In Search of the Real Scotland

Paul Murton follows in the footsteps of the first tourists to Scotland. With a Victorian guidebook in his hands, he travels across the country tracing the changes that have taken place since the birth of Scottish tourism 200 years ago.

Paul boards the Jacobite steamtrain, and star of the Harry Potter movies, to make one of the worlds most famous railways journeys and goes 'in search of the real Scotland'.

For centuries, outsiders had seldom visited the beautiful landscape of the west coast, but the power of steam changed everything. Within a century, a network of railways spread across the entire country, connecting the industrial cities of the south to the mountains and glens of the north. With the trains came the tourists - all clamouring for a piece of the real Scotland.

Paul's route starts at the foot of Ben Nevis in Fort William and continues along the beautiful railway line to Mallaig and onwards to the fabled Isle of Skye.