An aerial tour of the emptiest and most beautiful corner of Britain in the company of William Carrocher
For centuries Highlanders have been drifting away - driven off their lands by the difficulties of their environment and, above all, by the cruel events of history.
Today the far north-west shows a legacy of 200 years of exploitation and misguided paternalism.
The helicopter flew 3,000 miles, criss-crossing from Skye to Orkney, from Balmoral to St Kilda - the loneliest of all the British Isles. The camera looked down on misty lochs which once sheltered Bonnie Prince Charlie; on the roofless villages of deserted Hebridean islands; on crofters scratching a living from stony fields; on hydro-electric dams and forests which are intended to bring people back to the Highlands. If there is wilderness anywhere in Britain, it is here; but for how long will it withstand the pressures of an ever-expanding population?