Grand Tours of Scotland's Lochs - Episode Guide

Paul Murton explores the wilds of Loch Etive, from the spectacular tidal race of the Falls of Lora, where kayakers revel in the overfalls and ride a three-metre standing wave, to high-altitude camping on a hill opposite Buchaille Etive More, watching the sunset, and lights up the hundreds of lochans across Rannoch Moor.

Paul travels from Loch Gairloch to Loch Maree, a grand tour that includes meeting the king and queen of Islonia, matching a medieval feat of archery, diving on a wartime wreck in Loch Ewe and finding himself short-changed at the money tree on an island in Loch Maree.

Paul begins his Grand Tour with a chilly swim across Loch Ba high on Rannoch Moor, struggles against the elements while trainspotting and meets some veteran Tunnel Tigers - men who tunnelled deep inside the Grampians, diverting water to hydroelectric schemes.

Paul travels into the secret heart of the Rough Bounds of Knoydart by way of Loch nan Umbh, Loch Morar, Loch Nevis and Loch Arkaig. He lifts the lid on the area's secret connection with the celebrated SOE (Special Operations Executive) which Churchill hoped would set Europe ablaze. On the shores of several lochs, agents were trained in the dark arts of sabotage. On Loch Morar, Paul meets a man who claims to have seen the legendary monster Morag (pronounced Voorag), before getting a ferry to Inverie in the heart of the Rough Bounds and searching for Jacobite gold beside Loch Arkaig.

1.2 billion years ago, the far north of Sutherland was struck by a meteorite. The wreckage of this cataclysmic event has been almost completely worn away by time, but the rocks in the landscape still bear some traces, which Paul unpicks as he embarks on a grand tour from Lairg on Loch Shin to Lochinver and, finally, to the summit of Suilven - the sugarloaf mountain.

In the final programme in the series, Paul explores some lochs close to Scotland's densely populated central belt. Starting on the banks of the most famous lake in Scotland - the Lake of Menteith - Paul wanders through an enchanting landscape, visiting Loch Ard, Loch Arklet, Loch Katrine and Loch Achray, before climbing a mountain in miniature, Ben Venue.

On his first grand tour of the new series, Paul explores the magical Argyll coast, travelling from the sacred sands of Kilmory Bay on Loch Sween. On the beautiful Lilly Loch in Knapdale forest he gets a glimpse of beaver, before joining a group of steam enthusiasts restoring an old puffer on the Crinan Canal. Stone Age rock art leads him north to Loch Awe, where he drives a herd of Highland cows towards his final destination - the mountainous heights of Ben Cruachan.

Paul borrows a bike and cycles over the infamous Bealach na Ba, one of Britain's highest and steepest mountain passes, before reliving the glory days of the Kishorn oil rig fabrication yard, which in the 1970s built the world's biggest movable structure. Journey's end is on an island in Loch Carron with a curious connection with Peter Pan.

In this programme, Paul travels from Britain's most westerly mainland point to a place once guarded by an ancient Celtic goddess. On the way he discovers how the ancient oak woods of Loch Sunart were once a hive of industry, then goes deep underground to discover how 18th-century miners named a new element. On the shores of Loch Linnhe, he meets the owner of a castle and recreates a scene from Monty Python's Holy Grail, before ending his grand tour from the heights of the pap of Glencoe.

In this episode, Paul heads to one of Britain's remotest railway stations. Miles from any road, it was built to service several grand sporting lodges in the days when the rich and fashionable came to shoot game and fish the lochs of the Flow Country. Heading into the wilderness, Paul discovers a legacy of habitation before the Highland clearances, and learns how early industrial plans to exploit the vast reserves of peat would have destroyed an ecosystem which is now valued throughout the world for its wild beauty. Paul then pans for gold in an icy river before heading for a miracle cure at the Lourdes of the north - the tiny, deserted Loch ma Naire. Journey's end is on the sands of the Kyle of Tongue, where Paul learns about a consignment of Jacobite gold that could have changed history.

On this Grand Tour, Paul discovers the strategic wartime importance of Loch Ryan and meets a man whose memory of those days is tinged with tragedy. In Stranraer, Paul discovers a legacy of Arctic exploration and an old can of bully beef, then meets a clan chief who tends a unique garden surrounded by two lochs. Reliving the days of steam trains, Paul walks the old railway line towards Loch Ken, where a monster lurks beneath the waters. On the banks of Loch Trool, he discovers some rocky evidence of Bruce's victory over the English in 1307, and then climbs the highest mountain south of Ben Lomond - the mighty Merrick.

In the final episode of the series, Paul visits Kintyre and encounters a strange and spiritual cave painting on Davaar Island, before sampling spirits of another kind in Campbeltown, famous the world over for whisky. This leads him to uncover the story of the only coal mine in the Highlands and a seam that runs all the way to Ireland. Heading up Loch Fyne, Paul joins the last of the Ring Net fishermen onboard a restored fishing boat heading to Lochgilphead, where he tracks down the inventor of Scotland's lost supercar - the Argyll Turbo. Journey's end is in the middle of Loch Fyne on a truly remarkable relic of the Ice Age.

In the first programme of the series, Paul visits Wester Ross and discovers the heritage of Little Loch Broom. He then travels to the off-grid community of Scoraig where he learns about violin making and wind power, before taking the plunge to explore the hidden depths of the Corrieshalloch Gorge. In Ullapool, on the shores of Loch Broom, Paul learns the Russian word for parsley and how a huge fleet of Russian fish factory ships known as Klondykers used to visit the town. He then follows a red herring that connects the lochs of the west coast to the history of the slave trade. Journey's end is on the rocky summit of Stac Pollaidh.

Paul starts in the hills above Stathpeffer on the waters of Loch Ussie, famous for its connections with the Brahan Seer, who predicted future calamities. Here he meets musician Lauren MacColl, who found inspiration in the legend of the seer. On a golf course above Strathpeffer, Paul discovers an unlikely connection between the conventional old spa town below and the wickedest man in the world, Aleister Crowley. In a nearby wood, the mysterious traditions of a clootie well are revealed to Paul by a member of the travelling community. On the shores of the Cromarty Firth, Paul visits a folly on a hill and discovers an ancient Pictish carved stone. At Tain, the oldest royal burgh in Scotland, he learns to blow glass before heading for the Dornoch Firth where he encounters a witch and a fairy bridge.

Paul follows in the footsteps of Bonnie Prince Charlie exploring the lesser-known lochs along the west coast of Scotland. Landing at Glenuig, he makes his way inland to Loch Moidart and MacDonald country, walking the old coffin road, which was used for centuries by funeral parties, taking their dead to a sacred isle. On the track Paul meets a trials bike enthusiast and learns the secrets of a 'dabbing coat' before landing off the Green Isle where he rings a 1,100-year-old bell for the dead. Taking a boat north, Paul sails up Loch Shiel to Glenfinnan where Bonnie Prince Charlie officially began his rising to reclaim the throne for the Stuart dynasty. From a forgotten monument that commemorates this event, Paul heads back to the coast and Loch Ailort, where he learns how to knife fight before taking a trip across the loch to a deserted community on the roadless Ardnish peninsula.

Paul sails along a much-loved route through the Kyles of Bute to Dunoon, discovering a secret history of WW2 bouncing bombs along the way. From Dunoon and its connections with international singing star Harry Lauder, Paul gets nostalgic about nuclear submarines in the Holy Loch. Here he meets a man with an impressive water-powered organ. Crossing the loch, Paul beats hot steel with a blacksmith whose ancestors have been working Vulcan's forge for six generations. Their work includes the Golden Gates at Benmore gardens, where Paul learns about a sugar daddy who collected art on a scale to rival the Tate collection. On the shores of Loch Long, Paul discovers a Viking connection in the shape of a vintage sailing boat which takes him to scale the heights of the people's mountain – The Cobbler.

Paul Murton's loch-hopping journey across Scotland reaches the quiet lochs of the Borders, where he learns dog handling techniques at a school for sheep dogs, and then heads to some man-made lochs in the Moorfoot Hills, where he hears tell of hidden treasure. Then, in Edinburgh he discovers the story of a Dutch-speaking Scottish minister on skates and goes in search of a lost river and two long-vanished lochs in the heart of the city. Crossing the Firth of Forth, Paul travels around the industrial lochs of the old Fife coal field before walking in the footsteps of Mary, Queen of Scots on a haunted island in Loch Leven.

The last programme of the series sees Paul travelling hopefully from the shores of Loch Hope to the glorious and lonely expanse of Sandwood Bay on the far north west of Scotland. Along the way he encounters a Pictish king and an ancient broch, discovers wartime secrets in Loch Eriboll and a hidden monument to a naval disaster. The single-track road around Loch Eriboll still uses passing places to allow overtaking. It was on this very same road in the 1960s that John Lennon of the Beatles crashed his car. Reaching the north coast of Scotland, Paul plunges underground at Smoo Cave where he crosses a subterranean loch before encountering the Devil himself. From the tidal sands of the Kyle of Durness, Paul heads to Kinlochbervie where he learns the art of drystone dyking from a master craftsman, before trekking over the moors to the surf of distant Sandwood Bay.

Paul explores the lochs of Skye. He hears tales of the singer Donovan and his dream of a hippy colony, thrills at the sound of the pipes, tries on a jacket fit for a king and goes in search of a Viking ship canal. After learning about the mythical female Celtic warrior and sorceress Scáthach, Paul has a lesson in spear-throwing, before tackling one of the longest rock climbs in the Cuillin Mountains – the Dubhs Ridge. Journey's end is one of the finest mountain views in Scotland.

This Grand Tour starts at Loch Glashan above Loch Fyne, where Paul Murton travels back in time to learn how to paddle a coracle. At Old Castle Lachlan, he dabbles in Victorian virtual reality, courtesy of George Washington Wilson and his stereoscopic camera. At the open-air museum of Auchindrain, Paul follows Queen Victoria on the trail of poverty tourism, before having fun with the tale of MacPhunn - a man who cheated the noose. The wreckage of a WW2 Superfortress and stories of diamond smuggling emerge as Paul visits a sacred Tinker's Heart before ringing the changes at Inveraray.

Leaving Kinlochleven – once known as the electric village because of its links to power-hungry aluminium smelting - Paul discovers a forgotten German PoW camp from WWI in the woods nearby. Taking an old military road out of the village, Paul climbs into the surrounding hills and arrives at the Blackwater dam - a colossal memorial in concrete to the last of the navvies. After visiting the graves of some who died during its construction, Paul treks across empty moorland to a lonely bothy. From Corrour, the UK's highest and remotest station, he arrives unexpectedly in the lap of luxury. After failing miserably at clay pigeon shooting at Corrour Lodge, Paul makes a long hike down to Loch Laggan, where he is taken out to an island with a legendary feasting tradition.

Paul Murton travels through old Perthshire, shrouded in a mythic past when kelpies lurked in the lochs of the Trossachs. He lends a hand bringing in the cattle and hears how Rob Roy MacGregor might not have been the romantic figure of popular fiction. Was he a hero or just a cattle thief? At Rob Roy's graveside, Paul meets a man who casts doubts on the clansman's last resting place. He then travels along a disused railway above a beautiful loch to a place where the earth once moved for folk at the 'Shaky Toun'. A trek on horseback takes him to Loch Tay, where he goes back to the Iron Age and learns how to light a fire without matches. Scaling a local giant, journey's end is on the summit of mist-wreathed Ben Lawers.

Paul's loch-hopping journey starts on the west coast on a wild and windswept stretch of Loch Hourn. Travelling inland, Paul reaches sheltered Loch Quoich, where he hears tales of Scotland's last outlaw. On the shores of Loch Lochy, he meets a couple who had a memorable encounter with a monster from the deep called Lizzie. A detour south leads to a ruined bridge where the first shots were fired of the '45. Paul then walks an old railway line above the Great Glen and inhales diesel smoke from a reeking shunter at a station undergoing restoration. A canal journey takes him to Fort Augustus, where he searches for the original fort. On Loch Ness, Paul meets a man who, when still a schoolboy, met the fastest man on water, John Cobb aka the Gentle Giant.

Paul explores the forgotten lands of Morvern. On the shores of Loch Aline, he sees the devil in a fossil and then plunges deep underground to discover an unlikely connection between sand and WW2. Above Loch Arienas, he hears the moving testimony of a family who were cleared from the land in the 19th century. Paul then has an al fresco art lesson and tries to paint the scene. At Fort William, he paces the ruins of the original fort and learns that the town that now surrounds it was once known as Maryburgh. Following a Jacobite theme, Paul encounters the Strange Plate and discovers the secrets of Jacobite paper money. Journey's end is a 'loch that never was' beneath the magnificent 300ft Steall Falls.