In the north of britain
Lies a land of epic grandeur and enduring legend.
A place of soaring peaks shrouded in mist and snow,
Of rugged glens that have known war and tragedy,
Eerie lakes that may conceal monsters and phantom spirits,
Where mysteries of the ancient past are revealed,
And the unnerving secrets of more recent times
Still lie buried.
The home of the boy who never grew up.
The land where braveheart battled a powerful enemy.
The birthplace of legends of rock,
Giants of steel,
And a mechanical marvel like no other.
[train whistle blows]
A country where golfers can end up in hell,
Or young princes find romantic bliss.
Where tradition is being given a new twist,
And the future is being shaped.
A people proud of their history and culture
And determined to keep that spirit alive.
This is scotland...
As you have never seen it before.
♪♪
There are many ways to take in the wonders of scotland.
But retired airline pilot sant cervantes
Must surely have one of the most serene.
Instead of the noisy passenger jets he once flew,
He now takes to the skies in his single seat glider.
Once freed from the tow plane,
Sant can quietly soar above the scottish countryside
At altitudes of up to 13,000 feet.
Today he is taking in the sights around loch leven,
One of scotland's most popular nature reserves.
Sant has covered distances of over 600 miles
In a single flight,
And he recently stayed in the air for a remarkable 15 hours.
♪♪
He says gliding is similar to surfing,
But instead of waves, he's riding updrafts of air.
♪♪
Sant finds freedom here;
But for one famous queen, loch leven was a prison.
♪♪
On a tiny island in the loch
Stands the remains of a medieval castle.
In 1567, it played host to an illustrious prisoner,
Mary queen of scots.
Taken here by scottish noblemen following an uprising,
Mary spent most of her captivity
In the great and gloomy glassin tower,
Where she complained there was not a fit bed
Or "any article proper for one of her rank."
While there, mary was forced to abdicate
In favor of her infant son james.
After being held for 10 months,
She took advantage of her captors' drunkenness
During a may day party to escape across the lake.
She later fled to England, never to return to scotland.
But queen elizabeth I saw mary as a threat to her power,
And in 1587, she was tried and executed.
♪♪
Mary's lonely prison on loch leven is less than 20 miles
North of scotland's capital city, edinburgh.
♪♪
People have been drawn to this dramatic landscape
Carved from an ancient extinct volcano
Since as far back as 8,500 bc.
Situated on the estuary of the river forth,
Today edinburgh is home to around half a million people.
Robert louis stevenson, the author of treasure island ,
Once described his native city
As "a dream in masonry and living rock."
Edinburgh is built on seven hills, just like rome.
And like rome it is famed for its glorious architecture.
It has more buildings listed for preservation
Than any other city in the world.
The historic fortress of edinburgh castle
Towers on a rock over 250 feet above the metropolis.
There has been a royal castle on this spot
Since at least the reign of david I in the 12th century.
Innovation, invention and creativity
Have always been the watchwords of edinburgh.
It was the first city in the world to have a fire brigade.
And it was the birthplace
Of some of the world's greatest scientists.
[applause]
Every August it plays host to the edinburgh fringe,
The world's biggest arts festival.
Musicians, dancers, actors, and comedians
Come from around the globe
To perform at over 300 venues across the city.
Along the royal mile, the ancient cobbled street
That winds its way through the heart of the city,
Street performers vie for space
With those trying every trick in the book to promote their shows.
Flying high theatre company is here
With their play dear lucy ,
Telling the story of the women left at home
When their loved ones went to fight in world war I.
Up the street, corey picket from australia
Is using his circus skills to entertain the crowds.
His energetic and eccentric shows
Captivate young and old alike.
[applause]
Not far away, a towering spire commemorates
Another captivating individual:
The writer sir walter scott.
Born here in edinburgh almost 250 years ago,
Scott enthralled readers
With his tales of adventure and romance,
Including the classic novels rob roy and ivanhoe .
In his lifetime, scott became a much-loved national icon.
This dark gothic tower was completed in 1844,
12 years after scott's death.
It contains numerous sculptures
Of characters from his many books.
At its base, scott himself is immortalized
In gleaming white marble, his beloved dog maida by his side.
Those with the stamina can climb 287 steps
Up a narrow spiral staircase to the top of the monument
And be rewarded with magnificent views of the city below.
But nowhere offers better views of edinburgh
Than the 350 million-year-old arthur's seat,
A place of myth and strange tales.
No one is quite sure how it got its name,
But some ancient chronicles tell
That it was the location of camelot,
The legendary kingdom of king arthur
And his noble knights.
In 1836, five boys hunting for rabbits on the hill
Found a set of 17 tiny coffins
Containing small clothed wooden figures.
A forgotten ancient ritual?
A sinister work of witchcraft?
The true purpose has remained a puzzle ever since.
But there is no mystery as to why people are drawn
To the summit of this ancient hill.
♪♪
[birds chirping]
Even further from the bustle of the city,
Deep in a forest in perthshire,
Something a little unusual is going on.
♪♪
Finlay wilson and his friend,
Former professional dancer alan lambie,
Are here to practice forest yoga.
But these boys have chosen to swap sweatpants
For more patriotic attire.
♪♪
Finlay came up with the idea in 2017,
And since then, videos of his kilted yoga
Have made him an internet sensation.
He believes passionately in the power of yoga
For physical and mental wellbeing.
With over ten years' experience under his belt,
He is now able to achieve the most difficult positions,
Helped no doubt by the roomy nature
Of scotland's national dress.
♪♪
Patriotic feelings run deep in scotland.
Overlooking the city of stirling,
On the banks of the forth river, stands an imposing monument
To a scottish national hero, william wallace,
Better known to millions of moviegoers as braveheart.
Over 700 years ago,
He united many of scotland's fractious clans
To resist an invasion by edward I of England,
A king so tyrannical, he was known as "malleus scotorum,"
The hammer of the scots.
Wallace's uprising marked the beginning
Of the first war of scottish independence
Which would last for over 30 years.
In 1297, just a stone's throw from this spot,
Wallace and his men took on
One of the most powerful english armies
Ever to set foot in scotland.
As the english forces attempted to cross the forth river,
The rebels stormed forward,
Their spears leveled at the enemy.
[men yelling, swords clanging]
Thousands of english troops were slaughtered,
And the river is said to have run red with blood.
For the scots, their victory at the battle of stirling bridge
Was one of their most glorious;
For the english, a humiliating defeat.
In mel gibson's oscar-winning movie braveheart ,
The battle is one of the main set pieces.
But in gibson's version there is no bridge and no river!
But hey, that's hollywood.
In the wake of wallace's defeat at the battle of falkirk,
Another figure emerged who would eventually secure
Scottish independence: Robert the bruce.
For years bruce waged a relentless guerrilla war
Against the english.
King edward ii was determined to deal with the troublesome rebel,
And in 1314 he marched north to stirling castle.
Bruce and edward's armies met
In the shadow of the great fortress,
At a place called bannockburn.
And here, the scots won a crushing victory
Over their english oppressors.
It took another 14 years for the english
To recognize scotland's full independence.
Bruce had achieved his lifetime struggle.
He died the following year in 1329.
For centuries after his death,
The exact whereabouts
Of king robert's final resting place
Was a mystery.
Then, in 1818, workmen made an extraordinary discovery
At dunfermline abbey, less than 20 miles from stirling.
Inside a vault, they found a skeleton
Wrapped in a golden shroud:
The remains of robert the bruce.
The body was re-interred with fitting pomp and ceremony,
And mounted in stone on the abbey's tower
Were the four simple words: King robert the bruce.
♪♪
For over eight centuries, all of scotland's monarchs were crowned
Here near the village of scone.
Today, the site is dominated
By the grand edifice of scone palace,
But this is not where the coronations took place.
A short distance away is a grassy mound known as moot hill.
It was home to a pedestal like this one:
A sacred stone said to be the pillow jacob rested on
When, according to the bible, he beheld a vision of angels.
This was where the monarch stood to receive their crown.
The stone that now stands here is a replica.
In 1296, edward I of England
Took the original from its resting place
And brought it to london's westminster abbey,
Where it would remain for nearly 700 years.
Then, on christmas day 1950, the stone suddenly vanished.
It would be several months
Before the mystery of its disappearance was solved.
[peacock squawks]
♪♪
The medieval abbey of arbroath on scotland's northeast coast
Was once the country's richest religious house.
Its magnificent red sandstone ruins
Still echo with ancient splendor.
On the morning of the 11th of April, 1951,
The abbey's custodians made an unusual discovery.
On the site of the high altar, wrapped inside a scottish flag,
They found a large rectangular stone:
The stone of scone.
Some scottish students later confessed
To having stolen the stone from westminster.
By choosing to leave it here in arbroath abbey,
They were making a powerful political statement.
Because in 1320, when the scots were in the midst
Of their bitter struggle against english rule,
A group of nobles had come to this very place
To make a solemn declaration.
They proclaimed that scotland was an independent country
That cherished freedom above all else.
"so long as a hundred of us remain alive,
We shall never surrender.
It is in truth not for glory, nor riches,
Nor honor that we are fighting, but for freedom alone,
Which no honest man will give up but with life itself."
Some 450 years later,
The declaration of arbroath would inspire
One of the most famous assertions of freedom,
Human rights and self-determination ever written:
The american declaration of independence.
And the stone of scone?
Officially returned to scotland in 1996,
It is now held in edinburgh castle.
♪♪
Scotland has its heroes and legends of the past,
But it also has some present-day ones.
This is dunblane sports club, north of stirling,
And this is where andy murray first wielded a tennis racket.
Murray was only three when his mother judy
First took him here to play.
By the time he was eight,
He was playing adults in the district league.
17 years on from that, in 2012, he won the u.S. Open,
And a year later became the first british winner
Of the wimbledon men's singles title in 77 years.
Judy still comes to the club to play,
And when he's in town, andy himself often drops by
To give the kids some helpful pointers.
Who knows, a tennis superstar of the future
Could be playing here today.
Murray has contributed to the town in other ways.
In 2013, he bought the nearby cromlix house hotel
And re-opened it a year later as a five-star destination.
It was the venue for his wedding to kim sears in 2015.
It has of course got a tennis court,
Where staff members caitlin swart
And brice lacharnay vechere like nothing better
Than getting in a few games on their break time.
♪♪
Although andy murray grew up in dunblane,
He was actually born
In scotland's biggest city, glasgow.
For many years it had a reputation
As a rough, tough and dangerous town,
But has now reinvented itself as a vigorous and happening place.
Reputed to have been founded by st. Mungo in the 6th century,
Glasgow grew from being a small settlement
On the banks of the river clyde
To being one of the engine rooms of the industrial revolution.
Scotland was once the shipbuilder to the world,
And the heart of the industry
Was here on the south bank of the clyde.
In the early 1900s,
One fifth of all ships launched worldwide were built here.
A giant crane still stands on queens dock as a symbol
Of the city's proud shipping and engineering heritage.
The finnieston crane was erected in 1932.
It was used to load the heaviest cargo, like locomotives,
For export around the world.
With the decline of shipbuilding,
Large areas of glasgow's docklands became derelict,
But now gleaming modern architecture has taken the place
Of the abandoned wharves and shipyards.
The scottish event campus is home
To two visually striking venues.
Originally called "the clyde auditorium,"
For obvious reasons
This eye-catching building has become better known
By its nickname, "the armadillo."
It was envisioned by its designers
As an interlocking series of ships' hulls,
To reflect the city's shipbuilding heritage.
The sse hydro is one of the busiest venues in the world.
It was officially opened in 2013,
With a concert by singing legend and proud son of a scot,
Sir rod stewart.
Like many buildings designed
By world-renowned architect zaha hadid,
The riverside museum can only be truly appreciated from above.
Its wave-like design was inspired
By glasgow's maritime history.
The building is home to the museum of transport,
Its main hall dominated by a mighty locomotive
Manufactured in the city
For south african railways in the 1940s.
Moored here out front is the glenlee,
A steel-hulled three-masted tall ship built here in 1896--
Another reminder of this city's historic legacy.
♪♪
But the shipyards produced more than just ships.
In 2017, three murals appeared at locations around glasgow
To celebrate the 75th birthday
Of the city's favorite living son, sir billy connolly.
These days he's a world famous comedian and actor,
Well-known for roles in movies like "the hobbit" and "brave."
A far cry from his humble beginnings
As an apprentice welder in a local shipyard,
Where his workmates' merciless humor
Inspired his love of comedy.
It was the beginning of a journey
That would make him an international star,
And what many have called
The biggest scottish export after whisky.
When connolly himself saw the murals for the first time,
He could only say that he was flabbergasted, overjoyed,
And profoundly moved by the honor.
But these aren't the only unexpected artworks
To be found in glasgow.
In the east end district of cranhill,
A series of wire sculptures stand guard
At the base of an old water tower.
Created by artist andy scott in 2001,
The sculptures draw inspiration from water and the sea,
Representing mythological figures
Like the greek god poseidon, and the sirens,
Whose enchanting song lured sailors to their death
On the rocks.
The water tower itself dominates the skyline of cranhill,
A housing project originally built in the 1950s.
During that decade two brothers were born here
Who would set the rock world alight.
Malcolm and angus young spent their early childhood
In cranhill before the family moved to australia.
There, in 1973, they formed the now legendary ac/dc.
A year later, they recruited a new lead singer
Who also happened to have strong scottish ties.
In fact, he had spent the first six years of his life
Less than a hundred miles from cranhill,
In the small town of kirriemuir.
Bon scott helped propel ac/dc to global stardom,
Before his tragic death in 1980 at the age of just 33.
Diehard fan john crawford and his friends
Organized for a bronze statue of scott
To be erected in the town in 2016.
It was completely funded by fans from across the world.
John is also a founder of bonfest,
Which has grown from humble beginnings in 2010
To a three-day event
Attracting around 15,000 people to the town every year.
♪♪
Bon scott never grew old, and in that way,
He resembles a world-famous fictional character
Who has his origins here in kirriemuir.
Author j.M. Barrie was born in this house,
And drew on his childhood in kirriemuir
To create the world of neverland,
And his beloved hero, peter pan, the boy who refused to grow up.
Barrie based the character on his older brother david,
Who died in an ice skating accident
The day before his 14th birthday.
In a garden to the rear of the house,
A statue of peter pan
Celebrates this symbol of eternal childhood.
In creating his fantasy world,
J.M. Barrie found folklore a rich source of inspiration,
Just as it is for scotland's modern-day artists.
At the eastern entrance to the clyde and forth canal,
West of edinburgh, are two mighty steel sculptures
Named in honor of mythical water spirits known as "kelpies."
These malevolent creatures were said to inhabit
Scotland's rivers and lochs,
And would appear as horses, but could also adopt human form.
Standing nearly 100 feet high,
The sculptures were created as a monument
To the role horses played
In the agricultural and industrial heritage
Of the country.
Since 2013, the nightly spectacle of the shifting colors
Of the illuminated kelpies has captivated all who see it.
Like the mythical creatures whose name they share,
They appear to take on a new and entrancing form.
♪♪
A few miles inland along the canal,
There is a wonder of modern engineering:
The world's only rotating boat lift.
The falkirk wheel uses principles
Set out by the greek mathematician archimedes
More than 2,000 years ago.
The boat lift links the forth and clyde canal
With the union canal almost 80 feet above.
In previous years, boats had to use a series of 11 locks
That stepped from one canal to the other,
And a day's work was required to negotiate the maneuver.
Now the transition can be achieved in a matter of minutes.
When one boat is lowered by the apparatus,
The other boat automatically rises.
And thanks to the laws of physics,
It's all achieved with the same amount of energy
Required to boil eight household kettles.
♪♪
A much earlier engineering marvel
Spans the estuary of the river forth to the east.
The forth rail bridge connecting fife and edinburgh
Was completed in 1890.
And since that time its striking red color
And uncompromising industrial aesthetic
Have made it a much-loved icon of scotland.
Over 8,000 feet long,
The bridge was the first major structure in britain
To be constructed of steel
And took almost eight years to build.
♪♪
Now a unesco world heritage site,
The bridge still carries 200 trains per day
Over the firth of forth.
Although two impressive road bridges have been added since,
The most recent opened by queen elizabeth in 2017,
It's hard to imagine either ever supplanting the rail bridge
In the nation's affections.
♪♪
And if you want to toast your affections,
What better way than with a wee dram
Of scotland's national drink?
♪♪
Pure water from crystal-clear streams
Is where the story of scotch whisky begins.
When malted barley is added, the magic starts to happen.
Hidden away in a quiet glen in perthshire
Is a whisky distillery
That claims to be the oldest in scotland.
Andrew robinson is lining up the handmade oak casks
That are used to mature the whiskey
For a minimum of three years.
Andrew only started working here recently,
But being a whisky lover, he feels right at home.
Glenturret, which was established in 1775,
Has its origins with illicit still operators
Who used this secluded spot
To keep away from the prying eyes of the tax collectors.
They even took to distilling their whisky at night
To avoid being found, giving rise to the term "moonshine."
Nowadays, the fine whiskies made at places like glenturret
Are one of scotland's biggest revenue earners.
In 2017, over 1.2 billion bottles were exported worldwide;
That's nearly 40 bottles every second.
Traditionally at scottish weddings,
Couples share whisky from a "loving cup"
As a sign of trust and fidelity.
One place just north of the english border
Has seen more than its fair share of weddings.
Gordon and ami brough,
Like countless other couples before them,
Came to the little village of gretna green
To exchange their vows.
The tradition began in the mid 18th century
When strict new marriage laws relating to age
And parental consent were introduced in England.
Those hopelessly in love began to elope here
Because of scotland's far more relaxed rules.
All that was then required was a simple declaration
In front of two witnesses.
But with the father of the bride often in hot pursuit,
There was no time to waste.
The blacksmith's shop was the first building reached,
And so it was here
That the star-crossed lovers tied the knot.
It was said that like the metals he forged,
The blacksmith joined couples in the heat of the moment,
But bound them for eternity.
Every year, around 5,000 couples from all over the world
Still make the journey to gretna green to marry,
Drawn here by its history and romantic allure.
♪♪
Young love often blossoms at university.
The town of st. Andrew's on the east coast of the fife peninsula
Is home to the third oldest university
In the english-speaking world.
In 2001, a shy 19-year-old came here
To study the history of art.
Known to his fellow students as steve,
He stayed in st. Salvator's hall of residence.
Also lodging there was a young woman called kate,
And it wasn't long before they caught each other's eye.
This would have been a college romance like any other
Were it not for the fact that the young man
Was none other than prince william,
Second in line to the british throne,
And his beloved was kate middleton.
Shortly before their wedding in 2011,
The couple returned to st. Andrews
To launch the university's 600th anniversary celebrations.
♪♪
Tradition is important here,
And students in their distinctive undergraduate gowns
Are a common sight around st. Andrews.
Oliver roberts, who is studying history,
Is the first person from his family to attend the college,
While bao-chau pham came here from austria in 2014
To undertake a degree in international relations.
In fact, almost half of the students here
Come to this prestigious university from overseas.
♪♪
St. Andrew's is, of course, even better known as the birthplace
Of one of the world's favorite sports.
Known as the home of golf,
The royal and ancient is the oldest club in the world.
Golf originated on these links in the 15th century,
And the very first 18-hole game was played here in 1764.
Keeping the old course in tip-top condition
Means a very early start for the numerous ground staff.
♪♪
Golf wouldn't be golf without bunkers,
And there are 112 dotted around this course.
When tiger woods won the british open here in 2000,
He famously avoided hitting a single one
During the whole championship.
One of the most notorious
Is the appropriately named hell bunker on the 14th.
Ending up in this 7-foot-deep trap
Has ended the dreams of many a pro and amateur alike.
♪♪
To get to the 18th hole here,
You must walk across the 700-year-old swilcan bridge,
An image familiar to every golf fan in the world.
This is where, during the 2005 british open,
Jack nicklaus, one of the sport's most legendary players,
Waved his last goodbye to the game
In front of thousands of cheering spectators.
St. Andrews has played host to the open championship
On no fewer than 29 occasions,
And for lovers of the game, walking these storied fairways
Puts them in touch with that rich history.
♪♪
The bunkers of st. Andrews may be fearsome,
But just a few miles from the town
There is a bunker that once held far greater dread.
Military hardware and a surface-to-air missile
Is not what you would expect to see
Outside a scottish country house.
But this is no ordinary house.
It's actually the entrance point to an underground complex,
Which for over 40 years was classified as top secret.
During the dark days of the cold war,
The threat of nuclear annihilation
Loomed large over the world.
In the event of a nuclear strike on britain,
It was from here that scotland would have been governed.
Originally built in 1951,
The bunker is one hundred feet below ground
And split over two levels, each larger than a football field.
It could accommodate 300 personnel,
And as well as a nuclear command center,
It housed radar interception equipment, weapons storage,
And a broadcasting studio staffed by the bbc.
[alarm sounds]
If an attack was imminent,
All other tv and radio channels would be taken off air,
Leaving just the emergency channel
To alert people to the approaching terror.
[rumbling]
Scotland's spectacular northern coastline
Feels a long way removed from the threat of war.
Duncansby head lighthouse marks the most northeasterly point
Of the british mainland,
Almost 880 miles from land's end in the southwest of England.
Just beyond here are islands that hold many secrets;
Secrets which are slowly being unearthed
And rewriting the history books.
The orkneys are made up of over 70 islands.
Although 20 are inhabited,
Most of the population of about 22,000
Live on the largest island, known as the mainland.
The people of the new stone age
Settled here around 6,000 years ago,
And the remnants of the vibrant culture
That subsequently flourished on the island
Are scattered all around.
Skara brae on the island's west coast
Is a 5,000-year-old settlement
That has been called the scottish pompeii.
This incredible window into the lives of the ancients
Was only discovered in 1850,
When a severe storm stripped the earth from the site.
Each house shares the same basic design:
A single large room fitted with stone-built cupboards,
Dressers and beds, all laid out around a square hearth.
Here, the inhabitants would gather about the fire
During orkney's long, dark winters.
The broch of gurness is a later settlement
On the island's northeast coast, dating from around 500 bc.
At its center is a broch, or stone tower.
It would probably have originally reached
A height of around 30 feet
And was most likely inhabited
By the principal family or clan of the area.
The entire settlement may have been home
To as many as 40 families.
♪♪
But what has really excited archaeologists and historians
In recent years can be found on this narrow strip of land
Separating two lochs on the island.
The ness of brodgar, as it's known,
Has been described as the greatest neolithic treasure
Of western europe.
Excavations reveal that over 4,000 years ago
The inhabitants held a great banquet here.
Bones found on the site show that they slaughtered
Some 600 cattle for the feast.
Gary shafto is among those seeking to unravel the mystery.
He's one of the volunteers who, since 2003,
Have been helping archaeologists
Map and excavate the six-acre site.
They have unearthed a huge temple complex,
Parts of which were constructed more than 5,000 years ago.
As well as bones, numerous tools, painted ceramics,
And elegantly made pottery have been uncovered.
The sophistication and complexity of what they've found
Indicate that this remote spot
Was an ancient center of innovation.
Intriguingly, evidence suggests that after the great feast
The complex was abandoned
And forgotten for over 4,000 years, until now.
Some cultural artifacts, though, demand to be seen and heard.
[engine revving]
The aston martin is synonymous with james bond.
Various models of the car have been driven by 007
In no fewer than 12 movies.
Bond's association with scotland runs deep.
The first actor to play him on film
Was edinburgh-born acting legend sir sean connery.
In 2012's skyfall , bond races his silver aston martin
Through the scottish highlands to his ancestral home,
Here in the spectacular glencoe valley.
Glencoe is a place of bleak beauty.
But come the winter snows, it can be fierce and forbidding.
♪♪
It was on a day such as this
That tragedy struck this remote spot.
Over 300 years ago, the valley was home
To the lawless macdonald clan.
They, like other highland clans,
Were seen as a possible threat to the regime in london.
On the night of February the 13th, 1692,
While a blizzard howled,
Government troops attacked the families as they slept.
38 people were killed, including women and children.
Some who managed to escape into the mountains
Perished in the bitter conditions.
Every year, on the 13th of February,
The clan donald society holds a wreath-laying ceremony
At this memorial in the village of glencoe.
Clan members from all around the world come to remember.
♪♪
On the southern edge of the highlands
Lies the vast expanse of loch lomond.
From the early 19th century onwards,
Paddle steamers were a familiar sight on this lake,
Catering to the growing number of visitors to the area.
The maid of the loch was the last and largest
In a long line of paddle steamers
To sail these waters.
She was launched in 1953
And during her 28 years of service
Carried around three million passengers.
The maid was decommissioned in 1981
And for years was left to rot.
But in recent times a restoration project
Has seen her returned to her former glory.
Now the plan is to relaunch her
As a fully operational paddle steamer,
Working alongside her more modern cousins.
Loch lomond is surrounded by the trossachs national park,
Over 700 square miles of mountains, lakes and woodland.
The scots have a special name
For a mountain over 3,000 feet high--
A munro--and there are 21 of them here.
♪♪
Winter ascents of these munros can be a serious undertaking.
The unpredictable weather often catching out the unprepared.
But that doesn't deter those who aim to climb
Every munro in scotland, all 282 of them.
A challenge completed by more than 6,000 people to date.
♪♪
There are munros, and then there is ben nevis,
Scotland's highest peak.
Situated in the northwest highlands,
It's almost 4,500 feet high.
Appropriately enough, its name translates
As "mountain with its head in the clouds."
♪♪
Just a few miles from ben nevis is the starting point
For one of the most spectacular train journeys in the world.
But this isn't just any old steam train.
In the harry potter movies,
It played the role of the hogwarts express,
The train that brings harry and his fellow students
To the school of wizardry.
[train whistle blows]
It crosses the magnificent 21-arched glenfinnan viaduct,
Which was opened in 1901, and provides stunning views
Of the surrounding valley and loch shiel to the south.
♪♪
This is not the only loch in scotland
To have a connection with the fantastical.
This is loch ness,
23 miles long and almost 800 feet deep.
In its murky depths, some believe,
Lurks an ancient creature forgotten by time.
Over the years, many people have claimed to have seen
The loch ness monster, or nessie,
As it is affectionately known.
Photos have claimed to show the beast,
But all have been dismissed by scientists
As either misidentifications or hoaxes.
In 2016, a team using sonar technology
Detected the 30-foot-long body
Of a creature lying on the lake bed.
Sadly, for nessie hunters, it turned out to be a prop
From a 1970 film starring christopher lee.
But even the most skeptical can be sometimes unsettled
By this lake's hidden depths.
Locals donald macpherson and his partner nicola forbes
Remain unconvinced about the existence of nessie.
But donald says there have been times
When he has had the uneasy feeling
That something much greater than a fish
Was swimming beneath his paddleboard.
♪♪
Somewhat more vigorous sporting activity
Is at the heart of the highland games,
Held across scotland during the summer months.
The games are said to have their origin
In the earliest days of the clan system,
When chieftains would select their best warriors
Based on trials of athleticism and strength.
One of the most spectacular events is held here
In the grounds of drumtochty castle in aberdeenshire.
Along with traditional sporting events like the hammer throw,
The stone put and tug-of-war,
There are also dancing and music competitions.
The games are seen as a celebration
Of all things scottish.
But they attract competitors from all over the world.
Lukasz wenta is from poland and has been coming to participate
In the highland games for over 10 years.
He specializes in the weight events,
Including the iconic caber toss,
Which involves tossing a large log
Weighing up to 180 pounds, end over end.
Lukasz says, "although I'm polish,
I feel at home in scotland."
A home like nowhere else.
A people inspired by their landscape.
Wild, passionate, proud.
Scotland.
♪♪