Episode 2 Coastal Path

The South West Coast Path is one of the world's best-loved walks.

At 630 miles, it's also England's longest national trail.

It's not for the faint-hearted.

This can be challenging walking.

But, boy, is it worth it.

I'm Paul Rose and I've explored the world.

But although I love the South West coast,

I've never actually walked its path.

Until now.

Run, run, run...

In this series, I'll be discovering adventure at every turn.

Wow! We're flying, buddy!

How big of a cliff is it?

High enough to make your knees wobble!

I'll be discovering wildlife and wild traditions.

Now that's what you call an entrance!

This is where land and sea collide.

It really is the walk of a lifetime.

This week, I'm heading into a new county

and it's one I can't wait to explore.

This river, which runs right under the coast path here

at Marsland Mouth, marks the northern county boundary

between Devon on this side and Cornwall over there.

For many natives, Cornwall is more than a county.

It's a Celtic country.

And however you feel about that,

it's certainly a singular place with an otherworldly feel.

Especially the section that's ahead of me,

the rugged and mysterious North Cornish coast.

In this episode, I'm going to be exploring the coast path

as it skims the Atlantic Ocean from Marsland, to Padstow,

through the surfing town of Newquay and right down the heritage

Tin Coast, ending at Sennen Cove on the Land's End Peninsula.

My first stop is Morwenstow, the most northerly parish in Cornwall.

'I'm here with National Trust ranger, Jeff Cherrington.'

Amazing. Can you imagine those people?

'Because somewhere around here is their very smallest property.'

Here it is!

Well, no wonder I couldn't see it!

It's tiny and it's half buried in the cliff side!

Look at it. Isn't it great?

-Is it all right to go in?

-Yeah, you go first.

All right, I'm in. Thank you.

Oh, yeah!

'Hawkers Hut was built in the 1840s by the vicar of Morwenstow,

'Reverend Hawker, from the timbers of shipwrecks.'

So, what's the story behind this Reverend Hawker?

Reverend Hawker, what an English eccentric.

He used to come out here in big cassocks, sea boots,

clay pipe, smoke his opium

writing poetry and Trelawny.

He wrote Trelawny, the Cornish anthem.

# And shall Trelawny live

# Or shall Trelawny die

# Here's 20,000 Cornish men

# Will know the reason why. #

I had no idea it was influenced by drugs.

"Inspired" by opium. Who'd have thought it?!

In the spirit of Hawker, visitors to the hut have been moved

to create their own kind of poetry here.

It's covered in graffiti.

-You don't stop people from doing graffiti in here.

-No, not really.

I mean, people find their own thing here.

-It's a lovely thing just to come and read.

-Why not?

-I expect he'd have loved it.

-It's a beautiful thing.

It's time to move on.

The coast path now takes me across a series of dramatic headlands,

crowned by my next stop, the mighty Tintagel Castle.

Legend has it that this is the birthplace of King Arthur.

But Tintagel Castle was actually built 500 years after the real

or, dare I say it, fictitious Arthur would have existed.

But, legend aside, this site has been a stronghold for Cornwall's

most powerful rulers since the Dark Ages.

Matt Ward from English Heritage is going to give me the grand tour.

Here we go.

-Welcome to Tintagel Castle, this is it.

-Oh, yes!

We're now standing in the courtyard of the medieval castle.

This was built in 1236 by Earl Richard of Cornwall.

And what he wanted to do was build a castle, in what he thought was,

King Arthur's birthplace to make himself look really powerful.

It had no strategic value.

There was no reason to build a castle here apart from the legend of King Arthur.

-But did King Arthur really exist?

-Do you know what?

People have been writing about King Arthur for centuries and if

we walk on, I can show you some of the real history from that period.

'I think that's a no, or maybe a maybe.'

In the Dark Ages, a bustling community lived in Tintagel,

right at the very top of the rocky outcrop.

The remains of more than 150 buildings are still here.

Between 450 and 700,

Tintagel was a major trading port with the Mediterranean.

They were bringing amphoras full of olive oils and spices and,

North Africa, you've got this fine red tableware

and early glass from Southern Spain.

They were bringing it all around the coast from the Mediterranean to Tintagel.

But what's interesting for me

is the amount of pottery they've found at Tintagel.

It makes it one of the most important archaeological sites

in western Europe.

Only around 10% of the site has been excavated but already

more Mediterranean pottery has been found here than in the whole of

western Europe.

I mean, it is one of the most important archaeological sites in the country for that reason.

According to Matt, there is a sacred spot nearby

where these powerful Cornish leaders would have gathered

for festivals like midsummer's Beltane.

On an evening like this,

it's not difficult to imagine the scene of Beltane in full swing.

People are out of their huts celebrating, drinking wine,

fires are burning, wild boar roasting on the spits

and their great leader would be standing right here

in this auspicious place, looking out over everything he owned.

It must have been quite something.

For a moment, I'm king of the castle.

A castle where the real story is every bit as awe-inspiring

as its legends.

And there's more in the way of Cornish folklore ahead of me,

as I continue south west on the path.

GULL CRIES

Padstow is famed for its food, but I'm not here for the haute cuisine.

It's Mayday today and in Padstow that can only mean one thing,

the Obby Oss Festival!

Obby Oss is the biggest event in Padstow's festival calendar.

The Osses are stylised types of horses.

There are two.

The Blue Oss and the Old Oss.

I'm meeting up with supporters of the Old Oss.

It's part of our family.

It gets passed down from father to son

and that's the way it's been for a long, long time.

-What can I do to help? I can't join in, can I?

-Just keep out of the way!

OK!

'Well, that's me told!

'It might be a serious business for some,

'but for the crowd it's a chance to let it all hang out.'

Well, the atmosphere's building now.

In a few moments, this whopping great oss is going to come

flying out of there, and I understand it comes out with a burst.

So we're all waiting, great sense of excitement.

And we're ready, aren't we, Stanley?

We're ready.

PEOPLE CHEER

As the oss dances, it's taunted and prodded by the teaser.

Now that's what you call an entrance!

A bit tribal, in a way.

These two head up a procession of dancers and musicians.

The osses now work their way towards the country house of Prideaux Place.

The Blue Oss is invited to dance by Peter Prideaux-Brune.

His family have lived here for over 400 years.

I'm 71 years old and I've known it since I was a baby,

and it still sends prickles down my back.

There's something so wonderful about it.

But the Padstonians regard it as being something very,

very special to them.

So, there is a terrific sense of ownership and pride about the

-Obby Oss Festival?

-Yes! Very much so.

SINGING

It's tradition for Peter himself to take the stage as teaser.

THEY ALL CHEER

That was great.

Hello!

Now that was a great performance.

Tremendous in there.

The acoustics are great, the sound is overwhelming

and the whole experience is just tribal,

traditional and very beautiful indeed.

So far, North Cornwall has been full of history and tradition.

But my next stop is all about future generations.

I'm heading to surf central, Newquay's Fistral Beach.

Newquay's beaches are the most visited in Cornwall.

Which means that the local lifeguards have really got

their work cut out keeping bathers safe.

Luckily, there's no shortage of new recruits.

These are Newquay Surf Life Saving Club's Nippers.

Ash Mann is their trainer.

Going to love you to get involved with this, but what I've got

to get you to do at first, as you see behind me,

these guys have little hats on.

-They're red, yellow and blue and you're going to have to wear one to get involved.

-Sounds great.

-Oh, yeah.

-The toggle slips behind the chin and we tighten that one up.

-This feels good. What do you reckon?

-You're looking the part already.

Can I have a go? CHILDREN: Yes!

We're going to get Paul involved

and we're going to have an understanding of flags.

I want to drop Paul right into the middle of the mix.

-How do we reckon?

-In here? There we go.

Thank you, I'm in!

What I would like everyone to do is lay down flat on to their bellies

with their hands in front of them.

Heels together.

WHISTLE Oh, blimey!

The aim of the game is to get a blue rod.

If you don't, you're out.

Got it! I got it.

Heads down! WHISTLE

Oh, no!

Argh!

No!

I didn't get one!

These guys are so quick! So what does that mean? I'm out!

Are you out as well? Me too.

WHISTLE

Well, let's face it, I didn't really stand a chance against this lot.

MUSIC: Glory Box by Portishead

Oh!

Well done.

OK, Paul, you've experienced flags, how do you fancy coming with

my youth now, and let's get wet in the sea and experience a bit

-of tube or board rescue?

-Absolutely. Yes, please.

-Let's go for it then, mate.

In this exercise, I'm going to attempt to rescue a swimmer

"stranded" at sea.

Swimmers...

..set...

..go!

MUSIC: Song 2 by Blur

The swimmers are in position.

Wave everyone.

Time to jump in and bring them back.

Are we happy? Let's go!

# Woo-hoo

# Woo-hoo... #

It's not as easy as these young life-savers make it look.

Got it.

Righto, everybody, back to the beach.

# Yeah, yeah!

# Oh, yeah. #

In terms of the rescue technique,

I don't think you did a bad job for your first go.

-But you're blowing a little!

-I'm blowing a bit.

-I felt like I needed me fins!

-You certainly did.

-And me diving gear, you know?

-Well done.

-Look.

I've had a ball in Newquay.

But I'm back on the path and heading south.

There are plenty of sandy beaches on this stretch,

but few can compete with St Ives.

It's a scene often captured on canvas,

and I'm here to see how the unique light and alternative spirit

of St Ives have attracted so many ground-breaking artists.

-TELEVISION REPORTER:

-Barbara Hepworth came from the cool,

grey north, seeking to find herself in Cornwall,

and Cornwall in herself.

Barbara Hepworth was one of Britain's greatest sculptors.

She lived and worked at Trewin Studios in the centre of town

for more than 20 years.

-BARBARA:

-I came, actually, accidentally.

That is, I came for a holiday and I stayed.

But as soon as I got here, I began to realise very, very swiftly

why it was there'd been artists working here for 75, 80 years.

Her beloved studio has been preserved and is now a museum.

MUSIC: Agua De Beber by Antonio Carlos Jobim

Hepworth spearheaded the St Ives School Of Art,

based at Porthmeor Studios overlooking the beach.

It's still very much a hub for local artists,

like Hillary Gibson from the Porthmeor School Of Painting.

Is it true about the light?

Yes, even on a dull day the light here is astonishing.

And it is the reason that many artists have gravitated to St Ives.

It's almost like looking through rose-tinted glasses.

What are you and the group doing today?

-Today is a sketch and stroll.

-Sketch and stroll?

It's something we do through the summer months, come rain or shine.

And for artists, really, we like to work outside in the elements,

just like Turner did.

It sounds like a lot of fun, I'd love to have a go.

Well, it just so happens, Paul, that I've actually brought you

-a sketchbook...

-Yes!

-..from the school of painting

and a couple of pencils.

-One day this might be worth a lot of money.

-I'm sure it will!

Not sure Hillary's convinced. And with good reason - I'm no artist.

But if this vista doesn't bring out the Turner in me, nothing will.

OK, gang, right. We're going to do a drawing.

But before we do it,

I just wanted to talk to you about Wilhelmina Barns-Graham.

This is Eight Lines, Porthmeor.

It has been in the Tate here.

And what it is, really, is it's a sort of simplification.

Each time a wave has come in,

she has drawn that wave in its simplest possible form.

And it's when they die that I think they're so beautiful because,

look at that one now, it's just going back underneath

the next one coming in.

They're constantly overlapping each other.

So our task is Eight Lines, Porthmeor.

-You're looking a bit worried there!

-I am, terrified.

-I've got to draw something now.

-OK.

MUSIC

Drawing is 99% looking.

-Yeah.

-Mm-hm.

-99% looking.

-Mm.

-And 1% putting things on the paper.

-Yeah, in the right place!

-Try and get them overlapping.

-Ah, overlapping.

I like that. Hang on.

That's it. You're done. That's great.

Look at that.

-That's all right, that, isn't it?

-Yeah.

If you squint a little bit!

OK, so perhaps I won't quit the day job just yet.

But this has been the perfect way to experience the magic of St Ives.

It's time to leave those aquamarine waters behind.

I'm heading to Cornwall's oldest mining district, the Tin Coast.

The engine houses perched along this stretch are some of the most

photographed features in Cornwall.

But these structures aren't just photo opportunities.

They're surface evidence of pioneering submarine mining

that extends over a mile out to sea.

The coast path brings you to the doorstep of Levant Mine.

Like all of Cornwall's tin mines, it's now closed.

But its original beam engine is still working.

Anthony Power looks after it.

-OK, Anthony, we're at the beating heart of the mine.

-It is, yes.

-We're just about ready to get it running.

-Come on, I'm excited.

-That's absolutely beautiful, isn't it?

-It is.

'In the 1850s there were up to 60 tin and copper mines along

'this stretch of Cornish coast.

'Levant was one of the biggest.'

Cornwall was one of the beating hearts

-for the Industrial Revolution.

-It was, it was.

The steam engines were developed originally to pump water out.

And it's that technology which then goes into factories and into

steam locomotives, so that really you could argue, and I might

sometimes, the whole Industrial Revolution starts in Cornwall.

It was a revolution built on hard graft,

and I'm about to get an idea of how hard.

I'm heading down into the belly of Levant Mine.

How did they go up and down every day for work?

Well, we're standing in the shaft where they did that.

Coming down through here from up there to about 550 metres

down below was a single rod worked by a steam engine at the top there.

But on that rod there were steps.

To make your way down,

you'd be standing here and the rod would lift up and you'd step on.

Down you go 12 feet, step over.

Next one. Then the rod moves up again and you step onto the second.

Fantastic.

So they went up and down this thing on the terrific man engine.

It's not here now, what are we going to do?

-We're going to go down this ladder way, which is just behind us.

-OK.

It's a formidable descent.

In the mine's heyday,

600 men and boys would have made this journey every day.

This is great, Anthony.

I'm beginning to get a sense of what it's like underground here.

But what was it like for the men that were working?

You're looking at temperatures of 35-40 degrees centigrade.

Then, what you're doing is physically very tough.

You are hand drilling holes into the rock.

Put your explosive in, fire your charge and then you go back in

and you pick out the valuable stuff.

-Then you follow that by climbing all the way back up.

-Yes.

Which is, of course, why the man engine was such a boon, if you like.

Because at least it took that effort of that climb back up.

But that boon led to one of Cornwall's worst ever mining accidents.

As the day shift were making their way to the surface

on the man engine, one of the metal straps that secured

the top of the rod to the beam above us broke.

The rod swung from side to side,

this is with about 100 men on the step.

Then part of it broke away below us and this whole top section,

probably about 150 feet of rod, plunged like an arrow 500 feet

down the shaft and just crushed everything in its path.

31 men were killed, another 19 seriously injured here.

Levant never fully recovered.

Shortly after, tin prices crashed and in 1931 the mine closed.

The conditions the miners endured were gruelling.

But their legacy is this atmospheric landscape.

A centrepiece of the South West Coast Path.

My walk through North Cornwall is coming to an end.

I'm only a stone's throw away from my final stop of this stretch -

Sennen Cove on the Land's End Peninsula.

This is Mayon Lookout above Sennen Cove,

and over there is Land's End itself.

But, for me, this is as good a viewpoint from

the southwestern tip of Britain as we are ever likely to get.

So this is my personal Land's End.

As well as killer views, the cliffs above Sennen

offer some of the very best climbing in the south-west.

So, I've got your helmet here. Put that on your head, please.

Thank you. Yeah, helmet.

'The Royal Marines come here every year to train.

'And today they've invited me to join them.'

-Your harness. All ready?

-Yeah.

'Colour Sergeant Mac McMillan is their chief climbing instructor.'

This is the descent route here. It's called Ash Can Gully.

It's a fairly moderate scramble dissent.

We going to move round to the front of the cliff to the actual climb itself.

'Mac was shot in the throat while serving in Afghanistan.

'So, he's not the loudest marine I've ever met,

'but he is one of the most agile.'

Right, so we're coming on to our route somewhere.

We start here by this block.

Beneath the hanging block. That's the obvious one.

Oh, yeah, the hanging block.

We take the line to the right of that block

pretty much straight to the top.

'It's a big climb.

'Even Mac struggles!'

-Let's do that again.

-Not easy to hang around there, is it?

'Second time lucky.'

-What do you reckon, Mac?

-Yeah, good.

'Mac prepares the anchors for the top rope.

'That's what will save me if I lose my grip.'

That's me, Mac!

Woo!

Climbing, buddy.

I'm off the ground, Mac. Like a miracle!

'It's been over ten years since I last climbed here,

'but it's every bit as beautiful and hard going as I remember.'

There's nothing very easy about the top, either, is there?

What a terrific climb. Thank you very much, Mac.

You made it look easy!

-I don't know about that.

-I followed every one of your steps.

-Look, thank you very much.

-Yeah.

I feel like I'm back at Sennen Cove.

I really am back!

This has always been a very special place to me.

To reconnect to it via rock climbing couldn't be better,

and it's the perfect end to my walk in North Cornwall.

Next week on Coastal Path -

I'll be exploring South Cornwall,

where I'll be taking a leap of faith off the Lizard...

Three, two, one. Go!

Yeeeees!

Firing the gun!

..and having a blast in Falmouth.

EXPLOSION

Fantastic!