Northern Jutland Coast


Northern Jutland

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This is the tip of the top of Denmark...

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..where two great bodies of water meet.

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Look at this!

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Denmark is a country that actually comes to a point!

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A few steps this way, I'll be in the North Sea, headed towards home.

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A few steps that way, and I'll be in the Baltic,

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headed towards Russia.

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Now, this is my kind of coast-to-coast walk.

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And I'm not the only one -

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crowds of Danes come here to witness the eternal battle

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between the twin seas.

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It's captivating...

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..to watch opposing currents collide as two waters wrestle for control.

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Heading away from the open sea is the Lim Fjord

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which twists and turns as it carries the coastline

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deep into the heart of Jutland.

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Carved out in the last Ice Age, the landscape around Lim Fjord

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has had a surprisingly large impact on the British breakfast.

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On the banks of the fjord, Nick's making himself at home.

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For generations, Britons have been connected to this country

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by what's written on the back of their bacon -

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Danish.

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Mass marketing has always been a vital ingredient

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in the Danish recipe for success.

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But what got them started on the business of selling us bacon,

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and why did we gobble it up?

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'One name is enjoyed by more homes in this country

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'for its consistent high quality than any other.'

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# Oink! Oink!

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# Oink Oink!

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# Oink Oink!

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It's British consumers who have helped to make the Danes

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one of the biggest exporters of pig meat in the world.

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There are two porkers for every person in Denmark.

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That's over 12 million pigs.

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Surprisingly, this rich bacon business

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was built on very poor coastal terrain,

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a landscape familiar to rural expert Flemming Just.

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# Oink! Oink!

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Is this is beach or a field?

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It's a field.

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And in fact, it is very typical of Jutland - sandy.

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It is just sand, isn't it?

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And there's not a lot of nutrients in sand.

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Until the middle of the 19th century,

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it was totally covered by heather

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and almost no forest.

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Once, this was a windswept wilderness, without a pig in sight.

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Its transformation to Bacon Central

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began with a disastrous defeat of the Danes some 200 years ago.

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In the Napoleonic Wars, Britain attacked Denmark

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to capture its fleet.

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In the aftermath, the Danes lost control of Norway

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as the map of Europe was redrawn.

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Later, the Germans grabbed a chunk of Danish territory,

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their rich agricultural land in the south.

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To survive, the Danes had to make the most

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of their fertile coastal plains in North Jutland.

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Denmark's bacon boom was about to begin.

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So from that time on,

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they started to cultivate the heather land here in Jutland.

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So a kind of agricultural revolution at the same time

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as Britain had its Industrial Revolution.

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Those two revolutions, they combined,

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so Britain deliberately decided only to focus on industrialisation

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and not care about farming.

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Britain couldn't feed itself,

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whereas Denmark became the larder for the British industrialisation.

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These sandy fields weren't good for growing crops.

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But pigs aren't that fussy.

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So this coastal region became farmland to feed us bacon.

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As intensive rearing replaced this rural idyll,

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pigs grew into big business.

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And 100 years later,

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Danish was one of the first foods advertised on British TV.

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KNOCKING

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Hello, there! I'm the Danish Bacon Viking!

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The majority of Jutland's pigs end up here in Esbjerg.

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Denmark's largest North Sea port was founded in 1868,

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especially for exports to us.

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140 countries now buy Danish,

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but they claim the best cuts head our way.

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These are backs of bacon - 7,000 of them are going through here today.

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And they're all bound for Britain.

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It's staggering to think how from humble beginnings,

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shipping pig meat from this port really did save Denmark's bacon.

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FOGHORN HOOTS

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Denmark's flat western coast

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takes a constant battering from the North Sea.

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The winter storms throw up 20ft waves,

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so it's no wonder exposed towns like Thyboron are under threat.

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That's why the Danes are busy sucking up sand...

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..only to pump it back onto the beach.

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A wee stroll along the shore suits me fine,

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but some people feel the need for speed.

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The North Sea beach marathon

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is one of the few anywhere in the world run entirely on sand.

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Which makes this marathon especially tough.

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Taking up the challenge is 68-year-old

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retired Methodist minister Malcolm Brookes from Hereford.

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I hear it's pretty tough, but the tougher a marathon is,

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the more attractive I find it.

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I'll be really in touch with human being's basic instincts -

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muscle, body, the air, the sea, the sand, the landscape.

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Basic, primitive, fundamental things.

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Bring it on, bring it on, I'm just up for it. Great.

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I've got my shades to stop the glare from the sea, and the sun.

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I've got my energy gels.

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See you later!

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With 26 and a bit miles of soft sand to negotiate,

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in temperatures touching 30 degrees Celsius,

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Malcolm's got his work cut out.

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It's tough.

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It's hot.

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It's much softer, much sandier.

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Quite slippy and slidy.

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I've done 19.7 miles.

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CHEERING AND CLAPPING

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The race has been on for almost seven hours,

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but you are still having runners struggling

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to get to the finish line.

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And the last runner is Malcolm Brookes.

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Yeah, I'm running on my own. I'm right at the end.

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But I don't mind that.

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Malcolm's twice the age of most of the competitors,

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so there's no shame in coming 236th out of 236.

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With Malcolm in, they can all go home.

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Very nice...!

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The last bit was really, really tough.

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I came home pretty breathless.

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Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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