amount of time. It'll be quite interesting

to see what is...what is left of it.

An awful lot of forestry and plantations

have been put in here since that time.

I'd be surprised if there's much left.

Just a few walls, maybe.

-So this looks like this could be...

-This is the top of the gable, here.

-Might be the one we're looking for.

-The bothy here.

-Ardmore.

Certainly going to be up high,

to get a good view across to Ardnamurchan.

And there must be a pretty good view from there.

-A chimney stack.

-A chimney on it. No roof. All gone.

-You lead on. You're going to slip.

-Probably.

-You do it first!

-Well, catch me.

-Well, it's seen better days, but this is...

-Yeah.

..a good, solid place, isn't it?

As you say, a very, very sturdy structure, but...

It'd be quite a big place, in its day.

I can imagine it would have been a...a great, welcome spot

for them to hunker down and wait for a better crossing.

Yeah, it already feels more sheltered.

Cos by all accounts, their trip round from Tobermory to here

was a...a bit of a task, a difficult one.

Yeah, they'd have been exhausted and wet and ready for a fire.

Let's have a look at the book and see if we can recognise

the fireplace that they were sitting by.

They would have been able to look out and get a bit of a feeling

for how the crossing would be.

Yeah, since this is higher ground,

they'll have been able to see more of the sea ahead,

and see what sort of swell they were heading into.

"Our next stage would be

"the most dangerous open-water passage of the trip,

"round Ardnamurchan -

"the furthest west point on the British mainland,

"a buttress of rock hammered endlessly by the Atlantic,

"and without a shore for miles.

"The account of this hazard makes disturbing reading

"in all the navigational journals,

"and even the most optimistic of our Tobermory friends

"could not desist from a repeated warning -

" 'It is too late in the year for Ardnamurchan.' "

It is just a very committing place to go round.

There's not a lot of options for coming ashore

as you are heading round Ardnamurchan,

until you've actually passed the points that are difficult,

then there are a couple of good beaches

where we can head in for shelter and a rest at the end of that.

For you, such an experienced man of the water,

using these boats that are very different to modern-day kayaks,

will it be different for you?

Or will you just carry on regardless,

calm, cool and collected, like you normally are?

No, we'll blunder along, calm, cool and...maybe a wee bit ignorant.

But these boats are very different

in the sense that they can take on a lot more water.

We're not as sealed in as we would be in a modern kayak,

with...fairly waterproof below decks,

which means that if we were to capsize,

it's going to fill up with water

and it's going to take a lot of work to bail them out

and get them back to floating and seaworthy again.

You don't really have that worry in a modern sea kayak,

which can be tipped over and rolled back upright.

We don't have that luxury. We have got to try and stay afloat.

Today, we've timed things perfectly.

It's raining, but the swell isn't a problem.

We're making good progress, we've not taken in too much water,

and I am certainly not planning on capsizing any time soon.

So, do we think that this headland here is the furthest west?

No, not quite, I think. It slopes out to the west a bit from here.

The headland at the end of the straight bit,

it's only a tiny one,

but it is further west than Ardnamurchan.

So, the lighthouse is tucked round the back of the furthest west point?

Well, it's on the next headland, which is higher, but...less west.

-There is the lighthouse.

-That is quite something, isn't it?

WHISTLING

It is really unusual to be able to get so close in here.

-Is that right?

-It is usually chaos, right for half a mile out.

These are really good conditions.

I don't think I've ever been in this close before.

I really like kayak travel, really, for being close to the shore

and seeing things, a means of travel rather than trying to do new stuff,

stop off when you want and meet people.

It's really flexible for that.

Go to uninhabited places or habited places, you choose.

Used to come into little harbours on the west of Ireland

where I knew it would be inhabited

and there would be people fishing off the pier and everything.

You can have a great time just meeting people and chatting.

You'd come close to shore and you knew they'd be watching you,

because...something unusual arriving out of the sea,

and sort of make a big show of being exhausted...

MICHAEL LAUGHS

..testing the wind and checking your compass and everything,

and then just flop on the shore

and they'd come down and say, "Are you OK? Are you all right?"

You'd say... AMERICAN ACCENT: "Hey, buddy, this is Ireland?"

And they'd go, "Aye, it is, you've made it."

"Are you sure it's Ireland?"

"It is, really, honest!"

Before you knew it,

there's a whole heap of people

giving you a place for the night,

and...and the best thing is,

with the Irish, once they realise

you've been having them on,

-they love it!

-They love it, aye.

I'd love to stop and actually stand

on the furthest west point.

-Just to say you've done it.

-Aye.

It's rocky, though.

Ach, it's enough to paddle round it.

Anyway, it's on film. You can prove you've been here.

Just coming round the headland, there, and past the lighthouse

is tremendous.

I mean, again, we've said it many times throughout the journey,

that some parts, we've had great weather,

other times, it's been dreich, like this,

but it all adds to the...the experience,

and once you've got the kit on, and you're warm,

it doesn't really matter, does it?

No. Keeping going, keeping the heat going and just keeping moving.

Just being able to see these places is fantastic.

It's always amazing - you want to know

what's round the next corner and you don't get a bigger sort of

corner to look round than Ardnamurchan Point.

It sticks so far west that you just want to see

what's on the far side of it,

and the great thing about a kayak is

that you can look in front of where you are travelling,

which is not like rowing, where you're travelling backwards,

and only seeing what is disappearing behind you,

and that is a point that the Canoe Boys did bring out,

because, to them, this was quite a new form of travel.

They were used to rowing, but they weren't used to kayaking,

so suddenly, they were able to use this motion...

Turn it 180 degrees.

..and go forward and see further ahead.

Once again, I am venturing into parts of Scotland

that are new to me.

This journey has exceeded all my expectations.

There's been great scenery, fantastic company

and genuine exploration.

It is as good as kicking a ball around, and that's for sure.

But that's all about to change.

HE GROANS

'We're on our way over to Eigg, one of the Small Isles,

'and I am starting to feel awful.

'I have no energy and my stomach is turning.

'The signs are definitely not good.'

HE GROANS

HE YELLS

I've had enough.

HE RETCHES

-I've been sick a couple of times.

-Have you?

I cannae...

I was trying to splash it off.

HE GROANS

Can you reach it with that?

-Cheers.

-LAUGHING: Your lentil soup...!

-Does it feel any better now it's up?

-A wee bit, aye.

Just...ugh...

Right. Let's go. Get it over with.

'Predictably, things go from bad to worse.

'Finally, and perhaps equally predictably, I snap.'

-Cut my chin.

-Your thumb is bleeding.

-Is it your chin?

-My chin.

Oh - quite deep, actually.

Did that just happen out of no extra...no extra push?

No, it was me. Pushing it.

Putting a big one right into the water.

-That still shouldn't happen.

-Skimmed right off it.

Temper.

Temper, taking a big swipe into the water,

blade didn't catch it,

bounced up, snapped and smacked my chin.

It's a good chunk out.

Must've been one of these...big splinters that's stuck in there.

-Going to need stitches?

-I suppose if it was bleeding a lot, you might.

But it looks like there is, you know, a gouge out.

It's as bad as it gets. One canoe, no paddle, and a damaged chin.

And I am left with a sneaky suspicion

it wasn't Brian just being well prepared

that made him bring a spare paddle aboard our safety boat.

OK, we'll see you there. Thanks very much.

Not exactly an enjoyable crossing.

I'll be glad to get out and get onto dry land.

Luckily, we are only a couple of miles from Eigg

and the rhythm of paddling should help to calm me down.

But I know this is one piece of film, unfortunately,

I am not going to be allowed to forget.

'And it is not just my pride that's been dented.

'It's been confirmed my chin definitely needs attended to.

'So it is just as well the doctor is visiting the island today.'

Special service.

Shows you what a good community they've got here.

The doctor is waiting on hand.

They obviously knew I was turning up.

-Aye.

-We're jumping in, are we?

A few stitches and a bit of glue later,

and I'm all good to go.

The great thing about this journey is that,

even though the day began badly, it ends much better.

We have landed on the northernmost part of Eigg,

on the very spot chosen by the original Canoe Boys.

It is a perfect evening,

and I am still amazed at how fortunate I've been.

Couldn't have timed it any better.

You know, the doctor's here, on Eigg.

-About to leave.

-About to leave, aye.

So it was very fortunate that, you know, the timing we got here...

To get injured and come into Eigg on the very day the doctor is here,

-when the doctor is only here every seven days...

-I know.

We could have passed by another ten minutes,

and missed him completely.

Very nice. You can see where the paddle stuck

-in the bottom there.

-Aye, so...

It wasn't already sore, it was just more annoying and...

-And bleeding all over the boat.

-It was bleeding, aye.

I was just more annoyed with myself.

And we've had two days,

doing what most people consider very hard -

-Ardnamurchan Point, Dorus Mor...

-Yeah.

And, you know, you managed great.

They weren't really too hard in the grand scheme of things,

and yet today, what should've been

a relatively straightforward crossing

-threw up a lot of problems.

-Aye.

But you can't predict how a day is going to start and end.

When I went up to see the doctor, it's like...

You start to appreciate what an absolute mammoth task

these boys were doing.

As well as being damp all the time, everything is salty,

so it doesn't dry anyway unless you wash it in fresh water,

and that then is hard and brittle, chafes against your skin.

You are sitting all day in wet stuff, so you get kind of

the equivalent of bedsores all the time, because...

Pressure and wetness.

-You start to appreciate how tough the task is.

-Yeah.

Well, they were young guys, they were still quite resilient

and not dramatic and cranky...

I'd like to think I'm still young.

Certainly cranky, though, that's the problem!

THEY LAUGH

-Anyway, we made it. Cheers.

-Cheers. Slainte.

And I'll say aye to that.

It is a fantastic spot we've found for the night

and there's just one job remaining.

Our predecessors lived as cheaply as possible.

Almost every meal was a concoction of oatmeal, salt, water and butter.

They called it oatmeal brose, and it almost cooks itself -

a process they affectionately called "gloating".

We wanted to see how this worked in practice.

Dinner time. Dinner time.

Ha-ha-ha...!

We are going to have some oatmeal brose,

which...looks decidedly like some porridge,

but by all accounts, they say once you have a good portion of this,

done properly, you'll always want this.

Keep going, keep going.

Keep splashing it on.

-Cover it up.

-What do we do now?

We gloat, and we look out to Rum and Sleat.

How long does gloating take?

I think it maybe takes another one, doesn't it?

-I think so.

-Slainte.

I think there are worse places to wait for four or five minutes.

Campfire, great view,

hear the waterfall in the background...

No, that's my stomach rumbling.

MICHAEL LAUGHS

-Throw a bit of butter on this?

-Yes.

Watch my fingers. Watch my fingers.

"Stir violently."

Nae wonder! Look at the size of it!

Once we get the butter going, we put the...

That's the secret ingredient.

-Is that "violently"?

-Do you want to have a violent shot at it?

-I think I need to...

-You have a violent shot at it.

It's hard to be violent with a plastic fork, isn't it?

-I think it's about time that we did some more...gloating.

-Yeah.

-Slainte.

-Cheers.

-There we go.

-Thank you.

It's lumpy.

-Actually, that's all right, isn't it?

-Not bad at all.

Apparently, this is the combination, this is the recipe,

that helped the Scots defeat the Romans and the Vikings

and anybody else...

-That cared to have a go.

-..that's cared to have a go so far.

We are now more than two-thirds of the way

through our journey up Scotland's west coast.

It has been totally absorbing and, sometimes, quite hazardous,

and that sense of jeopardy and an uncertain outcome

can be fun, especially when you're safe afterwards.

It is very hard to recreate the feeling of being properly...

not in danger, but on the edge,

and if you do,

by deliberately leaving behind the trappings of safety,

you're kind of looked at as being

a little bit irresponsible for doing that.

But I suppose that's what all adventurers were doing

in one way or another throughout the years

and I'm pretty sure that Seumas and Alastair thought like that

in a number of places that they came into

that were a little bit irresponsible

and crazy to be trying what they were trying.

They were, exactly. And the whole thing about...

When they met people and asked for advice about what they were doing,

even the people who realised the boats were quite capable,

they were constantly being told,

"It's the wrong time of year, it's too late in the year to do that."

We're now approaching the fishing village of Mallaig

and, after the last few days, it feels like a metropolis.

Seumas and Alastair stayed here for nearly three weeks

repairing their boats, writing up their experiences

and getting to know the locals.

We might not have that luxury but there is one person we must meet.

Seumas's daughter Ailish, who lives in Wales,

has come all the way up here to see these Lochaber canoes

for the first time.

Dad would have loved to have been here to see this.

He really would. So would Alastair.

They'd have been thrilled, the pair of them.

The canoes are much smaller than I expected.

With the picture of the canoes,

they seemed to be an awful lot longer than that,

because they were in three bits.

They had the bit at the front and the same amount at the back

and then the cockpit, where they were sitting.

Maybe, when I see them side-on,

they might be as big but they don't look it!

Hello!

-How have you got on?

-Not too bad.

-Good.

-You had a nice journey?

-Yes, thank you. Lovely.

-Bit drier than yours, no doubt.

-I would think so!

-Have you enjoyed it?

-Yeah, loving it.

-Good.

-I'm Brian. Hi, good to meet you.

-Nice to meet you.

Never used anything like this before

but they're fantastic wee boats.

-Really?

-Really capable little boats, yeah.

-A bit wet.

-Yes.

A lot of water in

but they go fairly well.

I never saw the canoe.

-Wasn't lying about the house or...?

-No, no.

I don't know what happened to them at the end of the trips.

I really don't know but I never saw them.

The canoe we had was a much smaller version than this.

-Really?

-A little white thing.

-That you had as a family?

-As a child.

It's been years since Ailish has been in a canoe

but that doesn't matter.

There is no holding her back as she wants to get out and try the boat

that changed her dad's life.

I haven't canoed since I was 10 or 11.

But...

I reckon I can still do it.

If I take them off, then they won't get wet.

I don't think I have ever canoed in a life jacket before,

so that's going to make it a bit different.

-There's a handle just there.

-Thank you.

-There we go.

-Excellent.

Thank you!

There we go.

See if I can catch up with her!

-I'm right behind you.

-OK.

Where'd you want me to go?

Straight ahead.

-How does it feel?

-Lovely.

Even today, these splendid boats attract a lot of interest.

I was looking out the window and thought,

"I've seen that shape of canoe before.

"These are the ones from the Canoe Boys,

"but there aren't any in existence any more,"

so I came charging down the stairs, nearly broke my neck.

They look exactly like the photographs in the book

and, of course, there's the drawing in the book, as well,

which gives you all the proportions.

They look absolutely spot-on.

If they were in open sea

and it was rough,

it must have been quite scary.

I was surprised at how well they scoot along. It's quite amazing.

They look like they would not go very fast at all

but they seem to handle very nicely.

Lovely! I enjoyed it.

As I say, I'm very surprised at the size of it.

That was great fun.

There's just one final leg of our journey left,

up the Sound of Sleat, through Kylerhea

and finishing under the Skye Bridge at Kyleakin.

At Kylerhea, the current can be fierce

but, today, the tide's with us

so Brian plans to finish our journey in style.

Here we go. It's like being on the waltzers.

Right, we need it on that side.

You take the brolly over the other side.

Paddling on deck.

Oh, aye.

That was smoothly done, eh? You take the brolly.

Put that forward. A wee bit up higher.

Just catching a wee bit more wind.

Keep it low. Tilt it forward a wee bit.

That's it.

And off we go.

Mary Poppins!

Brian's showing his experience.

He was like... Very quickly handed the umbrella over to me

and I was like, "That's not easy!

"I'll just get the other end and steer but you hold the brolly!"

That was great. I could imagine getting over to Stornoway

if I had that assistance all the way.

Yeah, we had everything going with us. Wind, brolly, tide, everything.

I'm thinking we should be able to see the Skye Bridge around this...

I think so, too. Yeah.

Pretty sure of it.

Oh, look at the seal on the water.

Oh, aye! Brilliant.

-There she goes.

-Uh-huh.

-We're pretty close to it.

-Yeah.

Be nice if it was a dolphin.

-Just to...

-Finish the trip.

There's a certain sense of achievement pulling in here,

I've got to say, for myself.

Not half. We're still floating. Still in one piece.

That's the achievement.

Still talking to each other.

Just about.

Don't hit a rock, mate.

Come a cropper.

Just a few more paddle strokes and we'll be there,

and waiting on the shore are our boat builders Martin Hughes

and the apprentices Connor Campbell and Ben McColgan.

Making these replica canoes was a labour of love for them,

and these Lochabers have passed every test.

They've come through practically unscathed.

-Hello, there!

-Well done, boys.

Always nice to get out.

Even better when you've managed to get in one piece.

Not just ourselves but the boats as well.

Job well done, guys. Job well done.

Thank you very much. And to yourself

-for actually rowing this far in them.

-Aye. In all seriousness...

-Boats speak for themselves, don't they?

-Well done, guys.

-Excellent.

Well done to you both.

Completing the journey and surviving.

Yeah, it's been great fun.

Really good-looking boats as well.

I've not got any real sort of marine background,

but, again, Brian's a big fan of them

and you'd be surprised the amount of folk that have come up

and passed comment and know all about them as well.

I can see kind of the fun and the joy of just going out there

without a care in the world and just adventuring, really.

And you could do it from start to finish.

You could make the thing, get in it and go.

It looks like great fun and it's a few weeks away, just going on.

Get into the canoe, that would be great.

So that's the end of this particular trip

but it could be the start of something new for Connor and Ben,

and, in the true spirit of the Canoe Boys,

it's time for them to have a go in these beautiful boats

that they made for our journey.

And what a journey it's been.

I have negotiated the whirlpools of the Dorus Mor,

the tidal race on my crossing to Mull,

I've successfully kayaked round Ardnamurchan Point

and been a little less successful in a confrontation with a paddle.

And what became of the original Canoe Boys?

Alastair Dunnett realised his journalistic ambitions

and went on to become editor of the Daily Record and the Scotsman.

He was knighted for services to journalism

and public life in Scotland.

Seumas Adam also prospered.

He became a notable author, broadcaster and poet

and he was someone who promoted Scotland around the world.

As for Brian and I,

well, we're already planning for our next adventure.