SCOTLAND’S favourite tour guide is bringing the Vikings back to the Borders later this month.

BBC’s Grand Tours presenter Paul Murton will open this year’s Abbotsford Literary Sessions on Friday, November 29.

Having spent four months researching and writing The Viking Isles: Travels in Orkney & Shetland, Paul will discuss his findings as well as his own Norwegian heritage during the event.

Murton has been regular on our televisions over the past decade or so with series such as Scotland's Clans, Grand Tours of Scotland, Grand Tours of the Scottish Islands and Grand Tours of Scotland's Lochs.

But getting to learn more about the Viking influence on his native land was something he relished.

Paul told us: “I had written The Hebrides a couple of years ago for Birlinn and they asked me if I’d like to do something similar about Orkney and Shetland.

“The Viking influence in both Shetland and Orkney is everywhere – they landed and stayed here before going onto other parts of Scotland and Ireland.

“We are a lot closer to the Vikings than a lot of people know and I hope I’ve demonstrated this in the book.”

The Viking Isles: Travels in Orkney and Shetland is a delightful and enlightening exploration of the Viking legacy on Scotland’s northern-most islands.

Packed with anecdotes, observations and history, as well as 150 colour photographs, it provides a vivid picture of both Orkney and Shetland’s rich heritage.

An added incentive for Paul was the opportunity to use his own lineage during the research.

He explained: “My father came from Bergen in Norway and as a child we would often sail along the coast where he grew up.

“I had a very Swallows and Amazons existence as a boy.

“My father regularly talked about the Viking legacy in the area of Norway where he was from – and it was these fjords where they set sail for Orkney, Shetland and the other parts of Scotland.

“While I was on Shetland researching the book, I was talking with a shepherd when he was out doing the lambing – and many of the words he used for the sea and the weather were the same words I’d known from being in Norway.”

Paul’s discussion about The Viking Isles: Travels in Orkney & Shetland will open this year’s Abbotsford Literary Sessions on Friday, November 29 at 6pm.

Also on the opening evening will be the former voice of Radio 4’s Today programme, James Naughtie.

James has an unrivalled ability to offer incisive analysis, perspective and balance during the whirlwind countdown to the General Election.