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Ancient, powerful, mighty. | 0:00:27 | 0:00:31 | |
Mountains and hills can make us feel small and insignificant. | 0:00:31 | 0:00:35 | |
They're special, challenging places that draw us up and away | 0:00:35 | 0:00:39 | |
from the hustle and bustle of everyday life | 0:00:39 | 0:00:42 | |
and it's easy to see why. | 0:00:42 | 0:00:45 | |
Blencathra may not be the highest fell in the Lake District, | 0:00:47 | 0:00:50 | |
but it's been a firm favourite with poets, walkers, geologists | 0:00:50 | 0:00:54 | |
and many others over the centuries. | 0:00:54 | 0:00:58 | |
And soon, it could be yours. Why? | 0:00:58 | 0:01:01 | |
Well, because after nearly 400 years in the same family, | 0:01:01 | 0:01:05 | |
it's up for sale. | 0:01:05 | 0:01:07 | |
I'll be taking a trip with the man who's selling his mountain | 0:01:09 | 0:01:13 | |
and finding out what the new owners can expect for their money. | 0:01:13 | 0:01:16 | |
And we'll also be having a look back at some of the best bits | 0:01:16 | 0:01:19 | |
of Countryfile to have featured hills and mountains. | 0:01:19 | 0:01:22 | |
Like the time Adam encountered some unusual cows in the Swiss Alps. | 0:01:22 | 0:01:27 | |
Just getting up close to these cattle is absolutely wonderful for me. | 0:01:27 | 0:01:31 | |
The thickness of its head, it's just incredible. | 0:01:31 | 0:01:35 | |
Or when Matt learned how to farm the traditional way | 0:01:35 | 0:01:38 | |
in the Cambrian Mountains. | 0:01:38 | 0:01:40 | |
Come on, man, come and show me your part of the world. | 0:01:40 | 0:01:44 | |
And when Julia donned a skirt and hat | 0:01:44 | 0:01:46 | |
to climb like ladies did a century ago. | 0:01:46 | 0:01:49 | |
So, I'm about to do one of the stupidest things I have ever done, | 0:01:49 | 0:01:53 | |
scrambling, in a skirt, wearing this bonnet! | 0:01:53 | 0:01:57 | |
Oh! | 0:01:58 | 0:02:00 | |
Our hills and mountains are cherished. | 0:02:08 | 0:02:11 | |
To many of us, they offer escape, adventure and a sense of belonging. | 0:02:11 | 0:02:16 | |
And if you fancied it, this one, | 0:02:16 | 0:02:19 | |
the stunning Blencathra, could soon belong to you. | 0:02:19 | 0:02:24 | |
Blencathra, or Saddleback as it's sometimes known, | 0:02:27 | 0:02:30 | |
sits north-east of Keswick in the Northern Fells. | 0:02:30 | 0:02:33 | |
And now, it's up for sale. | 0:02:35 | 0:02:37 | |
I've got the brochure and I've arranged | 0:02:37 | 0:02:39 | |
for the most unusual property viewing I have ever had. | 0:02:39 | 0:02:43 | |
This is not an easy viewing appointment, Miles! | 0:02:43 | 0:02:46 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:02:46 | 0:02:48 | |
-Nice to meet you. -Hello. And you. | 0:02:48 | 0:02:49 | |
So, tell me, then, what do I get for my money? | 0:02:49 | 0:02:53 | |
Well, you can buy this wonderful magnificent mountain, | 0:02:53 | 0:02:55 | |
with arguably one of the most recognisable | 0:02:55 | 0:02:58 | |
and best-known of the lake and fells. | 0:02:58 | 0:03:00 | |
It's about 2,500 acres of fell land. | 0:03:00 | 0:03:04 | |
And can you make any money on it? | 0:03:04 | 0:03:06 | |
Not a lot, no. | 0:03:06 | 0:03:08 | |
The grazing is all with local farmers, | 0:03:08 | 0:03:11 | |
who have common grazing rights on it, | 0:03:11 | 0:03:13 | |
so they've that as a right, so they don't pay for that. | 0:03:13 | 0:03:16 | |
But it's not really being sold as an investment | 0:03:16 | 0:03:18 | |
-that's going to produce you a big return. -What's the price again? | 0:03:18 | 0:03:21 | |
We're quoting 1.75 million, I think that's right, | 0:03:21 | 0:03:25 | |
it's difficult to put a price on something like this | 0:03:25 | 0:03:27 | |
because there's very little to compare it with. | 0:03:27 | 0:03:29 | |
-This must be a first for you, having to sell a mountain? -Very much so. | 0:03:29 | 0:03:32 | |
There have been sales, parts of Snowdon were sold a few years ago, | 0:03:32 | 0:03:35 | |
but nothing in the Lake District has ever come out, | 0:03:35 | 0:03:38 | |
as far as we're aware. | 0:03:38 | 0:03:39 | |
And who do you think might be interested? | 0:03:39 | 0:03:41 | |
Well, that's a good question, we're waiting to see, really. | 0:03:41 | 0:03:44 | |
High-worth individuals who buy investments, | 0:03:44 | 0:03:47 | |
like buying a Turner or a Canaletto or something, | 0:03:47 | 0:03:51 | |
instead of that, you can buy a mountain. | 0:03:51 | 0:03:53 | |
Instead of hanging it on your wall, you can actually go out | 0:03:53 | 0:03:55 | |
and enjoy it and walk on it. | 0:03:55 | 0:03:57 | |
Later, I'll be meeting the elusive man | 0:03:59 | 0:04:01 | |
who's decided to sell this mountain. | 0:04:01 | 0:04:05 | |
But first... | 0:04:05 | 0:04:06 | |
A couple of autumns ago, Jules headed to Snowdonia, | 0:04:06 | 0:04:09 | |
where Welsh ponies braved the elements all year round | 0:04:09 | 0:04:13 | |
and where he got slightly more than he bargained for | 0:04:13 | 0:04:15 | |
when he agreed to help round them up. | 0:04:15 | 0:04:17 | |
Snowdonia, 3,000 feet. | 0:04:28 | 0:04:31 | |
This is hard terrain, it's beautiful, | 0:04:31 | 0:04:34 | |
but bleak and inhospitable. | 0:04:34 | 0:04:37 | |
Unless, of course, you're a wild Welsh mountain pony. | 0:04:37 | 0:04:42 | |
These mini-hooved crusaders have called this beautiful | 0:04:42 | 0:04:45 | |
and somewhat treacherous landscape home for the last 2,000 years. | 0:04:45 | 0:04:50 | |
They are up here, whatever the weather, all year round, | 0:04:50 | 0:04:53 | |
except for one day in autumn, | 0:04:53 | 0:04:55 | |
when they're brought back down into the fold. | 0:04:55 | 0:04:58 | |
Snowdonia is the only place in Britain that they exist. | 0:04:58 | 0:05:02 | |
And farmer Gareth knows them best. | 0:05:02 | 0:05:06 | |
Well, Gareth, there's no doubt that these ponies are absolutely unique, | 0:05:06 | 0:05:09 | |
to withstand the weather up here, | 0:05:09 | 0:05:11 | |
I mean, you wouldn't leave sheep up here through the winter, would you? | 0:05:11 | 0:05:14 | |
No, no, no. | 0:05:14 | 0:05:15 | |
It's most probably the only pony which would survive up here | 0:05:15 | 0:05:18 | |
or anything that would survive up here. Is these little ponies. | 0:05:18 | 0:05:23 | |
Because they've been bred here, in the 1940s, | 0:05:23 | 0:05:27 | |
-when we had the very hard... -1947? | 0:05:27 | 0:05:29 | |
Yeah. Half the ponies on the mountains died. | 0:05:29 | 0:05:33 | |
-Did they? -My grandfather said they were stood there, | 0:05:33 | 0:05:36 | |
dead, frozen on their feet. | 0:05:36 | 0:05:38 | |
-Aw! -So, the ones that did survive from that winter were really special | 0:05:38 | 0:05:42 | |
and these bloodlines are still here. | 0:05:42 | 0:05:44 | |
Now, you mentioned your grandfather, these have been a family obsession | 0:05:44 | 0:05:48 | |
for generations for you, haven't they? | 0:05:48 | 0:05:49 | |
When your family has been keeping these ponies for 300 years, | 0:05:49 | 0:05:52 | |
-we can go back 300 years. -Wow. -And it's something powerful. | 0:05:52 | 0:05:57 | |
There's something beautiful, mystic, | 0:05:57 | 0:05:59 | |
just something very close to all our hearts. | 0:05:59 | 0:06:02 | |
They're like us, we've been born and bred up here, | 0:06:02 | 0:06:05 | |
you've got to be a special kind of person. | 0:06:05 | 0:06:07 | |
You would say that, wouldn't you? | 0:06:07 | 0:06:08 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:06:08 | 0:06:10 | |
The ponies may be as hard as nails, | 0:06:10 | 0:06:12 | |
but even they need a bit of TLC sometimes. | 0:06:12 | 0:06:15 | |
Today, they're being rounded up for their annual health check | 0:06:15 | 0:06:18 | |
by Gareth and the other six families that own them. | 0:06:18 | 0:06:21 | |
It's all done using maximum horsepower. | 0:06:21 | 0:06:24 | |
WHISTLING | 0:06:24 | 0:06:25 | |
On quads and bikes. | 0:06:25 | 0:06:28 | |
-Look at them! -Yeah. It's all good fun. | 0:06:28 | 0:06:31 | |
The circus has arrived on top of a mountain in Snowdonia. | 0:06:31 | 0:06:34 | |
Now, does anybody know what's going on? | 0:06:34 | 0:06:38 | |
Is there a plan? | 0:06:38 | 0:06:39 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:06:39 | 0:06:42 | |
Listen, these are all family and they all know where to go. | 0:06:42 | 0:06:46 | |
Everybody has got their own spot. | 0:06:46 | 0:06:50 | |
These chaps don't have time for social niceties, | 0:06:50 | 0:06:53 | |
there's work to be done. It's organised chaos! | 0:06:53 | 0:06:56 | |
The thing about wild ponies is that... | 0:06:58 | 0:07:00 | |
well, they're wild and they don't always behave as they should, | 0:07:00 | 0:07:03 | |
when being moved around by a mechanical rodeo. | 0:07:03 | 0:07:07 | |
But I've got to learn fast, | 0:07:07 | 0:07:08 | |
because I'm part of the team and these guys don't mess around. | 0:07:08 | 0:07:12 | |
Your job is watching this ravine here. | 0:07:12 | 0:07:15 | |
-They'll be wanting to break up, will they? -Exactly. | 0:07:15 | 0:07:17 | |
-OK. -Exactly. This is all open mountain, | 0:07:17 | 0:07:20 | |
so the idea is, with a big net, | 0:07:20 | 0:07:22 | |
-you want to be doing a bit of shouting. -Yeah. | 0:07:22 | 0:07:24 | |
Whatever comes to mind. | 0:07:24 | 0:07:27 | |
They won't understand you, they only understand Welsh up here. | 0:07:27 | 0:07:30 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:07:30 | 0:07:32 | |
Let's go! | 0:07:32 | 0:07:34 | |
SHOUTING | 0:07:44 | 0:07:47 | |
The plan was that everything was going to come | 0:07:54 | 0:07:57 | |
running down that part of the hill, there. | 0:07:57 | 0:07:59 | |
Unfortunately, they had other ideas and they went that way. | 0:07:59 | 0:08:03 | |
I couldn't stop them, the other bikes couldn't stop them, | 0:08:03 | 0:08:06 | |
they've now disappeared over the hill. | 0:08:06 | 0:08:08 | |
After a manic two hours, some master driving from Gareth | 0:08:14 | 0:08:17 | |
and the team, and more luck than judgment from me, it's great news. | 0:08:17 | 0:08:22 | |
We've rounded up a cracking 131 ponies. | 0:08:22 | 0:08:26 | |
Now, all we've got to do is get them down to the farmyard, | 0:08:26 | 0:08:28 | |
where they can be checked over. | 0:08:28 | 0:08:30 | |
Each pony is owned by one of seven local families. | 0:08:32 | 0:08:36 | |
It's been like this for generations. | 0:08:36 | 0:08:38 | |
But how on earth can they tell which pony is which? | 0:08:38 | 0:08:42 | |
They've all got special earmarks in them, | 0:08:42 | 0:08:45 | |
where we know whose pony is who. | 0:08:45 | 0:08:48 | |
Given that they all live on the mountain, | 0:08:48 | 0:08:50 | |
-does it matter who owns them, in a sense? -Yes, it does. | 0:08:50 | 0:08:52 | |
It does. | 0:08:52 | 0:08:54 | |
Because these have been handed down by generations from father to son. | 0:08:54 | 0:08:57 | |
And you want to keep your breeding stock going. | 0:08:57 | 0:08:59 | |
Yes, yes, and you know which ponies are yours | 0:08:59 | 0:09:01 | |
and some of them have got special... Close to your heart. | 0:09:01 | 0:09:04 | |
Each family has to carefully manage their pony's bloodline | 0:09:04 | 0:09:07 | |
to prevent interbreeding. | 0:09:07 | 0:09:09 | |
It's important that there's only one stallion per herd, | 0:09:09 | 0:09:12 | |
so the young males are sold off along with any other ponies | 0:09:12 | 0:09:14 | |
too old or weak to survive the coming winter. | 0:09:14 | 0:09:18 | |
After making sure the remainder have their earmarks, | 0:09:18 | 0:09:21 | |
they'll be released back onto the mountain | 0:09:21 | 0:09:23 | |
to join the few hundred living there. | 0:09:23 | 0:09:25 | |
It would be nice to have rare breed status, | 0:09:25 | 0:09:28 | |
and maybe get rare breed status for the families as well! | 0:09:28 | 0:09:31 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:09:31 | 0:09:33 | |
It's been a real privilege to have played a small part | 0:09:33 | 0:09:35 | |
in helping these incredible ponies. | 0:09:35 | 0:09:38 | |
These animals are a living slice of our history | 0:09:38 | 0:09:41 | |
and thanks to extraordinary work from farmers like Gareth, | 0:09:41 | 0:09:44 | |
they should continue to be so for generations to come. | 0:09:44 | 0:09:47 | |
The Lake District's Blencathra mountain stands proudly | 0:09:55 | 0:09:58 | |
above spectacular countryside. | 0:09:58 | 0:10:01 | |
And for the first time in 400 years, | 0:10:01 | 0:10:03 | |
this mighty mountain is on the market. | 0:10:03 | 0:10:07 | |
I want to take a closer look. | 0:10:07 | 0:10:09 | |
Time to ditch the glossy brochure and use a guide | 0:10:09 | 0:10:12 | |
who has been indispensable for Lakeland Fell walkers for 50 years. | 0:10:12 | 0:10:17 | |
Alfred Wainwright, of course. | 0:10:17 | 0:10:19 | |
His books are still the guides many walkers rely on | 0:10:21 | 0:10:24 | |
to navigate the slopes. | 0:10:24 | 0:10:27 | |
And it's easy to see why. | 0:10:27 | 0:10:29 | |
The personality of his writing and the information in this book | 0:10:29 | 0:10:32 | |
is really compelling and Blencathra was one of his favourite mountains. | 0:10:32 | 0:10:37 | |
He writes here, "This is a mountain that compels attention, | 0:10:37 | 0:10:41 | |
"even from those dull people | 0:10:41 | 0:10:43 | |
"whose eyes are not habitually lifted to the hills. | 0:10:43 | 0:10:45 | |
"To artists and photographers..." | 0:10:45 | 0:10:47 | |
"It is an obvious subject for their craft. | 0:10:47 | 0:10:50 | |
"To sightseers passing along the road, its influence is magnetic. | 0:10:50 | 0:10:55 | |
"To the dalesfolk, it is the eternal background to their lives, | 0:10:55 | 0:11:00 | |
"there at birth, there at death. | 0:11:00 | 0:11:03 | |
"But most of all, it is a mountaineer's mountain. | 0:11:03 | 0:11:06 | |
Wainwright dedicated more pages to Blencathra | 0:11:10 | 0:11:13 | |
than any other fell in his own inimitable manner. | 0:11:13 | 0:11:16 | |
David Powell Thomson gives guided tours of the fells. | 0:11:20 | 0:11:23 | |
-So, Wainwright loved this mountain, then? -Oh, he did. | 0:11:23 | 0:11:26 | |
Why did he love it? | 0:11:26 | 0:11:27 | |
Well, it's such an iconic mountain, isn't it? | 0:11:27 | 0:11:30 | |
When you look at it, from afar, | 0:11:30 | 0:11:32 | |
you've got these five huge buttresses, | 0:11:32 | 0:11:34 | |
four gullies, that face south. | 0:11:34 | 0:11:37 | |
Has it changed much, do you think, since he was writing about it? | 0:11:37 | 0:11:40 | |
It's a lot busier, I would think. | 0:11:40 | 0:11:42 | |
Yeah. He came here in the winter of 1661, climbed it every Sunday, | 0:11:42 | 0:11:48 | |
by a different route and didn't see a soul. | 0:11:48 | 0:11:51 | |
Not during the whole of that winter, | 0:11:51 | 0:11:53 | |
-he didn't see anybody else on the summit. -Lucky man! | 0:11:53 | 0:11:55 | |
-You can't do that today. -No, indeed not. | 0:11:55 | 0:11:57 | |
I would think you'd be very lucky, it would be late at night. | 0:11:57 | 0:12:01 | |
And he's done this fabulous map. | 0:12:01 | 0:12:03 | |
-His books, a page a night, after work. -Wow! | 0:12:03 | 0:12:06 | |
And when he wasn't doing these, | 0:12:06 | 0:12:08 | |
he was out gathering notes, surveying the areas. | 0:12:08 | 0:12:12 | |
They're a fabulous legacy to his work. | 0:12:12 | 0:12:14 | |
He did these as an aide-memoire for himself, | 0:12:14 | 0:12:18 | |
for when he became doddery and couldn't get out on the fell, | 0:12:18 | 0:12:21 | |
he could actually read his book and reminisce about his own work. | 0:12:21 | 0:12:26 | |
But, there are thousands, millions... | 0:12:26 | 0:12:28 | |
The millionth one actually | 0:12:28 | 0:12:32 | |
was sold in a book shop, with a little note in it to say | 0:12:32 | 0:12:36 | |
that Wainwright would have lunch with the person who got it. | 0:12:36 | 0:12:40 | |
But he didn't like people, other people, he was a solitary person. | 0:12:40 | 0:12:44 | |
It's said that he went out, | 0:12:44 | 0:12:46 | |
and found it and bought it himself, so that nobody else could get it! | 0:12:46 | 0:12:49 | |
People say, people know these areas well, | 0:12:49 | 0:12:53 | |
-I don't think anybody knew them as well as he did. -Indeed. | 0:12:53 | 0:12:57 | |
-And you come out with one of these, don't you? -Yeah, every time, yeah. | 0:12:57 | 0:13:00 | |
-I can do snap! -You've got all the basics. | 0:13:00 | 0:13:04 | |
Yeah, map, compass, whistle and a Wainwright. | 0:13:04 | 0:13:08 | |
Wainwright was not the first to fall for the beauty of this place. | 0:13:11 | 0:13:14 | |
Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge was smitten 200 years ago. | 0:13:14 | 0:13:19 | |
But it was another beautiful landscape | 0:13:19 | 0:13:22 | |
that inspired his greatest poetry. | 0:13:22 | 0:13:24 | |
As Julia found out when she went to the Quantocks in Somerset. | 0:13:24 | 0:13:27 | |
This is Coleridge country. | 0:13:32 | 0:13:35 | |
"So, twice five miles of fertile ground | 0:13:35 | 0:13:37 | |
"With walls and towers were girdled round | 0:13:37 | 0:13:40 | |
"And here were gardens bright with sinuous rills | 0:13:40 | 0:13:44 | |
"Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree | 0:13:44 | 0:13:47 | |
"And here were forests ancient as the hills | 0:13:47 | 0:13:50 | |
"Enfolding sunny spots of greenery." | 0:13:50 | 0:13:53 | |
Kubla Khan is one of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's most famous poems | 0:13:54 | 0:13:58 | |
and one of the most famous in the English language | 0:13:58 | 0:14:00 | |
and he wrote it 200 years ago when he was living here in the Quantocks. | 0:14:00 | 0:14:05 | |
It is beautiful, with its mix of rolling hills, | 0:14:13 | 0:14:17 | |
open heathland and deep, wooded valleys. | 0:14:17 | 0:14:20 | |
It's easy to see what Coleridge fell in love with. | 0:14:20 | 0:14:23 | |
He came here, aged 24, to escape the city. | 0:14:23 | 0:14:26 | |
He was barely known as a poet when he arrived, | 0:14:26 | 0:14:29 | |
but all of that was about to change. | 0:14:29 | 0:14:31 | |
"Friends, whom I never more may meet again | 0:14:33 | 0:14:35 | |
"On springy heath, along the hilltop edge | 0:14:35 | 0:14:39 | |
"Wander in gladness and wind down | 0:14:39 | 0:14:41 | |
"Perchance to that still roaring dell of which I told." | 0:14:41 | 0:14:45 | |
So, here it is, Tom, | 0:14:51 | 0:14:52 | |
the dell that was mentioned in many of Coleridge's poems. | 0:14:52 | 0:14:55 | |
Yes, this is Holford Glen, a place which was a great inspiration | 0:14:55 | 0:14:59 | |
for him and also for his friends, | 0:14:59 | 0:15:01 | |
William and Dorothy Wordsworth, who lived just up the road. | 0:15:01 | 0:15:04 | |
He would walk from Nether Stowey, three miles away, | 0:15:04 | 0:15:07 | |
almost daily to visit them and to visit places like this | 0:15:07 | 0:15:11 | |
and they were almost obsessive wanderers in this landscape | 0:15:11 | 0:15:14 | |
and drew enormous inspiration from it. | 0:15:14 | 0:15:16 | |
In fact, it was a key moment in the history of English poetry, | 0:15:16 | 0:15:19 | |
the moment when landscape and nature | 0:15:19 | 0:15:22 | |
became primary inspirations for poetic achievement. | 0:15:22 | 0:15:26 | |
Another handsome view over our shoulder, Tom, | 0:15:36 | 0:15:38 | |
and another inspirational spot for him. | 0:15:38 | 0:15:40 | |
It was, very much so, this was a place that he visited all the time, | 0:15:40 | 0:15:44 | |
daily, and, of course, it was the beginning of the journey, | 0:15:44 | 0:15:47 | |
which led to his most famous poem, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. | 0:15:47 | 0:15:51 | |
He and the Wordsworths set off along the great track, | 0:15:51 | 0:15:54 | |
just over there, on a November day at four in the afternoon, | 0:15:54 | 0:15:57 | |
-just as the rain was beginning to fall. -Lovely! | 0:15:57 | 0:16:00 | |
And it was this landscape which was the context | 0:16:00 | 0:16:03 | |
in which that great poem was brought into existence. | 0:16:03 | 0:16:06 | |
The track is now named after the great man himself. | 0:16:07 | 0:16:10 | |
And this is it, the Coleridge Way. | 0:16:10 | 0:16:12 | |
It follows the same routes that he would have traversed 200 years ago | 0:16:12 | 0:16:16 | |
and if he walked it today, he'd see that little has changed. | 0:16:16 | 0:16:21 | |
The track starts here in Nether Stowey, | 0:16:21 | 0:16:23 | |
the village that Coleridge lived in. | 0:16:23 | 0:16:26 | |
'His cottage is now a museum, owned by the National Trust.' | 0:16:29 | 0:16:32 | |
Hello. 'And they've decided to return it | 0:16:32 | 0:16:34 | |
'to its original state as Coleridge's home.' | 0:16:34 | 0:16:36 | |
-Afternoon, afternoon. -Oh, hello, nice to meet you. | 0:16:38 | 0:16:41 | |
-Hello, Stephen, good to see you're busy. -We're very busy, yes. | 0:16:41 | 0:16:44 | |
So, the whole house has got to be packed away, is that right? | 0:16:44 | 0:16:46 | |
It is, yes, we're having a major re-presentation of the property. | 0:16:46 | 0:16:49 | |
We've to start by clearing the whole place | 0:16:49 | 0:16:52 | |
-and if you want to give us a hand... -Absolutely, I will be very happy to. | 0:16:52 | 0:16:55 | |
I see an awful lot, a lot of delicate little things. | 0:16:55 | 0:16:58 | |
I mean, what's this? | 0:16:58 | 0:16:59 | |
We have Coleridge's little ink-pot there | 0:16:59 | 0:17:01 | |
-and we have his will. -Look at that, 1829! | 0:17:01 | 0:17:04 | |
Yes, lots and lots of items that were very personal to him. | 0:17:04 | 0:17:07 | |
We just have to get all these packed up today. | 0:17:07 | 0:17:11 | |
It's this old upstairs room that houses some of Coleridge's | 0:17:16 | 0:17:19 | |
most personal treasures. The quills that he used to pen his masterpieces. | 0:17:19 | 0:17:25 | |
This is the room that Coleridge wrote Frost At Midnight, isn't it? | 0:17:25 | 0:17:28 | |
We're almost certain that this is the room, | 0:17:28 | 0:17:30 | |
-Frost At Midnight was written in. -Shall we have a go? | 0:17:30 | 0:17:33 | |
You should be able to get about six or seven words out of every dip. | 0:17:33 | 0:17:37 | |
I'm lucky if I can get six or seven LETTERS, | 0:17:37 | 0:17:39 | |
let alone six or seven words! | 0:17:39 | 0:17:41 | |
It's going to take me a long time, let me tell you! | 0:17:41 | 0:17:45 | |
"The Frost performs its secret ministry | 0:17:45 | 0:17:48 | |
"Unhelped by any wind | 0:17:48 | 0:17:50 | |
"The owlet's cry came loud and hark again | 0:17:50 | 0:17:53 | |
"Loud as before | 0:17:53 | 0:17:55 | |
"The inmates of my cottage all at rest | 0:17:55 | 0:17:57 | |
"Have left me to that solitude which suits abstruser musings..." | 0:17:57 | 0:18:01 | |
Coleridge lived in the Quantocks for just three years. | 0:18:06 | 0:18:09 | |
But the landscape inspired him to his greatest poetry. | 0:18:09 | 0:18:13 | |
We've been enjoying our hills and mountains for generations, | 0:18:21 | 0:18:25 | |
but I am not sure what they would have made of THIS | 0:18:25 | 0:18:27 | |
in Coleridge's day. | 0:18:27 | 0:18:29 | |
If you just look right up there, you can make out Andy Thompson, | 0:18:29 | 0:18:33 | |
who's currently hurling himself down this mountain at top speed. | 0:18:33 | 0:18:39 | |
It's fun, apparently. | 0:18:40 | 0:18:42 | |
Oh my goodness! That's fast! | 0:18:44 | 0:18:47 | |
Andy is a fell runner who's going to help me | 0:18:47 | 0:18:49 | |
throw myself down a mountain as well. | 0:18:49 | 0:18:52 | |
Wow! Whoa there, Andy! | 0:18:54 | 0:18:57 | |
My goodness! That must be murder on your knees! | 0:18:57 | 0:19:00 | |
Yeah, it can be at times. | 0:19:00 | 0:19:02 | |
-You get used to after a while. -What's the appeal of fell running? | 0:19:02 | 0:19:06 | |
For me, the big excitement is running downhill, | 0:19:06 | 0:19:09 | |
also being out on the fells on your own, almost having a mountain | 0:19:09 | 0:19:12 | |
to yourself, but moving at speed, yeah, it's really exciting. | 0:19:12 | 0:19:16 | |
What's so special about this particular mountain? | 0:19:16 | 0:19:18 | |
For me, on a personal point, moving up from the south, | 0:19:18 | 0:19:21 | |
it was the first mountain I ever went up in the Lake District. | 0:19:21 | 0:19:25 | |
-Tempted to put in a bid? -Not on my wage salary! | 0:19:25 | 0:19:27 | |
Never mind! So, how about this fell running then? | 0:19:27 | 0:19:31 | |
A lot of it comes with confidence and building up slowly, | 0:19:31 | 0:19:33 | |
and then having that ability at times just to take your brain out | 0:19:33 | 0:19:38 | |
and let your legs just go down the hill, | 0:19:38 | 0:19:41 | |
but under a little bit of control. | 0:19:41 | 0:19:43 | |
For me, it's gaining a fine balance between confidence and speed. | 0:19:43 | 0:19:47 | |
You seem to be letting yourself go down there, | 0:19:47 | 0:19:49 | |
-your arms were all over the place. -That really helps with the balance | 0:19:49 | 0:19:52 | |
and you're almost over-exaggerating your arms to compensate your feet | 0:19:52 | 0:19:55 | |
being slightly off balance at times, | 0:19:55 | 0:19:57 | |
so you're waving around a little bit and you feel a bit of a goon, | 0:19:57 | 0:20:00 | |
but you can hold your balance a lot more on the side of the fell. | 0:20:00 | 0:20:05 | |
This isn't exactly a starter slope, is it? | 0:20:05 | 0:20:07 | |
No, I would say this is fairly technical, | 0:20:07 | 0:20:10 | |
but I reckon we can give it a bit of a whirl. | 0:20:10 | 0:20:13 | |
Here we go. | 0:20:13 | 0:20:14 | |
-I can't put the brakes on! -That's cool. Widen your stride a touch. | 0:20:19 | 0:20:23 | |
-Keep going, come on. -This is too steep! | 0:20:23 | 0:20:25 | |
Come on, nice work, let's move. | 0:20:25 | 0:20:27 | |
Everything that isn't bone or muscle is wobbling. | 0:20:27 | 0:20:30 | |
It's better than uphill, though. | 0:20:30 | 0:20:31 | |
The uphill bits can be just as fun, I think, sometimes. | 0:20:31 | 0:20:35 | |
-Well, Andy, I'm going to leave you to it. -OK. -Good job. | 0:20:35 | 0:20:37 | |
Enjoy the rest of your day. See you now. Bye! | 0:20:37 | 0:20:40 | |
Now, running downhill is quite hard work, | 0:20:40 | 0:20:42 | |
but not nearly as hard as when I was challenged to ride | 0:20:42 | 0:20:45 | |
the hill in Yorkshire as part of the route of this year's Tour de France. | 0:20:45 | 0:20:49 | |
This is the sleepy village of Holme on the edge of the Peaks. | 0:20:53 | 0:20:56 | |
It may look quite quiet and serene now but, come July, | 0:20:56 | 0:20:59 | |
it's set to get the biggest wake-up call in its recent history. | 0:20:59 | 0:21:04 | |
Because, for the first time, the world-famous | 0:21:04 | 0:21:08 | |
Tour de France cycle race is set to thunder through here | 0:21:08 | 0:21:12 | |
on day two of this epic race. | 0:21:12 | 0:21:15 | |
150,000 people are expected to come along to watch. | 0:21:15 | 0:21:19 | |
But that's nothing, | 0:21:19 | 0:21:20 | |
12 million people line each stage of the route every year. | 0:21:20 | 0:21:25 | |
There's only one way to see what the Tour de France competitors | 0:21:28 | 0:21:31 | |
will face. I'm going to cycle the hill myself. | 0:21:31 | 0:21:35 | |
I am joining Mark Etches and some of the lads | 0:21:35 | 0:21:37 | |
from Sheffrec Cycling Club from Sheffield | 0:21:37 | 0:21:40 | |
and this hill is part of their training. | 0:21:40 | 0:21:44 | |
So, Mark, this is your standard route as part of your training. | 0:21:44 | 0:21:48 | |
What sort of perils are the Tour de France riders going to face? | 0:21:48 | 0:21:53 | |
Well, this is one of the penultimate climbs of stage two, | 0:21:53 | 0:21:59 | |
so this is quite a climb, | 0:21:59 | 0:22:02 | |
so we expect maybe some attacks to come on these slopes here. | 0:22:02 | 0:22:06 | |
-Right. -So this is where it starts to kick up. | 0:22:06 | 0:22:10 | |
Mile and a quarter now to the top of the climb. | 0:22:10 | 0:22:12 | |
There's a mark in the road. | 0:22:12 | 0:22:14 | |
So we know exactly how far we've got to go. | 0:22:14 | 0:22:17 | |
Good grief, it's not easy, is it? | 0:22:17 | 0:22:20 | |
I am struggling to keep pace with Mark at around 5mph. | 0:22:20 | 0:22:25 | |
The riders in the Tour de France will be attacking this hill | 0:22:25 | 0:22:28 | |
at three times that. | 0:22:28 | 0:22:30 | |
Around this corner now, the wind will start to come across. | 0:22:30 | 0:22:35 | |
-Right. -Can you feel the wind now? -Yeah! -Bit of a push... | 0:22:35 | 0:22:39 | |
6, 5, 6%, so it's just starting to... | 0:22:41 | 0:22:46 | |
-pull on those calves. -God, it is! -Yeah! | 0:22:46 | 0:22:49 | |
I am a keen cyclist, but this gradient is testing me to the limit. | 0:22:49 | 0:22:53 | |
I know I can do better than this and although I shouldn't blame my tools, | 0:22:53 | 0:22:57 | |
there has to be something wrong with this bike! | 0:22:57 | 0:23:00 | |
A quick stop to check and I don't believe it, | 0:23:00 | 0:23:03 | |
I have been riding with the brakes on. | 0:23:03 | 0:23:06 | |
There you go, look. I am not that unfit, the break was locked on! | 0:23:06 | 0:23:09 | |
A likely story! | 0:23:09 | 0:23:12 | |
Thank goodness, I can hold my cycling helmet high again | 0:23:12 | 0:23:16 | |
and we're nearly at the top. | 0:23:16 | 0:23:18 | |
This is where the many thousands of spectators will be jumping for joy | 0:23:18 | 0:23:24 | |
at the site of the biggest cycle race in the world. | 0:23:24 | 0:23:28 | |
-We're nearly there. -We're getting towards the top. | 0:23:28 | 0:23:30 | |
-Yeah! -Are we going to have a sprint? -No, we're not! | 0:23:30 | 0:23:33 | |
Last push to the line. | 0:23:33 | 0:23:35 | |
ELLIE GROANS | 0:23:35 | 0:23:37 | |
Keep going. Let those legs burn. | 0:23:37 | 0:23:40 | |
Yes. All right. | 0:23:43 | 0:23:46 | |
I am out of breath. I have nothing to say. | 0:23:48 | 0:23:52 | |
-That was amazing. -Did you enjoy that? -Yeah. | 0:23:52 | 0:23:55 | |
-I feel sorry for them. -They won't be able to enjoy this view. | 0:23:55 | 0:23:58 | |
No. It's a stunning place up here. | 0:23:58 | 0:24:00 | |
-You feel like you're on top of the world. -Incredible, incredible. | 0:24:00 | 0:24:04 | |
Cycling up that hill with the brakes on | 0:24:15 | 0:24:17 | |
certainly put me out of my comfort zone, | 0:24:17 | 0:24:19 | |
but these Herdwick sheep are entirely comfortable out here | 0:24:19 | 0:24:23 | |
on this Lakeland mountain. | 0:24:23 | 0:24:25 | |
They belong to tenant farmer, Willie Tyson | 0:24:25 | 0:24:28 | |
who has lived here since he was two years old and, I have to say, | 0:24:28 | 0:24:32 | |
he's got one of THE nicest views I have ever seen. | 0:24:32 | 0:24:36 | |
Some of his ewes are enjoying the pastures in the field below | 0:24:39 | 0:24:42 | |
ready for lambing, but even in late spring, | 0:24:42 | 0:24:45 | |
there's no sign of his lambs just yet. | 0:24:45 | 0:24:49 | |
It looks very peaceful just now with the sun shining | 0:24:49 | 0:24:52 | |
and the grass is growing, things are starting to turn green. | 0:24:52 | 0:24:56 | |
Unfortunately, in January and February, | 0:24:56 | 0:24:58 | |
it can be a bit bleak. | 0:24:58 | 0:25:00 | |
Last year, we had quite a lot of snow at the end of March | 0:25:00 | 0:25:02 | |
and that's why we don't lamb so early, | 0:25:02 | 0:25:05 | |
because we lie about 850 feet here. | 0:25:05 | 0:25:08 | |
It isn't unknown to have a bit of snow, even in May. | 0:25:08 | 0:25:11 | |
Wow! So these Herdwicks are a very special breed, aren't they? | 0:25:11 | 0:25:14 | |
Yes, very hardy. | 0:25:14 | 0:25:15 | |
The Herdwicks, the indigenous breed, they've been here centuries, | 0:25:15 | 0:25:20 | |
there are records going back to Furness Abbey in the 12th century. | 0:25:20 | 0:25:23 | |
Probably come from Scandinavia, originally. | 0:25:23 | 0:25:25 | |
How do you feel about this mountain up for sale? | 0:25:25 | 0:25:28 | |
-What do you make of all that? -It's a bit of an eye-opener! | 0:25:28 | 0:25:30 | |
Almost romantic, if you would. | 0:25:30 | 0:25:33 | |
As it stands at present, | 0:25:33 | 0:25:35 | |
we own what's called the common grazing rights. | 0:25:35 | 0:25:38 | |
That's a right to graze this common. | 0:25:38 | 0:25:41 | |
I think, in the event of this lump of mountain being sold, | 0:25:41 | 0:25:46 | |
the commons graziers own the grass | 0:25:46 | 0:25:49 | |
and I think an inch of the turf. | 0:25:49 | 0:25:51 | |
That's it. | 0:25:51 | 0:25:53 | |
All that's above it and below it belongs to the Lord of the Manor. | 0:25:53 | 0:25:56 | |
You've had many years of this incredible view, as well, | 0:25:56 | 0:25:59 | |
you're very lucky. | 0:25:59 | 0:26:00 | |
It doesn't pay the rent, but if I could bottle it, | 0:26:00 | 0:26:02 | |
I would be worth a fortune! | 0:26:02 | 0:26:03 | |
ELLIE LAUGHS | 0:26:03 | 0:26:06 | |
Adam wished he could have brought the view home | 0:26:07 | 0:26:09 | |
when he visited Switzerland. | 0:26:09 | 0:26:11 | |
Here, an unusual breed of cow grazes | 0:26:11 | 0:26:14 | |
amongst the mountainous Alpine scenery. | 0:26:14 | 0:26:17 | |
The Swiss Alps, where snow-capped peaks tower into the sky | 0:26:20 | 0:26:25 | |
and descend into lush valleys. | 0:26:25 | 0:26:28 | |
2,500m above sea level | 0:26:33 | 0:26:36 | |
live some big, brutal, bruising animals, | 0:26:36 | 0:26:39 | |
famous in Switzerland for fighting. | 0:26:39 | 0:26:42 | |
The Eringer cow has to be one of the most unusual breeds | 0:26:42 | 0:26:45 | |
I have ever heard of. | 0:26:45 | 0:26:48 | |
In some parts of Spain, bullfighting is quite a common | 0:26:51 | 0:26:54 | |
and controversial spectacle but, here, the cattle fight each other | 0:26:54 | 0:26:59 | |
and is often the way of the Swiss, it's a lot less controversial. | 0:26:59 | 0:27:03 | |
In Switzerland, cow fighting events are a big deal. | 0:27:06 | 0:27:09 | |
Huge crowds come to see the Eringer cows battle it out | 0:27:09 | 0:27:13 | |
until one is pronounced the winner. | 0:27:13 | 0:27:15 | |
It's completely natural behaviour. | 0:27:15 | 0:27:17 | |
Fighting is the way this breed establishes a hierarchy | 0:27:17 | 0:27:20 | |
within the herd. | 0:27:20 | 0:27:22 | |
CHEERING | 0:27:22 | 0:27:24 | |
This man farms the cows high on the slopes of the Turtman Valley. | 0:27:29 | 0:27:34 | |
He's taking me to see his cows and he's brought along his friend, | 0:27:34 | 0:27:37 | |
Florian, in case he needs help with his English. | 0:27:37 | 0:27:41 | |
Here they are, the cows! | 0:27:41 | 0:27:43 | |
-Yes, now we've found it. -How many? | 0:27:43 | 0:27:46 | |
There are about 900 and 1,000. | 0:27:46 | 0:27:49 | |
A lot! | 0:27:49 | 0:27:51 | |
I just imagined a few, but there are lots. | 0:27:51 | 0:27:53 | |
-Can we get closer, is it safe? -Yes, they're harmless. | 0:27:53 | 0:27:57 | |
They are like a dog. | 0:27:57 | 0:28:00 | |
They really like the people. | 0:28:00 | 0:28:02 | |
-Great, let's go and get closer. -OK. | 0:28:02 | 0:28:04 | |
So, whilst they fight each other... | 0:28:08 | 0:28:11 | |
Hello! | 0:28:11 | 0:28:14 | |
They are so friendly! | 0:28:14 | 0:28:16 | |
They're incredibly gentle with people. | 0:28:16 | 0:28:20 | |
These ones lying down here, they're lovely. | 0:28:20 | 0:28:24 | |
The bells are huge! | 0:28:28 | 0:28:31 | |
-Very big bells. -Yeah, and also noisy. | 0:28:31 | 0:28:36 | |
They're so friendly, they're living up here in a mountain, | 0:28:38 | 0:28:42 | |
but they're like pets! | 0:28:42 | 0:28:45 | |
I can't imagine them fighting. | 0:28:45 | 0:28:48 | |
Just getting up close to these cattle is absolutely wonderful for me | 0:28:53 | 0:28:57 | |
and holding their skin, you can feel that it's really thick. | 0:28:57 | 0:29:02 | |
Hello! | 0:29:02 | 0:29:04 | |
And their meat is just solid, it's muscle. | 0:29:04 | 0:29:08 | |
Although they're short, they're powerful little beasts. | 0:29:08 | 0:29:12 | |
Look at you! | 0:29:12 | 0:29:15 | |
Look at the thickness of its head. Just incredible! | 0:29:15 | 0:29:21 | |
Lovely! | 0:29:21 | 0:29:23 | |
-So, this is the queen of this mountain. -The queen fighting cow? | 0:29:27 | 0:29:31 | |
-Yes. -How did she become queen? | 0:29:31 | 0:29:35 | |
She win all the other cows. | 0:29:35 | 0:29:38 | |
So how many fights will she have? | 0:29:38 | 0:29:41 | |
Oh, this one, her third year, | 0:29:41 | 0:29:45 | |
she is queen. They make no other fight. | 0:29:45 | 0:29:47 | |
I think in 100 days, ten fights. | 0:29:47 | 0:29:51 | |
When they're fighting, it's a big event? | 0:29:51 | 0:29:53 | |
Yes, it's a big event, there are normally 200 cows. | 0:29:53 | 0:29:58 | |
And if your cow wins, do you get money? | 0:29:58 | 0:30:01 | |
No, you win a bell! | 0:30:01 | 0:30:04 | |
-You get a nice bell. -Yes, a nice bell! | 0:30:04 | 0:30:09 | |
-So, do you breed the cows for fighting or for eating? -For both. | 0:30:09 | 0:30:13 | |
For eating, I have prepared something for you. | 0:30:13 | 0:30:16 | |
-You have? -Yes, we can go and take a picnic. -Great, OK. -Let's go. | 0:30:16 | 0:30:22 | |
-So, what have you got here? -This is cheese. From this area, too. | 0:30:30 | 0:30:36 | |
And this is meat from the fighting cows, from a cow from me. | 0:30:36 | 0:30:42 | |
-Wonderful, so this is from one of your cows? -Yes. | 0:30:42 | 0:30:46 | |
Mmmm! Great flavour. | 0:30:49 | 0:30:52 | |
-You like it? -It's fantastic. You make this yourself? | 0:30:52 | 0:30:56 | |
-Yes, yes. -So, you farm the cows and you're a butcher, too. | 0:30:56 | 0:30:59 | |
Yes, and the cows, | 0:30:59 | 0:31:02 | |
when they become older or you don't like it, | 0:31:02 | 0:31:06 | |
-we make meat. -Really delicious, I will try some of this bread, too. | 0:31:06 | 0:31:10 | |
The food is fantastic. You must eat some, too. I am being greedy. | 0:31:10 | 0:31:14 | |
I will give you a little bit of wine and we've two red wine. | 0:31:14 | 0:31:20 | |
I don't want to drink too much, we've a long walk back down the mountain. | 0:31:20 | 0:31:24 | |
You're a big man, no problem for you! | 0:31:24 | 0:31:28 | |
I love visiting other farms to see what people are getting up to, | 0:31:33 | 0:31:36 | |
but to come up here, in this fantastic scenery, | 0:31:36 | 0:31:41 | |
to see a cattle farmer, is really quite extraordinary. | 0:31:41 | 0:31:45 | |
Back in Britain, I'm in the Lake District | 0:31:55 | 0:31:57 | |
exploring the ancient mountain, Blencathra. | 0:31:57 | 0:32:00 | |
It's one of the many mountains and hills | 0:32:00 | 0:32:03 | |
we've scaled the heights of on Countryfile. | 0:32:03 | 0:32:05 | |
A couple of years ago, John visited the Isle of Man | 0:32:06 | 0:32:09 | |
and explored the circuit of the TT course. | 0:32:09 | 0:32:12 | |
He also went to the mountain where scattered pieces of metal | 0:32:12 | 0:32:17 | |
lie as evidence of a tragedy, almost 70 years ago. | 0:32:17 | 0:32:21 | |
It's April, 1945, | 0:32:23 | 0:32:25 | |
the end of the Second World War in Europe is just two weeks away. | 0:32:25 | 0:32:31 | |
A Young American pilot sets off from Essex | 0:32:31 | 0:32:33 | |
in his B-17 Flying Fortress, | 0:32:33 | 0:32:36 | |
heading to Northern Ireland with 30 US servicemen on board, | 0:32:36 | 0:32:40 | |
looking for some rest and recuperation. | 0:32:40 | 0:32:43 | |
So, unlike thousands of other bomber flights, | 0:32:43 | 0:32:45 | |
this was not going to drop bombs, | 0:32:45 | 0:32:47 | |
this was taking people to have a good time? | 0:32:47 | 0:32:49 | |
Exactly, these guys were going on R and R | 0:32:49 | 0:32:52 | |
for a few days in Northern Ireland. | 0:32:52 | 0:32:54 | |
Most of them had been in the UK, | 0:32:54 | 0:32:56 | |
probably for as long as a couple of years | 0:32:56 | 0:32:58 | |
and they were mainly the guys who actually serviced the aircraft, | 0:32:58 | 0:33:02 | |
loaded the bombs onto them, they were ground crew, | 0:33:02 | 0:33:05 | |
they never normally went into an aeroplane, | 0:33:05 | 0:33:07 | |
so it must have been quite an adventure for them. | 0:33:07 | 0:33:10 | |
As the flight was approaching the Isle of Man, | 0:33:10 | 0:33:12 | |
what time of day would that have been? | 0:33:12 | 0:33:14 | |
It was about ten o'clock or 10:15 in the morning. | 0:33:14 | 0:33:17 | |
And what were the weather conditions like? | 0:33:17 | 0:33:19 | |
It was fairly cloudy, the cloud was down to perhaps 1,000 feet. | 0:33:19 | 0:33:23 | |
It is often cloudy on the Isle of Man! | 0:33:23 | 0:33:26 | |
That's right, it's known as Manannan's cloak, | 0:33:26 | 0:33:28 | |
the sort of god of man, brings down his cloak of cloud | 0:33:28 | 0:33:32 | |
and sadly it's caught quite a few fliers out over the years. | 0:33:32 | 0:33:36 | |
And the captain, the pilot, was he experienced? | 0:33:36 | 0:33:38 | |
He was a very experienced pilot, yeah. | 0:33:38 | 0:33:41 | |
He had been on 47 bombing missions over enemy territory, | 0:33:41 | 0:33:45 | |
so you really couldn't get much more experienced than that in those days. | 0:33:45 | 0:33:49 | |
So how come he didn't know about this hill? | 0:33:49 | 0:33:52 | |
Well, that really remains a mystery, | 0:33:52 | 0:33:55 | |
the aircraft's flight plan took it at 5,000 feet. | 0:33:55 | 0:34:00 | |
Just north of the island, but for some reason, | 0:34:00 | 0:34:03 | |
it was much lower and much further south. | 0:34:03 | 0:34:07 | |
In the days before GPS, pilots and navigators relied entirely | 0:34:07 | 0:34:11 | |
on visual landmarks, to confirm their course. | 0:34:11 | 0:34:14 | |
So low cloud could lead to disaster. | 0:34:14 | 0:34:17 | |
It impacted just behind us | 0:34:28 | 0:34:30 | |
and wreckage spread all the way up the hillside, | 0:34:30 | 0:34:33 | |
it was scattered over probably 250m, complete devastation. | 0:34:33 | 0:34:38 | |
-And everybody died. -Everybody killed instantly, yeah. | 0:34:38 | 0:34:41 | |
Not a chance of survival. | 0:34:41 | 0:34:43 | |
Just think everybody on board was looking forward | 0:34:43 | 0:34:47 | |
to having a great few days. | 0:34:47 | 0:34:49 | |
The flight in a way was oversubscribed, | 0:34:49 | 0:34:53 | |
they had to run a lottery to select the guys who went on it. | 0:34:53 | 0:34:57 | |
And tragically to end your life. | 0:34:57 | 0:35:00 | |
-They turned out to be the unlucky ones. -The unlucky ones. | 0:35:00 | 0:35:02 | |
These twisted shards of metal are all that still remain. | 0:35:04 | 0:35:07 | |
The men who died here are commemorated today by a simple | 0:35:10 | 0:35:14 | |
plaque on this windswept hillside. | 0:35:14 | 0:35:17 | |
A permanent reminder of some of the many lives these misty hills | 0:35:17 | 0:35:21 | |
have claimed. | 0:35:21 | 0:35:23 | |
The beautiful terrain of Blencathra also has its own intriguing history. | 0:35:30 | 0:35:35 | |
This is the Blencathra Centre on the side of the mountain. | 0:35:35 | 0:35:39 | |
It was built in 1904 as a sanatorium for people | 0:35:41 | 0:35:45 | |
suffering from tuberculosis. | 0:35:45 | 0:35:47 | |
Back then, TB was so feared that sufferers were sent away to | 0:35:47 | 0:35:51 | |
isolated places like this and given a strict dose of fresh air and rest. | 0:35:51 | 0:35:56 | |
Nowadays, the centre has a more pleasant purpose. | 0:35:58 | 0:36:02 | |
If you've ever been on a geography field trip, | 0:36:02 | 0:36:05 | |
the chances are you've stayed in a residential centre like this one. | 0:36:05 | 0:36:09 | |
This week, it's the turn of the geography | 0:36:09 | 0:36:11 | |
students at Nottingham University and instead of mucking | 0:36:11 | 0:36:14 | |
about down here, they're up there on the mountain. | 0:36:14 | 0:36:18 | |
I'm going to go and find them. | 0:36:18 | 0:36:20 | |
Your job is to pull apart what is nearly 450 million years of history. | 0:36:27 | 0:36:32 | |
'Before I know it, I'm back at university.' | 0:36:32 | 0:36:36 | |
Sketch this place. Look out for lumps, bumps, wiggles, | 0:36:36 | 0:36:40 | |
things that we can interpret later on that might tell us | 0:36:40 | 0:36:43 | |
some of the processes that have gone on in this place. | 0:36:43 | 0:36:47 | |
-How's yours looking, Lydia? -Not too bad. | 0:36:47 | 0:36:49 | |
It's just trying hard to get the appropriate features in, | 0:36:49 | 0:36:53 | |
rather than trying to make it artistic and things like that. | 0:36:53 | 0:36:56 | |
-You like being out in the field? -100%, definitely. | 0:36:56 | 0:36:58 | |
It's really good sort of applying what you've | 0:36:58 | 0:37:01 | |
learned in your lectures into a physical landscape and environment. | 0:37:01 | 0:37:04 | |
-It's a good way of cementing what you've learned. -Yeah, definitely. | 0:37:04 | 0:37:08 | |
And learning new stuff as well. | 0:37:08 | 0:37:10 | |
It's not just taking what we've learned in the lectures, | 0:37:10 | 0:37:13 | |
it's actually learning new things as well, which is really good. | 0:37:13 | 0:37:16 | |
Yeah, absolutely. How's yours looking? What's that? | 0:37:16 | 0:37:19 | |
This is a feature I've noticed down in the valley bottom, | 0:37:19 | 0:37:21 | |
a braided stream, it looks like. | 0:37:21 | 0:37:23 | |
Different grasses there, which gives us that indication. | 0:37:23 | 0:37:27 | |
Missed that one. I'll copy your answers! | 0:37:27 | 0:37:30 | |
Just doing a few trees. | 0:37:32 | 0:37:34 | |
'Job done. But am I top of the class?' | 0:37:35 | 0:37:39 | |
-Really well spotted. -Ta-da! What do you reckon? -Ellie...it's not bad. | 0:37:39 | 0:37:43 | |
-Thanks! -Um... | 0:37:43 | 0:37:44 | |
I really like the fact you've got the whole of the valley in. | 0:37:44 | 0:37:48 | |
-You haven't just focused on one site. -That was my plan. | 0:37:48 | 0:37:51 | |
And I'm interested by what you've picked up in the valley | 0:37:51 | 0:37:54 | |
bottom there. Some wiggles, some lines. You've got...bits of grass? | 0:37:54 | 0:37:57 | |
It's a braided stream. | 0:37:57 | 0:37:58 | |
-A braided stream! -What does the rest of the picture show? | 0:37:58 | 0:38:01 | |
-Is this all a glacial scene that we're looking at? -Well, absolutely. | 0:38:01 | 0:38:04 | |
We've got a big wide valley with a massive bottom in it. | 0:38:04 | 0:38:08 | |
And actually quite a small river. | 0:38:08 | 0:38:09 | |
A river like that could never produce a valley this size, | 0:38:09 | 0:38:12 | |
so this valley has been made by something much more powerful. | 0:38:12 | 0:38:15 | |
And that, of course, | 0:38:15 | 0:38:16 | |
is the glaciers that were in this environment 20,000 years ago. | 0:38:16 | 0:38:19 | |
So, why draw? Why is it useful for your students to draw like this? | 0:38:19 | 0:38:22 | |
It's what you pick out and what you leave behind. | 0:38:22 | 0:38:25 | |
What we're trying to get them to do is learn how to pick out | 0:38:25 | 0:38:27 | |
the features in the landscape that tell its long-term story. | 0:38:27 | 0:38:30 | |
Because it's building up that understanding of the landscape | 0:38:30 | 0:38:33 | |
that's critical to being able to understand how it works today. | 0:38:33 | 0:38:37 | |
What do you think about the notion that this mountain is | 0:38:37 | 0:38:40 | |
-up for sale, that someone's going to own it? -It's a fascinating prospect. | 0:38:40 | 0:38:43 | |
Somebody is going to buy potentially 450 million years of history. | 0:38:43 | 0:38:46 | |
You have a chance to be a custodian of a really important | 0:38:46 | 0:38:50 | |
geological and geomorphological record in this place. | 0:38:50 | 0:38:54 | |
-Can you ever really own it, if it's that old? -No. | 0:38:54 | 0:38:56 | |
I think you can only ever be a custodian of something | 0:38:56 | 0:38:59 | |
-as important of this. -Yeah. Maybe it'll go to a rich geologist. | 0:38:59 | 0:39:03 | |
-I think I might need to talk to my boss about a pay rise. -Yes! | 0:39:03 | 0:39:06 | |
All club together! | 0:39:06 | 0:39:09 | |
'In our dreams! | 0:39:09 | 0:39:11 | |
'Last summer, Matt saddled up and got a taste of sheep farming, | 0:39:11 | 0:39:14 | |
'the traditional way, in the Cambrian Mountains in Wales.' | 0:39:14 | 0:39:18 | |
Terrain and climate dictate things around here. | 0:39:25 | 0:39:29 | |
For centuries, | 0:39:29 | 0:39:30 | |
farming communities have carved out a living on the open mountain, | 0:39:30 | 0:39:34 | |
using time-honoured methods passed down from generation to generation. | 0:39:34 | 0:39:38 | |
And if I'm going to go where they go, I've got to swap this | 0:39:50 | 0:39:54 | |
trusty steed for something that's stood the test of time. | 0:39:54 | 0:39:58 | |
-Lads, how are we doing? Owen. James. And who is this? -This is Balls. | 0:39:58 | 0:40:03 | |
Balls?! | 0:40:03 | 0:40:06 | |
-Do I...? Should I ask? -Why is he called Balls? | 0:40:06 | 0:40:09 | |
I bought him off my neighbour a few years ago and he named him | 0:40:09 | 0:40:12 | |
-and he's a bit of an eccentric character. -Is he? Good lad! | 0:40:12 | 0:40:16 | |
Listen, Balls, it's lovely to meet you. He's a lovely lad! | 0:40:16 | 0:40:20 | |
Owen, wherever we go, we've got quite a journey, | 0:40:20 | 0:40:22 | |
but where are we headed and what's the plan? | 0:40:22 | 0:40:25 | |
We're going up on the side of the mountain there now. | 0:40:25 | 0:40:28 | |
We're going to push the sheep up. | 0:40:28 | 0:40:30 | |
They tend to come down a bit overnight, | 0:40:30 | 0:40:32 | |
especially if the weather's been bad. | 0:40:32 | 0:40:34 | |
In the morning, we push them back up where the better pasture is. | 0:40:34 | 0:40:38 | |
'Old traditions die hard in these uplands. | 0:40:38 | 0:40:41 | |
'To work the steep face of the mountain, | 0:40:41 | 0:40:43 | |
'Owen takes to the saddle, just like his forebears did, | 0:40:43 | 0:40:47 | |
'raising hefted flocks that don't stray from the mountain.' | 0:40:47 | 0:40:51 | |
-There's three lads here and one horse. -Yeah. | 0:40:53 | 0:40:57 | |
Well, we realise you're not very fit, so you'd better have the horse! | 0:40:57 | 0:41:00 | |
Cheers, Owen. Well, Balls, this is going to be exciting. Come on, man. | 0:41:00 | 0:41:04 | |
Come and show me your part of the world. | 0:41:04 | 0:41:07 | |
There's a good boy. | 0:41:11 | 0:41:13 | |
OWEN WHISTLES | 0:41:13 | 0:41:15 | |
As soon as Owen starts whistling, that's it. | 0:41:15 | 0:41:16 | |
-He knows the commands, doesn't he? -Yeah. | 0:41:16 | 0:41:20 | |
So these are all hefted sheep. They know the area. | 0:41:20 | 0:41:22 | |
-Basically, there's no fences. -No, no fences. | 0:41:22 | 0:41:26 | |
Each spring, when the ewes and lambs come out, | 0:41:26 | 0:41:30 | |
the lamb learns their patch of ground from its mother every year. | 0:41:30 | 0:41:35 | |
'Owen still adheres to the old Hafod a Hendre system. | 0:41:35 | 0:41:39 | |
'After a winter down in the valley, | 0:41:39 | 0:41:42 | |
'he pushes his hefted flock up to the peat bogs | 0:41:42 | 0:41:45 | |
'and moorland of the mountain, where they graze the ancient mosses, | 0:41:45 | 0:41:48 | |
'lichen and herbs over the long summer. | 0:41:48 | 0:41:51 | |
'Bringing them back down to lower ground in the winter doesn't | 0:41:51 | 0:41:54 | |
'just give the sheep a break from the harsh mountain conditions, | 0:41:54 | 0:41:57 | |
'it allows the rich upland pastures to replenish.' | 0:41:57 | 0:42:01 | |
What is it then about this particular grassland, or even this | 0:42:01 | 0:42:05 | |
landscape, this way of life, that makes the meat taste so different? | 0:42:05 | 0:42:08 | |
Probably, you can rush it. It's a seasonal thing. | 0:42:08 | 0:42:12 | |
It's all down to the grass growth and the time of year. | 0:42:12 | 0:42:16 | |
You're dependent on that. There's nothing you can do to rush it. | 0:42:16 | 0:42:21 | |
It's a nice, steady process | 0:42:21 | 0:42:22 | |
and you get a really good product at the end of it. | 0:42:22 | 0:42:25 | |
-So tried and tested formula. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. -Yeah. | 0:42:25 | 0:42:30 | |
'But the survival of traditional farming communities in these | 0:42:30 | 0:42:34 | |
'uplands is far from guaranteed. | 0:42:34 | 0:42:37 | |
'Already one of the least populated areas of Wales, young | 0:42:37 | 0:42:40 | |
'people are moving away in search of more lucrative professions. | 0:42:40 | 0:42:44 | |
'Farmsteads are being sold off and farmers like Owen | 0:42:44 | 0:42:47 | |
'and his brother, James, are becoming a dying breed. | 0:42:47 | 0:42:51 | |
'In response, a group of local farmers are joining forces to | 0:42:53 | 0:42:57 | |
'promote their mountain produce and breathe new life into this place.' | 0:42:57 | 0:43:01 | |
The system itself, really, over the years, | 0:43:03 | 0:43:06 | |
has been about working together, neighbours working together, | 0:43:06 | 0:43:10 | |
to gather each neighbouring block of hill. | 0:43:10 | 0:43:14 | |
It's sort of moved on now into marketing | 0:43:14 | 0:43:17 | |
and selling the lamb together. | 0:43:17 | 0:43:20 | |
A benefit, yeah, definitely. | 0:43:20 | 0:43:23 | |
'Owen is chairing the Cambrian Mountains Initiative, | 0:43:23 | 0:43:26 | |
'a marketing venture set up to help farming families | 0:43:26 | 0:43:29 | |
'capitalise on this area's natural resources.' | 0:43:29 | 0:43:32 | |
And so how has it been going, this scheme, | 0:43:33 | 0:43:36 | |
and what's the situation this year, in comparison to last year? | 0:43:36 | 0:43:41 | |
Good, yeah. | 0:43:41 | 0:43:43 | |
We moved about 4,500 lambs last year | 0:43:43 | 0:43:46 | |
and we've got potential orders up towards 20,000 lambs this year. | 0:43:46 | 0:43:52 | |
We started with nine members, we've got 21 now | 0:43:52 | 0:43:55 | |
and we're looking for more. | 0:43:55 | 0:43:57 | |
'These lambs are being weighed before they get sent to market.' | 0:43:57 | 0:44:00 | |
-That one feels quite good, actually. -This one ready to go? | 0:44:00 | 0:44:03 | |
Yeah, if you feel there, look, | 0:44:03 | 0:44:06 | |
you can just tell cos there's just a nice covering there. | 0:44:06 | 0:44:10 | |
-Perfect. -Yeah. Ready to go. | 0:44:10 | 0:44:12 | |
Beautiful. | 0:44:12 | 0:44:14 | |
There we are. Shut that, so they don't run all the way through. | 0:44:16 | 0:44:20 | |
-How would you describe the taste difference? -It seems as if... | 0:44:20 | 0:44:24 | |
I don't know. | 0:44:24 | 0:44:25 | |
It's like as if there's almost a bit of sugar in it, it's that sweet. | 0:44:25 | 0:44:29 | |
Very often with meat, you want other stuff to go with it. | 0:44:29 | 0:44:32 | |
You could just eat this on its own. Just a bit on its own. | 0:44:32 | 0:44:35 | |
It's just nice. | 0:44:35 | 0:44:37 | |
The beautiful Blencathra mountain in the Northern Fells | 0:44:47 | 0:44:50 | |
of the Lake District, a favourite with walkers, poets, | 0:44:50 | 0:44:54 | |
runners and just about anybody else who gazes on it. | 0:44:54 | 0:44:58 | |
But as we've been hearing, it's about to be put up for sale. | 0:44:58 | 0:45:01 | |
Now, the man who's selling it could call himself | 0:45:01 | 0:45:04 | |
the Earl of Lonsdale or Viscount Lowther, | 0:45:04 | 0:45:08 | |
or even the Baron of Whitehaven. But I've been told to just call him Hugh. | 0:45:08 | 0:45:11 | |
-How you doing, Hugh? -Hi. -Good to meet you. -Good on you. | 0:45:11 | 0:45:15 | |
-So we're going in this to see the mountain? -That's right. | 0:45:15 | 0:45:18 | |
-I suggest you go round there and get in. -OK. | 0:45:18 | 0:45:21 | |
-We'll go and make a go for it. -Let's do it. | 0:45:21 | 0:45:23 | |
Hugh says the best view of the mountain is along this bumpy track, | 0:45:25 | 0:45:28 | |
so we're off-roading in his old army truck. | 0:45:28 | 0:45:32 | |
After 400 years and with a heavy heart, | 0:45:32 | 0:45:34 | |
he's decided he has to let go of | 0:45:34 | 0:45:36 | |
one of the jewels of the Lonsdale estate. | 0:45:36 | 0:45:39 | |
Why is it you're selling the mountain? | 0:45:40 | 0:45:42 | |
My father died in 2006 and I inherited the Lonsdale estates at that point. | 0:45:42 | 0:45:49 | |
-Right. -And I was faced with a £9 million death duties bill. -Wow. | 0:45:49 | 0:45:55 | |
And I was given ten years in which to pay it. | 0:45:55 | 0:45:58 | |
We sold a painting, which went to the Tate Gallery. It was a Turner. | 0:45:58 | 0:46:03 | |
I sold a derelict farm steading. | 0:46:03 | 0:46:06 | |
We managed to reduce it down to £2.7 million, owing, | 0:46:06 | 0:46:11 | |
but I've only got 18 months to go until I've got to finalise. | 0:46:11 | 0:46:15 | |
-Yikes. -Right. Yikes, exactly. | 0:46:15 | 0:46:17 | |
And who do you think might go for the mountain? | 0:46:17 | 0:46:19 | |
-Who do you think is going to buy it? -Who's got the most money? | 0:46:19 | 0:46:22 | |
-I would reckon the Russians or the Chinese. -Yeah. | 0:46:22 | 0:46:25 | |
And I don't mind if the Russians or the Chinese own it, | 0:46:25 | 0:46:28 | |
it doesn't bother me, because I can still walk on it, | 0:46:28 | 0:46:31 | |
I can still look at it, I can still fly over it. | 0:46:31 | 0:46:33 | |
I can still take my horse up there if I want, no problem. | 0:46:33 | 0:46:38 | |
While Hugh takes me to see his mountain, | 0:46:41 | 0:46:43 | |
let's look back at the time Julia went to the West Highlands of Scotland | 0:46:43 | 0:46:47 | |
and discovered the challenges faced by women climbers a century ago. | 0:46:47 | 0:46:51 | |
Glencoe is one of Scotland's most popular climbing playgrounds. | 0:46:57 | 0:47:01 | |
Thousands take to its hills. | 0:47:01 | 0:47:04 | |
And I'm not the first woman to have been seduced by this craggy paradise. | 0:47:04 | 0:47:09 | |
In the early 1900s, many women were accomplished mountaineers, | 0:47:11 | 0:47:15 | |
but they had to climb with men. | 0:47:15 | 0:47:18 | |
They weren't allowed to join the Scottish Mountaineering Club, | 0:47:18 | 0:47:21 | |
the most prestigious and renowned climbing club of its day. | 0:47:21 | 0:47:25 | |
You can imagine how a small group of determined women climbers | 0:47:25 | 0:47:29 | |
reacted to that. So they decided to do something about it. | 0:47:29 | 0:47:32 | |
On 18th April 1908, | 0:47:33 | 0:47:35 | |
Jane Inglis Clark, her daughter Mabel, and Lucy Smith | 0:47:35 | 0:47:39 | |
conceived the idea of a climbing club of their own, for women only. | 0:47:39 | 0:47:44 | |
Imagine that! | 0:47:44 | 0:47:46 | |
And so, by a boulder a bit bigger than this one, | 0:47:46 | 0:47:48 | |
the three appointed themselves president, secretary and treasurer. | 0:47:48 | 0:47:53 | |
The Ladies Scottish Climbing Club was born. | 0:47:53 | 0:47:57 | |
And the club is still going strong. | 0:47:57 | 0:48:00 | |
I'm heading to Blackrock, their Highland headquarters, | 0:48:00 | 0:48:02 | |
to meet members Alison Higham and Rhona Weir. | 0:48:02 | 0:48:06 | |
My teacher was at that time the president of | 0:48:06 | 0:48:09 | |
the Ladies Scottish Climbing Club, and I have lived in Cornwall. | 0:48:09 | 0:48:13 | |
I came to Glasgow, and she realised I was missing the outdoors | 0:48:13 | 0:48:17 | |
and took me climbing and I loved it. | 0:48:17 | 0:48:19 | |
I'd never seen a Highland hill until she took me climbing, a real mountain. | 0:48:19 | 0:48:23 | |
-How old were -you then? 15. | 0:48:23 | 0:48:25 | |
And, rude to ask a lady's age, I know, | 0:48:25 | 0:48:28 | |
-but please tell us how old you are. -I'm now 92. -Incredible. | 0:48:28 | 0:48:32 | |
-And still active in the outdoors. -Still active. -Climbing? | 0:48:32 | 0:48:36 | |
Not climbing, but I walk, and I go uphill, but not climbing. | 0:48:36 | 0:48:40 | |
Let's go back to the title of the club, | 0:48:40 | 0:48:42 | |
the Ladies Scottish Climbing Club, | 0:48:42 | 0:48:44 | |
-and they were indeed ladies, weren't they? -They were ladies. | 0:48:44 | 0:48:48 | |
They didn't work. | 0:48:48 | 0:48:49 | |
For instance, the Inglis Clarks had one of the first cars | 0:48:49 | 0:48:52 | |
in Edinburgh, which Mr Inglis Clark lent us for meets. | 0:48:52 | 0:48:57 | |
The car came with a chauffeur. | 0:48:57 | 0:48:59 | |
How fantastic, being chauffeur-driven to your walk! | 0:48:59 | 0:49:02 | |
The chauffeur would meet us at the bottom, | 0:49:02 | 0:49:05 | |
at the finish at the end of the day. | 0:49:05 | 0:49:06 | |
But look how many women are on that transport. | 0:49:06 | 0:49:10 | |
And look what they're wearing! Why do they have to wear hats? | 0:49:10 | 0:49:14 | |
Just a tradition, I suppose. | 0:49:14 | 0:49:16 | |
The wild and adventurous spirit of these pioneering women is | 0:49:17 | 0:49:21 | |
reflected in the landscape they embraced. | 0:49:21 | 0:49:24 | |
It's untamed and unspoiled. | 0:49:24 | 0:49:25 | |
Now owned by the National Trust for Scotland, they go to great lengths | 0:49:25 | 0:49:29 | |
to ensure it stays that way, | 0:49:29 | 0:49:31 | |
which is exactly what our lady climbers love. | 0:49:31 | 0:49:34 | |
Time to turn back the clock and take to the hills. | 0:49:34 | 0:49:37 | |
-Right... -Don't forget your hat. -No, I went to get my hat. | 0:49:39 | 0:49:43 | |
Here we are, women against the elements, | 0:49:43 | 0:49:45 | |
or should I say, women against tweed? | 0:49:45 | 0:49:47 | |
It's going to be interesting walking in this garb! | 0:49:47 | 0:49:50 | |
You wouldn't have dared leave your town or village wearing trousers. | 0:49:50 | 0:49:54 | |
You might have had trousers underneath. | 0:49:54 | 0:49:57 | |
Once you got away from the village, | 0:49:57 | 0:50:00 | |
you may well have taken your skirt off | 0:50:00 | 0:50:03 | |
and hidden it behind a boulder to pick up later. | 0:50:03 | 0:50:07 | |
And I'm the next era. I'm being bold. | 0:50:07 | 0:50:11 | |
-I'm wearing breeches. -Where are we heading, Alison? | 0:50:11 | 0:50:15 | |
We're heading up to Coire na Tulaich on Buachaille Etive Mor | 0:50:15 | 0:50:18 | |
to do some scrambling in the old style. | 0:50:18 | 0:50:20 | |
Are you going to sit this one out, Rhona, or are you coming with us? | 0:50:20 | 0:50:23 | |
I think I'm going to fall off. I'll just go back now. | 0:50:23 | 0:50:25 | |
-Have a lovely climb. -Thank you. -Bye-bye! | 0:50:25 | 0:50:29 | |
I don't know about you, Julia, | 0:50:32 | 0:50:34 | |
but I'm finding this really hot, these tweeds. | 0:50:34 | 0:50:37 | |
This skirt is a nightmare. | 0:50:37 | 0:50:38 | |
It clings to your legs and every time you take a step, you trip over it. | 0:50:38 | 0:50:42 | |
So I'm hauling this extra weight, and now the midges are getting me. | 0:50:42 | 0:50:47 | |
'Don't laugh! This get-up was all the rage with women climbers in 1908.' | 0:50:47 | 0:50:53 | |
It's about 20% harder in a skirt. Do you think we look glamorous? | 0:50:53 | 0:50:57 | |
They must have been hardy, climbing in heavy tweeds with no harnesses, | 0:51:01 | 0:51:04 | |
no helmets and just a line of rope attached to the lead climber. | 0:51:04 | 0:51:08 | |
Today, I'm getting a taste of what it was like back then, | 0:51:09 | 0:51:12 | |
so I'm opting not to wear a helmet, but only | 0:51:12 | 0:51:15 | |
because we're scrambling and I'm under strict supervision from Alison. | 0:51:15 | 0:51:19 | |
Do not try this at home, ladies. | 0:51:19 | 0:51:21 | |
And that's it. All I wanted was a nice, gentle stroll. | 0:51:21 | 0:51:24 | |
-We're going scrambling. -Yeah. | 0:51:24 | 0:51:27 | |
It's a different technique from what it is these days. | 0:51:27 | 0:51:32 | |
They sound good. Making easy work of it. | 0:51:32 | 0:51:36 | |
Right, Julia, I've found a good stance, | 0:51:36 | 0:51:38 | |
-and I'll be taking the rope in. And then you can climb after me. -Thank you. | 0:51:38 | 0:51:45 | |
Of course, women could not climb without a hat, | 0:51:45 | 0:51:50 | |
so I'm about to do one of the stupidest things I've ever done, | 0:51:50 | 0:51:53 | |
scrambling in a skirt, wearing this bonnet. | 0:51:53 | 0:51:57 | |
Ooh! Rope knocking my hat. | 0:52:02 | 0:52:06 | |
Standing on the skirt. | 0:52:06 | 0:52:08 | |
Blimey! | 0:52:10 | 0:52:12 | |
Wasn't easy being a woman in 1908. | 0:52:12 | 0:52:16 | |
You didn't hang on to your hat! | 0:52:16 | 0:52:19 | |
Of course I didn't hold on to my hat! | 0:52:19 | 0:52:21 | |
I'm more interested in holding on to the rock. | 0:52:21 | 0:52:24 | |
-Ladies used to have to hang onto the hat as well. -How ridiculous. | 0:52:24 | 0:52:28 | |
Take your time and come round to my right. | 0:52:30 | 0:52:33 | |
I'm going to come and sit here. | 0:52:33 | 0:52:36 | |
-There we go. -There we are. Well done. -Lovely. | 0:52:36 | 0:52:39 | |
I take my hat off to those ladies, not that I have to, | 0:52:39 | 0:52:43 | |
because it's blown away in the wind, | 0:52:43 | 0:52:45 | |
but this makes it at least 30% more difficult. | 0:52:45 | 0:52:48 | |
Yeah. I give those ladies top marks. | 0:52:48 | 0:52:51 | |
-They were amazing. -Very impressive. | 0:52:51 | 0:52:53 | |
-And this is beautiful. -Isn't it beautiful? | 0:52:53 | 0:52:55 | |
Julia getting to grips with mountaineering, Victorian style. | 0:53:00 | 0:53:04 | |
In the Lake District, I'm scaling these lumps and bumps | 0:53:04 | 0:53:07 | |
in Hugh Lonsdale's old Army vehicle. | 0:53:07 | 0:53:10 | |
He's the current owner of the Lonsdale estate, | 0:53:10 | 0:53:13 | |
30,000 acres of farmland, forest and, for a little while longer, | 0:53:13 | 0:53:18 | |
Blencathra, the imposing mountain he's put up for sale. | 0:53:18 | 0:53:22 | |
So, Hugh, do you think you will be sad to see the mountain go? | 0:53:26 | 0:53:30 | |
Yes, I will be, in a way, because it is the loss of our family heritage. | 0:53:30 | 0:53:35 | |
But it's the lesser of the two evils, | 0:53:35 | 0:53:37 | |
-with me having to pay the death duties. -That's true. | 0:53:37 | 0:53:40 | |
Without having to disrupt other people's lives. | 0:53:40 | 0:53:43 | |
If we don't sell this, I will have to start selling houses and farms | 0:53:43 | 0:53:48 | |
and things like that, which I will have to evict all the tenants | 0:53:48 | 0:53:51 | |
-and totally disrupt their lives. -It's been a tough decision, hasn't it? | 0:53:51 | 0:53:55 | |
-Yes, well, it's the way it goes. -It is. -The way it goes. | 0:53:55 | 0:53:58 | |
Hugh's hoping to get around £1.75 million for Blencathra. | 0:54:00 | 0:54:05 | |
Whether you think that's good or bad value is up to you. | 0:54:05 | 0:54:09 | |
To me, the view, at least, is priceless. | 0:54:09 | 0:54:12 | |
Well, that is it from the Lake District. | 0:54:14 | 0:54:16 | |
Next week we will be in the Lee Valley, the green lung | 0:54:16 | 0:54:19 | |
of London, where Matt will be finding out why it became | 0:54:19 | 0:54:22 | |
a powerhouse for growing fruit and veg, | 0:54:22 | 0:54:24 | |
and I'll be with the RNLI on a floodwater rescue exercise. | 0:54:24 | 0:54:29 | |
Hope you can join us then. Bye-bye. | 0:54:29 | 0:54:31 |