- This windswept beach in the south-east of Scotland
is open to the public.
But to get here, there's a bit of effort required.
[waves crash]
That is part of the Elie Chainwalk,
500 metres long, made up of eight chains
anchored into the cliff face,
along with some carved foot and handholds.
It was set up in the 1920s, likely to help local fishermen
get down the cliffs to their boats.
A century later it's maintained as a local attraction
and as optional side trip on the local coast path,
which means that in any weather,
even on very blustery, ill-advised, freezing days like this,
you can just scramble along the Chain Walk
as if it was any other public footpath.
Now, you should not do this alone.
I've got a local guide with me.
Thank you, Allan.
And before we set off, I asked him about how all this works.
- It's open to the public, completely open access all year round.
You do need a certain level of physical ability.
You're putting a lot of your weight onto your arms.
There's a couple of chains
you have to climb and descend from a reasonably high height.
So although it's technically not difficult,
you do have to be cautious climbing at height.
But if you come here in the summer, you'll see families
tackling the chains,
but also groups come here with helmets and harnesses, and so on.
A wide range of people come and give the chains a go.
- Very occasionally, people do fall here.
Perhaps because they've ignored safety signs,
or strayed off the path, or been trapped by the tide
and had to call out the local lifeboat.
The Chain Walk isn't massively dangerous,
it's not just for climbing experts,
but it is dangerous enough that the safety signs are justified.
There are modern attractions like this all over the world
but they generally use harness systems,
instead of "hold on tight and watch out for the tide".
The Chain Walk sits in that strange group
of lesser-known places where it would never be created now.
But it does exist, and no-one wants to get rid of it.
It was repaired about ten years ago
after someone stole the chains,
and every six months engineers come out to check
that everything is still anchored in, safe and intact.
- One thing you might notice: that some of the fixing points move.
So quite often, we'll have people reporting them in,
but that's actually meant to be like that.
There's meant to be a little bit of movement
so it doesn't stress the rock as much.
I've been coming here and leading groups here for about 30 years.
Plan ahead. And secondly, come prepared.
Decent footwear, know the tides,
know what the weather's going to be like
so that you don't get surprised as you go along the chains.
There have been reports of people falling.
They see the tide, they feel trapped.
They don't want to get wet,
so they decide to climb up the cliffs.
But if you know the tides, and if you plan around that
then that's not going to happen.
When I first came here, it was the original chains
which were old and rusty.
The ones there now are quite new and shiny and solid.
- And what I love most about this
is the Chain Walk doesn't really lead anywhere important.
You go across some cliffs, down a bit, across, up again,
and you get access to a couple of beaches
that are pretty much like every other beach around here.
People do this, people take a small but significant risk
and take the Chain Walk for no other reason than...
it's there.