July 2007 Heritage Feature: The Journey DVD

Long-time Inverness resident and well-known face Alison Wilkie has found a unique way of combing her professinal skills with her personal passion.

Alison's face was broadcast all over the country for many years, when she was a TV presenter on BBC Scotland and Grampian Television. When she retired from the box she decided to use what she had learned to illuminate and further her interest in Scottish, and particularly Highland, history.

With Albavision she has created high quality DVD and video programes of interest to those who share her passion. She has done several family histories, uncluding those of Gunn, Munro and Urquhart; an invaluable insight for those who have not yet visited their clanland.

In addition there are programmes on Loch Ness; an interview with Culloden author, Nigel Tranter and a celebration of the Clavie Burning at Burghead.

However, it is her most recent project that most fires her enthusiasm. "The Journey", see the clip above, documents the pilgrimage made by 13 men in a curradh, as they travelled from Ireland to Iona in 2003, in emulation of the voyage of St. Columba.

From there, some of them travelled overland from Kintyre to Inverness up the Great Glen, in a kind of living archaeology to uncover the sites where Columba made his mark. Via the Islands of Easdale and Gigha, they eventually arrive at Craig Phadraig, above Inverness, where in 565 AD Columba converted Brude King of the Picts to Christianity. The route is enlivenened with beautiful, if sometimes rainy, scenery and lively anecdotes from the locals.