Good morning
Morning!
and welcome to a very sunny Helmsdale.
Yes.
We're on the northeast coast of Scotland in Sutherland.
That is the A9,
it's part of the NC500 that goes around the coast of Scotland.
That's why it's called the north coast 500.
Full of vans at the moment.
It's got a cracking Fish and Chip shop
Ohhh it's the best one we've ever been
and every weekend we bring the jeep down here
and we sit on the harbour side here and scoff our fish and chips,
beautiful!
Speaking of the harbour, it's right behind you,
if I turn the camera around you can have a look.
And it's a bustling little harbour at a time like this.
[Shaun] I bet it is
[Colin] It's gorgeous.
This village was established in 1814.
[Shaun] What was it called before, Helmsdale then?
Land.
[Laughs]
and it was established to house the people that have been cleared,
you remember the highland clearances?
Well all the people that were moved off the land and burnt out their houses,
were re-housed here in this village, where they took up new occupations like
crofting and fishing.
[Shaun] Yeah.
YouTube channels and things like that.
[Laughs]
Behind us is the A9 bridge, goes over the River Helmsdale.
Now that's not always been there, it does look quite new doesn't it?
The original one it's just a little bit behind it and guess who built it?
[Shaun] Errrr!
[Colin] My hero.
[Shaun] Oh really?
Thomas Telford, he gets everywhere doesn't he?
He does.
But this bridge when it was built,
they had to demolish the old castle that just stood to that side of it.
That's a very interesting castle, Helmsdale castle.
[In a bad Scottish accent] There was a murder!
A murrr, I can;'t even say it.
[Laughs]
John Gordon who was the 11th Earl of Sutherland and his wife Marion,
who came from Surrey.
[Laughs]
It's a very surrey name isn't it?
Yes.
were poisoned there, they were murdered back in the, I don't know 16th century I think
it is.
Google it and tell me if I'm wrong.
Because you will!
It's not there anymore, they had to knock it down to build the bridge
and there's just a little stone there now to tell you it was there.
Now this is the River Helmsdale
and this is where it comes out into the North Sea.
Just a few miles upstream,
there's some tributaries, said at that time,
that feed into the river, one of them is called the Kildonan Burn.
Now back in, well about the time that this place has being set up,
a chap went up there and he found a gold nugget
big enough to make a ring out of.
Not this, this is pure H. Samuel is this or
Ratner's or one of them, I can't remember.
Ratners?
are they still alive?
And it started a gold rush just a few miles upstream at Baile An Or.
I wonder if there's any still in there.
Oooh shall we go and have a look.
[Music playing]
If you want to plan for gold here, you've got to buy a permit first.
We picked ours over here in Helmsdale, they cost £10 for a day
but you'll get a discount if you're staying in one of the local hotels or B&B's,
or if you're eating in one of the local restaurants.
I got the passes.
we've got the passes, let's go get some gold.
[Music playing]
[Sound of door opening] [Music fading]
[Door slams]
We've travelled about nine miles north west of Helmsdale
and we're in Baile An Or.
[Shaun] Yes.
Not to be confused with that famous
football, French trophy thing, Ballon d'Or,
nothing like that.
this is Baile An Or.
No idea what that is.
Which is historically, it's Gaelic for, Town of Gold
and this is where Kildonan Burn is, this is where the original nugget of gold was found
and where the gold rush started.
Now back in the 1860's, there would have been
oh, hundreds of people here.
So many people, that they actually ended up building shanty towns
to house them all,
that's how many people there was.
Now eventually the Duke of Sutherland got a bit. . .
I nearly swore there,
Miffed!
a bit fed up, because there was a conflict of interest really
between the prospectors and the fishermen and the deer stalkers.
What, the hats?
No the people
Ah.
stalking deer.
I always imagine like stalking dear like, you know, like the cartoon where it goes.
. .
like stalking like that.
So the gold rush was over within a year,
by 1870 it was all over and done with.
But here we are in 2022
and it's still a popular spot
for people who fancied their look with a bit of gold.
Should we go have a look?
Let's go have a look.
[Music playing]
Here we are at Kildonan Burn
and I've found what I hope is a good spot.
It better be.
Now just let me clear this up before we go any further,
because we know what you're like.
If you're watching this to get some expert tips on finding loads of gold,
you're watching the wrong channel.
You're looking in the wrong place.
We're just doing this for the experience
and just for a laugh and to enjoy it and see what it's like, alright.
So no expert tips,
watch to find a big pot of gold now, that'd be ace wouldn't it?
Ooh I could retire.
and some of you who have done this before
might be saying, oh you should be using this,
you should be using a pump,
you should be using a sluice and this that and the other.
We're really not into that,
We're not, we don't care.
so don't don't bother telling us what to do,
because we're probably never going to do it again.
There are some rules we have to follow because we are on an estate,
Private land.
so we're not allowed to use a sluice here,
just not allowed.
We're not allowed to dig into the bankings we're not allowed to move rocks
unless one person can move it on their own
and if we dig any holes in there, we have to fill them back in afterwards again,
so we do have to comply with the rules.
We've also had to buy a license to do this today
which cost us 10 quid,
but it's it's all for a good laugh isn't it?
It is, yeah.
Saying that,
you know what I'm like with my research, I haven't come into this blind
and I did get a little bit of help and some tips
from somebody who's been panning here for, well,
since before you were born, that says a lot doesn't it.
I think this was all ice back then.
[Laughs]
One big glacier.
and he doesn't want to be identified,
so we're going to nick a name from, City Slickers and call him, Curly.
Curly!
We're going to see if we can find, Curly's Gold.
[Music playing]
So there are some things you can do
to increase the chances of finding some gold.
Now a lot of the stream is made up of bedrock,
that's rock that's basically in the earth
and it won't move even when the current's really strong when it's flooding
and the pieces of gold can get trapped behind the bedrock or the side of the bedrock
as it flows down during floods.
Also, gold's heavier than everything else that you'll find in this stream, in this
burn,
so it sinks to the bottom.
So you've got to go quite low down to find it,
you can't just find it on the surface I wouldn't imagine most of the time.
So whenever the stream floods, whenever the burn floods,
the water moves things and rocks quite a lot
and a lot of people come here looking for gold.
So what you've got to look out for is
patches by bedrock
where you've got a combination of rock
and gravel and sand.
If you look at an area and you see that it's mostly just clean gravel and rock,
it means that somebody's probably already panned it because there's no sand or anything
there
and we're looking for the black sand, which is the heaviest stuff
and that's where you'll normally find the gold,
hopefully.
Let's keep looking.
[Music playing]
You never know, it's worth checking in this,
it might just be a huge nugget.
[Shaun laughs]
we'll be able to retire right now.
Not today.
[Music playing]
So the first thing I'm doing
is trying to,
well shaking it side to side and back to front
and then letting the silty light stuff pour away
and then picking the biggest of the rocks out and throwing them away
and because gold's heavier than everything else,
any flecks or pieces of gold that are in here
are just going to sink right to the bottom.
But you've got to be patient,
because obviously you don't want to wash any bits of gold away,
because they are going to be quite tiny.
So I need to keep sieving it,
shaking it backwards and forwards,
round and round
and getting rid of all the bits we don't want,
until we get to the bits that we do.
[Music playing]
You do find all sorts of things once you start getting down to the sandy gritty stuff
and there is this little stone that actually looks like gold,
it's called fool's gold
and when the light catches it in the right way,
it actually looks like gold.
But it's not until you see real flecks of gold,
that you realise that it's not gold
but it just looks, it just looks a bit like gold
but it actually doesn't look anything like gold once you see the flecks of real gold.
[Music playing]
Can I go out and order that Porsche yet?
[Laughs]
Well I don't think we can retire today.
I tell you what though it does get your back,
I mean, I was lucky because I was sat on a big rock,
but you're still kind of humped over
Yeah.
But no,
we did see some tiny little flecks which is,
it's good because at least at least we saw something.
It'll buy a potato.
I don't think it'll even buy as a potato.
It's a pity because I fancied a bit of jewellery today.
You'll have to give me a pearl necklace later.
[Laughing loudly]
Won't you? [Laughing loudly]
Shhhh, No!
Oh no, pearls aren't gold really.
You can't say that!
Errr,
what's wrong? Marge Simpson wears one and you don't humph at her.
Humph,
or is it Lisa that wears, no they're both wearing them don't they?
Yes.
Anyway I digress.
Not enough money to retire on today,
No.
but a good bit of fun, especially in weather like this
it's alright isn't it?
It's been a good day.
We've been bitten to death, so make sure you rub your smidge on.
Put your Smidge on.
[Laughs]
That's it I think, isn't it?
I think so.
There's something we need to tell you.
Oh yes, 2023 calendar,
you can pre-order it now.
We're going to start shipping them in September,
so only in a few weeks,
but you can pre-order them now, which means basically you pay for it and get your order
in
and it guarantees you a copy of the calendar once we start shipping them in September.
So there's a link in the video description
if you want to order that,
or you can just scan this this QR code that's on the screen.
I bet it's covering my face.
It probably is actually.
Shhhh!
[Laughs]
and you can order it just through that.
Anyway, if you've enjoyed this
and we hope you have and you're not already, please subscribe to the channel.
hit the thumbs up button,
it's made of gold don't you know
and if you hit the notifications bell,
YouTube will let you know every time we release a new video.
OUCHY!
Well,
you're 50 now.
I'm gonna go get some brufen my back now.
Some brufen?
and have a lie down.
Take it easy and we'll see you next week bye
Ta-ra!
[Music playing]
Morning! Nuclear brightness.
It's a bit bright for Shaun this morning.
We park our jeep just there
and eat our fish and chips.
Don't tell them that, they'll be here.
The seagulls are vocal.
Oooooh!
This [Laughs]
Ten, nine, eight.
Was that alright?
hang on, I've got snot!
TRAAAAIIN!
TRAAAAAAAIIN!
and we've got people walking past and staring!
rammed with people probably about 6, 7, 800 people.
because he keeps faffing you're faffing
You're faffing!
I don't give a [Beeeeeeep]
[Music playing]