0:00:04 > 0:00:07The white cliffs of Dover,
0:00:07 > 0:00:12starting point for an epic journey around one of the most complex
0:00:12 > 0:00:15and fascinating coastlines in the the world,
0:00:15 > 0:00:16our own.
0:00:18 > 0:00:21The coast is where the story of an island nation,
0:00:21 > 0:00:25its history, its geography, and above all its people, is told most vividly.
0:00:25 > 0:00:30This is life on the edge, the coast as you've never seen it before.
0:00:34 > 0:00:41It's easy to think that the coast is merely where the country stops, where the land falls into the sea.
0:00:41 > 0:00:45In fact, our coastline is at the very heart of our shared history,
0:00:45 > 0:00:50the source of so much national wealth, and where empire was born.
0:00:55 > 0:00:57Many of us work here.
0:00:57 > 0:01:00Even more of us come here to play.
0:01:00 > 0:01:04But few of us have ever travelled its entire length...until now.
0:01:07 > 0:01:11This is a once-in-a-lifetime journey.
0:01:11 > 0:01:15We'll be exploring the coast of England, Wales, Northern Ireland
0:01:15 > 0:01:22and Scotland, uncovering the treasures that have made us the island nation we are today.
0:01:24 > 0:01:27But to fully appreciate the diversity of our coast,
0:01:27 > 0:01:33will take a diverse range of skills, so I'll be travelling with a small, dedicated team of experts.
0:01:35 > 0:01:41Writer and historian Neil Oliver will explore the human stories behind the history.
0:01:43 > 0:01:47Zoologist Miranda Krestovnikoff is our guide beneath the waves.
0:01:52 > 0:01:59Anthropologist Alice Roberts will be grappling with the actual stuff that makes up our coastline.
0:01:59 > 0:02:05Archaeologist Mark Horton is going to dig up the hidden histories along our familiar shores.
0:02:06 > 0:02:09And me? Fantastic!
0:02:09 > 0:02:12Well, I just can't wait to get started.
0:02:14 > 0:02:18An 11,700 mile adventure,
0:02:18 > 0:02:21this is the story of Coast.
0:02:47 > 0:02:53The first leg of our journey takes us the 330 miles from Dover to Exmouth,
0:02:53 > 0:02:58a coastline pockmarked by a legacy of invasion and war.
0:03:00 > 0:03:04This is Britain's frontline.
0:03:04 > 0:03:08Many of our neighbours have had a crack at invading here.
0:03:08 > 0:03:10One or two even succeeded.
0:03:10 > 0:03:13Since Roman times, we've been fortifying this coast,
0:03:13 > 0:03:16building chains of linked defences,
0:03:16 > 0:03:21grand castles, Saxon shore forts, evolving and reinventing them
0:03:21 > 0:03:28as the enemy got stronger, but always looking nervously out to sea.
0:03:28 > 0:03:33This is a Martello tower. It's number three, just outside Folkestone.
0:03:33 > 0:03:39Number one Martello tower is over there, and nestling down in the hollow is number two.
0:03:39 > 0:03:43And stretching away along the south coast in that direction, another 71!
0:03:44 > 0:03:49All 74 towers were built in the early 1800s at a time when Napoleon
0:03:49 > 0:03:56had overrun most of Europe and saw no reason why Britain should be left out of his grand design.
0:04:05 > 0:04:07Oh, it's rather beautiful.
0:04:07 > 0:04:12There's not a straight edge to be seen on the ceilings or the walls, it's a room entirely full of curves.
0:04:12 > 0:04:14And look how thick the walls are.
0:04:14 > 0:04:19Each of these towers was built from half a million bricks, and they might look round, but actually
0:04:19 > 0:04:26it's elliptical, built thicker on the seaward side to withstand the cannon fire of an attacking French navy.
0:04:28 > 0:04:33The building of 74 towers was a hugely ambitious engineering project,
0:04:33 > 0:04:36but ultimately they were never put to the test.
0:04:36 > 0:04:41In 1805 Napoleon's seemingly unstoppable march through Europe
0:04:41 > 0:04:46was halted when he was beaten by Admiral Lord Nelson at Trafalgar.
0:04:46 > 0:04:50The final nail in the coffin came ten years later at Waterloo.
0:04:50 > 0:04:53Napoleon was a spent force.
0:04:53 > 0:04:57For the next 100 years, war, at least as far the British were concerned,
0:04:57 > 0:05:01was something that happened a long way away, never on our own shores.
0:05:04 > 0:05:09That long spell of peace at home came to an abrupt end with the outbreak of the First World War.
0:05:14 > 0:05:18The German aircraft that bombed London in 1917 were primitive,
0:05:18 > 0:05:23but they proved that warfare had taken to the skies.
0:05:23 > 0:05:28When the war was over, military strategists had to face an alarming truth.
0:05:28 > 0:05:36The waters around our shores, dominated for over 500 years by the navy, could now just be flown over.
0:05:36 > 0:05:40In future, wars would be won or lost from the air.
0:05:40 > 0:05:46The success of our defence would depend on early warning of attack.
0:05:46 > 0:05:51And before the advent of radar, the best chance we had of getting that early warning was one of these,
0:05:51 > 0:05:55monolithic upturned concrete soap dishes.
0:05:55 > 0:06:00Known as sound mirrors, these top-secret constructions, built between the wars,
0:06:00 > 0:06:05were designed as giant ears to listen out for approaching enemy aircraft.
0:06:05 > 0:06:10Most of them have been demolished, vandalised or have simply rotted
0:06:10 > 0:06:16away, but remarkably this one just outside Folkestone is still standing.
0:06:17 > 0:06:23And just 18 miles further down the coast, at Denge near Dungeness, there are three more sound mirrors.
0:06:23 > 0:06:29Considering they were abandoned more than 70 years ago, they're in remarkable condition.
0:06:29 > 0:06:33It's hard to believe that these long forgotten relics of war
0:06:33 > 0:06:36played a vital role in the defence of the United Kingdom.
0:06:36 > 0:06:38Great to meet you.
0:06:38 > 0:06:44'Richard Scarth has dedicated 20 years of his life to the study of the mirrors.'
0:06:46 > 0:06:48Richard, they're incredible!
0:06:52 > 0:06:58The sound mirrors were the life's work of one man, Dr William Tucker.
0:06:58 > 0:07:01Richard, by the time Tucker came here, he'd been working
0:07:01 > 0:07:04on sound-detection equipment for 20 years.
0:07:04 > 0:07:06He had, and the results of their work was
0:07:06 > 0:07:09this magnificent structure here, the biggest sound mirror of all.
0:07:09 > 0:07:12- This is a monument to his life's work.- Yes, it is, yes.
0:07:12 > 0:07:14It is absolutely fantastic.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17It's enormous.
0:07:17 > 0:07:21In their day these mirrors were the cutting edge of military hardware.
0:07:21 > 0:07:2770 years on, they lie abandoned and the secrets of how they work forgotten.
0:07:27 > 0:07:31With the help of the National Physical Laboratory and the Open University,
0:07:31 > 0:07:35we're going to unravel their mysteries and get them working again.
0:07:38 > 0:07:44Very little technical information has survived, so our scientists are going to have to work from scratch.
0:07:44 > 0:07:49And their first discovery is that the mirrors are much more complicated than they appear.
0:07:49 > 0:07:53- OK, so it's ready to go, then.- Yeah, cos that's as far as we're going up.
0:07:53 > 0:07:57In the 1930s, as Tucker's team struggled to perfect the sound mirrors,
0:07:57 > 0:08:00tension was rising across Europe.
0:08:00 > 0:08:05And in Britain the government began to assess the country's readiness for war.
0:08:05 > 0:08:08As part of those exercises, aircraft were flown towards
0:08:08 > 0:08:13the sound mirrors to assess their early-warning capabilities.
0:08:13 > 0:08:19We've got a Tiger Moth standing by to do the same thing, but before it can take to the air,
0:08:19 > 0:08:22we've got to discover how the mirrors actually work.
0:08:26 > 0:08:29A little bit more, try a little bit more.
0:08:29 > 0:08:33By setting up two microphones - a red one listening to the mirror
0:08:33 > 0:08:37and a control microphone marked with blue, well away from the mirror -
0:08:37 > 0:08:41our scientists hope to reveal the sound mirrors' secrets.
0:08:41 > 0:08:46Well, what we're using is a single tone, and so what that shows up on
0:08:46 > 0:08:50this graph is a single peak, and you can see this single peak here.
0:08:50 > 0:08:54- A very dramatic spike. - On the top graph... - Which is the red microphone.
0:08:54 > 0:09:01At the sound-mirror focus, you can see that we've got a level which is up around 70-80 decibels, in fact.
0:09:01 > 0:09:06- On the blue graph at the bottom... - That's the microphone standing in the open.
0:09:06 > 0:09:09Yep, you can see the level's much lower, down at about 60 decibels.
0:09:09 > 0:09:13So the sound-mirror microphone is picking up much more sound.
0:09:13 > 0:09:16It's amplifying it by as much as 15 decibels.
0:09:16 > 0:09:20So this is exactly what Tucker's physicists would have been doing all those years ago.
0:09:20 > 0:09:24- Exactly.- Our first eureka moment.
0:09:24 > 0:09:28The sound mirror makes the tone almost four times louder.
0:09:28 > 0:09:30In the simplest case, an aeroplane could be coming in,
0:09:30 > 0:09:36sound waves coming from that aeroplane are going to hit the mirror at different points.
0:09:36 > 0:09:41And where those reflected rays meet is what we call the focal point,
0:09:41 > 0:09:44and you'll get an increase in the sound level at that point.
0:09:44 > 0:09:49But if say, for example, the aeroplane was off axes, sound travelling from that
0:09:49 > 0:09:52is going to bounce off the mirror.
0:09:52 > 0:09:58But this time the angles would have changed, the focal point has now moved down to here.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01If you simply move your microphone, you can get not only an early
0:10:01 > 0:10:04warning that a plane's coming in, but also the direction.
0:10:04 > 0:10:06Which is the essence of early warning.
0:10:06 > 0:10:08Absolutely.
0:10:11 > 0:10:15That's got enough water out, we can now see how the mechanism worked, can't we?
0:10:15 > 0:10:19Yes, and you've got to imagine that underneath here was an operating room,
0:10:19 > 0:10:23and there's a man sitting in there who's got control of this apparatus, which is designed to move a trumpet
0:10:23 > 0:10:29which was on the end of that arm over the focal area of the mirror.
0:10:29 > 0:10:33The mirror's designed to focus sounds just a few feet in front of it, and so the collector
0:10:33 > 0:10:38went round at that plane and picked up the sounds, hopefully, of a distant aero-engine.
0:10:38 > 0:10:41And when he listened in his stethoscopes, when he got to
0:10:41 > 0:10:45the place where it was the loudest, that was the direction the aircraft was coming.
0:10:45 > 0:10:47Of course the idea was that there would be
0:10:47 > 0:10:52several of these mirrors up and down the coast and they could work together to a control centre,
0:10:52 > 0:10:55and they'd get cross bearings, which would give them more accuracy.
0:10:55 > 0:11:01At the heart of this larger network of mirrors was Dr Tucker's 200 ft wall.
0:11:01 > 0:11:07Armed with the understanding we've gained from our experiments at the smaller mirror, our scientists are
0:11:07 > 0:11:13now ready to use Tucker's wall for our own early-warning test.
0:11:13 > 0:11:17Our Tiger Moth will head out to sea, then turn back and approach the
0:11:17 > 0:11:21mirror along its axis, which we've marked with a white sheet.
0:11:24 > 0:11:30Flying at 500ft and 90mph, this mimics one of the government tests from the 1930s.
0:11:35 > 0:11:38I'm gonna put these headphones on,
0:11:38 > 0:11:41which are wired up to the red microphone in front of the mirrors,
0:11:41 > 0:11:45- so if Tucker's wall works, I'm going to hear the plane first.- Yes.
0:11:45 > 0:11:49The piston-engined Tiger Moth of the 1930s sounds exactly like
0:11:49 > 0:11:53the planes that Tucker's men would have been listening out for.
0:11:57 > 0:12:01The tension's really unbearable, just waiting. Complete silence.
0:12:05 > 0:12:07Headphones are silent...
0:12:07 > 0:12:10I can't see anything yet.
0:12:10 > 0:12:12ENGINE HUMS
0:12:18 > 0:12:23I'm getting something! I can hear it! And some spikes!
0:12:23 > 0:12:26I can't hear a thing without them on.
0:12:26 > 0:12:28- Nothing on the blue traces. - Blue trace...
0:12:28 > 0:12:32This definitely is...the Tiger Moth, there's its fingerprint.
0:12:32 > 0:12:34Fantastic!
0:12:34 > 0:12:37ENGINE HUMS
0:12:37 > 0:12:38Now I can hear it really clearly.
0:12:40 > 0:12:42Yeah, here he comes. Really loud now.
0:12:51 > 0:12:55There it is! Right above us at last!
0:12:55 > 0:12:59Tucker's machine beat the human ear by a long way.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02That was fantastic.
0:13:02 > 0:13:0470 years on, it still works.
0:13:06 > 0:13:12So we got nearly 40 seconds or about a one mile advance warning.
0:13:12 > 0:13:20Not bad for a 70-year-old piece of concrete, but nowhere near Tucker's best-ever results of over 20 miles.
0:13:26 > 0:13:30But in 1933, while Dr Tucker and his team were toasting their success,
0:13:30 > 0:13:37other scientists were measuring a BBC radio signal as it bounced off a Hayford bomber.
0:13:37 > 0:13:42After only five months in development, this discovery, the earliest form of radar, was
0:13:42 > 0:13:49was detecting planes over 40 miles away, twice the distance that the sound mirrors had ever achieved.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55It was all over for Dr Tucker's acoustic detection system.
0:13:55 > 0:13:59By 1937, the sound mirrors had been abandoned.
0:13:59 > 0:14:01Well, what became of Dr Tucker?
0:14:01 > 0:14:04For some reason that nobody seems to be able to explain, he was more
0:14:04 > 0:14:08or less forcibly made to retire, and one of the last things he was asked
0:14:08 > 0:14:14to do was to destroy the mirrors by blowing them up, but thank goodness he didn't obey his orders.
0:14:14 > 0:14:18Dr Tucker's retirement may have been the end for the sound mirrors,
0:14:18 > 0:14:23but nevertheless they were to have a profound effect on the course of the Second World War.
0:14:23 > 0:14:29The reporting structure that Tucker developed for the mirrors was copied by the radar team
0:14:29 > 0:14:34and led directly to their success in the Battle of Britain.
0:14:51 > 0:14:55The 7.45 from Hastings to London.
0:14:55 > 0:14:58Not an obvious choice for a coastal journey.
0:14:58 > 0:15:02But something rather interesting has happened along this stretch of the coast.
0:15:07 > 0:15:09It's easy to think of our coast as unchanging.
0:15:09 > 0:15:12In fact, it's constantly in flux.
0:15:12 > 0:15:17We are now approaching Pevensey Bay. Would customers please note...?
0:15:17 > 0:15:22Erosion is eating away at much of our famous landscape.
0:15:22 > 0:15:27And yet here in Pevensey Bay, different forces have been at work.
0:15:27 > 0:15:33Since William the Conqueror landed almost 1,000 years ago, the shoreline has changed beyond recognition.
0:15:33 > 0:15:37Rather than eroding, it's been growing.
0:15:37 > 0:15:41As much as a mile-and-a-half has been added, reclaimed from the sea.
0:15:41 > 0:15:46Land reclamation, or "inning", has been going on here since the 13th century,
0:15:46 > 0:15:53when the local church authorities would pay to have the land drained and turned over to agriculture.
0:15:56 > 0:16:00But just beyond Eastbourne, where the commuters and I
0:16:00 > 0:16:05part company, is Beachy Head, the flipside of coastal change.
0:16:10 > 0:16:14At 163 metres above sea level, the cliffs at Beachy Head
0:16:14 > 0:16:18are the highest chalk sea cliffs in the United Kingdom.
0:16:18 > 0:16:24The question is, as they say in the soap powder ads, how do they stay so white?
0:16:24 > 0:16:27The unhappy answer - erosion.
0:16:29 > 0:16:34The cliffs barely have time to get dirty before the wind and waves strip them away.
0:16:37 > 0:16:39Up to a metre is lost every year.
0:16:41 > 0:16:45In 1999, the Belle Tout lighthouse made headline news when the
0:16:45 > 0:16:52owners paid nearly £200,000 to have it moved back from the cliff edge to prevent it falling into the sea.
0:16:54 > 0:16:59At the current rate of erosion, it's a procedure they'll have to repeat in 2016.
0:16:59 > 0:17:01And again in 2033,
0:17:01 > 0:17:052050, 2067, 2084...
0:17:10 > 0:17:1420 miles further round the coast is Brighton,
0:17:14 > 0:17:17a resort with a long established reputation for hedonism.
0:17:17 > 0:17:24For centuries, it's played host to an invasion of Londoners who want a bit of sin by the sea.
0:17:24 > 0:17:28Or in it, for that matter.
0:17:31 > 0:17:36Its long beach, that stretches from Brighton to Selsey Bill, it's a playground for holidaymakers.
0:17:36 > 0:17:41But beyond the candyfloss and deckchairs, there's another world -
0:17:41 > 0:17:44a world beneath the waves that most of us never get to see.
0:17:44 > 0:17:48This journey is not just going to take us along the coast,
0:17:48 > 0:17:55but into the seas around our islands, to reveal the extraordinary diversity of our marine wildlife...
0:17:58 > 0:18:03..a subject that zoologist, Miranda Krestovnikoff, has been studying all her working life.
0:18:07 > 0:18:11I've dived all over the world, but it's easy to forget
0:18:11 > 0:18:15there are some stunning wildlife dives much closer to home.
0:18:15 > 0:18:20But when two local divers, Robert Walker and Paul Parsons, told me there was
0:18:20 > 0:18:25a good chance of photographing cuttlefish just offshore here, I was a bit sceptical.
0:18:25 > 0:18:29So are we expecting to see activity like this if we dive today, or is this unique?
0:18:29 > 0:18:32I think we will find cuttles. We may not get this activity,
0:18:32 > 0:18:35because everything has to be just right,
0:18:35 > 0:18:38but we should be able to find cuttlefish, hopefully mating.
0:18:47 > 0:18:53All this equipment and all this effort, I really hope it's worth it and there are cuttlefish down there.
0:18:54 > 0:18:57The vis may not be that good
0:18:57 > 0:19:02but once you get your eye in, there's loads to see down here.
0:19:02 > 0:19:05Here's a tube worm.
0:19:05 > 0:19:09This feeds by just picking up whatever's floating past in the current.
0:19:12 > 0:19:16If I just reach out and touch it with my finger, there you go.
0:19:16 > 0:19:19It's retracted its tentacles.
0:19:19 > 0:19:22We're only a few metres out and a few metres deep.
0:19:22 > 0:19:26There's so much marine life here.
0:19:26 > 0:19:30This little dragon-looking creature is a pipefish.
0:19:30 > 0:19:34They look a bit like sea horses, they're related to sea horses.
0:19:37 > 0:19:40Oh look! There's a cuttlefish.
0:19:40 > 0:19:42Exactly what we wanted to see.
0:19:42 > 0:19:44They're such exotic looking creatures.
0:19:44 > 0:19:49You'd never imagine to find something like this right here in British waters.
0:19:49 > 0:19:53It's very big. A couple of feet long.
0:19:56 > 0:19:59They look sort of alien.
0:19:59 > 0:20:04A really, really unusual shape, with those big eyes and this floating skirt.
0:20:04 > 0:20:06Really odd-looking creatures.
0:20:17 > 0:20:20Cuttlefish are in the same family as squid and octopus.
0:20:22 > 0:20:26Sometimes known as the chameleon of the sea, they can change their
0:20:26 > 0:20:30body colour and patterning to mesmerise their prey.
0:20:39 > 0:20:45I've just realised there's a change, and up there there's two tentacles, and they're going a darker colour.
0:20:45 > 0:20:48It's obviously feeling a little bit threatened.
0:20:48 > 0:20:51That's its threat posture.
0:20:53 > 0:20:56Off he goes. Gosh, what's he got?
0:20:56 > 0:21:00Goodness me, he's just grabbed a crab!
0:21:02 > 0:21:03That's amazing.
0:21:03 > 0:21:06Don't think I've seen that before!
0:21:09 > 0:21:15Cuttlefish have a sharp parrot-like beak and a venomous bite, which will make short work of this crab.
0:21:19 > 0:21:25As the sea warms in spring, cuttlefish invade these shallow waters to mate and lay their eggs.
0:21:25 > 0:21:29This part of the south coast is a real hot spot for them.
0:21:32 > 0:21:38Male cuttlefish dazzle the smaller females with their striped patterns and flowing tentacles.
0:21:42 > 0:21:46They mate head to head, with tentacles entwined.
0:21:50 > 0:21:54After mating, the male cuttlefish guards his female
0:21:54 > 0:21:59as she deposits her eggs, dyed black with ink to deter predators.
0:22:01 > 0:22:05This cuttlefish invasion lasts all summer, but with the water cooler,
0:22:05 > 0:22:12and their life cycle complete, both males and females die, leaving their bones to be washed up on the beach.
0:22:14 > 0:22:16Truly amazing.
0:22:16 > 0:22:21Diving this close to the shore, and seeing these weird, weird creatures.
0:22:21 > 0:22:23That's a pretty incredible dive.
0:22:42 > 0:22:45We're almost halfway through the first leg of our journey to Exmouth.
0:22:45 > 0:22:51About 130 miles from Dover is the city of Portsmouth,
0:22:51 > 0:22:56the place with centuries of maritime history,
0:22:56 > 0:23:02a fair proportion of which is connected directly or indirectly with the Royal Navy, down there.
0:23:04 > 0:23:10Her Majesty's naval base, Portsmouth, currently harbours two thirds of the Navy's surface fleet.
0:23:10 > 0:23:14But the city's proud naval tradition goes back nearly 1,000 years,
0:23:14 > 0:23:18with many decisive military campaigns being launched from here.
0:23:20 > 0:23:24The fleet's biggest engagement of recent years was in 1982.
0:23:24 > 0:23:30On 5th April, the first ship set sail from Portsmouth on the 8,000 mile journey to the Falkland Islands.
0:23:32 > 0:23:36The question is, why here?
0:23:36 > 0:23:40Why was Portsmouth chosen above other ports on the south coast to be home of the Royal Navy?
0:23:40 > 0:23:45Archaeologist Mark Horton is in the Historic Dockyard to find the answer.
0:23:47 > 0:23:50- Morning. - Morning. Shall we go for a trip?
0:23:50 > 0:23:51Yes, climb aboard.
0:23:53 > 0:23:58My guide, Roy Rolfe, started off by explaining how the geography here
0:23:58 > 0:24:02works to make this place an ideal port.
0:24:05 > 0:24:13Crucially, the huge expanse of water in Portsmouth harbour is only accessible through a small entrance.
0:24:13 > 0:24:17Right in the entrance now, you can see it's very narrow.
0:24:17 > 0:24:21- And presumably defensible because it is so narrow.- That's right, yes.
0:24:21 > 0:24:27We're now actually out into the entrance channel to Portsmouth Harbour.
0:24:27 > 0:24:29And on the shore of the Isle of Wight.
0:24:29 > 0:24:33The Isle of Wight is one of the main reasons why this is such a good harbour.
0:24:33 > 0:24:40So that's as a sort of protection - despite the fact we can see the wind coming in, it's quite sheltered.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43And it also means the harbour is always usable.
0:24:43 > 0:24:45You don't get the sort of weather you could get at
0:24:45 > 0:24:51Dover sometimes, by the breakwater, where it's something of a lottery to get in and out in very bad weather.
0:24:51 > 0:24:54The harbour at Portsmouth has a lot to recommend it, but in many ways
0:24:54 > 0:24:58its trump card has nothing to do with its physical geography.
0:24:58 > 0:25:02And everything to do with politics.
0:25:02 > 0:25:06For much of our history, England was at war with her continental neighbours.
0:25:06 > 0:25:10First the French, then the Spanish, and then the Dutch.
0:25:10 > 0:25:17In those battles, it was considered important to have a harbour as close as possible to the enemy.
0:25:17 > 0:25:21For the Spanish wars, that meant Plymouth.
0:25:21 > 0:25:25For fighting the Dutch, Chatham in Kent was best.
0:25:25 > 0:25:30But it was the French wars that were begun by Henry VIII that really made this place important.
0:25:33 > 0:25:40Henry created the Royal Navy in 1525, and decreed that Portsmouth should be its home.
0:25:40 > 0:25:44Through fighting the French seven times in 290 years,
0:25:44 > 0:25:52Portsmouth grew from 1,000 people in 1545 to over 30,000 in 1800.
0:25:52 > 0:25:59Now the docks were home to 684 ships, and were the largest industrial complex in the world.
0:25:59 > 0:26:04But things for Portsmouth were about to change again.
0:26:04 > 0:26:07Just listen to that wind to the rigging.
0:26:07 > 0:26:12The Victory, where Nelson defeated the French 200 years ago at the Battle of Trafalgar.
0:26:12 > 0:26:19But ironically, it was that victory against the French that changed the role of Portsmouth for ever.
0:26:19 > 0:26:24From the base where we fought the French, to the place
0:26:24 > 0:26:28where we patrolled the world and fulfilled our imperial ambitions.
0:26:28 > 0:26:34For the next 200 years, Portsmouth's growth was driven more
0:26:34 > 0:26:37by technological innovation than military need.
0:26:39 > 0:26:43The move from sail to steam in the 19th century saw the biggest expansion.
0:26:43 > 0:26:49It's the sea just the other side of those somewhat rusty gates.
0:26:49 > 0:26:52This is the number six dry dock, one of around 20 here.
0:26:52 > 0:26:55Portsmouth was not just the centre of the naval operations,
0:26:55 > 0:27:01but also an important dockyard, where ships could be built, and comfortably repaired.
0:27:01 > 0:27:06As the ships got larger and larger, so the dry docks themselves had to
0:27:06 > 0:27:10get bigger and bigger to keep pace with technological change.
0:27:10 > 0:27:16If the 19th century saw Portsmouth grow with every new technology of war,
0:27:16 > 0:27:23the 20th century saw the benefit during two world wars.
0:27:23 > 0:27:27In the 21st century, warfare continues to change.
0:27:27 > 0:27:31So what is the future for our oldest naval base?
0:27:33 > 0:27:36For the surface navy, the escorts and the aircraft carriers,
0:27:36 > 0:27:38this is where it's all at, yes.
0:27:38 > 0:27:40And does it still work as a harbour?
0:27:40 > 0:27:43Is it suitable for the modern navy?
0:27:43 > 0:27:46Oh, very suitable. There's a large investment programme going on
0:27:46 > 0:27:51to make sure it continues to be suitable, continues to evolve to meet modern requirements.
0:27:51 > 0:27:56Portsmouth is here because of medieval monarchs, Henry VIII and the French.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59I think the reason he chose it is because France was the enemy.
0:27:59 > 0:28:02Today that is not the case.
0:28:02 > 0:28:07Do you think in 500 years' time, there will be a base here at Portsmouth?
0:28:07 > 0:28:10As long as we've got a navy, it will still be here.
0:28:12 > 0:28:17Leaving Portsmouth behind, we're continuing west.
0:28:18 > 0:28:2518 miles further round is this coast's most important commercial port - Southampton.
0:28:25 > 0:28:29Massive liners like Queen Mary II make regular trips to New York from here.
0:28:29 > 0:28:37But more infamously, in April 1912, the Titanic's maiden and only voyage began from this port.
0:28:38 > 0:28:43Southampton is also the starting point of historian Neil Oliver's flight to Alderney,
0:28:43 > 0:28:48the third largest of the Channel Islands and the place on our shores
0:28:48 > 0:28:52which bears the scars of invasion more vividly than anywhere else.
0:28:56 > 0:29:01The British Isles comprise over 6,000 islands, many of which we'll visit on this journey.
0:29:01 > 0:29:05But unlike the Scottish islands, or say, the Isle of Wight,
0:29:05 > 0:29:09the Channel Islands are technically not part of the United Kingdom.
0:29:09 > 0:29:14Even so, they come under the protection of the British crown.
0:29:14 > 0:29:1965 years ago, that protection was tested to breaking point.
0:29:23 > 0:29:28During the Second World War, the Channel Islands were occupied by German forces.
0:29:28 > 0:29:35Alderney became home to four forced labour camps and nearly 7,000 slave labourers.
0:29:41 > 0:29:43Those are the bare facts.
0:29:43 > 0:29:46What they don't tell you, though, is what the slave labourers
0:29:46 > 0:29:52were really doing on Alderney, and what their day-to-day existence was actually like.
0:30:01 > 0:30:02That's it, I'm through.
0:30:02 > 0:30:06No passport control, no customs, because I'm still in Britain.
0:30:09 > 0:30:14By 1940, with the German forces in control of Western Europe,
0:30:14 > 0:30:19the first invasion of British soil in nearly 900 years looked inevitable.
0:30:19 > 0:30:257.5 miles from the French coast, the people of Alderney were going to be the first Britons to be overrun.
0:30:25 > 0:30:30CHURCHILL: We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds.
0:30:30 > 0:30:33We shall fight in the fields
0:30:33 > 0:30:34and in the streets...
0:30:34 > 0:30:39Of course, there were a few beaches that Britain wasn't going to be fighting on.
0:30:39 > 0:30:44After the fall of France, the Channel Islands were in the front line and the British Army decided
0:30:44 > 0:30:49that the best move was to evacuate the islands and leave their fate in the lap of the gods.
0:30:51 > 0:30:54So this is where it took place, then, the evacuation?
0:30:54 > 0:30:58'Buster Hammond was among the first to be given the order to evacuate.'
0:30:58 > 0:31:00Can you describe what that was like?
0:31:00 > 0:31:04I can't imagine the thought of leaving everything I've known.
0:31:05 > 0:31:11I mean, when the door of the house that you're living in is opened -
0:31:11 > 0:31:14you never locked them anyway -
0:31:14 > 0:31:18and a man's voice shouts up the stairs
0:31:18 > 0:31:20"The boats are in,
0:31:20 > 0:31:23"you've got two hours to leave,
0:31:23 > 0:31:27"to board, one suitcase each".
0:31:27 > 0:31:30I mean,
0:31:30 > 0:31:34what do you go to get actually in cases like that?
0:31:34 > 0:31:36We were more concerned about the cat.
0:31:38 > 0:31:43When you were all down here waiting to get on the boats, what was the atmosphere like?
0:31:43 > 0:31:45No panic, no panic.
0:31:45 > 0:31:53We just waited our turn, got on board the boats, just as simple as that.
0:31:53 > 0:31:57I dare say there was a few tears here and there, naturally.
0:31:57 > 0:32:02I mean some of the people had never been off the island.
0:32:05 > 0:32:11The islanders were taken to England, uncertain when, or even if, they would ever see Alderney again.
0:32:14 > 0:32:18Once that last ship had sailed, the island of Alderney was abandoned,
0:32:18 > 0:32:22and here, St Anne's, was a deserted ghost town.
0:32:22 > 0:32:26Clothes left hanging in wardrobes, fires going cold in the hearth.
0:32:26 > 0:32:29The whole place was at the mercy of whoever was coming.
0:32:32 > 0:32:39Within days of the evacuation, Luftwaffe reconnaissance planes were circling the island like vultures.
0:32:39 > 0:32:43Then on 2nd July, the Nazis landed on Alderney soil for the very first time.
0:32:48 > 0:32:51The Germans had invaded an empty island.
0:32:51 > 0:32:55It wasn't long before they began to implement their plans for Alderney.
0:32:58 > 0:33:02It was one of the principal Channel Islands,
0:33:02 > 0:33:08and effectively they were providing offshore gun platforms for the French from the mainland of France.
0:33:08 > 0:33:14In 1941, Hitler ordered the construction of huge bunkers like this,
0:33:14 > 0:33:18as well as gun emplacements and fortifications all over the island.
0:33:18 > 0:33:20This tiny little door is the only way in.
0:33:20 > 0:33:23It is a pretty impressive structure.
0:33:23 > 0:33:25Look at the depth of the walls.
0:33:25 > 0:33:28Two metres thick.
0:33:28 > 0:33:31Concrete, reinforced.
0:33:31 > 0:33:33There we are. Turn through 90 degrees here.
0:33:33 > 0:33:35Lead on.
0:33:35 > 0:33:39On the right we've got an entrance defence position.
0:33:39 > 0:33:42And this corridor then leads forward.
0:33:44 > 0:33:46Daylight.
0:33:46 > 0:33:49You get an idea of the panorama.
0:33:49 > 0:33:52That is just brilliant, isn't it?
0:33:52 > 0:33:58What a view. I'm beginning to realise what the concentration camps must have been for.
0:33:58 > 0:34:01The scale of construction here is awesome.
0:34:01 > 0:34:05They were labour camps for the building of these bunkers.
0:34:05 > 0:34:11The masterminds behind this scheme were infamous German construction force, Organisation Todt.
0:34:11 > 0:34:18The Organisation Todt cut their teeth on the building of the German autobahn system
0:34:18 > 0:34:21and the fortifications of the west wall in Germany.
0:34:21 > 0:34:25So that by the time they came to the occupied countries of Europe,
0:34:25 > 0:34:29they were experienced in building this type of fortification.
0:34:31 > 0:34:37So is this literally the book that you could work from to build your defensive position?
0:34:37 > 0:34:41Yes, absolutely. It's the pocketbook carried by the engineers when they came to the site.
0:34:41 > 0:34:49I love these artists' impressions of what your finished bunker is going to look like once the grass is back.
0:34:49 > 0:34:52It's chilling how clinical these plans are.
0:34:52 > 0:34:57Because however sanitised they look, you can never forget they were built by slaves.
0:35:00 > 0:35:04The forced labourers who worked here for Organisation Todt
0:35:04 > 0:35:09were accommodated in four camps, all of them named after German North Sea islands.
0:35:09 > 0:35:12There was Heligoland, Borkum, Sylt
0:35:12 > 0:35:15and right down there, Norderney.
0:35:15 > 0:35:21Camp Norderney held over 1,500 prisoners from all over occupied Europe.
0:35:21 > 0:35:23They were kept in filthy wooden shacks.
0:35:23 > 0:35:26Today nothing remains - no clue to the story
0:35:26 > 0:35:28of what happened here.
0:35:34 > 0:35:39One of the last surviving prisoners is 82 year-old Monsieur David Trat, a French Jew
0:35:39 > 0:35:45who was only brought here and spared the death camps of Auschwitz because his wife was a Christian.
0:35:45 > 0:35:47HE SPEAKS FRENCH
0:36:14 > 0:36:17How were you treated by the guards here?
0:36:27 > 0:36:32"We were beaten with everything they could lay their hands on -
0:36:32 > 0:36:34"with sticks, spades...
0:36:34 > 0:36:38"There were many men among us over 70 years of age...
0:36:38 > 0:36:40"Hard physical work...
0:36:40 > 0:36:45"We were accused of laziness, but mostly we were beaten out of hatred."
0:36:45 > 0:36:47How did you survive?
0:37:06 > 0:37:10Many would never see their families again.
0:37:10 > 0:37:15No-one knows exactly how many died in the labour camps on Alderney.
0:37:15 > 0:37:18The official figure is 437.
0:37:18 > 0:37:22But many believe the death toll was much, much higher.
0:37:22 > 0:37:26The surviving slave workers were finally moved from the island
0:37:26 > 0:37:31to camps on mainland Europe on 7th May 1944.
0:37:31 > 0:37:34One month later, the liberation of Europe began,
0:37:34 > 0:37:42but the Channel Islands remained under increasingly desperate German occupation for a further year.
0:37:42 > 0:37:46Finally, in May 1945, the Germans surrendered.
0:37:53 > 0:37:57Buster Hammond was one of the first islanders to return home.
0:37:57 > 0:37:59It was so exciting,
0:37:59 > 0:38:06and the thing that struck us most was the number of buildings that had been put up by the Germans,
0:38:06 > 0:38:09and when we came inside the breakwater,
0:38:09 > 0:38:14one of our local men, a Salvationist,
0:38:14 > 0:38:19put the trumpet up and played "Home Sweet Home".
0:38:19 > 0:38:21It was just...
0:38:21 > 0:38:26The sheer magic of being five and a half years late to come back.
0:38:30 > 0:38:36For Monsieur Trat, coming back to Alderney is a more difficult experience.
0:39:35 > 0:39:41This is the mouth of Poole Harbour, the second largest natural harbour in the world after Sydney.
0:39:43 > 0:39:49With its warm micro-climate and spectacular beaches, the village of Sandbanks at the harbour mouth
0:39:49 > 0:39:57has the distinction of having the 4th highest land values on Earth, beaten only by New York, Tokyo and London.
0:39:59 > 0:40:05A four-bedroomed house on this tiny spit of land goes for as much as £2.5 million.
0:40:08 > 0:40:14The chain ferry takes about five minutes to cross between Sandbanks and Studland on the other side.
0:40:14 > 0:40:18The alternative is a 26-mile drive around the bay.
0:40:21 > 0:40:25And more than a million people make use of it every year, some of them to
0:40:25 > 0:40:30take advantage of the rather special freedoms available on Studland Beach.
0:40:34 > 0:40:38My name's Keith Basham. I live in Bournemouth.
0:40:38 > 0:40:43I come across here to Studland because it's such a fabulous place to be,
0:40:43 > 0:40:47very relaxing and the views and the scenery here are unbelievable.
0:40:47 > 0:40:54I think a naturist is somebody who enjoys the freedom and the relaxation of being naked.
0:40:54 > 0:40:59It's not a sexual thing - it's purely a sensitive and sensual feeling.
0:40:59 > 0:41:08We have an area devoted to naturists, and obviously the rest of the beach is for non-naturists.
0:41:08 > 0:41:14It would be nice in a really hot climate where there's no problem with cold nights etc etc,
0:41:14 > 0:41:20but enjoying naturism on a beach - I don't think I could enjoy anything more special than that.
0:41:20 > 0:41:24I do have friends that are not naturists, but I will be undressed and they won't.
0:41:24 > 0:41:29They accept me as a naturist and I accept them as what we call a textile.
0:41:36 > 0:41:41West of Studland Beach, the nature of this coast changes in the most dramatic way.
0:41:41 > 0:41:45These chalk stacks, known as Old Harry Rocks, mark the beginning
0:41:45 > 0:41:55of the last third of our journey, and the start of 95 miles of cliffs and beaches known as the Jurassic Coast.
0:41:55 > 0:42:00The history laid bare here belongs to the age of the dinosaurs at a time
0:42:00 > 0:42:04when this land mass lay thousands of miles to the south on the equator.
0:42:06 > 0:42:12For anyone interested in the evolution of our planet, this is the best place in the UK.
0:42:12 > 0:42:15Like the millions of visitors who come here every year,
0:42:15 > 0:42:22anthropologist Alice Roberts has a special place in her heart for this stretch of our coast.
0:42:22 > 0:42:26The extraordinary thing about this length of coastline
0:42:26 > 0:42:31is that it spans nearly 200 million years of Earth's history - that's three geological time periods.
0:42:31 > 0:42:38And for that reason, in 2001, the United Nations designated the Jurassic Coast
0:42:38 > 0:42:45a World Heritage Site, alongside iconic places like the Great Barrier Reef and the Grand Canyon.
0:42:45 > 0:42:49In fact, though, the Jurassic Coast is a confusing name because, along its 95-mile length,
0:42:49 > 0:42:54there are younger Cretaceous and older Triassic rocks to be seen.
0:42:59 > 0:43:01The Cretaceous rocks at the eastern end
0:43:01 > 0:43:05were formed at the time some of the largest dinosaurs roamed the Earth.
0:43:09 > 0:43:13Further along, and further back in time, are the fossil-rich Jurassic
0:43:13 > 0:43:17rocks, created as the Earth saw an explosion of marine life.
0:43:19 > 0:43:25And finally, at the far western end, are the very oldest rocks of this heritage coast.
0:43:25 > 0:43:30The striking red Triassic cliffs were formed up to 250 million years ago.
0:43:33 > 0:43:37What's unique about this area is that these three geological periods,
0:43:37 > 0:43:42which together make up the Mesozoic era, are laid out next to one another.
0:43:42 > 0:43:47But the process that's created them takes some explaining.
0:43:47 > 0:43:48Lovely! Thank you.
0:43:48 > 0:43:52I've got three slices of cake in front of me.
0:43:52 > 0:43:57This first one is going to be the earliest rocks we find along the coastline, the Triassic rocks
0:43:57 > 0:44:01laid down between 200 and 250 million years ago.
0:44:01 > 0:44:05They're red sandstone rocks, laid down in the middle of a great arid desert.
0:44:05 > 0:44:12The next layer is Jurassic. Here we have a story of sea levels rising and falling and marine sediments
0:44:12 > 0:44:17being deposited - limestone, clays, that sort of thing. Lots and lots of fossils in this segment.
0:44:17 > 0:44:21This is between 200 and 140 million years ago.
0:44:21 > 0:44:26Finally we have the most recent rocks, the Cretaceous rocks.
0:44:26 > 0:44:29These were laid down in swampy environments.
0:44:29 > 0:44:33Those represent between 140 and 65 million years ago.
0:44:33 > 0:44:36If that was the end of the story, we would be standing up here and we
0:44:36 > 0:44:40wouldn't be able to see the Jurassic or Triassic rocks underneath.
0:44:40 > 0:44:46In fact, what happened during the Cretaceous period was that the whole thing sank down in the east,
0:44:46 > 0:44:52so that we end up with in fact all of these layers pointing up to the west end.
0:44:52 > 0:44:55And then it has eroded, so if I represent the erosion by
0:44:55 > 0:44:59cutting through the cake at an angle like that...
0:44:59 > 0:45:03Then what we've got is the land surface of today.
0:45:03 > 0:45:09We start in the east at Old Harry Rocks, and we walk through cliffs that are Cretaceous,
0:45:09 > 0:45:15then suddenly we find ourselves walking along Jurassic cliffs, and finally into the oldest rocks,
0:45:15 > 0:45:21Triassic rocks, until we get all the way to Exmouth at the end of this prehistoric walk along the coast.
0:45:23 > 0:45:26And it is quite delicious!
0:45:29 > 0:45:32Here at Lulworth Cove, deep in the middle layer of the cake,
0:45:32 > 0:45:36the Jurassic rocks tower above the beach.
0:45:36 > 0:45:41For nearly 200 years, they have been attracting visitors on the hunt for the fossils they contain.
0:45:43 > 0:45:48But there's actually something hidden in these ancient rocks that is much harder to find.
0:45:51 > 0:45:54Just to the west of Lulworth Cove is Stair Hole.
0:45:56 > 0:46:01There I met Dr Andrew Hindle, a geologist who has been searching for the liquid remains
0:46:01 > 0:46:05of fossilised sea creatures - oil to you and me - for over 22 years.
0:46:05 > 0:46:08It's not just an academic interest.
0:46:08 > 0:46:11You're actively prospecting for oil here, aren't you?
0:46:11 > 0:46:15Yes, just like Sherlock Holmes, just getting all the information.
0:46:15 > 0:46:17So you're looking at structures
0:46:17 > 0:46:21- and trying to predict where the oil will be under the surface.- Yeah.
0:46:21 > 0:46:24A colleague and I set up an oil company to look.
0:46:24 > 0:46:29- We think there are several hundred millions of barrels still here. - Several hundred millions?
0:46:29 > 0:46:33- Underground in Dorset?- Very close to where we're sitting.- That's amazing!
0:46:34 > 0:46:37Hundreds of millions of barrels of oil?
0:46:37 > 0:46:42With that number ringing in my ears, Andrew hit me with another surprise.
0:46:42 > 0:46:48Just a few miles west of Lulworth Cove is an area known as Burning Cliff - for very logical reasons.
0:46:48 > 0:46:54Apparently, one of the strata in the rock face has been known to catch fire spontaneously.
0:46:54 > 0:46:57Which layer was it that was burning?
0:46:57 > 0:47:01It was these dark coloured shales you see down the base of the cliff.
0:47:01 > 0:47:05It was this area here, which is largely landslip now and covered up.
0:47:05 > 0:47:10- That was the bit that was on fire. - But it wasn't the vegetation? It was the actual rock?
0:47:10 > 0:47:13That's right. This Kimmeridge clay here
0:47:13 > 0:47:17is about 80% organic matter - fossilised plants and animals.
0:47:17 > 0:47:21Algae and plankton that's been laid down at the bottom of the sea?
0:47:21 > 0:47:24That's right, and preserved. They're very organic-rich.
0:47:24 > 0:47:28- That gives you the fuel source, if you like.- It's really strange.
0:47:28 > 0:47:32We are actually looking at a section through a fossil fuel. That's what a fossil fuel is.
0:47:32 > 0:47:36That's absolutely right, yeah.
0:47:36 > 0:47:39The Kimmeridge oil shale at Burning Cliff is named after a place
0:47:39 > 0:47:43just along the coast called, unsurprisingly, Kimmeridge Bay.
0:47:45 > 0:47:49There we met Paul Farramond, a geochemist, who was going to show me
0:47:49 > 0:47:53on a smaller scale, what the Burning Cliff must have been like.
0:47:58 > 0:48:01The oil shale are these bands here, which, where they're orange,
0:48:01 > 0:48:05you can see them higher up in the cliff as well. Just break a bit off.
0:48:09 > 0:48:11There we go.
0:48:12 > 0:48:14- Is that a big enough piece? - Yeah, that'll be fine.
0:48:14 > 0:48:18I don't believe it's going to set on fire - it's a piece of rock!
0:48:18 > 0:48:20I think you'll find it will.
0:48:22 > 0:48:26It's just beginning to catch there.
0:48:26 > 0:48:29As you see, lots of smoke comes off it.
0:48:29 > 0:48:31It's definitely on fire!
0:48:31 > 0:48:35- But, as you can see, it goes out quite easily.- And it stinks!
0:48:35 > 0:48:37It really is bad, yeah. That's right.
0:48:37 > 0:48:41You can see the oil coming off the surface of the Kimmeridge shale.
0:48:41 > 0:48:43That's oil as we understand oil to be?
0:48:43 > 0:48:49Yes, absolutely. The Kimmeridge shale was the source rock of most of the oil in the North Sea.
0:48:49 > 0:48:54- When you say source rock, you mean the same layer as we have here? - Absolutely, yeah.
0:48:54 > 0:48:57And that's the real magic of Kimmeridge oil shale.
0:48:57 > 0:49:01This rock is the reason we have North Sea oil.
0:49:03 > 0:49:06The same strata that are visible on the south coast
0:49:06 > 0:49:09are buried 3½ kilometres deep,
0:49:09 > 0:49:12under the oil wells off the north east of Scotland.
0:49:12 > 0:49:16Over millions of years at the high temperatures and pressures
0:49:16 > 0:49:19deep under the seabed, the oil shale produces oil.
0:49:21 > 0:49:24In place of 10 million years at 100 degrees centigrade,
0:49:24 > 0:49:29we can do 30 seconds at 500 degrees centigrade and drive some oil off in the test tube.
0:49:29 > 0:49:33If you wanna hold that in the tongs...
0:49:33 > 0:49:37You can see it's not actually burning, it's just driving the oil off.
0:49:37 > 0:49:40There you can see all that brown, looks like smoke.
0:49:40 > 0:49:42It's actually just oil being distilled off the rock.
0:49:42 > 0:49:45You can see droplets of oil around the side of the tube.
0:49:45 > 0:49:49- The brown stuff?- That's actually oil that has been driven off.
0:49:49 > 0:49:53- Wow!- This stinks as well!- Yeah.
0:49:53 > 0:49:57It's fascinating to see oil being produced in front of your eyes like that,
0:49:57 > 0:50:02but remember, Andrew is still looking in this area for the naturally occurring stuff.
0:50:02 > 0:50:0630 years ago his predecessors were looking for the same thing,
0:50:06 > 0:50:10and just above the beach at Kimmeridge they struck lucky.
0:50:10 > 0:50:14It's the last thing you expect to find in the middle of rural Dorset.
0:50:14 > 0:50:16That's right.
0:50:16 > 0:50:20Is it really just an experimental thing or is it producing on a commercial scale?
0:50:20 > 0:50:24It's very much a commercial scale. They're producing 100 barrels of oil a day.
0:50:24 > 0:50:30At current oil prices about 4,500 a day, so quite a significant income.
0:50:30 > 0:50:33The find at Kimmeridge led to another near Poole Harbour.
0:50:33 > 0:50:38Together these wells pump more than 2 million worth of oil out of the ground every day.
0:50:38 > 0:50:43But in each of the last six years Wytch Farm has produced less oil than the year before,
0:50:43 > 0:50:47so for prospectors like Andrew the race is really on to get that next big find.
0:50:55 > 0:51:00Spectacular geology isn't the only thing that the Jurassic Coast has to offer.
0:51:00 > 0:51:06It is also home to several of our better-known seaside resorts, the biggest being Weymouth.
0:51:06 > 0:51:09It's now a pretty Georgian town.
0:51:10 > 0:51:14But it has a dark past.
0:51:16 > 0:51:21It was here, far from the battle-hardened eastern end of our frontline,
0:51:21 > 0:51:25that the last truly devastating invasion took place -
0:51:25 > 0:51:33an invasion that resulted in the death of a greater proportion of our population than any war in history.
0:51:33 > 0:51:37But it wasn't an army that arrived in June 1348.
0:51:37 > 0:51:40It was the Black Death.
0:51:40 > 0:51:45It's customary to blame its introduction on the rat.
0:51:45 > 0:51:49But actually the carrier was a sailor recently arrived in this port from France.
0:51:51 > 0:51:57By August 1348, two months after its arrival, the plague had reached Bristol.
0:51:57 > 0:52:02A month after that, London and on into East Anglia and the Midlands.
0:52:02 > 0:52:07In under a year, it overran Wales, then Ireland, then Scotland.
0:52:09 > 0:52:14In 18 months, the Black Death killed 1.5 million people,
0:52:14 > 0:52:17over one third of the population.
0:52:23 > 0:52:31Towering above Weymouth is the Isle of Portland - although strictly speaking it's not an island at all.
0:52:33 > 0:52:38The rock quarried here, Portland stone, is world famous.
0:52:38 > 0:52:43St Paul's Cathedral owes its strength and colour to its enduring qualities.
0:52:43 > 0:52:47Today it's still the stone that gives your high street bank
0:52:47 > 0:52:51more respectability than the burger bar next door.
0:52:51 > 0:52:54Portland forms the eastern limit
0:52:54 > 0:53:00for that celebrated destination of geography field trips, Chesil Beach.
0:53:00 > 0:53:04You can come here time and again and never cease to be amazed by the scale of it.
0:53:12 > 0:53:19Right in the middle of the Jurassic Coast, Chesil Beach is one of the finest barrier beaches in the world,
0:53:19 > 0:53:24defending the Fleet lagoon and its migrating birds from the sea.
0:53:25 > 0:53:30The wildlife is heavily protected now - but that's not always been the case.
0:53:30 > 0:53:36During the Second World War, this is one of the places where the Dambusters' bouncing bomb was tested.
0:53:38 > 0:53:43Now, though, its World Heritage status means that the 17 miles of Chesil Beach,
0:53:43 > 0:53:47along with the whole Jurassic Coast, is strictly managed.
0:53:47 > 0:53:51But that doesn't mean it's preserved in aspic.
0:53:51 > 0:53:5814 million people visit every year, and getting on for 170,000 live along it,
0:53:58 > 0:54:02many make a living out of the riches it has to offer.
0:54:02 > 0:54:04Even if that means getting soaked!
0:54:06 > 0:54:09Hello, I'm Tony Gill and we're in Charmouth.
0:54:09 > 0:54:12That's where I collect fossils.
0:54:12 > 0:54:14I've been doing it for about 15 years.
0:54:15 > 0:54:19The best place to go is the big mudflows that come out onto the beach.
0:54:19 > 0:54:22Quite often you can see collections of wellies.
0:54:22 > 0:54:28People have tried getting across, lost their wellies and had to have the coastguard pull them out of it.
0:54:28 > 0:54:30What we're looking for is nodules.
0:54:30 > 0:54:34They tend to be rounded in shape, sometimes flying saucer shape.
0:54:34 > 0:54:39Quite often they will have squashed impressions of ammonites on top.
0:54:39 > 0:54:43We'll break the thing open and see what it's got inside.
0:54:46 > 0:54:48Not a lot!
0:54:48 > 0:54:52Some you win, some you lose! Again, nothing!
0:54:52 > 0:54:57I must have broken hundreds of thousands of rocks on the beach looking for fossils.
0:54:57 > 0:55:02You never know what you're going to find - usually not very much.
0:55:02 > 0:55:05The dream would be a dinosaur.
0:55:05 > 0:55:07I want a dinosaur!
0:55:17 > 0:55:23The final stretch of the Jurassic Coast starts just beyond the fossil-hunting Mecca of Lyme Regis.
0:55:26 > 0:55:33The red Triassic cliffs are an awe-inspiring sight, and mark my final miles to Exmouth.
0:55:42 > 0:55:46As I near the end of the first leg of my journey, Dover's white cliffs seem
0:55:46 > 0:55:55a million miles from these red ones, but actually I've only done 330 miles and I've got another 11,370 to go!
0:56:04 > 0:56:10Reflecting on the first leg of this journey, it's hard not to be overwhelmed.
0:56:10 > 0:56:16The unimaginable age of this coast is part of it, and so is the way that it's changing.
0:56:18 > 0:56:23The struggle that's gone on to protect our freedom, and the relics that have been left behind,
0:56:23 > 0:56:28have all made me realise how much this frontline coast has protected us.
0:56:28 > 0:56:33But it's also where we, as a nation, began to look outwards.
0:56:33 > 0:56:36Just down there in Exmouth, local boy Walter Raleigh set sail
0:56:36 > 0:56:43on his voyages across the Atlantic which introduced the nation to the huge economic potential of empire.
0:56:46 > 0:56:48We'll also be going west,
0:56:48 > 0:56:53to the tip of Land's End and back up the Bristol Channel.
0:56:53 > 0:56:55It's the Wild West -
0:56:55 > 0:56:59a land of storms and wrecks...
0:56:59 > 0:57:02of vanished villages and ancient myths.
0:57:02 > 0:57:04Of summer surf...
0:57:06 > 0:57:08..and nightly toil on the sea.
0:57:10 > 0:57:15But for many people, me included, the West Country means childhood holidays.
0:57:15 > 0:57:18It's where I first saw the power of the ocean
0:57:18 > 0:57:21and learned about the resilience of this rocky Atlantic peninsula.
0:57:21 > 0:57:23I'm not sure about this weather, though!
0:57:26 > 0:57:28For a free Discover Your Coast Pack
0:57:28 > 0:57:32call the Open University on 0870 900 77888
0:57:32 > 0:57:35or go to bbc.co.uk/whereilive
0:57:35 > 0:57:38Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd - 2005
0:57:38 > 0:57:40E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk