0:00:18 > 0:00:19All aboard!
0:00:21 > 0:00:24Coast is embarking on a new quest...
0:00:24 > 0:00:28connecting the capital to Cornwall,
0:00:28 > 0:00:32linking Scottish Isles to Welsh Valleys
0:00:32 > 0:00:35and taking us far beyond home waters
0:00:35 > 0:00:39to the Baltic Sea and to the shores of Sweden.
0:00:41 > 0:00:45A new journey with familiar faces.
0:00:45 > 0:00:53For this, our first adventure, we're bound for Belgium, but setting out from London's commercial heart.
0:00:53 > 0:00:58Alice is in search of the British seaside landlady.
0:00:58 > 0:01:00So did you all have loads of rules?
0:01:00 > 0:01:04- Only if people were late. - Late for what?- Meals.
0:01:05 > 0:01:11In beautiful Bruges, a seaport stranded by time and tide,
0:01:11 > 0:01:14Mark is hunting down the bricks that built Britain.
0:01:14 > 0:01:18- Perfect!- Miranda is riding her luck to go fishing.
0:01:20 > 0:01:25A surprise attack by Hitler is keeping Neil occupied in the channel.
0:01:25 > 0:01:29We might as well been out there in a rowing boat with peashooters for all the use we were.
0:01:29 > 0:01:35And at Albert Einstein's coastal hideaway, I'm getting fired up by atom power.
0:01:37 > 0:01:40This is Coast and Beyond.
0:01:57 > 0:02:01We're heading for one of Europe's most prosperous ports,
0:02:01 > 0:02:08crossing the Channel to Antwerp. But our journey starts in our own trading capital - London.
0:02:15 > 0:02:22Tidal rivers bring the coast into the heart of many of our big cities
0:02:22 > 0:02:25and with the water comes wealth.
0:02:25 > 0:02:31For as long as we've been a trading nation, the sea's been our commercial highway
0:02:31 > 0:02:37and the winding Thames links London directly with that global thoroughfare.
0:02:47 > 0:02:50It was sea trade that made the Capital rich.
0:02:50 > 0:02:56The Thames shaped the city and its influence still runs deep.
0:02:56 > 0:03:03Now, in the Docklands of London, ships have been replaced by skyscrapers.
0:03:03 > 0:03:10It's a story of spectacular rise and fall that may yet have a twist in its tale.
0:03:11 > 0:03:16The world once unloaded its goods in London.
0:03:16 > 0:03:20Now, could that trade be re-invented by a new generation?
0:03:20 > 0:03:29The 19th century businessmen who carved out these huge enclosures were bold entrepreneurs.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32Sometimes they built before they had customers.
0:03:32 > 0:03:37London's docks helped make Britain a superpower.
0:03:38 > 0:03:42They were the engine room of an Empire.
0:03:44 > 0:03:46Sugar and hardwood from the Caribbean.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49Tea from China.
0:03:49 > 0:03:53Even, in the days before refrigeration, ice from Norway.
0:03:53 > 0:03:56It all landed here.
0:03:56 > 0:04:02"Being in the docks," said one worker in the 1960s, "was like geography come to life."
0:04:08 > 0:04:11And London's geography also changed.
0:04:11 > 0:04:15Around the docks grew the East End.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22But as fast as the docks grew...
0:04:23 > 0:04:27..the ships would outgrow them.
0:04:27 > 0:04:31Once there were ocean liners berthed at the end of the road.
0:04:31 > 0:04:33Now there's London City Airport.
0:04:37 > 0:04:43It was container ships, those great seagoing warehouses that changed everything.
0:04:45 > 0:04:48In the '60s, when containers first appeared on the commercial seaways,
0:04:48 > 0:04:51many of London's docks simply couldn't cope.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56Eventually the cargo ships stopped coming.
0:04:59 > 0:05:06But there's a new bid to bring the big ships back to the Capital, 20 miles downstream.
0:05:06 > 0:05:09MUSIC: "London Calling" by The Clash
0:05:17 > 0:05:20# London calling Through the far away towns... #
0:05:20 > 0:05:27This is Mariake, a dredger laying the foundations for a brand new port.
0:05:27 > 0:05:31The first of its kind for 20 years.
0:05:31 > 0:05:38This ship is sucking up 12,000 cubic metres of sand and gravel from the estuary every day.
0:05:43 > 0:05:49The Mariake is a giant vacuum cleaner, clearing a channel in the bed of the Thames,
0:05:49 > 0:05:54a passage deep enough to accommodate supersized container ships.
0:05:58 > 0:06:05This dredged material is being pumped onto an ever-growing artificial island.
0:06:05 > 0:06:11Eventually it's going to be a wharf some two miles long for loading and unloading ships.
0:06:13 > 0:06:19A colossal project, at least a decade in the making - London Gateway.
0:06:23 > 0:06:28Its builders are taking their cue from those early 19th century entrepreneurs.
0:06:28 > 0:06:33Confident that if they build the dock, the ships will eventually come.
0:06:34 > 0:06:40London's aiming to catch up with huge European ports like Antwerp, where I'm heading on my journey.
0:06:44 > 0:06:48It'll reconnect the capital with the mighty estuary
0:06:48 > 0:06:52that brought wealth and power into the heart of Britain.
0:07:04 > 0:07:09Crossing The Thames Estuary, we find the Kent Coast.
0:07:11 > 0:07:15This is home to some of Britain's first seaside resorts
0:07:15 > 0:07:21and the jewel in its crown - the golden sands of Margate.
0:07:27 > 0:07:32Most see the beach as a place to relax, but others see a business opportunity.
0:07:32 > 0:07:36Alice is seeking out the story of some seaside entrepreneurs
0:07:36 > 0:07:40who sparked a sexual revolution around British shores.
0:07:40 > 0:07:45I'm in search of the mysterious, almost mythical seaside landlady.
0:07:45 > 0:07:49In the late 19th century, the seaside landlady was a pioneer,
0:07:49 > 0:07:55breaking down the social barriers that prevented women from owning businesses,
0:07:55 > 0:07:58decades before the women's rights movement.
0:08:01 > 0:08:06In 1938, the Holiday With Pay Act changed workers' lives.
0:08:06 > 0:08:12By the 1950s, 17 million people a year came to the coast.
0:08:15 > 0:08:21From Bridlington to Brighton, working class families were able to afford their week on the beach,
0:08:21 > 0:08:27thanks largely to the seaside boarding houses and their tireless landladies.
0:08:27 > 0:08:30I've been running this boarding house now for 13 years.
0:08:30 > 0:08:33I do all the cooking, washing and ironing.
0:08:33 > 0:08:35As for the food, I get sick of the sight of the food.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38But there's no getting away from it,
0:08:38 > 0:08:42landladies had a bit of an image problem.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50They were characterised as rule-making,
0:08:50 > 0:08:54clock-watching tyrants, the butt of seaside humour.
0:08:58 > 0:09:02So do they deserve this dragon image?
0:09:02 > 0:09:04Time to meet the ladies.
0:09:13 > 0:09:18Between them, these ladies have more than 100 years' experience of running guest houses.
0:09:18 > 0:09:21- Hello.- Lovely to meet you, you must be Patsy, hello.
0:09:21 > 0:09:28So, first things first, were they the kind of landladies that laid down the law to their guests?
0:09:28 > 0:09:30Only if people were late.
0:09:30 > 0:09:32- Late for what?- Meals.
0:09:32 > 0:09:37Because we had it on a set time, it was dead-on one o'clock, five o'clock.
0:09:37 > 0:09:41'Tough love maybe, but their guests couldn't get enough of it.'
0:09:41 > 0:09:44That's Maude and Hubert, they came year after year.
0:09:44 > 0:09:45- Maude and Hubert.- Yes.
0:09:45 > 0:09:48Maude and Hubert said to my mum, "We love coming here,
0:09:48 > 0:09:53"we're very fond of Brenda and Steve, they look after us so well"
0:09:53 > 0:09:57My mother said, "Well, I wouldn't go to the same place every year".
0:09:57 > 0:09:59We went everywhere with some of the people,
0:09:59 > 0:10:02they just treated us like holidaymakers.
0:10:02 > 0:10:06They took us on day trips to France, any entertainment.
0:10:06 > 0:10:08We were one of THEIR family, you know.
0:10:08 > 0:10:11I've got some photographs here, what I really like about them
0:10:11 > 0:10:15is that the guests are all lined up on the steps of the guest houses.
0:10:15 > 0:10:18So was there great camaraderie amongst the guests?
0:10:18 > 0:10:23- Oh, yes, of course there was. - They'd be very shy Saturday night, but by Sunday afternoon, they...
0:10:23 > 0:10:25you couldn't get in the dining room for the noise.
0:10:25 > 0:10:29It wasn't just Mum and Dad in one room, it was Mum, Dad,
0:10:29 > 0:10:31two children or three children in one room,
0:10:31 > 0:10:34because it was desperate after the war.
0:10:34 > 0:10:38People would say, "Can't you just put a bed up in the bathroom?"
0:10:38 > 0:10:40- Really?- Which we have done.
0:10:40 > 0:10:44We did have a dead body once, and it was a bit like Fawlty Towers.
0:10:44 > 0:10:46Get it out of the way, quick, you know.
0:10:46 > 0:10:47Actually it was a relation,
0:10:47 > 0:10:51a distant relation had come to stay, and we'd given him bacon and eggs
0:10:51 > 0:10:57in our quarters, and he suddenly fell forward into my bacon and eggs.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00No! Were they that bad, your bacon and eggs?
0:11:00 > 0:11:02He was dead. Yeah, there you are!
0:11:02 > 0:11:05- Look at the size of our kitchen. - Tiny!
0:11:05 > 0:11:08But we used to cater for 25 meals in that.
0:11:08 > 0:11:11Really? Do you miss it, Hazel?
0:11:11 > 0:11:15No, the day we sold up, I didn't miss a thing.
0:11:15 > 0:11:17I didn't realise until I took an office job
0:11:17 > 0:11:20and I'd finished that I'd worked so hard.
0:11:30 > 0:11:33The seaside dreams of millions were built on that hard work.
0:11:36 > 0:11:41But the delights of the B&B couldn't compete with cheap breaks abroad,
0:11:41 > 0:11:47and increased regulations brought the golden era of the seaside landladies to a close.
0:11:47 > 0:11:51Yet for so many, our holiday memories are inseparable
0:11:51 > 0:11:54from the redoubtable women who made them possible.
0:11:54 > 0:11:58They gave us all a home from home by the sea.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11Even on this busy coast there are open spaces,
0:12:11 > 0:12:15where the rich and famous have come to get away from it all.
0:12:22 > 0:12:27In the 1950s, novelist Ian Fleming bought one of these houses
0:12:27 > 0:12:30on St Margaret's Bay from the previous owner...
0:12:30 > 0:12:31Noel Coward.
0:12:33 > 0:12:39Whatever secret schemes Fleming may have dreamt up, looking out over the Channel,
0:12:39 > 0:12:43Mr Bond's fictional cliffhangers couldn't match the reality
0:12:43 > 0:12:48of one daring mission played out just around the corner,
0:12:48 > 0:12:50off the coast of Dover.
0:12:56 > 0:13:00Today, taking the ferry to France is as easy as catching the bus,
0:13:00 > 0:13:04but, 70 years ago, a Channel crossing was a deadly affair.
0:13:04 > 0:13:08As Britain looked out on Europe under German occupation,
0:13:08 > 0:13:11the Channel at least seemed secure.
0:13:11 > 0:13:15But at the height of the war, an entire German fleet sailed
0:13:15 > 0:13:19past the guns of Dover and survived to tell the tale.
0:13:19 > 0:13:24Neil is on the trail of the Nazis' Channel Dash.
0:13:26 > 0:13:30It's 12th February 1942. Out there in the Channel,
0:13:30 > 0:13:33three of the German navy's most fearsome battleships
0:13:33 > 0:13:34are steaming at full speed
0:13:34 > 0:13:37just a few miles off the south coast of England.
0:13:39 > 0:13:44The Scharnhorst, the Gneisenau, and the Prinz Eugen.
0:13:44 > 0:13:47They'd been wreaking havoc in the North Atlantic,
0:13:47 > 0:13:51responsible for destroying 22 Allied ships.
0:13:51 > 0:13:57Not surprisingly, British Naval Intelligence had been keeping a close eye on them.
0:13:59 > 0:14:01They thought the ships were undergoing repairs,
0:14:01 > 0:14:04berthed at the French port of Brest,
0:14:04 > 0:14:07almost 500 miles away from Dover.
0:14:07 > 0:14:08But they weren't.
0:14:10 > 0:14:12In a breathtakingly audacious move,
0:14:12 > 0:14:15the Germans had somehow managed to sail up the Channel,
0:14:15 > 0:14:19in broad daylight, right under the nose of Britain's defences.
0:14:23 > 0:14:26In the aftermath of the ensuing battle, The Times reported,
0:14:26 > 0:14:30"Nothing more mortifying to the pride of British sea power
0:14:30 > 0:14:33"has happened in home waters since the 17th century".
0:14:33 > 0:14:37So, how WERE the British so badly caught out?
0:14:37 > 0:14:39Historian Nick Hewitt and I
0:14:39 > 0:14:42are plotting the events that led up to this remarkable episode.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49So, Nick, where were these German ships coming from?
0:14:49 > 0:14:51They're coming from here in Brest.
0:14:51 > 0:14:54The German navy would like to refit them and keep them in Brest
0:14:54 > 0:14:57where they can threaten Allied trade out in the Atlantic.
0:14:57 > 0:15:00Adolf Hitler wants them brought home to Germany and sent to Norway.
0:15:00 > 0:15:03- What Adolf wants, Adolf gets? - Adolf gets, absolutely.
0:15:03 > 0:15:09By late 1941, Hitler feared an Allied invasion of Norway.
0:15:09 > 0:15:13He believed his warships at Brest were essential to prevent this attack.
0:15:13 > 0:15:18With German troops engaged across Europe, Russia and North Africa,
0:15:18 > 0:15:21he needed his battle ships back, right away.
0:15:22 > 0:15:24The decision is taken to get them home
0:15:24 > 0:15:27by the shortest, dirtiest route possible,
0:15:27 > 0:15:31straight through the English Channel and the Straits of Dover.
0:15:31 > 0:15:35But it's only three battleships, you'd think they could slip through.
0:15:35 > 0:15:38You need to remember, at this point, it's not just three battleships.
0:15:41 > 0:15:42What the Germans had been doing
0:15:42 > 0:15:45is they'd been bringing through escorting ships,
0:15:45 > 0:15:48so by the time that heavy ships sail from Brest,
0:15:48 > 0:15:50there are 63 warships around the fleet.
0:15:52 > 0:15:55And it's not just ships, at no point is there anything less
0:15:55 > 0:15:59than 16 aircraft over the top of the ships from dawn to dusk every day.
0:15:59 > 0:16:02So this is a huge force moving through the Channel.
0:16:05 > 0:16:07Hitler's aim was bold.
0:16:07 > 0:16:11Drive his battle fleet through the Channel at full speed,
0:16:11 > 0:16:14right under Britain's big guns.
0:16:17 > 0:16:19The Nazi propaganda machine,
0:16:19 > 0:16:22confident of success, put cameras on the ships.
0:16:22 > 0:16:25This is the film they shot.
0:16:25 > 0:16:28Surprise was vital. Preparations were so secret,
0:16:28 > 0:16:32even the German crews didn't know the plan.
0:16:33 > 0:16:36We're going to find out what happened next,
0:16:36 > 0:16:38that stormy day in February 1942.
0:16:41 > 0:16:43Our historian Nick Hewitt has tracked down
0:16:43 > 0:16:45a remarkable eyewitness.
0:16:48 > 0:16:52It's the first time August Brunmyer has visited British soil,
0:16:52 > 0:16:54but he has seen Dover Castle once before,
0:16:54 > 0:16:56from the deck of the Prinz Eugen.
0:16:58 > 0:17:02How did you feel when you were told you were going through the English Channel?
0:17:02 > 0:17:04TRANSLATED FROM GERMAN:
0:17:17 > 0:17:20If the mission was a surprise to the German crews,
0:17:20 > 0:17:23it sent the British defenders into a panic.
0:17:24 > 0:17:27They'd been caught on the hop.
0:17:27 > 0:17:29The German ships had left port undetected.
0:17:29 > 0:17:32The British Admiralty were convinced the Germans
0:17:32 > 0:17:35wouldn't venture into the Channel in daylight.
0:17:37 > 0:17:42Shrouded by fog, the fleet was just an hour from Dover before it was spotted.
0:17:44 > 0:17:47Britain's defences were already stretched to breaking point.
0:17:47 > 0:17:50Now, with the Germans on their doorstep,
0:17:50 > 0:17:52they scrambled all they had.
0:17:52 > 0:17:57A handful of small ships and six extraordinary biplanes.
0:18:01 > 0:18:03This is a Swordfish.
0:18:03 > 0:18:06Now, it might look like a throw-back to the First World War,
0:18:06 > 0:18:10but this old-fashioned biplane packed a deadly punch.
0:18:10 > 0:18:14A torpedo dropped from one of these could hurt even the biggest battleship.
0:18:14 > 0:18:17In fact, a Swordfish attack had crippled The Bismarck
0:18:17 > 0:18:19earlier in the war.
0:18:23 > 0:18:25The pride of the German fleet had been left
0:18:25 > 0:18:28dead in the water by the flimsy biplanes.
0:18:31 > 0:18:35Lieutenant Commander Eugene Esmonde was the leader of that sortie against the Bismarck.
0:18:35 > 0:18:38He'd been decorated for his bravery.
0:18:38 > 0:18:42Now Esmonde was facing the largest German flotilla of the war.
0:18:42 > 0:18:46The plan was to protect his Swordfish attack
0:18:46 > 0:18:48with five Spitfire squadrons.
0:18:50 > 0:18:51But the Spitfires are late,
0:18:51 > 0:18:55and the German battleships are steaming beyond range
0:18:55 > 0:18:56at a rate of knots.
0:18:56 > 0:19:01Against overwhelming odds, Esmonde presses on with the attack.
0:19:06 > 0:19:11As the German ships slipped into the Channel, the fog lifted,
0:19:11 > 0:19:14and they could almost touch the white cliffs.
0:19:14 > 0:19:16TRANSLATED FROM GERMAN:
0:19:25 > 0:19:27All too clearly, Esmonde and his men
0:19:27 > 0:19:30were now the frontline of Britain's defence.
0:19:34 > 0:19:38From a British torpedo boat, Reg Mitchell witnessed the battle.
0:19:39 > 0:19:42Reg saw the powerful German fighters
0:19:42 > 0:19:44begin to pick off the British biplanes.
0:19:46 > 0:19:49The Fokker Wolfs were coming up behind them
0:19:49 > 0:19:51with their flaps down
0:19:51 > 0:19:54and their wheels down, and they were revving up all the time
0:19:54 > 0:19:58to try and stop themselves stalling so they could get a good burst in,
0:19:58 > 0:20:02and we would watch them, watch the tracers going into the..
0:20:02 > 0:20:06into the Swordfish, and they got shot down one after the other.
0:20:12 > 0:20:14TRANSLATED FROM GERMAN:
0:20:22 > 0:20:26The German flotilla sailed past Dover unharmed.
0:20:26 > 0:20:29Left in the water, all six Swordfish,
0:20:29 > 0:20:3413 of their crew dead, among them, Eugene Esmonde.
0:20:38 > 0:20:44The boldness and power of the German fleet found Britain ill-prepared.
0:20:44 > 0:20:47But those few who did press home the attack were not forgotten.
0:20:47 > 0:20:49Esmonde was awarded the Victoria Cross.
0:20:56 > 0:21:00This is the citation, together with the stamp
0:21:00 > 0:21:02of King George VI that accompanied the medal.
0:21:03 > 0:21:08"He flew on, cool and resolute, serenely challenging hopeless odds
0:21:08 > 0:21:10to encounter the deadly fire of the enemy".
0:21:10 > 0:21:13"Undismayed, he led his squadron on,
0:21:13 > 0:21:16"straight through this inferno of fire".
0:21:31 > 0:21:35The Channel has always been our great natural border.
0:21:35 > 0:21:38A barrier in times of war, but also our link
0:21:38 > 0:21:40to the trading ports of Northern Europe.
0:21:42 > 0:21:45I've crossed the Channel to Dunkirk.
0:21:47 > 0:21:53The most northerly French port, its name evokes British fighting spirit.
0:21:53 > 0:21:56Its beaches still bear the scars of conflict.
0:22:00 > 0:22:03In the aftermath of two World Wars, a new trade alliance
0:22:03 > 0:22:09grew up along these shores, dedicated to breaking down borders.
0:22:09 > 0:22:11It would become the European Union.
0:22:12 > 0:22:16The founding principle of the original union was to make war
0:22:16 > 0:22:21not only unthinkable but materially impossible.
0:22:21 > 0:22:24It's made it rather difficult to find any borders.
0:22:26 > 0:22:29I'm about six miles northeast of Dunkirk,
0:22:29 > 0:22:33and I'm looking for the border that marks the edge of France.
0:22:33 > 0:22:36You'd think they might have put a flag up or something.
0:22:36 > 0:22:40I've got the co-ordinates of where the border should be in this
0:22:40 > 0:22:43little GPS unit, it's telling me to go up here.
0:22:46 > 0:22:48This cannot possibly be a border post.
0:22:50 > 0:22:53I think I'm on a wild border chase here.
0:22:53 > 0:22:57OK, I've seen something but on the wrong side of the fence.
0:22:59 > 0:23:04This is the border marker, there's an F on this side for France...
0:23:06 > 0:23:12A broken N, that must be the Netherlands, and here, a date, 1819.
0:23:12 > 0:23:16Well, that is not the Netherlands any more.
0:23:16 > 0:23:19190 years ago when this marker was put in the sand,
0:23:19 > 0:23:24the country you're about to enter didn't even exist.
0:23:24 > 0:23:28If that seems a bit confusing, the change in the landscape at least
0:23:28 > 0:23:31leaves you in no doubt you've entered a new country,
0:23:31 > 0:23:36as wild open spaces transform into something a little more concrete.
0:23:38 > 0:23:41Welcome to Belgium.
0:23:43 > 0:23:45Looks like they've had the builders in.
0:23:53 > 0:23:56One of Europe's most densely populated coastal countries,
0:23:56 > 0:24:00it also has one of its shortest coastlines,
0:24:00 > 0:24:01less than 50 miles.
0:24:01 > 0:24:06But boy, do the Belgians make the most of it!
0:24:06 > 0:24:09# Ca plane pour moi Ca plane pour moi
0:24:11 > 0:24:13# Ca plane pour moi, moi, moi, moi... #
0:24:13 > 0:24:17There are no fewer than 16 major holiday resorts
0:24:17 > 0:24:20packed in along this tiny coast.
0:24:22 > 0:24:28And what links it all is the Kusttram - the coast tram.
0:24:31 > 0:24:34Starting near the border town of De Panne,
0:24:34 > 0:24:38the track runs more or less the length of the Belgian coast
0:24:38 > 0:24:41loops around and comes back down again.
0:24:41 > 0:24:4885 miles, all told, making it the longest single-track tram in the world.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52No need for walking boots when you're taking the tram.
0:24:52 > 0:24:55I think a change of outfit is in order.
0:24:58 > 0:25:01I'm curious to know how the tramline helps the Belgians
0:25:01 > 0:25:03cram so much into their coast,
0:25:03 > 0:25:07so at a station in a rare break between high-rises,
0:25:07 > 0:25:09I'm meeting tram man Dirk Schockaert.
0:25:09 > 0:25:11- You must be Nick.- I am Nick.
0:25:11 > 0:25:14This is one of the most extraordinary rail stations
0:25:14 > 0:25:17I've ever been to in the world. It's on a beach!
0:25:17 > 0:25:20Yes, it's a tram stop in the middle of nowhere.
0:25:20 > 0:25:23Yeah. Why was the tramline built, and when?
0:25:23 > 0:25:27The tramline was created in 1885. In the beginning,
0:25:27 > 0:25:32we had three train stations at the coast, so all the rich tourists came
0:25:32 > 0:25:36from the inside of the country to do their holiday here at the coast,
0:25:36 > 0:25:39and they were stuck at their place.
0:25:39 > 0:25:44So, they were thinking, "Well, we will create a tramline,
0:25:44 > 0:25:48"so that we can transport people," mostly rich tourists.
0:25:48 > 0:25:52And for example, I have here an old poster, touristic poster.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55That's wonderful! The image in the picture
0:25:55 > 0:25:58is very much of a seaside paradise waiting to be opened up.
0:25:58 > 0:26:01Yes, at that time our coast was like that.
0:26:01 > 0:26:06And now, there are everywhere buildings.
0:26:06 > 0:26:07I'd better give you that.
0:26:07 > 0:26:09Oh...it shot past.
0:26:09 > 0:26:11We missed that one!
0:26:17 > 0:26:20It was the Kusttram that really shaped the Belgian coast.
0:26:20 > 0:26:23The resorts just grew up along it.
0:26:23 > 0:26:29But the arrival of the tram did squeeze out a simpler way of life.
0:26:29 > 0:26:32For generations a band of horse-riding fishermen
0:26:32 > 0:26:37have hunted shrimps in the sandy shallows off the Belgian coast.
0:26:37 > 0:26:40Today, horseback fishing is a dying art.
0:26:40 > 0:26:44Miranda's off to see how it's done, before it's too late.
0:26:52 > 0:26:56'This is one of the last places anywhere that they fish like this.'
0:26:56 > 0:26:57How does it work?
0:26:57 > 0:27:04Those two boards, they are used to open the net in the water, seven metres.
0:27:04 > 0:27:06One side floating on the water,
0:27:06 > 0:27:08and the other side stays on the ground
0:27:08 > 0:27:10because of the weight of the chain.
0:27:10 > 0:27:15- Yeah.- But the chain is really used to wake up the shrimps,
0:27:15 > 0:27:18because the shrimps live under the sands,
0:27:18 > 0:27:23and what happens is the chain makes a noise, and all the shrimps they jump up and they get caught
0:27:23 > 0:27:24between the two sides of the net,
0:27:24 > 0:27:29they get pushed there in the end of the net, you see?
0:27:29 > 0:27:34'But working in the shallows with this heavy gear would be impossible without the right horse.
0:27:34 > 0:27:40'It takes the exceptional strength of these huge Brabant draft horses to drag the nets through the wet sand.'
0:27:40 > 0:27:42- What's your horse called?- Jim.
0:27:42 > 0:27:45This is Jim. He's huge, isn't he?
0:27:45 > 0:27:49He's really built for the job. How on earth am I going to get up there?
0:27:49 > 0:27:51You've got longer legs than I have, though!
0:27:55 > 0:27:58'I'm used to riding, but these giants are incredibly difficult
0:27:58 > 0:28:02'to control in the water, so I've got to hitch a ride with Dominique.'
0:28:05 > 0:28:07Ha-ha!
0:28:07 > 0:28:08So...
0:28:09 > 0:28:13HE CALLS TO THE HORSE
0:28:15 > 0:28:18Tell me a bit about Jim - how old is he, what's he like?
0:28:18 > 0:28:21He is seven years old, he's a really relaxed horse,
0:28:21 > 0:28:24he never worries about anything and he never complains.
0:28:24 > 0:28:27So what's it like for Jim in the water. Is it really hard work?
0:28:27 > 0:28:31Yes, the faster he goes, the harder it gets, because the water has not
0:28:31 > 0:28:33time enough to escape out of the net.
0:28:33 > 0:28:39But after a couple of times, the horse realises if he goes slower, it's easier.
0:28:39 > 0:28:43The only thing they get scared of is when the waves come towards them.
0:28:43 > 0:28:47When that happens and they are frightened,
0:28:47 > 0:28:51you turn them around and you make them go backwards to the sea, so
0:28:51 > 0:28:54they don't see the waves, and once they're in it, their fear is over.
0:28:54 > 0:28:58And you obviously have an amazing bond with Jim.
0:28:58 > 0:29:02- Yes, we know each other by heart and soul.- Yeah.
0:29:11 > 0:29:13Wow!
0:29:14 > 0:29:17This is what we've been catching, little grey shrimps.
0:29:18 > 0:29:21Dominique, what's this sort of catch worth, then?
0:29:21 > 0:29:25- This, maybe two euros.- Two euros?
0:29:25 > 0:29:28- That's not even enough money to feed your horse for the day.- No, no!
0:29:28 > 0:29:36'Their meagre catch doesn't make for a living, but a profitable sideline is opening up.
0:29:36 > 0:29:40'Their novelty has made the horsemen into a local attraction -
0:29:40 > 0:29:45'while fishing for shrimps, they're also being paid to haul in the tourists.'
0:29:49 > 0:29:51- So I can try one, yeah?- Yeah.
0:29:53 > 0:29:55Those are really good.
0:29:55 > 0:29:59- That's about as fresh a shrimp as I've ever eaten.- Yes.
0:29:59 > 0:30:03'On this coastline, embracing tourism and the changes
0:30:03 > 0:30:07'that come with it helps this traditional way of life to survive.'
0:30:19 > 0:30:21We're on the Belgian coast.
0:30:25 > 0:30:31Now the city of Bruges is connected to the port of Zeebrugge by a mighty canal.
0:30:32 > 0:30:35But 700 years ago it was a different story.
0:30:35 > 0:30:44Mark is exploring how mediaeval Bruges once had a much closer connection to the coast, and to us.
0:30:44 > 0:30:48For me, this is a very emotional journey.
0:30:48 > 0:30:53I first came here to Bruges aged 13.
0:30:53 > 0:30:58I was obsessed with medieval history.
0:31:00 > 0:31:04Now I'm back to rekindle my old passion for the place,
0:31:04 > 0:31:10but also to explore an intriguing connection to England I discovered all those years ago.
0:31:10 > 0:31:16The city's canals give us a clue to its rich maritime past.
0:31:16 > 0:31:23Sea trade made the burghers of Bruges very rich in the 13th and 14th centuries.
0:31:23 > 0:31:28Believe it or not, this was once the main canal
0:31:28 > 0:31:33into the heart of Bruges, where ships from all round the world
0:31:33 > 0:31:37came and unloaded their cargos in the water hall
0:31:37 > 0:31:39in the middle of the town square.
0:31:41 > 0:31:45700 years ago, a bird's-eye view of Bruges
0:31:45 > 0:31:47would have been radically different.
0:31:47 > 0:31:51A sea inlet reached the outskirts of the city,
0:31:51 > 0:31:54linking is directly to the North Sea
0:31:54 > 0:31:59and historic ports like Ipswich and King's Lynn.
0:32:01 > 0:32:08Those links between East Anglia and Bruges I discovered for myself as a 13-year-old
0:32:08 > 0:32:12armed only with a roll of paper and a wax crayon.
0:32:16 > 0:32:23Sint-Salvator Cathedral is a wonderful place for a spot of brass rubbing.
0:32:28 > 0:32:31Unfortunately, it's now discouraged in Belgium.
0:32:33 > 0:32:38But I did a few earlier - 40 years earlier.
0:32:39 > 0:32:44The thing about these brasses is they show the sheer wealth and
0:32:44 > 0:32:50prosperity of Bruges. This is a brass of one of these merchants.
0:32:50 > 0:32:53There he is with his wife and his daughter,
0:32:53 > 0:32:55and you can see down at the bottom there
0:32:55 > 0:32:58is an image of a ship.
0:32:58 > 0:33:02But these brasses also tell us about trade between England
0:33:02 > 0:33:07and Bruges, because in Ipswich there's an almost identical brass.
0:33:07 > 0:33:10It shows Thomas Pownder,
0:33:10 > 0:33:15a cloth merchant, a very wealthy man. There's his merchant's mark.
0:33:15 > 0:33:18He was not satisfied with inferior English brasses,
0:33:18 > 0:33:24but went all the way here to Bruges to get his memorial, and this is it.
0:33:28 > 0:33:35The link between Bruges and Eastern England I'd stumbled upon as a boy was centuries old,
0:33:35 > 0:33:39part of a trade alliance known as the Hanseatic League.
0:33:42 > 0:33:45This enormous medieval room
0:33:45 > 0:33:51would have been a warehouse stacked high with East Anglian wool.
0:33:51 > 0:33:54On their return the empty ships were so unstable,
0:33:54 > 0:33:58they had to be filled with Flemish bricks.
0:34:02 > 0:34:07Bricks were in big demand 700 years ago in England,
0:34:07 > 0:34:11because back then we weren't making any of our own.
0:34:11 > 0:34:16I'm hoping historian David Andrews can tell me why.
0:34:17 > 0:34:19Well, the Romans of course, had made bricks,
0:34:19 > 0:34:23but with the collapse that came after the fall of the Roman Empire
0:34:23 > 0:34:26the technology was lost throughout much of Northern Europe,
0:34:26 > 0:34:28maybe parts of the Mediterranean as well.
0:34:28 > 0:34:30So when is brick-making rediscovered?
0:34:30 > 0:34:34In the 12th century, the Cistercians are making bricks,
0:34:34 > 0:34:36and the Cistercians built this wonderful barn here.
0:34:36 > 0:34:41- It's like a cathedral, isn't it, with a sort of east window in brick?! - With tracery in brick, yes.
0:34:41 > 0:34:46Cistercian monks may have revived the art of brick-making,
0:34:46 > 0:34:50but in England we were a bit slow on the uptake.
0:34:50 > 0:34:56Rather than make our own, we bought them from the Low Countries.
0:34:56 > 0:35:00We had ceramic technologies, we could make pottery, we could make roof tile
0:35:00 > 0:35:03but we don't seem to have bothered with brick.
0:35:03 > 0:35:06And what do these Flemish bricks actually look like?
0:35:06 > 0:35:09Well, I've got one from Essex here.
0:35:09 > 0:35:13So these are really grotty, I mean, you can see how soft they are.
0:35:13 > 0:35:15You could put the powder everywhere.
0:35:15 > 0:35:18Yes, they aren't marvellous bricks, but they work
0:35:18 > 0:35:20and they're quite long-lasting and durable.
0:35:20 > 0:35:25'After 700 years, this Essex brick has come home'
0:35:25 > 0:35:30to where it was made from the polder clay, the layer of mud
0:35:30 > 0:35:34left behind when the sea retreated from the land.
0:35:34 > 0:35:40'Art Vandendorpe is going to show me how to turn clay into bricks.'
0:35:40 > 0:35:45He's restored some of Bruges' most ancient buildings
0:35:45 > 0:35:48using the oldest instruction book there is.
0:35:51 > 0:35:55So this is the original description of how bricks were made in those days.
0:35:55 > 0:35:59They take the clay and they mixed them with sand,
0:35:59 > 0:36:02they put it on the table and they make the brick.
0:36:02 > 0:36:05And then they put them here in the clamp.
0:36:05 > 0:36:09- One million.- In one clamp? So that's from the polders.
0:36:09 > 0:36:12- Yes, from here.- Just from underneath the riverbank.- Yes, yes, yes.
0:36:14 > 0:36:15# Bricks, lay 'em down in a straight line
0:36:15 > 0:36:17# Bricks, build them into a wall
0:36:17 > 0:36:22# Bricks, very useful objects and they're not expensive at all. #
0:36:22 > 0:36:26Perfect! Bits of old brick, the odd shell -
0:36:26 > 0:36:28that's what makes the brick strong.
0:36:29 > 0:36:33'After several hundred years of the Flemish showing the way,
0:36:33 > 0:36:37'English brick-makers had just about got the hang of it.'
0:36:37 > 0:36:39Oh, this is an English brick!
0:36:40 > 0:36:42'Unlike me!'
0:36:42 > 0:36:45But it was the clay, the very stuff the bricks of Bruges
0:36:45 > 0:36:50were made of, that finally cut the city off from the sea.
0:36:50 > 0:36:55When the inlet silted up, gone went that trading route to Europe.
0:36:55 > 0:36:58Leaving Bruges high and dry,
0:36:58 > 0:37:02but preserved in all this medieval splendour!
0:37:17 > 0:37:21The end of Belgium's coastal tramline delivers me to Knokke.
0:37:26 > 0:37:33It looks pretty conventional on the outside, the seafront dominated by this grand 1930s casino.
0:37:35 > 0:37:38I'm told all is not what it seems here -
0:37:38 > 0:37:41apparently there's something surreal to see.
0:37:46 > 0:37:50And it's tucked away in a back room.
0:37:51 > 0:37:53- Hello.- Hello.- I'm Nick.
0:37:53 > 0:37:56- Delphine. Nice to meet you. - Very nice to meet you.
0:37:56 > 0:38:02In the 1950s, Belgian surrealist Rene Magritte came to stay in Knokke.
0:38:02 > 0:38:06And this is what he left behind.
0:38:06 > 0:38:09LAUGHS
0:38:09 > 0:38:12My goodness! My goodness!
0:38:12 > 0:38:14It's quite a thing if you see it for the first time.
0:38:14 > 0:38:17Erm, yeah, it certainly is, isn't it?
0:38:21 > 0:38:25If you don't know Magritte's name, you might well recognise his images.
0:38:25 > 0:38:31This 360-degree mural displays some of his best-known work.
0:38:33 > 0:38:35It's a dreamscape, isn't it?
0:38:35 > 0:38:40Not necessarily a very healthy dream - we've got a woman with
0:38:40 > 0:38:44a fish's head, and the Leaning Tower of Pisa resting on a feather.
0:38:44 > 0:38:45How did the citizens of Knokke react?
0:38:45 > 0:38:47They rather like it, I think.
0:38:50 > 0:38:52In 1953,
0:38:52 > 0:38:57the casino owner here persuaded the surrealist and former wallpaper designer
0:38:57 > 0:39:01to make a rare visit to the coast and decorate the walls of this establishment.
0:39:01 > 0:39:05Magritte called the end result the enchanted domain.
0:39:07 > 0:39:11Enchanting maybe, odd certainly, but look closer.
0:39:19 > 0:39:23Magritte's vision seems strangely in tune with the Belgium we've experienced.
0:39:26 > 0:39:31The surrealist re-imagined the world in the name of art.
0:39:31 > 0:39:34But another local visionary who reimagined the world for
0:39:34 > 0:39:39practical reasons is waiting at the end of my journey.
0:39:41 > 0:39:45Because it was along this coast that a 16th-century map-maker
0:39:45 > 0:39:50of huge significance spent his formative years.
0:39:50 > 0:39:56He also happens to be a hero of mine. His name - Gerard Mercator.
0:39:57 > 0:40:02Ships like this navigate safely today because of a method of
0:40:02 > 0:40:03map-making devised by Mercator.
0:40:03 > 0:40:08Even in here, surrounded by all this hi-tech equipment, this modern map
0:40:08 > 0:40:12carries the name of a man born 500 years ago.
0:40:12 > 0:40:15Mercator cracked a complex puzzle.
0:40:15 > 0:40:19Paper maps are flat, but as you step back from the world,
0:40:19 > 0:40:22it's clear the planet isn't flat at all.
0:40:22 > 0:40:24He worked out the maths
0:40:24 > 0:40:28to project the 3D world onto a two-dimensional sheet.
0:40:29 > 0:40:33Mercator's projection meant seafarers could for the first time
0:40:33 > 0:40:37navigate precisely around the three-dimensional globe.
0:40:37 > 0:40:43In Antwerp, you can see the original chart that changed the world.
0:40:44 > 0:40:47This is it, this is the map that turned Mercator
0:40:47 > 0:40:51into the first modern map-maker, it was completely revolutionary.
0:40:51 > 0:40:53It's really a navigational device.
0:40:53 > 0:40:58What he did was to keep all the lines of longitude parallel.
0:40:58 > 0:41:02Of course, normally on the globe they all converge at the two poles,
0:41:02 > 0:41:05but what he did was prise them apart and straighten them.
0:41:05 > 0:41:09What you end up with is quite a distorted map, but the sheer
0:41:09 > 0:41:13brilliance of this map is in what it does with the use of compasses.
0:41:13 > 0:41:17If you lie a compass on this map for example between Bristol and Cuba,
0:41:17 > 0:41:20and want to get the bearing, you take your bearing off the map,
0:41:20 > 0:41:24and then you can stand on the deck of your ship and the identical
0:41:24 > 0:41:26bearing will take you straight from Bristol to Cuba.
0:41:26 > 0:41:28No other map projection will do that.
0:41:28 > 0:41:31It was a work of sheer brilliance.
0:41:31 > 0:41:33Mercator called it the squaring of the circle.
0:41:40 > 0:41:44Mercator's genius vision, his projection of the earth onto
0:41:44 > 0:41:50accurate navigation charts, opened up the globe to Europeans.
0:41:50 > 0:41:54Trade blossomed and mighty estuaries became gateways to the world.
0:42:07 > 0:42:12People, goods and ideas flow between nations connected by their coastlines.
0:42:12 > 0:42:19It gives us a common bond with our neighbours, stories we continue to explore around our coast and beyond!
0:42:40 > 0:42:44Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:42:44 > 0:42:48E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk