Michael Portillo embarks on another journey exploring the shores of Britain. In Lyme Regis he learns of a pioneering palaeontologist, at the HQ of the Met Office he presents a TV weather forecast and then visits a water mill at Otterton.
In the County town of Devon, Michael visits Exeter cathedral joins stonemasons conserving the Beer stonework. He explores a network of tunnels and views a 1,000 year old book in the cathedral library. The last stop on this leg is Plymouth.
Michael leaves Devon to cross over into Cornwall, where the ruins of Tintagel Castle emerge from the mist and spray of the sea. He meets an artist at the landscaped garden of Boconnoc. He visits Newquay and St Agnes then on to St Austell.
Michael reaches the Cornish fishing village of St Mawes, where he takes to sea in a wooden racing yacht. At Coverack he harvests seaweed, rides on the historic Helston Railway. From Penzance he travels to the amphitheatre at Porthcurno.
Michael Portillo nears the end of his railway adventure tracking the rugged coast of south west England. He finishes in the westernmost reaches of England, in the Scillonian archipelago. From the heliport at Penzance he flies to the isles.