0:00:10 > 0:00:12'Navigating highland glens,
0:00:12 > 0:00:17'rolling countryside, river valleys and city sprawl,
0:00:17 > 0:00:23'Britain's canals cut a sedate path through some of the country's finest scenery.
0:00:23 > 0:00:28'Canals were the transport arteries in a booming industrial age.
0:00:28 > 0:00:33'A network of locks, tunnels and aqueducts helped carry goods to every corner of the land
0:00:33 > 0:00:36'and beyond,
0:00:36 > 0:00:41'transforming 19th-century Britain into an economic superpower.
0:00:42 > 0:00:49'Today over 2,000 miles of restored canals offer a gateway into a different world.
0:00:50 > 0:00:58'For me and many others, the towpaths alongside them offer the perfect way to explore on foot.'
0:01:12 > 0:01:17Hello and welcome to the World Heritage City of Bath in Somerset.
0:01:17 > 0:01:23The Georgians turned this into a luxury spa resort, quite literally fit for a king.
0:01:23 > 0:01:28But today I'm here to explore its other water attraction.
0:01:32 > 0:01:38'This grand river is the Avon and it's just a short walk to an inconspicuous entrance
0:01:38 > 0:01:42'and one of Britain's greatest waterways.'
0:01:42 > 0:01:49It was a canal superhighway, linking two of our most important ports - Bristol and London.
0:01:53 > 0:01:59My walk today is a tale of two halves. There's the rise, fall and rise again of this grand canal
0:01:59 > 0:02:06and then there's the story of how it almost became the last line of defence against the Nazis.
0:02:08 > 0:02:14'This is an intriguing story of restoration, resistance and renaissance.
0:02:24 > 0:02:30'With no reliable roads at the time, only mud tracks, the Kennet and Avon Canal was opened in 1810
0:02:30 > 0:02:35'to provide a valuable trade link between Bristol and London.
0:02:36 > 0:02:42'This was by way of a 57-mile link between my starting point by the River Avon and Bath
0:02:42 > 0:02:45'and the River Kennet at Newbury.
0:02:45 > 0:02:49'My walk today will follow what is arguably the most picturesque part
0:02:49 > 0:02:53'as it curves its way around the Avon Valley.
0:02:53 > 0:02:59'It runs shoulder to shoulder with the river, which is unnavigable here because of the varying depth.
0:02:59 > 0:03:05'After Bradford-on-Avon, the course straightens out as it heads towards Devizes,
0:03:05 > 0:03:09'finishing at the top of the Caen Hill flight of locks,
0:03:09 > 0:03:14'arguably the greatest engineering achievement on this section,
0:03:14 > 0:03:18'one of the seven listed wonders of British waterways.
0:03:20 > 0:03:26'This restored pumping station at the beginning of my walk is a clue to the first engineering challenge
0:03:26 > 0:03:30'which the canal builders faced 200 years ago.
0:03:32 > 0:03:38'They had to keep the canal supplied with water as it climbed up the steep Avon Valley ahead.
0:03:41 > 0:03:47'For me, this means an uphill walk, going along a succession of six beautifully-restored locks
0:03:47 > 0:03:51'rising 65 feet to the rooftops of Bath.
0:03:55 > 0:04:01'Here you can't help but notice the buildings make use of a distinctive honey-coloured stone.
0:04:01 > 0:04:06'This unmistakable building material was formed over 135 million years ago
0:04:06 > 0:04:09'when Bath was under a shallow sea.
0:04:12 > 0:04:16'It wasn't until the 18th century that it took off as a spa resort,
0:04:16 > 0:04:21'leaving this legacy of exemplary Georgian architecture.
0:04:22 > 0:04:27'So Bath provided a very glamorous backdrop for the start of the canal.
0:04:27 > 0:04:32'Its arrival also crucially provided a shortcut route for trade.
0:04:32 > 0:04:38'Ships no longer had to navigate the treacherous south coast to transport their goods to London.
0:04:41 > 0:04:48'Today this waterway might provide city centre escapism, but it nearly went to rack and ruin.
0:04:49 > 0:04:53'I'm meeting Mike Rodd from the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust,
0:04:53 > 0:04:58'the charity which tirelessly fought to bring the canal back from extinction.'
0:04:58 > 0:05:02Mike, it's a very beautiful spot, but it hasn't always been that way.
0:05:02 > 0:05:07It's lovely now. 200 years ago, this was a hub of industrialisation.
0:05:07 > 0:05:13- This was part of the Industrial Revolution throughout the UK. Then the railways...- Changed everything.
0:05:13 > 0:05:18Absolutely. The railway lines slowly started to eat into the traffic on the canal.
0:05:18 > 0:05:24And the canal fell into disuse. By 1950, this canal was not operating.
0:05:24 > 0:05:28- This was a very different picture. - Total desolation.
0:05:28 > 0:05:34It was a question of what happened. Right throughout the country round about that time
0:05:34 > 0:05:40there was a move to get canals open again and the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust was formed
0:05:40 > 0:05:43specifically to do that, 60, 70 years ago.
0:05:43 > 0:05:49- Vision is one thing, money and funding is another. How did you get the cash for it all?!- Well...
0:05:49 > 0:05:56During the '50s, up until the '90s, it was really on the back of volunteers who did a phenomenal job.
0:05:56 > 0:06:02They got their picks and shovels out. The Trust, with British Waterways and the local authorities
0:06:02 > 0:06:09went after a Heritage Lottery Fund grant, which they got. £25 million Heritage Lottery Fund grant.
0:06:09 > 0:06:13The biggest ever awarded, probably the biggest that ever will be.
0:06:13 > 0:06:20And that £25 million got the canal to a point where, 8 or 9 years ago, it was in a fabulous condition.
0:06:20 > 0:06:25- This canal's got history, people, communities. It's a real survivor. - It's quite amazing.
0:06:25 > 0:06:29Of course, now it is a major, major leisure industry.
0:06:29 > 0:06:35It supports at least 7 million people a year who visit the canal.
0:06:35 > 0:06:40- I look forward to all my encounters. - Thank you.- Lovely to meet you. Bye!
0:06:42 > 0:06:48'The mission of the Kennet and Avon Trust is to preserve the canal for generations to come.
0:06:48 > 0:06:55'The same could not be said of the original owners. Their interests were wealth and power.
0:06:58 > 0:07:02'When this route got the go ahead from Parliament, it was 1793
0:07:02 > 0:07:05'and canal mania was at its height.
0:07:05 > 0:07:10'20 other new canals also had the go ahead, expanding across the country.
0:07:12 > 0:07:16'Canals crucially fuelled the spread of industrialisation.
0:07:16 > 0:07:20'As manufacturing grew, so did the need for materials.
0:07:20 > 0:07:24'The canal companies saw a wealth of goods needed transporting,
0:07:24 > 0:07:28'everything from stone, coal, timber, straw, manure
0:07:28 > 0:07:33'and even farm produce to feed the growing towns and cities along this route.
0:07:33 > 0:07:38'My next marker is an unmistakable building that straddles the canal.'
0:07:38 > 0:07:43That must be Cleveland House, which is KAC HQ.
0:07:44 > 0:07:48'This was the former headquarters of the Kennet and Avon Canal Company,
0:07:49 > 0:07:53'a 24-strong management committee, which controlled the 57-mile route
0:07:53 > 0:07:56'from this resplendent position.
0:07:57 > 0:08:02'I've read about a little secret spot in the roof of this tunnel
0:08:02 > 0:08:08'that reveals a bit more about how canal trade was controlled and profits made from levying tolls.'
0:08:09 > 0:08:14I've walked under a fair few bridges and one tunnel's much like the next.
0:08:14 > 0:08:19You'd be forgiven for thinking that was a mistake in the masonry. It's not.
0:08:19 > 0:08:23It's a clever little hatch from Cleveland House,
0:08:23 > 0:08:28so the boatmen could leave money and paperwork and clerks collected them.
0:08:28 > 0:08:30Ingenious.
0:08:32 > 0:08:38'But the pursuit of wealth and power also carried a price tag for the canal company.
0:08:38 > 0:08:44'This next stage needed to forge a path through one of the most exclusive areas of Bath.
0:08:44 > 0:08:50'To get permission to go through, they needed to pay the owners a whopping £2,000.
0:08:50 > 0:08:55'And the deal also demanded that they built these ornate bridges.
0:08:59 > 0:09:05'Sydney Gardens is also the city's oldest park, a popular resort of leisure for 19th-century gentry,
0:09:05 > 0:09:08'frequently visited by royalty.
0:09:10 > 0:09:16'It's so evocative of the period, you almost feel like you're in a Jane Austen novel,
0:09:16 > 0:09:23'which isn't surprising as it was an old haunt of this romantic writer during the years she lived here.
0:09:33 > 0:09:36'Sydney Gardens ends my city walk
0:09:36 > 0:09:42'and the contrast between one end of this tunnel and the other couldn't be starker.'
0:09:42 > 0:09:43Cor!
0:09:43 > 0:09:47What a lovely, verdant surprise when you pop out of that tunnel!
0:09:48 > 0:09:53'It's rather like being spat out into an entirely different world,
0:09:53 > 0:09:59'going from a manicured suburban corridor into lush rolling countryside.
0:09:59 > 0:10:05'Here river, road, rail and canal lie shoulder to shoulder along the valley corridor,
0:10:05 > 0:10:08'a visible reminder of four ages of travel.
0:10:09 > 0:10:15'This extraordinary confluence of travel is a lasting testament to the early canal engineers.
0:10:15 > 0:10:23'They provided a blueprint for generations to come by finding the simplest way through the landscape.
0:10:25 > 0:10:32'I'm just over a mile out of Bath and now I'm in rural Somerset, but the canal is buzzing with life.
0:10:37 > 0:10:41'You can't help but take a peek inside the many moored boats,
0:10:41 > 0:10:46'which seem as much a feature as any of the locks, bridges and tunnels.'
0:10:46 > 0:10:48Look at this.
0:10:48 > 0:10:51That's a very unusual vessel.
0:10:51 > 0:10:54It's like a stealth barge!
0:11:09 > 0:11:15You'd expect to find that on the Congo, wouldn't you? Not the Kennet and Avon Canal.
0:11:17 > 0:11:24'It doesn't look like anyone's home today, but clearly this canal attracts creative types.'
0:11:26 > 0:11:33There's a really different feel to this canal. There are quirky works of art dotted along it.
0:11:33 > 0:11:38And things like this. It says here, "I love you to sit on me,
0:11:38 > 0:11:43"but please don't leave rubbish." Presumably, it's made by this man.
0:11:43 > 0:11:45I'd like one of these in my garden.
0:11:50 > 0:11:54'This canal certainly seems to draw people to it.
0:11:54 > 0:12:00'I've arranged to meet the Leek family, who have made the canal their home.'
0:12:04 > 0:12:09We've got Theo and Lawrie. Hello. Do you like living on a boat?
0:12:09 > 0:12:13Yeah, I really like... I really love it.
0:12:13 > 0:12:19- Why? What's so cool about living on a boat? - Well, I really like the outdoors.
0:12:19 > 0:12:22That's cool. We all like the outdoors. Good.
0:12:22 > 0:12:28- How long have you lived on the canal?- Six years. We got a loan and found a beautiful boat.
0:12:28 > 0:12:31- And that was it?- Yeah.
0:12:31 > 0:12:34I suppose what you've got is a real freedom
0:12:34 > 0:12:41- right on the edge of the canal. With all your lovely community people as well. Hello!- Hi!
0:12:41 > 0:12:45- That's what I've noticed. It's so friendly.- Really friendly.
0:12:45 > 0:12:51There's a really big feeling of community. We all watch out for each other's kids,
0:12:51 > 0:12:53we all share lifts to school.
0:12:53 > 0:12:59- It's a lovely way to live.- What do you do, Johnny?- I build boats, mostly!- How very handy!
0:12:59 > 0:13:04- What do you do?- I'm a seamstress. I make clothes and corsets.- Ah!
0:13:04 > 0:13:08You mentioned school for these guys. How far away is the school?
0:13:08 > 0:13:14School is in Bathampton, which, depending on where we're moored... At the moment, it's easy.
0:13:14 > 0:13:18The school is right next to the canal. They promote boatees.
0:13:18 > 0:13:24The headmaster's amazing. He loves the kids, loves the diversity of the families.
0:13:24 > 0:13:29You get the posh families, the boatee families. Shove them all together.
0:13:29 > 0:13:34- Where were these two born?- Theo was born right on the boat.- No!- Yeah.
0:13:34 > 0:13:37- Is that what you wanted?- Exactly.
0:13:37 > 0:13:42- With Dad on hand?- Dad, two midwives. It was beautiful, yeah.
0:13:42 > 0:13:46What a place to be born! Where were you born? Do you know?
0:13:46 > 0:13:50I was born...on the boat.
0:13:50 > 0:13:52You were born on THIS boat.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55- Yeah.- That is so cool.
0:13:56 > 0:13:59- See you! Bye!- By-y-ye!
0:14:01 > 0:14:06'I'm almost in Wiltshire and for the first time I get a clear view of the broad valley
0:14:06 > 0:14:09'which the canal engineers had to cut a path through.
0:14:09 > 0:14:14'The natural shape of this valley meant the route was predetermined.
0:14:14 > 0:14:16'The canal had to hug its contours.
0:14:18 > 0:14:23'But the real draw were the business opportunities which beckoned.
0:14:23 > 0:14:26'The Canal Company forged ahead to secure the route
0:14:26 > 0:14:31'as they knew there was a ready-made market keen to trade along it.
0:14:31 > 0:14:36'Dundas Wharf was originally built to serve the nearby Conkwell quarries,
0:14:36 > 0:14:40'enabling the distinctive local stone to be transported by boat.
0:14:42 > 0:14:45'It was also a trade junction of another kind.
0:14:45 > 0:14:51'Here, the Kennet and Avon Canal is joined by the Somerset Coal Canal.
0:14:51 > 0:14:56'It served nearly 30 different collieries before its final closure some 100 years later.
0:14:56 > 0:15:01'Today, a short section has been restored for permanent moorings.
0:15:01 > 0:15:04'Here, the canal builders also faced a problem.
0:15:04 > 0:15:09'To keep the route running on the same level and avoid expensive locks,
0:15:09 > 0:15:13'it would have to cross the River Avon. A bridge was needed.
0:15:16 > 0:15:21'For this, the Canal Company brought in John Rennie, an emerging star of civil engineering
0:15:21 > 0:15:24'and someone who, at the turn of the 19th century,
0:15:24 > 0:15:29'was making a name for himself in the world of bridge building.
0:15:29 > 0:15:34'Rennie might not have achieved the fame of his contemporaries
0:15:34 > 0:15:37'like James Brindley and Thomas Telford,
0:15:37 > 0:15:41'but the Dundas Aqueduct is considered his crowning achievement,
0:15:41 > 0:15:46'as well as a masterpiece of 18th century classical style architecture.
0:15:46 > 0:15:50'It was completed in 1805 and named after Charles Dundas,
0:15:50 > 0:15:53'the first chairman of the Canal Company.
0:15:54 > 0:15:57'Not only is it a listed building,
0:15:57 > 0:16:03'but in 1951 it became the first canal structure to be designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument.
0:16:05 > 0:16:09'But the fragile nature of the stone led to erosion.
0:16:09 > 0:16:13'The aqueduct developed leaks and by the '50s was unusable.
0:16:16 > 0:16:22'For a brief period in the '70s, you could even walk along the dry canal bed of the aqueduct.
0:16:22 > 0:16:26'It's since been re-lined, restored and then reopened in 1984.
0:16:28 > 0:16:33'This isn't the only aspect of canal life here to have seen a renaissance.
0:16:33 > 0:16:40'The goods might well have changed, but today, trading still goes on right next to the water.'
0:16:41 > 0:16:45Lovely-jubbly. That's what you want on a walk. Very civilised.
0:16:45 > 0:16:50- Is business good today? - There you go. It's not too bad today. Enjoy it.- Thank you.
0:16:50 > 0:16:53Oh, lovely.
0:16:54 > 0:17:00"Wax truckles of cheese..." Hello. I wasn't going to have any, but have you got any nice tangy Cheddar?
0:17:00 > 0:17:05- We certainly have. - I haven't even had a lick of my ice cream, so let's have a taste.
0:17:05 > 0:17:10- Extra mature Cheddar, really zingy. - Where's it from?- Snowdonia.
0:17:10 > 0:17:13That's lovely. I'll have a truckle. Thank you.
0:17:15 > 0:17:18- There you go.- Thank you. - Enjoy your cheese.
0:17:27 > 0:17:29He's very young in charge of a boat!
0:17:33 > 0:17:36It's such a busy canal.
0:17:38 > 0:17:41And it has a very special atmosphere.
0:17:43 > 0:17:48Especially on a day like today. The sun is shining. Everyone's quite happy.
0:17:48 > 0:17:53But every single boat that's gone past so far, a little wave.
0:17:55 > 0:18:01'But this canal hasn't been without its problems. As I approach the halfway point of my walk,
0:18:01 > 0:18:05'I've also reached the section which was notoriously problematic
0:18:05 > 0:18:08'before its restoration with leakage and breaches.
0:18:08 > 0:18:14'Much of the £25 million Lottery grant went into reinforcing this stretch of the canal.'
0:18:16 > 0:18:21Although this bit of the canal looks as flat as the rest of it, we're on quite a slope here
0:18:21 > 0:18:25and this section of the waterway needed significant reinforcement
0:18:25 > 0:18:29to stop it slipping all the way down there into the River Avon.
0:18:32 > 0:18:38'It's now only a short walk to Rennie's next creation - the Avoncliff Aqueduct,
0:18:38 > 0:18:41'where he had to cross the River Avon for a second time.
0:18:43 > 0:18:47'It's certainly a good-looking structure by most standards,
0:18:47 > 0:18:53'but in engineering circles, this is perhaps an aqueduct he might have wanted to keep quiet about.
0:18:54 > 0:18:58'Straight after completion in 1801, its central arch immediately sagged
0:18:58 > 0:19:01'and it had to be repaired many times.
0:19:01 > 0:19:08'The porous Bath stone was again his undoing and Rennie is said to have regretted ever using it.'
0:19:10 > 0:19:15You couldn't really start this walk in a more picturesque place, Bath,
0:19:15 > 0:19:20then you burst through into rural Wiltshire and there's so much life along this canal.
0:19:20 > 0:19:23And not one but two beauteous aqueducts.
0:19:35 > 0:19:40'The next mile is probably the most bustling stretch of towpath I've seen so far.
0:19:40 > 0:19:45'Ten miles from the start, the walk leads to Bradford-on-Avon, a kind of mini-Bath
0:19:45 > 0:19:50'where the older buildings are made from the same Jurassic sandstone.'
0:19:52 > 0:19:56Another bit of bustle along the walk. In fact, not so little.
0:19:56 > 0:20:00Bradford-on-Avon is a seriously busy spot and it always has been.
0:20:00 > 0:20:04'By the 19th century, business on the canal was flourishing.
0:20:04 > 0:20:08'This wharf was a busy distribution centre where goods were loaded
0:20:08 > 0:20:13'and dispatched by boat for delivery around the world.'
0:20:13 > 0:20:16- Enjoy it.- You too.- See you.
0:20:16 > 0:20:21'The Kennet and Avon Canal was profitable for some 40 years,
0:20:21 > 0:20:26'but the rise of the Great Western Railway network was to seal its fate.
0:20:26 > 0:20:30'Ironically, it was the railway that took over the canal in 1852.
0:20:30 > 0:20:35'By hiking tolls and imposing a restrictive four-miles-per-hour speed limit,
0:20:35 > 0:20:41'they squeezed business out until the canal was no longer viable and the trains took over.
0:20:41 > 0:20:46'Although the rail company had a statutory obligation to keep the canal navigable,
0:20:46 > 0:20:51'over the following decades and into the 20th century, it fell into disrepair.
0:20:51 > 0:20:55'Activity on the canal had all but ground to a halt.
0:20:55 > 0:20:57'That was until the summer of 1940
0:20:57 > 0:21:02'when Allied code breakers intercepted a message from Nazi headquarters
0:21:02 > 0:21:05'that placed the nation in jeopardy.
0:21:05 > 0:21:11'Hitler had given his directive to invade Britain and this stretch of the canal played a crucial role
0:21:11 > 0:21:13'in responding to the nation's fear
0:21:13 > 0:21:18'of a possible invasion from the south by creating a second line of defence.
0:21:18 > 0:21:24'The canal was a ready-made boundary because advancing troops couldn't easily cross the water,
0:21:24 > 0:21:28'so it formed a defensive barrier known as the GHQ Line.'
0:21:31 > 0:21:34I've walked sections of the K and A Canal before
0:21:34 > 0:21:38and I know that there is something lurking through the brambles.
0:21:41 > 0:21:44Now come with me.
0:21:55 > 0:22:00Dotted all along the canal are pillboxes like this one.
0:22:00 > 0:22:07'I'm going to meet local historian Hugh Pihlens who can explain how the canal found a new purpose
0:22:07 > 0:22:10'as Britain's potential last line of defence.'
0:22:10 > 0:22:13What were they doing here? What ARE they doing here?
0:22:13 > 0:22:19They date from the Second World War and they were built as one of our key defences.
0:22:19 > 0:22:22- Think back to May 1940.- Hmm.
0:22:22 > 0:22:26France had been overrun in just six weeks
0:22:26 > 0:22:31and Hitler was standing on the English Channel, thinking, "Could we invade England?"
0:22:31 > 0:22:35The huge threat was there and our response
0:22:35 > 0:22:39was to set up a coastal crust of defences around the sea,
0:22:39 > 0:22:43but also to have a wonderful series of lines of defence
0:22:43 > 0:22:46along rivers and along canals,
0:22:46 > 0:22:52but one of the most important was here on the Kennet and Avon Canal through Wiltshire and Berkshire.
0:22:52 > 0:22:56A huge number of these pillboxes were built all the way along it.
0:22:56 > 0:23:00- How many pillboxes in total? - There were 18,000 that were built.
0:23:00 > 0:23:04They were built between the very end of May in 1940 and September.
0:23:04 > 0:23:0718,000 in all. About 6,000 remain.
0:23:07 > 0:23:11- Shall we go and have a look at the others?- Let's.
0:23:13 > 0:23:16The canal then was unused, really.
0:23:16 > 0:23:20Some of the lock gates were damaged and weren't holding water.
0:23:20 > 0:23:25- So it was a very sad scene? - It was a sad scene, but it definitely did play its part
0:23:25 > 0:23:29because they could use the canal where there was water
0:23:29 > 0:23:37to carry materials for these pillboxes and for all the other defences built along the canal.
0:23:37 > 0:23:42- So it flourished a little again? - It flourished a little for 1940, definitely.
0:23:42 > 0:23:48- Who was going to man them? - They were going to be manned by Local Defence Volunteers.
0:23:48 > 0:23:51And do you know, Local Defence Volunteers,
0:23:51 > 0:23:55in just six weeks through June and the first two weeks of July,
0:23:55 > 0:23:59there were one and a half million volunteers.
0:23:59 > 0:24:02That, of course, became known as the Home Guard.
0:24:02 > 0:24:08- Churchill called them the Home Guard in a speech to the BBC.- Dad's Army. - Dad's Army.- That's what they were.
0:24:08 > 0:24:13They were men who were too frail or too old to join the armed forces,
0:24:13 > 0:24:17but my goodness me, they rallied to the call!
0:24:20 > 0:24:22And here's one more, Julia.
0:24:22 > 0:24:26And you know, there are 6,000 remaining,
0:24:26 > 0:24:28there are 18,000 originally
0:24:28 > 0:24:33and they're here as testament to all the work that was done in 1940.
0:24:33 > 0:24:40'These pillboxes never saw active service, but they're a lasting monument to the Devizes Dad's Army
0:24:40 > 0:24:43'who were ready and willing to play their part.
0:24:46 > 0:24:49'So this brings us full-circle.
0:24:49 > 0:24:54'There's been boom and bust, restoration and now renaissance.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57'What an amazing journey this canal has had!'
0:25:04 > 0:25:07I'm almost at the end of my walk
0:25:07 > 0:25:12and where I'm heading now symbolises the restoration of this canal.
0:25:17 > 0:25:21This flight of 16 locks raises the canal 235 feet.
0:25:21 > 0:25:28It's listed as one of the Seven Wonders, not of the world, but of British Waterways.
0:25:28 > 0:25:31'This was a list drawn up by Robert Aickman,
0:25:31 > 0:25:36'the founding father of the Inland Waterways Association over 50 years ago.
0:25:38 > 0:25:43'This extraordinary spectacle is the steepest climb on the whole of the 57-mile route.
0:25:46 > 0:25:50'It takes four or five hours to negotiate this flight by boat
0:25:50 > 0:25:54'and these sidearm reservoirs make sure the locks are kept topped up
0:25:54 > 0:25:58'because every time they open, they lose a whopping 40,000 gallons.
0:25:58 > 0:26:02'Even these reservoirs have now created a life of their own
0:26:02 > 0:26:05'with rare animals and plants making a home here.
0:26:09 > 0:26:12'This is how the canal looked 40 years ago.
0:26:12 > 0:26:17'Weeds filled the side ponds and the locks were completely derelict.
0:26:21 > 0:26:23'In the following years,
0:26:23 > 0:26:29'the passion with which the public became engaged in its restoration was unprecedented.
0:26:29 > 0:26:34'And after years of campaigning, fund-raising and back-breaking volunteer work,
0:26:34 > 0:26:38'the canal was officially reopened by the Queen in 1990.
0:26:43 > 0:26:47'The Caen Hill flight of locks was the final icing on the cake.
0:26:47 > 0:26:52'It was the last part to be built when the canal first opened in 1810
0:26:52 > 0:26:56'and the last part to be restored 180 years later.
0:27:00 > 0:27:04'This canal has certainly been full of surprising history.
0:27:04 > 0:27:09'It's been a 19th century super highway, a derelict ditch,
0:27:09 > 0:27:12'a last line of defence for a nation under possible attack
0:27:12 > 0:27:18'and now a leisure park that is also home to people seeking an alternative way of life.'
0:27:46 > 0:27:52For over two centuries, this beautiful waterway has rolled on the waves of varying fortunes
0:27:52 > 0:27:54and continues to do so.
0:27:54 > 0:27:59The Kennet and Avon Canal is a real story of our time, a true story of survival.
0:27:59 > 0:28:02Long may it continue.
0:28:05 > 0:28:07Look at that!
0:28:35 > 0:28:39Subtitles by Subtext for Red Bee Media Ltd 2011
0:28:39 > 0:28:42Email subtitling@bbc.co.uk