0:00:11 > 0:00:13Come with me if you want adventure.
0:00:13 > 0:00:16Back we go to the sea
0:00:17 > 0:00:20for a fresh look at the coast.
0:00:20 > 0:00:27Grab your sou'westers and sign on for a brand new tour, right around the British Isles.
0:00:27 > 0:00:31Stopping off at some spectacular sites close to home,
0:00:31 > 0:00:36we'll also be venturing far out across the water to Denmark,
0:00:36 > 0:00:39for a voyage with the Vikings.
0:00:39 > 0:00:42And making a journey to the end of the Earth in Brittany,
0:00:42 > 0:00:47to discover how shared seas unite us with our neighbours.
0:00:47 > 0:00:52Our voyage around Britain and beyond doesn't start with the edge of our islands, but at their heart.
0:00:52 > 0:00:57On this first leg of our journey, the Isle of Man is the hub,
0:00:57 > 0:01:01as we spin round the United Kingdoms of the Irish Sea.
0:01:01 > 0:01:04In England, Alice gets to grips with quicksand.
0:01:04 > 0:01:06It's got me good and proper.
0:01:08 > 0:01:11It really is quite scary.
0:01:11 > 0:01:15On the Mersey, Mark unearths the ship that broke Brunel's heart.
0:01:15 > 0:01:17There it is, as fresh as it comes.
0:01:17 > 0:01:21In Wales, Nick wants to see how Anglesey was built.
0:01:21 > 0:01:26I've been following this band of quartz all the way up and it's very beautiful.
0:01:28 > 0:01:34Off the shore of Scotland, we wade out with fishermen who wrestle the raging tide.
0:01:34 > 0:01:37Me, I explore the Isle of Man
0:01:37 > 0:01:41and discover the birthplace of a right royal institution.
0:01:41 > 0:01:45This is Coast and beyond.
0:02:10 > 0:02:13The Isle of Man isn't part of the United Kingdom,
0:02:13 > 0:02:18but it's got a special place in its heart looking out to all our shores.
0:02:19 > 0:02:23Like the hub of a wheel, it's almost equidistant from Northern Ireland,
0:02:23 > 0:02:25Scotland, England and Wales
0:02:25 > 0:02:29and we'll visit them all on this first journey.
0:02:33 > 0:02:39It might be tiny, but the Manx mainland packs in lots of landscapes.
0:02:39 > 0:02:43Rolling green hills in the north,
0:02:43 > 0:02:46a gnarled, rocky coastline in the south,
0:02:46 > 0:02:51and a scattering of sandy beaches.
0:02:51 > 0:02:54The Isle of Man could be the British Isles in miniature.
0:02:57 > 0:03:02For a small island, it can boast some big ideas.
0:03:02 > 0:03:04How about the Laxey wheel?
0:03:07 > 0:03:09Now that's what you call a water feature.
0:03:12 > 0:03:15And I've turned up in time to turn it on.
0:03:15 > 0:03:18Keeper of the wheel Roger Clare is showing me how it's done.
0:03:22 > 0:03:27Now all you need to do is turn the wheel clockwise.
0:03:27 > 0:03:31- Does it start first time?- We'll see.
0:03:31 > 0:03:33MECHANISM CREAKS
0:03:33 > 0:03:34That's a good noise.
0:03:34 > 0:03:38Opening this valve releases a flow of water which is forced
0:03:38 > 0:03:42up the tower to cascade on the wheel, setting it in motion.
0:03:42 > 0:03:43There it goes.
0:03:43 > 0:03:47Oh, that's great.
0:03:47 > 0:03:49You might get wet now.
0:03:49 > 0:03:50Oh, yeah!
0:03:52 > 0:03:57When it started to whirl in 1854, it wowed the locals
0:03:57 > 0:04:01and its sheer scale is still staggering.
0:04:06 > 0:04:10So why is the world's largest working waterwheel here,
0:04:10 > 0:04:13spinning around at the centre of the Irish Sea?
0:04:13 > 0:04:16There are clues to its construction nearby,
0:04:16 > 0:04:23the abandoned lead mines and the port at the bottom of the valley.
0:04:23 > 0:04:28It might be hard to believe today, but 120 years ago this place hummed with activity
0:04:28 > 0:04:32as countless tonnes of zinc and lead ore were shipped out of the harbour here.
0:04:34 > 0:04:41Sea trade kept business buoyant at Laxey, but underground water was threatening to sink it.
0:04:46 > 0:04:52Mine expert Pete Geddis is going to show me the damp, dingy hell-hole below.
0:04:52 > 0:04:56OK, Neil, well this is the sea entrance, access tunnel to the well shaft.
0:04:56 > 0:04:58- This little door?- This little door.
0:05:00 > 0:05:03Oh, yes, I hate it already.
0:05:03 > 0:05:07It probably would have been wetter than this in the mining days
0:05:07 > 0:05:10because the discharged water would have run along here.
0:05:10 > 0:05:15Teams of miners toiled around the clock, chasing richer seams of ore.
0:05:15 > 0:05:19As they dug deeper the water problem got worse.
0:05:19 > 0:05:25- The miner's nightmare was the water ingressing into the shaft and then getting into the levels below.- Yeah.
0:05:25 > 0:05:28Where is the water coming from, if that's not a stupid question?
0:05:28 > 0:05:33This is just ground drainage water, it's running off the land, it's running down the bedrock,
0:05:33 > 0:05:39and then it finds its way onto the edge of the shaft, so it's a perpetual sea of rain down here.
0:05:39 > 0:05:41All mines flood.
0:05:41 > 0:05:44Often water was pumped out with steam engines,
0:05:44 > 0:05:48but with no coal on the Isle of Man, steam wasn't an option.
0:05:48 > 0:05:52So what about putting the water to work?
0:05:54 > 0:06:00That's what the Laxey wheel does, Victorian style.
0:06:00 > 0:06:03Streams piped down the valley drove the wheel.
0:06:03 > 0:06:09Its rotation-powered machine is capable of pumping out 250 gallons of water per minute.
0:06:13 > 0:06:17Bailing out the mine shafts wasn't the wheel's only job.
0:06:17 > 0:06:22They could have boxed the machinery in, hidden it away.
0:06:22 > 0:06:26Instead it's deliberately sited at the head of the valley,
0:06:26 > 0:06:30and emblazoned with the Three Legs of Man.
0:06:32 > 0:06:38A wheel of fortune inviting investors to buy shares in the mine.
0:06:39 > 0:06:45Now it's an emblem of Manx pride, a reminder that the island can match its powerful neighbours,
0:06:45 > 0:06:51countries my fellow Coasters will explore on their wheel around the Irish Sea.
0:06:53 > 0:06:59Our tour of the UK starts in North Wales, with Nick.
0:07:00 > 0:07:04At the Dee Estuary, an imaginary line in the mud
0:07:04 > 0:07:08marks the boundary between the English and the Welsh.
0:07:11 > 0:07:16You soon hit a high spot of Victorian resort building, Llandudno.
0:07:18 > 0:07:24The town's nestled in the shelter of the Great Orme's imposing cliffs, which point our way westward.
0:07:27 > 0:07:32Out towards my destination, the largest island in Wales, Anglesey.
0:07:35 > 0:07:40Many make their way to these cliffs for the glorious sights looking out
0:07:40 > 0:07:46to sea, but what's brought me here are the rocks beneath my feet.
0:07:46 > 0:07:51On the island's edge you see a slice right through the Earth's geological history,
0:07:51 > 0:07:56an extraordinary collection of rocks are exposed here.
0:07:56 > 0:07:59Just to show you how different Anglesey is,
0:07:59 > 0:08:02look at this geological map of southern Britain.
0:08:02 > 0:08:06Great swathes of it are all the same colour, meaning they're all the same rock type.
0:08:06 > 0:08:09Here's this great band of chalk running up her in green,
0:08:09 > 0:08:11there's another huge band of limestone running down here.
0:08:11 > 0:08:16But up here on Anglesey something different is happening,
0:08:16 > 0:08:23there's an intense mosaic of different colours, meaning there are many different rock types.
0:08:23 > 0:08:28Much of the mystery of Anglesey's formation is buried below the turf,
0:08:28 > 0:08:32but the coast reveals the island's subterranean secrets.
0:08:32 > 0:08:37The most stunning geological feature is the long channel of water
0:08:37 > 0:08:41that separates Anglesey from the mainland, the Menai Strait.
0:08:43 > 0:08:49To understand its significance I'm with David Schofield from the British Geological Survey.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54What part does this gulf play in Anglesey geology?
0:08:54 > 0:08:59Well, this is actually a long fault zone which we call the Menai Strait fault system.
0:08:59 > 0:09:01It separates very much
0:09:01 > 0:09:05older rocks to the north west than those to the south east.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08We're looking at a fundamental geological divide, which we know is still active
0:09:08 > 0:09:12because we're seeing some of Britain's biggest earthquakes just happening along this fault line.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15- Right where we're standing? - Right where we're standing, yes.
0:09:15 > 0:09:19So the shore we're on here is moving in relation to the shore over there.
0:09:19 > 0:09:21It certainly is, at a very slow rate every year,
0:09:21 > 0:09:25and every now and then it takes a bit of a jump and there's an earthquake.
0:09:26 > 0:09:32Around 300 small earthquakes shake Britain each year, often felt most
0:09:32 > 0:09:37strongly here, caused as the mainland grinds against Anglesey.
0:09:37 > 0:09:42It's part of the bigger movement of landmasses around the globe.
0:09:42 > 0:09:46The Earth's crust is made up of separate distinct plates
0:09:46 > 0:09:49which are constantly moving against each other.
0:09:53 > 0:10:00Where the edges of the plate move apart new crust is created, about as fast as your fingernails grow.
0:10:00 > 0:10:07Deep on the ocean floor, as the plates tear apart, lava can ooze out.
0:10:07 > 0:10:12This fiery business of planet building is exposed beautifully
0:10:12 > 0:10:16on a small strip of Anglesey at Llanddwyn Island.
0:10:16 > 0:10:21Local geologist Margaret Wood is my guide.
0:10:21 > 0:10:25These are the world-famous pillow larvas of Llanddwyn.
0:10:25 > 0:10:27All I can see is a grey rock.
0:10:27 > 0:10:30- What are we looking at?- Oh, it's beautifully bluey grey though,
0:10:30 > 0:10:32we're looking at pillows which are lava which came up on the ocean bed.
0:10:32 > 0:10:36They get into the water and immediately the outside will crack.
0:10:36 > 0:10:38These huge great big rounded lumps here?
0:10:38 > 0:10:40Each one of those is called a pillow.
0:10:40 > 0:10:45It is astonishing the way that raw nature can produce these symmetries and shapes.
0:10:45 > 0:10:48But having looked at those,
0:10:48 > 0:10:51something even more extraordinary, on the other end of the island,
0:10:51 > 0:10:55you've got material that has actually gone down back into the crust,
0:10:55 > 0:11:01and the fantastic thing is Llanddwyn Island is a complete mini-plate.
0:11:01 > 0:11:05But that's amazing, I always thought that these plates on the surface of
0:11:05 > 0:11:08the Earth, really were the size of continents or oceans.
0:11:08 > 0:11:13You're telling me that here on this beach in Anglesey there's an entire plate.
0:11:13 > 0:11:14Absolutely.
0:11:14 > 0:11:20This tiny island tells a big tale of how the Earth's built.
0:11:20 > 0:11:25The plates of crust pull apart at one edge, but collide at the other edge.
0:11:25 > 0:11:30As they crush into each other a jumble of different rocks is left behind,
0:11:30 > 0:11:34which remarkably, you can also see on Llanddwyn Island.
0:11:37 > 0:11:42Wow, just look at that! Those colours, Margaret!
0:11:42 > 0:11:45- It's fantastic, isn't it? - So many shapes too, it looks like a great big blancmange.
0:11:45 > 0:11:51It's wonderful, isn't it? Those are quartz-rich rocks, you've got limestone over there,
0:11:51 > 0:11:57and you've got schists, you've got conglomerate, and the colours are fantastic, aren't they?
0:11:57 > 0:12:01- So this is two plates of the Earth crust colliding?- Exactly.
0:12:01 > 0:12:06In the hundreds of millions of years Anglesey has been moving around the globe,
0:12:06 > 0:12:12collisions and splits in the Earth's crust have created an astonishing array of rocks.
0:12:12 > 0:12:17It's not just geologists who love this landscape,
0:12:17 > 0:12:20it's a paradise for climbers too.
0:12:20 > 0:12:27The sea's worked away at the weaker rocks to create some of Britain's toughest cliff climbs.
0:12:27 > 0:12:33Now I'm taking up the challenge to see these rocks as only climbers can.
0:12:33 > 0:12:40But before the ascent, I've got an exhilarating 100-foot descent in prospect.
0:12:40 > 0:12:46Fortunately, Libby Peter and Graham Desroy know their ropes.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49I guess, is it the nature of cliff climbing that you're always going
0:12:49 > 0:12:51to start by going down before you can come up?
0:12:51 > 0:12:53Yeah, it's a bit back-to-front. Normally you climb a mountain
0:12:53 > 0:12:55and then abseil down again,
0:12:55 > 0:13:03but sea cliffs it's the reverse, you commit yourself by abseiling in and then you have to climb out again.
0:13:03 > 0:13:06It does look amazing when you just disappear into the...
0:13:06 > 0:13:09Yeah, it's like you're abseiling straight into the sea.
0:13:09 > 0:13:11Yeah, it does. See you down there.
0:13:11 > 0:13:13OK, will do.
0:13:13 > 0:13:17Here goes. It's a very long way down.
0:13:23 > 0:13:27The rock is now very dry and storm battered.
0:13:27 > 0:13:30It's as if it's been scoured clear of vegetation.
0:13:34 > 0:13:36That's pretty exciting.
0:13:36 > 0:13:40- Is this where we start traversing round or...?- That's right.
0:13:42 > 0:13:47You know you're close to the sea when the spray starts whacking you in the face.
0:13:47 > 0:13:48Hello, Libby.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51What do you think?
0:13:51 > 0:13:53Well, it beats sitting on a beach!
0:13:53 > 0:13:57Just awesome, it's architecturally massive.
0:13:57 > 0:13:59Takes your breath away.
0:13:59 > 0:14:02The old heart's going.
0:14:04 > 0:14:08The pros rate this climb as "very severe".
0:14:12 > 0:14:13I can't tell you what I call it.
0:14:17 > 0:14:23I can see all the incredible folds of rock, it's been bent like a piece of paper.
0:14:23 > 0:14:27I mustn't get too distracted, I'm meant to be climbing.
0:14:27 > 0:14:31I've been following this band of quartz all the way up.
0:14:31 > 0:14:33Here it is,
0:14:33 > 0:14:36glistening white in the sunshine, it's very beautiful.
0:14:54 > 0:14:56Thank you so much.
0:14:58 > 0:15:00That was sensational.
0:15:04 > 0:15:09Thank you so much, it's such an honour to be taken up by the two of you.
0:15:09 > 0:15:13I was so impressed with the way you climbed it, it was brilliant, it really was.
0:15:18 > 0:15:21While Nick's hanging off the edge of the Irish Sea,
0:15:21 > 0:15:25I'm right at its heart on the Isle of Man.
0:15:30 > 0:15:36The Manx economy depends on its transport links, how well it's connected to the wider world.
0:15:39 > 0:15:41Tourists have been hopping over to the Isle of Man
0:15:41 > 0:15:45since steam ship services started nearly 200 years ago.
0:15:47 > 0:15:55Now, this tax haven also thrives thanks to this strip of tarmac with 40,000 flights a year.
0:15:56 > 0:16:00And they're making the runway longer.
0:16:01 > 0:16:07Now, the obvious thing to do would be to extend the tarmac in that direction inland.
0:16:07 > 0:16:11But there's a problem. There's a road and houses smack bang in the path,
0:16:11 > 0:16:17so instead what they've had to do is to extend in that direction, straight into the Irish Sea.
0:16:18 > 0:16:23Adding 240 metres to the runway
0:16:23 > 0:16:26means creating a big new patch of coast.
0:16:26 > 0:16:33To shield this virgin shore from the sea they've brought in rugged Norwegian granite.
0:16:33 > 0:16:38At 42 tonnes each, these blocks are the size of a van.
0:16:38 > 0:16:42Anything smaller would be washed away by the waves.
0:16:42 > 0:16:47Building the future can mean unearthing the past.
0:16:48 > 0:16:55Preparing the ground for the new runway they discovered part of a prehistoric village.
0:16:55 > 0:16:59The footings of at least six large roundhouses,
0:17:01 > 0:17:05and close by, a child, with two adults.
0:17:07 > 0:17:14People from the Bronze Age, some 3-4,000 years ago, but new finds go back even further.
0:17:15 > 0:17:19So where are we, what are we sitting in the middle of?
0:17:19 > 0:17:24Well, we're sat in the middle of a Mesolithic house, which is 7-8,000 years old, we believe.
0:17:24 > 0:17:27Do you think that this house is on its own?
0:17:27 > 0:17:30No, we've got every reason to believe that there are other houses.
0:17:30 > 0:17:34I think that maybe you could imagine a family or an extended family group
0:17:34 > 0:17:39living in each of the structures, that we're looking at a community of some size at that time.
0:17:40 > 0:17:45Ironically, in the chaos of a 21st century building site
0:17:45 > 0:17:49they've discovered the domestic bliss of our earliest settlers.
0:17:49 > 0:17:554,000 years before Stonehenge people were building houses here.
0:17:55 > 0:18:02This is one of Britain's first grand designs, topped off with a sealskin roof.
0:18:02 > 0:18:06Our hunter-gatherer ancestors were giving up their wandering ways
0:18:06 > 0:18:11to settle down at home, with the coast close by for food.
0:18:16 > 0:18:20This has always been a sought-after location.
0:18:20 > 0:18:25800 years ago, the Vikings controlled these waters.
0:18:29 > 0:18:36But in 1266, the Norse rulers moved on, selling the Isle of Man to the King of Scots,
0:18:36 > 0:18:44and we're heading to Scotland in search of the Vikings' legacy, starting on a long finger of land.
0:18:48 > 0:18:52This rocky shore pokes out into the Irish Sea.
0:18:52 > 0:18:57Venture south and eventually the finger comes to a point.
0:18:59 > 0:19:04The Mull of Galloway, Scotland's most southerly spot.
0:19:04 > 0:19:07To me as a kid this was Land's End.
0:19:12 > 0:19:18Coming to this coast as a wee boy gave me a passion for digging into the past.
0:19:22 > 0:19:26The Vikings didn't leave much building work behind.
0:19:26 > 0:19:28The castles are a later addition.
0:19:32 > 0:19:38But something of the Norsemen's culture does survive at Annan,
0:19:38 > 0:19:42an ancient form of fishing still hanging on.
0:19:42 > 0:19:48My name is George Wilasy, I'm a half net fisherman,
0:19:48 > 0:19:51and this is where
0:19:51 > 0:19:52we do this type of fishing.
0:19:54 > 0:20:00It's a Norse method and it was introduced here more than 1,000 years ago by the Vikings.
0:20:00 > 0:20:06When the half netter goes across the sand to the water's edge
0:20:06 > 0:20:14he's hunting for a place to catch a salmon or a sea trout or a grilse.
0:20:14 > 0:20:19The best place is where the tide is coming hard onto the shore,
0:20:19 > 0:20:23that's where the fish will be following the line of the tide.
0:20:25 > 0:20:29I started half netting in 1956.
0:20:31 > 0:20:34My father was a fisherman, my grandfather and his father,
0:20:34 > 0:20:38they were all fishermen, and that knowledge had been passed onto us.
0:20:42 > 0:20:44Sometimes a fish will go in,
0:20:44 > 0:20:50and actually it's his tail that's touching it, and he's backing into
0:20:50 > 0:20:53the net, so he's already pointing out of the net when you lift.
0:20:53 > 0:20:59And they're extremely quick, so you have to be quick to lift the frame clear of the water.
0:21:00 > 0:21:06The younger generation today, they're better educated, they're faster, they're stronger
0:21:06 > 0:21:11and yet they couldn't do what these old people used to do.
0:21:11 > 0:21:14I'm not one of these old people yet, mind!
0:21:18 > 0:21:25It's part of our heritage and heritage is a scarce thing, we should never lose heritage.
0:21:29 > 0:21:34You're never far from a fisherman on the Irish Sea.
0:21:34 > 0:21:37Boats of every shape and size ply these waters.
0:21:49 > 0:21:53Home port for many is on the Isle of Man.
0:22:01 > 0:22:05Whatever their craft, all sailors share a common bond
0:22:05 > 0:22:11and Douglas harbour shelters a tragic reminder of those in peril on the sea.
0:22:15 > 0:22:19Wrecks usually remain on the seabed,
0:22:19 > 0:22:22but cradled by the sea wall at Douglas is a boat that was raised
0:22:22 > 0:22:26because of the awful circumstances of her sinking.
0:22:28 > 0:22:32The wreck of that scallop dredger, the Solway Harvester, is a chilling sight.
0:22:32 > 0:22:39It's a terrible reminder of the price that fishermen sometimes pay for the bounty of the sea.
0:22:39 > 0:22:45Seven men drowned when that ship sank, the entire crew lost.
0:22:46 > 0:22:51On the night of January 11th 2000, as a storm was raging,
0:22:51 > 0:22:55the Solway Harvester sought shelter off the Isle of Man,
0:22:55 > 0:22:58but she vanished without trace.
0:22:59 > 0:23:05There was no mayday call, her disappearance a complete mystery.
0:23:06 > 0:23:12At her home port on Scotland's southern shore, they honour the seven men of the Solway Harvester.
0:23:12 > 0:23:18Robin Mills was one of the crew on the stricken scallop boat.
0:23:18 > 0:23:23Robin's wife, Karen, was with her family, waiting for news of her husband.
0:23:23 > 0:23:27Five o'clock in the morning press were arriving and you were beginning to think
0:23:27 > 0:23:30this is getting scarier, this is maybe real, because you still had a
0:23:30 > 0:23:34hope at five o'clock in the morning that they would be found. There was
0:23:34 > 0:23:39nothing confirmed at that stage, so I think at six o'clock somebody persuaded us to
0:23:39 > 0:23:43try and rest, probably because I was pregnant at the time and they were worried about me.
0:23:43 > 0:23:48And I can remember helicopters, you know that
0:23:48 > 0:23:51sort of vibration of the helicopter noise out..
0:23:51 > 0:23:54We could hear that outside and we realised what they were doing.
0:23:54 > 0:23:59We prayed and hoped that they might just be bobbing about in life rafts somewhere.
0:23:59 > 0:24:03RADIO: "And the weather I think will match the mood of the town as it awakes to the..."
0:24:03 > 0:24:05It was a very, grey, grey dismal day.
0:24:05 > 0:24:08But I remember, it was January so it doesn't get light early,
0:24:08 > 0:24:13and it would be quarter to eight, I think, in the morning we got a phone call to say that
0:24:13 > 0:24:18they'd found both life rafts, so there was no hope then.
0:24:18 > 0:24:22Karen's husband, Robin, had perished along with his six crewmates.
0:24:22 > 0:24:25He wasn't even a regular hand on the boat.
0:24:25 > 0:24:27- Robin wasn't a fisherman at all. - No, he wasn't.
0:24:27 > 0:24:30He was a painter and decorator but his brother was a fisherman.
0:24:30 > 0:24:33Craig phoned to say he was very short of crew.
0:24:33 > 0:24:39I think some of the crew members were sick or hadn't turned up and he was asked to help.
0:24:39 > 0:24:44I don't think he was particularly keen to go, but it was just one of these things.
0:24:44 > 0:24:46It's just bad luck and bad luck and bad luck.
0:24:46 > 0:24:47Mm-hm.
0:24:51 > 0:24:57When the Solway Harvester was found on the seabed, the Manx Government had the vessel raised
0:24:57 > 0:25:03to recover the bodies, and returned to the Isle of Man to investigate the mysterious sinking.
0:25:08 > 0:25:13After eight years of legal wrangles over the evidence, in 2008
0:25:13 > 0:25:17the coroner ruled the seven deaths had been accidental.
0:25:17 > 0:25:20The scallop boat had flooded in foul weather.
0:25:23 > 0:25:26In the calm after the storm
0:25:26 > 0:25:31she finally sits in a safe haven beyond the reach of the sea that claimed her.
0:25:42 > 0:25:49Out from the Isle of Man we continue our wheel around the Irish Sea, in England with Alice.
0:25:53 > 0:25:57The Solway Firth separates the Scots from the English.
0:25:57 > 0:26:03England begins in the mud with the promise of mountains to come.
0:26:03 > 0:26:06These beautiful beaches don't attract the crowds
0:26:06 > 0:26:11like Blackpool further south, but you can still get a cornet.
0:26:11 > 0:26:15You won't sell many ice creams at that speed!
0:26:15 > 0:26:22Only a short drive away, the peaks of the Lake District are tantalisingly close.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25Wastwater is the deepest lake in England,
0:26:25 > 0:26:31and just behind is Scafell Pike, the highest mountain in England,
0:26:31 > 0:26:36but the big story of this shore is sand.
0:26:36 > 0:26:41Morecambe Bay, the largest expanse of inter-tidal mudflats in Britain,
0:26:41 > 0:26:43fun for some,
0:26:44 > 0:26:47an obstacle to others.
0:26:47 > 0:26:50Morecambe Bay covers 120 square miles.
0:26:50 > 0:26:56A long detour unless you brave the perilous path over the sand.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02Before the railway arrived, horse-drawn carriages sometimes
0:27:02 > 0:27:07got stuck, with tragic results, as they tried to race across the mud.
0:27:12 > 0:27:16These sandbanks feel so solid I can see why people might think about
0:27:16 > 0:27:20taking a short cut across them, but they're also incredibly treacherous.
0:27:20 > 0:27:25SIREN WAILS The siren warns the unwary that the tide's turning.
0:27:25 > 0:27:30It rushes in at about nine miles an hour, twice the speed
0:27:30 > 0:27:35of a brisk walk, flooding the bay in up to 30 foot of water.
0:27:35 > 0:27:40And a hidden danger lurks to hold you fast as the sea surges in -
0:27:40 > 0:27:43quicksand.
0:27:45 > 0:27:51What turns soft sand, so nice between the toes, into a sticky sludge
0:27:51 > 0:27:56that can cement you to the spot, unable to escape its grip?
0:27:56 > 0:28:01Shortly I'll shun the safety of the path and get stuck in the mud myself.
0:28:01 > 0:28:09To see exactly what I'll be getting myself into we're making some DIY quicksand.
0:28:09 > 0:28:15Sedimentologist Jeff Peakall and his team from Leeds University are building up layers of sand
0:28:15 > 0:28:20which can be saturated with water, flowing in from underneath.
0:28:20 > 0:28:26Now you've got a tube of experimental quicksand here, but what is it when it occurs naturally?
0:28:26 > 0:28:29Quicksand is really where you change from a solid state
0:28:29 > 0:28:33into a liquid state, really rapidly, almost instantaneously.
0:28:33 > 0:28:36And can it be any type of sand with water flowing through it?
0:28:36 > 0:28:40No, it needs one with lots of holes in so it needs to be nice
0:28:40 > 0:28:44round grains, ideally all grains of the same size.
0:28:44 > 0:28:47What we're going to do here is run a quick experiment
0:28:47 > 0:28:51and I'm going to put a model digger truck in here.
0:28:51 > 0:28:53So the sand seems to be supporting the weight of that very well at the moment.
0:28:53 > 0:28:57We're going to add a little bit of water, from underneath.
0:28:57 > 0:29:00We've got some water flowing in through here, but it remains solid
0:29:00 > 0:29:04for a period of time, and then suddenly it turns into a liquid, and our digger
0:29:04 > 0:29:10is disappearing into the sand, just as the sand has gone from a solid into a liquid.
0:29:10 > 0:29:15Yes, it's not just going underwater, it's actually sinking into the sand.
0:29:15 > 0:29:19If you as you walk on it, you just add that extra shaking
0:29:19 > 0:29:22vibration, that's just enough to break the grains apart.
0:29:22 > 0:29:27So one of the factors producing the sinking effect in quicksand is actually the movement of the person.
0:29:27 > 0:29:32Yes, and then if you begin to sink in and you start to wriggle, then you increase the effect
0:29:32 > 0:29:36and you'll actually sink further. So one of the difficult things for the person falling
0:29:36 > 0:29:41into quicksand must be to try and remain relatively still.
0:29:41 > 0:29:44This will be me in a minute, sinking in.
0:29:44 > 0:29:50The secret for survival is to spread your weight over the surface, so instead of tyres
0:29:50 > 0:29:54the truck that's taking me out is on tracks.
0:29:54 > 0:29:59It's one of the few vehicles you could actually take out onto the sands with confidence and knowing
0:29:59 > 0:30:05that you would get back safely, and that's all because of its huge wide tracks underneath.
0:30:05 > 0:30:07We've actually gone out of this vehicle before and
0:30:07 > 0:30:11stepped onto the sand and sunk and the vehicle's been sat on the top.
0:30:11 > 0:30:15Volunteer Garry Parsons set up Bay Search & Rescue
0:30:15 > 0:30:19after witnessing the galloping tide almost kill a man stuck in the mud.
0:30:19 > 0:30:23The sand was so hard you couldn't drive your fingers into it down by the side of his legs.
0:30:23 > 0:30:27We thought we were going to watch this guy drown right in front of us.
0:30:27 > 0:30:31Now these versatile vehicles provide rapid response,
0:30:31 > 0:30:35taking the most direct route to strugglers on the sand.
0:30:35 > 0:30:36Down we go.
0:30:36 > 0:30:39That is incredibly steep.
0:30:48 > 0:30:51Bay Search & Rescue and the on-site coastguard are preparing
0:30:51 > 0:30:56for a spot of quicksand training, and I'm going to be the guinea pig.
0:30:59 > 0:31:02Starting to have second thoughts about this.
0:31:02 > 0:31:05Lovely bit of quicksand we stumbled across this morning for you.
0:31:05 > 0:31:07- Right.- Off you go, jump in.
0:31:07 > 0:31:09OK.
0:31:09 > 0:31:13If I'm going to get myself in here, you better get me out before the tide comes in.
0:31:13 > 0:31:14No worries.
0:31:16 > 0:31:20That feels quite firm... at the moment.
0:31:20 > 0:31:24I'm just moving my ankles, I reckon, and there's some water there.
0:31:24 > 0:31:26The mud is just there, can I get my foot out?
0:31:33 > 0:31:39What's really horrible and produces this rising sense of panic,
0:31:39 > 0:31:43you're trying to move and you're trying to work yourself free, and every time you're moving your foot
0:31:43 > 0:31:49and agitating the silt around you, you can just feel yourself sinking in further.
0:31:49 > 0:31:53It really is solid, I reckon I can lean right back
0:31:53 > 0:31:56and just stay in the silt.
0:31:57 > 0:32:03It's got me good and proper, that really is quite scary.
0:32:03 > 0:32:05It's very scary,
0:32:05 > 0:32:08you can just imagine being here and the tide coming in,
0:32:08 > 0:32:12nobody around for miles, I just can't move.
0:32:16 > 0:32:23'The sand roots you to the spot, and then the sea rises over your head.
0:32:27 > 0:32:30'That's why these guys race against the tide.'
0:32:30 > 0:32:34OK, Alice, we'll soon have you out.
0:32:34 > 0:32:38The only way to release me is to liquefy the sand.
0:32:38 > 0:32:42First they loosen it up and then turn it into a liquid by adding more water.
0:32:42 > 0:32:46- I'm a bit worried about sinking further in. - You won't go any further.
0:32:53 > 0:32:56Is that coming out? It's coming.
0:32:58 > 0:33:00That's one.
0:33:02 > 0:33:03- OK?- Yeah.
0:33:11 > 0:33:14- Thank you very much.- You're welcome.
0:33:17 > 0:33:21It's great to be free.
0:33:21 > 0:33:25Despite the dangers, if you stick within safe limits,
0:33:25 > 0:33:29this is a paradise for playing around.
0:33:32 > 0:33:36We love the seaside so much we'll pay for its pleasures.
0:33:40 > 0:33:46Sand and scares can be a winning combination.
0:33:54 > 0:33:59Further south at Sefton Sands, they have their own thrill rides.
0:34:02 > 0:34:08Then big, long beaches give way to a big, bold city...
0:34:09 > 0:34:12Liverpool.
0:34:14 > 0:34:20The Mersey might be muddy, but where there's muck, there's brass, or maybe iron.
0:34:20 > 0:34:25An iron ship, as Mark's about to find out.
0:34:25 > 0:34:31In 1888, the world's largest ship was making her way up the Mersey,
0:34:31 > 0:34:34the SS Great Eastern.
0:34:34 > 0:34:39It was the final engineering triumph of Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
0:34:41 > 0:34:46But this wasn't her maiden voyage, it was her last.
0:34:48 > 0:34:54The Great Eastern had been launched 30 years earlier in 1858.
0:34:56 > 0:34:59Built for nonstop travel to Australia,
0:34:59 > 0:35:03she was nearly twice the length of any other ship,
0:35:03 > 0:35:07the largest moveable thing men had ever made.
0:35:09 > 0:35:12And Brunel was the man that designed her.
0:35:14 > 0:35:18This is the most famous of all the images of Brunel.
0:35:18 > 0:35:25Look, he has his stovepipe hat, his cigar, behind him the drag chains of the Great Eastern.
0:35:25 > 0:35:31But he's actually a real engineer because, look, he's got mud on his trousers.
0:35:31 > 0:35:37His plan for the Great Eastern specified a revolutionary double skin iron hull,
0:35:37 > 0:35:43but her massive size also made her massively over-budget.
0:35:43 > 0:35:49Building his masterpiece took a terrible toll on Brunel.
0:35:49 > 0:35:55A week after the Great Eastern's trial voyage, he died, following a stroke.
0:35:56 > 0:35:59His great liner fared little better.
0:35:59 > 0:36:05Smaller, faster ships captured the passenger trade she was built for.
0:36:05 > 0:36:09Her last journey was down the Mersey
0:36:09 > 0:36:15to become a floating billboard advertising a local department store.
0:36:15 > 0:36:19If Brunel had seen it thus he would have cried.
0:36:21 > 0:36:24Finally, the ship that had broken Brunel's heart
0:36:24 > 0:36:29was herself to be broken up for scrap.
0:36:29 > 0:36:34Too big for the breaker's yard she was beached on the banks of the Mersey.
0:36:37 > 0:36:42Marine archaeologist Mike Stammers is showing me her last resting place.
0:36:42 > 0:36:45So this is a contemporary photograph?
0:36:45 > 0:36:48Yes, of the Great Eastern on New Ferry Beach.
0:36:48 > 0:36:49She's looking at an angle, isn't she?
0:36:49 > 0:36:54- Yes, and we're standing right near the bow.- What, just there?
0:36:54 > 0:36:59Yeah, two tiny little people looking up at this towering bow.
0:36:59 > 0:37:04- It would have been right up there. - Yeah, right up into the sky blocking out the skyline behind.
0:37:04 > 0:37:09This mountain of wrought iron was a valuable prize for the scrap metal men,
0:37:09 > 0:37:14but the old girl wasn't going to go down without a struggle.
0:37:14 > 0:37:18What they hadn't bargained for was the workmanship of Brunel.
0:37:18 > 0:37:22She was so well built it took them nearly two years to break it up.
0:37:22 > 0:37:24So rather than making a big profit they made a loss.
0:37:24 > 0:37:27They made a thumping great loss.
0:37:27 > 0:37:32And, of course, the actual process of breaking her up must have been terribly hard work.
0:37:32 > 0:37:35Oh, yes, because they had no oxyacetylene in those days,
0:37:35 > 0:37:38it was a case of sledgehammers and coal chisels,
0:37:38 > 0:37:43and a great big iron wrecking ball that they dropped onto the plates, and hoped to smash them apart.
0:37:43 > 0:37:47200 men, sometimes working day and night,
0:37:47 > 0:37:52needed two years to smash the ship to bits.
0:37:54 > 0:38:00Surely some scrap must have sunk down into the silt.
0:38:00 > 0:38:07Mike is off to try and find pieces of Brunel's liner buried in the mud,
0:38:07 > 0:38:10but I'm going down river
0:38:10 > 0:38:13to where they're still breaking up ships.
0:38:14 > 0:38:20I want to see how things have moved on in the 120 years
0:38:20 > 0:38:24since the Great Eastern was battered to death near here.
0:38:27 > 0:38:35Former Falklands warship HMS Intrepid arrived six months ago to be broken up.
0:38:35 > 0:38:42- Where's the ship?- Well, HMS Intrepid came in here in January, and this is all you've got left.
0:38:42 > 0:38:45It looks like chaos, but presumably it's all terribly organised.
0:38:45 > 0:38:50Everybody knows what they're doing, we've most probably got about 12 guys down here.
0:38:50 > 0:38:56We've got six machines working, we're processing copper, brass, cable, aluminium.
0:38:56 > 0:38:59Another eight weeks, this will be completely cleared,
0:38:59 > 0:39:05the lock gates will be opened, water will come in here, and hopefully two more vessels.
0:39:05 > 0:39:11Just like for the Victorian ship breakers, time is still money,
0:39:11 > 0:39:14speed is the difference between profit and loss.
0:39:14 > 0:39:22But Brunel couldn't have imagined how his machine age would evolve to eat itself.
0:39:24 > 0:39:29You can't crack up a ship without leaving some traces behind.
0:39:34 > 0:39:39Back out in the mud, Mike thinks he's found a bit of Brunel's Great Eastern.
0:39:39 > 0:39:46- This is what I spotted before, I think you'll be rather impressed with this.- Isn't that extraordinary?
0:39:46 > 0:39:48It's a great big chunk of iron plate.
0:39:48 > 0:39:50- Hang on, there's a trowel for you. - Thank you.
0:39:50 > 0:39:53- There, look, look.- Solid as anything.
0:39:53 > 0:39:58- How do you actually know this is the Great Eastern? - Well, the Great Eastern was
0:39:58 > 0:40:06built of very thick plate, either three quarters of an inch or an inch thick, so if we get the callipers.
0:40:06 > 0:40:09That looks pretty good.
0:40:09 > 0:40:11- Look at that.- That's nearly an inch.
0:40:11 > 0:40:14Nearly an inch.
0:40:14 > 0:40:17- 15/16. - So that's a good indicator.
0:40:17 > 0:40:21It looks like it's running through to there, so if I try the other end,
0:40:21 > 0:40:27looks like bits of rivet here as well. Look at those.
0:40:29 > 0:40:32Look, I can just lift it out.
0:40:32 > 0:40:34I've got my own row of rivets here as well.
0:40:34 > 0:40:36Yeah, Great Eastern revealed.
0:40:45 > 0:40:49There we are. Good Lord, bright metal.
0:40:51 > 0:40:57Isn't that wonderful?! There it is, as fresh as it comes.
0:40:57 > 0:41:02Some three million rivets held the Great Eastern together.
0:41:02 > 0:41:09It seems a precious few are still holding fast 150 years later.
0:41:09 > 0:41:14The struggle of building this iron leviathan broke Brunel,
0:41:14 > 0:41:18but she's left him a fitting memorial,
0:41:18 > 0:41:23ironwork of his masterpiece scattered in the mud of the Mersey.
0:41:29 > 0:41:36In 1850, the metal merchants of the Mersey cast iron parts for a mighty machine.
0:41:39 > 0:41:45And at the centre of the Irish Sea, out on the Isle of Man, it's still spinning.
0:41:47 > 0:41:49We've come full circle,
0:41:49 > 0:41:51back to the Laxey Wheel,
0:41:51 > 0:41:55designed to pump floodwater from nearby mineshafts
0:41:55 > 0:41:59and attract investors to pump money into the mining business.
0:42:02 > 0:42:10And one of the investors in this mine is owed a huge debt of thanks by everyone who comes to the coast.
0:42:12 > 0:42:18Sir William Hillary was appalled by the loss of life on the seas around the Isle of Man,
0:42:18 > 0:42:20so he hatched a plan.
0:42:21 > 0:42:26And what he came up with was this, the tower of refuge,
0:42:26 > 0:42:29a sanctuary built for shipwrecked sailors in 1832.
0:42:29 > 0:42:33Hillary ordered that it was to be built of the rudest and strongest
0:42:33 > 0:42:38materials so that it could withstand the raging seas that often pound this reef.
0:42:38 > 0:42:39Looks pretty sturdy to me.
0:42:39 > 0:42:45Sailors wrecked on this reef could sit out a storm safe behind stone walls
0:42:45 > 0:42:48but William Hillary's most towering achievement
0:42:48 > 0:42:52is something even more enduring than this.
0:42:52 > 0:42:57In 1823, he launched an appeal for a formation of a national institution
0:42:57 > 0:43:00for the preservation of lives and property from shipwreck.
0:43:00 > 0:43:04It took over a year, but eventually that national institution was
0:43:04 > 0:43:10formed, and in 1854 it became the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.
0:43:19 > 0:43:23Nearly two centuries later, the founder gives his name to
0:43:23 > 0:43:27the boat that patrols Douglas Bay, where it all began.
0:43:27 > 0:43:31Now all the seas around the British Isles are safer
0:43:31 > 0:43:35thanks to over 300 RNLI Lifeboats and their volunteer crews.
0:43:38 > 0:43:46Our voyage around home shores and beyond steams on next time towards the English Riviera.
0:44:01 > 0:44:04Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:44:04 > 0:44:07E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk