Browse content similar to 18/09/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Surrounded by wild countryside and rugged mountains, | 0:00:28 | 0:00:32 | |
Loch Etive flows through some of Scotland's most stunning scenery | 0:00:32 | 0:00:36 | |
before finally reaching the sea. | 0:00:36 | 0:00:39 | |
For most of its length, there's very little in the way of road access | 0:00:43 | 0:00:46 | |
and hardly any habitation, | 0:00:46 | 0:00:47 | |
so what better way to explore Loch Etive than by boat? | 0:00:47 | 0:00:51 | |
And I've been promised some spectacular views. | 0:00:51 | 0:00:53 | |
'I'm going for a boat ride too, | 0:00:58 | 0:01:00 | |
'but something tells me it won't be as tranquil as Ellie's.' | 0:01:00 | 0:01:03 | |
Loch Etive has one of the biggest flows of white water in the UK. | 0:01:03 | 0:01:06 | |
The water flows through here at a rate of ten knots per hour, | 0:01:06 | 0:01:10 | |
which makes it the perfect place for these guys to practise. | 0:01:10 | 0:01:13 | |
Tonight, I'm going to be thrown in at the deep end | 0:01:13 | 0:01:15 | |
and really put through my places | 0:01:15 | 0:01:18 | |
as the RNLI's International Flood Rescue Team | 0:01:18 | 0:01:20 | |
train for real-life flood situations. | 0:01:20 | 0:01:23 | |
And while we're exploring the loch, John's having a few days away. | 0:01:24 | 0:01:30 | |
This year, more and more of us have been spending our holidays | 0:01:30 | 0:01:33 | |
here in Britain, becoming, in that new word, staycationers. | 0:01:33 | 0:01:37 | |
But what impact is this having on our countryside? | 0:01:37 | 0:01:39 | |
That's what I'll be investigating. | 0:01:39 | 0:01:41 | |
Right, this is the easy bit. Now we just catch the little piglets! | 0:01:41 | 0:01:45 | |
'And with the harvest almost over, | 0:01:45 | 0:01:47 | |
'Adam's getting to grips with a new litter.' | 0:01:47 | 0:01:50 | |
They're like wriggly little rabbits, but they're incredibly sweet. | 0:01:50 | 0:01:56 | |
Never more than a mile wide, | 0:02:10 | 0:02:12 | |
Loch Etive is enclosed by rugged peaks and deep green glens. | 0:02:12 | 0:02:17 | |
The loch runs for 20 miles through Argyle in West Scotland, | 0:02:17 | 0:02:21 | |
from Glencoe in the north | 0:02:21 | 0:02:22 | |
to the Connel Bridge and the Firth Of Lorn beyond. | 0:02:22 | 0:02:26 | |
You can only reach half the loch by road, | 0:02:26 | 0:02:28 | |
but even if you could drive the whole thing, | 0:02:28 | 0:02:30 | |
I'm told that the best way to take it all in is by boat, | 0:02:30 | 0:02:34 | |
and I've been promised a spectacular cruise. | 0:02:34 | 0:02:36 | |
Check out that view. | 0:02:36 | 0:02:38 | |
My skipper for the day is Donald. | 0:02:43 | 0:02:45 | |
He's the latest in a family line of Loch Etive boatsmen. | 0:02:45 | 0:02:48 | |
He's carrying on the tradition, | 0:02:48 | 0:02:50 | |
running boat trips for tourists and fishermen. | 0:02:50 | 0:02:53 | |
-So your father was a boatman too? -His father before as well. | 0:02:53 | 0:02:57 | |
-Oh, really? -It's about three generations now. | 0:02:57 | 0:02:59 | |
When I was a child, my father would be coming up and down every day | 0:02:59 | 0:03:02 | |
and you get to know the loch quite well after a while. | 0:03:02 | 0:03:05 | |
-Well, lucky you, getting to work here. -It's a nice occupation. -Yeah. | 0:03:05 | 0:03:10 | |
My first stop is at Dunstaffnage Castle, | 0:03:13 | 0:03:17 | |
standing guard where Loch Etive meets the sea. | 0:03:17 | 0:03:21 | |
The castle is one of the oldest in Scotland, nearly 800 years old. | 0:03:21 | 0:03:25 | |
Built to protect Argyle from invading Norwegians, | 0:03:25 | 0:03:29 | |
it sits at a strategic spot | 0:03:29 | 0:03:31 | |
for anyone trying to attack Scotland from the west, | 0:03:31 | 0:03:33 | |
but its most famous moment came a mere 265 years ago | 0:03:33 | 0:03:38 | |
when, for a brief period, it was the unwanted home of a Highland heroine. | 0:03:38 | 0:03:43 | |
Flora MacDonald was imprisoned in the castle in 1746 | 0:03:43 | 0:03:47 | |
after she smuggled Bonnie Prince Charlie to Skye. | 0:03:47 | 0:03:50 | |
Famously, he dressed as her female servant to aid his escape. | 0:03:50 | 0:03:53 | |
Mind you, it's not a bad place to be imprisoned, is it? | 0:03:53 | 0:03:58 | |
This landscape is movie-set drop-dead gorgeous. | 0:04:07 | 0:04:12 | |
There is absolutely nothing not to like about that. | 0:04:12 | 0:04:15 | |
Now, we're on the way now to another slice of Loch Etive history, | 0:04:15 | 0:04:19 | |
but before we get there, we're going to make a little bit of a detour. | 0:04:19 | 0:04:22 | |
We've got a special delivery to make | 0:04:22 | 0:04:24 | |
to what must be one of the most remote properties in Britain. | 0:04:24 | 0:04:28 | |
Here's the post. How often do they get this? | 0:04:28 | 0:04:31 | |
-Three times a week. Monday, Wednesday, Fridays. -Not too bad. | 0:04:31 | 0:04:34 | |
So not too bad at all. | 0:04:34 | 0:04:35 | |
So these lucky people get to avoid the supermarket scrum. | 0:04:35 | 0:04:39 | |
-They're very lucky. It's all done for them. -Very nice, too. | 0:04:39 | 0:04:43 | |
-And you usually just drop and run, do you? -Yeah, that's pretty much it. | 0:04:43 | 0:04:47 | |
We collect stuff for next time, take it up to the grocer, | 0:04:47 | 0:04:50 | |
he'll deliver it to us next week, and same thing happens again. | 0:04:50 | 0:04:55 | |
With our errand completed, I'm getting off at Kelly's Pier | 0:04:59 | 0:05:02 | |
to explore a more industrial side to Loch Etive's history. | 0:05:02 | 0:05:06 | |
In the middle of the 18th century, | 0:05:06 | 0:05:08 | |
attracted by the plentiful supply of water and wood around here, | 0:05:08 | 0:05:11 | |
a Cumbrian ironmaster built an ironworks. | 0:05:11 | 0:05:16 | |
Bonawe Furnace. | 0:05:16 | 0:05:18 | |
At its peak, it produced 700 tonnes of pig iron, and employed 600 people. | 0:05:18 | 0:05:23 | |
But there was a big divide, because only the workers from Cumbria, | 0:05:23 | 0:05:27 | |
about 20 of them, operated the furnace. | 0:05:27 | 0:05:31 | |
The 600 Gaelic-speaking locals were employed to coppice trees | 0:05:31 | 0:05:34 | |
and make the huge quantities of charcoal needed. | 0:05:34 | 0:05:37 | |
John Macfarlane's great-grandmother worked here. | 0:05:37 | 0:05:41 | |
John, what would life have been like here for your great-grandmother? | 0:05:41 | 0:05:45 | |
It was pretty tough. | 0:05:45 | 0:05:46 | |
It was very noisy, very hard, backbreaking work, as it were. | 0:05:46 | 0:05:50 | |
And long hours, as well. She was probably about 22 or 23 at the time. | 0:05:50 | 0:05:55 | |
Wow. The iron they produced was pig iron. What is that? | 0:05:55 | 0:05:59 | |
Well, when iron melts in the furnace itself, | 0:05:59 | 0:06:02 | |
they've got a pre-prepared channel of sand, | 0:06:02 | 0:06:05 | |
and the molten iron runs into it, | 0:06:05 | 0:06:07 | |
and if you're looking down from the top, | 0:06:07 | 0:06:10 | |
it would look like a pig with piglets, | 0:06:10 | 0:06:12 | |
-and that's why it's called pig iron. -That's the explanation. | 0:06:12 | 0:06:15 | |
The iron would have been shipped off and used for all different purposes? | 0:06:15 | 0:06:19 | |
Yes. They made cannonballs with it, in the Napoleonic wars, | 0:06:19 | 0:06:22 | |
that was one of the main things they were doing here, | 0:06:22 | 0:06:25 | |
producing cannonballs to fight the French. | 0:06:25 | 0:06:30 | |
Nelson claimed that every cannonball fired at Trafalgar | 0:06:30 | 0:06:33 | |
came from this foundry. | 0:06:33 | 0:06:35 | |
Every cannonball? Had he counted them? Ha-ha! | 0:06:35 | 0:06:39 | |
Lord Nelson saved England. | 0:06:39 | 0:06:42 | |
This place may have been settled for centuries. | 0:06:42 | 0:06:45 | |
'The furnace is still seen as an important part of the history | 0:06:45 | 0:06:48 | |
'of the landscape. | 0:06:48 | 0:06:49 | |
'This group of actors are rehearsing a play that is about | 0:06:49 | 0:06:52 | |
'and is staged at the furnace.' | 0:06:52 | 0:06:54 | |
I really enjoyed that. That was a fantastic performance. | 0:06:56 | 0:06:59 | |
What better place to do a piece of theatre about the foundry | 0:06:59 | 0:07:02 | |
than here at the foundry! | 0:07:02 | 0:07:04 | |
Yeah, well... Yes! And the story and the setting is just amazing. | 0:07:04 | 0:07:09 | |
When I first saw this place, | 0:07:09 | 0:07:11 | |
I thought it was the most natural and vibrant place for theatre. | 0:07:11 | 0:07:16 | |
It was sort of like Dante's Inferno, I think. | 0:07:16 | 0:07:19 | |
There was huge amounts of work going on, | 0:07:19 | 0:07:21 | |
and life and death, and really brutal life, | 0:07:21 | 0:07:24 | |
and I think you can feel that when we're performing from the stones, | 0:07:24 | 0:07:29 | |
-I just love the energy from working here. -That was a great performance. | 0:07:29 | 0:07:34 | |
-Thank you very much. -Thank you. | 0:07:34 | 0:07:37 | |
Although it outlasted other Scottish ironworks using charcoal, | 0:07:37 | 0:07:41 | |
production at Bonawe Furnace finally stopped in 1876. | 0:07:41 | 0:07:46 | |
Today, it's the best preserved ironworks of its kind in the UK. | 0:07:46 | 0:07:50 | |
I'm heading back out onto Loch Etive in search of wildlife. | 0:07:50 | 0:07:54 | |
But first, with the economy causing many of us to feel the pinch, | 0:07:54 | 0:07:59 | |
a growing number of people are choosing to holiday here in Britain. | 0:07:59 | 0:08:03 | |
But how does holidaying here shape up? | 0:08:03 | 0:08:05 | |
Well, John's been investigating the rise of the staycation. | 0:08:05 | 0:08:09 | |
This year's summer holiday is now a distant, hopefully happy, memory, | 0:08:17 | 0:08:21 | |
and for many people, | 0:08:21 | 0:08:23 | |
it was all about rediscovering the British countryside. | 0:08:23 | 0:08:26 | |
So what effect is all this home-grown tourism having? | 0:08:26 | 0:08:29 | |
Could it spoil unspoiled parts of our landscape? | 0:08:29 | 0:08:33 | |
To find out, I've chosen at random a bit of the countryside | 0:08:33 | 0:08:37 | |
that wants to boost its share of the tourist market, | 0:08:37 | 0:08:40 | |
the 15-mile-long Churnet Valley in Staffordshire. | 0:08:40 | 0:08:43 | |
Perhaps not the best known of tourist destinations - well, not yet - | 0:08:43 | 0:08:47 | |
but at either end of this lovely valley | 0:08:47 | 0:08:49 | |
there are places that everyone has certainly heard of. | 0:08:49 | 0:08:52 | |
Down there is Alton Towers, and up at the top of the valley, | 0:08:52 | 0:08:56 | |
the Peak District. | 0:08:56 | 0:08:58 | |
The Carman family have come here for their first ever camping holiday. | 0:09:01 | 0:09:06 | |
Well, you've spent many years, haven't you, as a family, | 0:09:06 | 0:09:09 | |
holidaying abroad. | 0:09:09 | 0:09:11 | |
This year is your first staycation. Why are you in the UK? | 0:09:11 | 0:09:15 | |
Well, mainly because of the cost. | 0:09:15 | 0:09:18 | |
You know, where we are now, it's expensive. | 0:09:18 | 0:09:21 | |
The travelling and the plane and the sitting in the station... | 0:09:21 | 0:09:24 | |
-it's a hassle, isn't it? -Yeah. | 0:09:24 | 0:09:26 | |
Would you rather be on some beach in some exotic place? | 0:09:26 | 0:09:30 | |
I'd rather go camping, because, like, | 0:09:30 | 0:09:32 | |
when you go on holiday, we can't take the dog anywhere. | 0:09:32 | 0:09:36 | |
-You can't really take Coco to Mexico and places. -No, not really! | 0:09:36 | 0:09:42 | |
The cost and convenience of staycations | 0:09:42 | 0:09:44 | |
have made places like this, Staffordshire's moorlands, | 0:09:44 | 0:09:48 | |
increasingly attractive. | 0:09:48 | 0:09:50 | |
There are now more than three million trips here every year, | 0:09:50 | 0:09:53 | |
bringing in more than £150 million, but it's not just about the money. | 0:09:53 | 0:09:57 | |
For many people, it's a fresh chance to enjoy our rural heritage. | 0:09:57 | 0:10:01 | |
Normally, they have steam engines, but today it's a diesel. | 0:10:01 | 0:10:05 | |
And attractions like the Churnet Valley Railway | 0:10:05 | 0:10:08 | |
are a perfect way to do that. | 0:10:08 | 0:10:10 | |
A lot of people don't realise how beautiful the countryside is. | 0:10:10 | 0:10:14 | |
We live near the Peak District. | 0:10:14 | 0:10:16 | |
You don't realise how nice the area is until you do something like this. | 0:10:16 | 0:10:20 | |
You take things you see daily for granted. | 0:10:20 | 0:10:23 | |
It has opened your eyes to what's in this country. | 0:10:23 | 0:10:28 | |
Do you reckon next year you will be staying in the UK? | 0:10:28 | 0:10:32 | |
-Oh, yes, without a doubt, won't we? -Yeah. | 0:10:32 | 0:10:35 | |
This new-found appreciation of the British countryside | 0:10:35 | 0:10:39 | |
is having huge benefits. | 0:10:39 | 0:10:41 | |
Some rural train services | 0:10:41 | 0:10:43 | |
have seen an incredible 90% increase in passengers | 0:10:43 | 0:10:45 | |
in the last few years. | 0:10:45 | 0:10:46 | |
'And the economic benefits go much further than that. | 0:10:46 | 0:10:50 | |
-'Sarah Long is from Visit England.' Hello, Sarah. -Hello. | 0:10:50 | 0:10:55 | |
You've been studying staycationers. Just who are they? | 0:10:55 | 0:10:59 | |
They are people like you and I. | 0:10:59 | 0:11:01 | |
It started in 2009, when the word "staycation" was born. | 0:11:01 | 0:11:05 | |
It was as a result of the credit crunch. | 0:11:05 | 0:11:08 | |
What it did was showcase the countryside to lots of people | 0:11:08 | 0:11:11 | |
who wouldn't usually take a holiday here. | 0:11:11 | 0:11:13 | |
Last year, there were 17 million visitors spending around £3 billion. | 0:11:13 | 0:11:18 | |
This year, those figures are about 2% up. | 0:11:18 | 0:11:21 | |
It supports lots and lots of jobs and businesses. | 0:11:21 | 0:11:26 | |
Not just hotels and B&Bs, but the local pub down the road, | 0:11:26 | 0:11:29 | |
the gift shop, regional food suppliers, | 0:11:29 | 0:11:32 | |
all benefit from the money that tourists spend. | 0:11:32 | 0:11:34 | |
With more and more people visiting the countryside, | 0:11:34 | 0:11:37 | |
that has the potential for having a harmful effect | 0:11:37 | 0:11:40 | |
on the beautiful places they want to see. | 0:11:40 | 0:11:42 | |
We do have to conserve our beauty spots, that is correct. | 0:11:42 | 0:11:46 | |
It is about destination management. | 0:11:46 | 0:11:48 | |
We have a great network of fantastic organisations | 0:11:48 | 0:11:51 | |
who make sure our places stay beautiful. | 0:11:51 | 0:11:53 | |
Today, tourism is worth more | 0:11:55 | 0:11:57 | |
to the rural economy in Britain than farming. | 0:11:57 | 0:12:00 | |
And there are plenty of opportunities to cash in. | 0:12:00 | 0:12:04 | |
With more and more people coming to the Churnet Valley in Staffordshire, | 0:12:05 | 0:12:09 | |
there are ambitious plans afoot. | 0:12:09 | 0:12:11 | |
There is talk of turning the area into a tourism corridor, | 0:12:11 | 0:12:15 | |
bringing more people here | 0:12:15 | 0:12:17 | |
and pumping more money into the local economy. | 0:12:17 | 0:12:20 | |
The plans are still at the early stages, but the local council | 0:12:20 | 0:12:24 | |
is hoping to attract private money to redevelop existing brownfield sites. | 0:12:24 | 0:12:28 | |
Leading the project is Councillor Andrew Hart. | 0:12:28 | 0:12:30 | |
What are your priorities? | 0:12:30 | 0:12:33 | |
I think sites like this, which are a fantastic blank canvas. | 0:12:33 | 0:12:37 | |
This used to be a copper works. | 0:12:37 | 0:12:39 | |
We have former derelict sites, which are ex-quarries. | 0:12:39 | 0:12:42 | |
It is what we do with those. | 0:12:42 | 0:12:44 | |
It's got tremendous heritage potential. | 0:12:44 | 0:12:46 | |
I think history, particularly industrial history, | 0:12:46 | 0:12:49 | |
is very important to visitors. | 0:12:49 | 0:12:51 | |
Is there money available for this, Government grants? | 0:12:51 | 0:12:54 | |
This area has never attracted a great deal of grants, | 0:12:54 | 0:12:57 | |
even in good times. | 0:12:57 | 0:12:58 | |
I think we are looking for inward private investment. | 0:12:58 | 0:13:02 | |
Development here could be great for the local economy, | 0:13:02 | 0:13:06 | |
but there are concerns about the plans. | 0:13:06 | 0:13:08 | |
Many people who live in this valley like it just the way it is | 0:13:08 | 0:13:12 | |
and the idea of more cars, more people, more noise, | 0:13:12 | 0:13:15 | |
won't be to everyone's taste. | 0:13:15 | 0:13:16 | |
Later, I'll be asking what the cost to the countryside might be | 0:13:16 | 0:13:21 | |
of the staycation boom. | 0:13:21 | 0:13:23 | |
Loch Etive, a vast body of water flowing from the mountains | 0:13:29 | 0:13:33 | |
and steep glens of mid-west Scotland out to the sea. | 0:13:33 | 0:13:37 | |
This is spectacular. | 0:13:39 | 0:13:42 | |
But there's a lot more to this place than just the views | 0:13:42 | 0:13:45 | |
and it's all to do with the landscape | 0:13:45 | 0:13:47 | |
and the ever-changing tides. | 0:13:47 | 0:13:48 | |
'Lock Etive has one of the largest flows of white water in the UK. | 0:13:48 | 0:13:53 | |
'Unlike other stretches of white water, | 0:13:53 | 0:13:56 | |
'it's ruled by the tide, making it very dangerous.' | 0:13:56 | 0:13:59 | |
Every year, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution | 0:13:59 | 0:14:03 | |
come here to practise their emergency flood techniques. | 0:14:03 | 0:14:06 | |
This water replicates the kind of conditions that they could face | 0:14:06 | 0:14:10 | |
in real-life flood situations. | 0:14:10 | 0:14:13 | |
Because the water is so fast-flowing, | 0:14:19 | 0:14:22 | |
it also attracts adrenaline junkies. | 0:14:22 | 0:14:25 | |
Tony Hammock is a local kayak instructor. | 0:14:25 | 0:14:29 | |
He knows these waters well. | 0:14:29 | 0:14:30 | |
Why is this so special from a kayakers' point of view, | 0:14:30 | 0:14:33 | |
and why is it so different to any other white water? | 0:14:33 | 0:14:37 | |
It's hugely powerful. | 0:14:37 | 0:14:38 | |
So when it's running full bore, | 0:14:38 | 0:14:40 | |
there are over 4,000 tonnes of water coming through there a second. | 0:14:40 | 0:14:45 | |
It's absolutely massive. | 0:14:45 | 0:14:47 | |
At the same time, it is variable, | 0:14:47 | 0:14:49 | |
so you can get a huge range of conditions even within a day. | 0:14:49 | 0:14:52 | |
Huge quantities of water flow from the mountains | 0:14:52 | 0:14:55 | |
through the neck of the loch, creating fast-moving white water, | 0:14:55 | 0:14:59 | |
which also creates the perfect conditions for flood-rescue training. | 0:14:59 | 0:15:04 | |
The threat and impact of flooding at home and abroad | 0:15:04 | 0:15:08 | |
continues to be a huge issue. | 0:15:08 | 0:15:10 | |
Rising sea levels and increasingly severe rainstorms | 0:15:10 | 0:15:14 | |
means the situation is likely to get worse. | 0:15:14 | 0:15:17 | |
Every year, the RNLI come to Scotland | 0:15:19 | 0:15:22 | |
to use the loch and surrounding fast-moving rivers. | 0:15:22 | 0:15:26 | |
All but one of the guys here are volunteers. | 0:15:27 | 0:15:30 | |
They have day jobs, too, so continuous training is essential. | 0:15:30 | 0:15:33 | |
On average, the RNLI saves 22 people a day at sea. | 0:15:36 | 0:15:40 | |
But flood training, that's a different loch full of fish. | 0:15:40 | 0:15:43 | |
Today, members of the RNLI are here | 0:15:43 | 0:15:45 | |
to practise their search-and-rescue skills in flood conditions. | 0:15:45 | 0:15:49 | |
I'm joining to see if I've got what it takes. | 0:15:49 | 0:15:53 | |
'I'll be in the safe but wet hands of Robin Goodlad.' | 0:15:54 | 0:15:57 | |
'Quite a reassuring name!' | 0:15:57 | 0:16:00 | |
This is the sort of training venue we need to find | 0:16:00 | 0:16:02 | |
that gives us realistic water. | 0:16:02 | 0:16:04 | |
-That's why we are here. -What's going to be going on? | 0:16:04 | 0:16:07 | |
I see a couple of lads are ready to go now. | 0:16:07 | 0:16:09 | |
What is the plan? | 0:16:09 | 0:16:10 | |
What we will be doing is swift-water rescue training. | 0:16:10 | 0:16:13 | |
All of our crew members have sea-going experience, | 0:16:13 | 0:16:15 | |
but working in a flood environment is completely different. | 0:16:15 | 0:16:19 | |
You've got hazards such as park benches, fences, railings, | 0:16:19 | 0:16:23 | |
that you don't get at sea, | 0:16:23 | 0:16:25 | |
So we have to train them with a realistic environment. | 0:16:25 | 0:16:29 | |
-Goodness me! -Yes. -That was Nige going like a rocket! | 0:16:29 | 0:16:31 | |
You have chosen this section of the river because... | 0:16:31 | 0:16:34 | |
It's fast-moving. It replicates the flood environment. | 0:16:34 | 0:16:38 | |
Two years ago, 12 and a half inches of rain water fell in just 24 hours | 0:16:39 | 0:16:43 | |
on Cockermouth in Cumbria. | 0:16:43 | 0:16:46 | |
The RNLI, along with other emergency services, | 0:16:46 | 0:16:48 | |
helped rescue 300 people | 0:16:48 | 0:16:51 | |
cut off or swept away by flood water. | 0:16:51 | 0:16:54 | |
Carl Sadler was on the front line. | 0:16:54 | 0:16:56 | |
How much does this training prepare you for those real situations? | 0:16:56 | 0:17:01 | |
-It's quite different to rivers. -Yeah, it's... | 0:17:01 | 0:17:04 | |
When I was in Cockermouth, | 0:17:04 | 0:17:06 | |
it was the volume of water coming straight through the high street. | 0:17:06 | 0:17:10 | |
It reminds me of this situation here. | 0:17:10 | 0:17:12 | |
Does it really? | 0:17:12 | 0:17:14 | |
The actual rocks underneath the water here | 0:17:14 | 0:17:16 | |
represents the cars and the trees underneath the water. | 0:17:16 | 0:17:20 | |
Roy, you were in Gloucester, at the floods there. What was that like? | 0:17:20 | 0:17:24 | |
We didn't have quite the same speed of water | 0:17:24 | 0:17:27 | |
they had in Cockermouth, | 0:17:27 | 0:17:29 | |
but it was the sheer scale. It was over a number of counties. | 0:17:29 | 0:17:32 | |
Their resources were thin on the ground. | 0:17:32 | 0:17:35 | |
We were continuously on the go for about 72 hours. | 0:17:35 | 0:17:39 | |
And when you are faced with a situation like Cockermouth, | 0:17:39 | 0:17:42 | |
-did you go straight into RNLI mode? -You don't have time to get shocked, | 0:17:42 | 0:17:46 | |
because it is straight in. | 0:17:46 | 0:17:47 | |
At Cockermouth, our recce was to get in there, | 0:17:47 | 0:17:51 | |
see what's happening, | 0:17:51 | 0:17:53 | |
because we were the first boats into Cockermouth High Street. | 0:17:53 | 0:17:56 | |
Before these guys can think about rescuing people | 0:17:56 | 0:18:00 | |
from fast-moving water, | 0:18:00 | 0:18:01 | |
they have to learn to survive it themselves. | 0:18:01 | 0:18:04 | |
So swift-water training is vital. | 0:18:04 | 0:18:06 | |
The time is getting closer to when I'm going to get in. | 0:18:06 | 0:18:09 | |
You'd better tell me the best way of getting out! | 0:18:09 | 0:18:12 | |
Either side we've got a flat section of water. | 0:18:12 | 0:18:14 | |
This side, they're called eddies. | 0:18:14 | 0:18:16 | |
The main flow is the jet in the middle. | 0:18:16 | 0:18:18 | |
We are working between the eddies. | 0:18:18 | 0:18:20 | |
As you enter, point your upper body upstream. | 0:18:20 | 0:18:22 | |
As your upper body and head goes into the flow, | 0:18:22 | 0:18:25 | |
the current will whip you round and try turning you downstream. | 0:18:25 | 0:18:28 | |
What you've to do it is backward paddling and keep going. | 0:18:28 | 0:18:32 | |
Once the momentum is taken out of the water, | 0:18:32 | 0:18:34 | |
you'll find it is slack and calm, you are not going anywhere. | 0:18:34 | 0:18:37 | |
At that point, try rolling towards the other side, like a log roll, | 0:18:37 | 0:18:41 | |
and that will take you into the eddy. | 0:18:41 | 0:18:43 | |
Right, let's see what happens. | 0:18:43 | 0:18:44 | |
The lovely thing about this is that the RNLI is an arm's reach away! | 0:18:44 | 0:18:49 | |
'Here I go.' | 0:18:51 | 0:18:53 | |
'The current is incredibly strong. | 0:18:56 | 0:19:00 | |
'I have to fight to get the other side.' | 0:19:00 | 0:19:02 | |
Whoo! | 0:19:06 | 0:19:08 | |
Yes! | 0:19:08 | 0:19:09 | |
It's just a wall of water, man. | 0:19:09 | 0:19:12 | |
You're paddling away, doing a little turn, | 0:19:12 | 0:19:15 | |
spot the shore, grrr, dig in and go. | 0:19:15 | 0:19:19 | |
But what a feeling! | 0:19:19 | 0:19:20 | |
That's invigorating, I tell you what. | 0:19:20 | 0:19:23 | |
But I'm so happy to be doing it in this environment, | 0:19:23 | 0:19:26 | |
with the protection of these lads. | 0:19:26 | 0:19:28 | |
Because it doesn't bear thinking about, | 0:19:28 | 0:19:31 | |
that happening for real in a flood situation. | 0:19:31 | 0:19:35 | |
'This is scary stuff. And only the start of my training.' | 0:19:36 | 0:19:40 | |
'Later, I'll be thrown in at the deep-end on Loch Etive, | 0:19:40 | 0:19:43 | |
'when I really get put through my paces | 0:19:43 | 0:19:46 | |
'in some emergency flood manoeuvres.' | 0:19:46 | 0:19:48 | |
This is emblematic Scottish landscape. | 0:19:55 | 0:19:58 | |
Fresh clear water rushes down off the surrounding mountains | 0:19:58 | 0:20:01 | |
through dense glens into the glass-like loch. | 0:20:01 | 0:20:05 | |
The northern half of Loch Etive is the least accessible | 0:20:05 | 0:20:08 | |
and therefore the most tranquil, | 0:20:08 | 0:20:10 | |
possibly one of the few remaining places of true wilderness | 0:20:10 | 0:20:13 | |
left in the country. | 0:20:13 | 0:20:14 | |
And with that comes great opportunities to spot wildlife. | 0:20:14 | 0:20:19 | |
'I've arranged for Philip Price | 0:20:22 | 0:20:24 | |
'to join me for the next leg of my journey.' | 0:20:24 | 0:20:27 | |
-Some serious kit you've got there! -It does the job. | 0:20:27 | 0:20:30 | |
'He's a wildlife photographer, | 0:20:30 | 0:20:32 | |
'passionate about the flora and fauna of his homeland.' | 0:20:32 | 0:20:35 | |
What is it about Loch Etive that is so great for wildlife photography? | 0:20:39 | 0:20:44 | |
The variety you get in Loch Etive is absolutely astonishing. | 0:20:45 | 0:20:50 | |
Just where we are travelling now, | 0:20:50 | 0:20:51 | |
that is the back of Ben Cruachan up there. | 0:20:51 | 0:20:54 | |
On the top of Ben Cruachan you will get hares, | 0:20:54 | 0:20:57 | |
all the real mountain alpine animals. | 0:20:57 | 0:20:59 | |
Then you come down the slopes and you get these woodlands. | 0:20:59 | 0:21:03 | |
And there is a phenomenal place for red squirrels. | 0:21:03 | 0:21:07 | |
You come down into the loch side | 0:21:07 | 0:21:08 | |
and you will get cormorants, shags, eiders, | 0:21:08 | 0:21:11 | |
you name it, you've got all of your marine life down here. | 0:21:11 | 0:21:14 | |
We have even seen otters along the coast. | 0:21:14 | 0:21:16 | |
So, in terms of diversity, you simply can't beat Loch Etive, | 0:21:16 | 0:21:19 | |
it's a wonderful place. | 0:21:19 | 0:21:21 | |
'After venturing north to the quietest part of the loch, | 0:21:21 | 0:21:25 | |
'we find what we were looking for.' | 0:21:25 | 0:21:27 | |
-Aren't they awesome? Look at that. -You couldn't dream up that scene. | 0:21:27 | 0:21:33 | |
It's just mind-boggling. | 0:21:33 | 0:21:34 | |
To see this many here, in this location. | 0:21:34 | 0:21:37 | |
I come here regularly, but... It's just astonishing. | 0:21:37 | 0:21:43 | |
We ought to take a picture, since we are here. | 0:21:43 | 0:21:45 | |
What I've noticed is you stuck me on auto. | 0:21:45 | 0:21:47 | |
We are going to change that. | 0:21:47 | 0:21:49 | |
If you zoom to 300 mil, it gives you maximum zoom. | 0:21:49 | 0:21:52 | |
We will put it on aperture priority | 0:21:52 | 0:21:54 | |
and that is the technical term | 0:21:54 | 0:21:55 | |
that means you control how blurry the background is | 0:21:55 | 0:21:58 | |
and the camera then helps you with controlling how much light to let in | 0:21:58 | 0:22:01 | |
and correctly exposing. | 0:22:01 | 0:22:03 | |
-Just have a go then? -Fire away. | 0:22:03 | 0:22:04 | |
Get the centre square, when you look through the viewfinder, | 0:22:04 | 0:22:08 | |
right over the animal's head. | 0:22:08 | 0:22:09 | |
That means the head is in focus. When looking through the lens, | 0:22:09 | 0:22:13 | |
-you will see how gorgeous these animals are. -It's amazing. | 0:22:13 | 0:22:17 | |
-Best in show there for the photographic competition! -Definitely! | 0:22:17 | 0:22:21 | |
And just the scenery and the wildlife. | 0:22:21 | 0:22:24 | |
I was hoping we would see seals, but you never know. | 0:22:24 | 0:22:28 | |
And when it happens... | 0:22:28 | 0:22:29 | |
I'll never get bored with doing wildlife photography, | 0:22:29 | 0:22:32 | |
because that unknown, | 0:22:32 | 0:22:33 | |
so when it happens, it makes it all the more sweeter. | 0:22:33 | 0:22:37 | |
Oh, wow, look at that. | 0:22:37 | 0:22:39 | |
If you want to get close to wildlife in the great outdoors, | 0:22:46 | 0:22:49 | |
the BBC has teamed up with a range of partners | 0:22:49 | 0:22:52 | |
who offer activities throughout the UK. | 0:22:52 | 0:22:54 | |
Go to our website and click on "things to do". | 0:22:54 | 0:22:58 | |
James is somewhere over that mountain, | 0:22:58 | 0:23:01 | |
where water is the key ingredient. | 0:23:01 | 0:23:03 | |
This is the 100ft Cruachan Dam, which holds back a huge reservoir. | 0:23:06 | 0:23:11 | |
It looks something like a scene out of a James Bond movie. | 0:23:11 | 0:23:14 | |
Impressive, huh? | 0:23:14 | 0:23:17 | |
JAMES BOND THEME TUNE | 0:23:17 | 0:23:20 | |
The name's Wong, James Wong. | 0:23:22 | 0:23:24 | |
You didn't really think I was going to do that, did you? | 0:23:35 | 0:23:38 | |
Well done, Andy! Congratulations. | 0:23:38 | 0:23:40 | |
I don't have a licence to kill, | 0:23:40 | 0:23:42 | |
I don't even have a licence to drive. | 0:23:42 | 0:23:44 | |
The closest I am going to come to Pierce Brosnan | 0:23:44 | 0:23:46 | |
is the fact that scenes from the film The World Is Not Enough | 0:23:46 | 0:23:49 | |
were shot right here, deep inside this mountain. | 0:23:49 | 0:23:53 | |
'That's because buried 1,000ft below these thistles | 0:23:53 | 0:23:56 | |
'is one of the country's most amazing engineering achievements.' | 0:23:56 | 0:24:00 | |
A revolutionary hydropower station. | 0:24:03 | 0:24:06 | |
The first of its kind in the world and built nearly 50 years ago. | 0:24:06 | 0:24:10 | |
'From the top of the dam, you can see right down to Loch Awe, | 0:24:12 | 0:24:16 | |
'which is connected to the reservoir | 0:24:16 | 0:24:18 | |
'by underground pipes that travel through the power station.' | 0:24:18 | 0:24:21 | |
Michael Mullen worked here for 39 years. | 0:24:21 | 0:24:25 | |
I still can't believe that 1,000ft below that it is a power station. | 0:24:25 | 0:24:29 | |
How did they build it? | 0:24:29 | 0:24:31 | |
It was dug out by a big machine, which rotated and dug it out. | 0:24:31 | 0:24:37 | |
All the tunnels that were built were done by drilling and blasted out. | 0:24:42 | 0:24:46 | |
EXPLOSION | 0:24:46 | 0:24:48 | |
You'd never believe it. It looks such a natural space. | 0:24:48 | 0:24:51 | |
That must have been hundreds and hundreds of tonnes of rock | 0:24:51 | 0:24:54 | |
hewn right out of the mountain. | 0:24:54 | 0:24:56 | |
Thousands of tonnes, yes. | 0:24:56 | 0:24:58 | |
The health and safety wasn't what it is today. | 0:24:58 | 0:25:01 | |
It must have been pretty horrendous. | 0:25:01 | 0:25:03 | |
Cruachan was revolutionary. | 0:25:04 | 0:25:07 | |
It was the first plant that could store electricity. | 0:25:07 | 0:25:11 | |
Allow me to explain simply. | 0:25:11 | 0:25:13 | |
The generators are powered by water | 0:25:13 | 0:25:15 | |
travelling from the reservoir to the loch through its turbines. | 0:25:15 | 0:25:19 | |
But here's the clever bit. The turbines are reversible. | 0:25:19 | 0:25:23 | |
This means that during the night when we are asleep, | 0:25:23 | 0:25:25 | |
they can use the excess electricity to pump the water from the loch | 0:25:25 | 0:25:29 | |
back up to the reservoir, | 0:25:29 | 0:25:30 | |
ready for driving the turbines when we need the power most. | 0:25:30 | 0:25:34 | |
Mechanical genius. | 0:25:34 | 0:25:35 | |
Unbelievably, the pylons which carry the electricity | 0:25:39 | 0:25:43 | |
have been taken off-line for repairs | 0:25:43 | 0:25:46 | |
for the first time in 50 years. | 0:25:46 | 0:25:48 | |
I hope someone is keeping a GoldenEye on the off switch, | 0:25:48 | 0:25:51 | |
You Only Live Twice! | 0:25:51 | 0:25:52 | |
Once a year the heart of the power station | 0:25:52 | 0:25:54 | |
gets some essential maintenance work done | 0:25:54 | 0:25:56 | |
and I've been given special permission | 0:25:56 | 0:25:58 | |
to go right down into the control room. | 0:25:58 | 0:26:00 | |
It's a part the public don't normally get to see. | 0:26:00 | 0:26:03 | |
You might say it's For Your Eyes Only. Good to meet you. | 0:26:03 | 0:26:07 | |
Getting inside means a short drive down a long tunnel. | 0:26:07 | 0:26:11 | |
'I'm trying not to think | 0:26:14 | 0:26:15 | |
'of the half of a mile of solid rock above my head. | 0:26:15 | 0:26:18 | |
'I'd prefer to Die Another Day.' | 0:26:18 | 0:26:20 | |
-We can go down up to a kilometre down here. -This is a kilometre long?! | 0:26:22 | 0:26:25 | |
-One kilometre long. -This is your drive to work every day?! | 0:26:25 | 0:26:28 | |
-I drive to work every day, yes. -It's like a bat cave inside here. | 0:26:28 | 0:26:31 | |
It's quite exciting. | 0:26:31 | 0:26:33 | |
'This might be all in a day's work for engineer Alastair Dewar, | 0:26:33 | 0:26:36 | |
'but it's scaring The Living Daylights out of me!' | 0:26:36 | 0:26:39 | |
OK, James, this is the tally to let them know we are in here. | 0:26:39 | 0:26:43 | |
-You check in. Yep. -And we'll just head in. | 0:26:43 | 0:26:47 | |
Wow! This ceiling! | 0:26:47 | 0:26:50 | |
-Yes. -This is where it all happens? -This is where it all happens. | 0:26:50 | 0:26:54 | |
We're lucky today, there's only one machine ticking over, | 0:26:54 | 0:26:57 | |
or we wouldn't be able to speak. | 0:26:57 | 0:26:59 | |
'The space inside this mountain is immense.' | 0:27:00 | 0:27:03 | |
'Apparently, you could fit the Tower of London in here.' | 0:27:03 | 0:27:06 | |
These are the turbines that get spun round | 0:27:06 | 0:27:08 | |
by the water generating electricity? | 0:27:08 | 0:27:10 | |
-Yes. We've got three levels. -I'm not going to look over too much! | 0:27:10 | 0:27:14 | |
-This goes three or four times below the floor. -Yes. | 0:27:14 | 0:27:19 | |
At the top is a small motor and the next floor is the main generators. | 0:27:19 | 0:27:24 | |
And then another level down is the actual heart of the turbine. | 0:27:24 | 0:27:29 | |
You really can't forget you are underground | 0:27:29 | 0:27:33 | |
because you see the exposed rock. | 0:27:33 | 0:27:36 | |
I don't know how I'd feel about working here. | 0:27:36 | 0:27:38 | |
It's an amazing design but, yes, you feel hemmed in, | 0:27:38 | 0:27:41 | |
ironically, when there is a big ceiling. | 0:27:41 | 0:27:44 | |
When the turbines are working at maximum capacity, | 0:27:50 | 0:27:53 | |
they are kicking out 440 megawatts of electricity to the grid | 0:27:53 | 0:27:57 | |
in less than 30 seconds. Now, that's fast. | 0:27:57 | 0:28:00 | |
'That's enough to power a city the size of Edinburgh. | 0:28:00 | 0:28:05 | |
'So next time you flick of the TV to watch Countryfile, | 0:28:05 | 0:28:08 | |
'spare a thought for the 33 guys working here, without natural light, | 0:28:08 | 0:28:12 | |
'to ensure the electricity you need Tomorrow...Never Dies!' | 0:28:12 | 0:28:16 | |
Still to come on tonight's programme... | 0:28:18 | 0:28:23 | |
'I'll be joining the RNLI | 0:28:23 | 0:28:24 | |
'on a training exercise out on the loch...' | 0:28:24 | 0:28:27 | |
Everything seems to happen so fast. | 0:28:27 | 0:28:29 | |
..John's back with a reminder | 0:28:29 | 0:28:31 | |
of how to vote in the Countryfile photographic competition... | 0:28:31 | 0:28:34 | |
..and, on Adam's farm, Eric the bull is causing trouble again... | 0:28:35 | 0:28:40 | |
Come on, you naughty boy. Your ladies are over there. | 0:28:40 | 0:28:43 | |
..plus, we'll have the weather forecast for the week ahead. | 0:28:43 | 0:28:47 | |
Earlier in the programme, | 0:28:56 | 0:28:57 | |
John was investigating the rise of the staycation. | 0:28:57 | 0:29:00 | |
But with a growing number holidaying in Britain, | 0:29:00 | 0:29:02 | |
what impact is this having on our countryside? | 0:29:02 | 0:29:05 | |
'I'm in the Churnet Valley, a treasured part | 0:29:13 | 0:29:15 | |
'of the Staffordshire Moorlands, rich in history and natural beauty.' | 0:29:15 | 0:29:20 | |
'But with more visitors coming every year, | 0:29:20 | 0:29:23 | |
'there are those wanting to capitalise on the tourism.' | 0:29:23 | 0:29:26 | |
There are plans to turn this valley into a tourism corridor | 0:29:26 | 0:29:30 | |
leading up towards the Peak District, | 0:29:30 | 0:29:32 | |
with more accommodation, attractions and hopefully many more visitors. | 0:29:32 | 0:29:37 | |
But how might that affect the identity, the character of this area? | 0:29:37 | 0:29:40 | |
And would it spoil its natural beauty? | 0:29:40 | 0:29:43 | |
'Some people certainly think so. | 0:29:45 | 0:29:47 | |
'John Higgins has lived in the Churnet Valley | 0:29:47 | 0:29:49 | |
'for the last 20 years.' | 0:29:49 | 0:29:51 | |
How do you detect the mood | 0:29:51 | 0:29:52 | |
of local people about this plan to boost tourism? | 0:29:52 | 0:29:54 | |
Fear and trepidation I think is the answer, John. I am worried about it. | 0:29:54 | 0:30:00 | |
What we really want to do is, we are not against tourism, | 0:30:00 | 0:30:03 | |
very much far from it. | 0:30:03 | 0:30:05 | |
We want tourists in the valley, but we want the right kind of tourists. | 0:30:05 | 0:30:08 | |
What we need is the kind of tourists who are going to come | 0:30:08 | 0:30:12 | |
and spend their money in the valley at the local places. | 0:30:12 | 0:30:15 | |
We've got all the infrastructure here | 0:30:15 | 0:30:16 | |
to support walkers, cyclists, horse riders. | 0:30:16 | 0:30:19 | |
But the idea is to get many more people in here, | 0:30:19 | 0:30:22 | |
and that will have an impact. | 0:30:22 | 0:30:23 | |
I don't say that that's wrong. | 0:30:23 | 0:30:25 | |
I want to keep the money in the valley, I don't want large hotels. | 0:30:25 | 0:30:29 | |
I don't want a huge developments that people will only come to by car | 0:30:29 | 0:30:32 | |
and will stay there and go home at the end of the day. | 0:30:32 | 0:30:35 | |
That does not profit the local economy. | 0:30:35 | 0:30:37 | |
These worries aren't confined to the Churnet Valley, | 0:30:37 | 0:30:40 | |
because across the country | 0:30:40 | 0:30:41 | |
businesses are keen to benefit from the boom. | 0:30:41 | 0:30:45 | |
An indication of the investment that's now going into rural tourism | 0:30:45 | 0:30:49 | |
comes with the news that one of Britain's biggest hotel chains | 0:30:49 | 0:30:52 | |
is going to build 37 hotels near to our top countryside locations. | 0:30:52 | 0:30:57 | |
It's going to focus in particular on areas close to national parks. | 0:30:57 | 0:31:02 | |
That's going to raise some eyebrows. | 0:31:02 | 0:31:04 | |
So can tourism ever really blend into the landscape? | 0:31:04 | 0:31:09 | |
There's one high-profile development which claims to have done just that. | 0:31:09 | 0:31:14 | |
I've come out to Wales, to Pembrokeshire, | 0:31:14 | 0:31:16 | |
to a holiday village where cars have to be left on the outside. | 0:31:16 | 0:31:20 | |
It opened only three years ago in the very heart of the National Park. | 0:31:20 | 0:31:24 | |
So when it was first proposed, there were concerns about | 0:31:24 | 0:31:27 | |
the possible impact this place would have on this very beautiful area. | 0:31:27 | 0:31:31 | |
Concerns which we reported at the time. | 0:31:31 | 0:31:34 | |
Back then there were fears, | 0:31:34 | 0:31:36 | |
not just about the effect on the countryside, | 0:31:36 | 0:31:38 | |
but also that it would take tourists away from existing businesses. | 0:31:38 | 0:31:43 | |
The proposed development is such a large one, | 0:31:43 | 0:31:46 | |
the impact on local tourism could be cannibalisation | 0:31:46 | 0:31:51 | |
of self-catered accommodation. | 0:31:51 | 0:31:53 | |
It's almost a one-horse bet on local tourism. | 0:31:53 | 0:31:56 | |
Despite the objections, the development got the go-ahead. | 0:31:56 | 0:32:00 | |
So how does it sit in the landscape today? | 0:32:00 | 0:32:02 | |
Perhaps, not surprisingly, the boss, William McNamara, | 0:32:02 | 0:32:06 | |
feels that it works well. | 0:32:06 | 0:32:08 | |
This is where your dairy cows used to graze | 0:32:08 | 0:32:11 | |
when you took a huge financial gamble on setting up this village. | 0:32:11 | 0:32:14 | |
-Staycation paying off for you? -Yes, it is now. | 0:32:14 | 0:32:17 | |
-This is farming but in a different way. -You're farming people here. | 0:32:17 | 0:32:21 | |
Farming tourists. | 0:32:21 | 0:32:22 | |
When the plans were first put forward for this village | 0:32:22 | 0:32:25 | |
there were concerns, weren't there? | 0:32:25 | 0:32:27 | |
People were worried it might ruin a part of the National Park. | 0:32:27 | 0:32:31 | |
Yes, and we were very sensitive to that through the planning process. | 0:32:31 | 0:32:35 | |
But what we've delivered is what we said we would deliver. | 0:32:35 | 0:32:38 | |
You can see, we've planted 170,000 trees and shrubs. | 0:32:38 | 0:32:43 | |
Nothing breaks the horizon, so you can't actually see it from outside. | 0:32:43 | 0:32:47 | |
We have over 200 suppliers to the business | 0:32:47 | 0:32:51 | |
that are Pembrokeshire-based companies. | 0:32:51 | 0:32:53 | |
Our guests stay at Bluestone | 0:32:53 | 0:32:56 | |
but see a lot of Pembrokeshire. | 0:32:56 | 0:32:58 | |
It is so important to put money back into the area. | 0:32:58 | 0:33:01 | |
In fact, it's claimed that this resort brings | 0:33:01 | 0:33:04 | |
between £8-10 million to the local economy every year. | 0:33:04 | 0:33:10 | |
The site also supports a co-operative of 15 farmers | 0:33:10 | 0:33:14 | |
who all grow crops for the development. | 0:33:14 | 0:33:18 | |
Miscanthus, origin of Asia, it's grass similar to bamboo. | 0:33:18 | 0:33:22 | |
We chip it and blend it with woodchip | 0:33:22 | 0:33:25 | |
and burn it in the bio-mass boilers to supply the heat for Bluestone. | 0:33:25 | 0:33:30 | |
So a project like this is bringing together tourism and agriculture. | 0:33:30 | 0:33:33 | |
Yes. In this rural area of Pembrokeshire I think the two | 0:33:33 | 0:33:37 | |
main wealth creators in the rural area are farming and tourism. | 0:33:37 | 0:33:41 | |
They do fit well together. | 0:33:41 | 0:33:44 | |
Despite the sensitive nature of the Bluestone National Park Resort, | 0:33:44 | 0:33:48 | |
there are still some local people who wish it had never been built. | 0:33:48 | 0:33:53 | |
So back in Staffordshire, | 0:33:53 | 0:33:56 | |
are there lessons that can be learnt for the Churnet Valley? | 0:33:56 | 0:33:59 | |
This is idyllic, Andrew, pottering along on the canal, | 0:33:59 | 0:34:02 | |
but earlier on we were talking about plans to turn the valley | 0:34:02 | 0:34:06 | |
into a tourist corridor, encouraging many more people to come here. | 0:34:06 | 0:34:10 | |
How do you do that without spoiling the place? | 0:34:10 | 0:34:13 | |
What we've got to do it is anything that is built in this valley, | 0:34:13 | 0:34:17 | |
it must be sympathetic, it must be built with local materials. | 0:34:17 | 0:34:21 | |
-New hotels and things like that? -Oh, yes, of course. | 0:34:21 | 0:34:24 | |
It's got to fit in, and it's got to fit in also with | 0:34:24 | 0:34:26 | |
the residents as well. | 0:34:26 | 0:34:28 | |
What about the infrastructure of the valley, lots of winding roads. | 0:34:28 | 0:34:32 | |
Many more people coming here would cause traffic jams. | 0:34:32 | 0:34:35 | |
I think one of the most important things is to get people | 0:34:35 | 0:34:39 | |
out of vehicles, on to the alternative forms of transport. | 0:34:39 | 0:34:42 | |
We don't want to spoil what we've got. That's absolutely fundamental. | 0:34:42 | 0:34:46 | |
It's clear that making the most of the home-grown tourist boom | 0:34:46 | 0:34:49 | |
is going to be a balancing act. | 0:34:49 | 0:34:51 | |
It's great to think that so many people | 0:34:51 | 0:34:54 | |
are rediscovering the beauty of the British countryside, | 0:34:54 | 0:34:57 | |
and that rural economies are feeling the benefit. | 0:34:57 | 0:35:01 | |
But we all have to be incredibly careful that development | 0:35:01 | 0:35:04 | |
and high numbers of visitors don't spoil the beauty | 0:35:04 | 0:35:07 | |
and tranquillity that brought people here in the first place. | 0:35:07 | 0:35:11 | |
To me, to me! | 0:35:11 | 0:35:12 | |
After 12 months of hard graft, | 0:35:24 | 0:35:27 | |
the harvest is almost over down on the farm. | 0:35:27 | 0:35:29 | |
But life for Adam never stops. He's already preparing for next year. | 0:35:29 | 0:35:34 | |
Well, there's a good feeling on the farm today | 0:35:39 | 0:35:42 | |
because harvest is virtually over, | 0:35:42 | 0:35:44 | |
the combine will be arriving back in the yard this afternoon. | 0:35:44 | 0:35:48 | |
We've got through 300 acres of winter rape | 0:35:48 | 0:35:51 | |
and then about 440 acres of barley. | 0:35:51 | 0:35:53 | |
And then 375 acres of winter wheat. | 0:35:53 | 0:35:56 | |
So there's been a lot of hard work going on and the sheds | 0:35:56 | 0:35:59 | |
are now brimming with grain. | 0:35:59 | 0:36:01 | |
This shed holds around 900 tonnes. | 0:36:01 | 0:36:03 | |
We've got 600 tonnes of milling wheat over there, | 0:36:03 | 0:36:06 | |
that'll go for making bread. | 0:36:06 | 0:36:07 | |
And on this side, we've got around 300 tonnes of feed wheat, | 0:36:07 | 0:36:11 | |
this will go for animal feed. | 0:36:11 | 0:36:13 | |
And even though it's safe and in the shed, | 0:36:13 | 0:36:15 | |
we still need to look after it. | 0:36:15 | 0:36:18 | |
We blow cold air through the grain to keep cool | 0:36:18 | 0:36:20 | |
and we keep the moisture out. | 0:36:20 | 0:36:22 | |
It's very important because if this gets wet and warm, that encourages | 0:36:22 | 0:36:24 | |
insects into the grain that will eat it and that devalues it. | 0:36:24 | 0:36:28 | |
And at the moment the price of wheat is high. | 0:36:28 | 0:36:30 | |
There's a worldwide shortage which is keeping the price up. | 0:36:30 | 0:36:34 | |
Overall, the harvest was pretty successful. | 0:36:34 | 0:36:37 | |
We were worried about the dry spring, but June and July was good | 0:36:37 | 0:36:40 | |
and the berries filled up nicely. | 0:36:40 | 0:36:43 | |
Overall, we probably did a little bit better than last year. | 0:36:43 | 0:36:46 | |
But my work doesn't stop here. | 0:36:49 | 0:36:50 | |
Now the fields have been harvested, we need to get them working again. | 0:36:50 | 0:36:55 | |
While the weather is still being kind to us, | 0:36:55 | 0:36:57 | |
we need to get on with our planting, with the drilling. | 0:36:57 | 0:37:01 | |
And the ground is quite compacted | 0:37:01 | 0:37:03 | |
and needs turning over to create a good seedbed. | 0:37:03 | 0:37:07 | |
That's where this bad boy comes in handy. | 0:37:07 | 0:37:10 | |
You can see the discs are cutting the ground | 0:37:16 | 0:37:19 | |
and then behind it are some great big tines that are pulling | 0:37:19 | 0:37:22 | |
through the soil, and then it's chopping up as it goes through. | 0:37:22 | 0:37:26 | |
And there is the tilth that's left behind. | 0:37:26 | 0:37:30 | |
Nice, broken soil, full of moisture, ready to plant the seed into. | 0:37:30 | 0:37:35 | |
The sooner we can get crops back in the ground before the onset | 0:37:35 | 0:37:39 | |
of winter, the better chance they'll have. | 0:37:39 | 0:37:42 | |
In the next field, I'm keen to check on the crop I've already planted. | 0:37:42 | 0:37:46 | |
It's one I'm hoping the sheep will benefit from. | 0:37:46 | 0:37:49 | |
These stubble turnips are looking good. | 0:37:49 | 0:37:51 | |
They are what is known as a catch crop. | 0:37:51 | 0:37:54 | |
People have grown the stubble turnips and swedes for years. | 0:37:54 | 0:37:57 | |
What we're doing is grabbing the opportunity to grow | 0:37:57 | 0:38:00 | |
a crop in between two others. | 0:38:00 | 0:38:02 | |
There was wheat in here, now stubble turnips | 0:38:02 | 0:38:05 | |
and we'll plant spring barley next February. | 0:38:05 | 0:38:08 | |
Stubble turnips are one of the fastest growing catch crops, | 0:38:08 | 0:38:11 | |
producing nutritious turnips in just 12 weeks, | 0:38:11 | 0:38:14 | |
which makes great use of the land. | 0:38:14 | 0:38:16 | |
And this is feed for the sheep over the winter. | 0:38:16 | 0:38:19 | |
It'll carry on growing, there'll be plenty of leaf | 0:38:19 | 0:38:22 | |
and the bulb on the bottom here in the root will swell up to | 0:38:22 | 0:38:25 | |
be about the size of my fist. | 0:38:25 | 0:38:27 | |
This is full of sugar and carbohydrates. | 0:38:27 | 0:38:31 | |
It will save us on animal feed over the winter. | 0:38:31 | 0:38:33 | |
We won't have to feed concentrate pellets or silage, | 0:38:33 | 0:38:36 | |
they can just live off these. | 0:38:36 | 0:38:38 | |
And because we're short of grass this summer, | 0:38:38 | 0:38:40 | |
we decided to plant this field to tide the sheep over winter, | 0:38:40 | 0:38:45 | |
to feed the lambs, and they should fatten up really nicely on this. | 0:38:45 | 0:38:49 | |
But it's not just lambs born in the spring that will | 0:38:54 | 0:38:57 | |
benefit from these stubble turnips. | 0:38:57 | 0:38:59 | |
This year we've had some late arrivals on the farm. | 0:38:59 | 0:39:03 | |
We had about 15 or 20 ewes that didn't conceive last autumn. | 0:39:04 | 0:39:08 | |
And while we were busy lambing in the spring, we put them | 0:39:08 | 0:39:12 | |
back to the ram just to see if it would work really, and it did. | 0:39:12 | 0:39:16 | |
Quite a few have got in lamb, | 0:39:16 | 0:39:18 | |
and here we are lambing when most people lamb in the spring. | 0:39:18 | 0:39:21 | |
It's a bit odd really. | 0:39:21 | 0:39:22 | |
But these lambs will stay on their mothers now, | 0:39:22 | 0:39:25 | |
they'll go out on those stubble turnips. | 0:39:25 | 0:39:27 | |
Lovely little lambs. They're all lambing in the field over there | 0:39:27 | 0:39:31 | |
and I'm taking the freshly born ones to join the other newborns. | 0:39:31 | 0:39:34 | |
Come on then. Meep, meep. | 0:39:34 | 0:39:38 | |
Come on then. There he is. | 0:39:38 | 0:39:43 | |
We've got a set of triplets, a set of twins | 0:39:45 | 0:39:48 | |
and two single lambs, which is great news. | 0:39:48 | 0:39:50 | |
And these lambs will stay with their mothers, | 0:39:50 | 0:39:53 | |
graze on the turnips and they'll be ready for the table in February | 0:39:53 | 0:39:56 | |
when the price of lamb is high because there's a shortage. | 0:39:56 | 0:40:00 | |
We've got a bit of a spring scene as we turn the corner towards winter. | 0:40:00 | 0:40:05 | |
These aren't the only new arrivals. | 0:40:11 | 0:40:15 | |
One of my pigs has been busy rearing her young, too. | 0:40:15 | 0:40:19 | |
This is one of our Iron Age sows. | 0:40:19 | 0:40:21 | |
She's a cross between a wild boar and a Tamworth. | 0:40:21 | 0:40:25 | |
She's given birth to a lovely litter of nine piglets in here. | 0:40:25 | 0:40:29 | |
We're going to have to turn them all out into the field now. | 0:40:29 | 0:40:32 | |
We'll just separate her from her piglets and put her on the front. | 0:40:32 | 0:40:36 | |
There's a good girl, there's a good girl. | 0:40:36 | 0:40:39 | |
My sow can be a bit of a handful because she's part wild boar. | 0:40:39 | 0:40:43 | |
But John's here to help. | 0:40:43 | 0:40:44 | |
Well done, John, good skills. | 0:40:46 | 0:40:50 | |
This is the easy bit, now we just catch the little piglets. | 0:40:50 | 0:40:56 | |
PIGLETS SQUEAL | 0:40:56 | 0:40:59 | |
They're like wriggly little rabbits. They're incredibly sweet. | 0:40:59 | 0:41:05 | |
The wild boar in them gives them this stripiness, | 0:41:05 | 0:41:08 | |
which is like a camouflage. | 0:41:08 | 0:41:11 | |
Aren't they gorgeous? | 0:41:11 | 0:41:13 | |
These piglets are about five days old. | 0:41:15 | 0:41:18 | |
They're in good health, so I'm happy to let them | 0:41:18 | 0:41:21 | |
go out in the field to enjoy the fresh pasture and open space. | 0:41:21 | 0:41:24 | |
So now we'll just carry the little piglets and put them | 0:41:24 | 0:41:27 | |
in their new home and let the sow out and she'll go and find them. | 0:41:27 | 0:41:30 | |
Three little pigs. | 0:41:32 | 0:41:35 | |
In you go. | 0:41:35 | 0:41:37 | |
Pigs are really hardy creatures, so she'll live outside very happily. | 0:41:40 | 0:41:44 | |
That's where I much prefer to see them. | 0:41:44 | 0:41:46 | |
-She's all right, John, isn't she? -Yeah. | 0:41:46 | 0:41:48 | |
She's a bit of an angry at the moment, but tomorrow she'll be happy. | 0:41:48 | 0:41:51 | |
Yeah. Great. All right, let's leave her be. | 0:41:51 | 0:41:54 | |
Not all of our animals are as small, cute and easy to handle. | 0:41:57 | 0:42:01 | |
Out in the field, Eric is giving me a bit of a headache. | 0:42:01 | 0:42:03 | |
I think he's having women problems. | 0:42:03 | 0:42:05 | |
This is Eric, my new Highland bull. | 0:42:05 | 0:42:08 | |
I bought him at the Oban cattle sales in the spring, | 0:42:08 | 0:42:10 | |
and he's a wonderful looking animal. | 0:42:10 | 0:42:12 | |
I'm hoping he's going to really improve my herd | 0:42:12 | 0:42:15 | |
with the calves that are born next spring. | 0:42:15 | 0:42:17 | |
He's incredibly athletic and powerful, | 0:42:17 | 0:42:20 | |
he's about a ton of solid muscle. | 0:42:20 | 0:42:22 | |
He can run fast and he can cause a bit of damage. | 0:42:22 | 0:42:24 | |
He's already started sticking his head in the fence and breaking it. | 0:42:24 | 0:42:28 | |
You can see he's getting interested in my White Park cows. | 0:42:28 | 0:42:31 | |
They're coming into season and he wants to get in with them. | 0:42:31 | 0:42:34 | |
And if he jumped this fence and served one of these cows, | 0:42:34 | 0:42:38 | |
the calves would come out ginger and I want them to be pedigree. | 0:42:38 | 0:42:42 | |
This is barbed wire and it's very, very sharp. | 0:42:42 | 0:42:44 | |
And he's a shoving his neck down and it, it must be hurting. | 0:42:44 | 0:42:47 | |
He's as tough as old boots. So I'm going to have to shift him. | 0:42:47 | 0:42:51 | |
Come on, you naughty boy. Your ladies are over there! | 0:42:51 | 0:42:54 | |
Go on, go on. | 0:42:54 | 0:42:57 | |
Go on, Eric. | 0:43:07 | 0:43:09 | |
He can turn from a big, bumbling, ambling bull to this racing machine. | 0:43:09 | 0:43:13 | |
For a bull that weighs about a ton he can't half shift. | 0:43:13 | 0:43:16 | |
And I've got to know him, so I trust him, | 0:43:16 | 0:43:18 | |
but you do have to be careful with these animals. | 0:43:18 | 0:43:21 | |
They're big and powerful, and it's only because I know him | 0:43:21 | 0:43:23 | |
that I can move him around like this. | 0:43:23 | 0:43:27 | |
He doesn't want to leave this lovely grass. Go on! | 0:43:29 | 0:43:32 | |
He's pretty quiet, really. | 0:43:32 | 0:43:37 | |
Right. | 0:43:37 | 0:43:38 | |
I'll leave him in there with his ladies now. | 0:43:38 | 0:43:41 | |
I'm hoping he's got some of them in calf. | 0:43:41 | 0:43:45 | |
But a good solid gate, a barbed-wire fence and then a stone wall - | 0:43:45 | 0:43:49 | |
that should keep him in. | 0:43:49 | 0:43:50 | |
Next week, I'm heading to Devon to visit a farmer whose recently | 0:43:52 | 0:43:55 | |
adopted a large herd of traditional English cattle | 0:43:55 | 0:43:58 | |
that are close to my heart. Longhorns. | 0:43:58 | 0:44:01 | |
On the west coast of Argyll in Scotland, Loch Etive | 0:44:10 | 0:44:13 | |
is where the sea water from the Firth of Lorn meets the fresh water | 0:44:13 | 0:44:16 | |
filtering down through the mountains. | 0:44:16 | 0:44:19 | |
The nature of the loch is pretty special. | 0:44:19 | 0:44:22 | |
The water is brackish, which means that it's saltier than freshwater, | 0:44:22 | 0:44:26 | |
but not as salty as sea water. | 0:44:26 | 0:44:28 | |
Because of this, there's a huge variety of fish species | 0:44:30 | 0:44:32 | |
in the loch, as many as 40. | 0:44:32 | 0:44:36 | |
Which means it's like a theme park for anglers. | 0:44:36 | 0:44:39 | |
5,000 take to the water each year. | 0:44:39 | 0:44:42 | |
It may be good news for anglers, but the water has also been | 0:44:44 | 0:44:47 | |
blamed in part for the decline of an important industry on the loch. | 0:44:47 | 0:44:51 | |
We are approaching a mussel farm just over there on the shore. | 0:44:51 | 0:44:55 | |
Really, it should be a hive of activity, | 0:44:55 | 0:44:57 | |
pulling in the mussels and processing them and getting them shipped off. | 0:44:57 | 0:45:02 | |
But it all looks a bit too quiet. | 0:45:02 | 0:45:05 | |
As these pictures from four years ago show, | 0:45:05 | 0:45:08 | |
Walter Spears had a thriving £250,000 a year business. | 0:45:08 | 0:45:12 | |
Today it's down to virtually nothing, | 0:45:12 | 0:45:15 | |
and the place has been effectively mothballed. | 0:45:15 | 0:45:18 | |
So tell me about what's happened to the farm. | 0:45:18 | 0:45:20 | |
The farm has really collapsed | 0:45:20 | 0:45:22 | |
because of the invasive species that's arrived, | 0:45:22 | 0:45:25 | |
this Mytilus trossulus, which is not of any value commercially. | 0:45:25 | 0:45:28 | |
We are really having to try and eradicate it to try | 0:45:28 | 0:45:31 | |
and get this native stock of edulis back on our lines again. | 0:45:31 | 0:45:35 | |
So edulis you do want, nice and weighty. | 0:45:35 | 0:45:37 | |
-Nice and juicy. -A nice juicy one. | 0:45:37 | 0:45:39 | |
And then on the other hand we have these trossulus ones. | 0:45:39 | 0:45:42 | |
-If I just squeeze that, it just crumbles. -Just throw it away. | 0:45:42 | 0:45:46 | |
There's nothing inside there that you would really want to eat. | 0:45:46 | 0:45:50 | |
-There's hardly anything in there. -Hardly anything. | 0:45:50 | 0:45:53 | |
Definitely looks less attractive too. | 0:45:53 | 0:45:56 | |
This one, a nice meaty edulis. Nice and fleshy and succulent to eat. | 0:45:56 | 0:46:01 | |
To give the edulis, or blue mussel, a chance to re-establish, | 0:46:03 | 0:46:08 | |
the unwanted trossulus mussels are being removed from the loch. | 0:46:08 | 0:46:12 | |
Marine Scotland Science are taking water samples, | 0:46:12 | 0:46:15 | |
looking for signs | 0:46:15 | 0:46:17 | |
that the populations are changing in the right direction. | 0:46:17 | 0:46:20 | |
So how did these two different species end up here in the loch? | 0:46:20 | 0:46:25 | |
What we think may have happened is that mussels may have | 0:46:25 | 0:46:29 | |
come across from Canada probably around about 10,000 years ago. | 0:46:29 | 0:46:32 | |
So it's not one of these alien invasions. | 0:46:32 | 0:46:37 | |
Probably not. The evidence that we've got suggests that it probably | 0:46:37 | 0:46:41 | |
happened before human intervention. | 0:46:41 | 0:46:43 | |
So how then did trossulus become dominant here? | 0:46:43 | 0:46:46 | |
We don't really know, but one theory we have is | 0:46:46 | 0:46:49 | |
that the conditions in this loch may have exacerbated the problem. | 0:46:49 | 0:46:53 | |
The fact that it's low salinity, which trossulus likes. | 0:46:53 | 0:46:56 | |
And it also likes living in the surface waters, | 0:46:56 | 0:46:59 | |
and low salinity water tends to be at the surface. | 0:46:59 | 0:47:01 | |
And the introduction of all of these mussel farms in the loch may | 0:47:01 | 0:47:05 | |
have provided it with a habitat where it can flourish | 0:47:05 | 0:47:08 | |
and outcompete the native blue mussel. | 0:47:08 | 0:47:10 | |
But for Walter and the whole community, it's a slow recovery. | 0:47:11 | 0:47:16 | |
It must have been quite stressful going through this process. | 0:47:16 | 0:47:19 | |
Sure, it was a difficult time and not just for me. | 0:47:19 | 0:47:22 | |
There were five companies working on this loch | 0:47:22 | 0:47:25 | |
and maybe 20 to 25 people in full-time employment from it, | 0:47:25 | 0:47:28 | |
as well as all the lorry drivers and things. | 0:47:28 | 0:47:31 | |
This loch at its peak was producing 1,000 tonnes of mussels a year. | 0:47:31 | 0:47:34 | |
So for that to have crashed to zero now and for all these people to | 0:47:34 | 0:47:38 | |
have lost their jobs is significant in an economy like Argyll and Bute. | 0:47:38 | 0:47:42 | |
In a moment we'll be finding out what the weather has lined up for us. | 0:47:47 | 0:47:51 | |
But first, this is your very last chance to vote for your favourite in | 0:47:51 | 0:47:54 | |
this year's photographic competition, with its theme Best In Show. | 0:47:54 | 0:47:57 | |
Here's John with a reminder of what you need to do. | 0:47:57 | 0:48:01 | |
We've given each of our final photos a number, | 0:48:01 | 0:48:04 | |
and we'd like you to vote for your favourite. | 0:48:04 | 0:48:07 | |
Calls cost 10p from a BT landline, other operators may vary | 0:48:07 | 0:48:11 | |
and calls from mobiles will be considerably higher. | 0:48:11 | 0:48:16 | |
Lines close at midnight tonight and all the details | 0:49:30 | 0:49:33 | |
including the BBC's code of conduct for competitions are on our website. | 0:49:33 | 0:49:38 | |
And we'll reveal the results of that vote on October 9th, | 0:49:38 | 0:49:42 | |
along with the photo that the judges have chosen as their favourite. | 0:49:42 | 0:49:45 | |
Thank you to everybody who's entered. It's going to be an awesome calendar. | 0:49:45 | 0:49:49 | |
Now, here's the weather. | 0:49:49 | 0:49:51 | |
. | 0:51:50 | 0:51:57 | |
Loch Etive, a stunning 20-mile stretch of dramatic scenery | 0:52:08 | 0:52:13 | |
and calm waters in the midwest of Scotland. | 0:52:13 | 0:52:15 | |
It has everything a visitor could ask for - undulating landscape, | 0:52:15 | 0:52:19 | |
beautiful views and diverse wildlife. | 0:52:19 | 0:52:22 | |
But don't be fooled by its beauty, this loch is highly dangerous. | 0:52:23 | 0:52:27 | |
The water here can change from calm very quickly | 0:52:27 | 0:52:30 | |
to some of the fastest moving white water in the United Kingdom, | 0:52:30 | 0:52:33 | |
making it ideal for the RNLI to train for emergency flood rescue. | 0:52:33 | 0:52:38 | |
The international flood rescue team was formed by the charity in 2000. | 0:52:38 | 0:52:43 | |
It's made up of three teams of 20 people, | 0:52:43 | 0:52:46 | |
all of them on permanent standby for disasters at home and abroad. | 0:52:46 | 0:52:51 | |
Every year they come to places like Loch Etive to train. | 0:52:51 | 0:52:55 | |
Robin, I'm still here after the swift water training, | 0:52:55 | 0:52:58 | |
which enables me to move on to the next exercise. | 0:52:58 | 0:53:01 | |
Absolutely, you did really well. | 0:53:01 | 0:53:03 | |
Great swimming and I'm happy for you to come out on the boat. | 0:53:03 | 0:53:07 | |
This morning we had 15 cubic metres per second coming down the river. | 0:53:07 | 0:53:11 | |
-Yes. -This afternoon we've got 4,500 cubic metres per second | 0:53:11 | 0:53:14 | |
-so we've stepped it up a little bit. -Yes, but the boat is involved here. | 0:53:14 | 0:53:17 | |
We're moving up to our safe operational platform | 0:53:17 | 0:53:20 | |
for working in floods. | 0:53:20 | 0:53:21 | |
We're much safer being on a boat than in the water. | 0:53:21 | 0:53:24 | |
The general idea is to go out and look at scenarios we've put together. | 0:53:24 | 0:53:28 | |
We've given these guys a toolbox of skills and techniques in the training | 0:53:28 | 0:53:32 | |
so we need to allow them the opportunity to put them into practice | 0:53:32 | 0:53:35 | |
and make their own assessment of how to carry out a rescue. | 0:53:35 | 0:53:39 | |
What I need you to do is be part of the crew. | 0:53:39 | 0:53:42 | |
Our first rescue scenario is a report of a house | 0:53:42 | 0:53:46 | |
which has got one person and a dog trapped inside. | 0:53:46 | 0:53:49 | |
The water is rising rapidly. | 0:53:49 | 0:53:52 | |
Robin wants these flood rescue exercises to be as real as possible. | 0:53:52 | 0:53:55 | |
The idea here is we're almost abseiling with a rip. | 0:53:55 | 0:53:59 | |
Because of the power of the water we can't use the engines | 0:53:59 | 0:54:03 | |
so we're slowly letting ourselves out. | 0:54:03 | 0:54:06 | |
We've managed to reach the window, battling against the tide. | 0:54:10 | 0:54:14 | |
In a real-life situation, this would mean the successful rescue | 0:54:14 | 0:54:19 | |
of people or animals trapped inside. | 0:54:19 | 0:54:22 | |
But the drama continues. | 0:54:22 | 0:54:24 | |
The idea here is that Roy will get into the water upstream, | 0:54:25 | 0:54:29 | |
come down, and I'll throw the line out to him, which he'll grab, | 0:54:29 | 0:54:33 | |
and then we'll pull him into the boat. Here we go. | 0:54:33 | 0:54:40 | |
This exercise is used to practise rescuing people | 0:54:40 | 0:54:43 | |
who have been swept away by fast-moving flood water. | 0:54:43 | 0:54:47 | |
It's just so frantic, everything seems to happen so fast | 0:54:49 | 0:54:52 | |
and you're so aware of the white water and the torrents | 0:54:52 | 0:54:56 | |
and everything kicking up behind you. | 0:54:56 | 0:54:58 | |
It really is like a one-show wonder. | 0:54:58 | 0:55:01 | |
Got him! The casualty is safe. | 0:55:01 | 0:55:04 | |
In order to get to those in trouble, | 0:55:07 | 0:55:09 | |
this job relies heavily on being able to instantly react | 0:55:09 | 0:55:12 | |
to the environment around you, and that means controlling the boat. | 0:55:12 | 0:55:16 | |
We're entering into the world of high-speed turns | 0:55:16 | 0:55:19 | |
and these are used in a situation where there isn't enough room | 0:55:19 | 0:55:22 | |
to turn around so the rest of the crew act as ballast. | 0:55:22 | 0:55:25 | |
When our driver shouts right, then we all lean to the right. | 0:55:25 | 0:55:29 | |
Cockermouth is a classic example, so we're going down the High Street, | 0:55:29 | 0:55:33 | |
we can't do a three-point turn, | 0:55:33 | 0:55:34 | |
so you're spinning the boat on a sixpence. | 0:55:34 | 0:55:36 | |
Here we go. | 0:55:36 | 0:55:39 | |
Glad I got to do the boat cruise! | 0:55:49 | 0:55:52 | |
What a day I've had. | 0:56:00 | 0:56:01 | |
To experience the power of the water of this place | 0:56:01 | 0:56:04 | |
in the experienced hands of this lot has been something else. | 0:56:04 | 0:56:08 | |
I've got so much respect for all the work they do here | 0:56:08 | 0:56:11 | |
and all over the world. What a team. What a team they are! | 0:56:11 | 0:56:17 | |
-Hello, hello. -Hello, how are you doing? -Very good. | 0:56:22 | 0:56:25 | |
Judging by your attire, | 0:56:25 | 0:56:27 | |
I'm guessing your boat trip wasn't as extreme as mine. | 0:56:27 | 0:56:30 | |
-It was quite sedate. We enjoyed the view. -That's all we've got time for. | 0:56:30 | 0:56:34 | |
Next week we're going to be in the Garden of England, Kent, | 0:56:34 | 0:56:36 | |
home to the national fruit collection | 0:56:36 | 0:56:39 | |
where we'll be sampling apples fit for a king. | 0:56:39 | 0:56:41 | |
And we'll be trying our hand | 0:56:41 | 0:56:43 | |
at the at the local sporting tradition of bat and trap. | 0:56:43 | 0:56:45 | |
-How about that? -Does it involve bag throwing or fast turns? -No. | 0:56:45 | 0:56:49 | |
Right, well I'd better get changed. | 0:56:49 | 0:56:51 | |
You've only got a few more hours | 0:56:51 | 0:56:53 | |
to vote in our Countryfile photographic competition. | 0:56:53 | 0:56:56 | |
All the details are on our website | 0:56:56 | 0:56:58 | |
and we'll reveal the results on October 9th, | 0:56:58 | 0:57:00 | |
-along with the judges' favourite. See you next week. -Bye. | 0:57:00 | 0:57:03 | |
Subtitles by Red Bee Ltd | 0:57:06 | 0:57:10 | |
E-mail [email protected] | 0:57:10 | 0:57:13 |