Dry Stane Dyking, the Longest Canal Tunnel in Scotland and Foraging in the South West
Scotland Outdoors
BBC
4.7 • 756 Ratings
🗓️ 11 April 2026
⏱️ 83 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Mark is in Gatehouse of Fleet with Mark Williams who has a new book out called The Coastal Forager. The pair chat about identifying coastal plants and have a nibble of a few different species.
In this week’s podcast excerpt, Rachel meets Arlene Stuart, one of the presenters of Landward, which is celebrating five decades on air.
The 200 year old Falkirk Tunnel is the longest canal tunnel in Scotland. Richard Millar, Chief Operating Officer at Scottish Canals, gives Rachel the guided tour.
Mark joins dry-stone dyker, Alexis Zafiropoulos, in Alford, Aberdeenshire to talk about the sense of belonging Alexis has developed in the North-East through practising this ancient craft.
Mark meets Mary Smith, Engagement Ranger at Threave Nature Reserve in Castle Douglas to discover more about The Threave Landscape Restoration Project which is designed on a 100 year ecological timescale.
Poet Jim Carruth’s new book, Knockan, set in the far north west of Scotland, reflects his interest in geology and passion for farming. Rachel meets Jim in Renfrewshire to find out more.
The acclaimed wildlife cameraman Doug Allan, from Dunfermline, Fife, has died after becoming unwell on a mountain trek in Nepal. Mark and Rachel are joined by wildlife filmmaker John Aitchison to pay tribute to Doug’s life and career bringing the wonders of the natural world to our screens.
In collaboration with BBC L.A.B Scotland, pupils at Balwearie High School in Kirkaldy recorded an interview with Scottish wildlife filmmaker Libby Penman, who was once a pupil at the school.
Mark stops at a viaduct which overlooks Loch Nan Uamh to learn about the story behind the name ‘Dead Horse Bridge’.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:07.3 | Their company's success helped build a nation. |
| 0:10.9 | The company is such a big part of Korea's economy. |
| 0:13.5 | But who are the family behind one of the world's tech giants? |
| 0:17.2 | They often say, look, we built the nation. |
| 0:19.2 | And without us, South Korea as it exists today, |
| 0:22.6 | would simply not be here. Inheritance, Samsung, explores the real-life dramas of the Lee family |
| 0:28.3 | and their company. They are the equivalent of royalty. Listen first on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:34.5 | This Scotland Outdoors podcast from BBC Radio Scotland. |
| 0:44.4 | Hello and thanks very much for choosing to listen to this. |
| 0:46.8 | Every week we lovingly craft two Scotland Outdoors podcasts, |
| 0:51.4 | one of which is from the live programme we do for BBC Radio Scotland called Out of Doors. |
| 0:56.4 | And this week our first ever water-soluble programme. |
| 1:03.0 | It was blown an absolute hooli last night and heavy torrential rain. |
| 1:07.5 | It's still raining this morning. |
| 1:09.4 | I'm Mark Stephen. I'm standing in the car park here in BBC Aberdeen in the rain, sitting the other side of the far and delighted to have it back. Rachel Stewart. And I'm delighted to be back and I'm so pleased that the weather has played ball and it's lush and rain. Aye. Beautiful last week. Beautiful last week. It was amazing. 20 degrees when I was doing some recording in Fife on Wednesday. folk were wondering about in shorts. You weren't? No, no. No, no, no, no. |
| 1:31.0 | It's not particularly cold here today though, but it is wet. Yeah, the rain is bouncing off the roof straight down the back of my neck. You can hear it bouncing off your script. Yeah. Mine's now so soggy it doesn't make a blame but a difference. It's like papy and mashy. |
| 1:44.8 | Who knows what's going to happen over the next hour and a half? |
| 1:46.9 | I actually had a nice wildlife spotting experience yesterday. |
| 1:50.7 | I was in Murray and I was just crossing back into the Aberdeenshire border |
| 1:54.7 | and I saw some boxing hairs. |
| 1:57.8 | Ah! |
... |
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