Great Canal Journeys Episode 1

I'm Timothy West and this is my wife premiere skills we're celebrating our golden wedding this year 50 years feels more like 14 I know we might be known as actors Basile but when we're not reading the board's it's all hands on deck cast-off piece hi sir we're canal nuts and we've been pottering around on the Rue nearly all I married life without two boys Joe and Sam we've had some of our best times on the canals whenever we get a break we dash off to our boat but we're both getting on a bit now I need to need some help and since we're celebrating 50 years of wedded bliss we are determined to make the most of what we love whilst we still can Peru has a slight conditions very mild but it does mean she has difficulty remembering Oh Tim I'm so sorry I didn't cast you off well it could be a nuisance sometimes but it doesn't stop me remembering how to open a lot gate or make the skipper a cup of tea we're going to be revisiting two canals that we know and love will add the summit array and two canals that are new to us Wow assisting he won't all be brain shaking what's the matter with him you'll be braving the great british summertime is okay and some of the most challenging routes on the network that is a bit scary and will be roping in our two boys just like the old days we believe in making our work canals reveal a hidden world yes little light at the end of the tunnel each canal is different but they all offer this wonderful antidote to the hurry and bustle of modern life you can't rush on the canal today we're off to a canal that's close to our hearts the Kennedy navel in the West Country affectionately known as the K and a to all those people who enjoy live and work on it for many years our Albert was murdered on the KA originally built to link Bristol with London to transport goods like coal and bath stone it was the engineering marvel of its day it boasts the Magnificent Kane hero flight of LOX a daunting prospect for even the most experienced boaters we love it because of its beauty in its history but also because we were involved in its restoration like so many canals it was neglected for decades virtually derelict in 1955 it was earmarked for permanent closure but at the eleventh hour a campaign was launched to save it Tim and I were passionate supporters the battle was finally won and in 1990 to promote the fully restored Canal we were invited to be the first boat in 42 years to travel the full length of the ka a quarter of a century later we're back to navigate 21 miles of its most picturesque stretch our journey begins in the elegant Georgian city of Bath but we're leaving the fine buildings and tourist horns behind and slipping away through the city's back door oh yeah with our own boat currently moored on the Oxford Canal we've had a higher one the Bradbury will be our home for the next few days but 67 feet she's a bit longer than what we're used to oh yeah what do you think she's enormous your than the stone yes they dinner Stan oh it's not loom yeah second double bed oh well that's us yes that's us that's very smart isn't it yes shucks after hours oh you doing aunt Ellie well no no no we don't have to tell you involved in don't cross we're in saloon dance game yes conversation yes drinks oh isn't that beautiful magic heading east from Bath will be crossing elegant aqueducts enjoying stunning countryside and visiting historic towns before heading to devises for a canalside festival in four days time but even before we leave the city we have to take on the baths flight six locks that will take us up sixty five feet to the top of bath wick Hill following this beautiful waterway it's easy to forget that it was the m4 of its day two hundred years ago working boats carried over three hundred and sixty thousand tons of goods a year along what was then the fastest and safest route across the country our first challenge is to leave the wide river even and turn left sharply into the canal itself oh god there's a boat coming sir we're going to try and not hit that boat yes narrow boats can be quite tricky to maneuver especially when meeting another boat head-on this is quite difficult the first log of the flight because it's a very different entrance to get into and impossible when there's another boat coming out which different their life come out of the side it's a bit bit dodgy food doesn't like steering so therefore it means that she has to do most of the legwork on the logs tying up working the pedals opening the gates which she likes doing and she's very good at it I do occasionally get a bit nervous but she's under it and she's sure there we go it's easy to forget the crew is the age she is when she's our child leaving about the logs thank you darling I can also steer if necessary once she's running to two or three things I think she'll function probably like a brand of Genoa no she doesn't have toys I say this and a perfectly competent competent stairs but the bath flight of locks are going to keep you busy for a while who is opening the pedals now that will let the exclusives come up and the water flow in with the lock chamber now full our captain can sail her through Oh Jeff sorry sorry I'm so sorry I didn't cast you off I'm so sorry yes he can if the crew has remembered to untie the ropes okay that's extremely unprofessional yeah we'd put a rope around the the center bollard and I'd got to release it don't mind crew can be a bit forgetful and I can be a bit impatient but we'll need to get our act together this next log is the second deepest in the country it's very tricky to negotiate and needs treating with respect it's one of the deepest locks I've ever seen it's so deep that it takes seven million liters of water definitive we've now down three of the Baths flight six lots on our own but then a stroke of luck this is very good news we've got another boat waiting to go through so they can share with us should we come in first okay it's very good in a broad lot to find someone who will come in with you because if you're on your own is the real danger that the boat will get knocked about a bit because of the force of the water hello just carry on you push us over there's your first time on this canal it's our first time on a narrow boat oh is it all right it's over the moment holiday decision really successful so far yeah no major grammars good he's very common sensor in it seems to be yeah I let my wife do the difficult work she's up there winding away crew oh yeah well I help you through the next one oh well I'm with brilliant thank you so much people are terribly friendly on the canals and it was a very nice feeling about it I think it's something to do with life at 4 miles an hour you know attracts people who like that rhythm of life and with the help of the nice Australians we soon reach the top of the flight it's so much easier when you've got two boats going up because the other thing is it says water I mean it's like if two people in a bath I mean we don't do that but if we did we'd say lot of water travelling the countries canals you get to see Britain from a unique perspective for instance bath as millions of visitors a year and yet most of them will never experience one of its hidden gems we're just coming to the Sydney gardens which is one of the great treasures of the canal for Georgian baths fashionable society Sydney Gunz was the place to be seen and the canal takes us on an exclusive route right through the middle hello lovely to see you local historian and author Kirsten Eliot has offered to show us around so this is Sydney Gardens still as you can see a park but opened in 1795 as a Georgian fantasy garden really where the Great and the good could come Jane Austen certainly came here and there was a labyrinth there was a mock castle there would be firework displays all sorts of things going on and when they were building the canal they wanted to cut through Sydney gardens and the proprietors of Sydney gardens demanded 2,000 guineas which we're talking about nearly a quarter of a million pounds in today's terms and they paid it because their only other alternative was a very long tunnel today there's a gate for us to get into the garden but back in Georgian times the grounds would have been completely off-limits Bath's high society promenade in through the gardens didn't want to rub shoulders with grabby canal folk covered in coal and stone dust the whole idea was that the working class is and the wealthy classes should be kept separate quite right so you got Kali as that side ladies with parasols this side us not talking to each other exactly the case yes not to spoil the gardens atmosphere of genteel decorum the canal company will force to make this stretch of canal because elegant as the gardens themselves but in so the working class is still left their mark these the rope marks you know that the motive power the horses coming through and here are their rope marks but one of the things that the garden proprietors are demanded were ornamental features on the canal and up here you can see there's the bust of a young lady now on the other tunnel you'll see the bust of an elderly gentleman and what it's the leaved is the old gentleman is old father Thames and she is Sabrina spirit of the seven because of course ultimately it joined the Thames and the seven it's a seven mile journey through the outskirts above before we reach open countryside where we were more up for the night near the village of clavata waiting for Leviton and we'll find nice morning contra members there's a pub and cane I can't lose we'll find it I suggest can open a bottle of wine and a nice dinner passing through bath Hampton now there's still lots of people about enjoying the Evening Sun do I know where we're going or why we're going there well sometimes I do and sometimes I just want to watch the countryside slide by who has this condition it's a sort of outsider script but it isn't this quite mild but she can't remember fits very well but you don't have to remember things on the canal good because you can just keep your mind absolutely vacant and enjoy things as they happen and as you see them so it's perfect for oh really when you think back over a long period and you think realist person that I've loved and enjoyed this and that and the other together doesn't really exist anymore it's another person that's quite painful but you mustn't think like that you know let's just take it from day to day and you just notice how much she's able to do and how much enjoys life I certainly do enjoy life and I can still perform my duties as cruel a sense of humor still there the circus incentives like a laugh and an we have a lot of fun yes it's just growing old and in a certain area more quickly than all of us would like but that's what was very lucky really we go it means we make sure we make the most of our time together doing the things that we love that alright yep right jinx yes twenty four years on and it's great to be back on the K and hey early morning somewhere on a canal in deepest Somerset and it's time to enjoy the simple things in life like scrambled eggs on toast hmm I accept farewell oh I'm done about that I'm sorry now you didn't did you well I spent most of the night going backwards and forwards to the fuse box I mean it's bad news when you can't go to the loo in pitch darkness and it can be bad news for the floor I hope it wasn't too bad but no darling no no no very good aim very good aim indeed oh thank you now we've cleared that up so to speak it's time to explore nestling among the trees the canal feels like it's always belonged here but of course it's only 200 years old and man-made running nearly 50 feet above the unnavigable River even the canal needs to be continually topped up with water from the river below which is why it's designer Charles Rennie built a series of pumping stations like this one at clamat hidden in what looks like an old mill is the ultimate example of Georgian green technology using only water power it can pump a hundred thousand gallons an hour up from the river into the canal it started operation back in 1813 the same year the Jane Austen published Pride and Prejudice Oh Pete Oh Peter Dunne is leader of its restoration team after two centuries the pumps water wheel is in need of some TLC and just as it was when the canal was first restored its volunteers who are taking on the task we are fitting the supports for the boards that turn the water wheel these what we call throat boards say they hold the water in the wheel while it's turning and some of those were broken though some of those were breaking yes and this is the broken piece oh cool you can see it's broken off yeah so we've had to produce these new ones another word doodles yes a lovely craftsman delivery and Bert lovely brilliant to get guys who know how to do it now well yes these are all very practical people and there's a lot of knowledge within the group and we have very good archives as well as a more and more timber goes on it you think whether we are making good progress and we're in functional performance original again yes the electricity costs of pumping water into the cow now are horrendous as you can imagine so to be able to put a little bit of water in the canal with this green system yes from the 19th century will be very nice for it is horrible to do again it's wonderful because it sort of self-perpetuating in it the river drives the mill which drives the pump which lifts the liver it's green it's not causing any pollution and it's 200 years old not bad we're headed east towards NIMH please Stoke traveling through the unspoiled Somerset countryside before reaching Bradford on even well we'll more up for our second night on the canal harem oh yes see fantastic bird life I think the canal network is Magic it's you me of course at one time it was a crucial commercial network you know for the delivery of goods news on well now those things go around the canal isn't commercially news but as a leisure activity it's it's absolutely one but it was so nearly a very different story competition from the railways in 1841 began the slow death of the Kami by the 1950s it was in a dreadful state in parts it had run completely dry was on the brink of permanent closure but then a dedicated band of enthusiasts stepped in to save the canal it seemed like an impossible dream when they started but gradually bit by bit the K&A was saved it was the most extraordinary achievement nearly all done by volunteers Boy Scouts prisoners servicemen we helped with the publicity and fundraising and we got stuck in to remember we we pulled out eight a supermarket trolley instantly from her hand half-mile stretch and of course we were the first boat to travel the full length of the K&A when it was first reopened and it was very different then still rough around the edges we went over a card and there Ford Escort summer back in 1990 we will known travelers on the canal 24 years later and a lot of things have changed for us and the cane a now it's flourishing isn't it's just furnishing now yeah yeah then god canal boating is physically demanding so proves below-deck taking a well-earned nap but the skipper is always on duty unfortunately this next section is lock free thanks to two masterpieces of canal architecture designed by its chief engineer John Rennie we're coming up to the Dundas aqueduct now but it's getting very full of people and boats and cyclists of course I think looking to navigate our way through our the carefully open in 1805 this elegant aqueduct is considered to be renny's finest work over two centuries later Dundas is still carrying canal boats across the River Avon and is a magnet for holidaymakers hello why I'd love one we can't stop uncle enjoy they look delicious it's a beautiful spot and an amazing piece of architecture and aging it's the owner of John rainiest masterpieces it's um it's best seen actually from below although it is wonderful to look down to the railway and the river and everything see how far up free up built of bath stone in the neoclassical style it might be a scheduled ancient monument but like much of the canal it still suffered decades of neglect the transformation it's undergone is incredible this one will see this is a great tourist attraction as men loads and loads of people coming with picnics and music and folks and hammers and bicycles to live in an aqueduct it's all right three miles further on is another of Randy's eloquent aqueducts the 330 foot long avon cliff and for what I remember there's quite a tight turn into it look actually look out to me Oh game too hippy oh what's the matter with him Jimmy it's not like you very difficult to judge a turnout Havanese other explosives on this is there's my excuse anything fortunately before the skipper can do any more damage we arrive at the historic market town of Bradford on even thanks to its riverside location it was already a prosperous town and the arrival of the canal brought not only more trade but also its first day trippers in 1833 a passenger Express started between here and bath it took up to 40 passengers who were entertained on route by a string band now that could be worth reviving being a hot and sunny bank holiday the world and his wife have descended upon the town's canal side hostelries his room don't get your cold dress supposing Sabine young man I was giving ya what a good idea one man who is definitely not moaning about the crowds is dick Barrow he and his wife opened their cafe the same year the restoration of this canal was completed we are you thank you thank you so you opened up just before we did our trip which was the first you were here for the opening in diesem yeah see that's right and yes 23 years on still here huh great well great place to be managed wonderful to see so many people I mean back in 1990 I mean you could have quite easily sat down on the bank holding ugly on the middle of the towpath and not being running there no no I would you be fair on a day like today it's a bit like the m25 and there are two parties absolutely solid so yeah this can be quite a lively spot we have a good a canal rage out here sometimes positioned next to one of the busiest locks in the country the lock-in is an ideal spot for ganguly a GaN couselor been one who stands on the towpath or at a lock and stares at canal boats when you occasionally run into a spot of bother there's nothing worse than being gulped at by a crowd of gondolas darling that never happens to you well hardly ever along with boats and Gangu slurs a whole service industry has sprung up since the KA was restored bringing in forty five million pounds worth of business a year the canal supports 1,300 jobs in fact it's busier now than it was during the industrial revolution there are lots of boat companies bike hire companies and marinas so far though there is only one floating hair cell and after a couple of days working the locks my hair is in need of a little TLC good morning please come in Nikita has been snipping away at both boater and Gong gooses hair since 2008 today I'm getting a shampoo and set how is it business-wise having a solo on the canal very busy good very busy I've been doing it for five years now yes yes Sam and people really enjoy coming here because it's something different it's totally unique years and it caters for everybody really you know dog walkers cyclists anybody that uses a toe path it's nice you get to meet all sorts of different people from all walks of life as well I think more so than you do in a high street Salim probably well that's the lovely thing about the canal itself and we've we've had a boat for certain 40 years now yes so you must have travelled a fair amount of the system in the last fall yes I think we've done nearly all the network one here honey yes yes it is it's a wonderful way seeing England everybody inside it yes take this one off you there you go one trip lovely thank you that's smashing thank you soon you're welcome something to meet you have a wonderful day thank you very much you're welcome that's better I'm very grateful for Nicola crew morale is extremely important isn't she good yeah very good excellent you pleased yes Faris I am with the crew newly covered it's time for us to strike out across the Wiltshire countryside towards Cane Hill all together we face the daunting prospect of 36 lakhs before we make it to our final destination devices we've got a little way to go we should get to them for their Cahill side receiving then perhaps go up in the morning but before we can leave browser on Aven there's more work for the crew occasionally I'm reminded that I'm not quite as young as I was I'm gonna need some help no coming okay but I'm not ready to hang up my windlass yet once you get your back onto it it's all ride we've teamed up with another boat which gives us a snug fit allowing Pru to let the water flow in nice and quickly giving the gangulu as a good show afternoon gents hello before we go into today then while we're hoping to get the devices well unfortunately we have to apologize to you on behalf of canal and river trust because there's a problem with the top lock eight devices for you okay oh so they're only lines on there after yes a boat lifted the top top gate out the gate is actually hanging and it took some brick working on on the side you can go as far as a bottom of the flight anyway so that'd be about sorry okay good to meet you and Robin this is seriously bad news 10 miles further on from here is the famous Cahill flight 16 locks in a row that they have to negotiate to reach our final destination but a careless boater has managed to rip a gate of one of the locks consequently at this moment we have no way of finishing our journey we are halfway through our journey from bastard devices to reach our final destination we have to negotiate the locks at Cane Hill but there's a problem hold flight is closed with a bottleneck of boats presumably both enemies the chances of fixing it by the time we get there seem pretty slight we can only travel on in hope leaving bradford-on-avon behind will pass through Trowbridge then strike out into open countryside before mooring up for the night near the hamlet of Caen Cleve living and working in London we needed a refuge in the countryside and canals given us that for nearly 40 years now for me it was a another life when we first borrowed a boat and went on the canals you know it's like a home or a flat in there when I'm cooking and we've got a lovely double bed and the scenery of course is amazing much more interesting than South Circular which is what we see from a London house and to have a boat and be able to live on how when we're working away from London it's been wonderful since we started canal boating more and more people have discovered its appeal a hundred and fifty years ago the canal network would have been full of number ones as they were called boat owner operators and their families lived and worked on the canals ferrying goods up and down the country barge folk will breed apart marrying within their community and developing a distinct culture that lasted into the late 1950s now a new community is springing up the liveaboards people who've chosen to live permanently afloat Holly and Stuart are reviving an old canal tradition it's great what you've done so this sexy sofa is yeah do time to sing it yeah so it was this your first boat or game right there's got it ever had one day that I wanted to buy a vote coming on the canal is stepping back in time and that's why I wanted to get a boat because I wanted that old fashioned yeah you know let's good to life with busy working lives and bringing up children we only ever had time for short breaks on the canals but for a young couple like Holly and Stuart I can see the attraction of setting up home on a narrow boat buying a flat with a setting like this would cost an absolute fortune so why have you chosen his life yeah well I grew up in in Wales so I was really close to the Montgomery canals all right yeah from there I got to see you know quite a lot of it and yeah it's an ideal way of life yeah I love the fact that if you get bored of your view you can move on yes I like the tranquility I love waking up in the morning to the ducks quacking away yes part of it is cooling up in in an ever-more fantastic sports yeah Cheers which is the narrow boating absolutely indeed if Holly and Stuart clearly have fallen in love with Camille life just like we did when we were young it's a life that wouldn't be possible without the people who battle to save the KA all those years ago we're pushing on towards Devizes but we still don't know if the Cane Hill flight will be possible when we get there but there are plenty of working locks to negotiate before then oh bloody hell I can't get up here proof physically is still pretty agile she leaps around but I'm beginning to feel quite anxious oh hold on I've probably got a little bit more energy than he has I'm probably a bit fitter I was trained by the most wonderful movement teachable it's Fisk at drama school so I'm quite fit and it spoiled him if he has to learn a dance it's big it's trouble yeah hoping a lot doesn't require brute force just a little gentle persuasion oh no it's moving Tim won't you ever build any cheese all right yes okay one my great string naughty a lot keeper said to me once they give a little sort of groan mean they're ready like a woman when she's ready yeah and then they're ready to go to open canal history is my thing whilst prune of the flora and fauna her memory may fail her occasionally but she stills enthusiastic about nature as she ever was and shortly we'll be stopping off at one of the Kellett n'avons unique habitats Giles wood is accessible only by canal or by foot and our guide is Amy the Kennedy nathan zone naturalist so if we look over here we've got away fairing tree I've never seen one these actually used to be very very common throughout the UK but you can see really lovely berries they used to be used for a pigment in inks every color green yellow black red strawberry if we carry on down here you can see a lovely canopy of oak trees here and you'll see these very peculiar growths on the tree at this time of year oh and you can see how this acorn has changed oh very bizarre yeah it's like something out of a science fiction fan I thought I thought I thought it was a special kind of a tour it's a disease look at you you're welcome to pick it oh they're actually caused by parasitic wasp and female has something it looks like a sting so she injects the plant and lays her eggs and the larvae hatch inside the tissue and as they start feed this causes a reaction in the plant like cancer cells yes and they begin to multiply around the creature and it forms this beautiful defensive barrier against predators such as birds and my mouse would like to eat it doesn't kill the tree not at all well you learn something every day you do sometimes two things to me it might look like it was created by Nature but only 20 years ago this spot was open fields then along came Freddy Giles who inspired by boyhood memories of playing in the woods decided to plant his own congratulations Fred it's a wonderful wood I'm wonderful isn't it has been wonderful living by the side the canal with 27 years here now right we came here when I was about retire and I found this place tucked away and it's just a paradise of nice people who walk through cycle and so I'm very happy in my in my skin living here there's so many people going by enjoying yourself yes but it's always the women seem to have to open bridges it's simply because men are better at steering work my hips for me this is what Canal travel is all about making new friends and enjoying the tranquility of the countryside let's hope that tomorrow we can complete our journey and make it to the festival of Devizes it's the morning of our final day on the canal we're off two devices now or we hope we are there's a carnival arises tonight and it'd be nice to get there whether we actually achieve the top of the Cane Hill flight who knows in the left of the gods we've traveled from Bath to bradford-on-avon and beyond over aqueduct sand through dozens of rocks but we have one more obstacle to overcome before we reach our final destination we're just arriving and Fox hangers at the foot of the cleany hill flight and there's good news about the broken lock it's all working now which is miraculous and they've done a terrific job in getting it repaired in time till two centuries ago the cane heel flight is a half mile staircase of 16 lakhs and was an engineering triumph much of the hard labor needed to build it was provided by Irish navies after the kna closed the Cane Hill flight was left derelict and abandoned but now it's become one of the great achievements of the canals restoration 19:19 we were the first boat to go up the restored flight and it would have been a tragedy if we'd not been able to climb the flight today for what might have supposed be the last time hello you going up the whole flight oh good let me share with you great so that's good we've we've got some people just share and they're going all the way up that's great the flight is a real challenge for cruise last time it took us four and a half hours and we were a lot younger so it's great to have some extra help prove certain appreciated welcome to cane your locks I was really glad that we're able to do it with the closure that they're happy the first few locks up seemed to go well both boats seemed happy in their shared endeavor only approached the actual site our companions meet some chums and decide to carry on up with them instead we've been jilted but there we are these things happen so just throwing me now we're gonna be on our own which means it's gonna be quite hard work well we're going up the cane hillside 16 lakhs we were with another boat which paths being work but no mind what keeps you fit raaah the age of chivalry is not dead thank you thank you very much go ahead to the next one now the five or six locks before we get to devices and I'm going got to do it all on my own otherwise fine taking on the cane he'll lock sigil handed is no mean feat for anyone I'm very proud of Prue you need one more person really because somebody's got to keep control of the boat like I'm doing now then it's a lot for the other person to do all the pedals and the gates I've had news from a passing boat that someone rather interesting is heading our way ahead of us now coming down the hill is the boat that apparently caused the accident and even holiday one rather eventful episode yet oh yeah go out get performances up - what happened yeah they only lifted about two inches when now and then just fall well they make you feel absolutely awful because of all the people that have been inconvenience just feel absolutely terrible about it you know Oh Sean Oh could happen to anybody in spite having to tackle the flight virtually on our own we've made it up cane hill in around five hours we've climbed over 150 feet and pro is opened and shut 16 lakhs well congratulations have we reached the top oh well done yeah it is well done ass yes it's wonderful to fuel the boats here today enjoying the canal and I'm remembering that it was nearly a quarter of a century ago when we last came up the Cane Hill site sit this week in a care of the Noven Canal 1794 to 1994 oh that's lovely it's a canal it really that's all it was quite an achievement travel movie colorful time yeah and thanks to proof stamina we've made it it's in full swing now Tim it's almost as if the people of Devizes have turned out to welcome as him ah here we are we're both definitely in need of a tipple and what could be more appropriate than a pint of kN a beer not made from canal water they assure me everybody well here we are we finished our journey and it's been wonderful he'll live and we've had a great time and as you can see this canal has a wonderful life of its own maybe which is very special it's hard to believe that this canal was once totally derelict but even at its darkest hour it was never unloved and on this trip we've come to realize that the dedicated band of people who save the KLA were restoring more than just a canal they were bringing back a way of life a way of life that is clearly more vibrant than ever before next week a canal that's totally new to us we navigate the deepest Loch I can't reach and the longest tunnel makes me feel as if I've died in a tough and demanding journey oh gosh well what's happened over there if you've been affected by the issues featured in this program their support available at channel 4 comm slash support and next tonight we see how the families and their new bundles of joy are getting on one born what happened next is on the way Oh

Channel: Chris Cole

Views: 386,723

Rating: 4.914258 out of 5

Keywords: Canal (Geographical Feature Category)

Id: 8zRI7xwN_mU

Length: 47min 20sec (2840 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 18 2014