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In 1840, one man transformed
travel in Britain.

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His name was George Bradshaw,

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and his railway guides
inspired the Victorians
to take to the tracks.

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Stop by stop,
he told them where to travel,

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what to see and where to stay.

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Now, 170 years later,
I'm making a series of journeys

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across the length and breadth
of the country

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to see what of Bradshaw's Britain
remains.

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Still guided by my 19th century
Bradshaw's handbook,

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I'm completing my journey
through the Scottish Highlands.

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Today, I'm on the western extension
of the West Highland line

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that takes me to Mallaig.

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This railway was built
at the cost of many lives

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so that others could enjoy
this journey -

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and what a stunning journey it is.

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This is the line that reaches
the places that are unreachable

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and, refreshingly, it's so much more
interesting than a journey by car.

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It took over 3,000 navvies
four years

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to build this 40-mile stretch
of the West Highland line

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and it transformed
the local economy.

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It was completed at the end
of the 19th century,

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so I've swapped my usual
Bradshaw's for a later edition

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to help me trace the legacy of
industries that once thrived here.

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On this leg of the journey,
I'll be discovering

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how the railways helped to train
the first generation of commandos...

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This is wonderful.

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A friendly agent enters and says,
"I have important information -

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"an enemy ammunition train will pass
through Lochailort on its way

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"to the naval base
at Mallaig at 11:15 hours.
It must be wrecked."

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'..visiting a coastal village,

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'transformed by the trains into
Britain's biggest herring port.'

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Did the kippers go on the train?

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There wasn't a box of fish landed
here that didn't go by train.

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'..and crossing the sea to Skye
to find out how modern crofters
make a living.'

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This is a savoury smoked salmon
cheesecake.

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You haven't lived
till you've tasted that.

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I've been travelling
up the West Coast of Scotland

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and through the Highlands,

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along a spectacular railway

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that's been voted
the most scenic in the world.

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I'm now embarked
on the final stretch of the route.

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From Lochailort, I'll travel to
Mallaig, where the line ends,

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before taking a ferry
over the sea to Skye.

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As I head towards my first stop,
I'm passing through scenes

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that delighted Victorian visitors
when the railway opened.

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My Bradshaw's guide
gives great descriptions
of mountain countryside.

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"No sooner is one defile passed over

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"than a second range of hills
comes into view,

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"which contains another, and
a strath of uninhabited country."

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In the 19th century,
much of this wild landscape
was given over to sporting estates.

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Many had private railway halts for
the convenience of wealthy visitors,

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like Inverailort House,
my first destination.

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This stunning country
brings us to Lochailort,

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a place which for many, many years,

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people have been coming
for hunting and shooting,

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but in recent history,
it attracted a different
sort of person all together.

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In 1940, this remote estate
was requisitioned

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to create the first ever
school for guerilla warfare.

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With regular forces retreating
from German-occupied Europe,

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it was time to think beyond
conventional tactics.

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Former hunting lodge, Inverailort
House, was a perfect location

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for an unorthodox experiment
in military training,

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as Stuart Allan, of
National Museums Scotland, explains.

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Stuart, hello. How do you do.

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Why here?
Well, there are a number of reasons.

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Principally the practical reasons
are that this type of environment

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gave everything that was required
for that kind of work.

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There was tough mountain country
for sending trainees out on exercise.

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We're close to the sea, there's
a sea loch just across from us.

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They could practice boat work
and landings and so on.

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And also, it was remote, it was
out of the way, this was secret.

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The nearby railway was crucial
in choosing Inverailort.

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Much of the area was accessible
only by train,

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so the military could control
who came in and out.

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It also allowed a steady stream
of raw trainees

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to travel quickly
to this wilderness.

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I heard that if you were
a new recruit,

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you might come under live fire
when you arrived.

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Certainly people have told me
this was one method

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whereby people
were unsettled on arrival.

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Charges would go off and they'd be
harried down here to the camp,

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which was over the line.

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Also, they wanted to practise
blowing up railway lines?

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Well, this was certainly
part of the course.

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Demolitions was one big element.

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In the exercises, the railway was
often a target, as the records show.

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This is wonderful.

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"A friendly agent enters and says,
'I have important information -

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'an enemy train will pass through
Lochailort on its way

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'to the naval base at Mallaig
at 11:15 hours.

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'That train must be wrecked.

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'The station is guarded and the
railway likely to be patrolled,

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'but there are no guards
this side of the bridge.'

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"At that, the agent takes off
his beard and cloak

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"and proves to be
an instructor in disguise."

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That's fantastic!
It sounds a bit unlikely.

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I sense the instructors were enjoying
themselves while they were here.

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One of the founders of the school
was the powerful Highland landowner,
Lord Lovat.

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He saw that traditional estate
skills like deer stalking

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could be adapted for tracking
and attacking enemies.

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They were improvising, so they
brought civilian stalkers

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from Lovat's estates here

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and used these techniques
to teach those kind of skills.

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The training here included
knife-fighting and the kind of things

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that soldiers previously would not
necessarily have been expected to do.

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It was considered that brutal times
required brutal methods,

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and the whole
kind of culture of deer stalking

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was brought in as a kind of
sense of being professional

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about the job of killing.

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The recruits were taught to
be on their guard at all times.

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Mock combat could erupt anywhere,
even inside the house,

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led by a team
of unorthodox instructors.

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An officer who trained here told me
that the first time he came in here,

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he was encountered with two men.

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Suddenly, they came tumbling down
the stairs and came at the bottom,

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and emerged in a sort of crouched
position, ready to kill.

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They were retired policemen
from Shanghai.

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They were called Fairburn and Sykes,

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and their speciality was
unarmed combat and knife-fighting,

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because Shanghai in the '30s

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was a pretty dicey place,
criminal gangs and so on.

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So people like that were brought in,

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and polar explorers, some of whom had
been with Scott in the Antarctic.

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Again, quite elderly men,

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but they had skills which were not
normal military skills at that time,

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and they would teach about endurance
in low temperatures, diet,
that kind of thing.

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So it really was a mixing place
of all the talents

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that could possibly be required?

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Certainly at the beginning, there was
enormous freedom from the War Office

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to just let them get on with it
and sort something out.

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They pulled in people they knew
and people who knew people,

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and assembled this original team.

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It was never quite the same after
that, it became more regularised,

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but the elements of field craft, of
demolitions, using the country,

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teaching small boats skills,
all that stayed

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and became the basis of what
we still know as commando training.

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The approach was radical in its day,

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but it had support
from the highest level.

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Churchill always had a sympathy
with this kind of special endeavour.

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He was interested in
its aggressive spirit.

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In 1940, when everything
is in crisis,

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we're going to do something that's
going to take the fight to the enemy,

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we're not just going to sit here
and wait,

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and that's the kind of thinking
where this type of enterprise

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appealed to Churchill

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and produced complete new structures
like the commandos.

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I find it quite a moving place.

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It certainly has an atmosphere.

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I'm very stirred by stories
of wartime courage and ingenuity,

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and the idea that young recruits
arriving here at Lochailort

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for special training

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might be subjected to a mock-ambush
using live ammunition

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is amazing.

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These are remarkable stories

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and extraordinary people.

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Morning.

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This one is first... Thank you.

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I'm now on my way to Mallaig,
on the coast,

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travelling along some of
the last tracks to be laid

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in Victorian Britain.

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The great railway building age

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coincided with the life
of Queen Victoria

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and most of it was done
within her reign.

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I find it poignant to think
that this magnificent railway,

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running through
her beloved Scotland,

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was completed in 1901,

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just as the Queen entered
the last months of her life.

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The aim of this new railway

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was to connect the abundant
fishing grounds of the West Coast

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with the rest of the country.

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The place eventually chosen
for the terminus of the line

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was the tiny hamlet of Mallaig.

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"Welcome to Mallaig."

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Mallaig had good reason
to welcome the railways,

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because before the coming
of the trains,

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this was a small village,
a collection of cottages,

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but with the railway,
it was possible to start
a large herring fleet

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and to supply fish,
through the railway,

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to all parts of Scotland
and further south.

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The railways
were the making of Mallaig.

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The line converted what had been
a community of just 28 houses

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into a substantial herring port.

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Trains took fish out
and brought coal in,

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enabling Mallaig
to employ the newest steam ships
to boost the catch.

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Beside the station,

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smoking sheds sprang up
to turn the herring into kippers.

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I'm taking a tour of the docks
with Elliot Ironside,

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whose family once depended
on the herring trade.

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So your mother
was a kipper girl, Elliot?

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Yes, she was, she certainly was.

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I remember well going out
to watch her kippering,

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and one of the lasting memories
was of all the women singing,

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they sang a lot of hymns.
Did they?

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Sang and worked all day long.

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In the height of the herring season,

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local kipper girls
like Elliot's mother

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were joined by itinerant labour,

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who used the railways to follow
the herring around the coast.

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Did the kippers go out on the train?

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There wasn't a box of fish
landed here that didn't go by train,
not one box.

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The women had to get up
at five o'clock in the morning,

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pack the kippers into special boxes.

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They were loaded into vans
and away they went,

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attached to
the quarter-to-eight passenger train.

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From 1948, Elliot himself
worked on the railways,

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which carried smoked kippers
and fresh herring.

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If there was just very light fishing,

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they used to attach vans to
the back of the passenger trains,

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maybe up to ten vans,

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but when the fishing was heavier,
they ran special trains

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made up entirely of fish.

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The herring trade continued to boom

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and, by the '60s, Mallaig was
the biggest herring port in Europe.

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00:13:00,200 --> 00:13:03,920
But that wasn't to last.
Years of overfishing took their toll

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and in 1977, a ban on catching
herring was imposed.

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The fish trains became
a thing of the past.

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Does it make you sad to see
the station not what it once was?

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Sometimes, yes.

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To work on the railway,
it was hard work at times,

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but I enjoyed working at it,
it was great.

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The calibre of guys
that you worked with,

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fantastic men. The old drivers
were really something else.

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Luckily for Mallaig,
that wasn't the end of fishing.

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These days the town
is famed for langoustines.

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I'm going out on one
of the langoustine boats

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that fishes around Mallaig with
Duncan McKellick and his crew.

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Very good to see you. Hi, guys.

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Great pleasure. How are you doing?

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Every day, they put out to sea

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to check what they've caught in
their traditional cages, or creels.

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Langoustines thrive on the muddy
beds of the nearby sea lochs.

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00:14:08,640 --> 00:14:12,720
They're also known as Norwegian
lobster or Dublin Bay prawns

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and their tails
are made into scampi.

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You're sorting them into different
sizes? Different sizes, yes.

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We've got large, medium and small,
three grades. Isn't that a beauty?

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00:14:24,680 --> 00:14:27,800
I guess that could give you
quite a nasty nip? Yes.

237
00:14:27,800 --> 00:14:29,640
Even through your rubber gloves?

238
00:14:29,640 --> 00:14:31,520
Right through the rubber gloves.

239
00:14:31,520 --> 00:14:34,040
Right to the bone.
So you need to take care.

240
00:14:34,040 --> 00:14:35,640
Yeah, yeah.

241
00:14:35,640 --> 00:14:38,080
Do you get bitten quite often?

242
00:14:38,080 --> 00:14:40,080
Yes.

243
00:14:40,080 --> 00:14:42,160
Too often, I don't like it.

244
00:14:42,160 --> 00:14:46,240
It's one of these things you
never get used to. Very painful.

245
00:14:46,240 --> 00:14:51,080
,Today a third of the world's
langoustines are landed in Scotland,

246
00:14:51,080 --> 00:14:53,560
worth nearly £100 million a year.

247
00:14:53,560 --> 00:14:57,040
But they haven't always
been so highly prized.

248
00:14:57,040 --> 00:14:59,920
They used to shovel them over
the side, get rid of them,

249
00:14:59,920 --> 00:15:03,720
the trawlers, when they were after
fish. They were just a nuisance.

250
00:15:03,720 --> 00:15:06,720
There was no market in those days?
No market for them, no.

251
00:15:07,960 --> 00:15:10,960
But it's purely changed.

252
00:15:10,960 --> 00:15:14,400
Just as the railways transformed
the herring trade here,

253
00:15:14,400 --> 00:15:16,880
air freight has made
langoustines profitable

254
00:15:16,880 --> 00:15:18,320
for fishermen like Duncan.

255
00:15:18,320 --> 00:15:20,120
These will be packed tonight

256
00:15:20,120 --> 00:15:24,680
and then they'll be boxed,
the temperatures lowered,

257
00:15:24,680 --> 00:15:29,000
and then they'll be live
in the market in Barcelona tomorrow.

258
00:15:29,000 --> 00:15:31,800
That's where we get
really good money for them.

259
00:15:31,800 --> 00:15:34,360
Does anybody eat them
here in Scotland?

260
00:15:34,360 --> 00:15:36,040
Not so much, no.

261
00:15:36,040 --> 00:15:41,440
Some of the hotels do,
but it's a very limited market.

262
00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:47,920
With these, when they go to Spain,
they're just sold straight away.

263
00:15:47,920 --> 00:15:49,800
They can't get enough of them.

264
00:15:49,800 --> 00:15:52,640
That's funny, I'd be happy
to eat them here in Scotland.

265
00:15:53,920 --> 00:15:57,320
I'd be a lot happier
if more people did eat them,

266
00:15:57,320 --> 00:15:58,680
that'd be better.

267
00:15:58,680 --> 00:16:02,360
So how many langoustines would you
pick up in a day, any idea?

268
00:16:02,360 --> 00:16:06,880
It sort of varies between
18 to 30 stone, thereabouts.

269
00:16:07,840 --> 00:16:10,320
18 to 30 stone? Yeah.

270
00:16:10,320 --> 00:16:13,160
You still use old money. Yeah.

271
00:16:13,160 --> 00:16:16,800
Sounds like a lot, because they
don't weigh much, do they? No, no.

272
00:16:18,360 --> 00:16:23,280
The fisheries work hard
to ensure that langoustines
remain sustainable.

273
00:16:23,280 --> 00:16:25,360
By using these traditional creels,

274
00:16:25,360 --> 00:16:29,240
they can return young or pregnant
langoustines to the sea.

275
00:16:29,240 --> 00:16:32,440
But the cages do entice
other sea creatures.

276
00:16:32,440 --> 00:16:34,320
Oh you've got a nice octopus there.

277
00:16:34,320 --> 00:16:38,360
He's really got a hold on you there.
A lot of suction there.

278
00:16:38,360 --> 00:16:40,160
It's amazing how they change colour.

279
00:16:40,160 --> 00:16:42,560
If you put him on the white
he'll turn white.

280
00:16:42,560 --> 00:16:46,120
Or if he's threatened,
he'll turn red.

281
00:16:46,120 --> 00:16:50,520
Look at the change. He's having
a go at your langoustines. Yeah.

282
00:16:50,520 --> 00:16:53,600
They're a bit of a blight for us
because they go into the creel

283
00:16:53,600 --> 00:16:56,000
and they munch everything
in the creel.

284
00:16:56,000 --> 00:16:58,840
They get there first, before you.
Yeah.

285
00:16:58,840 --> 00:17:01,320
Lots of empty shells.

286
00:17:01,320 --> 00:17:03,320
Hopefully, we won't see him again.

287
00:17:08,480 --> 00:17:11,480
Bradshaw would certainly
have written about the success

288
00:17:11,480 --> 00:17:13,480
of the new langoustine industry.

289
00:17:13,480 --> 00:17:18,960
He loved to trumpet the good and had
a habit of not mentioning the bad,

290
00:17:18,960 --> 00:17:22,840
like the appalling midges here
that blight Highland holidaying.

291
00:17:22,840 --> 00:17:27,120
Even Queen Victoria, in her diaries,
complained of being bitten.

292
00:17:27,120 --> 00:17:30,560
I'm anxious to avoid
that royal fate.

293
00:17:30,560 --> 00:17:33,200
Hi, have you been holidaying
in the Highlands?

294
00:17:33,200 --> 00:17:35,000
We arrived yesterday, in the rain.

295
00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:37,760
Ah, have you not
experienced the midges yet?

296
00:17:37,760 --> 00:17:41,160
A few. We've got some spray on,
just to try and keep them away.

297
00:17:41,160 --> 00:17:43,560
Have you thought of wearing
one of these nets?

298
00:17:43,560 --> 00:17:46,000
That's a bit over the top.
It's not that bad.

299
00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:49,520
You've just arrived, haven't you?
Yeah, is that famous last words?

300
00:17:49,520 --> 00:17:53,080
At the end of your holiday,
I'll ask if you should have
brought a net.

301
00:17:53,080 --> 00:17:54,320
Good luck. Thank you.

302
00:17:54,320 --> 00:17:56,880
Are you on holiday in Scotland?
Yes.

303
00:17:56,880 --> 00:17:59,000
Have you had any trouble
with the midges?

304
00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:03,640
No, luckily they leave me alone,
but they love my husband.

305
00:18:03,640 --> 00:18:05,480
They love your husband! Yes.

306
00:18:05,480 --> 00:18:08,160
You mean they eat him. Alive!

307
00:18:08,160 --> 00:18:11,160
But why don't they touch you,
do you think?

308
00:18:11,160 --> 00:18:13,720
I don't know. I eat lots of garlic.

309
00:18:13,720 --> 00:18:17,040
It could be the diet,
I eat lots of herbs, garlic.

310
00:18:17,040 --> 00:18:20,120
Natural, organic foods.

311
00:18:20,120 --> 00:18:25,400
Ian loves his fish and chips
and he loves cooked breakfasts.

312
00:18:25,400 --> 00:18:28,360
So you think, maybe, midges
like fish and chips

313
00:18:28,360 --> 00:18:29,840
and don't like garlic?

314
00:18:29,840 --> 00:18:31,520
That's the best tip I've heard.

315
00:18:31,520 --> 00:18:34,880
I've heard you've got to use creams,
you've got to wear a net,

316
00:18:34,880 --> 00:18:37,840
but you've given me the answer now,
eat garlic.

317
00:18:38,960 --> 00:18:42,360
Well, maybe that's
a repellant too far.

318
00:18:42,360 --> 00:18:45,040
I'm leaving Mallaig
to cross the water to Skye,

319
00:18:45,040 --> 00:18:47,960
my final destination
on this journey.

320
00:18:49,600 --> 00:18:51,800
By the time my guidebook
was written,

321
00:18:51,800 --> 00:18:55,040
this island was no longer
the preserve of hardy climbers

322
00:18:55,040 --> 00:18:58,200
and was attracting
a range of visitors

323
00:18:58,200 --> 00:19:00,720
who'd toured the Highlands by rail.

324
00:19:02,840 --> 00:19:05,440
My Bradshaw's guide says of Skye,

325
00:19:05,440 --> 00:19:08,040
"The coast is broken up
into several wild bays,

326
00:19:08,040 --> 00:19:12,040
"some edged by cliffs
400 feet and 700 feet high,"

327
00:19:12,040 --> 00:19:16,040
and he says, "It's an island
nearly 50 miles long,

328
00:19:16,040 --> 00:19:19,440
"separated by the Channel
or Sound of Sleat,

329
00:19:19,440 --> 00:19:22,720
"only half a mile broad
at the narrowest point."

330
00:19:22,720 --> 00:19:25,880
I think there's a hint there,
a gleam in the Victorian eye,

331
00:19:25,880 --> 00:19:29,160
the possibility of a rail bridge
linking Skye,

332
00:19:29,160 --> 00:19:31,160
but that was never built.

333
00:19:31,160 --> 00:19:34,240
The first bridge constructed
at the end of the 20th century

334
00:19:34,240 --> 00:19:38,000
was a road bridge, and so
the Island of Skye had to get by

335
00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:40,160
without the advantages of Mallaig,

336
00:19:40,160 --> 00:19:42,880
without the advantages
of being linked by rail

337
00:19:42,880 --> 00:19:44,800
to the rest of the United Kingdom.

338
00:19:47,640 --> 00:19:50,320
There were and are no trains
on Skye,

339
00:19:50,320 --> 00:19:53,760
but Bradshaw's tells readers
arriving by steamer

340
00:19:53,760 --> 00:19:56,400
where best to admire
the island's rugged beauty.

341
00:19:56,400 --> 00:19:59,840
My guide describes its
"wild and lonely inlets"

342
00:19:59,840 --> 00:20:01,680
and "steep, dark mountains",

343
00:20:01,680 --> 00:20:04,520
but says little
about the island's people

344
00:20:04,520 --> 00:20:07,360
and perhaps that's not surprising.

345
00:20:07,360 --> 00:20:10,840
In the decades before my guidebook
was published,

346
00:20:10,840 --> 00:20:13,000
Skye's population had plummeted,

347
00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:16,720
during what was known
as the Highland Clearances.

348
00:20:19,760 --> 00:20:23,000
I'm meeting historian
John Norman MacLeod,

349
00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:25,840
at the ruined village
of Leitir Fura,

350
00:20:25,840 --> 00:20:28,080
to find out more.

351
00:20:28,080 --> 00:20:30,520
So we've obviously met
in a desolate village.

352
00:20:30,520 --> 00:20:32,760
The Highland Clearances,
what were they?

353
00:20:32,760 --> 00:20:34,800
Well, the term Highland Clearances

354
00:20:34,800 --> 00:20:41,040
refers to a process in history
from about 1750 to 1880,

355
00:20:41,040 --> 00:20:45,120
when the people were removed
from their ancestral homes.

356
00:20:45,120 --> 00:20:47,800
Some of these clearances
were quite violent?

357
00:20:47,800 --> 00:20:51,600
Yes. In some areas,
houses were obviously burnt,

358
00:20:51,600 --> 00:20:53,480
their walls were knocked down,

359
00:20:53,480 --> 00:20:57,320
trees were planted within
the ruined steadings, as well,

360
00:20:57,320 --> 00:20:58,960
to stop people coming back.

361
00:20:59,280 --> 00:21:02,800
This ruthless policy was carried out
by Highland landlords

362
00:21:02,800 --> 00:21:04,280
and their agents.

363
00:21:04,280 --> 00:21:08,840
Short of money,
they'd decided that sheep farming
offered the best option.

364
00:21:08,840 --> 00:21:13,520
Large sheep farms,
they were introduced round about
the 1780s to the Highlands.

365
00:21:13,520 --> 00:21:16,400
The best land was given over
to the sheep farm,

366
00:21:16,400 --> 00:21:21,720
the people were moved to the less
profitable, less fertile areas.

367
00:21:21,720 --> 00:21:25,120
People across the Highlands
were forced onto small,

368
00:21:25,120 --> 00:21:27,800
barely fertile patches of land,
known as crofts,

369
00:21:27,800 --> 00:21:31,040
while others were left
with no choice

370
00:21:31,040 --> 00:21:33,320
but to move to the cities
or emigrate.

371
00:21:33,320 --> 00:21:38,000
Immigration ships came in
and took the people away.

372
00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:44,440
There were two instances in
particular, in 1837 and also in 1853,

373
00:21:44,440 --> 00:21:48,120
when people from Glengarry
were taken overseas to Canada.

374
00:21:48,120 --> 00:21:50,280
What were conditions like
on the ships?

375
00:21:50,280 --> 00:21:54,200
Ah, atrocious.
There was over-crowding.

376
00:21:54,200 --> 00:21:57,080
There was obviously disease, typhoid.

377
00:21:57,080 --> 00:22:00,160
People regarded them
as "the coffin ships".

378
00:22:00,160 --> 00:22:03,360
The conditions were worse
than on slave ships, in many ways.

379
00:22:04,960 --> 00:22:09,440
It's thought hundreds of thousands
left the Highlands and Islands,

380
00:22:09,440 --> 00:22:12,440
and life for those who stayed
was hard.

381
00:22:12,440 --> 00:22:15,680
Farming a tiny croft
was barely sustainable

382
00:22:15,680 --> 00:22:19,000
and the crofters lived under
the constant threat of eviction.

383
00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:23,040
What srikes me is that this goes
on way into the Victorian era.

384
00:22:23,040 --> 00:22:26,440
The Victorians were social
reformers, they abolished slavery -

385
00:22:26,440 --> 00:22:28,920
did they turn a blind eye
to the Highlands?

386
00:22:28,920 --> 00:22:31,840
Well, the Highlands
were very much isolated

387
00:22:31,840 --> 00:22:36,200
and certainly they weren't
very much on the conscience
of the nation at the time.

388
00:22:36,200 --> 00:22:40,400
But in later years, certainly,
more was written about the Highlands.

389
00:22:40,400 --> 00:22:42,760
There were journalist arriving

390
00:22:42,760 --> 00:22:46,600
and giving accounts
of actual clearances, as well.

391
00:22:46,600 --> 00:22:50,280
In the 1880s, the crofters
began to fight back

392
00:22:50,280 --> 00:22:52,720
with rent strikes and protests,

393
00:22:52,720 --> 00:22:56,560
and in 1886,
they won legal rights to their land.

394
00:22:56,560 --> 00:22:59,760
With public attention
drawn to their plight,

395
00:22:59,760 --> 00:23:03,000
there were calls for better
transport to boost the economy -

396
00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:06,280
an argument that helped to get
the West Highland line built.

397
00:23:06,280 --> 00:23:07,800
What's the story today?

398
00:23:07,800 --> 00:23:11,000
Well, the story today
is that Skye...

399
00:23:11,200 --> 00:23:13,560
in Skye,
the population is increasing.

400
00:23:13,560 --> 00:23:17,160
In 1971, I think there were
about 7,000 people,

401
00:23:17,160 --> 00:23:19,720
now we're talking
over 10,000 people in Skye.

402
00:23:19,720 --> 00:23:22,960
In this area alone,
the population had doubled...

403
00:23:22,960 --> 00:23:27,560
In Sleat, the population has doubled
in the last 30 years.

404
00:23:27,560 --> 00:23:32,000
So it is an area
which is certainly regenerating.

405
00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:35,240
These days,
people are migrating TO Skye,

406
00:23:35,240 --> 00:23:38,840
lured by the prospect
of a slower pace of life.

407
00:23:38,840 --> 00:23:41,520
Traditional crofting
is still protected,

408
00:23:41,520 --> 00:23:43,720
and although not easy,
it appeals to some -

409
00:23:43,720 --> 00:23:45,320
like Kenny and Angela Scott.

410
00:23:45,320 --> 00:23:47,120
Hello, Michael. Good to see you.

411
00:23:47,120 --> 00:23:50,400
Good to see you. Kenny, hello.
How are you doing?

412
00:23:50,400 --> 00:23:53,640
Angela, what brought you here?
You're an American, aren't you?

413
00:23:53,640 --> 00:23:57,680
Yes, I am. I'm born and bred
in Brooklyn, New York. Brooklyn?

414
00:23:57,680 --> 00:24:01,160
Yes. Far from home,
but this is home now.

415
00:24:01,160 --> 00:24:03,600
And why, what made
you make the change?

416
00:24:03,600 --> 00:24:07,480
Well, 16 years ago,
I came over on a holiday

417
00:24:07,480 --> 00:24:11,320
and I just fell in love
with Scotland. I felt so relaxed.

418
00:24:11,320 --> 00:24:13,560
I had sort of a high-pressure
lifestyle,

419
00:24:13,560 --> 00:24:15,640
I was an attorney in New York,

420
00:24:15,640 --> 00:24:20,640
and I just felt all the pressure
sort of slide away

421
00:24:20,640 --> 00:24:22,960
and thought,
"This is where I need to live."

422
00:24:22,960 --> 00:24:26,800
I've never looked back. 15 years and
it's been the best thing I ever did.

423
00:24:26,800 --> 00:24:29,200
What does it mean nowadays
to be a crofter?

424
00:24:29,200 --> 00:24:32,640
Well, basically, it's much the same
as it used to be,

425
00:24:32,640 --> 00:24:34,480
which is like subsistence farming,

426
00:24:34,480 --> 00:24:36,920
small-scale subsistence farming,
really.

427
00:24:36,920 --> 00:24:41,480
And as I look around, I guess this
is what you do, I see sheep,

428
00:24:41,480 --> 00:24:43,240
an awful lot of hens.

429
00:24:43,240 --> 00:24:45,920
What else do you do?
Well, we grow a few potatoes.

430
00:24:45,920 --> 00:24:49,680
We're planning for polytunnels
to grow more of our own vegetables,

431
00:24:49,680 --> 00:24:55,280
and hopefully sell surplus in
a little farm shop setting, as well.

432
00:24:55,280 --> 00:24:57,440
You've got a smokehouse too? Yes.

433
00:24:57,440 --> 00:24:59,080
What are you smoking there?

434
00:24:59,080 --> 00:25:03,240
We smoke venison, which is
usually local, wild venison.

435
00:25:03,240 --> 00:25:08,200
We smoke salmon,
a variety of cheeses and nuts

436
00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:11,280
and a few other bits and pieces
as they come to us.

437
00:25:11,280 --> 00:25:15,240
Mackerel, kippers, things like that.
You've got me salivating.

438
00:25:17,080 --> 00:25:19,360
Things have moved on
since Bradshaw's time

439
00:25:19,360 --> 00:25:23,880
and now some crofters manage to
go beyond subsistence farming.

440
00:25:23,880 --> 00:25:28,680
Kenny and Angela's smokehouse
is a profitable small business.

441
00:25:28,680 --> 00:25:31,120
Where are you getting
your lovely salmon from?

442
00:25:31,120 --> 00:25:33,960
This is Wester Ross salmon.

443
00:25:33,960 --> 00:25:37,400
Basically, it's freedom food salmon

444
00:25:37,400 --> 00:25:40,280
where they've got more room
in their cages.

445
00:25:41,920 --> 00:25:43,960
Just pop that in that brine there.

446
00:25:45,280 --> 00:25:49,160
So, you put the salmon in the brine,
what happens next?

447
00:25:49,160 --> 00:25:53,200
We leave this in here to brine
for a certain period of time.

448
00:25:53,200 --> 00:25:56,320
Then it goes into the other fridge
there to dry off

449
00:25:56,320 --> 00:25:58,080
before it goes into the smoker.

450
00:25:59,040 --> 00:26:01,800
The secret
is controlling the temperature.

451
00:26:01,800 --> 00:26:05,240
The smoke is cooled
to below 30 degrees

452
00:26:05,240 --> 00:26:07,240
before it's piped into the smoker.

453
00:26:07,240 --> 00:26:10,800
This is really business in
miniature, isn't it? It is.

454
00:26:10,800 --> 00:26:13,120
A tiny little smoker. Look at that!

455
00:26:13,120 --> 00:26:15,760
The finished article there.
That looks fabulous.

456
00:26:16,880 --> 00:26:22,000
Kenny and Angela sell their smoked
products across the United Kingdom.

457
00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:23,800
Angela, you're the slicer?

458
00:26:23,800 --> 00:26:27,000
I am indeed. Usually trim off
all the edges first,

459
00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:31,760
so that it's not too tough
or too smoky

460
00:26:31,760 --> 00:26:35,320
We just take a long slice

461
00:26:35,320 --> 00:26:37,520
like that.

462
00:26:37,520 --> 00:26:39,000
There we go.

463
00:26:41,760 --> 00:26:43,520
Please. There you go.

464
00:26:43,520 --> 00:26:45,480
Oh, thank you very much.

465
00:26:46,480 --> 00:26:47,920
Look at that.

466
00:26:51,040 --> 00:26:54,080
Marvellous.
Thank you, we do our best.

467
00:26:54,080 --> 00:26:56,040
The salmon's superb,

468
00:26:56,040 --> 00:26:59,720
and Angela's also brought a little
bit of Brooklyn to the Highlands.

469
00:26:59,720 --> 00:27:02,960
You can't be serious? Made
with our own smoked cream cheese.

470
00:27:02,960 --> 00:27:05,640
Smoked salmon cheesecake.
with smoked cheese.

471
00:27:08,280 --> 00:27:09,480
Mmm.

472
00:27:09,480 --> 00:27:13,320
You haven't lived till you've tasted
that. Thank you. That's fantastic.

473
00:27:14,520 --> 00:27:17,760
As my journey up Scotland's
West Coast draws to an end,

474
00:27:17,760 --> 00:27:21,240
it strikes me that the advent of
the railways

475
00:27:21,240 --> 00:27:23,680
started a process
that continues to this day.

476
00:27:23,680 --> 00:27:26,320
Successive technological advances,

477
00:27:26,320 --> 00:27:29,400
from trains to aeroplanes
to the internet,

478
00:27:29,400 --> 00:27:33,160
have done no harm to these
starkly beautiful places,

479
00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:35,840
but they've made them less remote.

480
00:27:35,840 --> 00:27:39,160
This journey has been different
from my others.

481
00:27:39,160 --> 00:27:41,760
I haven't just been jumping
on and off trains

482
00:27:41,760 --> 00:27:43,960
following my Bradshaw's guide.

483
00:27:43,960 --> 00:27:49,520
I've been absorbed by the story of
the extraordinary West Highland line

484
00:27:49,520 --> 00:27:52,080
threading its way
through wild terrain,

485
00:27:52,080 --> 00:27:55,800
connecting tiny,
but vibrant communities.

486
00:27:55,800 --> 00:27:59,840
Following it has introduced me
to some dark history

487
00:27:59,840 --> 00:28:02,280
of battles and Highland Clearances,

488
00:28:02,280 --> 00:28:07,320
but thanks to that
magnificent achievement
of Victorian engineering,

489
00:28:07,320 --> 00:28:12,360
the sumptuous beauty of Scotland
is open to any one of us

490
00:28:12,360 --> 00:28:15,040
for the price of a train ticket.

491
00:28:35,960 --> 00:28:38,440
Subtitles by Red Bee Media

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00:28:38,440 --> 00:28:41,880
Email subtitling@bbc.co.uk