0:00:31 > 0:00:37200 years ago, the seaside holiday we take for granted was still being invented.
0:00:37 > 0:00:44In places like Ilfracombe they faced some formidable challenges, not least just getting to the beach.
0:00:44 > 0:00:47High cliffs stand all around the sheltered coves.
0:00:47 > 0:00:52So, in the 1820s, they looked across the Severn Sea for a solution.
0:00:52 > 0:00:56They brought in the real experts to break through the cliffs,
0:00:56 > 0:00:59miners from South Wales.
0:00:59 > 0:01:03I'm going to follow in the footsteps of those miners to explore how the
0:01:03 > 0:01:06Victorians learnt to love to be beside the sea.
0:01:06 > 0:01:10My guide is outdoor swimmer Kate Rew.
0:01:10 > 0:01:13Now, I'm amazed at this. This seems like an awful lot of trouble to go
0:01:13 > 0:01:17to for a swim, to actually dig a tunnel through a rock!
0:01:17 > 0:01:20It's amazing what people will do to get to a nice beach.
0:01:20 > 0:01:25Look at that, that's where it's been cut. That's maybe where they've drilled for blasting.
0:01:25 > 0:01:27All so that they could get to a beach for a swim.
0:01:27 > 0:01:30Some of us are very desperate to get into the water.
0:01:31 > 0:01:36Capitalising on the newfangled fashion for taking a dip, the Ilfracombe Sea Bathing Company's
0:01:36 > 0:01:44Welsh miners dug four tunnels through solid rock, wide enough to take a horse and carriage.
0:01:44 > 0:01:48They swam in from bathing machines, they were called, wooden huts on
0:01:48 > 0:01:52wheels that would be horse drawn all the way through these tunnels.
0:01:52 > 0:01:59And three foot into the water, where the ladies would elegantly step out.
0:01:59 > 0:02:02Bathing machines were portable changing rooms
0:02:02 > 0:02:06for preserving a lady's modesty in this novel environment.
0:02:08 > 0:02:12Once in the water, the novice bathers had to learn how to behave.
0:02:12 > 0:02:15The whole experience was stage managed.
0:02:15 > 0:02:21At Ilfracombe, they held back the rough seas by fencing off tidal pools.
0:02:21 > 0:02:24Walls were built to hold in calm water.
0:02:26 > 0:02:30Early bathers still needed some encouragement, and with the prospect
0:02:30 > 0:02:33of a swim here myself, I know how they felt.
0:02:33 > 0:02:39Well, I've got an album here that I'd like to show you of someone who was here
0:02:39 > 0:02:44at all times during Victorian times to encourage people, people like you, to go swimming.
0:02:44 > 0:02:47He's not the kind of figure I expected.
0:02:47 > 0:02:51This is Professor Harry Parker, who was quite a figure around here.
0:02:51 > 0:02:55- He certainly was, that's quite a figure!- With his top hat and his comedy nose,
0:02:55 > 0:03:00and he is one of England's greatest natatorial artistes.
0:03:00 > 0:03:05- Easy for you to say.- Absolutely, and he would teach any good people on the beach diving and fancy swimming.
0:03:05 > 0:03:09Tricks like lighting a cigar while swimming, drinking a glass of champagne.
0:03:09 > 0:03:13This kind of comedy action showed how happy people could be in the water.
0:03:13 > 0:03:14Was it a family affair?
0:03:14 > 0:03:17Very much not, actually, even though the Victorians
0:03:17 > 0:03:20were very family orientated, the beaches were strictly segregated.
0:03:20 > 0:03:25So we're sitting here on, this is the men's beach, so men only.
0:03:25 > 0:03:29The women would be taken through the headland to the other side and
0:03:29 > 0:03:33a bugler would sit on the rocks in between and if any man dared swim out the area
0:03:33 > 0:03:37- enough to actually catch sight of the women, then a horn would be blown loudly.- Wow!
0:03:37 > 0:03:42They would be ejected, there were newspaper reports saying that, you know, if the men were named that had
0:03:42 > 0:03:47committed this crime, then they would be thrown out of civilised society. It was very strict.
0:03:47 > 0:03:53Not only were they confined to separate beaches, there was a strict dress code too.
0:03:53 > 0:03:57And quite a double standard for men and women.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00The Victorian lady had to be very properly dressed when she
0:04:00 > 0:04:05went into the water, and these are the kinds of things that they wore.
0:04:05 > 0:04:11- Very nice.- So you needed a good pair of pantaloons, below the knee obviously, to preserve her modesty.
0:04:11 > 0:04:17And a kind of dress or smock over the top, and these were apparently sometimes weighed down with lead
0:04:17 > 0:04:19pellets around the hem to stop them floating up.
0:04:19 > 0:04:23Lead is what you want on a swimming costume in the open sea!
0:04:23 > 0:04:26- What do I get?- You delightfully get to swim in the buff!
0:04:26 > 0:04:32Oh, come on! I wanted a duffle coat, wellington boots and a hat.
0:04:32 > 0:04:34She's not joking.
0:04:34 > 0:04:38Away from the ladies, hidden behind the headland on their own beach,
0:04:38 > 0:04:42those Victorian gents were a lot less buttoned up than you might imagine.
0:04:42 > 0:04:44It wasn't uncommon for the men to swim in the nude,
0:04:44 > 0:04:48even if the women on the beach next door were covered up.
0:04:50 > 0:04:54Swimming in the buff? I thought Victorian gentlemen had more decorum.
0:04:54 > 0:04:58Where's Queen Victoria when you need her? That's what I want to know.
0:05:02 > 0:05:04The tidal pool is still used today.
0:05:04 > 0:05:07The water is calmer and warmer than the sea around it.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10It's still a bit chilly all the same.
0:05:12 > 0:05:16- Watch out, you might get arrested. - I can definitely hear a bugler!
0:05:23 > 0:05:27The Welsh miners who crossed the sea to open up the beaches of Ilfracombe
0:05:27 > 0:05:32were followed by waves of tourists on day trips between England and Wales.
0:05:34 > 0:05:37In the late 19th and early 20th century,
0:05:37 > 0:05:40pleasure boats criss-crossed the Severn Sea.
0:05:40 > 0:05:44The motor vessel Balmoral is a relic of a time when
0:05:44 > 0:05:50foreign travel was, for some, a booze cruise between the resorts of South Wales and North Devon.
0:05:52 > 0:05:58By the 1960s, exotic locations overseas made the pleasure steamers look dated and the
0:05:58 > 0:06:04opening of the Severn Bridge meant the sea was no longer the quickest route between England and Wales.
0:06:08 > 0:06:12Travelling along this coast, though, has always been a struggle.
0:06:12 > 0:06:16This is where Exmoor meets the Severn Sea.
0:06:16 > 0:06:19These imposing sea cliffs posed another challenge
0:06:19 > 0:06:22to Victorian engineers opening up this coast for tourists.
0:06:22 > 0:06:28In 1890, Lynmouth, by the sea, was linked with Lynton, up the hill,
0:06:28 > 0:06:32by a water-powered funicular railway that's still going strong.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38But not everyone wants to take the shortcut.
0:06:38 > 0:06:45Nick Crane is meeting some pioneers who were determined to tackle these cliffs the hard way.
0:06:47 > 0:06:52It's 1953 and the world's highest mountain has been conquered
0:06:52 > 0:06:55in a breathtaking 29,000 ft ascent.
0:06:55 > 0:06:58The achievement prompted one mountaineer who'd missed out on the
0:06:58 > 0:07:03Everest adventure to plan a conquest of his own. Not up, but along.
0:07:03 > 0:07:06And it was a lot more than 29,000 ft.
0:07:08 > 0:07:13In his younger days, Clement Archer had been working in India when Everest was conquered.
0:07:13 > 0:07:16It's thought that he'd secretly hoped to join that expedition.
0:07:16 > 0:07:22Instead, Archer pioneered a new concept here on the Exmoor coast.
0:07:22 > 0:07:25Nowadays we might call it coasteering, a 14-mile climb along
0:07:25 > 0:07:31sea cliffs sandwiched perilously between pounding sea and sky.
0:07:31 > 0:07:34The purists know this route as the Exmoor Traverse.
0:07:34 > 0:07:38It runs from Foreland Point to Combe Martin,
0:07:38 > 0:07:41nearly three times longer than the ascent of Everest.
0:07:41 > 0:07:47And this route wasn't completed until 25 years after Everest.
0:07:49 > 0:07:56In 1978, Terry Cheek and a team of three young police cadets finally conquered the Exmoor Traverse.
0:07:56 > 0:07:58It took them four days and nights.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01Their achievement has not been matched since.
0:08:01 > 0:08:0730 years later, Terry and two of his team are back at the Exmoor Traverse.
0:08:08 > 0:08:10Ah, now what is going on there?
0:08:10 > 0:08:14You've got no rope shift, you're creeping around under an overhang above the water,
0:08:14 > 0:08:16wearing what look like soggy jeans.
0:08:16 > 0:08:19Yeah, and of course it was flares back 30 years ago.
0:08:19 > 0:08:21You did this in flared jeans?
0:08:24 > 0:08:26Do you remember this part of it, Trevor?
0:08:26 > 0:08:29Yeah, and talking about the clothing, the boots were made of
0:08:29 > 0:08:31pressed cardboard with a rubber sole.
0:08:31 > 0:08:35They were very cheap and not very flexible to begin with.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38Course, they get saturated with water and it's almost like
0:08:38 > 0:08:42wearing papier-mache while rock climbing. So it's a real challenge.
0:08:42 > 0:08:44If you don't get it right, you're cut off.
0:08:44 > 0:08:48And that may, without getting dramatic about it, mean drowning.
0:08:48 > 0:08:50What they call risk assessment, I don't remember us
0:08:50 > 0:08:52talking about those words back then.
0:08:52 > 0:08:55I'm not sure there was a risk assessment.
0:08:55 > 0:08:57Absolutely not, otherwise we wouldn't have done it!
0:08:57 > 0:09:02Terry was already an experienced climber in 1978.
0:09:02 > 0:09:06He's in his sixties now and still loves these cliffs.
0:09:07 > 0:09:11He's challenged me to take on a section of this daunting traverse.
0:09:11 > 0:09:13The Exmoor Everest.
0:09:13 > 0:09:16- The Exmoor Everest.- Shall we go down? - Yes, certainly.
0:09:19 > 0:09:23Doesn't sound like a walk in the park.
0:09:24 > 0:09:26Below, below.
0:09:26 > 0:09:31I just kicked a rock down which is not good when you've got somebody below.
0:09:34 > 0:09:40Terry, the nature of this route in rock-climbing terms is pretty bizarre really, it seems to me.
0:09:40 > 0:09:47Because I associate climbing with going up mountains, not going horizontally along, sideways.
0:09:47 > 0:09:50The climbing is much the same. I mean, you really set your own rules.
0:09:50 > 0:09:55We set a rule of not entering the water and not climbing out onto the grass line above the rock.
0:09:55 > 0:10:00It's probably one of the harder spots
0:10:01 > 0:10:06because we're only about three feet above the high water mark now.
0:10:06 > 0:10:10So, I mean, only a couple of hours ago the waves were bashing at the bottom of this, weren't they?
0:10:10 > 0:10:14Just below my feet, yes.
0:10:14 > 0:10:16This is a bit of a tricky move, isn't it?
0:10:17 > 0:10:20It's quite difficult.
0:10:20 > 0:10:23That's it, cling your hands underneath that spike.
0:10:23 > 0:10:25I'm clinging on to everything I can!
0:10:25 > 0:10:27Look down at your feet, you'll be OK there.
0:10:27 > 0:10:29- Under here it's all wet and slimy. - Yes.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32It's covered in sea water.
0:10:32 > 0:10:36Jam the hands up in that crack. I know it's wet and it's painful.
0:10:37 > 0:10:39Very tricky. Now what?
0:10:39 > 0:10:44Some of the finger holes are really pretty minute, aren't they?
0:10:46 > 0:10:49It's not quite as easy as...
0:10:49 > 0:10:51sitting at a desk
0:10:51 > 0:10:54working on my laptop, it has to be said.
0:10:57 > 0:11:02If you get caught by a rising tide or a storm surge in the Bristol Channel, what do you do?
0:11:02 > 0:11:07Once you've been driven above the high water mark, then you are in unknown territory.
0:11:07 > 0:11:13You could be in absolute hell about 70 feet up on probably rock and vegetation.
0:11:17 > 0:11:19We had to resort to climbing at night, waiting on
0:11:19 > 0:11:22the cliffs for the tide to
0:11:22 > 0:11:27recede to get past a difficult section, and it was freezing.
0:11:27 > 0:11:31We also discovered what barnacles could do to your hands.
0:11:31 > 0:11:34You know, it's like very rough, coarse sandpaper. Very painful.
0:11:34 > 0:11:37I've only done a section of this climb, and as
0:11:37 > 0:11:41we haul ourselves up the cliff I'm feeling pretty exhilarated.
0:11:41 > 0:11:48I've got nothing but admiration for the achievement of Terry and his team three decades ago.
0:11:48 > 0:11:55I'm left, too, with a new respect for the awesome cliffs and the fierce tides of the Severn Sea.
0:11:56 > 0:12:01Eventually, the imposing cliffs of north Devon give up their grip on the coast.
0:12:08 > 0:12:15At Bridgwater Bay at low tide, the shallow water becomes a vast expanse of mud.
0:12:15 > 0:12:19On the edge of the bay, in Stolford, there's a fishing family who
0:12:19 > 0:12:23for generations have earned their living from the mud.
0:12:24 > 0:12:26To come home with a decent catch,
0:12:26 > 0:12:32they rely on centuries-old skills, and ancient tools, unique to the men of the mudflats.
0:12:34 > 0:12:37My name is Brendan Sellick and I've been a mudhorse fisherman
0:12:37 > 0:12:41all my working life ever since I was a nipper.
0:12:41 > 0:12:44I used the mudhorse right up till well in me 70s.
0:12:46 > 0:12:48My son Adrian is now doing it.
0:12:48 > 0:12:51He's pushing the mudhorse because it's a very physical job.
0:12:51 > 0:12:54You've got to be fit out there in the soft mud.
0:12:54 > 0:13:00If you tried to go and do that without a mudhorse, some days you'd just disappear.
0:13:02 > 0:13:05It gets in your bones and when I first started there was
0:13:05 > 0:13:08quite a number of families in this estuary doing it.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11Not only around here but all around the Bridgwater bay.
0:13:11 > 0:13:14It's just now got that there's just us left.
0:13:14 > 0:13:20We come out in all weathers, even if it's snowing, sleet, hailstones.
0:13:20 > 0:13:23We do get worn down like any other job, I suppose,
0:13:23 > 0:13:27but this job you've got to come out otherwise your catch gets spoilt.
0:13:27 > 0:13:32On a day like today, I know it's a bit drizzly, but it's quite pleasant.
0:13:32 > 0:13:35You feel the breeze and then you know the tide's turned.
0:13:35 > 0:13:38Should be turning now in a minute.
0:13:38 > 0:13:42You work with the tide, not the tide works with you.
0:13:42 > 0:13:46You don't really know what you're going to catch with it, but that's what I like about it.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49Brown shrimp, that's what we're mainly after.
0:13:51 > 0:13:54When I've got a few little Dover sole, slip soles.
0:13:54 > 0:13:56One or two prawns.
0:13:56 > 0:14:01We've caught all sorts out here. I've had a little lobster, a seahorse.
0:14:01 > 0:14:04And what I do is give them a sieve,
0:14:05 > 0:14:08let all the baby shrimps go
0:14:11 > 0:14:13and pick the rubbish out I don't want.
0:14:17 > 0:14:20That's my favourite, the little slip soles.
0:14:20 > 0:14:23Rolled in flour, fried in butter.
0:14:23 > 0:14:24Beautiful.
0:14:26 > 0:14:28There's a nice skate.
0:14:40 > 0:14:43Two hours ago, that was swimming.
0:14:43 > 0:14:45How fresher do you want than that?
0:14:47 > 0:14:49Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd