Good morning, well July is done and then I will move into August and with suggestions for the upcoming school year.  That may run into September, but it may not.  Anyway, I am going to do one final episode of the Great Canal Journeys before I get back to serious documentaries.  Today’s episode has a run time of 46:21.

This time Timothy and Pru are traveling through Scotland’s canals.  This is the first time they are touring those canals.  They begin in Edinburgh and meet up with the boat they are hiring.  First, they have to maneuver through the many festival goers.  Eventually, they reach the canal and come to the Union Canal.  They had never known that there was a canal in Edinburgh, even though they made frequent trips to Edinburgh.  They reflect on lost love.

They will pick up their hire boat in Ratho.  It is evening before they get to their hire boat.  The light is falling fast and they are needing to get on their way to get to their first mooring before dark.  Tony is going to have to turn around a 58-foot boat.  It will take a whole lot of turns and hits before they are on their way.  Their plans change and they will spend the night in the countryside.  The morning comes and they are cooking breakfast.  Timothy talks about not sleeping well.  After breakfast, they are on their way.

Timothy talks about the canal and how it is a flat canal.  It follows the contour of the land so there are very few locks on the route.  They are in no hurry.  Timothy is concerned about this because Pru has her routines and a canal with no routes takes the routine of opening away.  However, Pru cheerfully points out that “putting my feet up is part of my routine.”  Pru concentrates on a crossword while Timothy drives.  The Union Canal was in danger of going away, however, there was a group of enthusiastic preservationists who brought the canal back.  Pru and Timothy meet up with their Scottish counterparts and they examine a very rare surveyor's map.  They talk about the steps and time it took to bring the canal back to life.

They make their way to the Avon Aqueduct.  It is one of the tallest and longest in Britain.  Tomorrow will be the longest tunnel in Scotland.  They settle in for the night.  The next day, they take and discover a few surprises along the way.  Eventually, they make their way through the longest tunnel in Scotland.  Then they encounter two of the deepest locks in Scotland.  Timothy is concerned with Pru who is seemingly nervous.  Luckily for the pair, these locks are manned by professionals.  You could feel the nerves through the screen, I hope the lock keepers were helpful.

They move on and meet the Falkirk Wheel.  This wheel unites the Union and the Forth and Clyde Canal.  This wheel has two trails that goes around lowering tray and raises the other tray.  Pru and Timothy are joined by the chief engineer of the project.  The Falkirk Wheel was fantastic and very interesting to see.  The day has been exhausting for the pair and so they take a nap.  After a restorative rest, they explore the ruins of a Roman Wall.  However not much remains of the wall and eventually the Romans retreated from this wall.  When it was decided to build this canal, the canal builders eventually decided to follow the Roman route.

The next day comes around, and Pru and Timothy are going to do some more exploring.  They take a boat called the Wooden Spoon to see statues of horse heads.  Horses were the lifeblood of the canal and these statues were tribute to the horses that worked the canal.  After this detour, they return to the boat the move on their way.  Where else do Pru and Timothy go on this canal?  What else do they learn?  Tune into the rest of this episode to find out more.

This was a fascinating canal, especially the Falkirk Wheel.  I was very concerned with Pru in this episode with those locks.  I would still recommend this for a geography class.

Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening depending on when you are reading this blog.  I am continuing to work on the Great Canal Series.  I found the first episode of the series and today Timothy and Pru are taking a boat on the Kennet and Avon Canal.  The run time for this episode is 46:31.

The Kennet and Avon Canal is known as the K and A.  It is a canal that both Pru and Timothy are very familiar with.  They kept a boat moored on this canal and helped with its restoration.  When it was restored they were the first boat to navigate the whole canal.  The canal linked Bristol to London.  Pru and Timothy start their trip in Bath and they have hired a boat.  The boat is a bit longer than they are used to.  I rather enjoyed Timothy pooh-poohing the television on board.  They are heading to Devises to a canal festival.

Before they leave Bath, they will take the Bath Canal Flight, a series of six locks.  Immediately they have to avoid a collision with another boat.  The lock is notoriously difficult to get into even with another boat coming out of the boat.  Pru does not like steering the boat much, so she has to do the leg work on the lock.  She really shows her spryness as she works on the lock.  The pair are adorable in this section.  Tim enters the second deepest lock in the country and he is careful in his navigation.  They managed to get three locks done and they were in luck, another canal boat was spotted. 

The two boats go through the final three locks together.  It is the first time this couple has taken a narrow boat out, hopefully, Timothy gave the pair some tips.  I wonder what that couple from Australia thought about running into this pair.
Eventually, they arrive at Sydney Gardens, a place that was well-known to Jane Austen.  It is one of the treasures of Bath.  The canal goes right through the middle of the gardens.  They meet with a local historian to talk about the gardens.  When the canal was built the builders either had to pay or build a long tunnel.  The builders paid to go through the gardens and they had to make this section of the canal as elegant as possible.  However, traces of those workers remain with the rope marks left in the stone.

Timothy and Pru continue on their journey and reflect on their life together.  Pru is starting to show signs of dementia.  So she is forgetting things more and more often.  Timothy puts it beautifully when he says there are some things aging faster than other things.  They are going to continue to enjoy the things they love to do while they can.

The next day arrives and they are doing some exploring on foot.  They tour a pump house on the canal and watch repairs done on a water wheel.  The pair return to the canal and reflect on helping restore the canal.  They even stuck in with clearing debris from the canal.  They were the first to travel the canal after its restoration.  Nowadays there are more people on the canal and so Timothy has to carefully navigate around all these boats.

Timothy and Pru arrive at Bradford upon Avon where they tie up.  It is a bank holiday and there are tourists in town.  They get ice cream at a local café.  The local owner opened his café just before the restored canal was opened.  Bradford is swimming with people when back in the day you could easily find a seat in the café.  Then there is a cute discussion on the canal watchers who watch the canal boats.  A variety of industries have sprung up on a canal and even a chair salon!  Pru’s hair gets a refresh.  Where else do Pru and Timothy’s travel takes them?  What troubles do they encounter?  Do they make it in time for the canal festival?  Tune into the rest of the episode to find out more.

You can see the love on Timothy’s face when he sees Pru or talks about her.  They are a sweet couple.  I will still recommend showing this to a geography class.

Good morning!  I am going to continue with the lovely series Great Canal Journeys with Pru and Timothy.  This time I am doing an episode from the first season.  I know that I am doing this series out of order however, I found them as I could on the Absolute Documentaries Channel.  The downside of this channel is that the summaries are very poor.  This time Pru and Timothy are taking on the Rochdale Canal.  The run time for this episode is 46:18.

Pru and Timothy are trying out a canal they have never tried before: the Rochdale.  They are going to Yorkshire, a county that they both have connections to.  It is going to be physically demanded from Pru.  However, Samuel West, their son is going to join them for part of the way.  They are also going to be touring the longest and deepest canal tunnel in the world. 

The canal was opened two hundred years ago and helped fuel the Industrial Revolution.  The pair arrive at Sowerby Bridge, where they will start on their journey.  They are renting a canal boat for their trip and are surprised to see a bathtub in the canal boat.  There are a lot of locks on the canal because it is a very steep climb.  It was built to transport textiles.  Sowerby was connected to the world through this canal.

They start off on their trip and are immediately greeted by a series of deep locks.  These are some of the deepest locks in the UK.  To fill one of the locks it takes 200,000 gallons of water.  The pair are facing the first challenge under the watchful eye of the lock keepers.  The water is carefully allowed in and the pair are on their way.  It was amazing to see the pair handle these locks at their age.

After that hard work, they now have a moment to enjoy the scenery.  They are on their own on this lock and they are enjoying the experience.  Years ago, this canal was the center of Britain’s textile industry.  This canal would have been clogged with boats transporting goods.  Eventually, the textile industry collapsed and the lock was abandoned.  Eventually, Ted Hughes, a poet was inspired by the dilapidated lock.  He wrote about the canal.  Tim and Pru meet with a Ted Hughes expert and he talks about the poet.  They learn about the inspiration behind some of his poetry.

Both Timothy and Pru talk about their experiences in Yorkshire.  Timothy’s dad was an actor who had a job in Yorkshire.  Pru lived in Yorkshire during the war with her aunt.  Pru remembers visiting the mills and the way you had to talk to be understood.  Then there is a discussion on Pru’s Alzheimer’s. 

The weather is preventing them from taking the flight, so the pair are going on a detour to go under the longest and deepest canal tunnel in the country.  It is a three-hour trip under this tunnel and they will carry a safety officer on board.  The officer will help monitor the air conditions of the tunnel, if the air gets too bad, they will have to stop the engines.  Pru is nervous about the tunnel.  Timothy talks about the history of the tunnel and how it was built.  Hundreds of injured and fifty men were killed building this tunnel.  Timothy carefully navigates the tunnel, although he does hit the edges of the tunnel.  Eventually, Pru spots the first light and the light gets bigger and bigger.  They emerge from the tunnel and Pru is relieved.  Where else do Pru and Timothy’s travels take them?  What else do they learn about Canal?  Tune into the rest of the episode to find out.

I may have to amend my wish for Tony Robinson on a canal boat, I think I need both Timothy West and Tony Robinson on the canal boat because they are such enjoyable narrators.  They do not need to be on the canal boat, I just need something that they can narrate together.  It is also a frank discussion on Alzheimer's between the pair.  Timothy talks about how he has to adjust to the new Pru.  It was very nice to Samuel join up with the pair.  This would be a series I would consider showing a geography class.

Good morning!  I am going to continue with the lovely series Great Canal Journeys with Pru and Timothy.  The first episode was a delight and now I am going to do a second episode.  It is summer, I want to keep things light.  August will be the typical suggestion list for the upcoming school year.  The run time for this episode is 46:26.  This is an episode from Season 3.

Today Pru and Timothy are taking a ride on the Birmingham to Braunston and are going to take part in a canal festival.  The Canal was known as the Grand Union Canal.  It was a place where families worked together to transport goods along the canal.  Together they will honor a woman who worked to preserve Britain’s canal.  There are plenty of locks and canals along the way.  Their son Samuel West joins them on this adventure through the canal.  Timothy’s daughter Juliet will also join them on this journey. 

They will begin in Birmingham, which was the hub of the canal network.  The last time they were in Birmingham, was in the 1980s and Birmingham has changed over the decades since their last visit.  They meet their Boat Grace and board.  Samuel West will join them on this part of the journey and immediately takes Pru’s job.  They reminisce about the last time they were on the Canal.  Birmingham has more canals than Venice and they boast about it.  All three take in the sights of Birmingham.  Sam takes a turn at the rudder.  They talk about getting Samuel’s daughter into Canals and Canal boats.

Eventually, they come to their first lock, the Farmers Bridge Flight.  They meet with Albert, who remembers when working boats worked on the locks.  He and Sam work together to get the boat through the locks.  Pru tries to help out but decides to leave it to the professionals.  The locks are a challenge to open.  It is a bit sad to see Pru slowing down.  I had seen this series before and she was really jumping around in the first series.  Sam even comments that she seemed less confident and that is sad.

The trio makes a detour to a jewelry shop where a new necklace was created for Pru for her birthday present.  They make their way back to the boat and head out of the suburbs.  I agree with Timothy’s assessment of the air of melancholy in this area.  Sam will eventually leave the pair after spending the day with Timothy and Pru.

The next day arrives.  Timothy talks about driving late into the night and enjoying the night with the canal boat headlight.  Today, they are going to tackle the Knowle lock flight and will meet Sarah Henshaw who has a narrow boat that carries books.  Sarah has turned her canal boat into a floating bookshop.  She at first hated canals before falling in love with them.  Now she travels the canals extensively in her floating bookstore.  After this short interview, Pru and Timothy move on.  They arrive at the Knowle Locks and they get help from a local.  He grew up on the working boats and was expected to work on the boat.  Everyone in his family pitched in to keep the boat running.

They make their way through the lock flight and continue on their way.  Timothy and Pru take in the sights of the countryside.  Eventually, they come across a tunnel.  Pru does not like tunnels because she’s afraid of being buried alive.  They prep before going into the tunnel with life vests and hats.  Timothy talks about how canal boats originally got under the tunnels.   They eventually make it through the tunnel, although Pru gets a bit wet.  Where else do Pru and Timothy go?  How does the Canal Boat Festival go?  Tune into the rest of the episode to find out more.

I want to go on a canal boat.  Timothy and Pru continue to be a darling couple.  They just play off each other so well.  This was a really special episode because Samuel and Juliet joined them on this trip.  It was a real family affair in this episode.  I would still want to show this to a geography class rather than a history class.

Good morning, well I am done with Tony Robinson for right now.  He has a History of Britain Series, but I only have six more blogs to do for July before I do my annual suggested documentaries list for the upcoming school year.  There are way more episodes to that series than there are blog slots so I will save the History of Britain Series for some other time.  I am going to do a few episodes from the series Great Canal Journeys.  This is a series with Prunella Scales and Timothy West, both actors in Britain.  They love canals and take canal trips when they can.  The run time for this episode is 46:18.

Timothy West and Prunella Scales, husband and wife actors and canal lovers take tours around Britain on the variety of canals in the United Kingdom.  They have been married for over 50 years and Prunella is suffering from dementia.  Together, they travel the canals while Pru is able to.  They travel the Kennet & Avon, Rochdale, Llangollen, Oxford Canal, and others.  They highlight the splendid scenery of Britain and the history of each canal.

Timothy and Prunella visit the Llangollen Canal in North Wales.  Llangollen was where they spent their honeymoon, only this time they were traveling by canal boat to this destination.  They start in the town of Ellesmere and eventually cross into Wales.  They will travel the longest aqueduct in Britain and travel the Montgomery Canal.  They will also indulge one of Timothy’s other passions: steam trains.  They are hiring a canal boat for this journey.  They immediately start touring the boat to get familiar with it.  There are lots of canal boats in the area as it is a tourist destination.

Once they get settled in, Timothy and Pru are off on their canal journey.  Timothy narrates the start of the route and talks about the history of the canal.  Then Pru takes up the narration and talks about their courtship.  Eventually, the pair got married and had “two smashing boys.”  The pair come up onto the first set of locks for the Montgomery Canal.  This is their slight detour before heading up to Llangollen.  Timothy talks about how accidents have happened in the locks, so he has to keep a steady hand on the rudder while Pru works the locks.  Pru does a lot of hard work in this series!  She is such a spry woman.

After this trip down the Montgomery, they return to the Llangollen Canal.  However, they are detoured by Pru wishing to pick blackberries along the canal from the boat.  Pru remembers her childhood by picking blackberries.  She gets enough for a pudding.  The next day they wake up to poor weather which will make conditions a challenge for travel.  They head north, however, the weather is proving to be a challenge.  It is hard to keep a boat straight in high winds.  Captain Timothy has his first collision!  Eventually, the weather clears and the sun comes out at least for a short time.  The cows come out to greet Timothy and Pru.  They arrive at their last set of locks.  The wind is still proving to be a challenge and Timothy will have to call on all his experience to keep the boat under control.

The pair meet up with a canal historian and he joins them on their journey.  They talk about how the Canal became a World Heritage site and the history of the canal.  Eventually, the historian departs the boat, and Pru and Timothy continue along their way.  Where else do Pru and Timothy go?  Does Timothy manage to hit another boat?  Does the weather change?  Tune into the rest of the episode to find out more.

I am trying a different channel today for this documentary and this series is from the Absolute Documentary Series.   Both Timothy and Prunella are a rather cute little old couple, enjoying their golden years together doing what they love the most.  I feel like I need a Tony Robinson on a narrowboat and touring the Canals of Britain series now.  This was a delightful episode and it was rather lovely to see their reflections on their lives.  I would show this to a geography class, rather than a history class.

Good morning!  Tony Robinson continues his travels across Britain taking on Britain’s ancient tracks.  Today Tony is taking on the Ridgeway.  It runs through Wiltshire to Oxfordshire.  He learns about the megaliths and Celtic chariots.  He explores a burial chamber older than the pyramids.  The run time for this episode is 46:51.

Tony will begin his walk on the Ridgway in Wiltshire after the A-4.  The Ridgeway is thought to be Britain’s oldest road.  He travels north and goes into Berkshire. He will end his journey at the Thames.  He will visit a stone circle, a burial chamber, and a famous horse.  His first stop on this journey is a stone circle.  He is visiting Avebury Circle and it was so vast that it took decades to build.  Eventually, a town was built in the circle.  What was this place used for?  Was it a place of ceremony?  Were there rituals that took place in this circle?  Local people tried to pull the stones down because they were in the way.  However, the archaeologists stepped in to save the stones, shaming the farmers who broke up the stones.  Even today, the residents know that houses were constructed from crushed stones. 

In 1934, a Scottish Tycoon stepped in to save the stones.  He purchased the town and the circle lock stock and barrel.  Eventually, he poured some money into restoring what he could of the stone.  Tony meets with Nick Snashall to talk about this tycoon who worked on the Avebury Circle.  He was a passionate archeologist and kept detailed records of his digs.  He re-erected twenty stones and used concrete pillars to mark the missing stones.  He sounds like a very cool guy and a very curious man.

Eventually Tony moves on down the road, contemplating how the stones got to Avebury in the first place.  Tony stops at Fyfield Down and takes in the sight of some large sarcen stones.  Perhaps the Avebury stones came from this quarry.  The examines one of the stones and sees cut marks from a Neolithic craftsman. That was a very nice sight to see.  Tony talks a little bit more about the ridgeway and how people stuck by it. 

Eventually, hill forts were established to protect themselves.  He encounters one of those hill forts.  Tony meets with chariot maker Robert Hurford who remakes Celtic chariots.  The Celts were often buried with whole chariots and so he was able to recreate one.  Together Robert and Tony talk about the sophistication of the Celtic culture.  The discovery of the chariots has upturned the thought that the Celtics were dunderheads.  Tony takes a ride in this chariot recreation and thoroughly enjoys the experience.  The Ridgeway at one point was a thriving highway.

However, there was a point where the Ridgeway vanished.  It was revived by Richard Jefferies, one of Britain’s greatest nature writers the one who discovered the significance of the Ridgeway.  It was thought that it was an old farm road.  However, Jefferies started making connections and realized that this road had a great deal of significance.  Tony goes to Coat and crosses a busy highway to learn more about Richard Jefferies.  Here he meets with Rebecca Welshman.  She is a trustee at the Richard Jefferies Museum.  Here Tony learns more about Jefferies and his impact on the Ridgeway.  Tony appreciates how the Ridgeway inspires legends and stories.

Tony makes his way to Wayland Smithy and visits a Neolithic Burial chamber.  It is the oldest human-made thing in the world.  J.R.R. Tolkien visited his place and now Tony is making his way to the chamber.  It was said that Wayland was the blacksmith of the Saxon gods and he would put shoes on horses.  Here he meets with Andy Foley of the National Trust to be let into the chamber.  Where else does Tony’s walk take him?  What other hill forts does Tony discover?  Tune into the rest of the episode to find out.

I really enjoyed this episode, Tony shows his humor and curiosity about what he is learning.  I continue to get a kick out of Tony and would put this on my list of documentaries to show to a history classroom and a geography classroom.
 
 

Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening depending on when you are reading this. I am continuing with the Ancient Tracks series.  So far it has proven to be an enjoyable series for me to watch.  I hope this series is enjoyable for you too.  Today’s episode is in the Peak District and Tony looks at the legends of Ancient Britain.  The run time for this episode is 46:27.

Tony Robinson begins his journey through the Peak District at the Hemlock Stone.  Some say it was an object of worship that was carved by druids.  Some say that it was an ancient priest who was killed by the devil.  Local boy D.H. Lawrence was not really impressed with the stone.  Tony was impressed with the stone and continued on his walk.  He will be walking through the Peak District National Park and taking in inspiring scenery. 

The Ancient Track is called the Port Way, however, there is no port nearby.  So how did it get its name?  Tony talks about the possibilities however you do not get a concrete answer. It is left up to you the viewer to decide how the Port Way got its name.  Tony arrives at St. Mary’s Church before touring Britain’s oldest lead mine.  Tony goes into the church and takes in the carvings that are found inside.  He points out his favorite carving and talks with Rosa Straw about this carving.  The carving is of a lead miner which shows the connection between the church and the lead mines.

The landscape here is carved by its mining history.  There are hundreds of vertical shafts of mines.  These mines were for lead.  Tony arrives at his own piece of rock face.  It has evidence of picks that were attacking this rock face for lead.  He talks about how the landscape in Derbyshire changed and shows off a shark tooth fossil.  This was the land that provided inspiration for Daniel Dafoe, a writer.  He was the man behind Robinson Crusoe.  However, there were other pieces of literature that he wrote.  Tony meets with Stephen Greggs and talks about Dafoe and his travel writings.  He wrote about Derbyshire and he worked to debunk the myths of Britain.

Dafoe wrote about the Harboro Rocks and was looking for a fabled Giant’s Tomb.  What he discovered here changed things for him.  It was here he encountered a woman and her family who lived in these caves.  The simplicity of her life surprised Dafoe.  After this discussion on Dafoe, Tony moves on and continues to make his way through Derbyshire.  He arrives at Mountain Cottage, the home of D.H. Lawrence.  He meets with Stephen Bailey to talk about D.L. Lawrence and his life at the cottage.  D.H. Lawrence and his wife Freida had been expelled from Cornwall.  Lawrence and his wife were accused of being German spies during World War I.  Eventually, the two managed to leave England and live their lives abroad.

After this exploration of D.H. Lawrence, Tony meets up with a local folk singer.  She talks about the songs that evolved and were created because of this landscape.  After this, Tony then transitions into a discussion on the early Industrial Revolution.  He explores the abandoned rules of the original mills that helped fuel the Industrial Revolution.

Tony moves on and talks about how the church helped provide shelter, guide travelers, and comfort the weary traveler.  Hermits were employed for this purpose and Tony tours a cave that would have been his home.  Tony reads off a ledger of how much the hermits were paid to help with travelers.  Eventually, Tony arrives in a town and takes in a century-old old tradition: Morris Dancing.  Nobody knows how it developed but it still carries on into the present century.  Where else do Tony’s travels take him?  How many tunnels does Tony go through?  Tune into the rest of the episode to find out more.

Tony Robinson still continues to be an excellent narrator.  I cannot believe how much walking he has done.  I am going to have to try to find another series with Tony.  I am disappointed that this episode was not divided into chapters which would make things easier to pull out.  I put this on my list for a geography class.

Good morning!  Tony continues his way through the Ancient Tracks of Great Britain.  Today he is going to visit the oldest oak in Britain and then tour the Shrine of Thomas Beckett.  Then he uncovers the lost battlefield of Julius Caeser.  He concludes with Darwinian discoveries on North Downs Way.  The run time for this episode is 46:21.

North Downs Way was used by Caesar’s Army and pilgrims.  Tony Robinson begins his walk at Castle Hill on the South coast of England in Kent.  It is there that the Eurostar Tunnel begins.  However, Tony is not going to go in the tunnel.  He is going to head north on the North Downs Way beginning at Folkstone.  He will travel inland and will take the old pilgrim road at Canterberry.  He will end at Down House, the home of Charles Darwin. 

On his first stop, Tony is going to be visiting a three thousand-year-old archeological find.  The archeologists are moving fast to learn more about the site.  The cliffs are eroding fast and so the archeologists need to work fast.  Tony talks with Andrew Richardson about the finds that were discovered on the site.  There were many grindstones discovered at this site which hints at large-scale production.  Did our Iron Age actually do large-scale production of grindstones?  Was there a thriving grindstone trade?  Tony presses on.

Tony travels further inland and talks about a poet who wrote about this site.  He eventually meets with the Pilgrims’ Way.  It is here he will make his way to Canterberry.  He talks about the tradition of making pilgrimages.  Tony meets up with Rain and Will Parsons and learns more about making a pilgrimage.  Will is part of a movement that is trying to revive the practice of pilgrimages.  Together they view an old oak trip.  It reminds me of the old oak tree at the Basking Ridge Presbyterian Church, that unfortunately got sick and had to be taken down.  Tony takes in the sight of the oak tree and is very impressed.  He almost seemed very thrilled with being able to touch it. 

Eventually, he makes his way to Canterberry and the Canterbury Cathedral after walking through King’s Wood.  He first explores the Archbishop of Canterberry and how the Canterbury Cathedral was established.  It is Britain’s oldest established church.  However, pilgrimage really started to take up after the death of one certain Archbishop of Canterberry: Thomas Beckett.  Tony walks through the cathedral and points out the wearing of the stones in front of the altar from where the pilgrims knelt.  Tony meets Cressida Williams and they go over the account books.  Thousands of pilgrims made their way to the cathedral and would have given donations.  Each donation was carefully accounted for.

After visiting the Cathedral, Tony visits a former leper hospital.  This was a place where pilgrims would have stopped.  However, Tony is looking for a watering hole in the wood that used to have royal connections.  He eventually finds the watering hole outside of the woods.  In fact, he could have taken the path around the building.  He notices the Prince of Wales's feathers and discusses the first Prince of Wales: The Black Prince.  It was said that the Black Prince’s eyes were afflicted with a disease.  He dipped his hands in the water and put his wet hands over his eyes and they were healed.

After this, Tony moves into the forest and learns about how Caeser invaded Britain.  Or did he?  There was no evidence that Caesar ever made it to Britain, however, he had written about the island.  Particularly Caesar wrote about a Celtic hill fort and how a battle took place on this hill against the Celts.  Tony talks with a historian who is working on the site.  There have been quite a few intriguing finds on the site that hint that the battle took place at this hill.  What were these finds?  What else does Tony learn about the Romans in Britain?  Where else does Tony’s travels take him?  Tune into the rest of the episode to find out more.

This episode was very delightful and would be recommended for a history class, particularly for the Roman period.  Tony’s narration was great and oftentimes humorous.

Good morning!  Today Tony Robinson is heading to the borderlands.  He is tracing the Great Road North that was built by the Roman Empire in Britain.  They constructed thousands of miles of roads in Britain.  These roads connected settlements and forts.  Tony is walking a pathway called the Deer Road. The run time for this episode is 46:10.

Tony begins his walk in Northumberland.  He is visiting Hadrian’s Wall.  It was at the time the most Northeastern part of England.  It divided safe and sable Brittania from the barbarian tribes.  The wall was only part of the protection against the barbarians.  There was a series of forts that helped defend Roman Britain.  Tony visits a site that is an active archeological site.  This site demonstrates that not only soldiers lived in these forts but there were also women and children.  He meets with one of the archeologists on site and talks about a shoe that was discovered on site.  Perhaps this pair of shoes belonged to someone who walked along Deer Street.  It even still has a smell to it.  Tony talks about the other discoveries made and thoroughly enjoys his time at this site.  Although he could spend all day at the site, Tony has to move on.  I think we may be overdue for an update from Tony about this site.

As he walks along the wall, he sees other structures on site.  What are these structures?  Tony talks with Lindsay Allason-Jones.  A series of gates called mar castles allowed people to go back and forth.  This challenges the assumption that Hadrian’s Wall was something to stop people from coming through.  Tony is one of these people who are traveling through the wall.  Eventually, he came to a milestone that was left behind by the Romans.  He heads to the Otterburn Ranges, a military range in Britain.  He has been given permission to take the Deer Road through to the range.  Then he has a short talk about William Wallace and the Scots' defeat in this area.  At the end of day one he takes in the night sky.  It is one of Britain’s protected areas to view the night sky.

Tony continues north and towards Scotland.  Although many people use Carter Bar to cross over the border he goes a few miles east.  Here he meets Ian Crofton, a fellow walker, and together they talk about the border.  In the landscape, there looks to be some settlements along the border.  Together they make their way to the border and talk about how the borders between England and Scotland were created.  Tony crosses the border and continues to follow the Deer Way.
He comes across a massive Iron Age hill fort alongside Deer Street.  So why was this Roman road built alongside the fort?  Here he meets Fraser Hunter and they discuss the Caledonians.  Tony is looking to dig deeper as to who the Caledonians were.  He and Fraser also talk about how Deer Street was still used even after the Romans left.  The Romans built excellent roads.

The Romans like Tony march on and deeper into Scotland.  Tony talks about the legions that would have marched into Scotland and the Caledonian region.  The Romans would have used local stone and hunted in local forests.  It seems like this was a thrill for Tony.  Eventually Tony meets a former shepherd who is working to restore an ancient landscape.  The view from this old sheep pen was spectacular.  This former shepherd and others like him planted thousands of trees.  They studied ancient pollen and peat samples to determine what to plant.  The landscape was transformed over twenty years.  Where else does Tony go on this Roman road?  What else does he learn about the Romans?  Tune into the rest of the episode to find out more.

I rather enjoyed Tony’s narration during this episode, he had a great deal of humor and curiosity during this episode.  I think he rather enjoyed his tour of Fats Lips Castle.  It was rather surprising to see that the Romans did end up so far north in Scotland.  I would show this to a Roman section in history class.  I would show the clip from the former shepherd to an ecology class.

Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening depending on when you are reading this.  I hope your summer finds you very well and that you are enjoying a good rest.  Tony continues his walking tour on the ancient tracks of Great Britain.  He is taking a walk on the Ickneild Way, a path that threads its way through East Anglia.  The run time for this episode is 46:18.

Today, Tony is traveling the Ickneild Way.  It is a word that has mysterious origins.  Was it the path that the Iceni took to celebrate their victories over the Romans?  Was it an old cow path?  Tony enjoys the mystery of this pathway.  It is one of Britain’s oldest roads and it consists of prehistoric pathways.  He is going to tour a mine, look for lay lines, and tour a mysterious cave.

Tony begins at the Norfolk Coast.  As he walks he only sees crops and trees, it seems that the Ickneild Way is hiding its secrets.  Eventually, he arrives at Grime’s Graves.  It was a place where the people thought the devil dwelled.  The moonscape landscape was the devil’s playground.  However, Tony says this was an important place in Britain.  How does Tony know this?  Of course, a good friend dug it.  Who is this good friend?  I am not going to reveal that!  They talk about the dig and go down into one of the prehistoric mines.  Tony goes into another world as he descends this mine.  How could prehistoric people dig this mine?  What tools would they have used?  How often would they have worked?  Tony learns about the process.  Again, I am reminded that our ancient ancestors were so much smarter than we are these days.

Tony eventually makes his way above ground and continues his walk on the Ickneild Way.  At one time the Ickneild Way could have been lost.  Tony arrives at Platform Two in Thetford.  However, Edward Thomas would change it.  He was a war poet and was on a journey.  It was on this journey he met a large man and asked him about the Icknield Way.  This large man had no idea what the Ickneild way was.  Thomas would change that and he walked his way throughout the Ickneild Way.  He published a book about the Icknield Way which helped people rediscover the pathway.  Matthew Hollis, Thomas’ biographer meets with Tony to learn more about Edward Thomas.

After this, Tony moves on and continues his walk on the Ickneild Way.  He crosses into Cambridgeshire and arrives at the Devil’s Dyke.  It is a massive ditch that stretches for miles.  The story goes that the Devil gatecrashed a wedding.  The locals threw him out and out of anger, the Devil carved the dyke with his tail on his way back to hell.  However, it was built by the Saxons to protect the Kingdom of East Angelia and to control the wool trade.  After taking in a sheep auction, Tony makes his way through Hayley’s Wood, an ancient wood in Britain.

He meets Sam Lee, a folk series to talk about how songs traveled throughout Britain.  Lee also talks about the plants that would have been found along the Ickneild Way.  The people would have eaten plants around the Ickneild Way.  Lee sings Tony off and Tony continues on his journey.  Eventually, he arrives at Royston and it is here that the Ickneild Way crosses a Roman Road.  It is here that a man-made cave was discovered with unique carvings.  Tony has never heard of this cave before and is impressed with the carvings that were discovered.  What was the function of this cave?  The mystery continues to this day.  What else does Tony learn about the Ickneild Way?  Tune into the rest of this episode to find out more.

I was happy to see that Timeline divided this episode into chapters which makes the episode easy to view and pull out clips for lectures.  I was delighted to see a familiar face, but you are going to have to watch the documentary to discover who this familiar face was.  I almost expected Mick to make an appearance out of the grave when Tony met up with a dowser.  This was a very interesting episode and one I would put on my list to show a geography class rather than a history class.