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Ramblings

Darwin - Quantock Hills

Ramblings

BBC

Nature, Places & Travel, Society & Culture, Science

4.5768 Ratings

🗓️ 11 June 2011

⏱️ 25 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Inspired by Richard Dawkins book 'The Ancestor's tale: a pilgrimage to the dawn of life' the 'Ancestor's Trail' is intended as a celebration of evolution. Darwin's Tree is represented by footpaths over the Quantock hills and whilst some walkers will begin the 13 mile hike representing the human journey others may join as elephants, reptiles or even jellyfish further down the line. Clare Balding meets those taking part in the celebrations and finds out why they feel evolution itself should be celebrated.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

11 climbers appeared to have died on the world's second highest mountain K2.

0:06.4

It was one of the deadliest days in mountaineering history.

0:09.9

Rock falls, avalanches.

0:11.6

Huge pieces of ice.

0:12.9

All are big enough to kill you.

0:14.3

He just flew out into Devoid, and he was gone.

0:17.3

How did it all go so wrong?

0:19.2

And is it really worth risking death to feel alive?

0:22.2

Why would somebody pay to go to a place called the death zone on vacation?

0:27.3

Extreme.

0:28.3

Peak Danger.

0:29.3

With me, Natalia Melman Petrazella.

0:31.7

Listen to the full series now, first on BBC Sounds.

0:35.9

Welcome, everybody, to the Ancestors Trail.

0:39.0

In front of you is 3.7 billion years of walking to do.

0:44.1

And at the moment you're going to be walking just up to the Chimp Trail.

0:47.0

I'll talk to you again then.

0:51.0

The general hubbub behind will tell you that today on Ramblings, I am walking with a very large group.

0:56.7

The biggest I've ever walked with, there must be 50 people at least, and I think over the process of the walk, this will just grow and grow.

1:04.5

We've been taking as our theme for this series, the way the landscape has inspired writers.

1:10.2

But today, just turn that around and we're on a

1:13.9

walk that has been inspired by writing, by the writing of Charles Darwin and Richard Dawkins,

...

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