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The Coastal Path

Tara Fitzgerald and Tayla Kovacevic-Ebong with words and music evoking the English coastal path.

Is there any annoyance in life that isn't improved by a brisk walk in the sea air? It's a truth Jane Austen would surely acknowledge and even the NHS suggests it to be so even though it is not always easy to get close to the glorious English coast. The King Charles III English Coastal Path is changing all that - taking shape as the longest managed path of its kind in the world. It will take ramblers from the flatlands of The Wash to the fossil strewn beaches of Dorset; past the windswept holy island of Lindisfarne as well as the kiss me quick thrills of Blackpool or Skegness, taking in landscapes that have inspired the finest novelists, composers and poets.

This edition of words and music celebrates the English coast and our long tradition of walking along it. You will hear the words of the Northumberland based monk and historian Bede as well as a contemporary traveller in Sunderland; from WG Sebald鈥檚 travelogue The Rings of Saturn and Alice Oswald on the Severn estuary; from Jane Austen on Lyme Regis and Jini Reddy in St Ives. You will hear music from Benjamin Brittan, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Ethel Smyth 鈥� music evoking our sea-faring past, beach loving present and the white cliffs in between.

Our readers are Tara Fitzgerald and Tayla Kovacevic-Ebong.

Anita Sethi - I Belong Here
Robert Macfarlane - The Old Ways
Maura Dooley - Still Life with Sea Pinks and High Tide
Christina Rosetti - By the Sea
WG Sebald - The Rings of Saturn
Patrick Barkham - Coastlines
Sarah Perry - The Essex Serpent
George Crabbe - Peter Grimes (excerpt)
Matthew Arnold - Dover Beach (excerpt)
Jane Austen - Persuasion
Ian McEwan - On Chesil Beach
Jini Reddy - Wanderland
AE Housman - The Shropshire Lad (excerpt)
Daphne du Maurier - Rebecca
William Wordsworth - Its a Beauteous Evening (excerpt)
Alice Oswald - A Sleepwalk on the Severn (excerpt)
Paul Theroux - The Kingdom by the Sea
Noreen Masud - The Flat Place
Ben Aitken - Sh**ty Breaks
Thomas A Clarke - On Walking
Bede - Ecclesiastical History of England
Katrina Porteous - Holy Island Arch
Phoebe Smith - Wayfarer

Produced in Salford by Olive Clancy

1 hour, 29 minutes

Last on

Sun 10 Aug 2025 18:00
蜜芽传媒 Radio 3

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Music Played

Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes

  • Anita Sethi

    I Belong Here

  • 00:01

    Cecilia McDowall

    Shipping Forecast ll

    Performer: Orchestra Nova Ensemble. Performer: Cecilia McDowall.
    • McDowall: Shipping Forecast.
    • Dutton Epoch.
    • 8.
  • 00:04

    Errollyn Wallen

    Three Ships 鈥� My Daddy is a Sailor

    Performer: Tom Kerstens.
    • BGS Records.
    • Tr3.

  • Robert Macfarlane

    The Old Ways

  • 00:05

    Ludovico Einaudi

    7 Days Walking

    Performer: Ludovico Einaudi.
    • Decca.
    • Tr28.

  • Maura Dooley

    Still Life with Sea Pinks and High Tide

  • 00:07

    Michael Nyman

    Yellow Beach

    Performer: Fidelio Trio.
    • Michael Nyman Records.
    • Tr7.

  • Graham Swift

    Waterland

  • Christina Rosetti

    By the Sea

  • 00:12

    Edward Elgar

    Sea Pictures Op.37 for mezzo-soprano and orchestra: no.2; In haven

    Singer: Janet Baker. Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra.
    • EMI Classics.
    • Tr6.

  • WG Sebald

    The Rings of Saturn

  • 00:14

    Ralph Vaughan Williams

    Norfolk Rhapsody No 1

    Performer: Lyn Fletcher.
    • Halle Concerts Society.
    • Tr4.

  • Patrick Barkham

    Coastlines

  • 00:22

    Aaron Dessner

    England

    Composer: Ed Sheeran. Performer: Ed Sheeran.
    • Gingerbread Man Records.
    • Tr2.

  • Sarah Perry

    The Essex Serpent

  • 00:24

    Benjamin Britten

    Four Sea Interludes No. 11

    Performer: Yannick N茅zet鈥怱茅guin.
    • ATMA Classique.
    • Tr5.

  • George Crabbe

    Peter Grimes (The Borough, Letter XXII)

  • 00:28

    Bedrich Smetana

    On the Seashore

    Performer: Leif Ove Andsnes.
    • Warner Classics.
    • Tr21.

  • Matthew Arnold

    Dover Beach

  • 00:30

    Sam Lee

    Ay Walking On

    Composer: James Keay. Performer: Sam Lee.
    • Songdreaming.
    • Cooking Vinyl.
    • 5.

  • Jane Austen

    Persuasion

  • 00:34

    George Gershwin

    Walking the Dog

    Composer: Irwin Kostal. Performer: Katia Lab猫que.
    • Encore.
    • Sony Classical.
    • 11.

  • Ian McEwan

    On Chesil Beach

  • 00:35

    Tamara Konstantin

    Chesil Beach

    Performer: Yu-Mien Sun.
    • Naxos.
    • Tr1.
  • 00:38

    Arthur Sullivan

    We Sail the Ocean Blue

    Lyricist: William Gilbert. Ensemble: The D鈥橭yly Carte Opera Company.
    • Unchained Melod铆e.
    • Tr2.

  • Jini Reddy

    Wanderland

  • AE Housman

    The Shropshire Lad (excerpt)

  • 00:41

    Arnold Bax

    Tintagel

    Performer: Lyn Fletcher.
    • Halle Concerts Society.
    • Tr1.

  • Daphne du Maurier

    Rebecca

  • 00:43

    Ethel Smyth

    The Wreckers Act 2 Prelude

    Performer: 蜜芽传媒 Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • Conifer.
    • Tr1.

  • William Wordsworth

    It is a Beauteous Evening

  • 00:47

    Hiroshi Yoshimura

    Water Copy

    Performer: Hiroshi Yoshimura.
    • Empire of Signs.
    • Tr2.

  • Alice Oswald

    A Sleepwalk on the Severn

  • 00:49

    Percy Whitlock

    Spade and Bucket Polka

    Performer: Gavin Sutherland.
    • Marco Polo.
    • Tr2.

  • Paul Theroux

    The Kingdom by the Sea

  • Noreen Masud

    The Flat Place

  • 00:52

    Emily Portman

    Grey Stone

    Performer: Emily Portman.
    • The Glamoury.
    • Furrow Records.
    • 4.

  • Ben Aitken

    Sh**ty Breaks read by the author

  • 00:54

    Mark Knopfler

    Down to the Waterline

    Performer: Dire Straits.
    • Dire Straits.
    • EMI.
    • 1.

  • Thomas A Clarke

    On Walking

  • 00:56

    Percy Grainger

    Walking Tune

    Ensemble: The Borealis Wind Quintet.
    • A La Carte: Short Works for Wind Quintet.
    • MSR Classics.
    • 11.
  • 00:57

    Kathryn Tickell

    Favourite Place

    Performer: Kathryn Tickell. Performer: Corrinna Hewit.
    • The Sky Didn't Fall.
    • Not Them Again Music.
    • 11.

  • Bede

    Ecclesiastical History of England

  • Katrina Porteous

    Holy Island Arch

  • 01:02

    Rebecca Clarke

    Violin Sonata ll Vivace

    Performer: Judith Ingolfsson.
    • Clarke: Viola and Violin Sonatas.
    • Oehms Music.
    • 102.

  • William Lisle Bowles

    Written at Tynemouth, after a Tempestuous Voyage

  • 01:06

    Frank Bridge

    The Sea 1 Seascape Allegro Ben Moderato

    Performer: Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Sir Charles Groves.
    • Klassiche Musik fur den Sommer.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 8.

  • Phoebe Smith

    Wayfarer

  • 01:12

    Erland Cooper

    Kittiwaako

    Composer: Charlotte Greenhow. Performer: Erland Cooper.
    • Kittiwaako.
    • Believe International.
    • 1.

Broadcast

  • Sun 10 Aug 2025 18:00
    蜜芽传媒 Radio 3

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