0:07:50 > 0:07:57.
0:08:10 > 0:08:13I've just left the shores of Loch Earn in Stirlingshire,
0:08:13 > 0:08:18and I'm climbing up through the historic lands of the Stewarts of Ardvorlich
0:08:18 > 0:08:22towards two very popular Munros - Ben Vorlich and Stuc a'Chroin.
0:08:29 > 0:08:31I always think this glen, Glen Vorlich,
0:08:31 > 0:08:32is a magical kind of place,
0:08:32 > 0:08:35especially on a lovely autumn morning like this one.
0:08:35 > 0:08:37And the house that I passed at the foot of the glen,
0:08:37 > 0:08:39Ardvorlich House, has a couple of stones in it,
0:08:39 > 0:08:42or at least used to have a couple of stones in it,
0:08:42 > 0:08:45I don't know whether they're still there, and they had magical qualities.
0:08:45 > 0:08:47One of them, the Clach Dhearg,
0:08:47 > 0:08:51you used to be able to dip it in a bucket of water, twirl it round three times sunwise,
0:08:51 > 0:08:54and the water took on healing qualities
0:08:54 > 0:08:58in the diseases and infections in cattle.
0:08:58 > 0:09:02The other stone that's in the house, the Glenbucket stone, was similar.
0:09:02 > 0:09:07If the woman of the house twirled the Glenbucket stone round three times sunwise,
0:09:07 > 0:09:12then anybody who drank that water would have their wishes fulfilled.
0:09:12 > 0:09:14Nice stories. Whether they're true or not, I've no idea.
0:09:14 > 0:09:18But certainly, I know my wish today is that this weather stays the same all day long.
0:09:18 > 0:09:21The forecast is for rain and strong winds,
0:09:21 > 0:09:25but I'm kind of wishing that the sun just stays like it is at the moment.
0:09:32 > 0:09:36The estate here is very keen for walkers to stick to the footpaths
0:09:36 > 0:09:41to avoid damaging the remnants of heather here in Glen Vorlich.
0:09:41 > 0:09:46And at this time of the year, when the heather becomes this beautiful purple,
0:09:46 > 0:09:49you can fully understand why this lovely plant
0:09:49 > 0:09:52has become synonymous with the Scottish Highlands.
0:09:52 > 0:09:56But there's another wee plant that you might find in between the heather -
0:09:56 > 0:09:59this little yellow plant called tormentil.
0:09:59 > 0:10:03And it's said, in days gone by,
0:10:03 > 0:10:05this was a cure for nervous diarrhoea.
0:10:06 > 0:10:10Now, it won't be any great problem going up Ben Vorlich,
0:10:10 > 0:10:12but anybody who doesn't like steep ground
0:10:12 > 0:10:16might want to take a few mouthfuls of this before they go up Stuc a'Chroin.
0:10:25 > 0:10:29That's the summit route just ahead of us - Ben Vorlich, 3,232 feet.
0:10:36 > 0:10:38In many ways this is my favourite time of the year.
0:10:38 > 0:10:42It's certainly a toss-up between autumn and spring.
0:10:42 > 0:10:45In springtime, I know I've got the whole of the summer to look forward to.
0:10:45 > 0:10:48In autumn, I know I've got the winter to look forward to.
0:10:48 > 0:10:52But we generally get better periods of good weather in autumn,
0:10:52 > 0:10:54and there's something kind of special about the hills
0:10:54 > 0:10:58when they take on the sort of brown, ochre-coloured hue
0:10:58 > 0:11:01that you don't get at other times of the year.
0:11:01 > 0:11:05Plus this anticipation that winter is just round the corner.
0:11:05 > 0:11:07It's almost time to start looking out the cold gear,
0:11:07 > 0:11:09looking out the ice axes and crampons,
0:11:09 > 0:11:12for what we hope will be another good winter.
0:11:18 > 0:11:20I think we're picking up the tail end of the hurricane
0:11:20 > 0:11:23that swept up the east coast of America.
0:11:23 > 0:11:26It certainly feels hurricane force, today.
0:11:33 > 0:11:37Over in the Alps, there's a couple of mountains called Pollux and Castor,
0:11:37 > 0:11:40they're the celestial twins of the Bernese Oberland.
0:11:40 > 0:11:45And here in Scotland, we have quite a number of Munros that we kind of twin together.
0:11:45 > 0:11:47We think of the likes of Ben More and Stobinian,
0:11:47 > 0:11:50or these two that we're on today, Ben Vorlich and Stuc a'Chroin.
0:11:50 > 0:11:52And yet these two couldn't be more different.
0:11:52 > 0:11:57Ben Vorlich has a nice footpath running away up to the summit,
0:11:57 > 0:12:00and Stuc a'Chroin, there's no real paths to speak of.
0:12:00 > 0:12:03It's rugged, it's steep, involves a bit of scrambling.
0:12:03 > 0:12:05So, certainly quite different.
0:12:10 > 0:12:12Wow! Ben Vorlich.
0:12:12 > 0:12:14It means "the hill of the sea bay,"
0:12:14 > 0:12:18and I assume that's named after one of the bays down in Loch Earn.
0:12:18 > 0:12:23And it's not to be confused with the other Ben Vorlich in the Arrochar Alps.
0:12:23 > 0:12:28It's about, a good eagle's flight over in that direction, to the west.
0:12:29 > 0:12:31Well, that's the easy one done.
0:12:31 > 0:12:33The real difficulty, in this wind,
0:12:33 > 0:12:36will be scrambling up Stuc a'Chroin, across there.
0:12:42 > 0:12:45One of the great beauties of hill walking in Scotland,
0:12:45 > 0:12:50when you're on the top, there's always this great sense of wildness.
0:12:50 > 0:12:54And I think that's maybe what attracts a great number of us to the hills.
0:12:54 > 0:12:56Because once you're above the forestry line,
0:12:56 > 0:13:01then you are in a land that's not dictated to by agriculture,
0:13:01 > 0:13:03where there's not paths and tracks all over the place.
0:13:03 > 0:13:06You really are in the wildness of Scotland.
0:13:06 > 0:13:09Particularly when you go above 2,000 feet.
0:13:09 > 0:13:12It's on the mountaintops that we are in wild Scotland.
0:13:16 > 0:13:20I think another reason why I enjoy this particular part of Scotland,
0:13:20 > 0:13:21it's the land of my ancestors.
0:13:21 > 0:13:24The McNeishs were a set of the clan MacGregor,
0:13:24 > 0:13:27and this is all Clan MacGregor territory.
0:13:27 > 0:13:30Rob Roy MacGregor himself was buried not very far from here,
0:13:30 > 0:13:32at Balquhidder, in the churchyard there.
0:13:32 > 0:13:35And my own clan, McNeish,
0:13:35 > 0:13:38lived just at the far end of Loch Earn,
0:13:38 > 0:13:44and it's said that they had a pretty fierce battle with the traditional enemies, the McNabs,
0:13:44 > 0:13:47and the McNeishes were pretty well annihilated.
0:13:47 > 0:13:51The story goes that only one boy survived that fight.
0:13:51 > 0:13:54So there's a few McNeishes left today, not many of us,
0:13:54 > 0:13:55but there's a few.
0:13:55 > 0:13:59We probably all come from that one lad who survived that fight, on Neish's Isle,
0:13:59 > 0:14:01at the far end of Loch Earn.
0:14:08 > 0:14:10Now, that wasn't too bad, was it?
0:14:10 > 0:14:12When you look across here from Ben Vorlich,
0:14:12 > 0:14:16at this black face of Stuc a'Chroin, it looks almost impossible.
0:14:16 > 0:14:19But when you get close to it, when you get beneath that face,
0:14:19 > 0:14:21it kind of rears back,
0:14:21 > 0:14:24and all you have to do is follow the zigzag path up through the crags.
0:14:24 > 0:14:27And as scrambling routes go, it's fairly benign.
0:14:27 > 0:14:31But we're not at the summit yet. It's 200 or 300 metres that way.
0:14:36 > 0:14:41It's a disappointingly flat summit for such a nice wee scrambly route.
0:14:41 > 0:14:45But here we are, Stuc a'Chroin. And I guess I've been quite lucky today,
0:14:45 > 0:14:49I've had two of my wishes granted. The wind has decreased quite a bit,
0:14:49 > 0:14:51and I didn't need the tormentil on the scrambly bit.
0:14:51 > 0:14:54But granted wishes are not important on a day like this,
0:14:54 > 0:14:58because beyond Stirling, I've got the whole of the lowlands in front of me.
0:14:58 > 0:15:02And round this side, I've got the whole of the Trossachs arrayed before me.
0:15:02 > 0:15:05And then to the north, all the hills of Breadalbyn.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08I tell you, it doesn't get much better than this.