0:00:10 > 0:00:12Navigating Highland glens,
0:00:12 > 0:00:17rolling countryside, river valleys and city sprawl,
0:00:17 > 0:00:19Britain's canals cut a sedate path
0:00:19 > 0:00:23through some of the country's finest scenery.
0:00:23 > 0:00:28Canals were the transport arteries at the heart of an industrial age.
0:00:28 > 0:00:31A network of locks, tunnels and aqueducts
0:00:31 > 0:00:36helped carry goods to every corner of the land and beyond,
0:00:36 > 0:00:41transforming 19th-century Britain into an economic superpower.
0:00:42 > 0:00:45Today, over 2,000 miles of restored canals
0:00:45 > 0:00:49offer a gateway into a different world.
0:00:50 > 0:00:54For me and many others, the towpaths alongside them
0:00:54 > 0:00:58offer the perfect way to explore this heritage on foot.
0:01:23 > 0:01:29Welcome to Birmingham. I never thought I'd say that at the beginning of a walk.
0:01:29 > 0:01:35But any Brummie would proudly tell you there are more canals here than there are in Venice.
0:01:37 > 0:01:39Technically, that's true.
0:01:39 > 0:01:43But I'm not here for gondolas and ice cream.
0:01:43 > 0:01:49I'm here to discover why this city and canal network was the epicentre of the Industrial Revolution.
0:01:52 > 0:01:58Birmingham was known as "the city of a thousand trades".
0:01:58 > 0:02:04By 1759, it was the heart of a manufacturing phenomenon.
0:02:06 > 0:02:08At least 20,000 people
0:02:08 > 0:02:13were employed producing everything from steam engines and buttons
0:02:13 > 0:02:15to toys and guns.
0:02:19 > 0:02:21According to one industry leader,
0:02:21 > 0:02:26this success was down to the "super-activity" of the people.
0:02:26 > 0:02:29But this wasn't the only factor.
0:02:29 > 0:02:35By the 1790s, canal mania was born and these new superhighways
0:02:35 > 0:02:39crucially accelerated the delivery of raw materials
0:02:39 > 0:02:41and the distribution of goods.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56And I'm hoping that the rain's going to stop.
0:02:56 > 0:02:58And it has.
0:03:07 > 0:03:12My walk today is along the Worcester & Birmingham Canal.
0:03:12 > 0:03:14And, curiously, it starts here,
0:03:14 > 0:03:19a narrow gap connecting it to the rest of the city's waterways.
0:03:21 > 0:03:26The canal was built to connect the city and the sea at Bristol.
0:03:26 > 0:03:29It changed the fortunes of the entire country,
0:03:29 > 0:03:34so this is a tale of two cities, and a journey from 18th-century industry
0:03:34 > 0:03:36to 21st-century escapism.
0:03:47 > 0:03:52The Worcester & Birmingham Canal was a shortcut to the River Severn,
0:03:52 > 0:03:57and ultimately the ports at Gloucester and Bristol.
0:03:57 > 0:03:59Digging began in earnest in 1794.
0:03:59 > 0:04:04Birmingham was destined to become the workshop of the world.
0:04:05 > 0:04:10My two-day walk follows the entire length of the 30-mile canal,
0:04:10 > 0:04:12starting in Birmingham
0:04:12 > 0:04:16and cutting through the beautiful Worcestershire countryside.
0:04:16 > 0:04:21The towpath eventually takes me to another great city of the Midlands,
0:04:21 > 0:04:26Worcester, birthplace of the great British composer Edward Elgar,
0:04:26 > 0:04:30and home to the world famous Royal porcelain.
0:04:35 > 0:04:38It's going to be a walk of contrasts
0:04:38 > 0:04:43along a route at the heart of the golden era of British industry.
0:04:48 > 0:04:52I might have a damp start, but I'm off to meet Graham Fisher,
0:04:52 > 0:04:56canal author, expert and a boy from the Black Country,
0:04:56 > 0:05:01who can hopefully shed some light on what makes this canal so special.
0:05:01 > 0:05:04- Hi, Graham.- Hello, Julia.- Hello.
0:05:04 > 0:05:06- This is a special canal.- Yes.
0:05:06 > 0:05:09It means quite a lot compared to other canals.
0:05:09 > 0:05:16You've got at least eight different canals here with their own stories to tell,
0:05:16 > 0:05:20but the Worcester & Birmingham seems to tell the lot -
0:05:20 > 0:05:24industrial archeology, nature at its finest, somewhere to walk my dog.
0:05:24 > 0:05:31- This is a significant canal in the Industrial Revolution. - It's hugely significant.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34It provided a route from Birmingham to the Severn.
0:05:34 > 0:05:40It also helped access goods made in Birmingham to Worcester, and stuff from Worcester here.
0:05:40 > 0:05:46It was said that if something wasn't made here, it wasn't made anywhere in the world.
0:05:46 > 0:05:48- It was the heart.- It was.
0:05:48 > 0:05:53Goods from here could be taken to Worcester, then to the Severn,
0:05:53 > 0:05:57downstream to Gloucester, Bristol, the great ports beyond.
0:05:57 > 0:06:02Goods manufactured in this very spot could go anywhere in the world.
0:06:02 > 0:06:08- It's a wet day but what have I got to look forward to on this canal? - It's pouring down!
0:06:08 > 0:06:11That just adds to the magic of the waterways!
0:06:11 > 0:06:16Between here and the end of the city environs, you've got so much to see.
0:06:16 > 0:06:19You've got tunnels coming up.
0:06:19 > 0:06:24You've got a famous name, Cadbury's. I understand you like chocolate.
0:06:24 > 0:06:27- I love my chocolate! - A special stop for you.
0:06:27 > 0:06:34Chocolate crumb was brought up from the Sharpness Canal to be processed at the Bournville factory.
0:06:34 > 0:06:38Then you suddenly burst out of the city
0:06:38 > 0:06:42and are surrounded by a cacophony of birds, nature, greenery.
0:06:42 > 0:06:45It's absolutely splendid.
0:06:45 > 0:06:48At Tardebigge, you're looking down these winding locks
0:06:48 > 0:06:53over the valley towards the Severn. It will melt your heart!
0:06:53 > 0:06:54Sold! You've got me.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57- Bye, Graham.- Bye bye.
0:07:05 > 0:07:10It's already clear that canalside development has played a huge part
0:07:10 > 0:07:12in rejuvenating the city.
0:07:17 > 0:07:21Over £488 million has been invested since 2001
0:07:21 > 0:07:26and new buildings and apartment blocks abound.
0:07:26 > 0:07:28That is until I get to Edgbaston,
0:07:28 > 0:07:33home not only to the cricket ground, but also to Birmingham's posh.
0:07:36 > 0:07:42It doesn't take long to get to the place where the trees begin,
0:07:42 > 0:07:44as it's sometimes called.
0:07:45 > 0:07:49It was the vision of the landowner Sir Henry Gough Calthorpe
0:07:49 > 0:07:53in the 1700s, to keep Edgbaston a rural oasis
0:07:53 > 0:07:58in the heart of an industrial city, free of factories and warehouses.
0:08:00 > 0:08:05A very attractive proposition for the well-to-do of Birmingham.
0:08:05 > 0:08:08Edgbaston became THE place to live
0:08:08 > 0:08:11for the increasingly prosperous middle classes
0:08:11 > 0:08:16who wanted to escape the stench, smoke and noise.
0:08:16 > 0:08:21In 1791 an Act of Parliament granted the Worcester & Birmingham Canal Co
0:08:21 > 0:08:24the authority to cut a waterway through his estate.
0:08:24 > 0:08:31Objections to the impact of the canal meant the project dragged on for 24 years,
0:08:31 > 0:08:36with a host of engineers putting their name to it.
0:08:36 > 0:08:40They needed to placate landowners, while ensuring water to the mills
0:08:40 > 0:08:43wasn't affected.
0:08:49 > 0:08:53But Sir Henry had clout in Parliament,
0:08:53 > 0:08:55so there were agreeable clauses -
0:08:55 > 0:08:59no towpaths, warehouses or wharves on the side of the stately home.
0:08:59 > 0:09:05Landed gentry could transport their goods for free and were granted fishing rights.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08It's good being powerful, isn't it?
0:09:10 > 0:09:13What it does mean for today's Birmingham
0:09:13 > 0:09:18is that it provides people with a place to escape within city limits.
0:09:26 > 0:09:30Continuing south, I'm almost at the outskirts of Birmingham,
0:09:30 > 0:09:34approaching a station with a very familiar name.
0:09:36 > 0:09:39Bournville.
0:09:39 > 0:09:41There it is.
0:09:41 > 0:09:44The Cadbury factory, a great British institution.
0:09:44 > 0:09:50Its position suggests that, back in the day, it must have had some connection to the canal.
0:09:50 > 0:09:56More importantly, how can the producers bring me so close to a chocolate factory,
0:09:56 > 0:09:59and not let me go inside?
0:10:00 > 0:10:03It wasn't just residents of Edgbaston
0:10:03 > 0:10:05keen to find a green enclave.
0:10:05 > 0:10:10Cadbury's moved here in the 1870s from grimy industrial Birmingham
0:10:10 > 0:10:16with the trail-blazing vision of creating a worker's paradise.
0:10:16 > 0:10:22Richard and George Cadbury spent Sundays strolling the green fields to the south,
0:10:22 > 0:10:29trying to find a suitable spot by the canal to escape the slums of the inner city.
0:10:31 > 0:10:35Bournville was the result, not only the base for their factory,
0:10:35 > 0:10:38but the first planned community in the world
0:10:38 > 0:10:43with shops, churches, schools, reading rooms and hospitals.
0:10:46 > 0:10:50For 40 years, the factory enjoyed a working relationship with the canal,
0:10:50 > 0:10:54bringing in raw materials like cocoa beans from Ghana.
0:10:54 > 0:11:00And their famous chocolate being exported to the colonies until the 1920s.
0:11:00 > 0:11:04But even as the train arrived and the canal declined,
0:11:04 > 0:11:10it was used on a minor domestic scale by the factory into the 1960s.
0:11:12 > 0:11:15- To make matters worse... - SNIFFS
0:11:15 > 0:11:21..when you sniff the air, I'm not lying, it smells of chocolate.
0:11:30 > 0:11:32From sights to smells,
0:11:32 > 0:11:38it's the simple pleasures of this canal that I'm starting to enjoy.
0:11:39 > 0:11:44- Hiya.- Hi, there. - Where are you off to?- London.
0:11:44 > 0:11:46- London?- London.
0:11:46 > 0:11:48- Proper London London?- Proper London.
0:11:48 > 0:11:53- How long's it going to take you? - Between seven and ten days.
0:11:53 > 0:11:58- Why are you doing that?- To celebrate Roy's birthday. He's 65 on Monday.
0:11:58 > 0:12:00- Happy birthday!- Thank you.
0:12:00 > 0:12:05And we wanted to do something different, cos we own a pub.
0:12:05 > 0:12:10- You didn't want a night in a pub so you got a week on a boat?- Yes.
0:12:10 > 0:12:13Who does all the driving?
0:12:13 > 0:12:15I do. June does all the locks.
0:12:15 > 0:12:18- You've got the hard job, June!- Yeah.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21- What an adventure!- It is at our age.
0:12:21 > 0:12:26- We should be sitting and knitting. LAUGHING:- No, that's boring!
0:12:26 > 0:12:30- Have a fantastic time! - Thank you very much.
0:12:32 > 0:12:36As Birmingham finally fades into the distance,
0:12:36 > 0:12:43the canal disappears into a one-and-a-half-mile tunnel.
0:12:43 > 0:12:48Unfortunately, there's no towpath, which means I have to go overground,
0:12:48 > 0:12:51just like the boat horses used to,
0:12:51 > 0:12:53although donkeys were often favoured
0:12:53 > 0:12:56as they were small enough to hop on board.
0:12:56 > 0:12:58No such luck for me.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02On soft ground,
0:13:02 > 0:13:06a horse could only pull a cart weighing half a tonne,
0:13:06 > 0:13:08compared to 50 tonnes on a canal.
0:13:09 > 0:13:11A massive housing estate
0:13:11 > 0:13:15built in the 1970s after Birmingham's slums were cleared
0:13:15 > 0:13:21now stands at Hawksley, in what used to be open farmland.
0:13:22 > 0:13:27A mile on, and I'm in rural Worcestershire.
0:13:27 > 0:13:30Once on the other side of the tunnel,
0:13:30 > 0:13:32I'm in a very different scene.
0:13:42 > 0:13:46The canal now nestles beneath a canopy of high trees
0:13:46 > 0:13:50surrounded by rolling green countryside.
0:13:50 > 0:13:52After just over eight miles,
0:13:52 > 0:13:56my walk passes the quaint little village of Alvechurch.
0:13:56 > 0:13:59This sleepy hollow is the birthplace of Godfrey Baseley,
0:13:59 > 0:14:01creator of The Archers,
0:14:01 > 0:14:07the longest running radio broadcast anywhere in the world.
0:14:07 > 0:14:09The Worcestershire countryside
0:14:09 > 0:14:13was supposed to have inspired his rural soap opera.
0:14:17 > 0:14:22The towpath eases gently along for another six miles or so,
0:14:22 > 0:14:24to the halfway point on my walk.
0:14:24 > 0:14:28It's well worth heading onto the bridge for a charming view,
0:14:28 > 0:14:31a nice reward at the end of day one.
0:14:32 > 0:14:37That beautiful 18th-century spire marks a key point of the walk.
0:14:37 > 0:14:42This is Tardebigge, where the author of a surprise best-seller moored up
0:14:42 > 0:14:46during the bleak years of World War II.
0:14:46 > 0:14:48Tom Rolt's 1944 book Narrow Boat
0:14:48 > 0:14:51was the story of his travels with his wife
0:14:51 > 0:14:57along what remained of the decaying canals.
0:14:57 > 0:15:01To his surprise, it was a hit with both public and critics.
0:15:01 > 0:15:04It seemed to appeal to national pride
0:15:04 > 0:15:09and the determination to preserve Britain's heritage.
0:15:09 > 0:15:15He writes, "If the canals are left to the mercies of economists and scientific planners,
0:15:15 > 0:15:21"before many years have passed, the last of them will become a weedy, stagnant ditch
0:15:21 > 0:15:27"and the bright boats will rot at the wharves to live on only in old men's memories."
0:15:27 > 0:15:31A puzzled Tom Rolt was inundated with fan mail.
0:15:31 > 0:15:36One letter was from another author who shared his love for canals.
0:15:36 > 0:15:39He proposed the formation of a society
0:15:39 > 0:15:42to revive Britain's neglected canal network.
0:15:42 > 0:15:46The young author was Robert Aickman,
0:15:46 > 0:15:50and when Rolt invited him on board his boat Cressy
0:15:50 > 0:15:54moored here at Tardebigge, they decided to form an association
0:15:54 > 0:15:58with a mission to restore 2,000 miles of canals across the UK.
0:15:58 > 0:16:02It looks like they did a pretty fine job, too.
0:16:02 > 0:16:07This is where they met and decided to revive the canal network.
0:16:07 > 0:16:10They set up the Inland Waterways Association.
0:16:10 > 0:16:15That's not the only thing that makes this part of the canal special.
0:16:15 > 0:16:20The village gives its name to the longest flight of locks in the UK.
0:16:23 > 0:16:26But I'm saving THAT for tomorrow.
0:16:35 > 0:16:39At the start of day two, this dramatic two-mile flight of 30 locks
0:16:39 > 0:16:43lies ahead of me, lowering the canal 220 feet.
0:16:47 > 0:16:49I'm starting at lock 58
0:16:49 > 0:16:53and as I drop downhill, so do the numbers.
0:16:53 > 0:16:56Descending the flight will take me to lock 29.
0:16:56 > 0:17:00Lock number one is still another 15 miles away,
0:17:00 > 0:17:05the prize at the end of my walk, when I finally get to Worcester.
0:17:12 > 0:17:1615 miles of canal and you might have noticed that this
0:17:16 > 0:17:19is actually the first lock, lock 58.
0:17:20 > 0:17:22- Hello.- Hiya.
0:17:22 > 0:17:25- This is the last one!- It is.
0:17:25 > 0:17:28- How long has it taken you? - Five hours.
0:17:28 > 0:17:32- Five long hours! - Mostly in the rain.- Yes!
0:17:32 > 0:17:37So we had to keep morale up with hot drinks and food.
0:17:37 > 0:17:41- What have I got to look forward to? - Lots of lovely stuff.
0:17:41 > 0:17:44It drops about 200 feet or so.
0:17:44 > 0:17:49Just lots of good scenery, lovely scenery, and boat people.
0:17:49 > 0:17:53- People on the canal.- Nice? Friendly? - Very friendly. Very colourful.
0:17:53 > 0:17:59- How many times have you done this? - First time.- So big adventure!- Yeah.
0:17:59 > 0:18:03- Fantastic. Good luck, ladies. Nice to see you! Bye.- Bye.
0:18:09 > 0:18:13At lock 57, you pass the old engine house,
0:18:13 > 0:18:17which used to help maintain water levels in the canal.
0:18:17 > 0:18:21When it takes an average of 90,000 gallons of water
0:18:21 > 0:18:24every time the lock gates open, you realise
0:18:24 > 0:18:30why the canal engineers needed to stockpile water close by.
0:18:30 > 0:18:34Tardebigge reservoir continues to keep this flight of locks in action,
0:18:34 > 0:18:40with feeder channels now directing water back into the canal.
0:18:40 > 0:18:43Nice little diversion.
0:18:48 > 0:18:55The terrain at Tardebigge had presented a major geographical obstacle for the canal builders.
0:18:55 > 0:18:59The route had travelled from Birmingham on a plateau,
0:18:59 > 0:19:03but here the canal needed to descend some 220 feet.
0:19:03 > 0:19:07The initial solution incorporated 12 boat lifts
0:19:07 > 0:19:10that would move boats up and down.
0:19:10 > 0:19:15Worried by the price tag of such an elaborate scheme, only one was built
0:19:15 > 0:19:21and the canal engineer John Rennie was drafted in to assess the plan.
0:19:21 > 0:19:26He concluded that it wouldn't survive rough treatment from the boatmen,
0:19:26 > 0:19:31so the boat lift was abandoned in favour of the locks we see today.
0:19:31 > 0:19:36That's a lovely sight, to see lock after lock after lock.
0:19:40 > 0:19:47Negotiating the flight is considered by boaters to be a rite of passage.
0:19:47 > 0:19:50It's definitely one for the checklist.
0:19:50 > 0:19:55The canals are packed with the technological wonders of their day.
0:19:55 > 0:19:59Of all the surprising engineering feats, this is surely
0:19:59 > 0:20:01one of the most impressive.
0:20:15 > 0:20:18It is a long way to the bottom!
0:20:24 > 0:20:26It feels like time for a cuppa.
0:20:26 > 0:20:33I'm hoping to meet lock keeper Alan Trove and his wife Barbara at lock 18, where they live,
0:20:33 > 0:20:35right next to the water.
0:20:41 > 0:20:45- How long have you been here, Barbara?- 20 years in November.
0:20:45 > 0:20:51I bet you've seen just about every conceivable boat with every kind of person on it.
0:20:51 > 0:20:56We've even had a chap on a boat, who'd boated for 30 years,
0:20:56 > 0:21:02- stepped across the bottom gate, caught his foot on the collar, fell in and it killed him.- No?- Yeah.
0:21:02 > 0:21:05We see quite a few things here!
0:21:07 > 0:21:12If you had to describe life on this canal,
0:21:12 > 0:21:15how does it work through the seasons?
0:21:15 > 0:21:18- What's it like in the winter?- Quiet.
0:21:18 > 0:21:23- Apart from fishermen.- For you, what's life like then?- Boring!
0:21:23 > 0:21:27I sit and do jigsaws all winter cos there's nothing else to do.
0:21:27 > 0:21:31You can't get out in the garden. You hardly see anybody.
0:21:31 > 0:21:35If the sun's shining, you get loads of walkers,
0:21:35 > 0:21:40push bikers, fishermen come and sit freezing like this, shivering.
0:21:40 > 0:21:45I'm bumping into people all the time, all having a great time.
0:21:45 > 0:21:50Families, lads on their boat having a lads' week or weekend.
0:21:50 > 0:21:56- There seem to be people still enjoying the canals. - It is hard work, though.
0:21:56 > 0:22:01Some of these top-end paddles, they struggle to pick them up.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04Getting through these locks isn't as easy as it looks.
0:22:08 > 0:22:10See if you can pick up.
0:22:10 > 0:22:15'Alan challenges me and, with the gauntlet laid, how can I resist?'
0:22:18 > 0:22:20Right... Yeah?
0:22:25 > 0:22:27Here? On there?
0:22:27 > 0:22:29Other side? Like this?
0:22:30 > 0:22:33Right, which way?
0:22:33 > 0:22:35That way or down?
0:22:51 > 0:22:55'It's hard work just trying to do this once,
0:22:55 > 0:22:59'never mind the 58 times that boaters face on this canal.'
0:23:05 > 0:23:07Bloody hard work!
0:23:07 > 0:23:10That's hard!
0:23:10 > 0:23:15It's extraordinary to think that this lovely cottage, dating to 1850,
0:23:15 > 0:23:21has been home to generations of lock keepers like Alan and Barbara.
0:23:21 > 0:23:24It's been part of the heyday of the canal,
0:23:24 > 0:23:29when chocolate crumb and coal were carried past its front door.
0:23:29 > 0:23:33Today, the scene hasn't changed all that much.
0:23:33 > 0:23:39Traffic continues, and at least 3,000 boats chug by each year.
0:23:39 > 0:23:43But these narrowboats are carrying passengers enjoying holidays,
0:23:43 > 0:23:46rather than goods.
0:23:49 > 0:23:53I started this walk in the rain and I'll finish this walk in the rain.
0:23:53 > 0:23:57A little bit of H2O doesn't stop the Bradbury.
0:23:58 > 0:24:01SHE HUMS A JOLLY TUNE
0:24:04 > 0:24:07My walk's now drawing to a close.
0:24:07 > 0:24:11As I arrive on the edge of Worcester, home not only to Elgar
0:24:11 > 0:24:16but also Worcestershire Sauce, the weather clears for the home strait.
0:24:16 > 0:24:23Apart from the canal, little is left of Worcester's manufacturing past.
0:24:23 > 0:24:26Gone are the factories and warehouses,
0:24:26 > 0:24:31which made use of the canal and its link to the River Severn.
0:24:32 > 0:24:36The Worcester Porcelain Museum is one of the few clues
0:24:36 > 0:24:39that there was ever a formidable industry here.
0:24:39 > 0:24:43I'm going to meet its curator, Wendy Cook.
0:24:43 > 0:24:45Hello, Wendy.
0:24:45 > 0:24:51- Even before the canal, porcelain, for Worcester, was such a huge industry.- Very much so.
0:24:51 > 0:24:54There were four factories operating.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57On this site, they were working by the mid 1780s
0:24:57 > 0:25:01to produce porcelain for the best customers.
0:25:01 > 0:25:06- It was going all over the world. - Everywhere - America, India, China!
0:25:06 > 0:25:13- It grew and grew.- It was enormous. - Yes. At a time when industry was in its infancy.
0:25:13 > 0:25:15There were very few factories.
0:25:15 > 0:25:21Before the canal, how did this huge industry get everything it needed? It needed a lot of materials.
0:25:21 > 0:25:27- Mainly up the River Severn, which isn't very far. - Less than half a mile?- Yes.
0:25:27 > 0:25:31- Yet this stretch of water made such a big difference.- Yes.
0:25:31 > 0:25:37Because the raw materials and the finished products were just so difficult to transport.
0:25:37 > 0:25:40So breakable, so heavy.
0:25:40 > 0:25:45The canal allowed the industry to expand and produce very much more.
0:25:45 > 0:25:52And this is it, the scene of all of that activity as it was.
0:25:52 > 0:25:58And now parts are derelict and parts turned into des-res apartments.
0:25:58 > 0:26:02They're redeveloping the site, which was about 15 acres.
0:26:02 > 0:26:06There were four large bottle kilns, so it was a big employer.
0:26:06 > 0:26:11A factory employed 1,000 people. That doesn't happen any more.
0:26:11 > 0:26:15- It doesn't make financial sense. - Not any more.
0:26:15 > 0:26:22'It's not hard to see how the final half-mile stretch would have transformed business in Worcester.
0:26:22 > 0:26:26'Instead of relying on a mud track to transport delicate pottery,
0:26:26 > 0:26:28'it was this little bit of canal
0:26:28 > 0:26:32'that swiftly linked to the Severn and was used commercially
0:26:32 > 0:26:34'until the 1960s.
0:26:36 > 0:26:38'It's been quite a journey for me,
0:26:38 > 0:26:43'from land-locked Birmingham on a plateau, down to sea level,
0:26:43 > 0:26:47'and my final goal - the first lock of the canal.
0:26:47 > 0:26:53'This is where my waterway joins an even bigger one, the River Severn.'
0:26:53 > 0:26:55And there it is!
0:26:56 > 0:26:58Lock number one.
0:27:00 > 0:27:06And the evidence? "Birmingham 30 miles, 58 locks". Yes!
0:27:11 > 0:27:16Lock number one finally opened its gates in December 1815
0:27:16 > 0:27:20to cannon fire and music, as a hopeful and expectant crowd
0:27:20 > 0:27:24cheered the first passage of boats.
0:27:24 > 0:27:28Within two weeks, the exchange of cargo was in full flow
0:27:28 > 0:27:30between the canal and river.
0:27:30 > 0:27:34Everything from china clay to cocoa beans.
0:27:43 > 0:27:48The Worcester & Birmingham Canal embodies the Industrial Revolution.
0:27:48 > 0:27:53Without canals, manufacturing couldn't have grown the way that it did.
0:27:53 > 0:27:57Ironically, these are an escape from modern-day life.
0:27:57 > 0:28:01People live on them, walk alongside them, cycle alongside them.
0:28:01 > 0:28:07They fit into the countryside like any river, and in cities they're a tranquil haven.
0:28:07 > 0:28:11Bet the canal builders didn't expect that.
0:28:32 > 0:28:35Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:28:35 > 0:28:38E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk