Coal Carrying Championships, Life on St Kilda and Underwater Photography

Scotland Outdoors

BBC

Nature, Society & Culture, Science

4.7 • 709 Ratings

🗓️ 30 August 2025

⏱️ 83 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Bikery in Huntly, Aberdeenshire aims to repair and resell old bikes to stop them ending up in landfill. Rachel chats to team members Stuart Pow and Laura McNeil about the Bikery’s mission, before heading to the workshop to learn how the project teaches mechanical skills.

Josh Donaldson from Arbroath became an internet sensation after posting videos clearing up litter from his local forests, beaches and streets. In an excerpt from our midweek podcast, Mark joins Josh to find out how he is motivating others to do the same.

‘Beneath the Waves’ is a current exhibition at the Scottish Maritime Museum in Irvine and includes the work of award winning underwater photographer Lawson Wood. Rachel meets him in Eyemouth to talk about his passion for marine life.

Mark catches up with Finavon Castle Water Estate Ghillie and Manager Iain MacMaster to chat about Sea Trout fishing and why it’s best done at night.

Phil Sime and Morven Livingstone take to the high seas in Findhorn with Chief Sailing Instructor Leon Ward.

Scientists at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh have been tapping into the expertise of young people across Edinburgh to find out their perspectives on nature and green space in the city. Mark visits the Gardens to chat to Dr Emma Bush about the ‘The Good City’ research project.

This month commemorates the 95th anniversary of the evacuation of St Kilda. Mark and Rachel are joined by the St Kilda Ranger to find out about life on St Kilda now

Mark is in Kelty, Fife discovering what it takes to train for the annual Scottish Coal Carrying Championships. Mark meets race Founder Michael Boyle to learn how the race started and its links to Kelty’s mining heritage.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Rory Stewart and I grew up wanting to be a hero and I'm still fascinated by the ideas of heroism.
0:09.0	In my new series, I'm taking in the long sweep of history from Achilles to Zelensky and asking, what is a hero?
0:16.0	Simply doing your job, being a decent human being.
0:20.0	A true hero is someone who just kind of shines by
0:23.1	their own light and that light is to be recognised by others. The long history of heroism with me,
0:28.6	Rory Stewart. Listen on BBC Sounds. This Scotland Outdoors podcast from BBC Radio Scotland.
0:44.9	Hello and thank you very much for choosing to listen to this.
0:47.6	We do a couple of Scotland outdoors podcasts every week,
0:51.5	one of which is built from the live programme we do for BBC Radio Scotland,
0:52.9	which is called Out of Doors. And this week, everything from St Kilda to Cole.
1:00.7	I came out of the house this morning at half-past four, and it was stone dark, stone dark, beautiful clear night, actually.
1:07.9	Both Jupiter and Venus in the east, really, really bright. Bonnie.
1:12.1	Should have been able to see Mercury, but it was low cloud across the horizon, so can't have everything. Good morning. I'm Mark Stephen. I'm standing here in the car park in BBC Aberdeen, and you'll be delighted to you. She is back. Rachel Stewart. Other side of the fire. There might be lots of people now turning their radios off.
1:09.5	Don't do that.
1:10.5	Don't do that.
1:11.5	I got a shock, you know, when I got up this morning. other side of the fire. There might be lots of people now turning their radios off. Don't do that.
1:28.3	Don't do that.
1:24.7	I got a shock, you know, when I got up this morning. I wasn't really anticipating that it would be quite so dark. And I did a bit of a fail last night and I hadn't put my possessions out. You know, I haven't left them out. So then I was rummaging a bit in the dark trying to find them. Is that why your socks are different colour? Yeah, that's what I'm looking at the mess that I am this morning.
1:27.5	And it was anything but clear when I left the house. It was really, really misty. Foggy? Yeah, but it's turned into a really nice morning here. Even so driving in semi-dark, you could see that there was sort of skeins of mist lying across the ground. Yeah, I like that. That's atmospheric.
2:01.8	It's really, really nice.
1:57.7	Let us know then what you're up to this weekend. We always like to know if you're out and about and what you're going to get up to. You can email us out of doors at pbc.co.uk. Or you can send us a text 80295. Or, of course, we're on the phone as well. 08085 9295
1:59.0	000.
	...

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