Hay's Way: Two months on the road with rural affairs correspondent Katharine Hay
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00:00 [Music]
00:19 Hazeway has made it to Dumfries and Galloway.
00:23 I've just walked from Newcastleton and I'm on the Langham Road towards Langham.
00:28 The next region I'll be walking into as part of the six-month walking project that I'm doing around Scotland.
00:35 So it's been just coming up to two months now of being on the road and there's been a lot of ups and just a few little downs
00:42 whilst walking through quite challenging conditions with regards to the weather,
00:47 but also just trying to keep up writing and producing content whilst on the road in rural areas.
00:54 Earlier I was trying to do an interview, ironically, with a person who has a company where they're trying to boost 4G and signal,
01:03 internet access for rural communities, and there was no signal.
01:07 So I was relying on some local café, a local café's Wi-Fi, which unfortunately wasn't very strong.
01:14 So yeah, that just happened earlier and highlights just some of the challenges that I've come across while doing this walk.
01:23 Others have been just trying to find places to charge laptop, phone, and to be able to sit for a couple of hours to write up articles.
01:31 Most places have been really accommodating.
01:34 But yeah, in some of the places I'm walking through, it's small villages, small towns, and I don't feel good, you know, using up their tables for work.
01:45 So it does sort of force you to be quite creative.
01:48 And in fact, in one place, the waiter said to me, look, there is a community hub in the town if you wish to go to that.
01:55 And it ended up being perfect.
01:57 They were just there to cater to anyone who wanted to come in and just, you know, whether it was to do some work or read or just get some support.
02:05 The day I was there, actually, it was a 90th birthday party, which was quite a fun thing to witness.
02:14 Other than that, I've used some town and village local libraries.
02:19 In one place, I used the local museum.
02:21 So, yeah, there's certainly been options if you look hard enough.
02:25 Other challenges have been, yeah, the weather, which I know sounds like an obvious one, but farmers can back me up here, that it's been a pretty well, in some cases,
02:40 some farmers have said it's been the worst winter they've seen in living memory because of how wet it's been.
02:45 So camping in April and March as well was quite difficult.
02:51 Also, just walking through farmland, walking through fields that were absolutely soaked through.
02:57 It just makes it quite hard when you're carrying some 14 kilograms on your back,
03:02 was sliding around quite a lot and just took much longer to walk through fields than I planned.
03:07 Also, just arriving at the end of each day, whether it was to pitch the tent or just to stay in a hostel or even at someone's house covered in mud was a bit difficult.
03:17 And yeah, because washing clothes has had to take a backseat a little bit when I'm camping for several days in a row.
03:24 But there have been some really sunny days.
03:27 There was a period where I was swimming in the sea a lot just to wash mainly because there were quite a few weeks throughout the last two months where I've had to camp for quite a few days in a row.
03:40 Just because a lower budget option hotel hasn't been available.
03:46 And in some areas they're really lacking in hostels.
03:50 So but that's why that's why I have my tent.
03:52 Something I've really noticed walking in the borders is the lack of affordable accommodation options.
03:59 It's been quite difficult just finding any hotels.
04:05 I mean, I'm lucky I've got my tent, but I can imagine for people who are just trying to find places to stay at night whilst visiting the area, there's very few options that are kind of below.
04:17 And when I was looking, you're looking at minimum £80 and that was for the glamping sites.
04:24 Maybe it's just because it's coming into the season where prices start getting going up for the summer.
04:30 I don't know. But yeah, the only hostel I could find when I was going along the border in that area.
04:38 So all sort of along the English Scottish border was the Kirk Yetham hostel, which I really recommend anyone traveling on foot or by bike.
04:45 It's or I mean, even in your car, it's a really welcoming and really good spot.
04:52 So on Easter weekend, I was in Fife.
04:56 I was in probably one of the most popular areas to go when it's sunny on Easter weekend, which is the Fife coast.
05:02 And there was just no room at any inn between Anstruther and Ely where I was walking.
05:09 So, yeah, that's partly why I have the tent, but also because, for example, where I am just now, there are some parts of the walk which I've been on where the scenery is beautiful and it's really nice to be able to camp in.
05:23 15 minute walk away from the B&B.
05:28 I booked it because I spent the last few nights camping.
05:33 And as you can probably tell from the way I look, I'm just quite in need of a shower, to be honest.
05:42 I went swimming in the sea this morning, which was amazing, but freezing.
05:49 So cold that it actually sort of started hurting.
05:53 I didn't get in for very long.
05:55 But then this woman called Judith, Judith Dunlop, had a sauna on the beach.
06:08 And as you can imagine, it was popular during Easter weekend, but she saw me get out of my tent this morning.
06:18 She said she's never seen someone so glamorous emerge from a tent, but I wonder if there was some sarcasm.
06:28 Because then she offered me a free seat in the sauna.
06:33 Among the difficulties, there's obviously been a lot of highlights.
06:37 One is just right now I'm being slowly approached by these feral goats in Dumfries and Galway.
06:47 They were quite shy earlier, but they obviously don't mind me standing still and talking to camera.
06:57 One that springs to mind was arriving in Arbroath at the back door of the Arbroath fisheries.
07:04 I met Campbell Scott, the owner, who showed me the process of making the famous smoky from start to finish.
07:14 Just run the hose over.
07:17 Another highlight was walking to Cove Harbour in the borders quite late on in the evening.
07:23 I think I walked through there at about 8pm.
07:25 It was just completely still. There was no one around.
07:29 When you're meeting and talking to people a lot on a daily basis, and then obviously having to work and write up stories,
07:37 moments like that have just stuck out for me.
07:41 It's just a little time to sit down and reset and process all this information and all these stories that I'm hearing day in day out from people,
07:51 which I've really enjoyed.
07:52 But obviously at times it's important to just take some time out.
07:55 I guess actually during the day as well when I'm walking, sometimes I come across people and they'll walk with me and they'll talk.
08:02 And they'll lead me on to some other story and will give me a story idea that I'm thinking about.
08:07 But luckily, because this trip involves a lot of walking, I'm getting that kind of downtime as well, just to myself.
08:16 Another highlight was going out on the St. Ab's lifeboat, the independent lifeboat station down in the borders.
08:28 We've got Barry and Mark from the St. Ab's independent lifeboat station here.
08:33 And earlier we were just out practicing with the defibrillator and doing CPR,
08:39 which was quite tough because the sea was a little bit rough this evening.
08:43 Could you tell us a bit about what led to St. Ab's becoming an independent lifeboat station?
08:54 So in 2015 the RLI did a review of the East Coast and basically they decided that due to operational reasons that the St. Ab's lifeboat wasn't required.
09:07 So from that they started a real campaign to save the lifeboat.
09:13 There was a 250,000 petition to try and save the lifeboat here in St. Ab's.
09:20 And that just sort of fell on deaf ears and in 2016 they actually closed the lifeboat station and took the boat away.
09:29 I know that in order to get that amazing boat we went on earlier and seeing how fast it can go and how efficient it is,
09:35 it requires a lot of fundraising and donations because obviously you don't have that sort of publicity that RLI can get for their individual stations.
09:45 So how did you manage to get the funds for the boat, for the kit?
09:52 Because I understand all the crew and everybody had to sort of, you know, it was luttered, somebody said this whole…
09:56 Yeah it was. When the RLI closed the station everything was removed.
10:00 So it was literally starting off from scratch.
10:03 So with an unbelievable effort from a lot of individuals from around the village,
10:08 they had cast the net to see what we could get from local businesses for example.
10:15 One of the major benefactors is Mr Tunnick who was an unbelievable help with them raising funds and financing the boat.
10:23 Spotting and hearing some of Scotland's wildlife has also been a highlight.
10:28 Obviously walking alone for quite a few hours each day, sometimes you're just completely on your own
10:35 and you're fine-tuning certain things around you.
10:38 I mean one of those has been listening to different birds.
10:42 And while walking in the borders recently I could hear a lot of skylarks just in the fields of this farmland that I was walking through.
10:51 I think with just with the mist kind of descending as I've been walking,
10:57 it starts to make it look like a scene or setting out of, I don't know, Monty Python or The Highlander or something.
11:08 But I appreciate maybe it doesn't to anyone else.
11:11 I think it's just when you're walking in it for a while with no one to talk to.
11:16 But the other thing I wanted to comment on was, I'll stop talking in a second, but this…
11:23 Yeah, the skylarks.
11:26 [Birds chirping]
11:30 Obviously the people who I've met along the way have been making this trip entirely worth it.
11:38 I've heard stories, be it important ones that matter to the rural environment in Scotland,
11:45 but also ones that have made me laugh a lot.
11:49 There was a marijuana plantation found inside an old derelict mill building in Selkirk.
11:58 And Robin Elliott, who works in an active mill next door,
12:03 was obviously quite concerned that the police were going to have questions for him.
12:07 Anyway, it turned out that he wasn't involved in any shape or form,
12:12 but he had people come down to him at the mill to say, "Are you the man who puts weed into tweed?"
12:19 And yeah, he's just had a good sense of humour about it.
12:23 So I've just been trying to do a little video diary piece just to kind of update Hazeway where I am.
12:30 And every now and then when I look just beyond the phone, beyond the camera, I just see this.
12:37 [Birds chirping]
12:51 A man who I passed earlier did say, "If you hear clashing of steel and the stomping of hooves, then just run."
13:00 So I'm not really sure what he was referring to.
13:06 They just have a real sort of stare about them.
13:09 [Birds chirping]
13:18 I'm meeting with members of the Langham Community Trust, the community initiative,
13:23 who, well, they're responsible for the largest community buyout in the south of Scotland.
13:28 They bought some land off the Duke of Buccleuch and, in fact, I'm standing among some of it just now.
13:34 So I'm going along to a community meeting with them tomorrow.
13:37 Yeah, you mentioned since becoming a landowner, basically, which you are now, I mean, getting used to the land.
13:43 How long do you think you need to sort of...
13:46 Oh, God, it's probably a lifetime.
13:49 I think what we've found is that every year, every day, every week, actually, you're learning something new.
13:54 But you get to a point where you've got to start making decisions.
13:58 But we will make mistakes.
14:01 There's no doubt about it, but that's part of it.
14:04 Showing me a landowner who doesn't, you don't just come in to yourself.
14:08 You must be arriving into Langham, so first stop in Dumfries and Galway on Hayes Way.
14:16 Next, Hayes Way will be heading through Dumfries and Galway.
14:19 I'll be walking through the region for about two to three weeks.
14:23 So if you're in the area and you want to get in touch or come and join me for a bit of a stroll,
14:28 you can do by contacting me via the Scotsman website, or you can also contact me on my Instagram page,
14:35 which is rural_cat with a K.
14:38 If you're not in Dumfries and Galway, if you're in another part of Scotland,
14:41 then still don't hesitate to get in touch if you have a story to share.
14:45 I'm on the road to try and bring rural issues, stories that are important to rural Scotland,
14:52 sort of to audiences that might not be hearing them as much as they should be.
14:55 So it doesn't always have to be exactly where I am.
14:59 So, yeah, as I said, you can contact me via the Scotsman website or on my Instagram page,
15:06 which is rural_cat with a K.
15:10 If you don't have a story, if you're just interested to follow some of the content that I'm coming across,
15:14 the stories, the pictures, the writing, then you can do so on the Scotsman website.
15:19 You can subscribe and everything that I'm producing is on a section called Hay's Way.
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