Attempting to cross SCOTLAND in a completely straight line. (PART 3: PISSED OFF FARMER)

just right now you know i'm seriously pissed off with you welcome back everyone to the mission across scotland you joined lovable rogues welsh greg and i in a remote forest clearing eight miles into a grueling expedition across scotland which we were hoping to be the first known people to cross in a completely straight line although only a fifth of the way through the mission we're actually in a very good place having already winged our way through quite a populated and obstacle laden leg of the journey the day before in complete contrast and quite gladly so today couldn't be more different morning everyone here we are at our campsite greg's just sluggishly packing his things in his bag um and yeah we're about to set off on day two day one was very action-packed day two will be less so won't it i think well we hope so we hope so yeah we've got to get down to the reservoir which has dried up we've checked that out that's not a problem then up a bit of forest and then it's up into the moors for literally eight miles and then we're back down into the sort of farmers fields we're going to see what progress we've made by the time we get to stash point two which is where we we were planning to camp but if we're making really good time we'll soldier on three and a half miles to the next really good camp spot and if we do that we can shave a whole day off the trip it's not totally necessary so we'll see how we go but yeah today is just really about making ground really and getting towards that halfway point of the trip the line is yeah pretty much there yeah let's do it man day two let's do it [Music] carrying our stash bag with us with a view to re-stash somewhere a bit more accessible further downhill we passed through the remaining strips of forest as well as the two remaining grassy veins yeah this is the one where we were going to camp oh yeah no i'm glad we can't swim no so it's good rugby alley rugby bloody next up was the north third reservoir initially one of our most dreaded obstacles due to its worryingly green marshy muddy appearance but upon scouting we were pleasantly surprised to discover that despite lots of heavy rain the levels were very low and we could simply stroll straight across this could be very good we'd be retracing those steps very soon but first we still had an awful lot of descending to do yeah we've got to be careful having this didn't help [Music] well here we are the north third reservoir which as you can see is receded massively yeah to add your life what are we going to do here greg we're going to get a paddle board paddle paddleboard we could longboard it to be honest it looks quite it looks potentially like it could be lethal really but it's an inch of depression lovely place and if we'd have uh traveled about 10 meters to the left i think it would have been a bit trickier yeah look at those cliffs it did get a bit sludgier in the middle definitely not long board territory but gladly there'd be no 8 a.m boot breaches today and there you have it that's it there's a little river down here where we're gonna uh cook breakfast wash our pans brush our teeth we're gonna stash this somewhere and uh dart off into the moors nice move nice just as planned i filled up our water bottles in bannock burn a stream i bet you didn't think you'd heard of while greg cracked on with the breakfast our aim was to be through the forest and away into the moors by half nine to give us a fighting chance of making that 12 mile away camp spot at saint hilda's boarding school well we're all done and dusted here pretty much looks like the trees in this next forest are a bit shorter and as a result much harder to move through but greg's prepared aren't you so this is the technique that we're going for avoid those eyes being poked out right let's go down there so with our bag stashed it was back inside our old friends the christmas trees and for the first time ever we didn't feel like we were going to have our eyes poked out at any given moment it's so good with the glasses yeah nonetheless though i'm staying two meters behind greg at all times to avoid twangs to the face this is exactly the kind of formidable terrain that preceded greg's episode in wales too and he's just battling right through it unfazed is that it okay oh yeah how much longer a bit more 200 meters 100 meters let's do it get it done [Applause] wouldn't be a british straight line mission without one of these woods i think we might be coming up to the end here ah [Applause] oh yes right we are at the moors now eight miles hopefully in um four or five hours there won't be much by way of juicy action or um thrilling shots instead probably a collection of scenic clips set to some incredibly composed electronic music let's go [Music] oh okay yeah that's a leaper isn't it go for it mike oh how have you stayed dry oh no my knee okay we're approaching this farm i think we just skimmed the right hand side of it there's someone there but again like we're so remote here that i don't think it's going to be a problem nice mate scotland flag flying they just glanced couldn't have given less of a ship if they tried the remote country we were now immersed in felt worlds apart from what we had experienced yesterday no danger or stress just a bit of a slog really in fact as we started to reach the mossy tufts that lived higher up on the fell after a two and a half mile steady climb the legs were beginning to burn just take it out of you walking on this spongy ground after a while i mean even an animal has dexterous and suited to its environment as a sheep still likes to build a path for itself but we're not we're going straight through the uneven terrain was clearly not going to make for a swift trek over these hills and high up on the crest of this first one we were able to catch a visual glimpse of just how much more of it there would potentially be okay so we think that today to get to the stash point which is the bare minimum of what we have to do we're going over that far strip of mountain just to the right of greg so a lot to do it does yeah this right it's down and then up isn't it yeah down into a little crevice with a little river in it and back up again hopefully the rivers not too bad it doesn't look too bad does it yeah more worried about the bank the other side but had i invited karma to join us once again oh it's not a good sort of place but to land mate come on thomas lovely mate oh he's gone for that fair play mate that was easier so it was up again pretty sharpish onto the next ridge where we stopped and had some much-needed lunch all right [Music] right we've had our lunch swiftly on the top of that ridge there we've got to go down and up in a big bad way we have no idea at this point whether we'll make the quick plan we're just going to go at a good pace hope there's not too many serious obstacles that slow us down and if we get there for two half two we'll we'll gauge it when we get there oh snow huh watch this oh two six mate just gonna sort the gopro out thankfully along with the odd patch of snow came much more even ground which allowed us to march swiftly on past the halfway point of the moors and down to our first encounter with the endrick so down here is our first river endrick crossing first of four all at very different stages in the rivers course the question is will we need to take our shoes and socks off will it be one of those which will slow us down and impact our plan the closer we got to the endrick the more it looked like it was actually a huge ravine oh my i hope that cliff stops that's high my looks it from here from this angle in the end though it was fine oh my what were we worried about in fact just to the right of our line a layer of flat rock just below the surface of the water made for a jesus-like crossing slightly less graceful though would be this next climb get ready for your legs here mate oh i know a solid 200 meter ascent with the occasional marsh thrown in just to keep us on our toes and a string of false horizons oh you now when we did finally reach the top though the views were totally worth it in more ways than one incredible view of that reservoir mate but then oh god well yeah that's a bit more important wow incredible feels good to be able to see it doesn't it this is the highest point basically yeah all the way then it's rolling up and down but not really ever higher than this yeah we can't see the finish line but we can see the points basically at which we have like six miles to go which is a great feeling it's a great feeling that isn't it yeah lots to go in between now and then so uh let's carry on in high spirits so what exactly did lay between us and that far away hill well after stash two which it was now looking like we would probably have to camp at it was into what was basically a 14 mile stretch of rural countryside mainly consisting of sheep and cattle farms but there was a lot of other stuff in there too this is how it looks with the original and most likely plan first thing tomorrow morning we pass through these properties followed by a farm and a larger end rick then we sneak past this farm the boarding school three more farms two of which we would be going straight through the middle of before camping in these woods the next morning we cross the now considerably larger river hendrick two times and after a load more fields it's through the village of gatochan full of properties and stables and the like and pretty much the last major place where things could go badly wrong people-wise if we survive that we head for the sanctuary of the heavily wooded camp 4 a real milestone at which we could gaze over loch lomond and almost taste the victory in the morning though there would be the small task of crossing it a mile and a half on callum's two-person kayak before negotiating a very tricky looking mangrovy sort of area which we would need callum's wetsuits to actually swim through it was then over the golf course through the biggest ghost patch i've ever seen and to our final camp where we could pick the thorns out of our asses and dream about the final day the final day itself was just a case of walking six miles over this forest littered hill and down to the coast in blair vadak victorious between us and stash 2 however unexpected cracks were beginning to appear in the landscape and in my planning exactly oh bit of a drop here but that was just a baby crack oh look what we have ahead mate oh okay hi it's half two in the scottish moors and uh we've got this little piece to contend with um it may not look that steep looking down on the gopro but it's it's vertical um no it's just about doable we think so we're going to crack on after you sir [Music] oh it will great waterfall incredible waterfall must be a torrent at times wonderful oh my god my that is so steep steep but luckily doable and a nice little obstacle to overcome on what was a pretty repetitive day up next a grassy brow to remember this is it isn't it this is the last descent wow i remember coming near here on that scouting trip yeah being like if we can get to here sunday evening that seeming like a very very long shot at that point given what we have to go through and we're here we're here before we descended the 200 meters down to the stash point there were a couple of steep gradients that i did manage to spot on google earth and earmark as potentially dangerous three days ago though after stashing stash two we ventured halfway up the hill and decided that from where we were standing they didn't seem too bad happily we were correcting our judgment on that occasion with both gradients causing us no real issues however we could not have been more incorrect in our next one on our way back down the hill on the day of the stashing a similar scene to what you can see here we came across a farmer and his son herding sheep we exchanged hellos and smiles and greg and i continued on our way commenting on how friendly and relaxed the farmers were in scotland by this point you've all seen the spoiler and you can probably guess the direction in which this is heading and we'll get there very soon meanwhile a perky greg and i are approaching the stash it's a bit further isn't it it's been a while i can't i can't remember poking out oh there it is let's see yeah everything bottles oh brilliant and we'll camp just over there we think yeah just about 10 meters off the line on some flat ground all right mate get to the crest and we'll clock out for the day yeah that'll do mike that'll do us perfect spot right on the line and that will do us nicely for day two all right let's see what goodies we've slashed in this cumbersome thing yeah charger for phone comped good some very greg sort of bucket loads of sweets custard creams you'd have to sing the titanic but more to the point yeah sainsbury's anchovy stuffed olives could not beat that can you don't knock it till you've tried it oh god happy with our spot which was fairly high up and hidden from the farm below by the trees and the shelf of land we were on we tucked into our anchovy olives and tuned into another corking sporting fixture well it's another sport themed camp tonight it's uh a premier league humdinger really which we didn't even know was on which is chelsea versus man united we're just going to wait an hour or so until it starts to get dark then we'll set our tent up and make a little fire over there um but yeah for now we're just chilling but we weren't chilling for long three yep three dogs gotta be an owner i'm hoping there's an owner yes i know what are they doing yeah there's the owner okay that's kind of really this is the woman oh yeah yeah yeah six it's absolute bonanza out there isn't it right don't know i don't suppose she'll care see this is why you don't put the tent up and make a fire early isn't it yeah she does run the farm she's presumably that husband the wife of the farmer that we saw she has seen us has she i think she's seen this yeah oh is the husband she just like signaled to someone then well we'll see what happens what actually happened next was that one of the dogs sprinted towards us far too fast for me to grab the camera stopped right at our feet and barked aggressively at us a few of the other dogs joined in before all of them were called away by the farmer's wife no problem have a nice evening okay didn't get the best of that on camera but that one dog came bellowing yeah he really came up with him i didn't think he was going to stop us with the power of hindsight this is the exact point having just been seen by the farmer's wife that we should have just packed up our things and gone but to be fair because she just like her presumed husband three days prior had been so friendly and relaxed with us we had no reason to believe that we were unwelcome there so instead just as the sun began to set over loch lomond we pitched the tent and made ourselves a small hopefully untraceable fire and reflected optimistically on our progress so far and position going forward good day it's good solid day i mean it was what we thought it would be really pretty tricky and marshy along the moors ups and downs but ultimately still managing to get to camp 2 pretty easily yeah exactly and tomorrow yeah it's uh it's a fairly unremarkable day there's there are obstacles there are farms there are rivers um there are people's back gardens but yeah it shouldn't be too much of a challenge we should get through it and get over the halfway point and and beyond yeah yeah bring it on see in the morning that was supposed to be the final clip of the day but at 7 30 p.m we heard that dreaded sound once again hi is this unacceptable but essentially we're rex we're on an expedition and uh we're aiming to be the first people to cross scotland in a completely straight line so it's a guinness world record attempt right and now we're on this is our second night so we've come down over the moors today so we kind of did the whole moors we're halfway through halfway through we're heading towards loch lomond and obviously we have to stick fairly close to line so we we hoped that this might be okay for us to what he should have done was come first of all to the to the farm and asked we weren't too sure who who actually was owning it yeah we thought this is like sort of um natural land this is we farm this land and obviously with covert is the next thing that's why i asked you where you're from yeah somewhere of course yeah i'm from wales yeah yeah so i'm not wanting to be awkward no no no no i understand that i like the job but you can see you know we live in a nicer little place yeah sure i can see what you're doing but i am gonna have to you know i don't know i don't you know obviously you've set up your account tonight and if it was me was doing it i would have asked the farmer look you're coming on your land or you're going to set up a tent let me come into your garden and set my tent up in your garden walk in a straight line across wheels yeah that would be the right thing to do i know but it's just that if someone said no to us then we we would like scupper the so we're being a bit cheeky i know but yeah and you can see that i'd be bound to be a bit annoying sure yeah no totally understandable totally understand that yeah yeah and i don't want to be a pain in the ass and i don't want to stop but yeah you know we are trying to be we're just right bang on the mouth alarming the sheep are in tonight to be shorter right they'll be out here in the morning and i just don't my worry is that someone brings covert and i get sick and i get sick alarming time i am in serious i can see exactly what you're doing guys yeah i would have appreciated someone to say to me even the other day like whenever i was working the sheep and you went past me yeah i would have appreciated if you just said we are coming back tomorrow yeah yeah you know then we could have looked at it from there but just right now you know i'm seriously pissed off with you yeah i'm very sorry no you you're dead right back then would have been an ideal opportune opportunity to be honest to let you know yeah the one thing i will ask you like i could share the other package yeah yeah but i'm not going to do that now i'm going to be reasonable about this thank you very much if you can not come down through our yard yes yeah yeah yeah yeah well we're going yeah you need to just walk away when you leave tomorrow if you can make sure it's out so it's this oh [Music] yeah yeah we totally understand yeah okay thank you so much thank you thank you really appreciate it wow so it turns out um yeah this was pretty hot this was as hot as it gets something i don't think we've ever had a cab spot where someone's coming up in the corner no we've we've never had that before and we didn't for one minute i mean i'm more cautious than greg but i didn't think that that that would happen here especially after the the wife waved at us earlier yeah but he is seriously ticked off he was ticked off wasn't there yeah but reasonable though as well in the end no i seem to be northern irish but wow i feel kind of bad but yeah but all of this does make it hotter now for future farms because i think people are a bit para about covid um even though we know we haven't got it but it to them they don't know that it does make the future farm crossings a bit different yeah to what we thought anyway we'll talk about it in the morning we got away with it that was definitely supposed to be the final clip of the day but here's the killer ladies and gents our ordeal was far from over roughly an hour and a half after our encounter with the farmer our senses were alerted again this time instead of the abrupt onslaught of an engine and headlights it was faint men's voices and what looked like handheld torchlight making its way slowly but surely up the same path as the farmer's wife had used two people over there what are they doing up here at this time they're coming at the time we really weren't sure who it could be did the farmer have a change of heart and send two blokes up to remove us or was it just locals on a nighttime trek both seemed unlikely but whoever they were they had spotted our fire they are okay they're coming down the men were now heading straight for us but it wasn't until they were about 10 meters away that we realized who it was and it was probably the worst outcome possible hi hi how you doing i'm okay we've uh spoke to the farmer yep are you still fooling those though ah right okay why are you guys here um i'll cut to the chase we are attempting to cross scotland in a completely straight line right okay um to be the first people to ever do that sort of giving i have recorded attempts yeah i have a youtube channel i've i've walked i'll stand up i've walked across wales in a straight line and norway i know it's a bit of a mad idea bill given us a look down in scotland just now yeah it's not just mad it's illegal yeah so where he came from where are we from yeah um i'm from birmingham okay so again we'll go back to this is illegal yeah yeah so how did we get to scotland and painted we're live we got a uh rented a car and um we drove up and well we started the we're halfway through halfway through now we're coming from just south of stirling and we're going over to lock beyond like towards fast lane so we're halfway through and we know it's um cheeky but we thought look we're not going to come into contact with anyone and we tried to keep it far away as scottish people we're not allowed to cross the border into england yeah no granted but you guys have decided to come the opposite way yes yes so we are looking at things right the fact you didn't speak two days later no no that's because we have to look at the possible points of concern along the way so for example there's ridges up there which we weren't sure how steep they were going to be so we came here we scouted it out a reconnaissance so to speak to look and say is it actually like a makeable ridge right okay can i suggest then yes that you stay here tonight yeah right then you pack up and go back home right okay because you're gonna get stopped by the place again obviously that's somebody that's fun done how long have you been up in scotland like i said we came home yeah technically that's more than a fine then that's being reported to the property for school directly for a culpable necklace if you've been here for four days it's not just a day visit you know you're traveling through council district there as well which again people of scotland aren't allowed to do i can't leave the area of still in council no no no i didn't know that yeah well because you are going to get hit with as my colleague says i report to the fiscal which will require you to attend at a court a future date and listen to this you know this could come into landing season just now yes you've picked the wrong time to do anything like this yes yeah it's tough because we have to do i can't do it in the summer because the rambles and the stinging nettles and the hay fever and the midges so that's why i try and do them in the winter but yeah no i appreciate it i appreciate that and she hadn't been this time last year it would have been fine they would have been fine but just now we are in the current a situation that we are in the lockdown yeah the farmer wouldn't have phoned there's obvious pissed off he wouldn't have all of those with it if it was this time last year no no no no no no because of what it is from a moral point of view we decided look it's okay but to be honest we didn't think we'd see this many people bumped into honestly see if you're heading towards kennel woman and all that yeah yeah you are going to do nothing but bump into people yeah yeah followers will get your details anyway lads okay i would suggest that you camp here tonight because there's obviously no way we can go tonight you pack up in the morning yeah keep will be from that farm yeah yeah when you head back home yes because they're gonna get from causing their booties yes we will uh we will 100 yeah yeah we don't we don't want to do this if we're going to be pissing off people and yeah my name's greg i can't really show most of the footage from this point on as greg and i tell our respective coppers our personal details but during this time we each had more of a chance to really explain the whole idea of the mission in more detail and how for me personally it was a big part of my channel and my career ultimately that made little difference to proceedings but they were intrigued by the concept of what we were doing and did warm to us over time in fact it wasn't long before i was being teased about england's recent losses in the rugby we i love that i love it in the end all threats of fines and court cases were dropped and we ended on almost ridiculously good terms [Laughter] the instruction was clear though we had to piss off home and it didn't take long for the reality of that to sink in yeah ah yeah it's starting to sink in now we we've failed yeah ah yeah bad time and we knew that coming it we knew that it wasn't the we did but not to this exactly we didn't think we'd be seeing people to this extent for a start no anyway we'll see you in the morning guys love some more thoughts then i think yeah we will see you there in the morning i rose early to the breathtaking and dangerously enticing sight of the miss shrouded valley that awaited us and shared my updated thoughts thoughts this morning personally before greg gets up part of me wants to carry on despite all of that just because you know the police are always going to exaggerate they're always going to paint this picture that you're just going to get caught again inevitably but they're gonna say that and part of me just wants to go for it and thinks that we'll be fine um and that this was just a clumsy one-off then the sensible part of me says no there are many farmsteads that we go straight through back gardens that would have to skirt round and maybe it's not the right thing to do morally at this time either way i can't please everyone there will be some of you who will want me to carry on and you'll be disappointed it's another failure but i think most of you will agree that as the cop has said annoyingly we just got the wrong time as the morning progressed and the mist receded down the valley we pondered more over the big decision but ultimately concluded that the many cons of continuing now far outweighed the pros aside from all the covered stuff one of the main things that cemented it for us was the fact that not only were we under strict orders from the police whom we actually have a lot of respect for but we actually had a mutual agreement with them they had trusted us to go home and we had given them our word as a result we don't get fined or go to court and they can go off and fight proper crime and if we carried on now and got caught again not only would we be in deep which greg couldn't afford to risk being in any way with his new career but the coppers would probably be in trouble with their superiors too for letting us go don't get me wrong we were both absolutely gutted the amount of preparation we had put into this trip was ridiculous and we wanted it so bad and everything was lined up for victory so we were gutted but we took some comfort in knowing that by respecting the farmers respecting the police sticking to our word and setting a good rather than a bad example to anyone watching we've done the right thing as for the farmer we'll never quite know why he chose to handle things the way he did maybe he didn't 100 believe our story maybe he found me on youtube after he spoke to us and changed his mind or maybe his intention all along was to put an end to our trip whatever it was if you're out there mr farmer we forgive you and we respect your decision at the end of the day that farm is that man's livelihood and any farmer worth his salt would do whatever they felt necessary to protect it what was next for me and greg then well firstly we had another full day ahead of us collecting all the used and unused stash bags one doll it was a bit heartbreaking to be honest particularly when we ventured out to the glorious loch lomond camp and pictured how we would have felt having reached that point me that is still but we tried our best to look at the many positives we did have an unforgettable first day and all the incredible footage that went with it and we did almost reach the halfway point of the mission without deviating more than 25 meters in a way that does make it even more heartbreaking that we didn't reach the end but nonetheless our tightness to the line here is something to really be proud of maximum deviation 14 meters at ochill view again though testament to the meticulous planning something i'll discuss further in the line review video along with the burdell score a new more accurate way of judging the success of a straight-line mission that i'll now be using to complement the traditional gold silver platinum system so do tune into that video to see all that nerdy stuff and don't forget all the bonus footage for this trip is on the one dollar patreon page for now though having just collected our final stash bag and almost been seen by the police at our final hedgerow police there was just one last thing to do see if our trusty ladder still hadn't been nicked by a bloke called ross i would like it back because it did cost a hundred quid i don't think it is i doubt it's in the same position well the mats up there but the ladder is gone and on that bitter note it's another regretfully premature goodbye from me and especially greg who despite well and truly taming his condition still needs to taste straight-line victory maybe we'll return to scotland soon to try a different line and not in a pandemic or maybe we'll return to wales and conquer that once and for all instead i also have a couple of slightly more exotic straight line missions planned for the near future but until then take care and thanks so much for watching [Music] [Music] my

2021-06-16 04:23

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