.
It's over 60 years since our first national park was created
and they remain as stunning and as popular as ever.
So I've come to find out what people love about them.
To look at the wildlife, to taste some of the food
and to meet some of the extraordinary people
that work in these wonderful places.
This week, I'm in the splendour of Scotland.
Loch Lomond and the Trossachs.
'Nestled in the south west of Scotland,
the park sits on the boundary between the Highlands and the Lowlands.
It's an area steeped in the very best
of Scottish lochs, scenery, wildlife and history.
I'm going to be helping some of the rangers
with their vital conservation work...'
Look at his little legs!
'..I'll be throwing myself into a caber-tossing world championship...'
You got it? No, take it!
I don't like it, I really don't like it, Stephen! I don't like it.
'..and I might even go for a dip.'
Crikey, that's co-o-o-old!
Loch Lomond and the Trossachs have been a popular tourist destination
since the days of Queen Victoria.
People would hop on a steam train
from Manchester, Glasgow, even London,
and make their way to the edge of the loch.
From there, it was just a hop, skip and a jump
to a popular tourist attraction -
a paddleboat trip around the loch.
Today, the paddleboats no longer operate,
so if you want to see the loch in style,
you have to take an even more glamorous mode of transport.
'The Loch Lomond Seaplane
is the only commercial seaplane operating in the UK.
Its captain is ex-British Airways pilot David West.'
David? How are you? Nice to meet you.
I'm really good. Lovely to meet you.
I'm brilliant, thank you. Your lovely plane!
It's fantastic, isn't it? It's beautiful!
Have you been in one before? No, darling.
You're in for a treat. I'm excited about it.
Is this a good way for me to see Loch Lomond
and for me to establish my bearings, do you think?
It really puts into perspective the lochs, the mountains,
it pulls it into a picture that you can hold in your head much better.
Shall we do it, then? Sounds like a plan. Yay!
Straight across onto the grey deck, there, Caroline. Yeah.
Onto the other seat.
Don't worry about kicking anything. OK.
We're just about ready to push away from the dock.
So it's a boat at the moment. More correctly, a vessel.
There's no air-traffic control delays.
There's no air-traffic control.
So you don't have a problem lining up.
There's the nose coming up.
And up we go.
Oh, it's lovely. We're airborne. How exciting!
And there we are, climbing up above Loch Lomond.
Oh, wow.
It's so amazing, isn't it?
'Half of Scotland's population
live within an hour's drive of this national park.
Loch Lomond itself is just one of 22 large lochs -
That's Gaelic for 'lake'.
- but it's by far the largest and the deepest.'
How deep is it?
Well, this bit here ahead of us, where it comes into the narrows,
600ft deep.
Gosh. Yes.
'The loch is a massive 24 miles long and has over 40 islands.'
There's only two or three inhabited all year round.
Inchmurrin is one of them.
That's probably why it's got a pub, it's the only one with a pub on it.
And it's got a naturist club on it as well.
So, nude people and drink?
Yeah, which is very brave for Scotland. You know? Yeah.
With the midges and stuff like that. Yeah!
Now, the little island coming up on our left, the one with the hill,
is absolutely stunning.
It's my favourite. It's Inchtavannach.
As you can see, it's like a world within a world. Yeah.
There's the hill, the beautiful forest on it. It's just gorgeous.
Is that a private residence he has there?
In Scotland - this is the wonderful thing about all these islands -
you have the right to roam.
So people are very welcome. There's no trespassing as such.
'Further to the north are the Highlands,
where you'll find 21 mountains that are over 3,000ft high.
The Trossachs in the park's name
refers to the area of glens and hills off to the east.'
It's quite epic, actually, the scenery.
There you go. Oh, God, that's unbelievable.
One moment, it looks quite domestic and quite small.
The next minute, it's really quite grand and takes your breath away.
I think it's the mixture.
You're going from the glen to the loch to the mountain
and of course, in the southern part of the park, you've got Ben Lomond.
'All too soon, my tour is coming to an end,
as David prepares to bring us in to land
on the wettest runway I've ever seen.'
I'm slightly nervous about the landing generally. Oh, don't -
Is it nice? Well, I always try and make the number of landings
equal the number of takeoffs
and I find that works quite well.
Thank you so much. Seriously, it's delightful. Thanks.
It's been a treat.
Now the hard bit - parking. Yeah!
I'd offer to help but it's really not my forte.
Even on dry land.
'Loch Lomond National Park stretches over 700 square miles.
On its outskirts is Inveraray Castle,
ancestral seat of the Campbell clan
Every July, Inveraray hosts its Highland games.
It's the highlight of their year,
a day for the entire community to come together
and take part in a range of traditional events.
ANNOUNCER: 'They're away. Who's it gonna be?'
'Give them a rousing Inveraray welcome as they cross the line.'
'Highland games are held all over Scotland.
It's a great excuse to put on your glad rags and strut your stuff.'
'People have travelled from far and wide to be here.'
I'm from Florida, from Tampa area.
And I'm from New Jersey, near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
So how come you're both here?
We're Campbells! You're Campbells? We're Campbells, yes.
I'm riveted by the clothes. I think they are so beautiful.
That jacket's phenomenal. What sort of tweed is that?
Can I have a look? It's a Harris Tweed jacket.
And look at the colour of it.
I also think women love a man in a kilt.
Do you feel very elegant?
Yeah. Many of us wear kilts on all occasions while we're here.
Could you just tell me - I don't honestly know - what is this?
The bog myrtle. The bog myrtle is the clan plant.
Thank you so much. You're welcome. And you look fabulous. Thank you.
'Wherever in the world you find Scottish people,
you're sure to find a Highland games.
Indeed, these days, the largest games is no longer in Scotland.
It's in California.
It's a chance to celebrate all that's good about being Scottish.
In the hospitality tent,
Bruce Davidson wants me to try some local delicacies.
Well, if he does insist.'
I would recommend you try this one. This is salmon?
Yeah. It was invented 20 years ago by mistake.
They were doing normal smoked salmon and, unfortunately,
the guy in charge of the kiln had a little bit too much to drink,
fell asleep, left that, and it cooked and cooked and cooked.
And then he tasted it - That is delicious.
- and he thought, "This is too good to throw away."
That is absolutely delicious. What's it called? Bradan rost.
Bradan? Bradan, which is Gaelic for 'salmon'.
Just roast salmon? Roasted salmon. Oh, OK. So there you go.
Oh, my God, that's fabulous. Would you serve that cold always?
We do both. In the winter, we serve it as a hot dish
with a whisky sauce. Oh, my God.
And then in the summer, we serve it with salad.
We have a Caesar salad with it.
The other thing - smoked mussels.
These ones have actually been in the kiln, smoked out of the shell.
Can I try one? Please.
Oh, my God, that is delicious.
Kind of moreish. They are.
'At the heart of the games
are the traditional competitions, races and dancing.'
Highland dancing used to be a men-only event
and it was used to show how powerful the men were
and what incredible endurance they had.
Nowadays, it's predominantly women that do it
but I think you can still see
that, actually, it's to show how strong you are.
I mean, look at the way these girls move.
They look absolutely beautiful and delicate
but you can also tell there's a real strength in the way they're moving.
'And they start them early up here.
Girls as young as six years old enter the dancing contests.'
You look so beautiful.
Who makes those?
Betty. Betty makes them?
Did Betty make yours as well? She made mine.
Did she? She's really clever, isn't she?
And your dancing was exceptionally good.
Have you done it for a long time? Yes.
What do you like about it best?
Erm...when I get my medal.
You get medals? Have you won a medal before? Yeah.
Have you? What medal did you win?
Gold, silver and bronze.
That's a lot of medals, isn't it?
Have you ever won a medal? Mm-hm.
Have you? What medal did you win? Same as her.
At the end of your dance, you do a little bow.
Would you both do a little bow for me? Yes.
Thank you.
Thank you, Eva.
Thank you very much. Thank you so much.
Bye-bye - Oh, my darling!
My sweetheart.
.
'I'm visiting Loch Lomond, Scotland's largest national park.
And I've come to Inveraray for their annual Highland games.
The highlight of any games are the heavy events,
where, traditionally, the clans would select the warriors
with the greatest strength.'
It's said that Baron Pierre de Coubertin
saw the Highland games in the Paris Exhibition of 1889.
He was so impressed that he went away
and came up with the idea for the Olympics.
And that's why today, we see so many of the same events -
the shot put, the hammer.
But the one event we don't see -
because, apparently, it was too difficult -
is the tossing of the caber.
Agh!
'The Inveraray Games has the honour
of hosting the world championships of caber-tossing.
Stephen King is a bit of a local hero.
He's won the world title four times.'
Lovely to meet you.
I can't help but notice you've brought a caber along
for me to have a look at. It's incredible.
Yeah. This is a games caber,
so it's about 20'6" long and it weighs about 130lb.
'Caber-tossing has its origin in house building,
where the strongest workers were prized
for their ability to throw wooden beams up to their mates on the roof.'
Does 'caber' mean 'stick'?
A caber is a roof truss. Right. So it's passing it up
and seeing who was the best at passing a roof truss up.
It's not for distance, it's for accuracy, this thing.
So it was to throw it up so you could get it up to build a roof?
It's not brute strength and ignorance. So you say, Stephen.
It is done for accuracy.
And are you a professional athlete? No.
So what do you do for a day job? I drive diggers.
Do you?
So actually, you are involved in building
and you're also symbolically involved with the building trade as well,
in a way.
Let me fantasise that's true, Stephen.
Don't take that away from me.
Perhaps. Thank you.
'The challenge is to throw the caber end over end.
The winner is the man whose caber lands pointing closest
to the direction of 12 o'clock.'
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
I have to just say, Stephen's got a really sticky hand.
I assume this is some sort of resin, is it?
You glue your hands together, cos when you're carrying it,
there's so much weight, your hands just open up.
So you glue your hands shut when you're picking the caber up.
It actually smells...delicious. It's lovely. Yeah.
Can I try it? Can I pick it - That's the light end.
Will it be all right? Will I be able to get it? Yeah.
I can't...
Does it suit me? Yeah? The other end's a lot heavier.
Yeah, I know, I'm saving myself for the other end.
Oh, my God.
Just keep her on the caber.
Hold it.
No, don't - Don't leave it with me!
Don't leave it with me. Don't, Stephen, for Christ's sake, don't.
Now look up.
Oh, my God. This is horrible.
Please don't let go of it, please don't let go of it.
You got it? No, take it!
I don't like it, I really don't like it, Stephen! I don't like it.
Really. What? Please, Stephen, I really don't like it.
This is so - I could kill people.
I could kill you. Stephen, please don't do it!
For God's sake, it's absolutely terrifying.
This is the most horrible thing I've ever done. It's really frightening.
And I've done some quite scary things.
Because when you're looking up here,
it's really horrible and gives you vertigo. And it's incredibly heavy -
You think this is hilarious, really laughing at me.
You're horrible!
I'm gonna try and lift this.
All your might. Go on.
Go on.
If I had a sports bra on, I'd have that up by now!
It's, erm... It's impossible. It's impossible to lift.
But you would lift this, would you?
You're amazing. Yeah.
You are. I've never said that to a man in my life.
No, really, I think you're absolutely incredible, I really do.
'Stephen has retired from caber-tossing
but, as this is his local games,
he's agreed to show me how it should be done.'
Oh, go on!
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) CAROLINE: Yes!
Oh, God, you're marvellous. (SQUEALS)
You're marvellous. Thank you so much.
You'll regret that. (SQUEALS)
My hero!
I've had an extraordinary day here at the Highland games in Inveraray.
To be honest, I thought it was just going to be a bunch of cliches.
People throwing things and eating haggis and wearing tartan.
Well, of course, it is all those things but that is the joy of it.
Those traditions are steeped in history
and that is why everybody here
has such a strong emotional attachment to them.
And at the end of the day, I suppose what I really feel
is that I have...
..clan envy.
'Seven million visitors come here every year to take advantage
of the park's stunning climbing, hiking, camping and sailing.
I've joined Bev Clark and her team of volunteers
to help count the number of bats on the loch's largest island.'
This island is called Inchcailloch. Inchcailloch? Inchcailloch.
It means 'the island of the coweled woman'
because it used to have a nunnery on it.
So nobody lives there now? Nobody lives there now.
All we've got on there is a ranger base
and we have a campsite that can be booked out by members of the public
to go and visit it.
There's semi-wild camping, a compost toilet. Delightful.
'Bev trained as a primary school teacher
but soon realised that her passion lay not in a classroom
but in the great outdoors.
Three times a year,
she and her team monitor the number of bats on Inchcailloch.
I haven't slept in a tent since I was a teenager.'
I can't even open the bag!
Oh, hang on, I've done it. Here we are.
What the hell is that?
Ooh.
Oh, hang on, that looks a bit like a tent. Does it?
Does that look like a tent? Look.
Get in there really fast!
Good night!
Scott, can you help me?
Have you done this loads?
No, 12 years ago was the last time I camped.
12 years?
I was 18 the last time I did it, so that's about 12 years ago as well.
Fantastic!
Not laughing at me, Scott? No, no.
'Inchcailloch is a haven for wildlife.
As well as bats, pine martens, deer and otters can be found here.
It's also a site of geological significance.'
Millions of years ago,
two tectonic plates came together exactly here.
So technically, here on Inchcailloch,
you can stand with one leg to the south in the Lowlands
and one leg to the north in the Highlands.
'As dusk falls, it's time to get on with the survey.
The bat colony lives in a custom-built box
in the walls of the island's ranger station.
It's important to count the bats
because a decent sized population is a good sign
that the local environment is healthy.'
(SQUEAKING) I can hear them but I can't see them.
No. This is what we call chittering.
So this is them having a bit of a conversation, having a wee chat,
asking each other how they're doing, you know,
what their plans are for the evening, stuff like that.
They're getting themselves ready to come out.
And what sort of bats will we be seeing tonight?
These are called pipistrelle bats.
Are they the smallest of the bat species?
They're pretty much the smallest that we get in this country.
They're very tiny.
They weigh the same as a 20p piece
and they're about the size of your thumb.
'Their bodies may be tiny
but their wingspan is wider than an outstretched hand.
Despite their reputation as vermin,
bats are actually more closely related to us humans
than they are to mice.'
You're gonna have a clicker. Oh, OK, yeah.
And every time you see one come out, you're gonna click. OK.
Do I stand here to do that?
No, I think we'll stand over there
because as the bats come out, they go to the toilet.
I'm going to go down there.
If they wee on you, it doesn't smell very nice.
'Once in the safety zone, Bev introduces me to her secret weapon -
the bat detector.'
So, basically what the bat detector does
is it just picks up the sound that they make
and makes it into a sound that we can hear.
(CRACKLING)
That the chittering because that's quite low-frequency.
I like that, it's like a baby monitor. Yes!
'The bats are so quick and so small,
that it would be impossible to count them on your own.
That's why Bev's team of volunteers
are strategically placed to cover every angle.'
Bev, can anybody be a volunteer for the national parks?
Absolutely. Any of the national parks,
they'll have a volunteer programme.
And a lot of these organisations, particularly the national parks,
we couldn't do half the work that we do
without the work of the volunteers.
That was what John Muir, the grandfather of national parks,
who helped create national parks in America,
that's what his vision was.
It's a space where people are meant to go,
meant to be involved in, meant to have fun in,
and just get into the outdoors and appreciate it.
Wahey, here we go. We've got one?
Yep. Right, quick. Oh.
(CHITTERING) That was one.
(CHITTERING)
A couple will come out first to check things out.
Are they scouting round to have a look?
Yeah, seeing what the weather's like.
See if there's anyone out there counting. Yeah!
(CHITTERING)
So that's their echo location.
That's them navigating and starting to hunt.
'A single pipistrelle bat
can consume up to 3,000 insects in one night.'
Another one.
There's something really satisfying about this. How weird.
It is, it's addictive. It's so satisfying. Just addictive.
(CHITTERING) Hear that? Hear that?
(CHITTERING)
(You can never relax on this bat thing.) (No.)
(Every fibre of my being is tensed towards there.)
'And this monitoring business is not without its risks.'
Whoo!
Oh, my God, did that one come straight at you?
Did it fly at you? Did it get you?
Did it fly right at you, Stewart? It bit my own.
Did it?!
Oh, fantastic.
Beverly having assured me that they never fly at you,
they could never touch you,
one's just landed on Stewart's arm and made him jump and swear.
There's one.
What's incredible is that standing here, in the dusk, in the quiet,
with a load of people I have never met before
is one of the most enjoyable things I have ever done.
Who knew?
Honestly, who needs bingo?
Yeah! Ooh!
Oh, they're all - Oh, my God. (BEV LAUGHS)
By the time it's dark, all of the bats have left the roost.
Bev finds out how many each of us have counted
and will calculate an average.
So, we'll just take a final count, OK?
So, we'll start off with Emily. 66.
Stevie? 68.
Caroline? Darling, erm...63 bats.
63, thank you very much. Mark? 56.
I got 63, Emily got 68. Is that a good number?
That's a good number for this little spot.
I was talking to Bev this morning at about 5:30 and, erm...
she was telling me how a lot of people that come here to the island
find it, erm...incredibly healing.
And, er...
I can really see how that's the case. Erm...
My mum, my little mum,
er...Katie, erm...died about two weeks ago
and I spent a lot of last night thinking about her.
And, erm...of course I'm sad
but, actually, this place is really special
and it does wonderful things, nature.
It really puts things in perspective.
And so, erm...
I just want to say, "Cheers, Katie. You'd have loved it here."
.
'Scotland is a birdwatcher's paradise.
61 protected bird species
can be found in Loch Lomond and the Trossachs,
including ospreys, golden eagles and peregrine falcons.'
I've always been a bit of a birder since the age of 11.
I was a member of the Young Ornithologist Club.
So I'm absolutely thrilled today to be going to witness
some of the work of some local conservation people,
some guys that work very closely with the owls here in this national park.
'Stephen Kenney is one of the park's 40 full-time rangers.
He quit a 14-year career as an engineer
to pursue his dream of working in Loch Lomond.
He's now responsible for a project
that aims to protect the barn owl population
by placing special nesting boxes around the park.'
Why do they need boxes?
There aren't as many barns as you would imagine there used to be.
People move to the countryside, they all want to have a house -
People are living in their barns, basically?
Basically, barn conversions happen.
Therefore, their natural - as their name would suggest -
place where they go to roost,
there aren't as many opportunities anymore.
'On top of this, intensive farming
has destroyed their normal hunting grounds.
But these lucky barn owls have found themselves a roost
in the grounds of one of Scotland's most exclusive golf courses.'
And the golf club approached us
and asked if we could put up a box for them
because their members were interested in the wildlife as well.
And it's quite a prestigious golf course,
so human disturbance is kept to an absolute minimum.
So this is a barn owl's heaven.
During the first year, we had no any interest whatsoever
but now we know we've got five eggs in there
and today, we're going to go over and have a little look.
'By now, the eggs should have hatched.
Adult barn owls spend most of their time out hunting,
so this is a good chance for us to nip in and see what's in the box.
To help us are Will and Mike.'
You could foot the ladder for us. That would be great.
There's four chicks.
(GASPS) Four, lovely! Various sizes.
I'll bring one down just now. Look at its little legs!
It's a tiny, tiny barn owl.
They are not the most attractive of little birds but - You say that.
Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
Always point its rear end away from you
because it can decorate your clothing.
Are you going to give me a bit of icing?
(Look at its face.)
Isn't it amazing?
Its back, this is like dandelion fur.
(I'm gonna put it in here, OK?)
Just lay it down there. It'll be all right.
'Next down is its older sibling.'
Look at you!
Little dodo face.
Oh!
These things happen. It's decorated Steve.
Come on, let's put you with your family.
Oh, my God, bless it.
There we go. What have you brought down this time?
This one's a bit more developed.
You can actually start to see
some proper feathers developing just here. Oh, yeah, you can.
You see the little brown feathers at the end?
Let me see your face.
Oh, now, look. How old is this one, Steve? This one's about five weeks.
'It can take up to three weeks
for a whole clutch of barn owl eggs to hatch,
which is why these chicks vary so wildly in size.'
Bit of a difference, isn't there? It's incredible.
This is looking quite... Quite owlish.
Hello. You are not affronted by me, are you?
(God, isn't it divine?)
You are lucky, you've got the best job in the world.
Haven't you?
'As part of their work, Stephen and the team tag every new hatchling.
Luckily for me, it's a two-person job.'
We're going to put a ring on you now.
That doesn't mean we're married. Or does it?
It won't hurt it at all, will it? No.
It feels almost as if it's gone to sleep in my hands.
It's kind of a natural defence mechanism.
They kind of tend to do that.
"If I stay still and close my eyes,
you won't do anything to me," kind of thing.
If only life were that simple, Steve.
Yes!
So, really, it's something it does to save itself, is it? Yeah.
Pretends to be dead? Yeah.
Don't be afraid. Gosh, it looks absolutely brutal, but it's fine.
There we go. Job done. There you are, darling, you're done.
Right, there you go. That's two.
'The biggest chick is already beginning to show
the hallmark dish face of an adult barn owl.'
I've always thought their ears were the tufts on top of their heads.
No. They've actually got ear apertures,
kind of asymmetrical, on their face.
And the shape of the face is kind of like our earlobe
that directs the sound into your inner ear,
so their face is doing much the same thing.
Because the holes are offset,
it allows them to focus in on the voles, which are in the deep grass.
They tend to use their hearing more than they do their eyesight.
How incredible. So the little dish face helps it feed?
Yeah. Focuses the sound.
Goodbye, my darlings. Goodbye.
Fast asleep. Fast asleep.
Ooh! Right, I guess we should get them back in the box.
Get them back home.
'It's good to know that Stephen and his team are doing all they can
to protect this park's barn owl population.'
Over half of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs is used as farmland
and nothing sums up this area
like the sight of those great big, shaggy, long-horned Highland cattle.
'30 years ago, Hilary Barker came to Scotland
to start a new life as a farmer.'
It's my good boy. Come on, then.
'She now has 50 Highland cows
but today, after two happy years,
it's time for Stewart the bull to move on to a new home.'
He's three years old but we do have too many females related to him,
so we have a new bull
and I'm afraid he goes on to somewhere else.
There's a good boy. (MOOS)
Yes, I know. Come on.
Come on. Come on, we've got to go and get you looking beautiful
for your lady friends.
Right, Stewart, we're going to give you a nice soak just to start with.
Now, don't worry, you've had this done before. There's a good boy.
Yes, I know the water's a bit cold.
Now that you're nice and wet, Stewart, we can get the shampoo on.
'Stewart's makeover doesn't stop with a simple shampoo.'
As one knows, conditioner makes hair more easily manageable, doesn't it?
So it'll just help the coat lie nicely
and maybe give it a bit of extra gloss.
Smells nice.
'Stewart seems to have enjoyed his treatment so far.
But Hilary's not done yet.'
I think he rather likes this.
'Going anywhere nice on your holidays, Stewart?
The final touch is a horn manicure.'
Right, so now I'll put some oil on.
It's good for my hands as well, so I like this bit.
'With Stewart looking fabulous, it's time for Hilary to say farewell.'
Good boy.
Well, Stewart, it's goodbye, my boy.
Yes, I know, you've been a lovely bull here
and you're going to be very, very happy in your new home.
On an island.
You big, soft lump, I'll miss you.
You won't miss me but I'll miss you.
I am sorry to see him go but I know he's going to a good home
and you can't keep animals for ever.
You can't keep bulls for ever.
.
'Loch Lomond is the largest freshwater lake in Britain.
Unsurprising when you consider the weather.'
(THUNDERCLAP)
'In fact, Scotland's highest ever rainfall
was recorded here in 1974.'
Sadly, one of the things I really wanted to do whilst I was up here
was to go swimming in the loch.
Looking at the weather...
..I think that's exactly what I'm going to do
and I've met a man who's going to come with me.
'39-year-old park ranger Matt Drew
quit London for the tranquillity of Loch Lomond
and has become famous around here for taking a dip.
Whatever the conditions.'
Hi.
You're the man to come to if I want to swim in the loch, I hear. Yeah.
And you swim in the loch most days? If I get the opportunity, yeah.
I try and pop out at lunchtime if I'm out the office.
Is that just in the summer? You can start early springtime
if the weather's being good, there's not much snow on the hills,
sort of starting maybe April time.
If there's a lot of snow on the hills
and the snow melts into the loch, it's pretty cold.
I like swimming but I'm used to swimming more indoors.
Why do you like wild swimming in particular?
I'd say it's the difference between being on a road bike
and going mountain biking.
Especially when you get out
and all the blood comes back to your extremities,
you will feel really good, it's great.
Have you taken the temperature of the loch lately?
Just last week, I was in.
And what do you think it might be today?
Er...14, 15?
'That's a bit cooler than my local swimming pool.
Most pools are about 29 C.
It's thought that Loch Lomond was formed some 10,000 years ago
by a huge glacier.
In places, it's deeper than the North Sea.'
Yes...it is quite chilly.
Getting chillier.
So, Matt? Yeah?
It actually is quite chilly here
but I'm assuming that my body will adjust gradually. Is that right?!
Yeah, I mean they do say to get used to the cold water,
you should just go for ten minutes at a time,
get your body used to the cold.
'Did I mention it's pouring with rain?'
I don't know what's colder, the rain or the loch.
Actually, the water temperature doesn't feel too bad, does it?
Compared to what?
I'm so glad I'm not on my own. I know it sounds ridiculous
but I think I feel warmer cos I'm with you.
If you go out to sort of waist depth
and then just swim along the shore this way. All right.
You're in shallowish water. Not too bad.
It's really raining now. The bit I'm scared about is this bit.
What do you do? It's this bit here.
Oh, crikey, that's co-o-o-old!
That's really cold. It is a bit chilly, isn't it?
Ooh! Right. I might just -
# I'll take the high road and you take the low road
# And I'll be in Scotland afore ye! #
Ooh! That's cold. Are you OK? Yes, I'm great.
I'm with you. Let's go for it.
I was slightly dreading this, I have to be honest. Could you tell?
But now I'm in, it is incredibly invigorating.
And the water is so clear...
and so beautiful.
I can only imagine on a summer's day, this would be truly delightful.
This is a summer's day. It is, it's July!
But even on a cold and drizzly day...
it's incredibly satisfying.
And, erm...
and actually, I'm really glad I braved it and got into the water
because there was a moment there, Matt, where I could have run away.
(LAUGHS)
'There really is something for everyone
in Loch Lomond National Park.
But I'm particularly keen to experience the nightlife.
Ledard Farm has been hosting clan gatherings for over 400 years.
It's said that legendary outlaw Rob Roy
had his coming-of-age celebration here.
I've been invited to one of the farm's regular ceilidhs,
hosted by farmer and musician Fergus Wood.
You wanna come behind the bar?
I'm serving drinks.
It's lovely to meet you. Hello.
Good to see you. Thank you so much for inviting me.
What a ceilidh is, basically, it's a party amongst friends.
They can vary from just being a dance
or it can be a ceilidh where everyone makes a contribution.
You could be telling a story, you could be singing,
you could be dancing, you could be playing an instrument, whatever.
'Tonight's ceilidh is all about dancing
and Fergus has some last-minute tips for a newcomer like me.'
The secret of ceilidh dancing is to dance to the music.
Enjoy the music and dance to the tempo. OK. You know?
We show you how to do it. I'll call it, like a square dance. Uh-huh.
And don't invent the dance. Just don't do my own choreography?
No, just rely on me and the people you're dancing with.
Do your choreography and not my own choreography? Absolutely.
'It's Fergus' job to direct the dancing.'
Grab yourself a partner and form two double lines. Two double lines?
'If you've not danced a ceilidh before,
it's worth listening very carefully.'
Anyone that's not sure of the dance, let me explain it to you.
The dance opens with the top couple swinging for 16 beats. Swinging.
We go round and... we come together again.
This dance gets very, very busy.
It can also get very, very messy but I'm sure we'll manage.
I take it we're all insured for this, are we?
Don't worry, there's an ambulance waiting outside.
Right? OK!
(CELTIC MUSIC)
Keep swinging.
'Dances bring the entire community together and everyone joins in,
ensuring that ceilidh tradition is passed from generation to generation.
The music is provided by a three-piece band,
a fiddle, accordion and drum.'
OK, off we go!
Keep moving, keep moving.
(TEMPO INCREASES)
What a fantastic ceilidh.
What a great end to a great stay in Loch Lomond and the Trossachs.
I shall be sorry to say goodbye.
subtitles by Deluxe
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