0:00:03 > 0:00:06'We are a watery nation.
0:00:06 > 0:00:09'Rivers shape our landscape and they made our history.
0:00:09 > 0:00:14'But today they seem like forgotten highways into the back garden of Britain.
0:00:14 > 0:00:18'This week, I'm crossing from coast to coast.
0:00:19 > 0:00:22'I'll be steering an Olympic medal winning yacht.'
0:00:22 > 0:00:23We've got the main up,
0:00:23 > 0:00:26and Humber Bridge is approaching at great speed.
0:00:26 > 0:00:32'Feeling the force of nature at one of England's grandest country estates.' Aargh!
0:00:32 > 0:00:34'And discovering toxic beauty beneath a great city.'
0:00:34 > 0:00:37That looks like the whole of doom down there!
0:00:37 > 0:00:41'As I explore the working rivers of the north of England.'
0:01:09 > 0:01:14It's five in the morning and we are, at the moment, a few miles off Anglesey.
0:01:14 > 0:01:19We're about to make our way up and into one of the major rivers of Britain
0:01:19 > 0:01:24and we're going to do it on a container ship over there.
0:01:25 > 0:01:29This is one of the biggest ships on the Atlantic,
0:01:29 > 0:01:32the 58,000-tonne Atlantic Conveyor.
0:01:32 > 0:01:35Zero eight zero.
0:01:38 > 0:01:43'I'm going aboard in the company of Jeff Rafferty,
0:01:43 > 0:01:47'whose job it is to pilot the ship safely into the port of Liverpool.'
0:01:47 > 0:01:49- Good morning, sir.- Morning.
0:01:49 > 0:01:54- We go in the lift and up ten decks. - Where we meet the master who is steering the boat.
0:02:07 > 0:02:12'The Atlantic Conveyor is carrying 15,000 tonnes of cargo from three different countries.
0:02:12 > 0:02:18'This is the most critical phase of her entire voyage, as we enter the mouth of the Mersey.
0:02:18 > 0:02:20OK.
0:02:21 > 0:02:23The river reaches right out to the sea.
0:02:23 > 0:02:28Its waters create treacherous sandbanks and as this ship crosses the bar,
0:02:28 > 0:02:31she has just under two feet of water beneath her.
0:02:31 > 0:02:34But for Jeff, the most difficult bit is still to come.
0:02:34 > 0:02:38The lock is 130 feet wide and the ship is 106.
0:02:38 > 0:02:42In simple terms, there's about 12 feet on either side.
0:02:42 > 0:02:45Now I can only see one side.
0:02:45 > 0:02:48We don't really have any brakes either!
0:02:48 > 0:02:50HORN BLOWS
0:02:52 > 0:02:59So we've got a bit of breeze now, Griff, just on the starboard quarter, blowing us off a little bit.
0:02:59 > 0:03:03- There's our mark on the quay there. - And what will you line it up with?
0:03:03 > 0:03:06There's a stripe painted on the side of this ship!
0:03:07 > 0:03:11Oh, I can see the stripe. Do you want me to tell you when it's there?
0:03:11 > 0:03:13You need a lot of loose change to park here.
0:03:13 > 0:03:17The conveyor is charged by the foot and by the hour.
0:03:17 > 0:03:20Overstaying your welcome can be an expensive business.
0:03:20 > 0:03:25- Ease right down now, she's got about ten metres to go.- Phew!
0:03:26 > 0:03:30Yes, OK, thank you.
0:03:30 > 0:03:34So there we are. Dead on time, absolutely snug in the lock.
0:03:34 > 0:03:39We are still two miles from the harbour that was once one of the most important in the world.
0:03:39 > 0:03:44But it's as far as this mammoth ship needs to go.
0:03:44 > 0:03:47Well, a very neat job of getting us here, Jeffrey, I must say!
0:03:47 > 0:03:52Thank you very much. 10 o'clock tonight she'll be leaving here for Halifax.
0:03:54 > 0:04:00'Once, cargo ships would have gone further into the Mersey itself and unloaded over a period of weeks.
0:04:00 > 0:04:06'Now, thanks to the clever concept of containerization, everything is done in a matter of hours.
0:04:10 > 0:04:15'This port actually handles more cargo than the old docks ever did.
0:04:15 > 0:04:17'40 million tonnes a year.
0:04:17 > 0:04:22'Does this mean that the working life of the rivers of the north is finished?
0:04:24 > 0:04:29'To find out, I'm going to Manchester, across the Pennines,
0:04:29 > 0:04:31'following the furious Derwent to the Trent
0:04:31 > 0:04:37'and effectively taking what was once one of the most important short cuts in Britain
0:04:37 > 0:04:39'to the port of Hull on the east coast.
0:04:39 > 0:04:43'But before I leave Liverpool, I want to ask engineer Dave Sandman
0:04:43 > 0:04:48'about another aspect of the working life of this river.'
0:04:48 > 0:04:55For a long time, the Mersey was not just a working river in terms of being a transportation river
0:04:55 > 0:04:59and there were lots of ships going up and down it, it was a very useful drain.
0:04:59 > 0:05:01It was just an open sewer, basically.
0:05:01 > 0:05:06You just pull the lever and this is where it came to, there was nothing at all that stopped it.
0:05:06 > 0:05:10Any waste, at all, throw it in the river.
0:05:10 > 0:05:15'Dave is part of a 25 year campaign dedicated to cleaning up the Mersey.
0:05:15 > 0:05:18'In fact, he's now so confident of its success,
0:05:18 > 0:05:23'he's invited me to join him in one of his favourite sporting pastimes.'
0:05:23 > 0:05:25It doesn't look sort of sparkling, does it?
0:05:25 > 0:05:28It's not your Mediterranean, I'll give you that!
0:05:28 > 0:05:30We're going for a swim.
0:05:30 > 0:05:35- How many times have you swum across this river Dave?- I've done it about nine or ten times now.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38- Right the way across? - Right the way across.
0:05:38 > 0:05:40- Rain or shine. - And how long does it take you?
0:05:40 > 0:05:47Between sort of 24 minutes, 40 minutes, depending on the tide and how rough it is.
0:05:47 > 0:05:50Even the best of swimmers can get swept up the river so to speak.
0:05:50 > 0:05:52Is it cold?
0:05:52 > 0:05:56It's cool. 15, 16 degrees maybe. I've got a special thermal cap for you.
0:05:56 > 0:06:03How marvellous! One part of my... one part of my body will be reasonably warm. What a good idea.
0:06:03 > 0:06:06Actually, the head is where you lose all the heat, don't you?
0:06:06 > 0:06:10- Honorary cap.- Thank you. I'm going to stick this on now.
0:06:10 > 0:06:14That means we can see you when you're drowning!
0:06:14 > 0:06:18Most people that you've swum with have made it OK, have they?
0:06:18 > 0:06:21There's a few that haven't. There's some that have to be taken out.
0:06:21 > 0:06:23Sometimes they get motion sickness.
0:06:23 > 0:06:26The sea's moving around and one thing and another,
0:06:26 > 0:06:29or the cold will get them, they'll take a little too long to get across.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32Really? And the cold gets them.
0:06:32 > 0:06:38- Got to put some Vaseline on just to stop things chafing and... - Just to stop things chafing.
0:06:40 > 0:06:44Five million people live in the catchment area.
0:06:44 > 0:06:47They used to throw their sewage into this river directly.
0:06:47 > 0:06:55But it's not just that, it's the bleach and the pesticides, persistent organic contaminants.
0:06:55 > 0:06:58There are things called endocrine disrupters,
0:06:58 > 0:07:01which come from plastics, which change the sex of fish.
0:07:01 > 0:07:0950 years ago, if you jumped into this river, you were basically jumping into a lake of poison
0:07:09 > 0:07:12and the only place you were going was to hospital.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17- Take me to the water!- Follow me.
0:07:17 > 0:07:22'All the way across means between Monks Ferry at Birkenhead and the Albert Dock.
0:07:22 > 0:07:24'That's just over a mile.
0:07:25 > 0:07:28'A powerful swell, water the colour of a dead rat,
0:07:28 > 0:07:34'and three safety boats only makes it even more terrifying.'
0:07:36 > 0:07:38Aargh!
0:07:39 > 0:07:41I'm trying...
0:07:41 > 0:07:43to get used...
0:07:43 > 0:07:45to this, um...
0:07:46 > 0:07:48..coldness.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51Some big ships coming down, aren't there?
0:07:54 > 0:08:01'We've got to get across before the tide turns and washes us out to sea like any other rubbish.
0:08:02 > 0:08:06'And as my body finally accepts the cold and lets me swim a little,
0:08:06 > 0:08:11'here comes another danger that Dave forgot to mention.
0:08:15 > 0:08:20'And it doesn't look like it's going to give way to pedestrians.'
0:08:20 > 0:08:25The first thing we encounter on our attempt to swim across the Mersey,
0:08:25 > 0:08:28is the biggest...
0:08:28 > 0:08:29- Yes?- ..tanker...
0:08:29 > 0:08:32I've ever seen!
0:08:33 > 0:08:39'Under instructions from the Harbour Master, it is unfortunately time to vacate the area.'
0:08:44 > 0:08:48We've had to give up. Very busy river.
0:08:48 > 0:08:50There are lots of things coming and going.
0:08:50 > 0:08:55Ferries, tankers, lifeboats, coastguard, cruise ships.
0:08:55 > 0:09:01It's a difficult thing to point out to them, "Look out, we're trying to swim across the Mersey."
0:09:02 > 0:09:04LAUGHTER
0:09:04 > 0:09:06Did you get a taste of the lovely Mersey?
0:09:06 > 0:09:10Yeah, yeah, yeah! I swallowed enough of it to get the idea. Yeuch!
0:09:10 > 0:09:15'I've had a close encounter with an interesting fact -
0:09:15 > 0:09:21'the docks may have moved away, but plenty of ships still use this river.
0:09:21 > 0:09:28'Liverpool was originally an important dock because the cargo boats couldn't get further inland.
0:09:28 > 0:09:30'The upper Mersey is shallow and treacherous.
0:09:30 > 0:09:36'Or it was, until they built a little detour called the Manchester Ship Canal.'
0:09:38 > 0:09:44The canal was built in order to be able to open a port in Manchester,
0:09:44 > 0:09:48because the river itself was totally unreliable
0:09:48 > 0:09:53for taking boats of this size, or in fact much smaller than this.
0:09:53 > 0:09:58And now things which are over 170 feet in length
0:09:58 > 0:10:02can easily get all the way to Manchester.
0:10:06 > 0:10:12'Completed in 1894, the canal is a highly efficient artificial river.
0:10:13 > 0:10:17'A stark contrast to the meandering, tidal Mersey at its side.
0:10:20 > 0:10:25'And it runs all the way to the old industrial heart of Manchester at Salford Quays.
0:10:28 > 0:10:33'Manchester, the world's first and principal industrial city,
0:10:33 > 0:10:39'owes its importance to a confluence of rivers and waterways,
0:10:39 > 0:10:43'although today's inhabitants may not be aware of their existence.'
0:10:46 > 0:10:52There are quite a lot of other rivers that run through Manchester than we actually see.
0:10:52 > 0:10:55Have you heard of the Croal?
0:10:55 > 0:10:57I've not heard of that one.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00- The Glaze? Have you heard of the Glaze?- No.- No? Heard of the Goyt?
0:11:00 > 0:11:03- No.- The Spodden? Have you heard of the Spodden?
0:11:03 > 0:11:05No, no.
0:11:05 > 0:11:09- Have you heard of the Etherow? - The who?- The Etherow.- No!
0:11:09 > 0:11:12'Where are they all? These rivers once built Manchester's wealth.
0:11:12 > 0:11:15'Rushing out of the nearby Pennines,
0:11:15 > 0:11:20'they drove the original wool and linen mills, and ushered in king cotton.'
0:11:20 > 0:11:24When that textile industry turned to another source of power,
0:11:24 > 0:11:29the steam engine and coal, then these rivers became redundant.
0:11:29 > 0:11:32They were tuned into sewers, drains, waste disposal ditches.
0:11:32 > 0:11:37In fact, the Irwell here grew by 5cm every year
0:11:37 > 0:11:41because of the amount of rubbish that was simply dumped in it.
0:11:41 > 0:11:46If I want to find out more about these rivers, I have to go where they went,
0:11:46 > 0:11:48which is underground.
0:11:50 > 0:11:53'Manchester's rivers are still at work.
0:11:53 > 0:11:56'They're kept flowing by the Environment Agency.
0:11:56 > 0:12:02'Mark Whittaker heads a specialist team which maintains 7,000 culverts and a multitude of confined spaces,
0:12:02 > 0:12:06'pump wells and chambers all across the north west.'
0:12:06 > 0:12:08- Hello, pleased to meet you. - I'm Mark Whittaker.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11Ah! I'm just looking around, this is extraordinary.
0:12:11 > 0:12:14This looks like we're involved in some major operation.
0:12:14 > 0:12:19We are because the space we're going to is classed as a high risk activity.
0:12:19 > 0:12:23'Moston Brook provides a valuable function as a flood overflow.
0:12:23 > 0:12:28'But it has also been contaminated by more dangerous industrial and sewer waste.
0:12:28 > 0:12:33'So I have to be put into a fully sealed dry suit.'
0:12:33 > 0:12:39- Oh, yes, I'm still a bit Michelin man, I've got air in my... - If you bend down...
0:12:41 > 0:12:47That was a very attractive experience. As I sat down, a great sort of rubbery fart came up.
0:12:57 > 0:13:03And already, look, we've got bicycle wheels, we've got every conceivable form of rubbish down here already.
0:13:03 > 0:13:05It stinks.
0:13:10 > 0:13:15'Not only is it pitch black, but the ground underfoot is treacherous,
0:13:15 > 0:13:18'with rocks, rubble and dangerous waste.
0:13:25 > 0:13:28'Underground is a world of chemical beauty.
0:13:28 > 0:13:33'The legacy of heavy industry above ground has leaked through the topsoil,
0:13:33 > 0:13:37'concentrating toxins here, in the darkness.'
0:13:51 > 0:13:55The water itself can be pretty hazardous, can it? There are bad diseases?
0:13:55 > 0:13:58There is a disease to watch, given by rats, called Weil's disease.
0:13:58 > 0:14:02That's a disease which simply comes from rats' urine, is it?
0:14:02 > 0:14:09Exactly. One of our colleagues got contaminated from Weil's disease and he was off work for four months.
0:14:09 > 0:14:11It's a serious disease and you can actually die from it.
0:14:11 > 0:14:15- If I were to fall over into this water, what should I do? - Stand up straight away.
0:14:15 > 0:14:19Any residues of water on your face, we need to leave straight away, get you washed off.
0:14:19 > 0:14:23Because there's a good chance it could get into your tear ducts, through your mouth, up your nose.
0:14:23 > 0:14:28- So you need to get out, get washed off.- I'd better keep my footing, hadn't I?
0:14:28 > 0:14:35'It looks strangely beautiful, but chemical deposits like this can poison and kill.
0:14:35 > 0:14:38'And crumbling them depletes the oxygen in the air.'
0:14:40 > 0:14:45- It's quite deep in here. Watch your feet.- Yeah.
0:14:50 > 0:14:52Yeah, I'm all right.
0:14:53 > 0:14:54Aah!
0:14:57 > 0:15:02- You got wet?- No, no. No, I haven't. - You all right?- Yeah, I'm all right.
0:15:02 > 0:15:07- Did you hurt yourself?- Not really, no, I don't think I've cut anything.
0:15:07 > 0:15:12- Just catch your breath. - I just tripped over on these footings under floor.
0:15:12 > 0:15:18The torch has gone, but, luckily, I think all this has held, just gone up my glove a bit.
0:15:18 > 0:15:20It's just impossible.
0:15:25 > 0:15:30'The difficult conditions sadly obscure the real wonder of these lost working rivers,
0:15:30 > 0:15:36'the legacy of the men who built them, the Victorian engineers.'
0:15:38 > 0:15:41- And what is this? - Well, this, Griff, is a sluice gate.
0:15:41 > 0:15:46So what happens is when we close that, the water builds up, cascades over the side,
0:15:46 > 0:15:50there's another 60 foot drop and the culvert carries on elsewhere.
0:15:50 > 0:15:52- 60 foot drop!- 60 foot drop.
0:15:52 > 0:15:55That looks like the hole of doom down there!
0:15:55 > 0:15:59And you go down just because things have gone down them and plugged them up?
0:15:59 > 0:16:04- Yes.- Your job here, you're like the sort of the guardians of the underworld for Manchester.
0:16:04 > 0:16:10We are, yes, it's what we get out of bed for in the mornings, it's a good job.
0:16:10 > 0:16:14Our 200-metre trip has taken over two hours.
0:16:14 > 0:16:18Luckily our journey back to the surface will be a bit quicker.
0:16:18 > 0:16:21OK, winch out!
0:16:21 > 0:16:23Now I'm going up...
0:16:24 > 0:16:27..in a rather straight forward way.
0:16:27 > 0:16:29Out, as it were, of the underworld.
0:16:30 > 0:16:33Leaving the smell,
0:16:33 > 0:16:34the flies,
0:16:34 > 0:16:39the gurgling water, and Mark behind.
0:16:39 > 0:16:42- Bye!- Bye-bye.
0:16:48 > 0:16:52'We may have hidden some rivers, turning them into a vision of Hades,
0:16:52 > 0:16:57'but we've created others which feel more like a garden of Eden.
0:17:00 > 0:17:05'Manchester is enveloped in a network of small canals.
0:17:05 > 0:17:11'Originally built in the 18th and 19th centuries as a cheap way to transport industrial goods,
0:17:11 > 0:17:18'they are working on, but today as a waterborne playground for boaty folk.'
0:17:18 > 0:17:25Two little ducks just squeezed through between the boats, taking their opportunity.
0:17:25 > 0:17:27Two tiny little ducks making their way through.
0:17:27 > 0:17:29Oh, there's one - whoops.
0:17:37 > 0:17:43Almost everything about this man-made network of rivers
0:17:43 > 0:17:47is utterly, utterly satisfying.
0:17:47 > 0:17:51I think it's partly because it is man-made, because you can still see
0:17:51 > 0:17:57the marks of the chisels on every block of stone that was put here.
0:17:57 > 0:18:02It was at the very beginning of the industrial age so the whole thing is
0:18:02 > 0:18:09an act of craftsmanship and I think partly because it has a sense of dignity
0:18:09 > 0:18:15and propriety and fitness for purpose that comes from the time it was built,
0:18:15 > 0:18:20the end of the 18th century. They built it to last.
0:18:21 > 0:18:27'In those days it was three times cheaper to transport goods by water than by land.
0:18:27 > 0:18:31'A madness for canal building swept the nation.
0:18:31 > 0:18:36'A little bit of that mania seems to remain, albeit in gentler form.
0:18:37 > 0:18:42'I'm hitching a lift with Chris Leah on this next leg of my trip.
0:18:42 > 0:18:45'He'll take me from the outskirts of Manchester
0:18:45 > 0:18:50'and out onto the Huddersfield Narrow Canal, as I head up towards the Pennines.'
0:18:50 > 0:18:55- If you pull that lever there... - Yeah, like that?- Yeah.
0:18:55 > 0:18:58..and rotate that in an anti-clockwise direction.
0:18:58 > 0:19:02Push your tiller over and give her a bit of revs.
0:19:02 > 0:19:05I've just realised I'm on the wrong side of my tiller here.
0:19:05 > 0:19:10- Yeah, don't do that.- Whoa. - The thing is to stay in the... - Stand in the step.
0:19:10 > 0:19:14That's it! And then you don't get pushed off by the tiller.
0:19:18 > 0:19:23'Chris's family skippered horse-drawn narrow boats in the 19th Century.
0:19:23 > 0:19:28'His boat, Forget Me Not, still works the canals, collecting scrap.'
0:19:28 > 0:19:33So, Chris, what sort of speed do you expect to move around the countryside in a narrow boat?
0:19:33 > 0:19:37- The speed limit is four miles an hour on most canals.- Is it?
0:19:37 > 0:19:41But on most canals you'd be lucky to reach four miles an hour.
0:19:41 > 0:19:45People think if they put more and more power on, they're going faster,
0:19:45 > 0:19:53and they're not. When people are making loads of wash, they're not going much faster than 3 mph.
0:19:59 > 0:20:04'The canal engineers, skippers and navvies worked at the cutting edge of technology.
0:20:04 > 0:20:11'4,500 miles of working waterways connected the great industrial centres of England.'
0:20:15 > 0:20:18All the way along here
0:20:18 > 0:20:21we've passed the remnants
0:20:21 > 0:20:24of an industrial complex,
0:20:24 > 0:20:28mill after mill after mill, all abandoned.
0:20:33 > 0:20:35Gosh!
0:20:35 > 0:20:38Look at that.
0:20:39 > 0:20:42Like a cork in a bottle.
0:20:43 > 0:20:47'At the height of the canal boom, no obstacle seemed too big.
0:20:47 > 0:20:50'To connect Manchester with West Yorkshire,
0:20:50 > 0:20:54'engineers drove the Huddersfield Narrow Canal straight through the Pennines.'
0:20:59 > 0:21:01Come on, hurry up!
0:21:02 > 0:21:05'So I could carry on by canal under the Pennines.
0:21:05 > 0:21:08'But I'm not going to take its tunnels and bridges,
0:21:08 > 0:21:14'instead I'm going to make a detour to see another way in which water has worked for man.'
0:21:15 > 0:21:19- Cheerio, then.- See ya! Have a good trip.- Thank you.
0:21:28 > 0:21:33Of course, water down there in a canal is a rather sluggish entity.
0:21:33 > 0:21:38If I want to encounter water as a living, powerful, working force,
0:21:38 > 0:21:40then I have to go up.
0:21:44 > 0:21:47'I'm going to leave the industrial northwest of England,
0:21:47 > 0:21:53'cross the Peaks and discover other ingenious ways in which rivers have been harnessed.
0:21:53 > 0:21:59'I'm looking for what Daniel Defoe called "a terrible river,
0:21:59 > 0:22:03' "a frightful creature when the hills load her current with water."
0:22:03 > 0:22:06'I'm looking for the River Derwent.
0:22:13 > 0:22:19'And it all starts in the mossy bogs of the mountain moors.'
0:22:22 > 0:22:28There we are! There's the Derwent, looking nicely furious today.
0:22:34 > 0:22:38The Derwent is only 50 miles long until it reaches the Trent
0:22:38 > 0:22:42and it's a gorgeous rural river celebrated in poems.
0:22:42 > 0:22:47'But it's been fully employed throughout its history.
0:22:48 > 0:22:55'16 miles further downstream sits the Duke of Devonshire's palatial home, Chatsworth House.
0:22:55 > 0:22:59'Even here, the river has to earn its keep.
0:23:00 > 0:23:06'For centuries, Chatsworth has had a very special working relationship with the Derwent
0:23:06 > 0:23:08'and the landscape that surrounds it.
0:23:11 > 0:23:17'I'm hoping to discover exactly how, as a guest of the duke and duchess.'
0:23:18 > 0:23:21- Welcome, very nice to see you. - Very nice to be here.
0:23:21 > 0:23:26'Yes, lovely, in fact, because I'll be sleeping in the Sabine Suite,
0:23:26 > 0:23:29'Chatsworth's version of the spare bedroom.'
0:23:39 > 0:23:45Fantastic is a word that I use far too often, but this is fantastical!
0:23:45 > 0:23:50It's the sort of room where I'm going to feel embarrassed to get undressed.
0:23:50 > 0:23:56I don't think my own naked body will live up to the naked bodies that I'm surrounded by,
0:23:56 > 0:23:59painted on all sides.
0:23:59 > 0:24:02And I have a terrific view.
0:24:06 > 0:24:07Look at that,
0:24:07 > 0:24:10there's the Derwent.
0:24:10 > 0:24:16And I'm walking from one mythical representation here in the room, painted mythology,
0:24:16 > 0:24:20to another mythological representation out in front of me,
0:24:20 > 0:24:23again a completely artificial creation.
0:24:25 > 0:24:30It just shows what God would do if only he had the money.
0:24:30 > 0:24:37With their wealth, the Chatsworth dukes could afford home improvements on the monumental scale.
0:24:39 > 0:24:43These are three pictures going this way of the development of the house
0:24:43 > 0:24:48and its relationship with the river because this bridge is not the bridge I crossed, that's gone.
0:24:48 > 0:24:52The river was completely different, much straighter and more of a ditch,
0:24:52 > 0:24:58and a working river with a big weir and a mill feeding into what were essentially the back gardens.
0:24:58 > 0:25:05And then along came Capability Brown and he cleared away all of the gardens in front of it.
0:25:05 > 0:25:10They moved the bridge right up to here, made it a more rustic affair,
0:25:10 > 0:25:17and they opened up the landscape to make it look more natural, but in fact it's artificial.
0:25:17 > 0:25:19The river was dammed in order to get wider
0:25:19 > 0:25:22and the course of the Derwent was shifted
0:25:22 > 0:25:25so that it looked...
0:25:25 > 0:25:29more...beautiful.
0:25:29 > 0:25:32And today, when they did a survey,
0:25:32 > 0:25:36they asked people what they most liked about Chatsworth,
0:25:36 > 0:25:40most people say that it's the setting in the landscape
0:25:40 > 0:25:46except that the landscape, which is made to look like natural river scenery,
0:25:46 > 0:25:49is in fact a fantasy river scenery.
0:25:52 > 0:25:56'Water is in fact central to Chatsworth.
0:25:56 > 0:25:59'Successive dukes have made great use of this liquid resource
0:25:59 > 0:26:03'that rolls off the moors and through their back garden.
0:26:03 > 0:26:08'Chatsworth even has its own spring which supplies the house and restaurants.
0:26:11 > 0:26:13'Both the Duke and myself drink a lot of the stuff.
0:26:13 > 0:26:17'We consider ourselves bottled water aficionados.
0:26:17 > 0:26:22'Now we're going to find out how much we really know.
0:26:25 > 0:26:31'Jonathan, our water sommelier, is going to test our geological palates.'
0:26:31 > 0:26:33Have a slurp of that.
0:26:33 > 0:26:36'On its journey from earth to surface,
0:26:36 > 0:26:41'spring water filters through bedrock, which helps give the water a flavour.'
0:26:41 > 0:26:44And then we've got our second water here.
0:26:49 > 0:26:52- Hard pressed to tell any difference. - As near as damn it identical.
0:26:52 > 0:26:56If you swapped them, I don't think I'd be able to tell the difference between them,
0:26:56 > 0:26:58but they're both very nice and wet.
0:26:58 > 0:27:00Well, I think that's a little...
0:27:00 > 0:27:05this is a rather weird idea, but I think that's a little flatter than that one.
0:27:05 > 0:27:11That is to say that first water we drank seems to me to be... tarter.
0:27:11 > 0:27:17First one was bottled near Balmoral. It comes through granite and the pH is quite low,
0:27:17 > 0:27:20which means it tastes quite acid, so you were absolutely right.
0:27:20 > 0:27:23The second one comes from just down the road from here, Buxton.
0:27:23 > 0:27:27There you're looking at a more alkaline water, so it tastes much less sharp.
0:27:27 > 0:27:30- That's come through limestone. - And this one's come through granite.
0:27:37 > 0:27:41That has an extremely strong chemical taste.
0:27:41 > 0:27:43That is pure H2O.
0:27:43 > 0:27:51It's for batteries and steam irons. This is water that they've stripped everything out of.
0:27:51 > 0:27:56Everyone says, "Ah, well, you know, all waters taste the same..."
0:27:56 > 0:27:58But if they didn't have something in them, they'd taste like this.
0:27:58 > 0:28:02I'd have to say that against all the odds I thought that was quite nice
0:28:02 > 0:28:06so I should put that on order at my wine merchants.
0:28:06 > 0:28:09I should say, "I'll have some of your finest sparkling water
0:28:09 > 0:28:16"and send up some top-up de-ionised water for steam irons and batteries, whilst you're at it, as well."
0:28:19 > 0:28:25'Chatsworth also boasts 27 baths, 55 wash-hand basins,
0:28:25 > 0:28:29'29 sinks, six wash-ups and 56 lavatories,
0:28:29 > 0:28:34'which, after a day's water tasting, is a useful statistic.'
0:28:34 > 0:28:37One of the most demanding and mystifying elements
0:28:37 > 0:28:42of any visit to a country house is undoubtedly the plumbing.
0:28:42 > 0:28:46In this case, earlier, when I used the loo,
0:28:46 > 0:28:50I found the business of flushing it extremely complicated indeed.
0:28:50 > 0:28:55I worked out that this was the handle that releases what I need.
0:28:55 > 0:28:57TOILET DOESN'T FLUSH
0:28:57 > 0:28:58But...
0:29:00 > 0:29:03RUMBLING
0:29:03 > 0:29:05TOILET FLUSHES
0:29:09 > 0:29:11Dramatic, isn't it?
0:29:11 > 0:29:16And that's because... that water is coming...
0:29:16 > 0:29:22from about five miles away... on the east moor,
0:29:22 > 0:29:27and the process that it comes here is one of the miracles of Chatsworth.
0:29:30 > 0:29:34And tomorrow, I'm going to go and see how it works.
0:29:46 > 0:29:52'The source of Chatsworth's spring water is a sandstone ridge high above the house.
0:29:52 > 0:29:57'Here, three great lakes store water which is put to ingenious uses.'
0:29:57 > 0:30:01All the water is used several times on its journey
0:30:01 > 0:30:03from here to the river.
0:30:03 > 0:30:06'The biggest of these lakes is called the Emperor,'
0:30:06 > 0:30:11built by the 19th century master architect, Joseph Paxton.
0:30:11 > 0:30:16There are six fountains at Chatsworth, but the eight-acre Emperor Lake
0:30:16 > 0:30:18feeds the daddy of them all -
0:30:18 > 0:30:23what was once the highest fountain in the world, powered purely by gravity.
0:30:23 > 0:30:26How high up are we here?
0:30:26 > 0:30:31381 feet above the actual canal pond where
0:30:31 > 0:30:33the Emperor fountain sits.
0:30:33 > 0:30:36- The pressure from this lake shoots down that pipe.- For half a mile.
0:30:36 > 0:30:40It emerges through a four-inch jet.
0:30:40 > 0:30:43How high does it pressurise the fountain to go?
0:30:43 > 0:30:46267 feet in height, which is 81 metres.
0:30:46 > 0:30:50The spray from it drifts about half a mile.
0:30:50 > 0:30:53It drenches everybody so we've got to be really careful
0:30:53 > 0:30:56whenever we have it on full that visitors don't get drenched.
0:30:56 > 0:31:01Oh, of course! That's one of the things they come here for, if not to be drenched!
0:31:02 > 0:31:06- This here, that's the flow from the lake we've just been at.- Yeah.
0:31:06 > 0:31:10And this is the magic sluice that opens to take it down the hill.
0:31:10 > 0:31:14- Come on, Griff.- So I've got to get hold of this, have I?
0:31:14 > 0:31:17Oh, I see. Oh, my God, I can't get...
0:31:17 > 0:31:20HE GRUNTS
0:31:24 > 0:31:26- That's it.- OK, come on.
0:31:26 > 0:31:29We've got to run down and see it.
0:31:30 > 0:31:32Paxton started work in 1843.
0:31:34 > 0:31:35This is it coming in now.
0:31:35 > 0:31:38- Are we going to be able to chase it? - Yes, let's go.
0:31:38 > 0:31:43'It seems the duke wanted something more splendid than his waterfall.
0:31:50 > 0:31:55'He wanted something more picturesque than his classical aqueduct.'
0:31:55 > 0:31:57And the water's going to tip... Whoa!
0:32:06 > 0:32:10He even wanted to outshine his baroque cascade.
0:32:17 > 0:32:21In fact, he wanted something so impressive,
0:32:21 > 0:32:26it would drive Tsar Nicholas I of Russia mad with jealousy.
0:32:27 > 0:32:31Each bay is a different length to give this illusion of a babbling brook.
0:32:31 > 0:32:34'Sadly, the Tsar never got to see it.
0:32:34 > 0:32:38'I, on the other hand, one-and-a-half centuries later, get to turn on
0:32:38 > 0:32:40'this marvellous garden ornament.'
0:32:40 > 0:32:45Whoa, whoa. Yes, it is, er... I can hear something.
0:32:45 > 0:32:47HISSING
0:32:54 > 0:32:56Thar she blows!
0:33:11 > 0:33:15Look at that! That is spectacular.
0:33:15 > 0:33:21Paxton made the gardens at Chatsworth the most famous in England,
0:33:21 > 0:33:26by using water and gravity to create pressure.
0:33:26 > 0:33:31This is something the humble miller had been doing for hundreds of years already.
0:33:33 > 0:33:38The 11th century Doomsday Book recorded 5,500 water mills in England.
0:33:38 > 0:33:41That's one mill for every 300 people.
0:33:43 > 0:33:48Just like Paxton's lake, millers built ponds and leats
0:33:48 > 0:33:53with sluice gates, to channel river water and then drop it with the maximum power.
0:33:55 > 0:33:58Now here we are, this is a classic leat.
0:33:58 > 0:34:02It's a tiny channel, seems such a small amount of water,
0:34:02 > 0:34:05but in fact there's a massive amount backed up there
0:34:05 > 0:34:09in order to be led through to service one mill.
0:34:09 > 0:34:13And that mill's been working here for 700 years.
0:34:14 > 0:34:19Stainsby is one of the few working mills left in the country today.
0:34:22 > 0:34:27So there's the big wheel turning by the weight of water, more than anything,
0:34:27 > 0:34:30which is turning that great big wheel there.
0:34:30 > 0:34:34And that is now being transferred, that slow progress,
0:34:34 > 0:34:40to a cog which is whirring around there and turning an axle.
0:34:40 > 0:34:45So, look at this, this is the definition of sustainable power from the water.
0:34:45 > 0:34:51It's turning these massive cogs here, that's being transferred
0:34:51 > 0:34:57to this little cog here, and then taken upstairs, where it's going to be put to use.
0:35:00 > 0:35:04Now, that power is transferred up here
0:35:04 > 0:35:08and used to drive these mill stones here, hugely heavy things,
0:35:08 > 0:35:12but actually, that's not the only thing the power is used for.
0:35:12 > 0:35:17It's a sort of engine that drives other things in the mill.
0:35:17 > 0:35:20And if we're going to make flour, we need some grain.
0:35:22 > 0:35:29'This mill is now run by volunteers, and Mack is going to show me the ropes - or should I say, chains.'
0:35:29 > 0:35:32Here we go, Mack, there's my bag of grain. Where's it going now?
0:35:32 > 0:35:36It's going through these trap doors to the bin floor, the top floor.
0:35:36 > 0:35:39- How are we going to do that?- We're going to haul it up on this chain.
0:35:39 > 0:35:41- Right-o.- Pull this cord,
0:35:41 > 0:35:44transfer power from the water wheel to a chain drum on the top floor
0:35:44 > 0:35:48and that will haul this sack up through the floors to the bin floor.
0:35:48 > 0:35:53And the reason that mills are often so tall
0:35:53 > 0:35:57is because they essentially use the system
0:35:57 > 0:36:00of starting the product at the top, as it were,
0:36:00 > 0:36:03- and working its way back down. - Gravity feeds all the systems,
0:36:03 > 0:36:05to the ground floor again. It's gone through.
0:36:05 > 0:36:09Oh, I see! So what you do, it opens the hatch automatically
0:36:09 > 0:36:12and then it can sit back down on that hatch.
0:36:12 > 0:36:14Yes, that's what a trap door does, it traps it above.
0:36:14 > 0:36:18So the sack can't fall down on top of our heads again.
0:36:18 > 0:36:20- That's right.- And it's been trapped!
0:36:20 > 0:36:23- Correct.- By a trap door!- Exactly.
0:36:23 > 0:36:27- That's why it's called a trap door! - Yes, exactly.- I never knew that before, that's terrific!
0:36:27 > 0:36:31'Having hauled the sack up to the top floor by water power,
0:36:31 > 0:36:35'it's then the turn of gravity to send it back down to the hopper.'
0:36:48 > 0:36:49So, Mack, here's our grain.
0:36:49 > 0:36:52That's right, it's come down the sleeve from above.
0:36:52 > 0:36:57You actually need grain in these stones all the time.
0:36:57 > 0:37:02Always. The stones are dressed with a pattern called a harp
0:37:02 > 0:37:06which carries the grain from the eye to the rim, milling it all the time.
0:37:06 > 0:37:09- It's literally shooting it out bit by bit.- Yes.
0:37:09 > 0:37:12Here is the flour.
0:37:13 > 0:37:15At the birth of the industrial revolution,
0:37:15 > 0:37:20the first factory owners recognised the potential of the water wheel
0:37:20 > 0:37:25and they put it to good use, powering spinning machines in cotton mills.
0:37:25 > 0:37:29They changed the course of the water and of history.
0:37:29 > 0:37:35And it happened here on the banks of the Derwent, ten miles south of Chatsworth, at Cromford.
0:37:35 > 0:37:38# ..builded here
0:37:38 > 0:37:47# Among those dark Satanic mills. #
0:37:47 > 0:37:49When William Blake wrote those words,
0:37:49 > 0:37:55the dark satanic mills he was talking about were water mills,
0:37:55 > 0:38:00and by the end of the century there were 30 cotton mills
0:38:00 > 0:38:04powered by water along this stretch of the valley,
0:38:04 > 0:38:08and the industrial revolution was off.
0:38:12 > 0:38:17Richard Arkwright's cotton mill was just the first wave of mechanisation,
0:38:17 > 0:38:22bursting free of this valley, out across Britain and then the world.
0:38:24 > 0:38:27I'm leaving the Derwent
0:38:27 > 0:38:32to continue my journey along another working river - the Trent.
0:38:33 > 0:38:37The two rivers converge near the town of Shardlow,
0:38:37 > 0:38:42where the Trent gathers size to flow towards my ultimate destination,
0:38:42 > 0:38:43the Humber estuary.
0:38:43 > 0:38:48But first, I'm taking a small detour a few miles up river.
0:39:06 > 0:39:08And now we're on the mighty Trent.
0:39:08 > 0:39:15This is the third longest river in Britain.
0:39:15 > 0:39:18It takes a great sweep
0:39:18 > 0:39:21across the top of England.
0:39:21 > 0:39:28The River Trent really was a massive barrier, and for a hundred years, in the Middle Ages,
0:39:28 > 0:39:33this side of the river was known as citra Trent and that side was known as ultra Trent.
0:39:33 > 0:39:39That side was THIS side of the Trent and the other side was known as the OTHER side.
0:39:39 > 0:39:43Well, I'm going to try and cross now from the other side.
0:39:43 > 0:39:45And I believe
0:39:45 > 0:39:49I'm going to do it by an extremely dangerous method.
0:39:51 > 0:39:58Swarkestone Bridge and its medieval causeway is an extraordinary piece of engineering.
0:39:58 > 0:40:02It has been one of the main routes across the Trent since the 13th century.
0:40:02 > 0:40:06First it snakes its way three quarters of a mile on land,
0:40:06 > 0:40:11across the Trent's boggy flood plain, before finally bridging the river itself.
0:40:11 > 0:40:15I'm going to try to do what people for seven centuries have done,
0:40:15 > 0:40:21and simply walk the footpath along the bridge.
0:40:21 > 0:40:26But it's not as easy as it sounds, and I've enlisted some local assistance.
0:40:26 > 0:40:29They are going to give me some modern pilgrims' protection.
0:40:29 > 0:40:32You'll need to wear one of those for safety's sake.
0:40:32 > 0:40:34There's quite a lot of traffic.
0:40:34 > 0:40:39It is taking in excess of 20,000 vehicles a day.
0:40:39 > 0:40:42It's like the Great Wall of China stretching away there.
0:40:42 > 0:40:45It's a grade-one listed building, it's a scheduled ancient monument
0:40:45 > 0:40:51and if somebody time-travelled from the 14th century, they would recognise it instantly.
0:40:51 > 0:40:55Medieval bridges are amongst our most important national monuments.
0:40:55 > 0:41:00But, unlike other heritage treasures, they still have a hard job to do.
0:41:00 > 0:41:05- It's not a pavement - it's more like a ledge, isn't it?- Yeah.
0:41:05 > 0:41:10- Oops!- It's the wing mirrors you've got to watch for.- Yes, I know!
0:41:13 > 0:41:16- We're lucky to have survived so far. - We are indeed.
0:41:16 > 0:41:20Aaah! Look out, there's one coming at us at 100 miles an hour.
0:41:20 > 0:41:21Yes, look at that.
0:41:21 > 0:41:25He looks as if he's going to do us damage. Gracious!
0:41:25 > 0:41:28This is obviously the scene of some former accident.
0:41:28 > 0:41:31'People like Barbara think we are asking the bridge to do too much.
0:41:31 > 0:41:36'She's campaigning to preserve Swarkstone before it gets bashed down altogether.'
0:41:42 > 0:41:45- Oh, look out for this one! Whoa! - Whoa!
0:41:47 > 0:41:52I feel any moment I'm going to topple into the road. Meet my doom.
0:41:52 > 0:41:56'The fabric is in a poor state in places and needs constant maintenance.'
0:41:56 > 0:42:00Here, there's obviously restoration work going on - so there is SOME restoration work.
0:42:00 > 0:42:02Oh, yes.
0:42:02 > 0:42:05Not before time.
0:42:05 > 0:42:11Swarkstone has outlived the Black Death, Bonnie Prince Charlie and two world wars.
0:42:11 > 0:42:17The Historic Buildings Officer for Derbyshire Council thinks the old warrior may be flagging.
0:42:17 > 0:42:23- We are putting quite a lot of trust in medieval stonemasons here, aren't we?- Indeed, indeed we are.
0:42:23 > 0:42:26Some of it, I think, is not going to stay together for much longer.
0:42:26 > 0:42:29It's unique in England, it's the longest causeway
0:42:29 > 0:42:33of its type in England, and it's been here for 700 years.
0:42:33 > 0:42:35It's got to be absolutely priceless in those terms.
0:42:35 > 0:42:38Maybe you should re-introduce the idea, cos when they built
0:42:38 > 0:42:42this bridge, the ownership of this bridge was quite a lucrative thing.
0:42:42 > 0:42:47Oh, yes, taking tolls. 50 pence for every car that's crossing here now, we'd take in quite a lot of money.
0:42:47 > 0:42:51Just this afternoon would probably pay for this section of wall to be repaired.
0:42:51 > 0:42:53I'll put it to the bosses!
0:42:53 > 0:42:56On the hill, overlooking the causeway,
0:42:56 > 0:43:00I walk straight up another aspect of the medieval transport system.
0:43:00 > 0:43:03This is an original...
0:43:03 > 0:43:08medieval trackway leading away from the bridge.
0:43:08 > 0:43:13And it shows us how rivers effectively...
0:43:13 > 0:43:17influenced not just river transport, but also road transport,
0:43:17 > 0:43:22because, as you can see, it heads straight away from the bridge
0:43:22 > 0:43:26up towards the high ground.
0:43:26 > 0:43:33Most major medieval roads went upwards as quickly as they could, to where they were well drained
0:43:33 > 0:43:39and safer for travellers than boggy, overgrown low roads liable to flooding.
0:43:39 > 0:43:44Which is why I am, perhaps, now walking on the original "high way".
0:43:46 > 0:43:51And from up here, I get an excellent view down the valley.
0:43:51 > 0:43:53Swarkestone Causeway
0:43:53 > 0:43:58crosses a great flood plain carved at the end of the Ice Age,
0:43:58 > 0:44:03when the Trent was a vast and rambling river of meltwater.
0:44:03 > 0:44:09It carried huge amounts of sediment, which today we quarry as gravel.
0:44:09 > 0:44:14That's why gravel pits can be found all along this river plain.
0:44:14 > 0:44:19These pits have become home to a very particular kind of monster.
0:44:19 > 0:44:25'And now I'm after the biggest freshwater fish in Britain.'
0:44:25 > 0:44:29- Hello, Jonny. - Hello!- Hello, how are you?
0:44:29 > 0:44:30- How you doing, Griff? - I'm all right, mate.
0:44:30 > 0:44:33- Nice to see you.- And you.- Good stuff.
0:44:33 > 0:44:38I'm joining a company of determined men for whom the elusive carp is the greatest prize of all.
0:44:38 > 0:44:43Landing it can become a little bit of an obsession.
0:44:43 > 0:44:46It's a giant fish pond, is it?
0:44:46 > 0:44:51It's more than a fish pond. It's a very natural environment out there.
0:44:51 > 0:44:55You would think it's stocked with fish, the owners look after it,
0:44:55 > 0:44:59you would think it was very easy to catch. But you could be on here for weeks and weeks
0:44:59 > 0:45:00without catching anything.
0:45:00 > 0:45:05A few years ago, I did 300 nights in one year, trying to catch one fish.
0:45:05 > 0:45:07Really? Did you catch others on the way?
0:45:07 > 0:45:10Um, I caught about three, so...
0:45:10 > 0:45:14- That's a lot of dedication for one fish.- No, it's madness.
0:45:14 > 0:45:17'Luckily, I may have access to a secret weapon.
0:45:18 > 0:45:22'It's a gourmet chef for carp.
0:45:22 > 0:45:29'Jonny's mate, Gary, makes a fishy delicacy known as a "boilie" to try and get the edge.
0:45:29 > 0:45:31This is Griff, Gary.
0:45:31 > 0:45:33I won't shake hands!
0:45:33 > 0:45:37What you've created is something so strong tasting, they can barely resist it.
0:45:37 > 0:45:43Yeah. We've got eggs, we've got flavours which give the smell and the promise of food.
0:45:43 > 0:45:46There's an intense sweetener to improve the taste,
0:45:46 > 0:45:49like salt improves the taste of fish and chips.
0:45:49 > 0:45:55There's a really creamy flavour, there's a liver flavour.
0:45:55 > 0:46:00And in cooked maize, a vitamin and mineral supplement added,
0:46:00 > 0:46:04into that, also I'm putting what is a bird-food conditioner.
0:46:04 > 0:46:06Makes your canaries shine brighter.
0:46:06 > 0:46:10- Does it?- Yeah. And then we've got the food source itself,
0:46:10 > 0:46:14which is a reasonably complicated mixture of powders and additives.
0:46:14 > 0:46:18And what does boiling do, then? They like cooked food?
0:46:18 > 0:46:23Yeah, oh, yeah. The better the food you give 'em, the more likely you are of them eating it.
0:46:23 > 0:46:29It's just such a funny idea that you go to all this trouble to cook food for a fish!
0:46:29 > 0:46:33They actually taste better than something that Delia Smith might have made.
0:46:33 > 0:46:36I'll take your... Go on, give me that then.
0:46:42 > 0:46:45They're not offensive at all, are they?
0:46:46 > 0:46:48No.
0:46:48 > 0:46:53'The boilie has to reach the carp via a hollow throwing stick.'
0:46:54 > 0:46:56Oh, there it goes - oh, wow!
0:46:56 > 0:46:59It's just like throwing but you don't let go.
0:47:00 > 0:47:02HE LAUGHS
0:47:02 > 0:47:07'Carp apparently also like peaches, bananas...'
0:47:07 > 0:47:11- Hup! There!- Yeah! There you go.
0:47:11 > 0:47:12'..and curry.'
0:47:12 > 0:47:15If you do the 100 metres, you always want to run quicker.
0:47:15 > 0:47:19With fish, you catch a tench, it might be five or six pound,
0:47:19 > 0:47:25then you see a carp that's 20 or 30 pounds. You think, "You know, I really would like to catch that."
0:47:59 > 0:48:02Maybe we're fishing in the wrong place.
0:48:02 > 0:48:08There's a picture here of the last sturgeon recorded on the Trent,
0:48:08 > 0:48:13caught in 1902, and it weighed 250 lbs.
0:48:15 > 0:48:19So it makes these carp absolutely tiddlers.
0:48:19 > 0:48:23Shows the size of fish they used to catch in the river!
0:48:32 > 0:48:35It's hardly surprising, given that it take 300 nights, on average,
0:48:35 > 0:48:39to catch one of these things, that I'm leaving empty-handed.
0:48:39 > 0:48:43We launched huge quantities of scrumptious boilies
0:48:43 > 0:48:48in their direction but the denizens of this particular gravel pit
0:48:48 > 0:48:51stayed exactly where they were.
0:48:51 > 0:48:53'Alas, I can't do the same.'
0:48:54 > 0:48:58I've got an appointment with some gravel.
0:48:58 > 0:49:03At Besthorpe pit, just up the road from the carp fishery, they are still excavating.
0:49:03 > 0:49:09A half-mile conveyor belt loads gravel into barges for transportation down the Trent.
0:49:13 > 0:49:16Each barge can carry up to 400 tonnes,
0:49:16 > 0:49:20the equivalent capacity of 16 lorries.
0:49:20 > 0:49:26Skipper Ian and crewmate Alan are taking this cargo up to Castlefield in South Yorkshire,
0:49:26 > 0:49:29and they've offered to give me a lift as far as the Humber -
0:49:29 > 0:49:32my final stage.
0:49:37 > 0:49:41I'm starting as...sea-going or barge-going apprentices start.
0:49:41 > 0:49:43I'm starting by sweeping the decks.
0:49:51 > 0:49:54Griff! You missed a bit here!
0:49:59 > 0:50:04Heading north towards the Humber, the Trent seems to reflect its hard-working life.
0:50:04 > 0:50:08This is a bare and functional river.
0:50:08 > 0:50:13Coal was once a major freight. There was so much electricity generated
0:50:13 > 0:50:18on this stretch of water, it used to be known as Megawatt Valley.
0:50:22 > 0:50:25Fantastic sight, the cooling towers.
0:50:25 > 0:50:28That's a redundant power station now,
0:50:28 > 0:50:32but power stations were always built by rivers or near water
0:50:32 > 0:50:38because they guzzle up the most extraordinary quantity of water
0:50:38 > 0:50:40to cool their operations.
0:50:54 > 0:50:59Apart from the gravel barges, there's little commercial traffic left.
0:51:14 > 0:51:20Ships become more frequent only as we emerge into the estuary at Trent Falls.
0:51:23 > 0:51:28To our left is the River Ouse, and to the right, the mighty Humber.
0:51:34 > 0:51:37Hull, the principle port on this estuary,
0:51:37 > 0:51:39will be my final destination.
0:51:39 > 0:51:44The first port I encounter, Liverpool, once dominated Atlantic commerce.
0:51:44 > 0:51:47At the end of my trip, Hull, facing the other way,
0:51:47 > 0:51:51has historically served the trade to northern Europe.
0:51:51 > 0:51:56Before I get there, I must pass under 2km of flying roadway.
0:51:56 > 0:52:02The Humber Bridge is the only link between the East Riding of Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire.
0:52:02 > 0:52:07Over 100 years of wrangling were needed to create this arc of magnificence,
0:52:07 > 0:52:13involving 480,000 tonnes of concrete and uncountable other statistics.
0:52:13 > 0:52:16And seeing as I've walked Swarkestone...
0:52:32 > 0:52:35The pylons here are further apart at the top
0:52:35 > 0:52:40than they are at the bottom because of the curvature of the earth.
0:52:40 > 0:52:42The bridge is constantly on the move.
0:52:42 > 0:52:47In high winds, it bends more than three metres in the middle.
0:52:47 > 0:52:50The whole bridge weighs about half a million tonnes.
0:52:50 > 0:52:54That's about the same as the weight of seven million people.
0:52:54 > 0:53:00That's about the population of Switzerland, as long as the population of Switzerland
0:53:00 > 0:53:05don't eat too much cheese and chocolate and go for a 2km run every day.
0:53:06 > 0:53:10100,000 vehicles use the bridge each week.
0:53:13 > 0:53:20This place was going to cost 28 million when it was built in 1981,
0:53:20 > 0:53:23which rose to 98 million before they finished,
0:53:23 > 0:53:27and 151 million before they finally opened it!
0:53:27 > 0:53:29And in fact, they've now estimated
0:53:29 > 0:53:35they're going to finish paying for it in 2032!
0:53:37 > 0:53:42These great waterways only seem to get busy at all at these bridges.
0:53:42 > 0:53:46Roads now do the work in Britain.
0:53:46 > 0:53:50And like so much on the river, even this symbol of modernity
0:53:50 > 0:53:54is scheduled to become redundant in about 100 years' time.
0:53:57 > 0:54:01Luckily, some things are eternal.
0:54:03 > 0:54:05Under the shadow of the bridge,
0:54:05 > 0:54:09just as they have done for thousands of years,
0:54:09 > 0:54:11they're making wooden boats.
0:54:12 > 0:54:15- Hello, Joe.- Hello.
0:54:15 > 0:54:20'Wooden boats are unique as they can be restored piece by piece.
0:54:20 > 0:54:24'Joe Irving brings old boats back to new life.'
0:54:24 > 0:54:27So it used to be that all boats were built of wood...
0:54:27 > 0:54:30There was a yard in every creek in Humber...
0:54:30 > 0:54:32years ago.
0:54:32 > 0:54:36Building barges and what have you, trading vessels, fishing boats.
0:54:36 > 0:54:40I mean, Hull was one of the biggest ports around.
0:54:40 > 0:54:44Are you the last of a dying breed, then, on the Humber?
0:54:44 > 0:54:48There's a few boat builders around, um, but not many.
0:55:01 > 0:55:05This is like those Airfix kits I used to do when I was a kid,
0:55:05 > 0:55:09- only even more mad cos you're making the bits yourself.- Yeah.
0:55:09 > 0:55:12If everything goes well, I can make two planks and get them on in a week.
0:55:12 > 0:55:15Two planks a week, that's a year's work.
0:55:15 > 0:55:17Well, a little bit less, yeah.
0:55:21 > 0:55:24Joe treats every boat with painstaking reverence.
0:55:24 > 0:55:28But there's one restoration he's particularly proud of.
0:55:30 > 0:55:32Gentlemen, good afternoon.
0:55:32 > 0:55:39'This exquisite sleek beauty won gold in the 1920 Olympics.
0:55:39 > 0:55:45'And I've been invited to help sail her down the estuary to Hull, to complete my journey.'
0:55:45 > 0:55:48You can smell the sea, it's fantastic.
0:55:48 > 0:55:51Yorkshire, Lincolnshire...
0:55:51 > 0:55:54and between them, the Humber,
0:55:54 > 0:56:00which takes a fifth of the water of England out to sea.
0:56:02 > 0:56:04Two-and-a-half metres of depth.
0:56:04 > 0:56:09We're going to put the mainsail up in just a minute, but we can't do that
0:56:09 > 0:56:14until we get enough water underneath us - there's a vast sandbank running down over here.
0:56:14 > 0:56:21'Just like heading into the Mersey estuary, heading out on the Humber is all about catching the tide.'
0:56:21 > 0:56:23Go! go!
0:56:29 > 0:56:32We've got the main up, we've got to get the foresails up,
0:56:32 > 0:56:36we've got two to play with here, which will give us extra power.
0:56:36 > 0:56:39And the Humber Bridge is approaching at great speed.
0:56:39 > 0:56:42In her day, Ierne was the fastest yacht in her class,
0:56:42 > 0:56:46and after 18 months' loving restoration by Joe...
0:56:46 > 0:56:48Ooh, whoa!
0:56:48 > 0:56:51..she sails like a medal winner once again.
0:56:51 > 0:56:54Well, there we are, after chugging up the Mersey,
0:56:54 > 0:56:57going underground in Manchester,
0:56:57 > 0:57:00descending through the Derwent,
0:57:00 > 0:57:02and sort of slinking along the Trent,
0:57:02 > 0:57:07I'm finally on the Humber, making my way, sluicing down to Hull.
0:57:09 > 0:57:13We've made all these rivers work for us in a multitude of ways.
0:57:13 > 0:57:16We've used them as drains, we've built over them,
0:57:16 > 0:57:20we've tapped them for power, for transport and for recreation.
0:57:20 > 0:57:23We've conquered them by building bridges.
0:57:23 > 0:57:27We've even created working rivers of our own.
0:57:27 > 0:57:32In the past 300 years, we've harnessed rivers to revolutionise our world,
0:57:32 > 0:57:35but we've depended on them since the dawn of time.
0:57:35 > 0:57:41In fact, they've been so important, their names reach right back to the roots of our language.
0:57:44 > 0:57:49The Humber is called the Humber after a word "Humbre",
0:57:49 > 0:57:54which is so far back in time that it's aboriginal.
0:57:54 > 0:57:58They don't know whether it's Celtic or Saxon or whatever.
0:57:58 > 0:58:02It dates right back to the first men in their little wooden boats.
0:58:02 > 0:58:05Humbre. Do you know what that means?
0:58:06 > 0:58:08River.
0:58:42 > 0:58:44Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd