A hermit who has spent the last 40 years living in isolation in the Highlands made a surprise appearance on the red carpet of a film festival.
Ken Smith, who lives “off-grid” in a remote part of Lochaber, left his cabin to attend the premiere of a documentary about his life in Glasgow.
The 74-year-old has lived for the last four decades without electricity or running water by Loch Treig – a two-hour walk from the nearest road.
Ken, who is originally from Derbyshire, began a life of wandering after being beaten up during a night out, leaving him unconscious for nearly a fortnight.
Hunt for most isolated place in Britain
While travelling in Canada, he became interested in the wilderness and on his return, he sought out what he felt was the “most isolated place in Britain” and built himself a log cabin.
He allowed a filmmaker, Lizzie MacKenzie, to film him over two years for a documentary for BBC Scotland called The Hermit of Treig.
The pensioner had to get up at 4am on Saturday so he could make the walk to the nearest road for his journey to the premiere at the Glasgow Film Festival.
He told the BBC how his first trip away from the Highlands in decades made a big impression on him.
He said: “The last time I was in Glasgow was 30 or 40 years ago – it’s changed so much from what it used to be.
“I don’t know any of the places or anything like that, in the past I did.
“It’s certainly a different form of life – I’ve never seen so many people. From where I am, where I live I can go weeks and never see anybody and I just carry on with my jobs.”
Lizzie heard about Ken while she ran a remote restaurant, and was told about him by local deer stalkers.
Filmmaker befriended Highland Hermit years before documentary
They became friends 10 years ago after she sought him out and asked him to teach her to fish. She later became a filmmaker and persuaded him to take part in a documentary.
She said: “I got curious and ended up going to meet Ken and we wrote letters for years and years – and I slowly learned how to make films so he could tell his story.
“The most challenging one was when Ken did his 50-mile or whatever round trip to town and we got up at 3am and walked around in the dark.
“I was trying to keep up with him with the camera and I struggled to keep up – I thought I was fit until I tried to follow Ken with a camera.”
The Hermit of Treig will be available online via Glasgow Film at Home from 8 – 11 March and then released in cinemas across the UK from 25 March.
