WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en

1
00:00:00.180 --> 00:00:02.320
Welcome to Foulness Island.

2
00:00:02.320 --> 00:00:03.870
The name is unfortunate.

3
00:00:03.870 --> 00:00:05.370
It either meant 'muddy headland'

4
00:00:05.370 --> 00:00:07.840
or possibly 'bird headland'
a few centuries ago.

5
00:00:07.840 --> 00:00:09.020
It's about nine square miles,

6
00:00:09.020 --> 00:00:10.570
there's around 150 people who live on it.

7
00:00:10.570 --> 00:00:14.090
But unless you are one of those people
or you've got business with them,

8
00:00:14.090 --> 00:00:15.530
you will not be allowed in.

9
00:00:15.530 --> 00:00:17.290
Most of the island and, importantly,

10
00:00:17.290 --> 00:00:19.570
the road and bridge that get you onto it:

11
00:00:19.570 --> 00:00:22.690
they're owned by the British military
and they will turn you away.

12
00:00:22.690 --> 00:00:24.960
But despite having no business here,

13
00:00:24.960 --> 00:00:27.140
I am on the island, legally.

14
00:00:27.140 --> 00:00:29.820
And that's because I didn't
use the road and bridge.

15
00:00:29.820 --> 00:00:32.900
I walked along a very
different path to get here.

16
00:00:32.900 --> 00:00:34.330
The Broomway has been called

17
00:00:34.330 --> 00:00:36.970
the most dangerous, most
deadly path in Britain.

18
00:00:36.970 --> 00:00:38.910
It goes back at least 600 years.

19
00:00:38.910 --> 00:00:40.660
And the only reason that
I walked here safely

20
00:00:40.660 --> 00:00:42.840
is because I had a guide.

21
00:00:42.840 --> 00:00:46.480
A few miles back before we set off,
I asked him a few questions.

22
00:00:46.480 --> 00:00:51.510
- Historically, there is reportedly
60-100 casualties on the Broomway.

23
00:00:51.510 --> 00:00:55.390
The main thing is the tide.
It whips round from the North Sea

24
00:00:55.390 --> 00:01:00.350
and would come from, not as you expect,
straight on from the horizon,

25
00:01:00.350 --> 00:01:05.200
but it'll often spiral in to the coastline,
and so it'll cut you off from your pathway.

26
00:01:05.200 --> 00:01:07.240
It's very easy to get
lost out on the Broomway,

27
00:01:07.240 --> 00:01:11.540
particularly in low-visibility
conditions when it's raining

28
00:01:11.540 --> 00:01:14.090
or there's low fog,
early morning, late at night.

29
00:01:14.090 --> 00:01:17.240
As there's no features or markers
to take your bearing from,

30
00:01:17.240 --> 00:01:19.600
you can get very quickly disorientated.

31
00:01:19.600 --> 00:01:22.490
Quite often, people will
naturally walk further out to sea,

32
00:01:22.490 --> 00:01:24.360
as opposed to back to land.

33
00:01:24.360 --> 00:01:27.500
The Broomway's only open at
the weekends for the public.

34
00:01:27.500 --> 00:01:30.540
The MOD use this as an
active firing range,

35
00:01:30.540 --> 00:01:33.010
and they have done since the late 1800s.

36
00:01:33.010 --> 00:01:36.630
And so, one thing that we might
see out there is leftover ordnance.

37
00:01:36.630 --> 00:01:39.660
They do a pretty good job of
cleaning up after themselves,

38
00:01:39.660 --> 00:01:41.970
but it doesn't mean that
we won't see any out there.

39
00:01:41.970 --> 00:01:44.150
I've seen shells this big.

40
00:01:44.150 --> 00:01:45.940
You just have to really
keep your distance.

41
00:01:45.940 --> 00:01:47.750
Shell craters are also a problem

42
00:01:47.750 --> 00:01:50.320
because of the exploded ordnance
that has gone off,

43
00:01:50.320 --> 00:01:51.970
so it's essentially quick sand.

44
00:01:51.970 --> 00:01:55.180
And so, there'll be pockets of sand
which are really soft and mushy

45
00:01:55.180 --> 00:01:58.300
that your feet will sink into
that we have to be careful of.

46
00:01:58.300 --> 00:02:01.570
I only guide walks when the
tide is constantly going out.

47
00:02:01.570 --> 00:02:04.830
So, we are three hours after high tide.

48
00:02:04.830 --> 00:02:06.740
The tide is still on its way out,

49
00:02:06.740 --> 00:02:09.870
and we should be coming back
here as the tides are turning.

50
00:02:09.870 --> 00:02:12.180
- So, obviously, we made it.
Thank you, Tom!

51
00:02:12.180 --> 00:02:13.600
The path's called the Broomway

52
00:02:13.600 --> 00:02:15.670
because back before the
military built that bridge,

53
00:02:15.670 --> 00:02:18.060
back when it was the only
access onto this island,

54
00:02:18.060 --> 00:02:21.430
it was marked by "brooms"
every 30 metres or so.

55
00:02:21.430 --> 00:02:22.800
Now, to 21st-century people,

56
00:02:22.800 --> 00:02:25.160
that implies broom handles
sticking out the ground.

57
00:02:25.160 --> 00:02:27.640
But, no, I tracked down a photo from 1922,

58
00:02:27.640 --> 00:02:31.130
and the brooms were just
short lumps of brush.

59
00:02:31.130 --> 00:02:34.370
But over the last century,
those brooms stopped being maintained.

60
00:02:34.370 --> 00:02:36.320
They were either swept away or eroded,

61
00:02:36.320 --> 00:02:40.770
and now the path is unmarked.
But it's still on the map.

62
00:02:40.770 --> 00:02:42.460
It's still a legal path.

63
00:02:42.460 --> 00:02:46.160
Permanently closing a right-of-way
in Britain is difficult.

64
00:02:46.160 --> 00:02:50.260
- On Foulness, there are public right-of-way
footpaths that we can access.

65
00:02:50.260 --> 00:02:54.860
They are rarely used.
And so, if you do take them,

66
00:02:54.860 --> 00:02:56.920
the security switchboards will light up

67
00:02:56.920 --> 00:03:01.810
because you'll get reported by MOD staff
or by locals who live there

68
00:03:01.810 --> 00:03:03.460
because they think you're trespassing.

69
00:03:03.460 --> 00:03:06.790
I wouldn't be guiding this if I wasn't
a qualified mountain leader

70
00:03:06.790 --> 00:03:09.450
who has map and compass skills,

71
00:03:09.450 --> 00:03:12.360
good experience of this
guided walk that I do.

72
00:03:12.360 --> 00:03:17.210
I have first aid qualifications,
so I know how to deal with

73
00:03:17.210 --> 00:03:20.500
and treat the likely emergencies
that could happen out here.

74
00:03:20.500 --> 00:03:22.210
- That article from 1922

75
00:03:22.210 --> 00:03:24.750
also named some of the
people who died on the path.

76
00:03:24.750 --> 00:03:27.000
Several doctors travelling
to attend patients,

77
00:03:27.000 --> 00:03:31.150
young women trying to reach partners,
and island residents who got careless,

78
00:03:31.150 --> 00:03:34.150
or who would sometimes stay
in the mainland pubs too late

79
00:03:34.150 --> 00:03:37.410
and then try to race the tide
back on a galloping horse.

80
00:03:37.410 --> 00:03:40.700
Because the part of the Broomway we walked
isn't just a footpath.

81
00:03:40.700 --> 00:03:44.100
Under modern law, it is a
"byway open to all traffic",

82
00:03:44.100 --> 00:03:46.930
which means that, in theory,
you can take a horse

83
00:03:46.930 --> 00:03:50.100
or a tractor or anything
that's road legal onto it.

84
00:03:50.100 --> 00:03:53.580
It would be a very, very bad idea
to just drive onto the sands,

85
00:03:53.580 --> 00:03:57.313
but in theory you could,
if you didn't get bogged down.

86
00:03:58.250 --> 00:04:00.990
Now, a few times a year,
the village on the island

87
00:04:00.990 --> 00:04:02.870
and the main road are open for tourism,

88
00:04:02.870 --> 00:04:05.020
but not right now, not in 2020,

89
00:04:05.020 --> 00:04:07.840
which means that right
now there is only one way

90
00:04:07.840 --> 00:04:10.390
for the average person to
get onto Foulness Island.

91
00:04:11.230 --> 00:04:13.140
But there are two ways to leave.

92
00:04:13.140 --> 00:04:17.200
We could go off the rights of way,
trespass onto military land,

93
00:04:17.200 --> 00:04:19.890
and then very soon after get
escorted off by soldiers,

94
00:04:19.890 --> 00:04:21.496
assuming we weren't arrested.

95
00:04:21.496 --> 00:04:24.551
Or... we can just walk back.

96
00:04:25.250 --> 00:04:27.330
Ready when you are!
- Let's go!

97
00:04:27.330 --> 00:04:28.630
- Thank you very much to Tom Bennett!

98
00:04:28.630 --> 00:04:31.500
He's a qualified mountain leader
who runs tours across Britain.

99
00:04:31.500 --> 00:04:33.420
I'll put a link to his website
in the description.

100
00:04:33.420 --> 00:04:35.530
It feels really weird talking about you

101
00:04:35.530 --> 00:04:37.147
in the third person
when you're just there.

102
00:04:37.147 --> 00:04:38.665
[both laughing]
- Yeah.

103
00:04:38.665 --> 00:04:40.126
[water sloshing]

104
00:04:40.126 --> 00:04:40.959
- Ugh!