Grand Tours of Scotland's Lochs Episode Rating Graph

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.

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.

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 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.

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 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.

Paul Murton explores the Argyll coast, starting from the sacred sands of Kilmory Bay on Loch Sween, and including a visit to Lilly Loch in Knapdale Forest, where he sees some 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.

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.

Paul Murton 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 Murton tours Scotland's lochs. He travels into the heart of the Rough Bounds of Knoydart via Loch nan Umbh, Loch Morar, Loch Nevis and Loch Arkaig.

Paul Murton tours Scotland's lochs. He explores some lochs close to Scotland's densely populated central belt, starting on the banks of the Lake of Menteith.

Paul Murton tours Scotland's lochs. He embarks on a grand tour from Lairg on Loch Shin to Lochinver and finally, to the summit of Suilven.

Paul Murton views breathtaking scenery among the lochs and mountains of Wester Ross. Speaking to locals, he discovers that the loch-side communities were only finally connected by road in the 1970s. Before then, boats linked people who lived an almost island existence. 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.

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.