THE COASTS OF CLYDE

e [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] I came from Canada to Scotland partly because I wanted to see the land of my grandparents and partly because I'd been told it was a wonderful place to have a holiday when I caught my first glimpse of the Clyde I knew I'd made no mistake [Music] and I wasn't the only [Music] one now here I was at grck and ready to make a start I soon found out that the way to get about this part of the world is by steamer Clyde is laced with steamer tracks and you've only got to look at the map to see why but I also found that you've only got to get a Runabout ticket and you can travel all over the the area by train and steamer so I went by rail to catch my first steamer at Weis Bay because I'd heard the station there was worth looking at and to my surprise it was that's right pronounced weams quite famous this place always winning awards for the best kept station in these parts they don't grow stations like this where I come from [Music] I could have spent a lot longer looking at the flowers but I had to catch a boat [Music] the people around here believe in getting full value for money I mean if you're traveling on a steamer and that steamer has engines part of your money's worth is to see those engines at [Music] work but as far as father is concerned seeing the engines May have something to do with the fact that you pass the refreshment bar on the way down and on the way [Music] up I came up from um watching the engines in time to observe birthing operations when we came into Lars and to consider how much we depend on other people and their skills not only top people like the captain but ordinary fells like those who man the winches or there's the man who has to get a line ashore too he probably can't remember when he first learned that a wet Line's easier to throw than a dry one and if you asked him how many Loops you should have in each hand he wouldn't be able to tell you it's a case of how it feels and how it looks and it's the fact that he's there to do it it's one of the everyday things the world depends on like rope [Music] I once met a guy who traveled in R eventually they had to cut him loose you can get to Lars by train too the line comes right past the monument that commemorates the day the Scots threw the Vikings as part of the world [Music] now they're only allowed in as tourists from Lars I went to milport on the island of great CBRE where in 1800 they had a preacher who used to pray for the greater and lesser Cumbre than the adjacent islands of Great Britain and Ireland [Music] this is a game imported to Scotland from oh somewhere in the [Music] South the next day came in Misty and uncertain so it was just right for a visit to the Marine Biological Station where a small number of scientists engaged on fishery research in investigate the habits of the local underwater creatures and they certainly have quite a collection in these parts [Music] [Applause] n [Music] uh excuse me I think I'll go have another look at the engines [Music] with Lars and Roth Denon is is one of the big three resorts on the Clyde looking up from the pier you can see the statue of Robert Burns's Highland Mary the cowl games are held in denoon and the Highland regimental bands were just marching towards the ground when among the penants lining the route I saw of all things my grandmother's tart the hunting McKinnon and somehow it made me feel at home here in this unfamiliar scene [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] some of Britain's top athletes come to to these games but I wanted to see the real Highland events the original form of hammer [Music] throwing and tossing the cab the cab apparently is a length of tree trunk which is saw down until someone can lift it like this then he staggers along and tries to toss it end over end I guess they're applauding him because he didn't drop it on his [Music] toe in Roth say I took a rest from cab tossing and watched putting instead it was one of those still warm days that the Gulf Stream often brings to these [Music] parts they were loading one of the new car fairies equipped with lifts and turntables and tied up at the pier was the Queen Mary the original Queen Mary and of course they built an even bigger one and this steamer was renamed Queen Mary II these ships don't only bring passengers they deliver the groceries as well and the deck hands have their own way of carrying milk [Music] CHS they don't waste any time either they've hardly landed the oatmeal before the loudspeakers are telling you where to catch the next boat and almost before I realized it I was back on one of the Steamers again [Music] [Music] But Clyde is just as famous for sailing as any place in Britain they've had Prince Phillip and his Yacht Blue Bottle here in the [Music] F we saw the sailing on the way to the kyes of but a trip through the kyes is a traditional part of any holiday on the CDE and when tradition's backed up by a name like the kyes of beauty who could resist it kyes means Narrows and it's a particularly tricky bit of navigation because they have to take these Steamers through a narrow winding Channel where in Rob Roy's day the Highlanders used to drive their cattle across to but at low water to keep them safe from Raiders [Music] la [Music] we'd passed through the Western channel of the kyes when I saw some Curious creatures basking on some rocks seals and again I was reminded of my background because the McKinnon were in fact known as the sons of the seal started with my great uncle George he was always on the [Music] [Applause] Rocks later one of the Deans pointed out the Church of col TR to someone this is one of the places where you're sure to be told that story about nobody living in the village ever being buried in that churchyard they have to be dead [Music] first after the kyes I thought I'd like to see something of the locks so up the Waters of L long I went past some of the loveliest scenery I've ever looked at that mountain on the left is known as the cobbler and past some of the loveliest names I've ever heard Blairmore finart Lo ardan tiny you can understand why no Scott will ever forget Scotland no matter where he is L long comes to an end at arar there you can either walk or catch a bus and in a very short time you find yourself standing on the famous Bonnie Banks of L Loman [Music] another of the traditions in this part of the world is the business of going Dune the water that means sailing out towards the mouth of the F the CDE is glasgow's Riviera and Coney Island rolled into one they come out from Glasgow Renu Paisley Kil Marik and all the other surrounding industrial towns they fill up the boarding houses and small hotels in Lars milport Roth Denon and gur and take their annual dose of fresh air sailing dun the water [Music] a [Music] [Applause] [Music] this trip gave me plenty of time for observing Life on Deck and there's plenty of it ah food you I couldn't help wondering where it all came from must have some Bakery somewhere I thought grick probably wherever they are they must be kept pretty busy supplying all these Steamers with buns and cakes and sausage rolls [Music] [Applause] [Music] for [Music] by now I was as hungry as a hunting McKinnon and when I finally got to the refreshment bar those scon and jam tasted better than any others I'd ever had and then we came to Aon Aon a name full of ancient wisdom gentle and strong like the sound of some Celtic mother calling her sons Scotland in miniature Hills in the north palm trees in the South the land of the Heather and of the [Music] Hill good Farmland too to grow the oats for the oat cakes [Music] I saw some hikers who were obviously spending more than just a day or two on the island it's ideal walking country and they were making the most of it and besides all this there's bradic Beach the broad Vic the Bay of [Music] Vikings I saw one of those families that come back to Aaron generation after generation they were just strolling along and enjoying the way the Clyde was [Music] looking and there was another family walking up towards the ruins of an old Cottage Fallen derelict perhaps during the Highland clearances and evictions or perhaps when the inhabitants had gone to the new world and then I remembered of course it was Aaron that my grandmother had come from perhaps from this place perhaps from this Cottage who knows she may have looked out across the front and she may have gone out from here down to the old Sandstone Harbor to leave the soil of Scotland [Music] forever as I looked back at Aron it was like a crown to all my other memories of this holiday the faces the scenes the splashes of color any of those unbelievably lovely sites you can find only around the coasts of Clyde [Music] [Applause] [Music]