BBC - Coast Series 8 (2013) Part 3 Joy of the Coast

Coast Series 8

Coast, continues to explore the edge of our lives, the coastline that marries us to the sea. Through a history of assault from Nazi Germany, freshwater voles and the infamous Guernsey Privateers; the workers’ coast of shipbuilders, fishermen and seaside entertainers; the joys of sunbathing and the history of Thomas Cook; the magnificent estuaries of the Firth of Forth, the Severn and the Thames; this is the history of Britain as told from cliff to sea. Nick Crane is joined by a team of expert presenters including Neil Oliver, Miranda Krestovnikoff, Mark Horton, Tessa Dunlop, Andy Torbet, Ian McMillan, Ruth Goodman, Nick Hewitt and newcomers Sarah Beynon and Cassie Newland as they explore the riches to be found along our Coast.

Part 3: Joy of the Coast
Nick Crane heads to his beloved Western Isles in Scotland to attempt a daunting, long-coveted, mountaineering challenge on the Isle of Skye. For years, Nick has dreamed of climbing the fearsome Cioch. This singular and impressive spear of rock, the scene for a spectacular sword fight in the film Highlander, was only conquered for the first time in 1906. The men who originally attempted the hazardous route to its summit were an unlikely pair - John Mackenzie, a Scottish mountain guide, and Norman Collie, an English professor of chemistry - but their joint endeavour would bind them into a 30 year friendship. Nick uses Victorian mountaineering gear as he attempts to follow in the footsteps of Mackenzie and Collie and climb the Cioch for himself. Along the way he learns something of the triumph and tragedy of their lives, but Nick's reward at the climax of the hazardous ascent comes with the discovery of a new favourite view, an incredible seascape framed by Britain's most glorious coastal peaks.

BBC UK