The Adventure Show

We're taking to the rapids and the stunning white water of the River Tay, near Aberfeldy. This is the spiritual home of Scottish paddling and the Premier Canoe Slalom, one of the most important races of the season. Olympic gold medallist, Tim Baillie from Aberdeen, gives an expert's view on the action. Also in this programme, we're swapping paddles for pedals as we join the UK's only extreme unicycle team and Cameron McNeish discovers a lunar landscape of breath-taking beauty on a Wild Weekend.

This month the Adventure Show returns to the spiritual home of Scottish mountain biking, Fort William, for the 2014 World Cup and there's no shortage of action. First there's the fast and furious 4X. Then we'll be heading to the top of Nevis range for the downhill, where the racers plummet 555 metres down one of the longest and toughest courses on the world cup circuit. Also in this month's Adventure Show, Dougie Vipond and Deziree Wilson go head to head as they preview the World Orienteering Championships, which are coming to Scotland in 2015. Ex professional footballer, Michael Stewart swaps boots for pedals to discover what it takes to succeed as a top mountain biker and Cameron McNeish heads into the Cairngorm hills.

The Adventure Show is in Torridon for the Celtman Extreme Scottish Triathlon, an event which starts with a 3km open water swim that is followed by over 200km of biking. The finale is a 42km run, with an ascent of one of Scotland's Munros thrown in for good measure. It has been described as one of the toughest days of your life and, for most, just finishing is a major achievement. Elsewhere, the Adventure Show joins two intrepid athletes in their attempt to set a new record by running up Scotland's ten highest mountains in a day. And the programme visits Shetland, where a group of local activists have discovered that these northern islands offer superb sea cliff climbing.

This month the Adventure Show's heading into some of the most beautiful and remote landscapes in Scotland as we join over 700 competitors for a 50-mile coast-to-coast race. Held annually since 1983, the Highland Cross starts at Kintail on the west with a 20-mile run over the hills to Glen Affric. Then it's into the saddle for 30 miles by bike to Beauly in the east. Also in this month's programme former professional footballer, Michael Stewart is taken in hand by a top ultra marathon runner to discover he's not quite as fit as he thought. And we're back in Shetland where Deziree Wilson explores one of the islands' most important nature reserves and tackles a dramatic climb.

This is cycling at its most extreme an event that isn't a race but where entrants battle both the clock and their own pride. Welcome to the very specialist world of Audax, where just completing the route equals success. The Highlands, Glens and Western Isles ride is the toughest ever to be staged in the UK. Adventure Show cameras followed nearly 30 exceptional cyclists day and night as they attempted to cover 1,300 kilometres in just four and a half days. For many that meant abandoning food, sleep and normal life. Having to be entirely self reliant resulted in an Audax at its most exciting and cruel!

Cameron McNeish celebrates the best of Scotland with a spectacular walk from the south-west tip at the Mull of Galloway to the busy ferry port of Oban. It's a journey from sea level to mountaintop, but also a personal one as Cameron weaves his way through the landscape and visits five very different islands. In the first of two programmes Cameron completes the initial half of this 250-mile route, including an ascent of the highest mountain in the Southern Uplands, the Merrick. At shore level he discovers a coastline steeped in history that spans the centuries. He sets foot on an island that reminds him of a Tibetan trek, experiences ideal conditions on Arran's Goatfell and fulfills a long-held ambition in visiting the ancient seat of the Lord of the Isles.

Cameron McNeish describes Scotland's wild places as a 'world-class landscape', and he celebrates this with a new trail linking the most southerly point of the country, the Mull of Galloway, with the west coast town of Oban. Cameron walks the final part of this 250-mile route. Starting on the Isle of Jura, he returns to the mainland to travel through the Cowal Peninsula. Further north there's a short section on the West Highland Way before heading west through the wild, remote scenery of the Black Mount hills in Argyll. Along the way he meets walkers, crofters and ecologists, who share their intimate knowledge of this landscape with him.

In the middle of winter, with 17 hours of darkness, over 850 competitors head north of Inverness for one of the world's toughest mountain bike races the Strathpuffer 24. This is the 10th anniversary of the event and the largest ever 'Puffer. Conditions are testing, with ice snow and mud pushing the competitors and their bikes to the very limit. Also in this programme, Cameron McNeish leaves the Scottish winter behind for an outstanding Wild Weekend in the little known Alentejo region of western Portugal.

It's fast, it's furious and it's just outside Scotland's capital. The Pentland Skyline Hill Race takes in virtually every peak in this striking landscape: 16 miles long and nearly 2000 metres of ascent. The fastest do it in just over two hours, so it's full on from the very start. Also on the show, we'll be finding out why one man chose to walk from Lands End to John o' Groats in a completely straight line. And, on a wild winter's day, we're heading into the Cairngorms with former speed skier turned photographer, Henry Iddon - not to race down the slopes but to capture an image that commemorates a mountain tragedy.