Calum Maclean of Aberfeldy has built a cult online following as a result of wild swimming in far flung places around Scotland.
A TikTok video of him in 2022 swimming in Loch Morar, Britain’s deepest body of freshwater, attracted 14 million views in two days.
Now, the 35-year-old is set to attract a whole new legion of fans as he becomes one of two new presenters on BBC Scotland’s popular The Adventure Show.
Calum is being joined by fellow triathlete and presenter Marie Meldrum from Fort William.
The first episode airs on Sunday February 18. In an interview with The Courier ahead of broadcast, Calum explained how he’d been an avid viewer for years.
He’s always loved the events and stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary feats.
However, the fluent Gaelic speaker and former BBC Alba star couldn’t believe his luck when he was asked if he’d become a presenter.
Having made the most of the outdoors to battle mental health issues a few years ago, he also hopes the programme can inspire more people to embrace Scotland’s natural environment and feel better for it.
Calum Maclean has enjoyed a lifelong love of the great outdoors
“I’ve always loved the outdoors,” he said.
“Growing up, we would go on family holidays in the outdoors and I really enjoyed camping and hillwalking and the odd swim in a loch.
“By the time I was in my early twenties I started to become interested in taking on events and competitive challenges.
“As the years have passed, I’ve tried a whole range of outdoor activities, each time increasing the level of difficulty.
“I want people to look at adventurous activities and ask themselves: ‘Could I do that? How would I do it?’
“Once you start to ask those sorts of questions, it can result in a whole new mind-set that encourages you to try things you would never have thought you were capable of.”
Calum Maclean reconsidered career options after dropping out of university
Born in Australia, Calum Maclean grew up in In Inverness.
When he left school at 17, he went to Strathclyde University in Glasgow to study business.
But after six or seven months, he realised he “should have gone and done something else between school and university”.
He dropped out of university at the end of first year.
After working in a Glasgow kilt shop to save some money, he went travelling to Australia and New Zealand.
He’s got family in Australia and stayed with them.
As a child, he’d always been in to “outdoorsy”, non-competitive family stuff.
But during the 18 months that he was away, he not only got into running, but also outdoor swimming.
Gaelic language background led to BBC jobs
Calum also started to become more interested in competitive events.
Returning to Scotland, he worked in a café in Inverness for six months.
Calum grew up speaking Gaelic at home and attended Gaelic medium education at school in Inverness. He, therefore, enrolled on a media course at Gaelic college on the Isle of Skye.
The timing was fortunate because, with the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games on the horizon at that time, he secured work with the BBC while doing adventure activities in his spare time.
When he realised he wanted to work outdoors and be more creative, he decided to go self-employed and combine those things – making his own videos and social media posts along the way.
One thing led to another.
After training for outdoor education qualifications, working with young people, and combining it with his own film-making and presenting videos, it opened up a new opportunity to do a swimming programme on BBC Alba.
“Luckily new things then kept appearing and I kept saying yes!” he said.
How has the great outdoors helped Calum Maclean boost his mental health?
Calum has lived in Inverness, Glasgow, Australia and the Cairngorms.
He started making documentaries and writing on his blog about “hidden gems” and the physical and mental health benefits these places and activities brought him.
Calum revealed that at one stage he had low mood and was off work for a while.
He started writing a blog and making videos that reflected how the outdoors – especially swimming – helped him.
It improved his mood and helped him focus.
Having now lived in Aberfeldy for three and a half years, it’s a particularly “amazing” place to access a range of environments.
“There’s lots to do with the River Tay,” he said, adding that his ideal long day is one where he can combine running or swimming, or cycling and swimming.
“I’m swam, I’ve paddled on it.
“In summer mainly there’s a great route where you can run up stream, jump back in and swim back to Aberfeldy.
“It depends how high the water levels are.
“But I also really like it in the Pitlochry/Killiecrankie area – the whole Loch Faskally.
“There are amazing trails to run and swim.
“If you are an adventurous swimmer you can swim up to the Linn of Tummel from Pitlochry and swim back downstream.
“I really really like it round there, especially in summer.
“But the hills around Loch Tay as well.
“I don’t swim in Loch Tay that much, but yeah, all the hills around there, I spend a lot of time in them too.”
What can viewers expect from new series of The Adventure Show?
The Adventure Show, which is now in its 19th series, brings a generous helping of activities into viewers’ living rooms from kayaking to mountain marathons to surfing to mountain biking.
The first of three half hour episodes of 2024 kick off with the world-class Strathpuffer Mountain Bike Endurance Event, which took place during the weekend of January 13-14.
This annual 24-hour winter competition involves cycling for around 17 hours in darkness in the forest at Contin near Strathpeffer, north of Inverness.
Co-presenter Marie Meldrum takes part in it, with Calum joining her for a lap to keep her going.
Meanwhile, British cyclist and Paralympian, Karen Darke, tackles an alternative route suitable for adaptive bikes.
The show captures the arrival of the nervous competitors at the camping village and the exciting build up to the race, with highlights from the beginning to end and a particular focus through the night and early morning.
As well as featuring cycling stars, viewers meet the unsung heroes behind the scenes who do everything from repairing bikes to encouraging competitors to continue.
What’s it like working with Adventure Show co-presenter Marie Meldrum?
Calum said he’s “really happy” to be working with Marie who is a “brilliant triathlete and someone whose reputation goes before her”.
The 48-year-old secondary school business studies teacher and high profile adventurer has found solace and inspiration in taking on increasingly difficult outdoor challenges in the face of personal tragedies.
This includes the death two years ago of her husband Donnie Meldrum, and her father’s suicide in 2014.
While it’s a different experience presenting a programme than taking part in an event as a competitor, Calum says that having inside knowledge of what participants are going through definitely helps.
“I think having done lots of different events I know what people are going through. I know some of the physical challenges – even the technical aspects of what people will have to do to finish these races,” he said.
On that side of things, I can talk with some authority – I know what I’m saying.
“Other than yet, yeah, I know quite a lot of people taking part in them as well.
“You can recognise people – it’s easy to chat and stop someone, get some words from them and see what they’ve expecting from the race too.”
Why should you watch The Adventure Show?
Calum added that when it comes to the appeal of the Adventure Show, it’s about showing off the “incredible events” happening in Scotland and representing it back to a mainly Scottish audience.
“We’ve got these incredible races like the Strathpuffer, 24 hour mountain bike race that takes place in the thick of winter where it’s pitch black for most of the 24 hours,” he said.
“It’s an amazing event. Unique really.
“Because it’s unique, I think it’s important we show that and share that, show the stories of people taking part.
“Because the people who know about it are into it and will follow it on social media and will know the story of it.
“But people who are not totally die hard mountain bikers might not quite realise what the Strathpuffer is or realise peoples’ all different reasons for doing it.
“People who hear about it might think ‘that’s totally beyond me’.
“But the amazing thing is that lots of people taking part in it once had that attitude. That it was beyond them, they couldn’t do it. And here they are taking part in it!
“So the main thing is it’s showing the events to the audience. But then also trying to encourage you to think ‘you know what I could probably try that’!
“So long as you have the right mind set to train and go and do it, these adventurous events are not beyond most people.”
When to watch The Adventure Show
The Adventure Show episode one airs on Sunday February 18 at 8pm on BBC Scotland.
Immediately following transmission, it will also be available on BBC iPlayer.
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