1 00:00:05,700 --> 00:00:09,180 The lochan-studded expanse of Rannoch Moor - 2 00:00:09,180 --> 00:00:11,380 an icon of the untamed. 3 00:00:12,580 --> 00:00:17,020 A true wilderness, and once a place of thieves and wild men. 4 00:00:18,460 --> 00:00:21,340 For generations the West Highlands were considered to be 5 00:00:21,340 --> 00:00:23,980 a dangerous place, a country to be tamed. 6 00:00:23,980 --> 00:00:27,700 First the military came, and then the engineers, 7 00:00:27,700 --> 00:00:31,860 and they built roads and railways and harnessed the power of nature. 8 00:00:34,940 --> 00:00:37,380 Lochs are Scotland's gift to the world, 9 00:00:37,380 --> 00:00:40,020 and are the product of an element that we have 10 00:00:40,020 --> 00:00:44,220 in spectacular abundance - water. 11 00:00:44,220 --> 00:00:49,140 It's been estimated that there are more than 31,000 lochs in Scotland. 12 00:00:49,140 --> 00:00:52,420 They come in all shapes and sizes, 13 00:00:52,420 --> 00:00:54,860 from long fjord-like sea lochs, 14 00:00:54,860 --> 00:00:57,740 great freshwater lochs of the Central Highlands, 15 00:00:57,740 --> 00:01:01,140 to the innumerable lochans that stud the open moors. 16 00:01:03,140 --> 00:01:04,620 In this series, 17 00:01:04,620 --> 00:01:07,020 I'm on a loch-hopping journey across Scotland, 18 00:01:07,020 --> 00:01:09,940 discovering how they've shaped the character of the people 19 00:01:09,940 --> 00:01:11,900 who live close to their shores. 20 00:01:13,660 --> 00:01:17,580 For this grand tour, I'm taking a walk on the wild side. 21 00:01:31,340 --> 00:01:35,060 My journey starts on the beautiful banks of Loch Tulla, 22 00:01:35,060 --> 00:01:38,740 crosses Rannoch Moor, and then by Loch Rannoch and Loch Tummel 23 00:01:38,740 --> 00:01:39,940 I will go. 24 00:01:39,940 --> 00:01:42,940 It reaches journey's end on a fairy mountain. 25 00:01:45,620 --> 00:01:50,100 Loch Tulla lies on the southern edge of the great Rannoch Moor. 26 00:01:50,100 --> 00:01:53,940 This wild country was first settled thousands of years ago. 27 00:01:55,380 --> 00:01:58,140 To see the evidence of habitation for myself, 28 00:01:58,140 --> 00:02:02,300 I'm being ferried out to a tiny island called Eilean Stalcair, 29 00:02:02,300 --> 00:02:05,420 where some of the first people to lead settled lives 30 00:02:05,420 --> 00:02:07,980 in this part of Scotland made their home. 31 00:02:09,180 --> 00:02:11,620 It's known as a crannog - 32 00:02:11,620 --> 00:02:13,900 that's an artificial island that was built 33 00:02:13,900 --> 00:02:16,820 to keep the occupants safe from wild animals, 34 00:02:16,820 --> 00:02:20,500 and from their human enemies' raiding and plundering. 35 00:02:23,420 --> 00:02:27,060 Back in the Iron Age, over 2,000 years ago, 36 00:02:27,060 --> 00:02:29,740 the crannog would have been a defensive home 37 00:02:29,740 --> 00:02:33,380 to an extended family, living in a thatched timber house, 38 00:02:33,380 --> 00:02:35,740 sitting on wooden stilts above the water. 39 00:02:37,060 --> 00:02:39,860 Crannogs were once very common. 40 00:02:39,860 --> 00:02:45,100 At least 600 have been identified by archaeologists in Scotland's lochs. 41 00:02:45,220 --> 00:02:48,180 The earliest belonged to the Stone Age. 42 00:02:48,180 --> 00:02:51,540 Others were used for hundreds of years. 43 00:02:51,540 --> 00:02:56,260 This crannog was occupied up until the 14th century by Clan MacGregor, 44 00:02:56,260 --> 00:02:59,580 who once dominated this whole area. 45 00:02:59,580 --> 00:03:01,580 And when they lost it to the Campbells, 46 00:03:01,580 --> 00:03:04,780 their bard wrote a lament recalling their happy days 47 00:03:04,780 --> 00:03:06,980 on the shores of Loch Tulla, 48 00:03:06,980 --> 00:03:09,300 and I can see why they were sad to leave it. 49 00:03:13,900 --> 00:03:17,660 It's amazing to think that during the last ice age 50 00:03:17,660 --> 00:03:21,900 the whole of Rannoch Moor was covered by a great ice cap. 51 00:03:21,900 --> 00:03:23,540 As the glaciers melted, 52 00:03:23,540 --> 00:03:25,740 they created the loch-studded landscape 53 00:03:25,740 --> 00:03:27,380 we are familiar with today. 54 00:03:29,420 --> 00:03:33,700 Most of the moor lies over 400 metres above sea level. 55 00:03:33,700 --> 00:03:36,900 In winter, its many lochans are covered in ice, 56 00:03:36,900 --> 00:03:41,660 which makes the prospect of taking a dunk in one of them, even in summer, 57 00:03:41,660 --> 00:03:43,020 less than appealing. 58 00:03:44,140 --> 00:03:48,340 I meet Calum Maclean on the banks of Loch Ba. 59 00:03:48,340 --> 00:03:51,780 He's a devotee of wild swimming, a rather grand name 60 00:03:51,780 --> 00:03:55,220 for something that people have been doing for years. 61 00:03:55,220 --> 00:03:57,900 Calum blogs about his watery adventures, 62 00:03:57,900 --> 00:04:00,820 which take him to some extreme locations, 63 00:04:00,820 --> 00:04:05,420 including an icebound lochan high in the frozen Cairngorm Mountains. 64 00:04:06,820 --> 00:04:10,100 Today, he invites me to take a plunge in water 65 00:04:10,100 --> 00:04:12,340 that is thankfully ice-free. 66 00:04:13,820 --> 00:04:16,620 Do you ever actually kind of measure temperatures, scientifically? 67 00:04:16,620 --> 00:04:19,260 Oh, I never measure the temperature with an actual thermometer. 68 00:04:19,260 --> 00:04:20,900 I think that's far too scientific for me. 69 00:04:20,900 --> 00:04:22,460 I think I usually stick my toe in, 70 00:04:22,460 --> 00:04:24,700 and depending on how much it hurts and how much I scream, 71 00:04:24,700 --> 00:04:26,420 that's how cold the water is that day. 72 00:04:26,420 --> 00:04:28,260 So are we going to be screaming, do you think? 73 00:04:28,260 --> 00:04:29,980 I think when we get in, it's going to hurt. 74 00:04:29,980 --> 00:04:32,180 That's usually what happens. It never gets any easier. 75 00:04:32,180 --> 00:04:34,020 Heart stopping? Possibly, yeah. 76 00:04:34,020 --> 00:04:36,660 Is there a kind of gradation of wildness that you're looking for? 77 00:04:36,660 --> 00:04:38,700 I mean, how does this compare, Loch Ba? 78 00:04:38,700 --> 00:04:40,700 Where we are here, it's quite calm, you know, 79 00:04:40,700 --> 00:04:42,380 we're not too far from the road. 80 00:04:42,380 --> 00:04:46,420 But, yeah, I've been to some of the more extreme places, you might say. 81 00:04:46,420 --> 00:04:49,340 The Gulf of Corryvreckan between Jura and Scarba, 82 00:04:49,340 --> 00:04:52,300 that was a particularly fun one, where the current sweeps through. 83 00:04:52,300 --> 00:04:55,260 It's one of the biggest whirlpools, I think, around. 84 00:04:55,260 --> 00:04:57,940 Luckily, there was a slack tide, so we were OK. 85 00:04:57,940 --> 00:04:59,620 Were you not scared? 86 00:04:59,620 --> 00:05:02,100 I wasn't scared, no. I was excited more than scared. 87 00:05:02,100 --> 00:05:05,060 So it's adrenaline rather than just pure fear? 88 00:05:05,060 --> 00:05:07,540 That's right, yeah. 89 00:05:07,540 --> 00:05:09,500 I'm ready for this. Are you ready for anything? 90 00:05:09,500 --> 00:05:10,780 Uh-huh. Right. 91 00:05:10,780 --> 00:05:13,860 How does it feel so far? It's fine - I'm wearing a wet suit. 92 00:05:13,860 --> 00:05:17,900 VOICEOVER: The plan today is for Calum to swim the length of Loch Ba. 93 00:05:17,900 --> 00:05:20,340 I'm going to try my best to keep up with him, 94 00:05:20,340 --> 00:05:24,620 at least as far as the nearby island of Eilean Molach. 95 00:05:24,620 --> 00:05:27,140 Perhaps I should have brought my rubber ring, 96 00:05:27,140 --> 00:05:31,420 but at least my wet suit means I shouldn't die of hypothermia. 97 00:05:31,420 --> 00:05:36,220 Well, it's really quite cold out here, I have to say, Calum. 98 00:05:36,220 --> 00:05:39,820 Thank you so much for bringing me out for this wonderful experience. 99 00:05:39,820 --> 00:05:42,220 But the views are amazing. 100 00:05:42,220 --> 00:05:45,940 They are. It's like a kind of trout's-eye view. 101 00:05:45,940 --> 00:05:48,380 It is. But, yeah, it's a fantastic way 102 00:05:48,380 --> 00:05:50,420 to see this beautiful landscape around us. 103 00:05:50,420 --> 00:05:52,300 And we are in the middle of Rannoch Moor. 104 00:05:52,300 --> 00:05:53,660 Who would have thought it? 105 00:05:53,660 --> 00:05:56,860 Exactly. Lots of people come here for walking, hiking. 106 00:05:56,860 --> 00:05:58,540 How many people come here to swim? 107 00:05:58,540 --> 00:06:01,180 Very few. I wonder why! 108 00:06:01,180 --> 00:06:04,220 But my problem is that I've only ever really swam 109 00:06:04,220 --> 00:06:07,580 a maximum of about ten lengths before, 110 00:06:07,580 --> 00:06:12,100 and what we're proposing to do must be a good bit more than that - 111 00:06:12,100 --> 00:06:14,060 about ten times more than that. 112 00:06:14,060 --> 00:06:16,980 So I'm not sure I'll be able to make it all the way. 113 00:06:16,980 --> 00:06:18,460 I think you might be right. 114 00:06:18,460 --> 00:06:20,500 I reckon it's about half a kilometre or so. 115 00:06:20,500 --> 00:06:21,820 Oh! 116 00:06:21,820 --> 00:06:24,060 Well, I'm getting a bit tired now. 117 00:06:24,060 --> 00:06:25,580 Oh, look - I can stand up! 118 00:06:25,580 --> 00:06:28,180 Oh. Oh, ho, ho! 119 00:06:28,180 --> 00:06:30,140 There's no need to panic at all. 120 00:06:30,140 --> 00:06:32,460 I can literally walk to this island if I need to. 121 00:06:32,460 --> 00:06:34,540 That's right, yeah. You invited me here for a swim, 122 00:06:34,540 --> 00:06:36,300 but it's a bit more of a walk, I think. 123 00:06:36,300 --> 00:06:37,740 We could just walk the whole way. 124 00:06:37,740 --> 00:06:40,300 Why don't we stroll over this way, if you don't mind? 125 00:06:40,300 --> 00:06:43,780 VOICEOVER: Unfortunately, our reception committee on shore 126 00:06:43,780 --> 00:06:46,460 is a swarm of vicious midges. 127 00:06:46,460 --> 00:06:50,820 Just wade the last few feet to the shore. 128 00:06:50,820 --> 00:06:53,180 Well, Calum, I'm afraid I don't think I'm going to be able 129 00:06:53,180 --> 00:06:55,620 to make it. I'm just a bit too peched. 130 00:06:55,620 --> 00:07:00,260 So, if you don't mind, I think I'll just wait for a boat. 131 00:07:00,260 --> 00:07:02,940 So good luck, my friend. 132 00:07:02,940 --> 00:07:05,060 OK, well, I'll leave you with the midges, then, Paul. 133 00:07:05,060 --> 00:07:06,340 Happy wild swimming! 134 00:07:09,940 --> 00:07:12,060 There he goes. Good luck, Calum. 135 00:07:12,060 --> 00:07:14,500 But these midges really are horrendous. 136 00:07:14,500 --> 00:07:15,900 It's time to move on. 137 00:07:18,540 --> 00:07:22,020 Fleeing the swarms of miniature bloodsucking beasties, 138 00:07:22,020 --> 00:07:26,060 I leave Loch Ba and follow the old road west across the moor. 139 00:07:28,260 --> 00:07:32,780 It was built by the great 18th-century engineer Thomas Telford, 140 00:07:32,780 --> 00:07:35,780 and follows the route of an older military road, 141 00:07:35,780 --> 00:07:39,100 built to suppress the lawless and rebellious clans 142 00:07:39,100 --> 00:07:41,860 who'd made this wild stretch of country their home. 143 00:07:43,740 --> 00:07:46,380 Nearing the high point on Telford's road, 144 00:07:46,380 --> 00:07:49,820 I'm looking for a little-known monument to a remarkable man. 145 00:07:50,940 --> 00:07:53,500 Much of the western half of Rannoch Moor 146 00:07:53,500 --> 00:07:56,540 has been owned for many years by the Fleming family. 147 00:07:56,540 --> 00:08:00,180 Now the most famous member of the family has to be Ian Fleming, 148 00:08:00,180 --> 00:08:05,060 the author and creator of James Bond, 007. 149 00:08:05,060 --> 00:08:06,740 But what a lot of people don't know 150 00:08:06,740 --> 00:08:08,980 is that Ian had an older brother 151 00:08:08,980 --> 00:08:11,540 who at one time was much the more famous of the two. 152 00:08:16,060 --> 00:08:19,700 Long before Ian Fleming had put creative pen to paper, 153 00:08:19,700 --> 00:08:22,900 Peter Fleming was already a successful travel writer 154 00:08:22,900 --> 00:08:25,100 and novelist. 155 00:08:25,100 --> 00:08:27,820 During the war he worked for British intelligence, 156 00:08:27,820 --> 00:08:31,260 and drew on his experience to write a spy thriller. 157 00:08:31,260 --> 00:08:33,820 The Sixth Column was described by critics 158 00:08:33,820 --> 00:08:37,780 as the blueprint for his younger brother's Bond story, Casino Royale. 159 00:08:39,380 --> 00:08:41,100 Despite the similarities, 160 00:08:41,100 --> 00:08:43,780 Peter encouraged Ian's literary endeavours, 161 00:08:43,780 --> 00:08:47,540 and even suggested the name Miss Moneypenny. 162 00:08:47,540 --> 00:08:49,140 He loved the outdoors, 163 00:08:49,140 --> 00:08:53,220 and was an enthusiastic sportsman with a passion for shooting. 164 00:08:53,220 --> 00:08:56,060 But it was out here on the wilds of Rannoch Moor 165 00:08:56,060 --> 00:09:00,860 that he suddenly and unexpectedly died of a heart attack. 166 00:09:00,860 --> 00:09:05,420 And this cairn marks the exact spot where he fell - 167 00:09:05,420 --> 00:09:09,820 a memorial to a remarkable life and an unsung literary hero. 168 00:09:13,740 --> 00:09:16,460 Journeying into the heart of Rannoch Moor, 169 00:09:16,460 --> 00:09:20,900 I encounter its biggest loch by far, Loch Laidon. 170 00:09:20,900 --> 00:09:24,100 A faint path follows the shoreline, 171 00:09:24,100 --> 00:09:29,380 and after a 14-mile hike I come across an unexpected sight - 172 00:09:29,700 --> 00:09:33,540 a railway station, apparently in the middle of nowhere. 173 00:09:34,740 --> 00:09:38,340 Rannoch station is one of the remotest in the country. 174 00:09:38,340 --> 00:09:42,420 Despite this, trains from London stop here. 175 00:09:42,420 --> 00:09:43,740 Hi, Paul. 176 00:09:43,740 --> 00:09:46,420 VOICEOVER: To find out about the line that crosses Rannoch Moor, 177 00:09:46,420 --> 00:09:48,220 I'm meeting up with railway historian 178 00:09:48,220 --> 00:09:50,660 and photographer Norman McNab. 179 00:09:50,660 --> 00:09:52,740 Norman, why build a railway line 180 00:09:52,740 --> 00:09:55,580 through such a desolate expanse of moorland? 181 00:09:55,580 --> 00:09:58,940 Well, there was a need to open up the West Highlands. 182 00:09:58,940 --> 00:10:01,340 There was a particular desire to get a connection 183 00:10:01,340 --> 00:10:03,140 from Glasgow to Fort William, 184 00:10:03,140 --> 00:10:06,380 and then onward from Fort William to the West Coast Sea, 185 00:10:06,380 --> 00:10:09,180 to tap into the lucrative herring industry. 186 00:10:09,180 --> 00:10:13,780 And you've got to remember that road across Rannoch Moor to the west 187 00:10:13,780 --> 00:10:17,420 by Coire Ba was a very, very... 188 00:10:17,420 --> 00:10:19,380 It was nothing much more than a rough track 189 00:10:19,380 --> 00:10:21,380 as it was in the days of the stagecoach. 190 00:10:21,380 --> 00:10:23,460 So getting to Fort William was very hard. 191 00:10:25,420 --> 00:10:27,660 Over the course of eight years, 192 00:10:27,660 --> 00:10:31,140 5,000 navvies toiled in horrendous conditions 193 00:10:31,140 --> 00:10:33,660 to build the railway across the moor, 194 00:10:33,660 --> 00:10:36,380 where deep peat banks forced the engineers 195 00:10:36,380 --> 00:10:40,060 to float the line on rafts of brushwood and ash. 196 00:10:40,060 --> 00:10:45,340 The first passenger services eventually began in 1894. 197 00:10:45,460 --> 00:10:47,980 What's interesting to me, 198 00:10:47,980 --> 00:10:50,540 to celebrate the opening of the line, 199 00:10:50,540 --> 00:10:53,100 this wonderful book here, Mountain, Moor And Loch, 200 00:10:53,100 --> 00:10:55,740 was produced when this line was opened, 201 00:10:55,740 --> 00:10:58,340 presumably to encourage a wealthier sort of visitor. 202 00:10:58,340 --> 00:11:01,020 Yes. Absolutely. 203 00:11:01,020 --> 00:11:04,140 And it's a beautifully illustrated book as well. 204 00:11:04,140 --> 00:11:07,500 And the poetry of it all was bound to have enthused people. 205 00:11:07,500 --> 00:11:09,380 "From the window of the railway carriage, 206 00:11:09,380 --> 00:11:11,340 "it is the reverse of wearisome." 207 00:11:11,340 --> 00:11:14,180 As true today as it was when it was written. 208 00:11:14,180 --> 00:11:17,420 And of course, you can tell the character of a person, man or woman, 209 00:11:17,420 --> 00:11:19,460 by their attitude to crossing Rannoch Moor. 210 00:11:19,460 --> 00:11:23,900 They're either stimulated and excited by it, and wondrously so, 211 00:11:23,900 --> 00:11:26,460 or they find it a boring place. 212 00:11:26,460 --> 00:11:29,780 How do you find it? Well, I find it a very stimulating place. 213 00:11:36,300 --> 00:11:39,740 VOICEOVER: Norman wants to get a shot of the London sleeper train 214 00:11:39,740 --> 00:11:42,740 crossing the famous Rannoch viaduct. 215 00:11:42,740 --> 00:11:46,460 So we set off over the heather to get into position. 216 00:11:46,460 --> 00:11:48,060 It's a great view of the viaduct. 217 00:11:48,060 --> 00:11:51,740 Yep. This is absolutely ideal, Paul. 218 00:11:51,740 --> 00:11:53,820 All we want is the light. 219 00:11:53,820 --> 00:11:56,420 Now, what are you looking for when you come to choose a location 220 00:11:56,420 --> 00:11:57,620 to take a photograph? 221 00:11:57,620 --> 00:11:59,820 Well, I'm looking for a composition 222 00:11:59,820 --> 00:12:02,500 which sets the train within the landscape. 223 00:12:02,500 --> 00:12:04,460 So the train is just part of it. 224 00:12:04,460 --> 00:12:06,900 It's primarily to give the impression 225 00:12:06,900 --> 00:12:08,820 of the scenery and the location. 226 00:12:09,860 --> 00:12:15,100 Particularly to bring over this aspect of the wild openness. 227 00:12:15,940 --> 00:12:18,460 It's something unique to the West Highland Line 228 00:12:18,460 --> 00:12:20,300 as it crosses over Rannoch Moor. 229 00:12:20,300 --> 00:12:24,460 It is real drama with the lighting and the clear visibility. 230 00:12:24,460 --> 00:12:26,620 It can be quite fantastic. 231 00:12:28,100 --> 00:12:30,780 HORN BLARES 232 00:12:30,780 --> 00:12:33,420 OK, after all the waiting, here comes the train. 233 00:12:33,420 --> 00:12:36,620 OK. Check the lens cap's off, power's on. 234 00:12:36,620 --> 00:12:37,900 This is very exciting. 235 00:12:37,900 --> 00:12:40,980 This is the moment, Paul. This is what we've been waiting for. 236 00:12:40,980 --> 00:12:44,580 One, two, are you getting this? 237 00:12:44,580 --> 00:12:45,580 That's brilliant. 238 00:12:45,580 --> 00:12:47,300 Yeah. 239 00:12:47,300 --> 00:12:50,460 Do you wave at trains, Norman? Yes, you do. 240 00:12:50,460 --> 00:12:53,300 They're waving back. 241 00:12:53,300 --> 00:12:55,540 Yes, I'm not sure about that gesture, Norman. 242 00:12:58,020 --> 00:13:00,820 Having got our shot of the train, 243 00:13:00,820 --> 00:13:04,020 suitably invested with the drama of a desolate location, 244 00:13:04,020 --> 00:13:07,540 I leave Norman and explore the loch-studded moor, 245 00:13:07,540 --> 00:13:10,780 where I am fascinated to see ancient tree roots 246 00:13:10,780 --> 00:13:12,380 protruding from the dark peat. 247 00:13:14,060 --> 00:13:17,660 All across the moor, you come across roots like this 248 00:13:17,660 --> 00:13:19,340 sticking out of the peat. 249 00:13:19,340 --> 00:13:21,820 These are the remains of a once-great forest 250 00:13:21,820 --> 00:13:25,860 that covered this desolate expanse thousands of years ago. 251 00:13:25,860 --> 00:13:28,660 Many of the roots are pine trees, 252 00:13:28,660 --> 00:13:31,100 early victims of climate change. 253 00:13:34,740 --> 00:13:36,780 Just after the last ice age, 254 00:13:36,780 --> 00:13:39,980 the climate is thought to have been warmer and drier than now, 255 00:13:39,980 --> 00:13:42,700 encouraging the spread of forest cover. 256 00:13:42,700 --> 00:13:44,900 But then things changed. 257 00:13:44,900 --> 00:13:48,940 It got wetter and cooler, and moss thrived, 258 00:13:48,940 --> 00:13:51,300 which developed into layers of peat. 259 00:13:51,300 --> 00:13:54,060 This eventually suffocated the forests 260 00:13:54,060 --> 00:13:56,500 but preserved the remains of the trees 261 00:13:56,500 --> 00:13:59,540 which once grew here thousands of years ago. 262 00:13:59,540 --> 00:14:01,980 My old railway guide, Mountain, Moor And Loch, 263 00:14:01,980 --> 00:14:05,660 mentions the curious sight of so many old tree roots 264 00:14:05,660 --> 00:14:07,660 in an otherwise treeless moor, 265 00:14:07,660 --> 00:14:10,580 and goes on to explain that local folk 266 00:14:10,580 --> 00:14:13,540 used to use this peat pine as candles. 267 00:14:13,540 --> 00:14:16,340 They would dry it out, break it into little splinters, 268 00:14:16,340 --> 00:14:18,420 and then light the splinters 269 00:14:18,420 --> 00:14:21,860 which made excellent candles to spin wool by. 270 00:14:21,860 --> 00:14:23,860 Not that the local folk had much choice 271 00:14:23,860 --> 00:14:25,700 in the matter of their illumination, 272 00:14:25,700 --> 00:14:28,180 because candles were far too expensive. 273 00:14:32,860 --> 00:14:36,700 Reaching the road, I pick up a push bike and pedal west, 274 00:14:36,700 --> 00:14:40,980 following the River Gaur as it makes its way down to Loch Rannoch, 275 00:14:40,980 --> 00:14:45,860 which, in the days of the Jacobites, was an unruly place indeed. 276 00:14:45,860 --> 00:14:49,180 This was a wild country without roads, 277 00:14:49,180 --> 00:14:52,300 presided over by a warrior chief. 278 00:14:52,300 --> 00:14:55,580 Alexander Struan Robinson is the only man known 279 00:14:55,580 --> 00:14:58,860 to have taken part in all three Jacobite risings. 280 00:15:01,660 --> 00:15:04,740 But Struan Robertson had gentler beginnings. 281 00:15:04,740 --> 00:15:08,580 He was actually a divinity student at St Andrews University, 282 00:15:08,580 --> 00:15:13,260 where he joined the first Jacobite rebellion in 1689. 283 00:15:13,260 --> 00:15:17,780 In 1715, he was captured at the Battle of Sheriffmuir, 284 00:15:17,780 --> 00:15:20,140 but then escaped to France. 285 00:15:20,140 --> 00:15:24,660 And then, in 1745, at the age of 75, 286 00:15:24,660 --> 00:15:28,100 the old warrior marched off to join Bonnie Prince Charlie, 287 00:15:28,100 --> 00:15:30,900 whose defeat at Culloden cost him dear. 288 00:15:33,780 --> 00:15:36,220 The estates of Struan Robertson were forfeited 289 00:15:36,220 --> 00:15:39,260 and he lived out the rest of his days in a cottage 290 00:15:39,260 --> 00:15:42,380 close to the great black wood of Rannoch. 291 00:15:42,380 --> 00:15:45,580 Today, the black wood is one of the largest areas 292 00:15:45,580 --> 00:15:49,220 of ancient Caledonian pine forest left in the country. 293 00:15:51,260 --> 00:15:54,900 The Scots pine is the dominant tree species here. 294 00:15:54,900 --> 00:15:58,540 In Latin, it's known as Pinus sylvestris, 295 00:15:58,540 --> 00:16:00,980 but you have to be very careful how you pronounce it 296 00:16:00,980 --> 00:16:03,820 if you want to avoid offence. 297 00:16:03,820 --> 00:16:06,860 And I'm being as careful as I can. 298 00:16:06,860 --> 00:16:09,620 Pee-nus or pie-nus sylvestris 299 00:16:09,620 --> 00:16:14,380 as it's known, has recently been voted as Scotland's national tree. 300 00:16:14,380 --> 00:16:16,820 And here in the black wood of Rannoch 301 00:16:16,820 --> 00:16:18,860 are many fine old specimens, 302 00:16:18,860 --> 00:16:20,300 including this one, 303 00:16:20,300 --> 00:16:25,340 which must have been a mere sapling when Struan Robertson lived here. 304 00:16:25,580 --> 00:16:27,740 Amazing to think of all that history it has seen. 305 00:16:31,060 --> 00:16:34,540 Struan Robertson wouldn't recognise my next destination. 306 00:16:34,540 --> 00:16:39,060 Nestling beneath the peak of Schiehallion is Kinloch Rannoch. 307 00:16:39,060 --> 00:16:41,820 It's a quiet, respectable sort of place, 308 00:16:41,820 --> 00:16:44,260 but when the old clan chief was alive, 309 00:16:44,260 --> 00:16:48,420 this area was at the heart of a rebellious community. 310 00:16:48,420 --> 00:16:51,100 When the Jacobites were finally defeated, 311 00:16:51,100 --> 00:16:55,220 it became a refuge for desperate, hungry men on the run. 312 00:16:56,300 --> 00:16:57,900 Because the people were starving, 313 00:16:57,900 --> 00:17:00,660 the returning warriors had to resort to theft 314 00:17:00,660 --> 00:17:02,620 to keep their families alive. 315 00:17:02,620 --> 00:17:05,260 And soon, Rannoch acquired a reputation 316 00:17:05,260 --> 00:17:07,820 of cattle rustling and lawlessness. 317 00:17:09,100 --> 00:17:11,740 A captain of the army of occupation wrote, 318 00:17:11,740 --> 00:17:13,540 "The people of this country 319 00:17:13,540 --> 00:17:15,540 "are the greatest thieves in Scotland 320 00:17:15,540 --> 00:17:17,740 "and were all in the late rebellion." 321 00:17:19,100 --> 00:17:23,060 But within a few years, the village of Kinloch Rannoch was established. 322 00:17:23,060 --> 00:17:25,140 Schools and churches were built 323 00:17:25,140 --> 00:17:28,740 in an attempt to civilise the wild clansfolk, 324 00:17:28,740 --> 00:17:31,100 and it seems to have worked. 325 00:17:31,100 --> 00:17:33,460 There's not a rebellious Jacobite to be seen. 326 00:17:39,100 --> 00:17:42,660 Leaving Kinloch Rannoch, I take the old military road, 327 00:17:42,660 --> 00:17:45,820 following the southern shores of Loch Tummel. 328 00:17:45,820 --> 00:17:50,260 After its warlike history, it now seems the epitome of peace. 329 00:17:50,260 --> 00:17:53,100 And what could be more peaceful than sailing? 330 00:17:54,740 --> 00:17:59,140 Loch Tummel has become a favourite location for lovers of watersports, 331 00:17:59,140 --> 00:18:01,660 and dinghy sailing in particular. 332 00:18:01,660 --> 00:18:03,900 Despite the gale that's blowing, 333 00:18:03,900 --> 00:18:07,540 I threw caution to the wind and joined veteran sailor Jim 334 00:18:07,540 --> 00:18:09,260 and his crew member Amanda, 335 00:18:09,260 --> 00:18:13,460 dodging other boats as squalls race across the water. 336 00:18:13,460 --> 00:18:15,660 Are we going to jibe or are we going to about? 337 00:18:15,660 --> 00:18:19,740 Oh, no, we're going to go about in this weather. 338 00:18:19,740 --> 00:18:22,340 Would you normally be coming out to the loch in this weather? 339 00:18:22,340 --> 00:18:23,540 Not normally, no. 340 00:18:23,540 --> 00:18:25,820 This is just for a bit of fun, really. 341 00:18:25,820 --> 00:18:27,020 Right. 342 00:18:27,020 --> 00:18:28,860 So, if you look upwind, 343 00:18:28,860 --> 00:18:31,940 you can see dark patches are sitting on the water. 344 00:18:31,940 --> 00:18:34,580 Some of them have more ripples than the others, 345 00:18:34,580 --> 00:18:36,900 and that generally is when your squalls are coming in. 346 00:18:36,900 --> 00:18:39,020 That's when your boat will start to keel over quickly. 347 00:18:39,020 --> 00:18:41,460 Or it could flatten you completely? Yes. Which we don't want. 348 00:18:41,460 --> 00:18:42,700 No. 349 00:18:42,700 --> 00:18:44,700 When did you start sailing? 350 00:18:44,700 --> 00:18:46,740 About 1949. 351 00:18:46,740 --> 00:18:47,900 Good grief, really? 352 00:18:47,900 --> 00:18:49,620 Yep. It's done you well. 353 00:18:49,620 --> 00:18:50,780 Yep. 354 00:18:50,780 --> 00:18:53,900 No disrespect, but you really are an old sea dog. 355 00:18:53,900 --> 00:18:57,860 Well, I'd hardly say an old sea dog, 356 00:18:57,860 --> 00:18:59,740 but we are all wrinkly anyhow. 357 00:18:59,740 --> 00:19:02,540 It's a lifetime, you've spent a lifetime at the tiller. 358 00:19:07,060 --> 00:19:09,900 As we tack backwards and forwards across the loch, 359 00:19:09,900 --> 00:19:13,780 Jim tells me that we are sailing over land that was once farmed. 360 00:19:13,780 --> 00:19:17,220 There are even the ruins of an ancient Clan Menzies hunting lodge 361 00:19:17,220 --> 00:19:19,060 beneath our keel. 362 00:19:19,060 --> 00:19:24,140 Everything was drowned in the 1950s when the lock was dammed. 363 00:19:24,140 --> 00:19:28,740 Intrigued, I leave Jim's boat and sail 11km 364 00:19:28,740 --> 00:19:31,420 to Loch Tummel's famous Queen's View, 365 00:19:31,420 --> 00:19:34,460 to see for myself how the landscape has been altered 366 00:19:34,460 --> 00:19:37,100 by this man-made flood. 367 00:19:37,100 --> 00:19:41,700 Now, this really is a grand view 368 00:19:41,700 --> 00:19:45,180 and one worthy of royal appreciation. 369 00:19:45,180 --> 00:19:47,860 But you can tell from this old photograph postcard 370 00:19:47,860 --> 00:19:49,740 that was taken in the 1940s 371 00:19:49,740 --> 00:19:53,420 just how much it's been altered by rising water levels. 372 00:19:53,420 --> 00:19:57,420 There's a whole area of land here that's been flooded. 373 00:19:57,420 --> 00:19:59,220 The tiny island in the background 374 00:19:59,220 --> 00:20:02,940 is, in the photograph, nothing more than a wooded hill 375 00:20:02,940 --> 00:20:05,300 beside the River Tummel. 376 00:20:05,300 --> 00:20:07,340 It's all drowned now, 377 00:20:07,340 --> 00:20:08,780 but still rather beautiful. 378 00:20:12,300 --> 00:20:16,340 Just around the corner from Queen's View is the Clunie Dam. 379 00:20:16,340 --> 00:20:20,580 Built in 1951, it holds back the weight of Loch Tummel 380 00:20:20,580 --> 00:20:23,540 and water from a vast catchment area, 381 00:20:23,540 --> 00:20:27,060 all part of a hugely ambitious hydroelectric scheme. 382 00:20:29,780 --> 00:20:32,780 This archive film from the 1950s 383 00:20:32,780 --> 00:20:35,660 shows the dramatic scale of the engineering works 384 00:20:35,660 --> 00:20:38,500 that were undertaken to harness the power of water 385 00:20:38,500 --> 00:20:41,900 and to turn it into electricity for the Highlands and beyond. 386 00:20:44,340 --> 00:20:49,220 An army of men toiled day and night, deep underground, 387 00:20:49,220 --> 00:20:52,740 drilling and blasting their way through solid rock 388 00:20:52,740 --> 00:20:56,700 to divert the flow of water into a network of dams. 389 00:20:58,420 --> 00:21:01,820 This is the Clunie Memorial Arch. 390 00:21:01,820 --> 00:21:04,380 It actually shares the same dimensions 391 00:21:04,380 --> 00:21:07,460 as the tunnel that was built to carry water 392 00:21:07,460 --> 00:21:10,140 from the loch to the power station, 393 00:21:10,140 --> 00:21:13,020 and clearly shows the scale of the tunnel, 394 00:21:13,020 --> 00:21:18,140 which, at the time, was the largest of its type built in Britain. 395 00:21:18,260 --> 00:21:21,620 There are names inscribed here too, 396 00:21:21,620 --> 00:21:25,140 to remind people of the human cost of the project. 397 00:21:27,540 --> 00:21:29,660 There are seven massive structures 398 00:21:29,660 --> 00:21:33,540 that make up the huge hydroelectric scheme. 399 00:21:33,540 --> 00:21:37,980 At the nearby Pitlochry Dam, I meet up with Gonna O'Donnell, 400 00:21:37,980 --> 00:21:40,420 one of the famous Tunnel Tigers 401 00:21:40,420 --> 00:21:45,500 who collectively dug over 400 miles of tunnels in Scotland. 402 00:21:45,500 --> 00:21:50,140 The first job you went and got in a tunnel was a spanner man. 403 00:21:50,140 --> 00:21:53,220 That's the man that held the drill 404 00:21:53,220 --> 00:21:56,340 for the driller that was drilling holes. 405 00:21:56,340 --> 00:21:58,740 You held that drill, 406 00:21:58,740 --> 00:22:02,580 but you couldn't wear gloves, nor had any earmuffs. 407 00:22:02,580 --> 00:22:05,940 I was stone deaf, completely stone deaf. 408 00:22:05,940 --> 00:22:08,380 The men in the tunnels were minors. 409 00:22:08,380 --> 00:22:09,700 Some of them were platelayers. 410 00:22:09,700 --> 00:22:12,220 That's the men that looks after the railway line. 411 00:22:12,220 --> 00:22:15,180 They were platelayers. Then you have the powder monkey. 412 00:22:15,180 --> 00:22:17,100 He was looking after the explosives. 413 00:22:17,100 --> 00:22:18,980 Then you have the loco driver. 414 00:22:18,980 --> 00:22:21,460 He was taking in and out what we called the muck. 415 00:22:21,460 --> 00:22:23,260 That was the gravel and stones. 416 00:22:23,260 --> 00:22:24,340 We called that muck. 417 00:22:24,340 --> 00:22:26,540 It must have been very dangerous work. 418 00:22:26,540 --> 00:22:29,460 Everything is dangerous when you don't know. 419 00:22:29,460 --> 00:22:33,140 When I went in first, everybody looked after me. 420 00:22:33,140 --> 00:22:36,060 Anybody that came in after me, I looked after him. 421 00:22:36,060 --> 00:22:39,540 And if I saw a stone hanging above you when you were drilling, 422 00:22:39,540 --> 00:22:42,860 if I saw a stone, maybe a stone, maybe a tonne weight, 423 00:22:42,860 --> 00:22:45,220 or half a tonne weight, or 500 weight, 424 00:22:45,220 --> 00:22:48,460 I would push you out of the road and point up. 425 00:22:48,460 --> 00:22:50,740 I mean, it was a waste of time trying to talk. 426 00:22:50,740 --> 00:22:53,100 Nobody could hear you. 427 00:22:54,580 --> 00:22:57,980 Gonna lived on site in a camp high on the mountainside, 428 00:22:57,980 --> 00:23:00,660 surrounded by hundreds of other men. 429 00:23:00,660 --> 00:23:04,540 Many had come from Ireland, others from Eastern Europe, 430 00:23:04,540 --> 00:23:07,940 having fled the Cold War to work on the hydro scheme. 431 00:23:09,220 --> 00:23:12,500 When you come back to Scotland and you see these amazing dams, 432 00:23:12,500 --> 00:23:14,820 what does that make you feel? 433 00:23:14,820 --> 00:23:17,900 It makes me feel about 18 feet tall. 434 00:23:17,900 --> 00:23:19,980 It makes me very proud 435 00:23:19,980 --> 00:23:22,820 that I was a wee part, a small part of it. 436 00:23:22,820 --> 00:23:24,940 I was a small part of it. But I was there. 437 00:23:28,820 --> 00:23:31,820 VOICEOVER: In the archive room at the Pitlochry Dam, 438 00:23:31,820 --> 00:23:34,420 I meet up with Brian Haslam. 439 00:23:34,420 --> 00:23:36,900 Brian was a young engineering graduate 440 00:23:36,900 --> 00:23:39,420 when he first worked on the dams. 441 00:23:39,420 --> 00:23:40,460 I was excited. 442 00:23:42,140 --> 00:23:46,180 I don't know why, but I had faith in my own ability. 443 00:23:46,180 --> 00:23:48,380 The engineering side didn't bother me. 444 00:23:48,380 --> 00:23:50,220 I felt quite confident. 445 00:23:50,220 --> 00:23:51,220 But I hadn't got a clue. 446 00:23:51,220 --> 00:23:53,500 When I first went in the tunnel, I didn't know, 447 00:23:53,500 --> 00:23:55,500 I could have been on the moon for all I knew. 448 00:23:55,500 --> 00:23:56,980 It's a great collective effort. 449 00:23:56,980 --> 00:23:58,780 Cos we look at some of these pictures here, 450 00:23:58,780 --> 00:24:01,180 you can see men working together, 451 00:24:01,180 --> 00:24:04,380 really kind of complicated, difficult tasks, 452 00:24:04,380 --> 00:24:06,260 using huge pieces of machinery. 453 00:24:06,260 --> 00:24:08,820 That was just making the machinery. 454 00:24:08,820 --> 00:24:10,980 What's happening here? This is the Blondin. 455 00:24:10,980 --> 00:24:15,820 It's a sort of aerial ropeway that carried the concrete across the dam, 456 00:24:15,820 --> 00:24:19,700 named after the guy who walked over Niagara Falls. 457 00:24:19,700 --> 00:24:23,540 So, you were flying concrete from one side of the glen to the other? 458 00:24:23,540 --> 00:24:25,340 Yes. We were doing just that. 459 00:24:25,340 --> 00:24:28,820 So what have we got here? We've got this precarious business? 460 00:24:28,820 --> 00:24:32,060 Men about to disappear into the maw of hell? 461 00:24:32,060 --> 00:24:36,940 This is just an example of the health and safety rules at the time. 462 00:24:36,940 --> 00:24:39,580 Non-existent! Zilch. 463 00:24:39,580 --> 00:24:43,620 What do you think is your almost abiding memory 464 00:24:43,620 --> 00:24:45,060 of working on these tunnels? 465 00:24:46,460 --> 00:24:49,500 Four years of happiness. 466 00:24:49,500 --> 00:24:51,620 Really? Yeah. Yeah? Yeah. 467 00:24:53,460 --> 00:24:55,260 I get quite nostalgic about this. 468 00:24:58,340 --> 00:25:01,900 I grew up when I came to the scheme. 469 00:25:01,900 --> 00:25:04,340 I met the big wide world. 470 00:25:04,340 --> 00:25:06,420 I met wonderful people. 471 00:25:07,940 --> 00:25:10,980 I was doing a wonderful job, in a wonderful place. 472 00:25:10,980 --> 00:25:14,300 I know being inside a tunnel doesn't sound like a wonderful place. 473 00:25:14,300 --> 00:25:15,580 But the company was good? 474 00:25:15,580 --> 00:25:18,180 Somebody once said to me it was like a family. 475 00:25:18,180 --> 00:25:20,220 And you were, you looked after each other. 476 00:25:20,220 --> 00:25:21,940 That was it. 477 00:25:21,940 --> 00:25:23,260 That stuck with me. 478 00:25:27,420 --> 00:25:30,180 Leaving a legacy of dams and tunnels, 479 00:25:30,180 --> 00:25:32,580 which are still generating electricity 480 00:25:32,580 --> 00:25:34,580 from the wild waters of Lanark, 481 00:25:34,580 --> 00:25:36,980 I headed to my final destination - 482 00:25:36,980 --> 00:25:39,380 the shapely peak of Schiehallion. 483 00:25:41,380 --> 00:25:43,980 This mountain was once considered sacred 484 00:25:43,980 --> 00:25:47,020 by the early people who lived in its shadow - 485 00:25:47,020 --> 00:25:51,260 a magical place and the haunt of fairy folk. 486 00:25:51,260 --> 00:25:52,900 But in the 18th century, 487 00:25:52,900 --> 00:25:55,140 Schiehallion was tamed by science 488 00:25:55,140 --> 00:25:59,620 in a brilliant experiment to determine the mass of the Earth. 489 00:25:59,620 --> 00:26:03,940 To do this, you first needed to work out the mass of something smaller, 490 00:26:03,940 --> 00:26:04,940 like a mountain. 491 00:26:06,340 --> 00:26:09,980 In 1775, the Astronomer Royal Nevil Maskelyne 492 00:26:09,980 --> 00:26:14,020 and the mathematician Charles Hutton chose Schiehallion 493 00:26:14,020 --> 00:26:18,540 for their experiment because of the mountain's regular, conical shape. 494 00:26:18,540 --> 00:26:21,060 If you look at any OS map, 495 00:26:21,060 --> 00:26:24,380 you can see quite clearly from the contour lines 496 00:26:24,380 --> 00:26:27,140 just how uniform the mountain is. 497 00:26:27,140 --> 00:26:30,500 They're placed at ten metres apart, these lines. 498 00:26:30,500 --> 00:26:33,580 Now, interestingly, Charles Hutton, a mathematician, 499 00:26:33,580 --> 00:26:37,020 actually invented contour lines to help him with his calculations, 500 00:26:37,020 --> 00:26:39,580 to work out the volume of Schiehallion. 501 00:26:40,620 --> 00:26:42,060 It's an amazing thought, 502 00:26:42,060 --> 00:26:44,900 that the very first contour lines in the world 503 00:26:44,900 --> 00:26:48,020 were drawn right here and have been used by map-makers 504 00:26:48,020 --> 00:26:49,780 and hill walkers ever since. 505 00:26:53,340 --> 00:26:56,860 The contour lines enabled Maskelyne to calculate the volume 506 00:26:56,860 --> 00:26:59,140 and then the mass of Schiehallion. 507 00:26:59,140 --> 00:27:04,220 And then, by scaling up, he was able to work out the mass of the Earth. 508 00:27:04,220 --> 00:27:08,260 It took 17 long weeks to complete the experiment, 509 00:27:08,260 --> 00:27:11,740 partly because the weather that summer was dreadful. 510 00:27:11,740 --> 00:27:16,060 Despite this, the experiment was considered to be a great success 511 00:27:16,060 --> 00:27:19,940 and came close to the modern figure for the mass of the Earth 512 00:27:19,940 --> 00:27:23,940 of 5.9 x 10 to the power of 24 kg. 513 00:27:23,940 --> 00:27:28,380 However, because the experiment had taken so long to complete, 514 00:27:28,380 --> 00:27:32,340 it bankrupted the Royal Society which had funded the project. 515 00:27:32,340 --> 00:27:37,100 But, as they say, there's no gain without a wee bit of pain! 516 00:27:37,100 --> 00:27:38,380 Onwards and upwards! 517 00:27:46,140 --> 00:27:49,140 Although Schiehallion had been tamed by science, 518 00:27:49,140 --> 00:27:52,420 its reputation for wildness continued. 519 00:27:52,420 --> 00:27:55,500 The scientists threw a party on the mountain 520 00:27:55,500 --> 00:27:58,020 for the locals who'd helped them with the experiment. 521 00:27:58,020 --> 00:27:59,660 It was quite a night. 522 00:27:59,660 --> 00:28:01,660 The fiddler burned his fiddle 523 00:28:01,660 --> 00:28:04,260 and then burned the bothy to the ground. 524 00:28:04,260 --> 00:28:06,940 It's hard to be a rock and not to roll. 525 00:28:08,580 --> 00:28:12,460 So, here we are - the summit of Schiehallion, 526 00:28:12,460 --> 00:28:15,460 the fairy mountain of the ancient Caledonians. 527 00:28:15,460 --> 00:28:17,860 And from here, you can see my route 528 00:28:17,860 --> 00:28:21,220 all the way from the wilds of Rannoch Moor, 529 00:28:21,220 --> 00:28:25,380 making this the perfect place for me to end my Grand Tour. 530 00:28:29,220 --> 00:28:31,740 Join me for my next Grand Tour 531 00:28:31,740 --> 00:28:35,180 when I travel into the secret heart of Knoydart 532 00:28:35,180 --> 00:28:37,620 and search for Jacobite gold.