COAST TO COAST - PART 1

STARTING POINT | The dramatic Beachy Head sets us off

PART 2

The south east coastline of England has so much to offer. We might take our region's beauty for granted so Inside Out's Paul Ross takes to the sea, land and air on an expedition to open our eyes to the beauty of the South East.

The Kent coastline covers more miles than any county in England, so there is definitely something for everyone.

Paul Ross' mission is to show us the bits of the coast we might miss in our daily lives.

Paul Ross - off-shore explorer

He sets off from Eastbourne Marina on board Vega A, a 36ft yacht, skippered by Andy Dickenson.

Paul delights at the idea jumping onboard - even though he might not be the most experienced sailor.

"My crew-mate for this leg was 16-year-old Simon. Forget sea dogs, when it came to nautical experience we were just sea puppies!"

Sailing past Beachy Head, known as the suicide hotspot of the UK, the yacht is headed up the coast toward the lowlands of Rye and past the Cinque Ports.

Boast the coast

Originally, the Cinque Ports were Hastings, Sandwich, Dover, Romney and Hythe. Later Winchelsea and Rye were added, but the French name still remained, despite the ports now numbering seven.

Paul stops off at Rye, one of the Cinque Ports, until the sea receded and left it high and dry.

Captain Bagwell knows all about Rye's history

Rye Harbour Master, Captain Carl Bagwell gives us the history to Rye as a Cinque Port.

"It was in 1189 made a Cinque Port under Henry II. It meant that the port had to provide ships in the time of war.

"Rye initially had to provide five ships with 40 days notice and the town had to support those ships over this period."

In return, the Cinque Ports enjoyed perks such as freedom from taxes and custom duties, resulting in laying the foundations for Britain's maritime power.

Dungeness - home of great inventions

From the fascinating history of Rye, the expedition now heads for the more modern day location of Dungeness Nuclear Power Station.

The locals used to call this area "The Ness" and it was once a thriving fishing community.

The easist way for crossing the shingle beaches

The shingled beach was well used by the fishers as they hauled their daily catch in.

Constantly having to walk up and down the shingles really put strain on the fishermen.

A great invention was born. The Dungeness backstays are reminiscent of flip flops and the hard work of traipsing up and down the shingled beach was forever gone.

Up, up and away

Leaving the beautiful beach of Dungeness behind, Paul takes to the sky for a bird's-eye view of the coastline.

Sitting next to Paul is HM Coastguard Andy Roberts, a coastguard spotter over the English Channel.

"I never get bored (of the views) as there is some of the most incredible shoreline in the whole of the UK is around this coast."

Andy's stretch of the Channel is one of the busiest and historically most dangerous in the world. It is his job to make sure the ships keep to their lanes, and the best view of Goodwin Sands is from the sky.

History shows that air rescues have always been important.

Andy gets the best coastal views in the county

Andy Roberts tells the story:" 50 years ago, one of the light vessels that are anchored to guard the sands, dragged its anchor and actually beached on to the Goodwin Sands, capsized and all the crew were killed.

"There was only one survivor and that was the person there who was watching migratory birds.

"He clung on for eight hours in some horrific storm conditions at the end of November.

"An American helicopter was based with the forces at Manston actually came out and rescued him."

The airport that rivalled Heathrow

The patrol ends on at Lydd airport, its landing strip is right on the coast.

This airport celebrates its 50th birthday in 2004, and would you believe that in its heyday, this landing was busier than Heathrow?

Starting in Eastbourne - finishes in Herne Bay next time

At its peak from 1954 to 1957, a plane took off for Le Touquet from Lydd airport every two minutes.

If you had the cash, you could even bring your car on the plane with you.

Lydd airport was where the rich and famous came to catch a plane to France. Today, we have other ways of crossing the channel.

In the second part of this coast to coast, Paul will travel to the gateway to the continent, Dover, and all the way to Herne Bay. Dont't miss it!