Great Canal Journeys

'And I'm Timothy West.'

Beautiful.

'We've been husband and wife for over five decades.'

Amazing. Cheers.

'We've been wedded to stage and screen for even longer.'

Great hair, Pru. SHE LAUGHS

'But we share another passion...

'canals.'

Cast off, please. Aye, aye, sir.

'Canals wind through our lives carrying our treasured memories...'

'Of families growing up...'

'Of moments of wonder...'

'And hidden beauty...'

Is this the most remote canal we've ever been on?

Probably is, yes.

'Of love...'

'And laughter.'

Sorry about that. HE CHUCKLES

'Things are a bit harder for me these days...'

I'm not strong enough!

But we get by.

We're at the summit!

Hooray!

Pru has a slight condition.

It does mean she has difficulty remembering things.

BANG!

Oh, my darling. I'm so sorry. I didn't cast you off!

One has to recognise that Pru's domestic life is getting

a little narrower by the day.

Well, it can be a nuisance, but it doesn't stop me

remembering how to open a lock gate or make the skipper a cup of tea.

OK, cast off! OK.

'We'll be exploring new countries.'

It's amazing, isn't it?

'And following new routes.'

I'm lost now.

'But one thing stays the same...'

'We're always together.'

Let's stay right here.

It's so peaceful.

'This time, we continue our Swedish odyssey,

'travelling from west to east across the breadth of the country.'

There's still quite a lot of Sweden left.

Are you up for another adventure?

Yeah.

Swedish archipelago, here I come.

'Having already travelled 240 miles on this epic voyage,

'we've reached the halfway point.'

'Ahead lies the vast Lake Malaren, Sweden's capital city

'and the far-flung islands of the archipelago.'

'That's if we don't get completely lost!'

I don't quite know how I'm going to get into the canal. Oh.

I can't get under that bridge.

The same goes for this one up here.

You'll find a way.

'On this second leg, we'll be following the route of the Vikings.'

"Let not your courage bend, here your life must end."

Right. Thanks a lot.

'We'll experience Sweden's age-old traditions.'

THEY SING IN SWEDISH

Skol. Skol.

'And tread the boards of one of the oldest theatres in the world.'

For within the hollow crown,

that rounds the mortals temples of a king, keeps death his court.

'Our Swedish odyssey may take us far from home...

'but it leads us to reflect on own lives.'

Having a fantastic husband and some lovely children, you know,

I think I'm a very lucky person.

'We've come to Skansholmen, on the edge of the Baltic Sea,

'to pick up a new vessel for the next leg of our journey.'

The boat is called the Skibladner.

The original Skibladner was owned by the Norse god Frey

and it had a remarkable property.

When you stepped ashore, you could fold it up, put it in your pocket

and then when you unfolded it again,

it could carry all the Norse gods anywhere they wanted to go

and the wind would always be behind them.

A bit useful. I wish we had one like that.

I wish we had a car like that. Yeah.

Solve all the parking problems, wouldn't it?

'As we'll be travelling through canals, lakes...'

OK?

'..and even open sea, we need a vessel that's more at home

'in rough waters than our familiar narrow boat.'

Right.

What do you think of it?

Quite grand.

Yes, it is.

Nice galley.

Yeah. Yeah. It'll be good.

What's the cabin like?

I'll go down and tell you.

Um...

Ooh!

This has got a massive double bed

set triangularly across the cabin.

OK.

Well, we can sleep triangularly.

I think.

There's a first time for everything, isn't there?

OK, darling. If you cast off fore and aft.

Aye, aye, sir.

Tim, we're off for'ard. Right.

Two canals, thousands of islands and the Baltic Sea.

Our Swedish odyssey.

The next leg of our voyage across Sweden will take us

from the Baltic through the Sodertalje Canal to Lake Malaren

and the Viking settlement of Birka.

Heading to the home of Sweden's Royals,

we'll then sail on to the capital city.

Travelling out along the Baggensstaket Canal

and past the islands of the archipelago,

we'll reach the very eastern edge of Sweden.

How are we doing?

Just getting the feel of it.

'Over the years, we've successfully navigated our way through

'thousands of miles of waterway.

'But this voyage is unlike any other we've attempted before.'

What is that vessel?

That's a tanker. Yep.

Yes, I'm not used to having something like that

following me up the canal. No.

'I think it's safer if we let the larger vessel go by.'

Not the sort of thing one sees every day on the Oxford Canal, is it?

No, that's quite considerable, mm.

Like us, the tanker is bound for the largest lock in Sweden,

at the entrance to the Sodertalje Canal.

As a natural channel linking the Baltic with Lake Malaren,

it's been an important trade route throughout Sweden's history.

But it wasn't always deep enough to take oil tankers.

In fact, by the end of the Viking era,

parts of the channel had dried up completely.

Mariners were forced to drag their ships across on logs,

and this once-crucial Viking route was eventually abandoned.

It wasn't until the 19th century

that a canal was dug to restore the link.

After 13 years of construction,

this vital trade route was reopened in 1819.

Stand by. We'll get up as far as we can.

Right.

It's one of the widest locks I've ever seen.

I mean, how many craft is it supposed to take?

Are we in?

Very good. Yeah, we're fine.

'The gates might be built on a massive scale,

'but the rise and fall of the water level is incredibly small.'

Tim, are we going up or down? Up.

Up. Right, OK. But only 50cm.

50cm? Yeah.

Well, what's the idea? Why bother?

Well, otherwise you'd be going uphill, wouldn't you?

Tricky for water.

I've never been through a lock like that before.

No, I know. Just took a matter of seconds, didn't it?

'The canal follows the fresh water trail to Lake Malaren

'and the two merge as silently as the changing scenery around us.'

Look, open sea. Well, open lake.

Oh, yes. I thought it was a horizon, but, as you say, it's a lake.

Well, it is, really. It's very big.

It's a landscape.

'1,000 years ago, Lake Malaren was a Swedish Viking hideout,

'and we're heading to their most important stronghold, Birka.

'From there, they'd sally forth on the same route we're taking,

'into the Baltic Sea,

'travelling thousands of miles to trade and to raid.'

Do you think they raped and pillaged much of our population?

Um...

Yes...

Not so much the Swedes, the Danish were... Yes.

..bit tricky.

Oh, good. So the Swedes can be mates, can they?

Oh, yes, of course.

We're sorry, Danes. We love you too.

Especially Hamlet.

According to modern historians, Vikings have had a bad press

and were not mindless killers at all, but ordinary men

driven by the need for land and wealth,

who simply wanted a better life.

Vikings had feelings? Whatever next?

'We're about to land at Birka.

'It's a chance for us to discover the truth about Swedish Norseman.

'Here to greet us is our very own Viking guide.'

Let me give you a hand off.

Wow, it's very high, isn't it? Yeah, it is.

I'm a very... Thank you very much.

You're more than welcome. I needed you.

'First Viking impressions...

'dashing!'

Fine. Quite high, isn't it?

All right. Welcome to Birka.

Thank you. Lovely to be here. Thank you. Good to hear.

Mind the gap.

You're very polite for a Viking.

Thank you very much. I try my best.

I'd like a hand.

Yes, of course Thank you.

'Pru's new best friend is leading us to the island's cemetery.

'Around 3,000 Vikings are buried beneath the mounds of Birka.'

When we find these standing stones on the graves,

in almost all cases it indicates there's a man buried.