Festive quiz: which bit of which Slow Way has been walked forty times by actor Robert Carlyle? Guidebook writer Paddy Dillon got in touch with the answer!
“Every so often there’s a ‘walking’ YouTube clip I like to have a look at. It’s the Johnnie Walker one – The Man Who Walked Around The World. Disclaimer… I don’t drink and I detest whisky, but I do like a good advert with rugged scenery and a great narrative!
The narrator is Robert Carlyle, the famous actor, and I reckon this is his finest work. As far as adverts go, it’s in a class of its own, as it was filmed in a single take with no cuts, just before the light got so poor that they would have had to pack in for the day.
It got me wondering… is that track through that Scottish glen on a Slow Way? Turns out that the location is Inverlochlarig, and it does indeed appear on Slow Ways. I attach a screenshot so that you can locate it. I know you like people to walk these Slow Ways, and for the record I think it might be true to say that Robert Carlyle has probably walked that stretch more than anyone else. According to legend, that YouTube clip was his FORTIETH attempt at getting that routine completed without tripping over a rock or tripping over his words! Bear in mind that he had to match his pace and narrative perfectly with the props arranged alongside the track, and I think the camera operator must have been a zen master at walking backwards and not tripping over anything.
So… I’m passing these snippets to you because I think it’s an excellent story. There’s no harm in Slow Ways piggy-backing on the world’s most famous brand of whisky!”
