0:00:06 > 0:00:11We're 1,200 miles into our epic journey around the entire coast of the UK.
0:00:12 > 0:00:16And as I get into my stride, step by step, mile by mile,
0:00:16 > 0:00:22I'm getting a real sense of the constantly changing rhythms in the monumental geometry of our coast.
0:00:22 > 0:00:26It's like walking through a vast gallery of natural sculpture.
0:00:27 > 0:00:30This is the sort of thing I'm talking about...
0:00:30 > 0:00:32the almost perfect arc,
0:00:32 > 0:00:3740 miles across, of Cardigan Bay in West Wales.
0:00:37 > 0:00:41It might look serene and unchanging today, but down the centuries
0:00:41 > 0:00:44this coast has seen more than its fair share of travellers.
0:00:44 > 0:00:49And of enterprising architects and engineers, hell-bent on manipulating it to their own ends.
0:00:49 > 0:00:52We've got some fascinating stories to tell.
0:00:52 > 0:00:57Helping me to tell them is a small but dedicated team of experts.
0:00:57 > 0:01:03Writer and Historian Neil Oliver will be examining the ancient legend of a Welsh Atlantis.
0:01:03 > 0:01:10Zoologist Miranda Krestovnikoff is on the lookout for a rare traveller to our coast...a six-foot reptile.
0:01:10 > 0:01:14While anthropologist Alice Roberts is on the trail of the elusive miners
0:01:14 > 0:01:18who worked the biggest prehistoric copper mines in the world.
0:01:18 > 0:01:20It's not quite right.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23And I'm even going to have a bash at a bit of Welsh.
0:01:23 > 0:01:25This is the story of Coast.
0:01:25 > 0:01:27I fyny fo'r nod!
0:01:27 > 0:01:29Onwards and upwards!
0:01:52 > 0:01:55On this fourth leg of the journey,
0:01:55 > 0:01:57we'll be travelling the 540 miles
0:01:57 > 0:01:59from Cardigan Bay up to Anglesey,
0:01:59 > 0:02:02and along the north coast of Wales to the Wirral.
0:02:02 > 0:02:05But our starting point is here in Cardiganshire,
0:02:05 > 0:02:09where village after village clings to the coast like limpets.
0:02:09 > 0:02:11Inland lies harsh, unforgiving territory.
0:02:11 > 0:02:16And until very recently, these people depended for their livelihood, their future...
0:02:16 > 0:02:18on seas beyond the furthest horizons.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21The village of Llansantffraed is typical.
0:02:21 > 0:02:27For a small village in Wales, this place has a remarkably outward looking past.
0:02:27 > 0:02:31It almost defies belief that dozens of young lads from this village
0:02:31 > 0:02:36would have been more familiar with Cape Town and Melbourne than London or Cardiff.
0:02:38 > 0:02:40These people were real travellers.
0:03:05 > 0:03:09A lot of those travellers never made it home.
0:03:09 > 0:03:11Some of these graves are empty,
0:03:11 > 0:03:14but memorials in the little churchyard here of St Bridget's
0:03:14 > 0:03:18a reminder, a little glimpse, of their adventurous spirit.
0:03:18 > 0:03:20Look at this.
0:03:20 > 0:03:23"In loving memory of Evan Jones."
0:03:23 > 0:03:30He was a master mariner, Llong Lywydd, and he died in Buenos Aires, and was only 39.
0:03:33 > 0:03:40Captain David Morgan, died in the winter of 1874, aged 43
0:03:40 > 0:03:44at Jamaica. From Cardigan Bay to the Caribbean Sea.
0:03:45 > 0:03:50Over here, two generations of the same family seem to have died beyond distant seas.
0:03:50 > 0:03:57We've got Evan Rees, who died at Ballarat in Australia in 1865,
0:03:57 > 0:04:00and then his grandson also named Evan Rees
0:04:00 > 0:04:07drowned on a voyage between Philadelphia and Havana in 1899.
0:04:07 > 0:04:09He was only 28 years old.
0:04:14 > 0:04:17Ships were tattooed onto the DNA of these people.
0:04:17 > 0:04:20Even their graffiti was nautical.
0:04:21 > 0:04:24All over the world, the respect seafaring people have for the sea
0:04:24 > 0:04:27is often expressed in superstition and legend.
0:04:27 > 0:04:31Noah's flood, Lyonesse, Atlantis.
0:04:31 > 0:04:37Our historian, Neil, is on the track of a Welsh version of the story of a kingdom lost to the sea -
0:04:37 > 0:04:39the legend of Cantre'r Gwaelod.
0:04:42 > 0:04:48For centuries, a story's been told that that entire bay down there below me
0:04:48 > 0:04:50was once fertile land, now lost to the sea.
0:04:50 > 0:04:56Now, it's easy to dismiss a legend like that as a simple story for simple folk.
0:04:56 > 0:04:59But now, academics, archaeologists, scientists
0:04:59 > 0:05:01are starting to think the unthinkable.
0:05:01 > 0:05:05Is it possible that behind the story, and many others like it
0:05:05 > 0:05:09from around the coast of the UK, is a nugget of truth?
0:05:11 > 0:05:14Cardigan Bay certainly has a number of physical features
0:05:14 > 0:05:17that seem to testify to the truth of the legend of a Welsh Atlantis.
0:05:17 > 0:05:22And who better to show me round them than folklore expert Twm Elias.
0:05:22 > 0:05:25This thing is unbelievable, it looks for all the world
0:05:25 > 0:05:31like somebody's downed tools half way through making a three lane motorway out into the sea!
0:05:31 > 0:05:32What is it?
0:05:32 > 0:05:36Well, this is Sarn Cynfelyn, and it's a great undersea ridge
0:05:36 > 0:05:39which goes out about eight miles in that direction.
0:05:39 > 0:05:44But what it is, is the surface part of a great undersea dyke,
0:05:44 > 0:05:48which is to enclose a fabled land called Cantre'r Gwaelod,
0:05:48 > 0:05:50of legend, of course, you know?
0:05:50 > 0:05:55And that land used to stretch right from the tip of the Lleyn Peninsula, Bardsey Island up there,
0:05:55 > 0:05:59right down the length of the bay to north Pembrokeshire
0:05:59 > 0:06:01out in that direction.
0:06:01 > 0:06:03It was a fabulous, very rich land,
0:06:03 > 0:06:06with 16 lovely townships and so on in it.
0:06:06 > 0:06:09And where is it now? I see only sea.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12Well, yes, it was inundated. This is the point, you see?
0:06:14 > 0:06:20And as with similar legends from the Celtic Seaboard, on a clear night, you're supposed to be able to hear
0:06:20 > 0:06:23the bells of Cantre'r Gwaelod tolling in the watery deep.
0:06:25 > 0:06:27Oh, yeah?!
0:06:27 > 0:06:31But Twm promises me there are other silent witnesses
0:06:31 > 0:06:35to the possible truth of the legend of a kingdom lost under the waves.
0:06:37 > 0:06:39So why have we come to Borth Beach, Twm?
0:06:39 > 0:06:44Even though we're only a couple of miles away from where we were at Sarn Cynfelyn before,
0:06:44 > 0:06:50this place has got its own secret, and before long, the time and tide will reveal that for us.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10I have never seen anything like that in my life.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13Truly amazing, man, isn't it?
0:07:29 > 0:07:33At first sight it looks like some sort of washed-up sea creature,
0:07:33 > 0:07:36it's only up close that you realise what you're looking at.
0:07:36 > 0:07:39It's actually the roots and base of a massive tree.
0:07:39 > 0:07:41I'm not talking about a sapling.
0:07:41 > 0:07:43It would've been hundreds of feet high.
0:07:43 > 0:07:45It's like the world's gone mad.
0:07:45 > 0:07:51It's like the sea's here and the land's up there, so what are the trees doing out here in the sea?
0:07:51 > 0:07:53Twm, how can this be?
0:07:53 > 0:07:55It's absolutely amazing, isn't it?
0:07:55 > 0:07:58Huge tree trunk like this but that's not all of it,
0:07:58 > 0:08:03because there's a large area of it going right out to sea in that direction.
0:08:03 > 0:08:07And if you want proof that Cantre'r Gwaelod did exist, here it is, in fact.
0:08:07 > 0:08:09And no wonder people are coming up with stories.
0:08:09 > 0:08:13If your beach is littered with trees that are swallowed up at high tide,
0:08:13 > 0:08:18and if your neighbours have got beaches, there's going to be some sort of explanation, isn't there?
0:08:18 > 0:08:21Well, there has to be. The legend does explain it.
0:08:28 > 0:08:30So is this folk story of a Welsh Atlantis
0:08:30 > 0:08:35a pretty tale to entertain the villagers, and perhaps explain natural phenomena?
0:08:38 > 0:08:40Or is it something else?
0:08:40 > 0:08:42Something much more powerful?
0:08:42 > 0:08:47Could it be that what the story represents is deep history,
0:08:47 > 0:08:51a folk memory of a real event that didn't just overwhelm Cantre'r Gwaelod,
0:08:51 > 0:08:54but that laid waste to vast swathes of the coastline?
0:08:54 > 0:08:57Let's put the legend to the test.
0:09:00 > 0:09:05This is the Dyfi Estuary that spills its beauty out into the sea between Borth and Aberdovey.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08And it's here that expert on ancient trees,
0:09:08 > 0:09:13dendrochronologist Nigel Nayling, together with some of his students
0:09:13 > 0:09:18from Lampeter University, have been doing work on yet more trees that have only recently been exposed.
0:09:18 > 0:09:22What a place you've found, Nigel.
0:09:22 > 0:09:24A bit muddy, but it could be worse.
0:09:24 > 0:09:29Yeah. How long has this place been known about?
0:09:29 > 0:09:31Only a couple of decades.
0:09:31 > 0:09:33We're looking at a place where a meandering river
0:09:33 > 0:09:36has dug down into ancient levels
0:09:36 > 0:09:39and it's exposed something we call, generically, "submerged forests".
0:09:39 > 0:09:43- Right. - And it's a pretty ancient one.
0:09:43 > 0:09:48This tree must have been here 5,000, maybe even 6,000 years ago.
0:09:48 > 0:09:53Trees flourished in this area before rising sea levels
0:09:53 > 0:09:55made it impossible for the trees to thrive and grow.
0:09:55 > 0:10:00If we'd been here when this tree was in its prime, what would this coastline have looked like?
0:10:01 > 0:10:04It would've been radically different.
0:10:04 > 0:10:08In terms of position, it would've been a long, long way away.
0:10:08 > 0:10:13It may well have been over a kilometre, five kilometres even,
0:10:13 > 0:10:16further out into what we now call Cardigan Bay.
0:10:16 > 0:10:20Because I imagine a change like that being something that happens over...
0:10:20 > 0:10:24millions of years, a coastline changing its shape. But not here?
0:10:24 > 0:10:29At certain periods, I think the change could have been quite dramatic.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32Dramatic so that it was changing the lives of people living here.
0:10:32 > 0:10:34They're in a world where they're threatened.
0:10:34 > 0:10:37If coastal environments,
0:10:37 > 0:10:41like grazing environments for their livestock became inundated,
0:10:41 > 0:10:45that would result in an impact on the human population here, in a generation.
0:10:45 > 0:10:49It's the sort of thing embedded in prehistoric communities.
0:10:49 > 0:10:52The sort of myths and tales that we find today
0:10:52 > 0:10:56may have their roots not only in medieval documents,
0:10:56 > 0:11:01but even far further in the past when this rapid coastal change was occurring.
0:11:01 > 0:11:06We're in a particularly good example of a submerged forest,
0:11:06 > 0:11:10but these do exist around many parts of our coast.
0:11:10 > 0:11:15Further north in Scotland we see less relative sea level rise because that part of the land
0:11:15 > 0:11:21is coming up in response to a release from the weight of ice after the last Ice Age and is still doing so today.
0:11:21 > 0:11:25Whereas in the south, generally, we're sinking compared with the sea.
0:11:25 > 0:11:29We still are today, and we have been for the last 10,000 years.
0:11:29 > 0:11:32- Scotland's rising again! - Scotland is doing very well.
0:11:32 > 0:11:34It has raised beaches.
0:11:34 > 0:11:41South England and even up here into mid Wales, we're seeing areas that are submerged.
0:11:46 > 0:11:51This tree is a glimpse thousands of years back into the past,
0:11:51 > 0:11:55to a time when the world here changed so quickly
0:11:55 > 0:11:59that trees like this were caught like bugs in amber.
0:11:59 > 0:12:02I suppose this is a story about resilience -
0:12:02 > 0:12:08the resilience of these trees and of the myths and legends they helped inspire.
0:12:26 > 0:12:28Leaving the dolphins of Cardigan Bay
0:12:28 > 0:12:30to play in the ancient forest,
0:12:30 > 0:12:33I'm now heading north past Aberdyfi and Tywyn
0:12:33 > 0:12:37until I get at last to the picturesque splendour of the Mawddach estuary.
0:12:47 > 0:12:52Although the peak of Snowdon itself is 20 miles in that direction,
0:12:52 > 0:12:55we're already in the Snowdonia National Park.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58And this is one of the best coastal views in Wales.
0:12:59 > 0:13:03Behind this watery foreground of the Mawddach estuary
0:13:03 > 0:13:07rises one of my favourite mountains in the United Kingdom, Cadair Idris.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10The chair of Idris.
0:13:11 > 0:13:14Snowdonia has been a national park since 1951,
0:13:14 > 0:13:18and although it's usually thought of as a mountainous landscape,
0:13:18 > 0:13:22it actually includes 23 miles of stunning coastline.
0:13:22 > 0:13:27Take the train across the estuary, and you'll be in Pwllheli in a jiffy.
0:13:27 > 0:13:30But this is one journey I want to last.
0:13:31 > 0:13:36This bridge was built in 1867 to carry the railway line across the estuary.
0:13:36 > 0:13:40But walkers are allowed to cross it too, for a price.
0:13:40 > 0:13:42Hello, there.
0:13:42 > 0:13:44- Hello, how are you today? - I'm good, thank you.
0:13:44 > 0:13:49- Good.- How much, please, for one pedestrian with a lightly loaded rucksack and an umbrella?
0:13:49 > 0:13:52- 60 pence, sir. - Thank you.- Thank you very much.
0:13:54 > 0:13:58Do you ever get toll-dodgers? People who walk up and accelerate before paying?
0:13:58 > 0:14:02Oh, well, yes, there is a few that do that, but not many.
0:14:02 > 0:14:05- Fair play, most people will pay.- What do you do about them, chase them?
0:14:05 > 0:14:10Yes, as you can see, I'm built for speed so I catch them by the end of the metal section.
0:14:10 > 0:14:13- And they don't do it twice? - No, no, not with me being here, no.
0:14:13 > 0:14:1760, 80, £1, and another one makes two, and there's your ticket.
0:14:17 > 0:14:20Keep that if you're walking back, it will act as a return.
0:14:20 > 0:14:23- I'm on a one-way journey. - Oh, a one-way journey.
0:14:23 > 0:14:24Oh, never mind.
0:14:24 > 0:14:27- Keep it as a souvenir.- Bye.- Bye-bye.
0:14:35 > 0:14:38It's only when you get across the bridge to Barmouth
0:14:38 > 0:14:41and follow the coast to Harlech that you begin to realise
0:14:41 > 0:14:44your 60p toll was the bargain of a lifetime.
0:14:46 > 0:14:48Here there's room to relax,
0:14:48 > 0:14:50room to breathe...
0:14:50 > 0:14:53and rooms for all.
0:14:54 > 0:15:00Harlech itself, like so many towns I want to visit in North Wales, is dominated by its castle.
0:15:00 > 0:15:04Begun in 1283, it was Edward I's little way of saying "thank you"
0:15:04 > 0:15:06to the Welsh for revolting.
0:15:06 > 0:15:09And it was one of 12 of his castles in Wales to be designed or fortified
0:15:09 > 0:15:14by his French master mason, Master James of St George.
0:15:14 > 0:15:17Just over the river is another extraordinary example
0:15:17 > 0:15:23of essentially foreign architecture that's taken to these hills - an entire Italianate village.
0:15:27 > 0:15:33The whole village of Portmeirion was the vision of one slightly eccentric architect,
0:15:33 > 0:15:38Sir Clough Williams-Ellis, and it occupied him for most of his life.
0:15:38 > 0:15:45He started building in 1925 and it still wasn't finished when he died in 1978.
0:15:47 > 0:15:49He wanted to prove that, as he put it,
0:15:49 > 0:15:54"the development of a naturally beautiful site need not lead to its defilement".
0:15:54 > 0:15:56Was he right?
0:15:56 > 0:16:01Well, the purist in me is absolutely outraged by the arrogance of a man
0:16:01 > 0:16:06who thought that his own imagination could enhance such a beautiful place,
0:16:06 > 0:16:11but the escapist in me is irresistibly enchanted.
0:16:12 > 0:16:16But a large number of the 240,000 or so visitors
0:16:16 > 0:16:19who come to Portmeirion every year
0:16:19 > 0:16:22aren't coming solely in search of beauty.
0:16:22 > 0:16:24"I am not a number, I'm a free man."
0:16:24 > 0:16:29I suspect I'm not the first person who stood right here and said that.
0:16:29 > 0:16:32'I am not a number, I am a free man.'
0:16:32 > 0:16:38Patrick McGoohan's protestations that he was a free man, and his unaccountable terror
0:16:38 > 0:16:42of a giant white bouncy ball, were central to the '60s cult television series,
0:16:42 > 0:16:45The Prisoner, which was filmed here at Portmeirion.
0:16:45 > 0:16:50As Number Six, McGoohan's constant persecution by Number Two,
0:16:50 > 0:16:53his efforts to discover the true identity of Number One,
0:16:53 > 0:16:56and his weekly attempts to escape the village,
0:16:56 > 0:16:58kept viewers on the edge on their seats.
0:17:00 > 0:17:07Personally, I can't imagine why on earth anyone would want to escape from this little paradise.
0:17:07 > 0:17:12Could it be true to say for once that the set upstages the drama?
0:17:12 > 0:17:17Clough Williams-Ellis, creator of Portmeirion, called it "a home for fallen buildings"
0:17:17 > 0:17:20because so much is constructed from bits salvaged from stately homes.
0:17:22 > 0:17:27This, for instance, is the Gothic Pavilion, cannibalised from a Welsh mansion.
0:17:27 > 0:17:31The Pavilion is dedicated to a less well-known visionary from a 100 years earlier
0:17:31 > 0:17:35who also had a dramatic effect on this part of the coast...
0:17:35 > 0:17:39William Alexander Maddocks.
0:17:45 > 0:17:48Barely a mile away, as the seagull flies,
0:17:48 > 0:17:52you step into an entire landscape forged by the imagination of William Maddocks.
0:17:52 > 0:17:55And he had a number of things in common with his neighbour.
0:18:00 > 0:18:05Neither Clough Williams-Ellis nor William Maddocks had any real formal training as architects,
0:18:05 > 0:18:07but both had yearnings to return from England
0:18:07 > 0:18:11to the land of their fathers with huge architectural schemes.
0:18:11 > 0:18:15And Maddocks' scheme was particularly ambitious.
0:18:15 > 0:18:18His grand plan, and with Maddocks, everything was grand,
0:18:18 > 0:18:23was prompted by the 1801 Act of Union between the parliaments of Ireland and England
0:18:23 > 0:18:25to create the United Kingdom.
0:18:25 > 0:18:28And with increased travel between the two capitals,
0:18:28 > 0:18:32what was needed was a fast route between Dublin and London.
0:18:32 > 0:18:35And if you draw a straight line between the two cities,
0:18:35 > 0:18:39it crosses the coast right here.
0:18:41 > 0:18:46The trouble was that in Maddocks' day, "here" was nowhere.
0:18:46 > 0:18:49The vast mile-wide estuary of the River Glaslyn
0:18:49 > 0:18:53presented a major obstacle to his ambitions to build his road.
0:18:53 > 0:18:57If he could bridge the estuary, the race for Dublin was in the bag.
0:18:57 > 0:19:01Maddocks' solution was simple and brilliant.
0:19:01 > 0:19:05He poured years of effort and boatloads of money into building an embankment,
0:19:05 > 0:19:08which by 1812 provided him with his missing link.
0:19:08 > 0:19:13Stage two, he secured the right to make the natural harbour of Porthdinllaen
0:19:13 > 0:19:16on the Lleyn Peninsula the main port of departure for Dublin.
0:19:16 > 0:19:19Maddocks was within a whisker of winning.
0:19:19 > 0:19:24But in the great dash for Dublin, he was pipped at the post by another brilliant engineer,
0:19:24 > 0:19:27and another seemingly impossible route.
0:19:27 > 0:19:31It was a photo-finish, and we'll meet the winner further around the coast.
0:19:31 > 0:19:35But there's a twist to the story of William Maddocks.
0:19:36 > 0:19:39When he built The Cob, as the embankment became known,
0:19:39 > 0:19:41he certainly managed to keep the sea out,
0:19:41 > 0:19:45and inland, he reclaimed a huge area of good agricultural land.
0:19:45 > 0:19:49Problem. He'd also effectively dammed the River Glaslyn,
0:19:49 > 0:19:53and stopped all that lovely Snowdonia rainfall flowing out to sea.
0:19:53 > 0:19:57The river changed its course and followed the embankment.
0:19:57 > 0:19:59Solution? Fairly obvious really.
0:19:59 > 0:20:03Maddocks built tidal sluice gates that kept the sea out at high tide
0:20:03 > 0:20:07and allowed the river to flow out at low tide.
0:20:07 > 0:20:13Result. The power of the river pouring through the sluice gates gouged out a perfect harbour.
0:20:13 > 0:20:18And what was once a nowhere" was now to become a very vital somewhere.
0:20:18 > 0:20:22Sadly, Maddocks didn't live to see the day when millions of tonnes of slate
0:20:22 > 0:20:25poured into that little harbour from the quarries of Snowdonia.
0:20:25 > 0:20:31Slate that went out to roof the world, from Buenos Aires to Western Australia.
0:20:31 > 0:20:39Around the harbour grew the prosperous town of Porthmadog, named after William Alexander Maddocks.
0:20:54 > 0:20:59There's a Welsh word, "hiraeth". It means a longing to be back in Wales.
0:20:59 > 0:21:04It's a longing that seems to apply to wildlife as much as to people.
0:21:04 > 0:21:08There's one creature that goes to extraordinary efforts and travels thousands of miles
0:21:08 > 0:21:13to return to this particular stretch of the Welsh coast every year.
0:21:13 > 0:21:16Our zoologist, Miranda, has been looking at the strange nomadic ways
0:21:16 > 0:21:19of the world's largest marine reptile.
0:21:26 > 0:21:27About 20 yards.
0:21:27 > 0:21:29He's down below us, Col.
0:21:31 > 0:21:35This is absolutely unbelievable.
0:21:38 > 0:21:42That's got to be 6ft long, that thing, innit?
0:21:43 > 0:21:45Got a jellyfish.
0:21:51 > 0:21:55Leather-backed turtles aren't accidental visitors to our shores.
0:21:55 > 0:21:58They're actually migrating here all the way from the Caribbean.
0:22:01 > 0:22:05Leather-backed turtles lay their eggs on the beaches of the Caribbean,
0:22:05 > 0:22:07but once they leave,
0:22:07 > 0:22:10these leviathans disperse into the open ocean
0:22:10 > 0:22:14in search of their favourite food - jellyfish.
0:22:14 > 0:22:18New research has revealed that leather-backed turtles migrate vast distances
0:22:18 > 0:22:22into the cooler seas of the North Atlantic where jellyfish are more abundant.
0:22:22 > 0:22:26Some turtles even make it into British waters
0:22:26 > 0:22:29and one of the best places to see them
0:22:29 > 0:22:31is here in Tremadoc Bay in North Wales,
0:22:31 > 0:22:36where Dr Jon Houghton has been unravelling this incredible story.
0:22:36 > 0:22:38- There you go.- OK, thank you.
0:22:38 > 0:22:39I have to say, I was amazed
0:22:39 > 0:22:43when I found out there were leather-backed turtles around the UK.
0:22:43 > 0:22:46It's just an animal you just don't expect to see here.
0:22:46 > 0:22:50You don't, not at all. A few years back, a fellow actually sat down
0:22:50 > 0:22:54and collated all the records of the leather-backed turtles
0:22:54 > 0:22:57and it turned out to be thousands of animals which had been seen.
0:22:57 > 0:22:59That's when we started to think
0:22:59 > 0:23:03these probably have got more to do with this than just freak occasional visitors.
0:23:03 > 0:23:07This is probably the largest one that has even been seen.
0:23:07 > 0:23:09From the tip of its nose down to its tail,
0:23:09 > 0:23:13probably about nine and a half foot and 916 kgs.
0:23:13 > 0:23:15That is a huge animal.
0:23:15 > 0:23:19This one washed up just over the other side of the bay in Harlech in the late 80s.
0:23:19 > 0:23:20- Really close by.- Yeah.
0:23:20 > 0:23:24But why are the turtles coming here to Tremadoc Bay?
0:23:24 > 0:23:29What we hoped was that we could try and find the large aggregations of jellyfish
0:23:29 > 0:23:32that we knew the turtles would be feeding on.
0:23:32 > 0:23:34So they are coming here to feed off the jellyfish?
0:23:34 > 0:23:38- And there are big numbers of jellyfish here. - There's enormous numbers.
0:23:38 > 0:23:42It's completely possible to have 50 million jellyfish.
0:23:42 > 0:23:46In Tremadoc, it makes that 7,000-mile journey to us worth it,
0:23:46 > 0:23:49cos when they get here they're going to get a very good feed.
0:23:49 > 0:23:53These barrel jellyfish live around the west coast of the UK.
0:23:53 > 0:23:59That they don't sting must be an added bonus for one of Jon's colleagues, Tom Boyle,
0:23:59 > 0:24:03who's been studying the food-chain involving the jellyfish and the turtles.
0:24:03 > 0:24:07That looks like a big one to me, but is that a fully grown one?
0:24:07 > 0:24:09Um, no, that's actually middle size.
0:24:09 > 0:24:14A large individual would be three times that size, so 90cm,
0:24:14 > 0:24:17so you're talking about that size, a big bell.
0:24:17 > 0:24:19So, they're huge animals.
0:24:19 > 0:24:24And why is it that the jellyfish seem to congregate in these particular bays?
0:24:24 > 0:24:28Um, there's a lot of nutrients in these bays because they have fresh-water input.
0:24:28 > 0:24:32So, there's going to be a lot of nutrients for the plankton to feed on
0:24:32 > 0:24:34and then the jellyfish feed on the plankton,
0:24:34 > 0:24:37and hopefully a turtle will feed on the jellyfish.
0:24:37 > 0:24:40They'll have to eat a lot of those to get the energy they need.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43It's pretty much equivalent to a chocolate digestive.
0:24:43 > 0:24:47For a turtle, it's heaven, really, to come here with all this food around.
0:24:48 > 0:24:53Leather-backed turtles disperse into the vastness of the Atlantic ocean in their hunt for food.
0:24:53 > 0:24:57And as many as 100 individuals may visit our coast each summer,
0:24:57 > 0:25:00but sightings aren't that common.
0:25:00 > 0:25:02Our best chance of seeing a turtle
0:25:02 > 0:25:06is to take to the air to survey the whole of Tremadoc Bay.
0:25:06 > 0:25:09These are absolutely great conditions which is good.
0:25:09 > 0:25:11The sea is quite flat, there's good light,
0:25:11 > 0:25:15so if there is anything down there we'll stand a good chance of seeing it tonight.
0:25:15 > 0:25:19You also get a real sense of the vastness of the ocean from up here.
0:25:21 > 0:25:25- It's not just the turtles you can see from up here. Can you see down there?- Got you.
0:25:25 > 0:25:27- Are those?- Yep, that's them.
0:25:27 > 0:25:30- We've got four or five jellyfish down there.- Yeah.
0:25:30 > 0:25:33- That's brilliant. They're huge. - Oh, it's great to see, yeah.
0:25:33 > 0:25:36Those ones could be three, four foot long.
0:25:36 > 0:25:38In these bays when these blooms really take off,
0:25:38 > 0:25:41you're talking millions and millions of jellyfish.
0:25:41 > 0:25:46They can spread 20, 30 miles right down the coast and out to sea,
0:25:46 > 0:25:48so an amazing number of animals.
0:25:48 > 0:25:53We flew over the whole bay but didn't see a turtle, which was disappointing,
0:25:53 > 0:25:58but I guess not that surprising, as the turtles are spread over a very wide area.
0:25:58 > 0:26:01But they ARE here.
0:26:01 > 0:26:03This is up in the bay here.
0:26:03 > 0:26:06This is fantastic because you can see in that,
0:26:06 > 0:26:09they're feeding on the jellyfish we've been looking for today.
0:26:09 > 0:26:11- The really big ones.- Yeah.
0:26:11 > 0:26:14So the point is they're happy. They're not going, "Oh, my word,
0:26:14 > 0:26:18- "I'm 5,000 miles off course, what on earth am I doing here?"- Yeah.
0:26:18 > 0:26:22They want to be here and are very well adapted to being here.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25But they're still reptiles, that's the thing.
0:26:25 > 0:26:29And for a reptile, being this far north is quite incredible.
0:26:29 > 0:26:31So you're saying leather-backed turtles
0:26:31 > 0:26:34are native to the UK, they're not just a tropical species,
0:26:34 > 0:26:36we should get used to seeing them?
0:26:36 > 0:26:41That's definitely one way of looking at it. I mean, they're seasonal migrants, they want to be here,
0:26:41 > 0:26:43they're here year after year,
0:26:43 > 0:26:46and they've been doing it for a very long time.
0:26:46 > 0:26:51So they are as much a British and Irish species as anybody else's.
0:26:58 > 0:27:02Today, the route along the south coast of the Lleyn Peninsula
0:27:02 > 0:27:04is awash with thousands of people
0:27:04 > 0:27:08who, like the jellyfish and turtles in turn, come here for a good time.
0:27:08 > 0:27:11But their annual pilgrimage to strut their sails
0:27:11 > 0:27:14was itself preceded for many hundreds of years
0:27:14 > 0:27:16by travellers of a different sort,
0:27:16 > 0:27:19on a spiritual journey to Bardsey Island.
0:27:24 > 0:27:31To pilgrims, three visits to Bardsey Island was said to be the equivalent of a visit to Rome itself.
0:27:31 > 0:27:38And tradition has it that here lie the bones of 20,000 saints who came here on their final pilgrimage.
0:27:38 > 0:27:41It also has a curious claim to fame.
0:27:41 > 0:27:44Because from July 30th to August the 2nd 1284,
0:27:44 > 0:27:49Bardsey became the seat of power for all England and Wales,
0:27:49 > 0:27:53when King Edward I, having just hammered the Welsh 1-0 at warfare,
0:27:53 > 0:27:55came to make peace with his God.
0:27:55 > 0:28:00History doesn't record whether or not he had any response.
0:28:00 > 0:28:04Heading back inland, we follow the northern route of the pilgrims
0:28:04 > 0:28:07towards the splendid castle town of Caernarfon.
0:28:09 > 0:28:12The locals are quite proud of Caernarfon these days.
0:28:12 > 0:28:16But 800 years ago, it was a different story.
0:28:16 > 0:28:21Caernarfon Castle was yet another in the great choke chain of castles
0:28:21 > 0:28:24that Edward I built around the coast of North Wales,
0:28:24 > 0:28:25to bring the Welsh to heel.
0:28:25 > 0:28:32In fact it had the opposite effect, and castles like this stoked the fires of Welsh resistance.
0:28:37 > 0:28:42Hero or demon, what Edward I had recognised was that if you command the Menai Straits
0:28:42 > 0:28:45between mainland Wales and Anglesey,
0:28:45 > 0:28:48you dominate this coast strategically. But what if?
0:28:48 > 0:28:54If only you could do what seemed impossible in Edward's era and build a bridge across the Straits?
0:28:54 > 0:28:57A vital link could be made, economically and politically,
0:28:57 > 0:28:59between London and Dublin via Holyhead.
0:28:59 > 0:29:03And the great "dash for Dublin" race that started back in Porthmadog
0:29:03 > 0:29:05would be won.
0:29:05 > 0:29:10Hey, presto, there they are. Two of our most remarkable bridges -
0:29:10 > 0:29:16the world's first major suspension bridge, and the world's first ever box-girder bridge.
0:29:16 > 0:29:18But, like putting a man on the moon,
0:29:18 > 0:29:21or the first ever heart-transplant, we take them too easily for granted,
0:29:21 > 0:29:24because the Menai Straits are classed as,
0:29:24 > 0:29:28"one of the most treacherous stretches of sea in the world".
0:29:28 > 0:29:31Not my words. His! Nelson's.
0:29:31 > 0:29:33Now what did HE know?
0:29:35 > 0:29:39More the fool me, I've decided to find out for myself.
0:29:44 > 0:29:48Alan Williams runs Plas Menai, the national water sport centre,
0:29:48 > 0:29:52and he's agreed to help me brush up my kayaking skills.
0:29:53 > 0:29:57But I soon get a taste of the power of this tidal race.
0:29:57 > 0:30:02It's very deceptive, Alan, because the surface of the water looks flat calm,
0:30:02 > 0:30:05but there's something rather dramatic happening underneath.
0:30:05 > 0:30:08The tide has turned now and it's ebbing quite strongly.
0:30:08 > 0:30:11This is such a strange pattern on the surface of the water.
0:30:11 > 0:30:14It's almost as if there's up-wellings from deep down.
0:30:14 > 0:30:16That's because of the tidal rapid.
0:30:16 > 0:30:20There's lots of rocks in there, and it disturbs the water.
0:30:20 > 0:30:23And we're just about to hit another swirly section.
0:30:23 > 0:30:25They're like miniature whirlpools.
0:30:25 > 0:30:28They are, yes. It'll just grab you, but don't worry about it.
0:30:28 > 0:30:32- Good heavens!- Just stay comfortable.
0:30:32 > 0:30:35- It's cool.- OK.
0:30:35 > 0:30:37Wow, that got the adrenalin going!
0:30:37 > 0:30:42The tide's not really built up to its full strength yet, so it gives you an idea of the effect.
0:30:42 > 0:30:44Oh, it certainly does. Wow!
0:30:44 > 0:30:47Phew, heart beating now!
0:30:48 > 0:30:52Today the Menai equals bliss in boats for thousands of visitors.
0:30:52 > 0:30:55But traditionally it was anything but fun.
0:30:55 > 0:30:58It was a vital artery to military and commercial shipping,
0:30:58 > 0:31:03and God help the mariner who sailed these waters not knowing their whirlpools,
0:31:03 > 0:31:05eddies, hidden rocks and fearsome tides.
0:31:05 > 0:31:10Having experienced for myself the way they just grab at your boat as though it were a piece of paper,
0:31:10 > 0:31:13I have huge respect for those who sail the Straits.
0:31:13 > 0:31:17But I have unbounded admiration for the ingenuity and sheer courage
0:31:17 > 0:31:21of the man who first succeeded in building a bridge across them.
0:31:21 > 0:31:24The year was 1826.
0:31:24 > 0:31:27The man was Thomas Telford.
0:31:27 > 0:31:30It was he who won the race for a route from London to Dublin,
0:31:30 > 0:31:33crossing the inhospitable mountains of Snowdonia
0:31:33 > 0:31:37before coming to a sudden juddering halt at the Menai Straits.
0:31:37 > 0:31:42Telford decided to make his crossing at the narrowest place on the Strait.
0:31:42 > 0:31:46It was where drovers had always taken their sheep and cattle across.
0:31:46 > 0:31:48Trouble is it was also the most dangerous,
0:31:48 > 0:31:53where the current was fastest, and where there were the greatest number of whirlpools.
0:31:53 > 0:31:55To cap it all, the Admiralty insisted
0:31:55 > 0:32:01that the bridge be 100ft high, so that warships could pass underneath.
0:32:01 > 0:32:03This was Telford's solution.
0:32:10 > 0:32:14Telford's suspension bridge was a marvel of his age,
0:32:14 > 0:32:18and today it even appears on this new one pound coin.
0:32:18 > 0:32:25And looking at it from this very famous viewpoint, you can see that it's a work of extraordinary beauty.
0:32:25 > 0:32:29But it's also a creation of engineering brilliance.
0:32:29 > 0:32:33What Telford did was to float huge chains out into the Menai,
0:32:33 > 0:32:37haul them over two central towers and anchor them deep underground
0:32:37 > 0:32:38on both sides of the Straits.
0:32:38 > 0:32:43A road suspended underneath the chains could support enormous weight
0:32:43 > 0:32:49and so the suspension bridge was born. Simple? Yes. Brilliant? Absolutely.
0:32:49 > 0:32:55The irony is that no sooner had the bridge been built, than it was outmoded.
0:32:55 > 0:33:00To find out why, I've met up with civil engineer, William Day,
0:33:00 > 0:33:04who is responsible for the maintenance of the Menai's great bridges.
0:33:04 > 0:33:08Why was this amazing new bridge suddenly not good enough for the job?
0:33:08 > 0:33:11Basically, we'd just entered into the railway age,
0:33:11 > 0:33:17so a bridge ideal for stagecoaches was definitely not the right thing for railway coaches.
0:33:17 > 0:33:21They were just too heavy. So what was required was a radical, new solution,
0:33:21 > 0:33:23and what was required to provide that solution
0:33:23 > 0:33:27- was a radical engineer like Robert Stephenson. - Son of George Stephenson?
0:33:27 > 0:33:34Indeed. Famous for the Rocket and the Stockton and Darlington railway - the first commercial railway in the UK.
0:33:34 > 0:33:40But it was actually almost a bridge too far even for Robert Stephenson.
0:33:40 > 0:33:44Robert Stephenson didn't just inherit his dad's train set.
0:33:44 > 0:33:49In fact, he surpassed him in his skill as a locomotive designer and structural engineer.
0:33:49 > 0:33:53But building a bridge with a huge span, capable of carrying massive loads
0:33:53 > 0:33:57over a 100 foot in the air, was almost unimaginably difficult.
0:33:58 > 0:34:02This was Stephenson's solution to the problem of crossing the Straits.
0:34:02 > 0:34:04Telford had taken the best position.
0:34:04 > 0:34:07Stephenson was left with the second best position.
0:34:07 > 0:34:11But what we're looking at isn't the bridge as Stephenson built it.
0:34:11 > 0:34:14No, that, unfortunately, was lost in 1970 to the fire.
0:34:14 > 0:34:17Burning your bridges has always been bad news.
0:34:17 > 0:34:20And with the rail link to Holyhead severed,
0:34:20 > 0:34:24Anglesey was threatened economically, and so the bridge was given a massive facelift.
0:34:24 > 0:34:30Fortunately, though, some of the structure of Stephenson's original Britannia Bridge still remains.
0:34:30 > 0:34:32What have we got up here, William?
0:34:32 > 0:34:35We've got one of the best kept secrets of the bridge.
0:34:35 > 0:34:38Four lions, one on each corner.
0:34:38 > 0:34:40They are magnificent.
0:34:40 > 0:34:43The irony is that those lions can't be seen
0:34:43 > 0:34:47by train travellers any more, or by people travelling on the road.
0:34:47 > 0:34:49Indeed. They were visible many, many years ago.
0:34:49 > 0:34:52But not as the bridge is now.
0:34:52 > 0:34:56But the pedestal on which the lions lie sadly unseen,
0:34:56 > 0:34:58outdoes anything in Trafalgar Square.
0:34:58 > 0:35:02It's a massive structure, William. I feel completely dwarfed.
0:35:02 > 0:35:03Very precisely made.
0:35:03 > 0:35:05Look how tight the joints are.
0:35:05 > 0:35:09But to see something really spectacular, you need to come in here.
0:35:10 > 0:35:14- It's very dark isn't it? - It is rather, we do have some lights.
0:35:16 > 0:35:19Good heavens! It's like a cathedral.
0:35:20 > 0:35:26You come in from the outside thinking it's a solid structure, but it's completely hollow.
0:35:26 > 0:35:29I still can't get my head around what we're looking at.
0:35:29 > 0:35:33A beautiful arrangement of arches. Three arches running this way,
0:35:33 > 0:35:35arches running the other,
0:35:35 > 0:35:41- which spread the load from the railway down into the masonry. - It's a bridge of secrets, isn't it?
0:35:41 > 0:35:45It's beautiful, with these great tapering columns rising up into the void.
0:35:45 > 0:35:48When I first looked at it, I was absolutely amazed.
0:35:48 > 0:35:51It's the most unbelievable and beautiful piece of engineering -
0:35:51 > 0:35:55all to make this structure light and get the railway up to that height.
0:35:58 > 0:36:01Just how Stephenson achieved this wasn't just radical...
0:36:01 > 0:36:03it was revolutionary.
0:36:08 > 0:36:11This was Stephenson's bridge before the fire.
0:36:11 > 0:36:13But what was so special about it?
0:36:18 > 0:36:22What he wanted to create was something that was light and strong,
0:36:22 > 0:36:27and he achieved this by something akin to a bird's wing - the bones in a bird's wing.
0:36:27 > 0:36:30Tubular and cellular. And this is it.
0:36:30 > 0:36:32Oh, wow.
0:36:32 > 0:36:37The only part that now remains of the original Britannia Bridge, a great monument to the man.
0:36:38 > 0:36:41- What's it made from?- Wrought iron.
0:36:41 > 0:36:46To actually build a large structure, you've got to join pieces together, so you ended up
0:36:46 > 0:36:50with two million rivets, and you can see some of them here.
0:36:50 > 0:36:53But this metal is so thin. How did it become rigid?
0:36:53 > 0:37:00Basically, if you join plates together in this cellular form, it's very, very strong, and very stiff.
0:37:00 > 0:37:03So that you've got a very, very rigid box.
0:37:03 > 0:37:08Unlike a suspension bridge, this box would stay stiff even as the train went over.
0:37:08 > 0:37:13Stephenson's tunnel in the sky was an audacious idea,
0:37:13 > 0:37:16but four interconnected "box girders"
0:37:16 > 0:37:22as they're called, each 144 metres in length, now had to be lifted 30 metres into the air.
0:37:22 > 0:37:27Today, it would be difficult. In 1850, it was a logistical nightmare.
0:37:27 > 0:37:34Each of the tubes weighed 1,500 tonnes, which even today would be considered a fairly hefty load.
0:37:34 > 0:37:39What he did was to float the bridge sections out and dock them into the bottom of the towers.
0:37:39 > 0:37:41You can see where the slots are.
0:37:41 > 0:37:45And how do you go about lifting 1,500 tonnes from down here, 100ft in the air?
0:37:45 > 0:37:47Basically, you jack it up.
0:37:47 > 0:37:49Stephenson was the first to do it,
0:37:49 > 0:37:53and they used probably the most powerful jacks available at that time.
0:37:53 > 0:37:56They would then put masonry underneath,
0:37:56 > 0:37:59reposition the jack, and move again.
0:37:59 > 0:38:04So it was quite a slow process that would have taken quite a few days.
0:38:04 > 0:38:07So out of the chaos of this construction site down below
0:38:07 > 0:38:10arose an incredibly simple engineering structure?
0:38:10 > 0:38:14Very simple, very elegant, and at that time, unique.
0:38:14 > 0:38:22We still build box girders, and we still jack big bridges into place, so the process Stephenson started
0:38:22 > 0:38:26150 years ago would still be regarded as a modern technique.
0:38:28 > 0:38:34For decades, Robert Stephenson's rail crossing stole the thunder from Telford's suspension bridge.
0:38:34 > 0:38:38Railways ruled the world and the Menai Straits.
0:38:39 > 0:38:42Then, someone invented the motor car,
0:38:42 > 0:38:46and the usefulness and the honour of the suspension bridge was restored.
0:38:47 > 0:38:51Today, the beautiful old bridge wouldn't be able to cope on its own
0:38:51 > 0:38:55with the volume of traffic that needs to cross to and fro from mainland Wales to Anglesey.
0:38:55 > 0:38:59If it wasn't for the fire that destroyed the Britannia Bridge in 1970,
0:38:59 > 0:39:02the planners could have faced a real headache.
0:39:04 > 0:39:07Their creation of a dual purpose road and rail bridge
0:39:07 > 0:39:10from the ashes of Stephenson's original creation
0:39:10 > 0:39:16perpetuated a rail link from London to Dublin and avoided gridlock on Anglesey's roads.
0:39:19 > 0:39:22But it is a real tragedy that we can no longer marvel
0:39:22 > 0:39:27at Robert Stephenson's original design, one of the wonders of the engineering world...
0:39:27 > 0:39:30the first box girder bridge.
0:39:34 > 0:39:37However you decide to get to Anglesey,
0:39:37 > 0:39:41do take the opportunity to take a stroll along at least a part
0:39:41 > 0:39:44of Anglesey's brand new 125-mile coastal path,
0:39:44 > 0:39:48most of it designated an Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
0:40:02 > 0:40:06Coming to Beaumaris, we near the end of the new Anglesey coastal path.
0:40:06 > 0:40:11Unbelievably, before the Menai Bridges were built, people used to wait until low tide
0:40:11 > 0:40:15and actually cross here from the mainland on foot.
0:40:15 > 0:40:19Another particularly hairy crossing used to be the Conway Estuary.
0:40:19 > 0:40:22The ferry was as unpredictable as the tides.
0:40:22 > 0:40:26But here, too, we find a pigeon-pair of extraordinary bridges...
0:40:26 > 0:40:29a mini Menai suspension bridge, courtesy of Mr Telford,
0:40:29 > 0:40:34and a baby Britannia bridge, courtesy of Mr Stephenson.
0:40:34 > 0:40:38Historian, Neil, is on the trail of another construction project in Conwy,
0:40:38 > 0:40:43and a barely-heard-of hero who was to help change the tides of war.
0:40:44 > 0:40:5060 years after the end of World War II, and hundreds of miles from the main theatres of war,
0:40:50 > 0:40:54it's hard to believe that this quiet little town of Conwy
0:40:54 > 0:41:00and a local unsung hero had a vital role to play in the D-Day landings at Normandy.
0:41:02 > 0:41:06By 1942, the tides of war had begun to turn.
0:41:06 > 0:41:12Britain had mastery of the air after the heroic battle of Britain, but the war was far from over.
0:41:12 > 0:41:16What was needed was a full scale allied invasion to liberate France,
0:41:16 > 0:41:19and the only option was an invasion by sea.
0:41:21 > 0:41:24The challenge they would face was Hitler's Atlantic Wall.
0:41:24 > 0:41:27The French coast was pretty much impregnable -
0:41:27 > 0:41:32every inch was iron clad. Every port bristled with Nazi armour.
0:41:32 > 0:41:37What was needed was an artificial coastline and floating harbours.
0:41:37 > 0:41:40"Impossible", said the boffins.
0:41:40 > 0:41:42But Winston Churchill was adamant.
0:41:42 > 0:41:45Cometh the hour, cometh the man.
0:41:46 > 0:41:53Hugh Iorys Hughes was a successful but unassuming civil engineer who, on 1st June 1942,
0:41:53 > 0:41:57was contacted directly by Churchill's staff, asking him to develop a prototype
0:41:57 > 0:42:01for an audacious scheme, randomly codenamed Mulberry Harbour.
0:42:01 > 0:42:04Hughes decided to build his top-secret prototype
0:42:04 > 0:42:08on his home ground here in Conwy, and local historian Mark Hughes -
0:42:08 > 0:42:12no relation - has long been fascinated by Hugh Iorys Hughes.
0:42:17 > 0:42:18They were huge.
0:42:18 > 0:42:216,000 tonnes, 200 feet long.
0:42:21 > 0:42:23Each one?
0:42:23 > 0:42:24- Each one.- Cor!
0:42:26 > 0:42:28And what was, basically, the design?
0:42:28 > 0:42:32His prototype design was one of concrete caissons,
0:42:32 > 0:42:38best described as being an upturned cup which could allow water to be let in.
0:42:40 > 0:42:43When they were empty, they could be towed.
0:42:43 > 0:42:47And when in position, the water would be added and then they would be sunk,
0:42:47 > 0:42:51and these would be connected by roadways.
0:42:51 > 0:42:56It was envisaged that the ships would moor alongside the concrete caissons,
0:42:56 > 0:43:00and then supplies would move along the roadways to the shore.
0:43:00 > 0:43:03So it's like a gigantic Lego set with some Meccano on it.
0:43:03 > 0:43:08Yes, probably a jigsaw is closer to the truth.
0:43:08 > 0:43:13The Mulberry Harbours, comprising an incredible ten miles of floating concrete sections,
0:43:13 > 0:43:19took 45,000 men just six months to build, at secret locations all around the coast of the UK.
0:43:19 > 0:43:24And from June to October 1944, they provided the crucial landing stage
0:43:24 > 0:43:32off the Normandy coast for two million men, 500,000 vehicles and four million tonnes of supplies.
0:43:34 > 0:43:37Conwy can be rightly proud of the part it played
0:43:37 > 0:43:42in developing the crazy, brilliant idea of a travelling coastline - the Mulberry Harbour.
0:43:42 > 0:43:47But we should all celebrate the role of Hugh Iorys Hughes,
0:43:47 > 0:43:50whose crazy, brilliant idea it was in the first place.
0:43:50 > 0:43:55After the war, he just went back to the day job and lived a quiet life.
0:43:55 > 0:43:59He died in 1977, unsung and undecorated,
0:43:59 > 0:44:05but he was one of the few who did so much for so many.
0:44:12 > 0:44:16Llandudno. The "wish you were here" name on thousands of postcards,
0:44:16 > 0:44:20and another tale of one man's ambition, vision and enterprise.
0:44:20 > 0:44:22Lord Mostyn was a local landowner...
0:44:22 > 0:44:25in fact he was pretty much the only local landowner.
0:44:25 > 0:44:29There's little around here that didn't belong to him.
0:44:29 > 0:44:33In 1849, Mostyn realised that the new coastal railway could carry
0:44:33 > 0:44:36something rather more profitable than post and politicians...
0:44:37 > 0:44:42holidaymakers. From the industrial heartlands of Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham.
0:44:42 > 0:44:45So Lord Mostyn started turning a sleepy backwater
0:44:45 > 0:44:52into a Mediterranean paradise with a promenade and accommodation for 8,000 fun seekers.
0:44:52 > 0:44:55Llandudno never looked back.
0:45:10 > 0:45:12Towering above the town, and dominating the whole bay,
0:45:12 > 0:45:16is a huge outcrop of limestone - the Great Orme.
0:45:22 > 0:45:26The Great Orme. Odd word, "orme".
0:45:26 > 0:45:28It's not Welsh, it's not English.
0:45:28 > 0:45:30In fact, like so many place names around here...
0:45:30 > 0:45:34Anglesey, Bardsey, Swansea, Skomer...
0:45:34 > 0:45:38it comes from one of the region's earlier visitors - the Vikings.
0:45:40 > 0:45:43Orme means serpent or dragon.
0:45:43 > 0:45:46It's close to the English word worm. And you can imagine how,
0:45:46 > 0:45:49as the Vikings approached from the sea,
0:45:49 > 0:45:52the Great Orme must have looked like some formidable sea monster.
0:45:52 > 0:45:57But somewhere on top of the Orme, our anthropologist, Alice, is looking for remains
0:45:57 > 0:46:01left by people who came here long before the Vikings,
0:46:01 > 0:46:03at least 4,000 years ago.
0:46:04 > 0:46:09Over there on that headland is the Graig Lwyd axe factory,
0:46:09 > 0:46:10a Stone Age axe factory
0:46:10 > 0:46:13whose axes are found all over the UK and northern Europe.
0:46:13 > 0:46:19And then one morning about 4,000 years ago, everybody wakes up and it's the Bronze Age.
0:46:19 > 0:46:23So they put down the stone tools which they'd been busily making up to that point,
0:46:23 > 0:46:27and they start making sophisticated bronze tools instead.
0:46:27 > 0:46:29Or did they?
0:46:29 > 0:46:33When we talk about the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, the Iron Age,
0:46:33 > 0:46:38it's as though we're meant to think of these people as being fundamentally different.
0:46:38 > 0:46:43That suddenly they forgot their skills, their trade roots, their beliefs. But one thing is clear...
0:46:43 > 0:46:47something extraordinary DID happen around 4,000 years ago.
0:46:47 > 0:46:52It's quite difficult to think about what a huge imaginative leap it must have been
0:46:52 > 0:46:57to think that you can take a rock, heat it up, and get a metal out of it.
0:46:57 > 0:47:02It's not just that, because if you take malachite - if you take copper ore, you get copper out -
0:47:02 > 0:47:05but to make bronze, you've got to add tin as well,
0:47:05 > 0:47:08and copper and tin aren't just found in any old rocks.
0:47:08 > 0:47:10These people travel and trade.
0:47:10 > 0:47:13They're getting their tin from probably Cornwall, 200 miles away.
0:47:13 > 0:47:17For copper, they're coming here to the Great Orme -
0:47:17 > 0:47:21the biggest prehistoric copper mine in the world.
0:47:21 > 0:47:26Just a few years ago, vast underground caverns were discovered below the Orme's surface.
0:47:26 > 0:47:28Just come and have a look at this.
0:47:32 > 0:47:35Wow, that's amazing!
0:47:35 > 0:47:37It's not a natural cave, this has all been...?
0:47:37 > 0:47:39It's all been dug out by people.
0:47:39 > 0:47:41It is absolutely massive.
0:47:41 > 0:47:44My guide is Nick Jowett,
0:47:44 > 0:47:47one of the handful of people who excavated the ancient mines.
0:47:47 > 0:47:49This is what it was all about.
0:47:49 > 0:47:51The green that we can see in the rock here is malachite.
0:47:51 > 0:47:53Malachite is copper ore.
0:47:53 > 0:47:57We don't find much of it, because they were so good at mining.
0:47:57 > 0:47:59These are the bits they've discarded.
0:47:59 > 0:48:03What was in this chamber must have been just phenomenal.
0:48:05 > 0:48:11To give me a real sense of what Bronze - or should I say Copper Age mining was about -
0:48:11 > 0:48:15Nick's kindly offered to take me where the public can't go.
0:48:17 > 0:48:21There's an estimated five miles of tunnels down here,
0:48:21 > 0:48:26each hand-dug in search of the miraculous green copper ore.
0:48:26 > 0:48:31Nick has recently discovered a new tunnel that no-one has entered for 4,000 years.
0:48:31 > 0:48:37Just as well he's an expert pot-holer and member of a cave rescue team.
0:48:37 > 0:48:41I've just taken my helmet off so I can get through this hole.
0:48:43 > 0:48:45I'm not looking forward to it.
0:48:45 > 0:48:47It's really, really narrow.
0:48:54 > 0:48:58It defies belief that people were doing that 4,500 years ago,
0:48:58 > 0:49:034,000 years ago, down these caves, down these tunnels.
0:49:03 > 0:49:05That was a pretty narrow squeeze.
0:49:05 > 0:49:08All I can say is, they must have really wanted that ore.
0:49:08 > 0:49:15So over all the years that they were doing it, how much ore do you think they mined out?
0:49:15 > 0:49:17Well, the estimate so far suggests
0:49:17 > 0:49:21that perhaps somewhere around about 1,700 tonnes of copper metal
0:49:21 > 0:49:23came out of this mine.
0:49:23 > 0:49:27That quantity would be enough to make around about ten million metal axes.
0:49:27 > 0:49:31- Oh, really.- And that's just an incredible quantity.- Yeah.
0:49:32 > 0:49:35But in the days before dynamite,
0:49:35 > 0:49:40what technology did the Bronze Age miners have to extract the ore to create tunnels
0:49:40 > 0:49:43as well as the vast open cast mine up on the surface?
0:49:43 > 0:49:46The answer lies firmly back in the Stone Age.
0:49:48 > 0:49:49- This is a piece of a rib bone.- Yeah.
0:49:49 > 0:49:53We can clearly see if we look at the end, it's worn and rounded,
0:49:53 > 0:49:56and that's the evidence we have that these have been used as tools.
0:49:56 > 0:50:01My goodness. So that's been, that's been rounded by digging away...
0:50:01 > 0:50:04- That's it. - ..at the soil here, the ground here.
0:50:04 > 0:50:07So all of that was dug out using implements like this?
0:50:07 > 0:50:10That's it.
0:50:10 > 0:50:16Mining using metal tools would have been like using the family silver to dig the garden,
0:50:16 > 0:50:19so stone hammers and bone picks filled the tool box.
0:50:19 > 0:50:23But it's the sheer quantity of tools Nick and the team found that's staggering.
0:50:23 > 0:50:29This is one of our store rooms where we keep some of the bones that we've found in the excavations.
0:50:33 > 0:50:35We've found about 37,000.
0:50:35 > 0:50:38- If you want to have a look at them. - Oh, OK, lovely. Right.
0:50:39 > 0:50:4237,000 fragments of bone tools.
0:50:42 > 0:50:46I'm curious to know what they can tell us about the miners themselves.
0:50:46 > 0:50:47It's rather small, this one,
0:50:47 > 0:50:51but there's an idea that scapulae were used as shovels.
0:50:51 > 0:50:53A nice sort of shovelly shape.
0:50:53 > 0:50:56And if there's any human material here.
0:50:56 > 0:51:00It's not quite right, the curve of that.
0:51:01 > 0:51:03I can see a tooth in here.
0:51:03 > 0:51:06This is the tooth of a pig.
0:51:08 > 0:51:10Oh, I was excited for a minute there.
0:51:10 > 0:51:16Most of these bone fragments are actually from cattle,
0:51:16 > 0:51:18so domesticated species.
0:51:18 > 0:51:22We've also got sheep and goats and things like that as well.
0:51:22 > 0:51:24So we know that they're farmers.
0:51:24 > 0:51:27We know that they're pretty organised in what they're doing.
0:51:27 > 0:51:30They're getting a huge amount of ore out.
0:51:30 > 0:51:32And we know what sort of tools they're using.
0:51:32 > 0:51:36We know what sort of animals they had living around them.
0:51:36 > 0:51:43Is there any evidence of the people themselves? Now, I actually got quite excited because...
0:51:43 > 0:51:45there are some human bones.
0:51:45 > 0:51:47This is a jaw, mandible.
0:51:47 > 0:51:50Some of the teeth have dropped out of their sockets
0:51:50 > 0:51:51and a few of them are here -
0:51:51 > 0:51:53the canine, and the pre-molars there.
0:51:53 > 0:51:58It's got a very jutting out chin, so probably male.
0:51:58 > 0:52:01This bone here is a collar bone or clavicle.
0:52:01 > 0:52:08Now, that's two human bone fragments among 37,000 fragments of animal bone.
0:52:11 > 0:52:13The really odd thing is that you go in,
0:52:13 > 0:52:18and it's like walking into a workshop where somebody's just put their tools down and gone.
0:52:18 > 0:52:21But there's no evidence of the people themselves.
0:52:21 > 0:52:23There's no evidence of settlements.
0:52:23 > 0:52:25There's no burials.
0:52:25 > 0:52:31So where these people came from and where they went to afterwards... Where have they gone?
0:52:31 > 0:52:35There's a lot of mystery still to be explained in the Great Orme.
0:52:35 > 0:52:38So let's examine the evidence so far.
0:52:38 > 0:52:41I sent the human bones off for radio carbon dating.
0:52:41 > 0:52:48The result, 1600-1680 BC, which places our man firmly in the Bronze Age.
0:52:48 > 0:52:51Analysis of his tooth enamel shows he was born locally.
0:52:51 > 0:52:56The quantity of animal bones shows he lived in a stable agricultural community
0:52:56 > 0:53:00that produced enough food to allow a number of people to do specialist work -
0:53:00 > 0:53:02mining - on a huge scale.
0:53:02 > 0:53:05And latest research has also shown that at the time,
0:53:05 > 0:53:08the Orme was entirely surrounded by sea.
0:53:08 > 0:53:11So travel and trade must have taken place by boat.
0:53:11 > 0:53:15So really the next question is where did all that ore go?
0:53:15 > 0:53:18Where is it being taken off for processing?
0:53:18 > 0:53:23Now I'm going to go and meet Dave Chapman, who I think might have the answer for me.
0:53:26 > 0:53:30As a 12 year old boy, Dave Chapman discovered a Bronze Age axe head on the Orme.
0:53:30 > 0:53:34This started a lifelong fascination with Bronze Age techniques,
0:53:34 > 0:53:38and led him to another discovery of national importance.
0:53:41 > 0:53:43There you go, Alice.
0:53:43 > 0:53:45This is the earliest metal working site in Britain.
0:53:45 > 0:53:48- The earliest in Britain?- Yes, yes. - Wow.
0:53:48 > 0:53:51- We've got a radio carbon date from here.- Fantastic.
0:53:51 > 0:53:55- Is that some charcoal? I can see some blackness in the soil. - Yes, it's a 1580 BC.- Yes.
0:53:55 > 0:53:59And there's a close association of that with some copper slides that we found.
0:53:59 > 0:54:04- Right.- And they are from the smelting of copper ore to actually make copper metal.
0:54:04 > 0:54:08You're telling me this - the first smelting site in Britain,
0:54:08 > 0:54:11but it just looks like a nondescript bit of the coastline.
0:54:11 > 0:54:15This is one of the most interesting nondescript sites you can get.
0:54:15 > 0:54:21We're fairly certain that the UK's earliest known smelting site was once far larger.
0:54:21 > 0:54:26Unfortunately, it was blown to bits in 1872 to make way for a road around the Orme.
0:54:27 > 0:54:32But why smelt the ore here on a cliff edge a mile away from the mine itself?
0:54:32 > 0:54:35Again, boats must have been at the heart of the trade in copper.
0:54:35 > 0:54:41And the Irish sea, the M25 of Bronze Age commerce,
0:54:41 > 0:54:46would have been busy with traders, flocking here in search of the magical green rock.
0:54:47 > 0:54:49Dave Chapman has been conducting experiments
0:54:49 > 0:54:52to see how ground-up malachite ore mixed with charcoal
0:54:52 > 0:54:54was turned into copper.
0:54:54 > 0:54:57That's very, very hot indeed.
0:55:01 > 0:55:07- Can I touch it? Is it cool?- Yes, by all means, it's cool now.- OK.
0:55:07 > 0:55:09- Is that pure copper?- Yes.
0:55:11 > 0:55:13Oh, that's beautiful.
0:55:13 > 0:55:15It really is a magical process.
0:55:15 > 0:55:17- It is, isn't it?- Yeah.
0:55:18 > 0:55:23It does appear magical, but these people knew what they were doing.
0:55:23 > 0:55:26What they practised was nearer to science than to alchemy,
0:55:26 > 0:55:31and I firmly believe that the story of the Great Orme mines isn't just a story about copper...
0:55:31 > 0:55:37it's a story about people, about human endeavour and imagination.
0:55:37 > 0:55:41Looking back at what we've discovered, an extraordinary picture is emerging.
0:55:41 > 0:55:45It's really odd to be up here on a rocky outcrop
0:55:45 > 0:55:49on the northern most tip of Wales, pretty much deserted today -
0:55:49 > 0:55:51occasionally tourists coming in -
0:55:51 > 0:55:57but 4,000 years ago, this was at the centre of a revolution,
0:55:57 > 0:55:59an industrial revolution.
0:55:59 > 0:56:04And this was a new society, the beginning of a new age.
0:56:11 > 0:56:16The last stage of our journey continues on Stephenson's original dash-for-Dublin route
0:56:16 > 0:56:23along the North Wales coast, past the ever-popular holiday resorts of Colwyn Bay, Rhyl and Prestatyn.
0:56:27 > 0:56:29OK, pub quiz.
0:56:29 > 0:56:31What is the capital of Wales?
0:56:31 > 0:56:33Not difficult, is it? Cardiff.
0:56:33 > 0:56:35Correct. This is a bit more difficult.
0:56:35 > 0:56:39What, according to tradition is the capital of North Wales?
0:56:39 > 0:56:45Here's a clue. It's the proposed venue for the 2007 Welsh National Eisteddfod.
0:56:45 > 0:56:47Not much of a clue, is it?
0:56:47 > 0:56:53Well, believe it or not, the traditional capital of North Wales is not in Wales at all.
0:56:53 > 0:56:56It's a city in England.
0:56:56 > 0:56:59# You'll never walk... #
0:56:59 > 0:57:01Liverpool.
0:57:01 > 0:57:04Oh, what about that!
0:57:06 > 0:57:11From Liverpool to the Scottish Borders, my own Premier League companions will be discovering
0:57:11 > 0:57:15the constant ebb and flow of human endeavour and industry.
0:57:15 > 0:57:18And an extraordinary legacy.
0:57:18 > 0:57:21Incredible ancient footprints in the sand.
0:57:21 > 0:57:24Unseen threats beneath the waves.
0:57:24 > 0:57:27And life at the cutting edge of Roman civilisation.
0:57:27 > 0:57:32And I'm heading over the Dee to England, and over the Mersey to Liverpool.
0:57:32 > 0:57:33See you there.
0:57:55 > 0:57:58Subtitles by BBC Broadcast - 2005
0:57:58 > 0:58:01Email us at subtitling@bbc.co.uk