Wildlife filmmaker Andrew O’Donnell and his pal Mark Taylor’s TV adventures in the wilds of Scotland started this week.
And the Moffat hills and Langholm will feature in the second episode going out on Thursday, September 30.
A first series of Roaming in the Wild grew out of short online pieces Andrew made for BBC Scotland’s The Social online initiative.
For the second series, the two friends will be taking an amble across the country, camping and walking and canoeing but all at a leisurely pace.
Their travels in this new series will include new territory for them – the Borders.
From the Moffat Hills, down to the border itself, Mark and Andrew set out on an adventure which incorporates hills and rivers, paddle boards, fledging forests and chips.
The duo start in the Moffat Hills before taking to the water and the River Esk. As they set up camp for their first night to make their dinner they spy some kestrels getting their own.
Their trip takes them to the Carrifran Valley, where they are full of praise for a local group and their bid to create a woodland for future generations. And then down from the Upper Esk onto the Black Esk on stand-up paddle-boards and onto Langholm for chips.
Roaming in the Wild is largely filmed, produced and edited by the duo, with Andrew also providing the music as Beluga Lagoon.
He said: “We both grew up in Lennoxtown, by the Campsie hills. Mark and me met at our babysitters when we were kids and then later, just by coincidence, went on to work in the same country house hotel.
“Mark now helps me run a wildlife production company. Our adventures started when we were filming wildlife and were forced to live in remote locations whilst trying to film our subjects.”
Mark added: “Roaming in the Wild has been the perfect excuse to get out and about in amongst some of the wondrous and distinctive landscapes this country has to offer.
“By attempting to navigate across these environments through ever changing ways and means leaves you with a unique experience and perspective each time. And it’s good for your head. You can’t be weighed down by the regular trivialities of life when all the superficial distractions are taken away and all you’re concerned about is the blisters on your hands and what’s for dinner.”
