00:00I'm Alistair Dalton, the Scotsman's Transport's correspondent.
00:09Join me on a unique way to tour Loch Catran at the heart of the Trossachs, which is reputed
00:15to be the birthplace of Scottish tourism 200 years ago when Sir Walter Scott set his poem
00:21The Lady of the Lake there in 1810.
00:24The loch has also attracted many other writers over the years, including Jules Verne for
00:29his novel The Underground City, set beneath the loch.
00:34I sailed on the historic steamship Sir Walter Scott, which celebrates its 125th anniversary
00:41in 2025.
00:43We sailed from Trossachs Pier at the east end of Loch Catran to Stronachlacha near the
00:48west.
00:49I then cycled back along the north side of the loch, taking in fantastic views along
00:54the 14-mile route.
00:56The tarmac private road is about as smooth as you'll get in Scotland, and in my two-hour
01:01trip I didn't meet a single other vehicle.
01:07Hi I'm Jason Clarke, Director of Catran Hills Bike Hire at Loch Catran.
01:12You've run this business here for four years, what sort of changes have happened in terms
01:16of expansion?
01:17So we've invested heavily in the bike fleet with a range of quality bikes including electric
01:22bikes, standard bikes, kids bikes, trailers, and even some tandems.
01:27And it's all about the quality of the experience, it's really important that visitors have a
01:30great day on the bikes, but importantly that it's safe.
01:33And for people who haven't tried an electric bike, what's it like?
01:37So that's the thing, a lot of people are quite sniffy about electric bikes, never tried them,
01:41think it's cheating somehow, but once they try it, they're converted.
01:45It feels like on this route there's quite a few big hills, and it feels like someone's
01:49pushing you up the steep bits from behind.
01:51It's just like a different way of cycling, and they love it.
01:54And most people come back saying they want one.
01:56So we do find that we do convert a lot of people to the joys of e-bikes, and what we
02:01call the e-bike smile.
02:05My name is Stuart, I'm one of the boatmasters here at Steamships of Waterscot at Loch Catran.
02:11And what's it like being finally able to do a full season after a number of years where
02:16you haven't been able to operate?
02:18We're delighted to be back actually doing the full season.
02:20We started in June last year, and it's nice to be able to just have all the seasons on
02:27the loch.
02:28Especially when you've got May with the bluebells, you've got the heather now, on a nice day
02:32you would normally see the heather, and then especially when you get to the autumn time
02:36where you get the beautiful leaves and the colours and things on the trees.
02:39Yeah, we're really excited to be back, and welcoming everybody that's on board at the
02:44moment as you can see around you.
02:46Tell us about the experience of taking a trip on this historic vessel.
02:50In the morning you can take a bike on board, and you can go all the way to Stranach Lachir
02:54where you can get off and cycle the 14 miles back.
02:57Or you can come back with us on the boat.
02:59Or you have the option of doing a Freedom Ticket, which is getting off at Stranach Lachir,
03:03spending two to three hours exploring some of the walks around Stranach Lachir, and meeting
03:10us back for half past three to come back to Trussack Pier on the steamer.
03:13So you've got various options over the course of the day.
03:16Travelling on the Steamships, a bit of a unique experience?
03:19It's the last of its kind.
03:22It's very quiet, and there's so many historical features on today.
03:26You look at the engine, and it's the last screw-driven passenger steamer in regular
03:31service in the country.
03:33It's quite a special loch.
03:35It feels isolated.
03:37To me it's the bonniest loch in Scotland.
03:39And you can see why literary figures like Wordsworth and Sir Walter Scott himself based
03:44their works here, and inspired so many people to follow in the footsteps.
03:49It's a stunning area.
03:50And then you had the steamer service starting off with a rowing boat, the Waterwich, then
03:55you had the Gypsy, then you had Royal Borough 1, Royal Borough 2, and ultimately Sir Walter
03:59Scott, been in service since 1899.
04:02And what's kept the boat out of service over the last few years?
04:07We've had, sadly, we've found some hairline cracks in the boilers, and being a pressure
04:10vessel we had to fix that, of course, and we couldn't run that.
04:15So we've spent a lot of money.
04:17I think it topped out at around about ÂŁ850,000 by the time we've added everything into that.
04:22Replacing boilers, doing a little bit of work in the hull, a little bit of work in the deck,
04:27but also trying to raise visitor experience as well.
04:30We've extended the canopy out the back, and yeah, it provides a fantastic visitor experience
04:36with so many different options here in the Trossach.
04:40And increasing interest in people taking bikes on board and cycling back along the loch?
04:45And the interest is growing, it's growing very, very quickly, to the point where we're
04:49getting adapted bikes, we're getting a lot of the e-bikes, we've got every little bit
04:55of a tool that you can attach to a bike, trailers, tag-alongs.
04:58If you have a bicycle on board folks, if you don't mind just stepping out onto the floating
05:03pier, and a member of crew will pass your bicycle out to you.
05:09I'm Jim Riech, I'm an active travel officer working for the Loch Lomond and Trossach's
05:14Countryside Trust.
05:15So my job involves working with a number of communities around the National Park, just
05:21helping them with their programmes and projects that encourage more people to cycle, walk
05:26and wheel around the National Park.
05:28So Loch Catrin is one of the classic cycling routes in the area, it's always been used
05:33for a good hundred years or more I think by local cyclists, particularly from the Central
05:38Belt, but it's a traffic-free route, and it's a route where you can integrate with the water
05:43bus service or the steamship that's on Loch Catrin, so it gives you a boat and bike experience.
05:50Within the National Park, National Cycle Network 7 goes all the way through the National Park,
05:56so all the way from Balloch, all the way through the National Park to Kilin, and actually all
06:00the way up to the Cairngorms National Park, so that's a real artery that connects the
06:05two National Parks.
06:07But within the various communities there's lots of gravel ridings really taken off, so
06:11again it's fairly traffic-free riding, so in the likes of Aberfoyle we have gravel foil,
06:17so lots of people are coming there and riding on the gravel trails because they are traffic-free,
06:22so that's a real attraction for cycling in the area.
06:26Communities are also connected to each other by that gravel trail network, so it makes
06:30some real good connections between the communities, and it connects people and communities with
06:36nature as well, so if you're out walking, wheeling and cycling you're much more connected
06:41with nature, and a lot of what happens in the National Park is round about nature connectedness
06:46and nature restoration.
06:49We've seen a good increase in the number of cyclists in the area, and it's become, yeah,
06:54increasingly a destination for people cycling.
06:57Hey, my name is Duane Telford and I'm an adaptive cyclist.
07:02Adaptive cycling just provides opportunities for people with disabilities to get out and
07:08about on bikes.
07:09I've got primary progressive multiple sclerosis, and I've been losing mobility over the last
07:1510 years, so I've gradually, it's been getting harder and harder and harder to ride a normal
07:21upright cycle, probably at the point where I've been able, just declining and not able
07:26to ride a bike anymore, I came across Adaptive Riders Collective who introduced me to handbikes,
07:31and it's just given me the opportunity to keep doing something that I love.
07:35So it really has just given me that, I guess, allowing me to continue following a passion
07:41that I have for riding bikes.
07:43It's great, it provides opportunities to get out in areas of the countryside that would
07:46normally be inaccessible, so yeah, it's a great, a great opportunity for people to get
07:51out and do stuff.
07:52You've got a set of cranks that you crank with your hands, and the front of the bike
07:57is basically the upside down back end of a normal bike, so it just gears as like a normal
08:03bike.
08:05Three wheels for stability.
08:06I think this is fantastic, I've never ridden this before, and it's great.
08:11So we took the steamer across Loch Catrine, which was all accessible, the handbike just
08:16rode straight onto the steamer, which I wasn't expecting.
08:20And this is a beautifully smooth tarmac road, and obviously fantastic scenery, so just a
08:26beautiful place to be.
08:27I'm Jane Wilkinson, I'm a support and development worker for ARC, the Adaptive Riders Collective.
08:33We run come and try sessions for people who've not had a go at adaptive cycling before.
08:39We run a regular weekly sessions that take people beyond their taste of events, so that
08:43they can come and build their skills in the use of adaptive cycles.
08:48And we're also, we link in with various gravel festivals and cycling festivals that run throughout
08:53Scotland.
08:54I'm a late adopter to cycling.
08:58In my mid-forties, when my daughter started cycling at school, and she joined both a mountain
09:03bike club and a road cycling club, and initially I just ferried her to these activities in
09:09the car, but decided I didn't want to be a taxi driver, and decided I actually wanted
09:13to join in.
09:14So I started to join in these activities with a beat-up old hybrid shopping bike, which
09:21especially doing things like going down the Red Run at Lagan, Wolf Tracks route with a
09:26mountain bike, it was pretty scary.
09:28And then one day my daughter handed me a mountain bike and said, try it on this, Mum.
09:32And at that point it was like suddenly the world opened up, I realised that it's great
09:36to have different bikes for different activities.
09:39And I just got the bug for cycling and got hooked, and so my mid-forties just involved
09:47in getting acquainted with road bikes, getting acquainted with road cycling, and I live in
09:52North East Persia, which is just fantastic for both off and on road cycling activities.
09:58I am fitter and healthier and happier now than I have been in years, and that's very
10:03much due to the cycling.
10:04It gets me out in nature, it gets me connected to wildlife and the great outdoors, it's great
10:11for socialising, and you build up your fitness and your stamina and your skill levels steadily.
10:18Just go for building things up steadily.
10:20Join a local group so that you've got companions to cycle with and who can help you develop
10:25your skills, and also it's about the confidence to be both on and off road, and that can take
10:31a little time.
10:32You know, once you've got your skill level increased then you can start to negotiate
10:36traffic and do off road activities, but cycling with experienced people is a good way of getting
10:42into it.
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