3. Wight, Portland, Fitzroy

The shipping forecast on BBC Radio 4 is as familiar as the sound of Big Ben chiming the hour.

Yet recognisable though the sea areas are by name, few people give much thought to where they are or what they contain.

Charlie Connelly is on a journey into the forecast to find out.

"There is probably no better place to earn a sense of your own mortality than the headland at Finisterre."

Charlie travels to a literary island, the Portland Race and the End of the World.

Written by Charlie Connelly and abridged by Beatrice Colin

Read by Tom Goodman-Hill.

Producer: Gaynor MacFarlane

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2004.