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Today I'm travelling along the east coast of Northern Ireland, discovering the agriculture, | 0:00:20 | 0:00:25 | |
landscape, history and culture | 0:00:25 | 0:00:28 | |
of this unique part of the British Isles. | 0:00:28 | 0:00:31 | |
My journey begins in the potato fields of Comber | 0:00:34 | 0:00:37 | |
before heading to Newtownards. | 0:00:37 | 0:00:39 | |
I'll drive the spectacular Antrim Coast Road from Larne to Glenariff | 0:00:39 | 0:00:43 | |
and visit Dunluce Castle | 0:00:43 | 0:00:45 | |
before ending my travels in the seaside town of Portrush. | 0:00:45 | 0:00:49 | |
Along the way I'll be looking back | 0:00:49 | 0:00:50 | |
at the best of the BBC's rural programmes from this part of the world. | 0:00:50 | 0:00:54 | |
This is Country Tracks. | 0:00:54 | 0:00:56 | |
Between 1845 and 1851, Ireland was blighted. | 0:00:59 | 0:01:04 | |
A potato famine killed over a million men, women and children, | 0:01:04 | 0:01:09 | |
while over a million fled the country. | 0:01:09 | 0:01:11 | |
But despite its grim history, the potato has remained an important staple food to this day. | 0:01:11 | 0:01:17 | |
Garth Horner's family have grown potatoes in the fields of Comber for over 300 years. | 0:01:18 | 0:01:23 | |
Today I'm helping out on his rather noisy harvester. | 0:01:23 | 0:01:27 | |
So, Garth, what are we doing here? | 0:01:27 | 0:01:28 | |
Well, Ellie, potatoes are going to come up this elevator here | 0:01:28 | 0:01:32 | |
and we're going to pick the potatoes into this one, all the good ones, | 0:01:32 | 0:01:35 | |
and leave all the rubbish to go out this elevator here. | 0:01:35 | 0:01:37 | |
-Have you got to work quite quickly? -We have to. They're too expensive to let over into the soil. | 0:01:37 | 0:01:42 | |
Yeah, yeah, you're not kidding. | 0:01:42 | 0:01:44 | |
These are no ordinary spuds. | 0:01:45 | 0:01:48 | |
The potatoes from this area are so sought after that the earliest harvested can fetch up to £50 a bag. | 0:01:48 | 0:01:55 | |
What is it about these potatoes that are so special? | 0:01:55 | 0:01:57 | |
Northern Ireland people pride their potatoes. | 0:01:57 | 0:02:01 | |
These are the first potatoes out in the year. They're full of flavour. | 0:02:01 | 0:02:05 | |
I'd say they're the best. I've travelled all over the world | 0:02:05 | 0:02:10 | |
-and I'd say that these are the best potatoes I've ever tasted. -Oh, wow. | 0:02:10 | 0:02:14 | |
Garth isn't the only one to think that Comber spuds are the best in the world. | 0:02:15 | 0:02:19 | |
Some local farmers are campaigning for recognition under the EU protected food name scheme | 0:02:19 | 0:02:25 | |
so that their potatoes can enjoy the same status as champagne or feta cheese. | 0:02:25 | 0:02:30 | |
It's quite fast work. | 0:02:30 | 0:02:32 | |
Oh, aye, you get used to it. | 0:02:32 | 0:02:34 | |
-Got to work quick. -That's it! | 0:02:34 | 0:02:36 | |
With such a reputation, I want to taste these Comber potatoes for myself. | 0:02:36 | 0:02:41 | |
Local chef Stephen Taylor-Winter has offered to cook them up for me in the farm kitchen. | 0:02:41 | 0:02:47 | |
So Stephen, what are you making here? | 0:02:47 | 0:02:49 | |
We're going to make you a nice pot of champ, which is a good, Northern Irish traditional dish. | 0:02:49 | 0:02:55 | |
It's spring onions, potatoes, | 0:02:55 | 0:02:57 | |
which you've just seen, and some butter and some cream, of course. | 0:02:57 | 0:03:00 | |
Traditional champ would be lumpy or smooth or however? | 0:03:00 | 0:03:03 | |
It would probably be lumpy because traditionally they wouldn't have such, | 0:03:03 | 0:03:07 | |
the modern appliances we have to spin it, | 0:03:07 | 0:03:09 | |
so there would necessarily have been a bit of lumps to it, you know? | 0:03:09 | 0:03:13 | |
-Irish people aren't too fussy. -It's a bit of texture, after all. -Yeah, a bit of texture. | 0:03:13 | 0:03:18 | |
In here we've got a wee bit of spring onions, | 0:03:18 | 0:03:21 | |
some butter and there's not cream in this one, but there's milk. | 0:03:21 | 0:03:26 | |
You can put cream, because the cream is richer, more flavour, and what we've done is literally | 0:03:26 | 0:03:31 | |
brought that to boil, a little bit of flavour of the scallions comes into the cream and the butter. | 0:03:31 | 0:03:36 | |
-So what are scallions? -Scallions are spring onions, | 0:03:36 | 0:03:39 | |
which again are coming out of the ground at this time of year, which are perfect. | 0:03:39 | 0:03:43 | |
-Are they local, too? -They are. | 0:03:43 | 0:03:45 | |
They're literally 100 yards down the road. | 0:03:45 | 0:03:48 | |
This is why it tastes so good. | 0:03:48 | 0:03:50 | |
We just gently mix that through. | 0:03:50 | 0:03:52 | |
You only want to put a wee bit in at a time. | 0:03:52 | 0:03:55 | |
It's really lovely colours as well. | 0:03:55 | 0:03:57 | |
So what is it about the potatoes here that in your opinion, | 0:03:57 | 0:04:01 | |
as a professional chef, are the best for the job? | 0:04:01 | 0:04:03 | |
I think it's the ground. | 0:04:03 | 0:04:04 | |
It's the nutrients in the ground. | 0:04:04 | 0:04:06 | |
We're very close to Strangford Lough, the soil tastes good, | 0:04:06 | 0:04:09 | |
it tastes good for these spuds, and the farmer here, Garth, he has every different type of potato. | 0:04:09 | 0:04:15 | |
So if I'm cooking, I'll tell him what I need and he'll either pick them for me or he has them. | 0:04:15 | 0:04:20 | |
-Wonderful. -Personally, I think this is one of the better regions in Ireland for growing spuds | 0:04:20 | 0:04:25 | |
and that will possibly translate to one of the better regions in the world. | 0:04:25 | 0:04:28 | |
The potatoes which you picked this morning would give Jersey Royal potatoes a good run for their money. | 0:04:28 | 0:04:34 | |
-They're absolutely... Well, you'll taste that in a minute. -I will. -So we'll just finish the champ. | 0:04:34 | 0:04:38 | |
There's not too much butter and there's not too much cream in that. | 0:04:38 | 0:04:41 | |
You can put more in. The French equal quantities of butter to potatoes into their mashed potatoes, | 0:04:41 | 0:04:46 | |
-but in this day and age you can't be having any of that. -Exactly. | 0:04:46 | 0:04:49 | |
What we're going to do is finish with the tops | 0:04:49 | 0:04:52 | |
of the spring onions because these are nice, green things. | 0:04:52 | 0:04:55 | |
I usually just throw those away. | 0:04:55 | 0:04:56 | |
No, no, no. Slice those through because that will give you a nice bit of crunch and more flavour. | 0:04:56 | 0:05:01 | |
Very, very beautiful. Very traditional Northern Irish dish. | 0:05:01 | 0:05:04 | |
-The smells in here are making my stomach rumble. -Well, that's a good thing | 0:05:04 | 0:05:08 | |
because we've got very, very simple food here. | 0:05:08 | 0:05:12 | |
Simple food can sometimes be the best. | 0:05:12 | 0:05:14 | |
It's interesting because as the potatoes came out of the ground the smell was amazing and, in here, | 0:05:14 | 0:05:19 | |
you've carried that wonderful smell on. | 0:05:19 | 0:05:21 | |
You've got, with the potatoes picked this morning, the natural vitamins, | 0:05:21 | 0:05:25 | |
the natural sweetness, it hasn't got time to dry out. | 0:05:25 | 0:05:28 | |
Sometimes the potatoes that we'd buy in the supermarket have been there up to six months. | 0:05:28 | 0:05:33 | |
Of course, to finish the champ... | 0:05:33 | 0:05:35 | |
..in Ireland, we just need a wee bit of butter... | 0:05:37 | 0:05:40 | |
-Yeah. -..and I'd just put some salt and pepper into that. | 0:05:40 | 0:05:43 | |
That looks absolutely amazing. | 0:05:43 | 0:05:47 | |
-Who says vegetarians have got a short deal? -That's a good point! | 0:05:47 | 0:05:50 | |
That's fantastic, you know. | 0:05:50 | 0:05:51 | |
That's just to die for. | 0:05:51 | 0:05:54 | |
Stephen, you're killing me. Please can I try them? | 0:05:54 | 0:05:57 | |
-Of course you can. There's a spoon there. -A spoon here. | 0:05:57 | 0:06:00 | |
This bit, I'm looking forward to. | 0:06:00 | 0:06:03 | |
Here we go. Dive in. | 0:06:03 | 0:06:05 | |
-I've got a whopping bit there. -That's OK. | 0:06:05 | 0:06:08 | |
-Mmm. That's fantastic. -Yeah. | 0:06:10 | 0:06:13 | |
You just, to be perfectly honest, for a wee supper dish, you could just have a bowl of that. | 0:06:13 | 0:06:17 | |
Salt and pepper, job done. | 0:06:17 | 0:06:19 | |
To read your face, you're enjoying that. That's all I need. Thank you. | 0:06:19 | 0:06:23 | |
Fabulous. | 0:06:23 | 0:06:24 | |
Fresh, local produce at its very best. | 0:06:27 | 0:06:29 | |
If that's got your taste buds going, nearby Strangford Lough is renowned for its sensational seafood. | 0:06:29 | 0:06:36 | |
Local people have lived off marine life in Strangford Lough for centuries. | 0:06:39 | 0:06:44 | |
Now sea farming is being brought right up to date with new research into aquaculture. | 0:06:44 | 0:06:48 | |
Basically, that's underwater agriculture using the latest | 0:06:48 | 0:06:52 | |
scientific techniques to farm the lough in a sustainable way. | 0:06:52 | 0:06:56 | |
One such example is seaweed, which people have used for centuries in a huge variety of ways. | 0:06:58 | 0:07:04 | |
Dr Lynn Browne of Queen's University Marine Laboratory took me out to collect edible seaweed. | 0:07:05 | 0:07:10 | |
What sort of seaweed are we looking for today? | 0:07:13 | 0:07:15 | |
We're looking for a seaweed | 0:07:15 | 0:07:16 | |
which is called dulse, | 0:07:16 | 0:07:18 | |
the Latin name is Palmaria palmata | 0:07:18 | 0:07:20 | |
and it's a red seaweed which grows in Strangford Lough. | 0:07:20 | 0:07:23 | |
People have been gathering it for hundreds of years. | 0:07:23 | 0:07:25 | |
They have. The fleet from Portaferry was known as the butterfly fleet | 0:07:25 | 0:07:29 | |
because here were lots of little, brightly coloured punts which were rowed down the narrows | 0:07:29 | 0:07:34 | |
on the outgoing tide and these multi-coloured boats looked like butterflies going down the lough. | 0:07:34 | 0:07:40 | |
It can be eaten but there are other uses as well, aren't there? | 0:07:40 | 0:07:43 | |
Yes, seaweed actually has lots of different uses. | 0:07:43 | 0:07:46 | |
It's been used in the past in glass-making, soap making, | 0:07:46 | 0:07:50 | |
in bleaching linen, and also it has medical uses. | 0:07:50 | 0:07:54 | |
Dulse has been shown to have some anti-viral properties. | 0:07:54 | 0:07:58 | |
It's effective against herpes. | 0:07:58 | 0:07:59 | |
Also, seaweed is used in making ice creams and toothpaste and lots of very familiar products. | 0:07:59 | 0:08:05 | |
Gus Heath from Dolphin Sea Vegetables still harvests seaweed off the rocks in the traditional manner. | 0:08:05 | 0:08:12 | |
How much have you collected, Gus? | 0:08:12 | 0:08:14 | |
About 10 bags. | 0:08:14 | 0:08:16 | |
That's about all for this morning. | 0:08:16 | 0:08:18 | |
-How long did it take you? -Two hours. -You're very much governed by the weather, are you? | 0:08:18 | 0:08:23 | |
Very much governed by the weather and the tides. This is the dulse, the most popular one. | 0:08:23 | 0:08:28 | |
-Can you eat it raw like this? -Yes, yes. It's crispy. | 0:08:30 | 0:08:33 | |
-It's quite tasty. -Without it being treated? Let's have a look. | 0:08:33 | 0:08:37 | |
I haven't actually tasted that before. | 0:08:37 | 0:08:39 | |
Mmm, it is. | 0:08:40 | 0:08:42 | |
-It is good. -Yes. | 0:08:42 | 0:08:43 | |
On the banks of the lough in Portaferry is Queen's University Marine Laboratory, | 0:08:43 | 0:08:48 | |
where they're working to develop aquaculture as a sustainable industry. | 0:08:48 | 0:08:53 | |
They want to enable Gus to harvest seaweed all year round. | 0:08:53 | 0:08:56 | |
The team have experiments bubbling away. They're growing seaweed | 0:08:56 | 0:09:00 | |
and shellfish from seed with the aim of expanding sea farming in Northern Ireland. | 0:09:00 | 0:09:04 | |
Lynn has helped find a way to commercially farm dulse seaweed for the first time | 0:09:04 | 0:09:09 | |
by nurturing spores from the wild and then putting them out to grow on strings in Strangford Lough. | 0:09:09 | 0:09:14 | |
Is there any seaweed growing on the lines yet? | 0:09:14 | 0:09:16 | |
There's thousands of microscopic plants on these lines at the moment. | 0:09:16 | 0:09:20 | |
You can't see them because we just put them out there about a week ago, but in about two months the plants | 0:09:20 | 0:09:25 | |
will be 10 centimetres long, and after about six months the plants will be approximately this size. | 0:09:25 | 0:09:32 | |
You can see this lovely, clean material that we harvested earlier on. | 0:09:32 | 0:09:36 | |
This is what we'll find on our lines. We've done this over several years and it works successfully. | 0:09:36 | 0:09:42 | |
One of the big aquaculture success stories around here | 0:09:47 | 0:09:50 | |
is this oyster farm on Sketrick Island which is on the western shore of Strangford Lough. | 0:09:50 | 0:09:56 | |
It produces 40,000 oysters every week. | 0:09:56 | 0:09:59 | |
It's run by John McElreavey over here who's harvesting the oysters at the moment. | 0:09:59 | 0:10:05 | |
John, you've been here for 20 years. | 0:10:05 | 0:10:07 | |
You supply all the big retailers, don't you, in the restaurants? | 0:10:07 | 0:10:10 | |
-Yes, we do, yes. -I love oysters but I didn't realise collecting them was so mucky. | 0:10:10 | 0:10:14 | |
Well, as you can see, it certainly is. | 0:10:14 | 0:10:16 | |
They're growing here in as near as possible to a natural environment. | 0:10:16 | 0:10:20 | |
We've just put them out. | 0:10:20 | 0:10:22 | |
-This is actually matting. You can see there. -Oh yes, I can. | 0:10:22 | 0:10:25 | |
The mud underneath is very soft, and if we lay the oysters in the mud | 0:10:25 | 0:10:28 | |
they would just bury into the mud and smother. | 0:10:28 | 0:10:31 | |
So we lay down this matting, we put the oysters on it and leave them there to happily grow. | 0:10:31 | 0:10:35 | |
And when the tide comes in, it covers them? | 0:10:35 | 0:10:38 | |
Yes, we're at low tide here now. | 0:10:38 | 0:10:40 | |
In about 6 hours' time there will be 12ft of water over here. | 0:10:40 | 0:10:43 | |
Obviously that helps to nurture them, bring them on? | 0:10:43 | 0:10:46 | |
Yes, there's a good flow of current here. | 0:10:46 | 0:10:49 | |
Good food and water, so they're quite happy here. | 0:10:49 | 0:10:52 | |
How long does it take for them to get to the required size? | 0:10:52 | 0:10:56 | |
With us it takes somewhere between two and three years. | 0:10:56 | 0:10:58 | |
These are all come out at the same size about four or five months ago, and you see the difference there. | 0:10:58 | 0:11:05 | |
-Why is that? -It's just the way they are. | 0:11:05 | 0:11:07 | |
Very variable rate of growth. | 0:11:07 | 0:11:08 | |
When you've picked enough and you bring them in, you wash them all off, | 0:11:08 | 0:11:12 | |
but there's another process you put them through, isn't there? | 0:11:12 | 0:11:15 | |
Yes, we do. We could take this oyster, simply wash the outside of the shell, | 0:11:15 | 0:11:19 | |
clean it up and sell that to anyone, to a restaurant or anyone to eat straight away. | 0:11:19 | 0:11:23 | |
Because of the quality of the water, the water classification is such | 0:11:23 | 0:11:26 | |
that these are fit for human consumption straight from the sea. | 0:11:26 | 0:11:29 | |
-Because it's so clean? -Yes. | 0:11:29 | 0:11:31 | |
You can't get much fresher than this. | 0:11:35 | 0:11:37 | |
Six of John's oysters from the waters of Strangford Lough, and on the side, | 0:11:37 | 0:11:41 | |
some seaweed bread, also from Strangford. | 0:11:41 | 0:11:45 | |
So here goes. | 0:11:45 | 0:11:47 | |
And even more delicious | 0:11:52 | 0:11:53 | |
because I've seen those lovely, clear waters that they were reared in. | 0:11:53 | 0:11:58 | |
Overlooking Strangford Lough stands the impressive Scrabo Tower with a history linked to the potato famine, | 0:12:05 | 0:12:12 | |
so I've travelled on to get a closer look. | 0:12:12 | 0:12:15 | |
This turreted tower stands at around 150 metres above sea level. | 0:12:16 | 0:12:22 | |
Its walls are over a metre thick and it's built entirely out of stone quarried from this hillside. | 0:12:22 | 0:12:29 | |
Erected in 1857, the tower was built by local people | 0:12:30 | 0:12:34 | |
as a monument to Charles William Stewart, the third marquis of Londonderry. | 0:12:34 | 0:12:40 | |
He was held in high regard for his attempts to alleviate suffering during the potato famine. | 0:12:40 | 0:12:46 | |
His generosity and kindness to his tenants gained him a level of respect | 0:12:46 | 0:12:50 | |
which wasn't commonly given to the landed gentry. The tower was built in his memory. | 0:12:50 | 0:12:54 | |
The views up here are stunning. | 0:12:57 | 0:12:59 | |
Just over in that direction is the huge expanse of the sea and, on a clear day like today, | 0:12:59 | 0:13:03 | |
behind me you can see right out to Scotland. | 0:13:03 | 0:13:06 | |
The rest of my journey is going to take me up this coast past the town of Hillsborough, | 0:13:06 | 0:13:11 | |
where Ben Fogle ate more than his fill of oysters. | 0:13:11 | 0:13:15 | |
The Hillsborough Oyster Festival is in its 12th year, | 0:13:15 | 0:13:20 | |
and its oyster eating championship has attracted competitors from 11 different countries. | 0:13:20 | 0:13:25 | |
And me. | 0:13:25 | 0:13:27 | |
This is it, the main event of the day, | 0:13:27 | 0:13:29 | |
the World Oyster Eating Championships. | 0:13:29 | 0:13:32 | |
Last year, they managed 187 in three minutes. | 0:13:32 | 0:13:35 | |
Is he swallowing them all? | 0:13:42 | 0:13:44 | |
Six, five, four... | 0:13:49 | 0:13:52 | |
Yes! Well done, well done! Give them a round of applause, | 0:13:53 | 0:13:57 | |
-ladies and gentlemen. That's fantastic. -How did you do on that? | 0:13:57 | 0:14:00 | |
-How many did you get? -135. | 0:14:00 | 0:14:03 | |
How is that compared to your normal sort of eating? | 0:14:03 | 0:14:06 | |
Normal? I've never eaten that many. | 0:14:06 | 0:14:09 | |
You get to a level where your body just says, "No more." | 0:14:09 | 0:14:12 | |
When did it say that to you? After roughly how many? | 0:14:12 | 0:14:17 | |
-Around 80. -Oh...! | 0:14:17 | 0:14:18 | |
Go! | 0:14:20 | 0:14:22 | |
Here they go. | 0:14:22 | 0:14:24 | |
Ben is doing all right, I think. | 0:14:24 | 0:14:26 | |
I detect signs of weakening. | 0:14:26 | 0:14:28 | |
I must say, Ben is very polite. | 0:14:28 | 0:14:30 | |
He's cleaning his fingers after every one. | 0:14:30 | 0:14:33 | |
The fellow had his lunch before he came up here. | 0:14:33 | 0:14:35 | |
The stout is coming up. Always a sign of weakness. | 0:14:35 | 0:14:38 | |
He reaches for the stout. | 0:14:38 | 0:14:41 | |
What's the time like there? How's the time? | 0:14:41 | 0:14:44 | |
A sign of good taste when you reach for the stout. Two minutes to go. | 0:14:44 | 0:14:47 | |
-Two minutes to go? -One, one minute to go. | 0:14:47 | 0:14:50 | |
You don't know how horrible this is. | 0:14:50 | 0:14:52 | |
-There's a man up there at the end. -Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, | 0:14:52 | 0:14:59 | |
three, two, one, zero. | 0:14:59 | 0:15:03 | |
No more, no more, no more! | 0:15:03 | 0:15:06 | |
Argh! | 0:15:06 | 0:15:09 | |
That was horrid. | 0:15:09 | 0:15:11 | |
-Ben, how do you feel? Do you feel OK? -No. | 0:15:11 | 0:15:13 | |
No. No. | 0:15:13 | 0:15:15 | |
-That was horrible. -You didn't do... -I finished a tray. | 0:15:15 | 0:15:18 | |
That's about 40... About 40, I'd say. About 42, 43. | 0:15:18 | 0:15:23 | |
Has he eaten those or did you regurgitate those? | 0:15:23 | 0:15:26 | |
That was horrible. | 0:15:30 | 0:15:32 | |
Ben Fogle has scored 52. | 0:15:32 | 0:15:34 | |
Give him a round of applause, ladies and gentlemen. 52, yes. | 0:15:34 | 0:15:38 | |
How great is that? | 0:15:38 | 0:15:40 | |
-Excellent, well done. -Absolutely brilliant. There you are. | 0:15:40 | 0:15:43 | |
Go one, give him a big round of applause, please. | 0:15:43 | 0:15:46 | |
'This year's winner guzzled an astounding 171 oysters | 0:15:46 | 0:15:49 | |
'and took the cup home for Wales.' | 0:15:49 | 0:15:52 | |
Well, what a brilliant day at the Oyster Festival here in Hillsborough. | 0:15:52 | 0:15:56 | |
Though I have to say, I think I'm going to leave oyster eating to the professionals. | 0:15:56 | 0:16:00 | |
I'm going to go and have a little lie down. | 0:16:00 | 0:16:03 | |
Leaving the oysters of Hillsborough | 0:16:05 | 0:16:07 | |
and Scrabo Tower behind, | 0:16:07 | 0:16:09 | |
I've headed north to Larne. | 0:16:09 | 0:16:10 | |
For the next leg of my journey | 0:16:10 | 0:16:12 | |
I'm going to travel | 0:16:12 | 0:16:13 | |
along the Antrim Coast Road, | 0:16:13 | 0:16:15 | |
said to be | 0:16:15 | 0:16:16 | |
one of the greatest | 0:16:16 | 0:16:17 | |
tourist attractions in Northern Ireland. | 0:16:17 | 0:16:20 | |
'And with petrol prices on the increase, I'm going electric. | 0:16:20 | 0:16:23 | |
'I'm joined by Olivier Vander-Elst, whose company promotes the use of electric cars in Ireland.' | 0:16:23 | 0:16:29 | |
SHE CHUCKLES | 0:16:29 | 0:16:31 | |
-And off we go! As quiet as a mouse. -That's it. Just a whizz. | 0:16:31 | 0:16:35 | |
So, Olivier, this is a bit of a departure, isn't it, | 0:16:35 | 0:16:38 | |
to take an electric car out of a city and on to the country roads? | 0:16:38 | 0:16:41 | |
It certainly is. | 0:16:41 | 0:16:43 | |
In London you have all the cars, 1,200 of them, in the city. | 0:16:43 | 0:16:47 | |
In Ireland we've had pioneers from all around the country driving the cars in a rural environment, | 0:16:47 | 0:16:52 | |
as long as the distances are kept short. | 0:16:52 | 0:16:55 | |
Absolutely. From a practical point of view, | 0:16:55 | 0:16:58 | |
how easy is it to have one of these cars when it comes to refuelling and recharging, rather? | 0:16:58 | 0:17:04 | |
In truth, we've never had anybody run out of juice | 0:17:04 | 0:17:06 | |
because most of the charging happens at night in your house. | 0:17:06 | 0:17:10 | |
It's a problem when you have an apartment and you don't know | 0:17:10 | 0:17:13 | |
where to charge, and running cables through the windows, | 0:17:13 | 0:17:16 | |
but in a countryside environment, most people have their own driveways, | 0:17:16 | 0:17:20 | |
and they can just have an extension lead and charge up every night. | 0:17:20 | 0:17:24 | |
Absolutely. | 0:17:24 | 0:17:25 | |
'The Antrim Coast Road was built in the mid-19th century following the potato famine. | 0:17:26 | 0:17:30 | |
'It was primarily designed to make the glens more accessible, but thanks to the skill | 0:17:30 | 0:17:35 | |
'of designer Charles Lanyon, | 0:17:35 | 0:17:37 | |
'it also became one of the most beautiful scenic drives in the British Isles.' | 0:17:37 | 0:17:43 | |
I'm having a great time here. It really is very quiet, isn't it? I love it. | 0:17:43 | 0:17:47 | |
This is such a beautiful drive we've got here. | 0:17:47 | 0:17:50 | |
You've got plans with your company to allow tourists | 0:17:50 | 0:17:53 | |
to hire electric cars and come and enjoy these types of drives? | 0:17:53 | 0:17:56 | |
That's definitely a plan. | 0:17:56 | 0:17:58 | |
We just think it's a beautiful way to enjoy a natural, scenic environment like this. | 0:17:58 | 0:18:03 | |
There's many other coastal routes in Ireland that we'd like to explore with electric vehicles. | 0:18:03 | 0:18:09 | |
It goes really hand-in-hand with the landscape, without being an intrusive, big, combustion engine. | 0:18:09 | 0:18:16 | |
-That's it. It's peaceful, it's really peaceful. -It is. | 0:18:16 | 0:18:18 | |
It's quieter from the outside than it is inside. | 0:18:18 | 0:18:21 | |
That's the funny thing about this specific car, anyway. | 0:18:21 | 0:18:24 | |
Does that mean people step out in front of it like they would maybe a quiet milk float or a cyclist? | 0:18:24 | 0:18:29 | |
Do they not even know you're coming? | 0:18:29 | 0:18:31 | |
There can be a problem there. It hasn't been a problem so far | 0:18:31 | 0:18:34 | |
but because they're seeing a lot of cars coming in that will be electric, | 0:18:34 | 0:18:37 | |
they're going to put some fake sounds, engine sounds on those cars. | 0:18:37 | 0:18:43 | |
So far we've just been putting some additional noise | 0:18:43 | 0:18:46 | |
that you can trigger when you're in a pedestrian zone or something. | 0:18:46 | 0:18:51 | |
-And you have always got the horn. -You always have the horn. -Exactly. | 0:18:51 | 0:18:54 | |
That's great. I love that. | 0:18:54 | 0:18:56 | |
HORN BEEPS | 0:18:56 | 0:18:58 | |
'As our journey continues up the Antrim Coast Road | 0:18:59 | 0:19:02 | |
'we pass through the fishing village of Carnlough, | 0:19:02 | 0:19:05 | |
'where competition in the annual gig race is fierce.' | 0:19:05 | 0:19:08 | |
How long has the club been here, Alan? | 0:19:16 | 0:19:18 | |
We're at this club now present, probably been in 1950s, 60s. | 0:19:18 | 0:19:22 | |
It had been stopped during the war years, but they started to decide | 0:19:22 | 0:19:26 | |
it would be worthwhile bringing the club back into existence again, | 0:19:26 | 0:19:30 | |
so this is what we've done and we're still going now in the present. | 0:19:30 | 0:19:34 | |
And how long have gigs been used? | 0:19:34 | 0:19:36 | |
When did the rowing of gigs get started? | 0:19:36 | 0:19:38 | |
The rowing itself, they've been rowing from the late 1800s, | 0:19:38 | 0:19:42 | |
probably right up to the current day. | 0:19:42 | 0:19:44 | |
-Rowing has been a long time in existence, particularly along this coast. -These are very different. | 0:19:44 | 0:19:48 | |
-Tell me about them. -This basically is our traditional Antrim coast gig. | 0:19:48 | 0:19:53 | |
It's actually one of the oldest boats on the Irish coast. | 0:19:53 | 0:19:57 | |
It was 1903, it was built. | 0:19:57 | 0:19:59 | |
We've rowed that right through. The club, this really is | 0:19:59 | 0:20:02 | |
what our heritage is built upon, these boats here. | 0:20:02 | 0:20:05 | |
There's not so many of them on the Antrim coast nowadays, | 0:20:05 | 0:20:08 | |
but still they would be the main boat for the club to row. | 0:20:08 | 0:20:11 | |
But now we'd had to evolve into a design of boat which would accommodate | 0:20:11 | 0:20:16 | |
all the areas of our Irish coast and this is the boat they came up with. | 0:20:16 | 0:20:19 | |
It's easier to row. Any rower can row with this boat, | 0:20:19 | 0:20:23 | |
whereas this boat takes a lot more sort of skill and training to row it. | 0:20:23 | 0:20:28 | |
-It's beautifully made, isn't it, of wood? Wooden oars, too? -Wooden oars would have been the original oars. | 0:20:28 | 0:20:33 | |
We even sort of moved on to carbon fibre oars, as you see here. | 0:20:33 | 0:20:38 | |
-This is what we use nowadays. -Light and strong. -Yes, | 0:20:38 | 0:20:40 | |
but it wasn't so long ago that we did use these oars, maybe in the 1990s we'd have used these oars | 0:20:40 | 0:20:45 | |
which was a nice thing. | 0:20:45 | 0:20:46 | |
It would probably be nice to go back to that style again and restore these boats to their original style. | 0:20:46 | 0:20:52 | |
So there's a huge amount of heritage involved. Something you sound quite proud of? | 0:20:52 | 0:20:55 | |
There's a lot of heritage. You think, the boat's over 100 years old | 0:20:55 | 0:20:59 | |
and the crews that have rowed this boat over the years, hundreds of crews have rowed in this boat. | 0:20:59 | 0:21:04 | |
It's an honour to get to row a boat like this. | 0:21:04 | 0:21:07 | |
'A highlight of the gig racing year on the Antrim coast is the Round The Rock Challenge. | 0:21:09 | 0:21:14 | |
'Local teams race against the clock, rowing out to Black Rock in the bay and then back to Carnlough.' | 0:21:14 | 0:21:21 | |
-What's the record for going round the rock? -15 minutes 45 seconds. | 0:21:21 | 0:21:24 | |
And how far is it? | 0:21:24 | 0:21:26 | |
It's about a mile and an eighth. | 0:21:26 | 0:21:28 | |
That's quite a way, isn't it? | 0:21:28 | 0:21:30 | |
About two and a quarter mile. | 0:21:30 | 0:21:31 | |
-And when was that set, that record? -1926. | 0:21:31 | 0:21:35 | |
How come people haven't beaten it since? | 0:21:35 | 0:21:38 | |
People must now be bigger and stronger and better boats? | 0:21:38 | 0:21:40 | |
That's the problem. People are much heavier, much stronger. | 0:21:40 | 0:21:44 | |
But if you were over eight stone at that time, the coach | 0:21:44 | 0:21:47 | |
would have put you out. The boat was sitting on top of the water. | 0:21:47 | 0:21:50 | |
What was it like going back a few years, then, with the competition down here in the races you have? | 0:21:50 | 0:21:55 | |
They were fantastic. | 0:21:55 | 0:21:57 | |
There were boats on every village right up the coast, | 0:21:57 | 0:22:00 | |
from Larne to Cushendun | 0:22:00 | 0:22:02 | |
and the competition was really tight. Even within the village | 0:22:02 | 0:22:05 | |
we had a boat which was out there, and the village boat, | 0:22:05 | 0:22:09 | |
and the competition between them was powerful. | 0:22:09 | 0:22:13 | |
'Today there's still an element of rivalry between teams, but it seems that it's all pretty friendly stuff.' | 0:22:13 | 0:22:19 | |
It's friendly rivalry but you want to beat them and they want to beat us. It's good fun out of the boats, | 0:22:19 | 0:22:24 | |
but when you get in the boat | 0:22:24 | 0:22:25 | |
and you're looking across the start line at them, you definitely want to beat them. | 0:22:25 | 0:22:30 | |
I've been invited to have a go with the Carnlough team, | 0:22:34 | 0:22:37 | |
and this boat is over 100 years old so it's quite an honour. | 0:22:37 | 0:22:40 | |
With my farming physique it shouldn't be too much trouble, | 0:22:40 | 0:22:43 | |
although I've never rowed a boat before in my life, so let's hope we don't sink. | 0:22:43 | 0:22:47 | |
'I'd wanted to try and race to the rock, but choppy waters out at sea | 0:22:47 | 0:22:50 | |
'meant that it was just too dangerous, particularly for a first-timer like me. | 0:22:50 | 0:22:55 | |
'Instead, we went for a spin a little closer to the coast of Glencloy | 0:22:55 | 0:22:59 | |
'while Arnold gave me some much needed tuition.' | 0:22:59 | 0:23:01 | |
OK, guys, the conditions aren't too good for rowing, | 0:23:01 | 0:23:05 | |
but if you can try and get your timing good, and just keep the oar in the water. | 0:23:05 | 0:23:09 | |
I know it's not easy to feather, but if you could just try and watch the stroke in front of you. | 0:23:09 | 0:23:14 | |
Watch Niall's oar in front and try to get the timing with him. | 0:23:14 | 0:23:16 | |
'After a few tips, it was time to get up a bit of speed. | 0:23:16 | 0:23:21 | |
'I was having a great time.' | 0:23:25 | 0:23:27 | |
It's just wonderful when you get it right, but when you get it wrong you feel such a twerp. | 0:23:44 | 0:23:48 | |
I can understand how you can get the bug for this. | 0:23:48 | 0:23:51 | |
I'm tired but loving it. | 0:23:51 | 0:23:53 | |
Leaving Carnlough behind, we've turned off the coast road | 0:23:59 | 0:24:01 | |
and into Glenariff Forest Park, where my journey with Olivier comes to an end. | 0:24:01 | 0:24:06 | |
Leaving him to charge up his car, I'm heading off for a walk into the woods. | 0:24:06 | 0:24:11 | |
Glenariff is considered by many people to be the most beautiful of the nine Antrim glens. | 0:24:13 | 0:24:19 | |
Bisecting the park are two small rivers - the Inver and the Glenariff, | 0:24:19 | 0:24:23 | |
containing spectacular waterfalls tumbling through rocky, steep-sided gorges. | 0:24:23 | 0:24:27 | |
The wooded glen is too steep to have ever been cultivated, | 0:24:27 | 0:24:31 | |
so its natural beauty has been enjoyed by visitors for many years. | 0:24:31 | 0:24:36 | |
This wooden walkway was originally built in the Victorian era, and it's afforded visitors since then | 0:24:36 | 0:24:42 | |
the most wonderful views of the waterfalls. | 0:24:42 | 0:24:45 | |
The spray from these waterfalls provides | 0:24:51 | 0:24:53 | |
the perfect moist atmosphere for ferns and mosses to thrive. | 0:24:53 | 0:24:57 | |
All along this wall is great scented liverwort, and I'm told that it has a smell that's a combination | 0:25:02 | 0:25:08 | |
of mushrooms and liquorice, so I'm just going to give it a try, rub it between my fingers. | 0:25:08 | 0:25:14 | |
Ew! Mushroom and liquorice. | 0:25:15 | 0:25:18 | |
A vile combination. | 0:25:18 | 0:25:20 | |
But what I'm really interested in seeing is Semilimax pyrenaicus | 0:25:34 | 0:25:39 | |
which is a really rare snail that lives only in the Pyrenees | 0:25:39 | 0:25:43 | |
and a few places in Ireland, and this is one of those places. | 0:25:43 | 0:25:47 | |
It has a really small shell that it can't retract into | 0:25:47 | 0:25:51 | |
so it gives it the appearance of a snail and a slug, | 0:25:51 | 0:25:54 | |
and I've looked all over for it. | 0:25:54 | 0:25:56 | |
But it's very rare, it likes to live in the tiny cracks between rocks | 0:25:56 | 0:26:01 | |
and it's nocturnal. | 0:26:01 | 0:26:03 | |
I've got no chance. | 0:26:03 | 0:26:05 | |
This part of Ireland has a deep-rooted connection with the west coast of Scotland. | 0:26:08 | 0:26:12 | |
In fact, the shortest crossing is only 12 miles, | 0:26:12 | 0:26:16 | |
and, at one time, both coastlines were part of the same kingdom. | 0:26:16 | 0:26:21 | |
It was called Dalriada | 0:26:21 | 0:26:23 | |
and it came into being in the third century, | 0:26:23 | 0:26:25 | |
encompassing quite a large area of western Scotland | 0:26:25 | 0:26:29 | |
and the northeast coastal area of Ireland. | 0:26:29 | 0:26:31 | |
Strong cultural and economic links were formed between the two halves of the kingdom, | 0:26:31 | 0:26:36 | |
and these continued for 500 years or so | 0:26:36 | 0:26:39 | |
until the Irish side of Dalriada went into decline. | 0:26:39 | 0:26:42 | |
But the early Irish influence still remains strong in Scotland. | 0:26:42 | 0:26:46 | |
I hate to say this, John, and I hope the Scots won't take it wrong, | 0:26:46 | 0:26:51 | |
Scotland received its language from Ireland. | 0:26:51 | 0:26:55 | |
It received its political and legal system from Ireland | 0:26:55 | 0:26:59 | |
and it received much of its culture from Ireland, from these early dates. | 0:26:59 | 0:27:04 | |
-And what about whisky? -Certainly! | 0:27:04 | 0:27:06 | |
The whiskey was brought over by the Irish and adapted by the Scots. | 0:27:06 | 0:27:11 | |
You're only talking about 12 miles, John, just across there. | 0:27:11 | 0:27:15 | |
It was easy for them to go across by boat | 0:27:15 | 0:27:18 | |
either into the Isles or on to the Mull of Kintyre. | 0:27:18 | 0:27:21 | |
And when they went over there, they stayed there, didn't they? | 0:27:21 | 0:27:24 | |
There were indigenous peoples living there, but the Irish had a great influence on the area | 0:27:24 | 0:27:31 | |
and pushed the indigenous peoples back. | 0:27:31 | 0:27:34 | |
So they became Scotsmen? | 0:27:34 | 0:27:35 | |
The first Scotsmen were actually Irish. | 0:27:35 | 0:27:38 | |
In fact, John, up until the 12th century, if you were speaking | 0:27:38 | 0:27:42 | |
about a Scotsman, you were referring to an Irishman. | 0:27:42 | 0:27:46 | |
The Scots called themselves Caledonians, and all the culture | 0:27:46 | 0:27:51 | |
which was there on the western seaboard was actually Irish. | 0:27:51 | 0:27:56 | |
Over the water in Campbeltown, there's disappointment | 0:27:56 | 0:27:59 | |
that the ferry that used to link it to Ballycastle here has stopped running. | 0:27:59 | 0:28:04 | |
It means that businesses in Campbeltown can't cash in | 0:28:04 | 0:28:07 | |
on the tourist boom that's going on right along the Antrim coast. | 0:28:07 | 0:28:10 | |
In Ballycastle alone, visitors are bringing something like £12 million a year into the local economy. | 0:28:10 | 0:28:16 | |
One of the biggest draws is the Lammas Fair, | 0:28:16 | 0:28:20 | |
which has been held in Ballycastle every August for many centuries. | 0:28:20 | 0:28:24 | |
These pictures of the fair were taken back in the 1960s by Stanley Matchett who lives nearby. | 0:28:24 | 0:28:30 | |
The fair was originally a pagan festival to mark the end of summer | 0:28:30 | 0:28:35 | |
and the beginning of the harvest and, among other things on the stalls, | 0:28:35 | 0:28:39 | |
there's dulse - a dried, edible seaweed - and yellow man, a kind of cinder toffee. | 0:28:39 | 0:28:44 | |
The Antrim coast has lots of ruins for visitors to roam around, | 0:28:51 | 0:28:56 | |
like this place, Bonamargy Friary, with its legends of the Black Nun, Julia McQuillan. | 0:28:56 | 0:29:02 | |
Apparently the entrance to the friary used to be here and it was the Black Nun's dying wish, | 0:29:02 | 0:29:07 | |
round about three centuries ago, to be buried right here. | 0:29:07 | 0:29:11 | |
This headstone marks the spot. | 0:29:11 | 0:29:13 | |
It was an act of humility | 0:29:13 | 0:29:15 | |
so that people could walk on her grave for evermore. | 0:29:15 | 0:29:19 | |
She met a grisly end and became known as the Black Nun | 0:29:20 | 0:29:23 | |
because her dark ghost is said to haunt the friary outside Ballycastle. | 0:29:23 | 0:29:28 | |
Golf is one of the big attractions in the town which also has a newly developed marina. | 0:29:28 | 0:29:35 | |
Although it's quiet at this time of year, during the holiday months the streets are filled with tourists. | 0:29:35 | 0:29:40 | |
Last year, close on a million people came to the Antrim coast. | 0:29:40 | 0:29:44 | |
It's not hard to see why. There's one feature in particular which has made this area world famous. | 0:29:44 | 0:29:51 | |
This is it. Northern Ireland's number one tourist attraction, | 0:29:53 | 0:29:57 | |
the spectacular rock formation known as the Giant's Causeway. But how was it created? | 0:29:57 | 0:30:03 | |
If you imagine sitting here something like 60 million years ago, | 0:30:03 | 0:30:07 | |
in a river valley, and you've volcanoes | 0:30:07 | 0:30:10 | |
and eruptions of lava behind us, as they flowed into this | 0:30:10 | 0:30:14 | |
they formed a big, thick layer, about 300 metres deep, | 0:30:14 | 0:30:17 | |
and if you think of the top of a mud pool, | 0:30:17 | 0:30:20 | |
as it dries it gets cracks and they form regular patterns. | 0:30:20 | 0:30:24 | |
When you have lava that thick, those patterns go right down through as it cools slowly | 0:30:24 | 0:30:29 | |
and you get these columns formed. | 0:30:29 | 0:30:31 | |
-How many are there? Anybody ever counted them? -Oh, 400,000, 5 million, who knows?! | 0:30:31 | 0:30:36 | |
The strange thing is, they're so perfectly formed, aren't they? | 0:30:36 | 0:30:40 | |
They look as though they've been hand carved. | 0:30:40 | 0:30:42 | |
The crucial thing is this slow cooling which gives you this columnar structure. | 0:30:42 | 0:30:46 | |
It happens elsewhere, but is particularly good here in the Giant's Causeway. | 0:30:46 | 0:30:50 | |
Of course, it looks hand carved and some of the early legends reflect that. | 0:30:50 | 0:30:55 | |
What sort of legends? | 0:30:55 | 0:30:56 | |
The most famous one is Finn McCool, who was a warrior chief and a giant in this area. | 0:30:56 | 0:31:02 | |
He heard about another warrior chief in Scotland, Benandonner, | 0:31:02 | 0:31:05 | |
decided he'd build the causeway across to have a battle with him. | 0:31:05 | 0:31:08 | |
The trouble was, when he got to the other side, | 0:31:08 | 0:31:11 | |
Benandonner was bigger than him so he ran back across the causeway, | 0:31:11 | 0:31:14 | |
went up to the missus and said, "What am I going to do?" She dressed him up as a baby, put him in a cot | 0:31:14 | 0:31:19 | |
and when Benandonner got here, he said, "Where's Finn McCool?" | 0:31:19 | 0:31:23 | |
She said, "He's out for today but the baby's here in the cot." | 0:31:23 | 0:31:26 | |
When he saw the size of the baby, of course, he decided, "I'm out of here." | 0:31:26 | 0:31:30 | |
He headed for Scotland, and broke the causeway up after him. | 0:31:30 | 0:31:34 | |
Lovely story, isn't it? | 0:31:34 | 0:31:35 | |
How many visitors do you get here now in a year? | 0:31:35 | 0:31:38 | |
We're looking at 500,000 visitors this year coming to see the causeway and the World Heritage Site. | 0:31:38 | 0:31:43 | |
Now that peace has returned to Northern Ireland, has that made a big difference? | 0:31:43 | 0:31:48 | |
Yes it has. Gradually, the numbers have been building and, as I say, it's at around 500,000. | 0:31:48 | 0:31:52 | |
Along with agriculture, tourism is vital to the economy of this region, | 0:31:52 | 0:31:58 | |
and it's likely to become the most important source of income in the future. | 0:31:58 | 0:32:01 | |
That sets up some challenges. | 0:32:01 | 0:32:04 | |
To cope with the growth in tourism, you're planning a brand new visitor centre here at Giant's Causeway. | 0:32:04 | 0:32:11 | |
But this is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. How do you square the two? | 0:32:11 | 0:32:14 | |
There has been a long-standing problem | 0:32:14 | 0:32:17 | |
to get the balance between tourism and environmental protection. | 0:32:17 | 0:32:20 | |
We feel... Given our past history here, John, | 0:32:20 | 0:32:25 | |
we've had our troubles, there hasn't been over-development. | 0:32:25 | 0:32:28 | |
Our tourism industry hasn't grown at the same rate | 0:32:28 | 0:32:31 | |
as our colleagues in England, Scotland, Wales | 0:32:31 | 0:32:34 | |
and in the south of Ireland, so we're now in a position where we can look to their good practices. | 0:32:34 | 0:32:41 | |
Not make any mistakes that they might make. | 0:32:41 | 0:32:43 | |
Look at the good things they've done | 0:32:43 | 0:32:45 | |
and hopefully use those good practices to develop our facilities here. | 0:32:45 | 0:32:49 | |
The present one does stand out quite a bit, doesn't it? Will the new one blend in much more? | 0:32:49 | 0:32:55 | |
The new facility will be highly camouflaged, even the car parking won't be that visible. | 0:32:55 | 0:33:00 | |
So we have an integrated scheme | 0:33:00 | 0:33:03 | |
that, by and large, marries into this very sensitive environment. | 0:33:03 | 0:33:09 | |
The problem is that many visitors just come for the day to the causeway and Ballycastle, | 0:33:09 | 0:33:14 | |
and now the target is to persuade them to stay for a few days. | 0:33:14 | 0:33:18 | |
But certainly things are looking good for the future. | 0:33:18 | 0:33:21 | |
Just a few miles further north from the Giant's Causeway, | 0:33:27 | 0:33:30 | |
the dramatic ruins of Dunluce Castle loom into view. | 0:33:30 | 0:33:35 | |
A prime location for any aspiring warlord, the ruins have sat on the North Antrim cliffs for centuries. | 0:33:35 | 0:33:42 | |
It was originally built by Richard De Burgh, | 0:33:42 | 0:33:45 | |
but is best known for its long association with the Scottish MacDonald clan. | 0:33:45 | 0:33:49 | |
But for the first time ever, a scientific archaeological dig is taking place here in the grounds | 0:33:50 | 0:33:56 | |
to reveal more of Dunluce's remarkable history. | 0:33:56 | 0:34:00 | |
Would you like a bucket and trowel? | 0:34:00 | 0:34:03 | |
'Archaeologist Dr Colin Breen has invited me to help out.' | 0:34:03 | 0:34:06 | |
OK, we're going to start down here on the main surface of the road, | 0:34:08 | 0:34:11 | |
probably the most visually exciting part of this site at the moment. | 0:34:11 | 0:34:15 | |
So if we step around the trench... | 0:34:15 | 0:34:18 | |
The excavations at Dunluce have caused great excitement amongst archaeologists | 0:34:18 | 0:34:22 | |
by uncovering the beautifully preserved remains of a 17th-century deserted town. | 0:34:22 | 0:34:27 | |
I've never done archaeological work before, so you'll have to tell me what I do. | 0:34:27 | 0:34:31 | |
-We'll probably destroy some of the glamour of it. -I'm sure not. | 0:34:31 | 0:34:35 | |
It's not exactly Indiana Jones explores the remote North Atlantic. | 0:34:35 | 0:34:39 | |
If you take your kneeling mat | 0:34:39 | 0:34:41 | |
and you take that and you just kneel on both legs, | 0:34:41 | 0:34:46 | |
normally what we'll do is we'll take about a metre of area ourselves. | 0:34:46 | 0:34:50 | |
OK, so that's my area. | 0:34:50 | 0:34:52 | |
So you're going to trowel from there and I'll trowel from here. | 0:34:52 | 0:34:55 | |
You take your trowel, but we're going to move it back like that, | 0:34:55 | 0:34:59 | |
rather than digging into the surface. | 0:34:59 | 0:35:01 | |
There's always the potential, if you dig into the surface, to break material, | 0:35:01 | 0:35:06 | |
and there's a huge amount of artefactual material coming up from the site, so we need to be gentle. | 0:35:06 | 0:35:10 | |
So it's kind of a scraping action? | 0:35:10 | 0:35:12 | |
It's a scraping. You're essentially breaking up the sediment. | 0:35:12 | 0:35:17 | |
I see. Why has this site never been dug before? | 0:35:17 | 0:35:20 | |
There's a lot of reasons. | 0:35:20 | 0:35:23 | |
It's probably the most iconic site in the whole Northern Irish coastline, as you've seen. | 0:35:23 | 0:35:27 | |
-It's spectacular. -It's incredibly important. | 0:35:27 | 0:35:29 | |
One of the reasons why nothing's ever happened on it is because of its importance. | 0:35:29 | 0:35:34 | |
Archaeologists will firmly believe in conservation. | 0:35:34 | 0:35:37 | |
We know that once we start the process of excavation, it's essentially destruction. | 0:35:37 | 0:35:41 | |
You're essentially breaking down through a site. | 0:35:41 | 0:35:44 | |
When we've got the site as important as this, we tend to try and preserve it in situ. | 0:35:44 | 0:35:48 | |
The incredible thing about this area | 0:35:48 | 0:35:51 | |
is that the whole landscape we have around us is essentially a deserted town. | 0:35:51 | 0:35:56 | |
So we've focused in on one small area of that deserted town | 0:35:56 | 0:36:00 | |
and begun excavating it and unravelling its secrets. | 0:36:00 | 0:36:04 | |
Has what you've found here been what you expected to find? | 0:36:04 | 0:36:07 | |
Even more so. | 0:36:07 | 0:36:09 | |
We knew from the survey that we were going to probably find house sites and remnants of the deserted town, | 0:36:09 | 0:36:16 | |
but we never thought it would be as well preserved as this. | 0:36:16 | 0:36:19 | |
Look in front of us, that's a beautifully preserved 17th-century cobbled surface. | 0:36:19 | 0:36:25 | |
That surface was essentially abandoned in the 1660s, and it hasn't been used since that time. | 0:36:25 | 0:36:32 | |
The house next to us was abandoned probably in the 1680s and it hasn't been touched. | 0:36:32 | 0:36:36 | |
It's very rare within archaeology to come across a site which has been so well preserved. | 0:36:36 | 0:36:42 | |
Remember, we're only looking at a tiny fragment of the site. | 0:36:42 | 0:36:45 | |
We estimate that we're probably excavating something like 0.5% of the whole of the town. | 0:36:45 | 0:36:50 | |
If you opened up this whole area, across this whole landscape, | 0:36:50 | 0:36:54 | |
you're essentially looking at the very well preserved remains | 0:36:54 | 0:36:57 | |
of a 17th-century town, which has just been abandoned, | 0:36:57 | 0:37:01 | |
deserted, almost like a Northern Irish Pompeii. | 0:37:01 | 0:37:05 | |
It is incredibly painstaking work. | 0:37:05 | 0:37:07 | |
I think I've revealed about a centimetre of a stone. | 0:37:07 | 0:37:11 | |
Yeah. I think people underestimate the sheer quantity of work that actually takes place. | 0:37:11 | 0:37:16 | |
Absolutely right. Absolutely. | 0:37:16 | 0:37:19 | |
Smaller excavations around the castle have unearthed | 0:37:19 | 0:37:22 | |
even earlier material, dating back as far as Anglo-Norman times. | 0:37:22 | 0:37:27 | |
As work continues, more and more of the history of Dunluce could be uncovered. | 0:37:27 | 0:37:32 | |
This rope bridge which links one of the most northerly parts of Northern Ireland | 0:37:35 | 0:37:40 | |
to the tiny island of Carrick-a-Rede | 0:37:40 | 0:37:42 | |
was originally built by salmon fishermen. | 0:37:42 | 0:37:45 | |
Not sporting types who used rod and line | 0:37:45 | 0:37:48 | |
but working fishermen earning a living. | 0:37:48 | 0:37:51 | |
They crossed this bridge to reach their nets. | 0:37:51 | 0:37:54 | |
Every year for the last 400 years, fishermen have come here to set their nets. | 0:38:21 | 0:38:26 | |
What happens is that one end of a large net is fixed here, | 0:38:27 | 0:38:31 | |
and the net itself is dragged out to sea a few hundred yards. | 0:38:31 | 0:38:35 | |
Migrating salmon are caught in it before they get the chance to spawn in the rivers. | 0:38:35 | 0:38:40 | |
Now this kind of salmon fishing could soon be coming to an end. | 0:38:40 | 0:38:44 | |
Basically, there's nothing wrong with catching salmon in nets, | 0:38:45 | 0:38:50 | |
except in this case, they are catching huge numbers of fish. | 0:38:50 | 0:38:54 | |
They are catching fish not just going to rivers that have healthy stocks, | 0:38:54 | 0:38:59 | |
but also to rivers that have depleted stocks or are seriously threatened. We can't have that. | 0:38:59 | 0:39:04 | |
The campaign to save the wild salmon started here in the glacier-fed waters of the River Laxa in Iceland. | 0:39:07 | 0:39:14 | |
Orri Vigfusson, millionaire owner of a vodka factory in Reykjavik, | 0:39:14 | 0:39:19 | |
began to notice that in his favourite place to fish there wasn't as much to catch. | 0:39:19 | 0:39:24 | |
Like many other sports fishermen, he puts everything back alive into the river. | 0:39:24 | 0:39:28 | |
But he knew that commercial netsmen were catching thousands of wild salmon | 0:39:28 | 0:39:33 | |
and were threatening the stocks, so he decided to take action. | 0:39:33 | 0:39:36 | |
We saw the resource dwindling away, | 0:39:36 | 0:39:39 | |
disappearing before our eyes, so we decided to set up | 0:39:39 | 0:39:42 | |
the North Atlantic Salmon Fund and use commercial methods, | 0:39:42 | 0:39:46 | |
and offer compensation to the netsmen which they couldn't refuse. | 0:39:46 | 0:39:51 | |
Initially, we started negotiating with the fishermen | 0:39:51 | 0:39:55 | |
on the winter feeding grounds in Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. | 0:39:55 | 0:39:59 | |
They co-operated and we won that. | 0:39:59 | 0:40:01 | |
We then had to target the netsmen in this part of the world | 0:40:01 | 0:40:06 | |
before the salmon were able to go back to their native rivers | 0:40:06 | 0:40:10 | |
in Ireland, in the UK and European countries. | 0:40:10 | 0:40:14 | |
Netsmen in Norway, Wales and south-west England have already been persuaded by the crusading Icelander | 0:40:14 | 0:40:19 | |
to give up their fishing licences. Now he's turning his attention | 0:40:19 | 0:40:23 | |
to Northern Ireland, where rivers like the Bush are seriously depleted. | 0:40:23 | 0:40:27 | |
Already the fund, which has financial backing from anglers and landowners with an interest in salmon fishing, | 0:40:27 | 0:40:33 | |
as well as from his own deep pocket, has paid out nearly £15 million in compensation around Europe. | 0:40:33 | 0:40:39 | |
How much does it cost on average to persuade one of these netsmen to give up? | 0:40:39 | 0:40:44 | |
We figure out how long they've been in business, what their catch records are, | 0:40:44 | 0:40:50 | |
how many more years of active life they've got in the industry | 0:40:50 | 0:40:54 | |
and how easy it is for them to get other jobs. | 0:40:54 | 0:40:56 | |
Here in Northern Ireland, what's the ballpark figure? | 0:40:56 | 0:40:59 | |
I think it could be anything from... | 0:40:59 | 0:41:02 | |
..£2,000 up to £200,000. | 0:41:04 | 0:41:08 | |
The life-cycle of the wild salmon is an extraordinary one. | 0:41:10 | 0:41:14 | |
They spend the first two years of life in fresh water, in rivers like the Bush. | 0:41:14 | 0:41:18 | |
Then, they begin a long and hazardous journey which takes them first downriver to the sea. | 0:41:18 | 0:41:24 | |
They swim for 1,000 miles or more to their winter feeding grounds around Iceland and Greenland. | 0:41:25 | 0:41:31 | |
Then, in the spring, they return to spawn in the exact spot where they were born. | 0:41:31 | 0:41:37 | |
But on the Bush, as on scores of other rivers all around Europe, | 0:41:37 | 0:41:41 | |
far fewer are making it back home. | 0:41:41 | 0:41:44 | |
At the government research station on the River Bush, scientists are carrying out a long-term survey. | 0:41:45 | 0:41:51 | |
Young fish are micro-tagged on their way downriver. | 0:41:51 | 0:41:54 | |
When they return as adults, they are counted. | 0:41:54 | 0:41:58 | |
The results confirm something is seriously wrong. | 0:41:58 | 0:42:01 | |
Ten years ago, | 0:42:01 | 0:42:03 | |
about a third of these fish, 33%, would have made it back to the coast | 0:42:03 | 0:42:06 | |
and tried to enter freshwater to spawn. | 0:42:06 | 0:42:09 | |
Now in the last four years, that has dropped to about 10% to 12%. | 0:42:09 | 0:42:12 | |
Where do the salmon netters come into this? | 0:42:12 | 0:42:15 | |
Whatever fish are being produced, some are taken by salmon netters | 0:42:15 | 0:42:19 | |
and are taken again when they come back, by anglers. | 0:42:19 | 0:42:23 | |
When a stock is healthy, it can sustain a high level of exploitation | 0:42:23 | 0:42:27 | |
wherever that happens to be. | 0:42:27 | 0:42:28 | |
When a stock is under the pressures we see on the River Bush, you have to scale back on the exploitation, | 0:42:28 | 0:42:34 | |
or you are chancing to drive the stock further down towards destruction. | 0:42:34 | 0:42:38 | |
Salmon fishing has endured for over 2,000 years. | 0:42:42 | 0:42:46 | |
Initially, it was mainly to sustain the families who settled | 0:42:46 | 0:42:50 | |
all the way along our coastline in ancient times. | 0:42:50 | 0:42:54 | |
Bertie McKay's family first began salmon netting here many years generations ago. | 0:42:54 | 0:42:59 | |
He retired when catches began to dwindle. | 0:42:59 | 0:43:02 | |
Now nearly all of Northern Ireland's 40-odd netsmen are taking the compensation and following him. | 0:43:02 | 0:43:09 | |
Those who have sold out, there was no other alternative for them. | 0:43:09 | 0:43:16 | |
Stocks have declined so much. | 0:43:16 | 0:43:19 | |
The industry was grinding to a halt. | 0:43:19 | 0:43:22 | |
It just wasn't viable any more. | 0:43:22 | 0:43:24 | |
The campaign has also been targeting netsmen in north-east England, | 0:43:24 | 0:43:27 | |
who intercept salmon on their way to Scottish rivers. | 0:43:27 | 0:43:30 | |
Talks have been going on with 52 netsmen there, | 0:43:30 | 0:43:34 | |
and an announcement is expected this week, buying them out at a cost of more than £3 million, | 0:43:34 | 0:43:39 | |
raised by Orri Vigfusson's fund and the government. | 0:43:39 | 0:43:42 | |
A great success, but the biggest battle is still to come. | 0:43:42 | 0:43:46 | |
I'm on a ferry crossing Lough Foyle, the border between | 0:43:46 | 0:43:50 | |
Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. | 0:43:50 | 0:43:53 | |
Lough Foyle has the biggest run of salmon anywhere in north-west Europe, | 0:43:53 | 0:43:57 | |
and many of the fishermen in the Republic are not at all happy | 0:43:57 | 0:44:00 | |
about the prospect of having to give up their licences. | 0:44:00 | 0:44:03 | |
These fishermen spend much of the year catching shellfish. | 0:44:03 | 0:44:07 | |
But for two months in early summer, they switch to salmon. | 0:44:07 | 0:44:10 | |
Gerard Kelly's family is one of the oldest in this fishing community. | 0:44:10 | 0:44:15 | |
It's a way of life for the people who live in this area. | 0:44:15 | 0:44:18 | |
It's what they've done for generations before this. | 0:44:18 | 0:44:21 | |
They are only custodians of the right to go to fish | 0:44:21 | 0:44:24 | |
and they hope to pass that right on to the future generations. | 0:44:24 | 0:44:28 | |
The salmon they take is not just going to the Irish rivers, | 0:44:28 | 0:44:31 | |
it's going to Scotland, to Wales and all around the English coast. | 0:44:31 | 0:44:36 | |
And the salmon is also going to the rivers of Spain, France and Germany. | 0:44:36 | 0:44:41 | |
Why shouldn't these countries or regions also be allowed to restock their salmon stocks? | 0:44:41 | 0:44:46 | |
For this project to succeed all around Europe, | 0:44:46 | 0:44:49 | |
it needs all netsmen to say, "I'll call it a day," doesn't it? | 0:44:49 | 0:44:53 | |
I think that's a sign of failure of management, when you have to give something up. | 0:44:53 | 0:44:58 | |
We have spent a lot of time reducing our fishing effort, areas, | 0:44:58 | 0:45:04 | |
access to stocks. | 0:45:04 | 0:45:06 | |
We think we've got a happy medium now. | 0:45:06 | 0:45:09 | |
We've got a stability in the stock and with a bit of management | 0:45:09 | 0:45:13 | |
upstream in the nursery areas, it can definitely improve in this area. | 0:45:13 | 0:45:17 | |
Orri Vigfusson accepts there's room for a few well-managed netting operations, | 0:45:17 | 0:45:22 | |
but there are 1,400 netsmen in the Republic. | 0:45:22 | 0:45:25 | |
It's the last remaining stronghold. | 0:45:25 | 0:45:27 | |
He insists they can't continue on that scale. | 0:45:27 | 0:45:30 | |
The objective of the fund and all my collaborators throughout the world is to fill the rivers. | 0:45:30 | 0:45:37 | |
We want abundance, we want every river, every pool, filled with salmon, like we had 100 years ago. | 0:45:37 | 0:45:43 | |
But in Ireland, the government has yet to show any support, so it looks like being | 0:45:43 | 0:45:47 | |
a long final battle for the Icelander who could well be remembered | 0:45:47 | 0:45:52 | |
as the saviour of the wild salmon. | 0:45:52 | 0:45:54 | |
Since 2003, Orri has continued his work to preserve salmon stocks | 0:45:57 | 0:46:01 | |
and there are now only 14 drift-net licences in operation in Northern Ireland. | 0:46:01 | 0:46:06 | |
He hopes to have bought out the remaining nets in the next two to three years. | 0:46:06 | 0:46:12 | |
I've left Dunluce Castle behind and travelled on to Portrush, | 0:46:12 | 0:46:16 | |
where I end my journey, in a pub and with music. | 0:46:16 | 0:46:20 | |
The music of this part of Ireland has a strong connection with the traditional music of Scotland, | 0:46:29 | 0:46:35 | |
and indeed, this regular session here in Portrush | 0:46:35 | 0:46:37 | |
is organised by Scotsman Dick Glasgow. | 0:46:37 | 0:46:42 | |
What instruments form a traditional Irish band? | 0:46:42 | 0:46:45 | |
The standard ones, you would get | 0:46:45 | 0:46:48 | |
fiddles and accordions, you would get banjos. | 0:46:48 | 0:46:52 | |
Whistles, flutes, pipes. | 0:46:52 | 0:46:55 | |
-Sorry, I'm miming everything! -That's all right, I'm getting the gist. | 0:46:55 | 0:46:59 | |
And of course, the bodhran is very popular as well. | 0:46:59 | 0:47:01 | |
The fiddle is one of the main ones. | 0:47:01 | 0:47:03 | |
Especially up here. The fiddle was very popular in Scotland | 0:47:03 | 0:47:07 | |
and it's hugely popular in Donegal, | 0:47:07 | 0:47:09 | |
and we're sort of in-between the two spots. It's been popular here. | 0:47:09 | 0:47:12 | |
The numbers of fiddle players have died down a wee bit unfortunately in this area, | 0:47:12 | 0:47:17 | |
but, um, partly to do with the Troubles and things, which is a shame. | 0:47:17 | 0:47:21 | |
That's the sort of range of instruments you get. And the harp. | 0:47:21 | 0:47:25 | |
Not often you find a harp, but in this part of the world a couple of people play the harp in sessions. | 0:47:25 | 0:47:30 | |
They're expensive and awkward in sessions. Small ones are grand. | 0:47:30 | 0:47:35 | |
You can sit back with them on your knee and play away. | 0:47:35 | 0:47:37 | |
It sounds like an awful lot, a huge variety of instruments. | 0:47:37 | 0:47:40 | |
Does that mean there's loads of people in a band playing at any one time? | 0:47:40 | 0:47:44 | |
This idea of the band, it's not actually a band. | 0:47:44 | 0:47:47 | |
The session is made up of whoever feels like coming out on the night. | 0:47:47 | 0:47:50 | |
There are usually two or three core musicians who tend to be there every week. | 0:47:50 | 0:47:54 | |
Then other musicians will come in and out | 0:47:54 | 0:47:57 | |
depending on what they're doing, what's on the telly, or they have to walk the dog or whatever. | 0:47:57 | 0:48:02 | |
You could have a session one week with three people, | 0:48:02 | 0:48:05 | |
the next week there might be a dozen playing. | 0:48:05 | 0:48:07 | |
This is one of the magic things about it. You don't know who's coming, especially in summer here. | 0:48:07 | 0:48:12 | |
We're on the tourist run in Northern Ireland and you never know | 0:48:12 | 0:48:15 | |
who'll walk in with something under their arm. | 0:48:15 | 0:48:18 | |
That must make a really different sound, depending on how many people show up each week. | 0:48:18 | 0:48:22 | |
It is. It keeps the whole thing alive and fresh. | 0:48:22 | 0:48:25 | |
Why has quite traditional Irish music stood the test of time? We are in 2009 now | 0:48:26 | 0:48:33 | |
and traditional music is still being played and enjoyed. | 0:48:33 | 0:48:36 | |
Because it's so good. | 0:48:36 | 0:48:38 | |
-It's very lively music. -Yeah. | 0:48:38 | 0:48:40 | |
We had a young student staying with us for a few months from Sweden | 0:48:40 | 0:48:43 | |
and she brought a fiddle, and she was keen to learn Irish music. | 0:48:43 | 0:48:47 | |
Of course, when she came to the sessions, she played some Swedish music. | 0:48:47 | 0:48:51 | |
I'm sure it's very charming music, but in comparison with Irish music, | 0:48:51 | 0:48:55 | |
it's kind of dour. It was very melancholy. | 0:48:55 | 0:48:58 | |
It's lovely music, but it's different, the sort of music you'd sit back and listen to and reflect. | 0:48:58 | 0:49:03 | |
Irish music, some of the areas you can do that with, | 0:49:03 | 0:49:06 | |
but it tends to be you tap your foot and you get involved and, "Here we go, this is great!" | 0:49:06 | 0:49:11 | |
People dancing. | 0:49:11 | 0:49:13 | |
It's a lively, friendly sort of music | 0:49:13 | 0:49:16 | |
and that's part of the magic and charm of it. | 0:49:16 | 0:49:18 | |
That's what gets people excited | 0:49:18 | 0:49:21 | |
and they really want to join in. | 0:49:21 | 0:49:23 | |
They would come along to a session, never playing an instrument before, but captivated by what's going on. | 0:49:23 | 0:49:29 | |
They see the bodhran being played with a little stick, and they think, "Anybody could do that." | 0:49:29 | 0:49:34 | |
The number of people that say, "Can I have a go on the bodhran?" | 0:49:34 | 0:49:37 | |
And they want to play along with it. | 0:49:37 | 0:49:39 | |
-Is it as easy as it looks? -No. -I bet it isn't. | 0:49:39 | 0:49:44 | |
My journey around the Antrim coast of Northern Ireland began | 0:49:57 | 0:50:01 | |
in the potato fields of Comber before I headed to Newtownards. | 0:50:01 | 0:50:05 | |
I drove the spectacular Antrim coast road from Larne to Glenariff. | 0:50:05 | 0:50:11 | |
Then I visited Dunluce Castle | 0:50:11 | 0:50:13 | |
before ending my travels here, in the seaside town of Portrush. | 0:50:13 | 0:50:18 | |
I've come to a traditional music session | 0:50:18 | 0:50:20 | |
where Scotsman Dick Glasgow has offered to give me a lesson on the bodhran. | 0:50:20 | 0:50:24 | |
I've got a couple here. There's a little one here | 0:50:24 | 0:50:27 | |
with a spar on the inside which is nice and easy to hold. | 0:50:27 | 0:50:30 | |
-Can you hold that? -Hold onto the bar? -Yeah, that's it. | 0:50:30 | 0:50:33 | |
-Just rest it on your leg. -Rest it on my knee. | 0:50:33 | 0:50:35 | |
-You're right handed, I take it? -Yes. -Yeah. | 0:50:35 | 0:50:38 | |
Then, if you hold on to the beater here. | 0:50:38 | 0:50:40 | |
It's just a standard beater that comes with it? | 0:50:40 | 0:50:43 | |
-It's just a double-ended stick. -Oh, right. | 0:50:43 | 0:50:45 | |
-Hold it a bit like a pencil. -Like this. | 0:50:45 | 0:50:49 | |
-And then hit down and up against the skin, like that. -Sort of brush it? | 0:50:49 | 0:50:53 | |
That's it, brush it up and down. | 0:50:53 | 0:50:55 | |
Oh, I'm not doing them both at the same kind of loudness. | 0:50:55 | 0:50:58 | |
The trick is to hit the one going down louder than the one up. | 0:50:58 | 0:51:02 | |
Then you're getting a bit of rhythm. | 0:51:02 | 0:51:05 | |
That's it. | 0:51:07 | 0:51:10 | |
-How's that? -That's 2-4 rhythm, so you could play all night. | 0:51:10 | 0:51:13 | |
If people are playing polkas, you could join in all night long already. | 0:51:13 | 0:51:16 | |
You've just learned how to play polkas. | 0:51:16 | 0:51:18 | |
That's not too bad. What other rhythms are there? | 0:51:18 | 0:51:21 | |
The main rhythm in Irish sessions is 4-4, | 0:51:21 | 0:51:24 | |
so that's 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4. | 0:51:24 | 0:51:27 | |
Obviously it's a lot faster than that in a session, | 0:51:27 | 0:51:30 | |
but if you're learning, that's what you would start with. | 0:51:30 | 0:51:33 | |
-So one out of the four is the loudest? -One is the loud one, yes. | 0:51:33 | 0:51:35 | |
1, 2... Oh, I missed the second one. | 0:51:35 | 0:51:37 | |
1, 2, 3, 4. | 0:51:37 | 0:51:39 | |
If you think of those black and white cowboy movies, and the Indian drums. | 0:51:39 | 0:51:43 | |
-Yes. -That gets you going. | 0:51:43 | 0:51:44 | |
I think I've cracked it, but Dick shows me that I've still got a lot to learn. | 0:51:48 | 0:51:52 | |
Does this instrument dictate the tempo of the whole tune? | 0:51:57 | 0:52:01 | |
No, some bodhran players think it does, and that's where they get sticky. | 0:52:01 | 0:52:04 | |
-Right. -There's a love-hate relationship between musicians and bodhran players. | 0:52:04 | 0:52:09 | |
-Really? -Even the fact that I'm saying musicians and bodhran players would annoy them. -Separates us! -Yeah. | 0:52:09 | 0:52:15 | |
Of course, they class themselves as musicians, too. | 0:52:15 | 0:52:18 | |
So the problem is, to be honest, they get a bad press. | 0:52:18 | 0:52:21 | |
And a good bodhran player is worth his salt in any session. | 0:52:21 | 0:52:24 | |
-But if you get too many bodhran players, they're conflicting rhythms. -Oh, no. | 0:52:24 | 0:52:29 | |
This is a loud drum. If you battered that without putting your hand on the back to control the volume, | 0:52:29 | 0:52:34 | |
you'd drown people out and they couldn't hear the melody properly. | 0:52:34 | 0:52:37 | |
-And obviously the melody is key. -The most important thing, the tune. | 0:52:37 | 0:52:41 | |
If you have 12 musicians playing, unlike other music | 0:52:41 | 0:52:44 | |
where you might have harmonies and counter melodies going on, | 0:52:44 | 0:52:47 | |
in Irish music everybody plays the melody. | 0:52:47 | 0:52:49 | |
-Ah! -So it doesn't matter what instrument they play, they're playing the melody. | 0:52:49 | 0:52:53 | |
You can sit at home and listen to your own wonderful playing, | 0:52:53 | 0:52:56 | |
but the point of going to a session is I'm sitting beside you, | 0:52:56 | 0:53:00 | |
you're playing a flute, the fellow this side of me's playing the pipes. | 0:53:00 | 0:53:03 | |
I want to hear how my fiddle sounds with your flute and his pipes. | 0:53:03 | 0:53:07 | |
-And that's the magic of it, the blending of it. -Yeah. | 0:53:07 | 0:53:10 | |
If you've got some eejit sitting on the other side of the table | 0:53:10 | 0:53:13 | |
knocking seven bells out of a bodhran the size of a barn door... | 0:53:13 | 0:53:17 | |
-That's not teamwork. -It's not teamwork, no. | 0:53:17 | 0:53:20 | |
Fantastic. Well, I will make a complete fool of myself, | 0:53:20 | 0:53:23 | |
but I wouldn't mind having a go a bit later. | 0:53:23 | 0:53:25 | |
-If that's all right with you? -It should be good fun. | 0:53:25 | 0:53:28 | |
-It's a good fun instrument. -Great, thank you. -You're very welcome. | 0:53:28 | 0:53:31 | |
How do we know if it's a two or a four, Dick? | 0:53:40 | 0:53:43 | |
-What's that? -How do I know if it's a two or a four? | 0:53:43 | 0:53:46 | |
Any polkas, Kieron? | 0:53:46 | 0:53:48 | |
-1, 2, 1, 2... -This fast? | 0:53:48 | 0:53:51 | |
Yeah. | 0:53:51 | 0:53:52 | |
Like that? | 0:53:55 | 0:53:57 | |
As fast as that? | 0:53:57 | 0:53:58 | |
I might not be the most technically proficient musician ever to join a session, | 0:54:03 | 0:54:08 | |
but I don't think I'm putting the musicians off, and I'm having fun. | 0:54:08 | 0:54:13 | |
The East coast of Northern Ireland is not unknown to many tourists, | 0:54:17 | 0:54:21 | |
but I feel like I've got under the skin of it on my journey. | 0:54:21 | 0:54:24 | |
I've eaten its food, fresh out of the ground. | 0:54:24 | 0:54:26 | |
I've indulged in some of its history. | 0:54:26 | 0:54:28 | |
I've even had a go at joining in with some of its local culture | 0:54:28 | 0:54:32 | |
and to top it all off, the weather has been amazing. | 0:54:32 | 0:54:35 | |
I'm going back inside for a bit more. | 0:54:35 | 0:54:38 | |
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd | 0:54:48 | 0:54:51 |