Northamptonshire Countryfile

In Northamptonshire, spring is tentatively in the air.

The countryside is preparing to burst into life with birds,

bees and, in these parts, boats.

Thank you.

-Bye-bye.

-See you.

This is the Grand Union Canal

and it's Britain's longest,

connecting London, down there,

to Birmingham, in that direction.

Now, they say that if you want a bit of peace and quiet,

there's no faster way to slow down.

But it didn't always use to be like that.

The waterways do a job of work.

These are the boats and the cargoes they carry

and the people of the boats.

Born in the 18th century, our canals were the motorways of their time.

Envied by the rest of the world, these waterways were the arteries

that allowed industry to flow.

Money and resources were pumped around the nation and suddenly,

the countryside was connected to cities like never before.

Nowadays, there's a slower pace to these watery roads.

Every year, millions of us

come to places like this to mess about on the water.

But who keeps it all looking shipshape?

Well, that's the job of the canal maintenance army

and these lads are part of it.

-Wow, you look like you're ready to do battle.

-We are.

-We are!

-How are you doing? Are you all right? Good to see you.

-Hi.

It's going to be a tight squeeze, this.

I think you're in. Just.

Right across the country, there are nearly 1,500 people

who prettify and fortify every inch of the canal network.

Come on, we've got some late arrivals. Are you coming in? Yeah.

DUCKS QUACK

Room for a small one?

Geoff, Alex, well done.

-Hello, Matt, how are you doing?

-Very well.

I tell you what,

you look like you're ready for some kind of extreme action!

-What's happening?

-Well, we're going to jet wash the gates today.

-Jet wash? OK.

-Jet wash them.

-Right.

Not really sure if this is big enough.

As you might have guessed from the snazzy outfit,

this isn't your normal jet washing assignment.

Today's mission is to clean up the lock gates,

and it's a family affair.

-So this is a father and son team, then?

-Yes, yeah.

How did your dad rope you into this line of work?

Well, Dad's worked here for 40 years.

-He's retiring at the end of April.

-Yeah?

-And how do you feel about that, then, Geoff?

-Er, happy and sad.

Happy because I'm retiring, I can spend a bit of time with the wife.

-Yeah.

-Or a lot of time with the wife!

But I'm sad because I'm leaving a job that I've done for so long

and a good bunch of people.

You won't find better people than a waterways chap.

How has it been over the years, working closely with your dad?

It's been all right, actually.

Yeah, a lot of people say, "I couldn't do it."

-But we're all right, aren't we?

-I hope so. We lasted 40 years.

A lot of people don't know he's actually my boss.

-Really?

-Really, yes. He's the foreman. The old foreman.

We weren't going to mention that.

You must be proud of him. You're proud, aren't you?

Definitely. I hope, well, I know he'll carry on in a good tradition.

I was born in a canal house and brought up in a canal house

so it was natural for me to want to work here.

Well, let's get on with today's work, because we've got, I mean,

basically we're clearing these gates which are in a bit of a state.

We try and keep them clean

and get rid of all the slime and the weed that grows on it

so that we can get as much life as we can out of them

because they cost around £25,000-£30,000 just to buy them

and then we've got the cost of fitting them

so we try and get as much value for money as we can out of them.

Right, have you got a scraper handy?

-Matt?

-Yeah? Missed a little bit just there, mate.

HE LAUGHS

Oh, look at that.

Lots of lovely sludgy stuff coming off there.

I have to admit, I'm quite excited about this. Sad as it sounds...

I got a jet wash for Christmas.

Some of that sludge is hard to shift and bear in mind,

this is just one gate of the many locks along this canal.

It makes you appreciate the time

and energy that goes into looking after our waterways.

Good effort, lads.

While I'm messing about on canal boats in Northamptonshire,

Jules is over in Bristol,

delving into the history of the docks.

Not only is Bristol one of my favourite places,

but naval history is one of my real passions.

The story here begins 1,000 years ago.

A sheltered harbour, accessible on the flowing tide.

The landscape here was ideal for a port.

By the 14th century it was the second most important port in Britain,

exporting red wool and fabrics to France

and importing meat and crops from Ireland.

In 1497, a ship just like this one called the Matthew set sail.

Its aim - to find a new route to the Far East and tap into

the lucrative spice trade. But something got in the way...America.

But the spice trade took a back seat for a new

and more profitable commodity...

people.

Goods were shipped to Africa,

captive Africans were taken to the Caribbean and rum, sugar and cotton

brought back here to the UK.

By the time slavery was abolished,

Bristol was building some of the finest ships in the world,

not least this one, Brunel's SS Great Britain.

Throughout the 20th century, millions of tonnes of goods passed

through these docks, but sadly, it wasn't to last.

In 1975, the last trading vessel finally left Bristol.

The age of industry in this harbour had ended, but there's one business

that's still keeping busy.

Right, well, welcome, Jules, to Albion Dockyard.

We are the last commercial shipbuilders in Bristol.

I'll show you our main project in a minute,

but if you want to have a go, you'll be needing some of these.

I wondered what you were doing with these.

-They won't be white for very long.

-No, they won't.

Andy Sumrall and his team are restoring the Medway Queen,

a pleasure boat built in 1924.

To rebuild her, they've revived an old skill, riveting.

She's the first paddle steamer to be built like this in the UK

for 60 years and requires over 120,000 rivets,

each precision fitted by hand.

This is heating a rivet.

This goes from ambient to about 1,000 degrees in 25 seconds.

-Right, so the rivet's out. You've got a gun.

-Yeah.

-And then a bit of brute force.

-Yeah. I've got to wait for him,

till he's ready.

You've got to get your body behind it. Do you want to have a go?

-Yeah, I will, if you think it's safe.

-No, I think so.

-As long as you, as long as you commit to it. There you go.

-OK.

I'm actually quite nervous about this.

I do a lot of this DIY lark, but nothing as industrial as this one.

-I've lost the end. But it's in.

-Good job. Professionals.

I think I've got the hang of this. Do you want another go? I enjoyed that.

-Go on. OK, great.

-Have another go, keep your thumb behind that trigger.

That is rubbish.

That was my fault. Can you fix that?

Well, yes, of course we can.

In the hands of the professionals at least, the Medway Queen is

being returned to her former glory

and there's good reason for all this attention.

During the Second World War, the Medway Queen would become a heroine.

In May 1940, along with 930 other boats, she set sail for Dunkirk.

Encircled by Nazi forces,

hundreds of thousands of Allied troops were waiting to be evacuated.

In total, 338,000 men were evacuated,

7,000 of them by this boat.

And hopefully, soon, she'll be sailing once more.

The Grand Union Canal.

It cuts 34 miles through the Northamptonshire countryside.

But one of its most famous features is Blisworth Tunnel.

It's two miles long -

well, one and three quarters, to be exact -

which makes it - drumroll, please...

DRUMROLL

..the third longest canal tunnel in the UK.

OK, so that's not the grandest of titles, but the construction of this

underground waterway went down in history

as an engineering nightmare.

Work began in 1793.

With the massive Blisworth Hill blocking the way between London

and Birmingham, there was only one thing for it, to dig underground.

Thousands of tonnes of earth were moved.

Men sweated with picks and shovels.

After three years of hard graft, disaster struck.

The workers hit quicksand.

Work was abandoned and a new route was planned.

By the time the Blisworth Tunnel was finally opened in 1805,

it had taken 12 years to complete.

Like the rest of the canal, this tunnel needed constant maintenance.

200 years ago, steamboats would chuff their way along here,

puffing out soot and coal dust and blackening all of these bricks.

And you can still see the evidence.

To remedy the problem,

they came up with all kinds of ingenious methods -

from arched brushes to a giant bush attached to a boat,

which would scrape through the tunnel to clean it.

With little light and space, it would have been smoggy

and claustrophobic.

'Two centuries on, and the tunnel still has a strange atmosphere.

'Somewhere between natural and man-made.'

To this day, it still needs maintaining and checking,

but, of course, it's not done by candlelight.

Right, lads, you can turn 'em on!

-All right!

-Thank you, Matt!

I was only trying to create a bit of atmosphere.

'This is the tunnel inspection team.

'They're part of that nationwide army

'that keep the canals in tip-top condition.'

Sean, am I all right to come over?

-Yeah, course you can.

-Who's driving what here, then?

You've got two boats tied together.

This is the normal inspection boat.

'Sean Johnston is our pilot for today and on this job,

'he tends to get a bit damp.'

This is a service shaft here, then?

Yeah, it's just coming in now.

-Oh, OK. So we do put hoods up here, do we?

-Yeah.

'These service shafts act as air vents for the tunnel.'

What are we looking for here?

Just monitoring to see any brickwork, any movement further up.

You see we've got the grids on the top there?

Oh, I've got a nice eyeful.

Obviously to stop things being thrown down.

Vegetation coming down there.

Can you see anything?

No, perfectly OK. No change.

-Perfectly fine.

-Just a bit of water.

Not going to hurt you.

'On the scaffold tower, John Muir is doing the close-up work.'

Right, so you're busy inspecting the brickwork, then?

That's correct, yes.

We're just looking to make sure

there's no deterioration in the brickwork,

deterioration in the mortar condition

as we travel through the tunnel.

And all of this calcite, then,

that's on the walls and up on the top here,

does that help secure the brickwork or does that make it worse?

I like to think it does, because yeah, it's very hard.

It's almost like a mortar repair in itself.

The mind boggles

with the construction of this thing, doesn't it?

Do you know how deep we are now?

It ranges, but the maximum depth, I think, is about 40 to 45 metres.

'That's the equivalent of five double-decker buses

'stacked on top of each other, an amazing feat,

'considering it was all excavated by hand.

'Blisworth Tunnel really is a lasting testament to the men who

'built it and those who continue to take care of it.'