4. Fastnet, Irish Sea, Rockall

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.

Charlie visits the centre of Irish emigration and cycles the TT course (after a fashion).

"I wasn't able to visit the next sea area on the list, but then until recently more people had been to the moon than had been to Rockall."

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.