Great Canal Journeys - Grand Union Canal

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.