WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en

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- This windswept beach in
the south-east of Scotland

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is open to the public.

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But to get here, there's
a bit of effort required.

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[waves crash]

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That is part of the Elie Chainwalk,

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500 metres long, made up of eight chains

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anchored into the cliff face,

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along with some carved foot and handholds.

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It was set up in the 1920s,
likely to help local fishermen

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get down the cliffs to their boats.

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A century later it's maintained
as a local attraction

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and as optional side trip
on the local coast path,

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which means that in any weather,

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even on very blustery, ill-advised,
freezing days like this,

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you can just scramble along the Chain Walk

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as if it was any other public footpath.

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Now, you should not do this alone.

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I've got a local guide with me.

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Thank you, Allan.

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And before we set off, I asked
him about how all this works.

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- It's open to the public,
completely open access all year round.

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You do need a certain
level of physical ability.

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You're putting a lot of
your weight onto your arms.

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There's a couple of chains

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you have to climb and descend
from a reasonably high height.

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So although it's
technically not difficult,

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you do have to be cautious
climbing at height.

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But if you come here in the
summer, you'll see families

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tackling the chains,

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but also groups come here with helmets
and harnesses, and so on.

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A wide range of people come
and give the chains a go.

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- Very occasionally, people do fall here.

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Perhaps because they've
ignored safety signs,

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or strayed off the path,
or been trapped by the tide

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and had to call out the local lifeboat.

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The Chain Walk isn't massively dangerous,

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it's not just for climbing experts,

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but it is dangerous enough
that the safety signs are justified.

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There are modern attractions
like this all over the world

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but they generally use harness systems,

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instead of "hold on tight
and watch out for the tide".

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The Chain Walk sits in that strange group

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of lesser-known places where
it would never be created now.

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But it does exist, and
no-one wants to get rid of it.

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It was repaired about ten years ago

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after someone stole the chains,

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and every six months
engineers come out to check

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that everything is still
anchored in, safe and intact.

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- One thing you might notice:
that some of the fixing points move.

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So quite often, we'll have
people reporting them in,

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but that's actually meant to be like that.

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There's meant to be a
little bit of movement

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so it doesn't stress the rock as much.

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I've been coming here and leading
groups here for about 30 years.

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Plan ahead.
And secondly, come prepared.

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Decent footwear, know the tides,

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know what the weather's going to be like

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so that you don't get surprised
as you go along the chains.

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There have been reports of people falling.

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They see the tide, they feel trapped.

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They don't want to get wet,

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so they decide to climb up the cliffs.

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But if you know the tides,
and if you plan around that

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then that's not going to happen.

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When I first came here,
it was the original chains

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which were old and rusty.

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The ones there now are quite
new and shiny and solid.

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- And what I love most about this

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is the Chain Walk doesn't
really lead anywhere important.

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You go across some cliffs,
down a bit, across, up again,

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and you get access to a couple of beaches

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that are pretty much like
every other beach around here.

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People do this, people take a
small but significant risk

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and take the Chain Walk
for no other reason than...

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it's there.