Walking The Thames with Tony Robinson | Episode 2 | Full Episode

Ajouté : 2026-05-12

[00:00:02]I've always been fascinated by the River Thames. It runs right through the place where I was born, London, where my family have [music] lived for 300 years.

[00:00:14]Now I'm going to get to know it even more intimately to find out what makes this one of the greatest rivers in the world.

[00:00:22]I'm walking the Thames Path, discovering how we tame the river.

[00:00:31]And that's it. Only another eight to go.

[00:00:34]And I'm meeting the people whose lives revolve around the Thames.

[00:00:38]>> actually trace ourselves [music] as fishermen and ferrymen from 1257.

[00:00:42]>> Oh, you're kidding.

[00:00:44]This is what the Royal Waterman used to do in Henry VIII's time, row their king.

[00:00:48]Are you about ready for winter? Yeah.

[00:00:50]Oh god, I'm going in the side again.

[00:00:52]That's my job.

[00:00:55]>> [laughter] >> You've caught me about a third of the way through my Thames Path [music] journey.

[00:01:10]Abingdon is just up ahead. Now I'm going to be looking at the midsection of the Thames, which for the last 100 years or so >> [music] >> has been most famous for boating and messing about in the river.

[00:01:25]From here I'll follow the river as it winds its way through the beautiful Thames Valley, stopping off at Henley-on-Thames, [music] and then on towards the palace at Hampton Court, a distance of around 100 miles.

[00:01:43]I'm just approaching Abingdon Lock. And you see how still and flat and essentially deep the Thames appears to be. Well, what I hadn't fully realized was that locks like this don't just help the boats go to and fro, but they also manage the level of the water all the way along the whole length of the Thames.

[00:02:06]>> [music] >> Before there were locks and weirs to partially dam the river, the Thames hundreds of years ago would have been far too shallow for all but the smallest of boats.

[00:02:20]Today, managing water levels falls to the Environment Agency.

[00:02:25]This morning I've got an appointment with lock keeper Richard Hawkins. Hello, chap. Nice to see you. To learn the ropes.

[00:02:32]Come here. You got it, mate. Lovely job.

[00:02:35]Morning, folks. And if you want to grab a back rope off [music] this gentleman here. I'm grabbing your back rope.

[00:02:43]And what we do is yeah, we'll just take half a turn around there and pass [music] it back to him.

[00:02:47]So how does this work? Do I turn this handle? No, unfortunately not. It's a bit too warm for that. We're going to cheat and use the buttons instead. Oh, it's controlled electronically. Yeah, so just push that one in. Now? Yeah, go for it. Hold them in nice and tight. Here we go. Closing the gates. Keep your thumb on it tight.

[00:03:02]Oh, all right. That's it. Keep it Closing the gates.

[00:03:04]Closing the gates now.

[00:03:05]>> Now we're closing the gates.

[00:03:07]Consummate professional, see?

[00:03:09]And we'll just go all the way till [music] you see them close, bang together, and that will that will make them mighty together nicely.

[00:03:15]Once the gates [music] are closed at each end of the chamber or pound as it's known, it can be filled or emptied to match the water level in the direction the boat wants to travel.

[00:03:27]Okay, Frank. Open them [music] up, mate.

[00:03:30]All clear, my love.

[00:03:32]There you go.

[00:03:34]And you've got locks like this all the way down the Thames. Yep, yep. There's 45 locks on the Thames plus one extra one on the tidal Thames. And essentially what they do is if you imagine before all the locks were built, the river ran its own course. It was like a almost like a slippery slope. And putting locks in just turns it into a nice gentle staircase. So we've sort of gentrified in a way, mate. Let's start it less dangerous.

[00:03:55]Come and see us again.

[00:03:56]Bye-bye now.

[00:03:59]How many boats do you get [music] going through here on a busy day? If we said, you know, August would be our busiest busiest month. We get about 3,000 boats in August alone.

[00:04:08]Um so on a weekday about 100, weekends 150, maybe a little bit more. So it's it's non-stop really. And we wouldn't be just be putting one boat in the lock like that one there. We'd be we'd be packing four or five in, all different shapes and sizes. And that's part part of the sort of um diplomacy of being a lock keeper really is keeping all the different river users happy. So we try our best.

[00:04:27]Before modern pound locks like this one were introduced, traveling up and down the river was far more risky and involved the use of flash locks. There was one here at Abingdon in the 17th century, which was simply a series of wooden boards that held the water back, but which could be removed quickly, allowing boats to ride the resulting flash or cascade of water.

[00:04:54]This Victorian weir, which is still in use today, uses large panels to hold water back and gives us at least some idea of what it must have been like for those early and very brave river voyages. So these are like the old boards, only these are made of metal.

[00:05:09]>> Exactly the same principle, yeah.

[00:05:12]All we're doing is we've got a removable section. At the moment it's raised. So if you can imagine that this was an old style flash lock, the opening will be slightly bigger cuz you might not going to fit a boat through here. But it's the very same idea.

[00:05:24]Maybe moored up on the opposite side, ready to come down.

[00:05:27]I'd lift this up.

[00:05:29]And then this would happen. They would go down through there. So when these boards were lifted, you'd get all this white water, wouldn't you? Exactly.

[00:05:37]Yeah, as you can see there's a lot of turbulence, a lot of noise. It's all quite disconcerting. And would the boats come down on this? Yeah, they would.

[00:05:43]They'd come up through on what we call this is the flash of boards. They'd come down through.

[00:05:47]>> It would have been chaos, wouldn't it?

[00:05:48]It would. It would. Uh Goring flash weir in the 16th century, a passenger boat sunk and there was nearly 60 people killed.

[00:05:57]To demonstrate the [music] power of the river, Richard has winched open one of the heavy iron boards. But damming the river again is a lot cruder, a lot more fun, and involves a large mallet.

[00:06:10]One, two, three.

[00:06:14]I'm getting in. Nicely done. Listen, listen, listen.

[00:06:20]It's silence, isn't it?

[00:06:21]>> It's here really silent, isn't it?

[00:06:22]>> That is so effective.

[00:06:25]I bet you're glad you had me here.

[00:06:27]>> [laughter] >> Controlling the water level at weirs is part of the job description for lock keepers like Richard. And now I've dammed the river, water needs to be released elsewhere to stop it flooding.

[00:06:44]Go make some tea during this bit.

[00:06:50]Little bit more. Keep going.

[00:06:53]Perfect. Lovely stuff.

[00:06:55]And that's it.

[00:06:57]Only another eight to go.

[00:07:00]And with that I make my excuses and a hasty [music] retreat.

[00:07:10]Just past the lock, the town of Abingdon is certainly worth a detour [music] off the river. It claims to be the oldest continuously occupied town in Britain.

[00:07:20]>> [music] >> In the backstreets you can find the remains of an abbey that was built by Benedictine monks 1,300 [music] years ago.

[00:07:30]Once upon a time this was the sixth most powerful abbey in the whole country, a massive enterprise. Now all that's left is this rather elegant-looking building here. It looks like someone's fairly posh house, isn't it?

[00:07:46]The building was most probably used to accommodate visiting dignitaries.

[00:07:51]The most vivid evidence of how glorious this place would once have been is this.

[00:07:58]It's called the Long Gallery now and was built round about 1450. Although initially it wouldn't have been one long room. It would have been divided into three. Look underneath this beam, you can see the slots where one of the partition walls would have been. And there's loads of slots all the way along here because this would have been a corridor along which people could ambulate and look out at that amazing view.

[00:08:30]Probably the best indicator of how fantastic the place would have originally looked is that. Nobody seems to know quite how old that wall painting is, but it does look medieval, doesn't it? And imagine this whole room was covered in paintings, which originally would have looked like that.

[00:08:52]Pretty stunning.

[00:09:00]What a daylight today. Abingdon is such a beautiful, quiet, tranquil place. But 300 years ago it would have been very different around here. The wharves were all along here. This was a place about buying, selling, commerce, industry. The boats would have been coming in and out all the time. The noise would have been incredible. The stink would have been awful from the manufacture of candles, from the leather tanning, from the brewing. Talking of which, there were about 50 pubs around here at that time.

[00:09:33]So in order to reflect on what the people of Abingdon used to do, I'm going to go in for a quick one.

[00:09:41]I'll see you back on the river.

[00:09:44]>> [music] >> Coming up, how the Victorians fell in love with the Thames. Oh, yeah. You really feel [music] the wind kicking, can't you? Yeah, that's it.

[00:09:53]And keeping the river clean. So that is raw sewage. Things [music] get a bit messy.

[00:10:02]A bit salty.

[00:10:10]My Thames Path Walk has brought me to the almost picture-perfect village of Clifton Hampden in the heart of Oxfordshire.

[00:10:19]It's long been renowned for its chocolate box charm that almost demands that you linger for a while on the river.

[00:10:26]>> [music] >> It's great just sitting [music] on the bank watching the fish jump up to catch the flies.

[00:10:40]This is the exact [music] opposite of how this place would have been when the Thames was the main commercial route out of London. There were 2,500 of those working the Thames in those days. A steady stream of them coming up towards Lechlade, then turning onto the canal towards Bristol. Then, poof, almost overnight, the railways came and the river ceased to be the most viable way of transporting goods.

[00:11:10]And what filled that gap?

[00:11:12]Leisure boating. The Victorians loved it.

[00:11:17]By the 19th century, for middle-class Victorians, going up river became the thing to do.

[00:11:25]They'd put on their finest clothes, dresses and hats for the ladies, blazers and flannels for the men, and take to the water.

[00:11:33]>> [music] >> The more adventurous would think nothing of rowing two or three days upstream for a little break, particularly if they had one of those, a skiff.

[00:11:49]I might just give it a go myself.

[00:11:55]I'd arranged to get on the river with Tom Balm in his antique skiff. Hi, Tom.

[00:12:00]Hello. Hi, Tony.

[00:12:02]He's something of a classic Thames enthusiast and rents out skiffs like this to people who want to sample the life of a Victorian boater.

[00:12:13]How long have there been skiffs around for? I would say the 15th century, 16th century, there's been skiffs around since What were they used for then? They would have been commercial craft for the purposes of ferrying their customers um due to the lack of bridges that had been built back then. You wouldn't have been able to dump much on them. They wouldn't have been goods vessels, would they?

[00:12:35]They wouldn't have been heavy goods, no.

[00:12:37]Pe- people passengering.

[00:12:38]>> Yeah. Yeah.

[00:12:40]It was the versatility of the skiff that led to its popularity during the leisure boom of the 1880s.

[00:12:46]Thousands were built as rental boats.

[00:12:48]They came in one or two-oar versions.

[00:12:52]>> [music] >> And there was an option of adding a sail, so you could make good headway on an escape from London. So you're going to put the sail up? Yeah. Let's hope we get [music] the wind. We've got the sculls here to >> back. reasonable progress.

[00:13:06]Well well saved. And it's pulled up right the way to the top. Reminds me of a little Thames barge. I'm making gentle progress there, I believe. Pull on that rope. Yeah. A good pull.

[00:13:18]You can feel the power in your hands, the power of the wind. Woah, yeah, you really feel the wind kicking, can't you?

[00:13:24]Yeah, that's it.

[00:13:27]Got a nice bit of pace.

[00:13:32]I love that solitary buzzard up there.

[00:13:40]>> [music] >> Yeah, you can really imagine, can't you, being Victorian, taking three days off, leaving work on Friday afternoon, getting back after lunch on the Monday, possibly.

[00:13:55]It became popular to camp on trips up river.

[00:13:59]There was even a version of a skiff that came complete with its own tent, and which Tom is keen [music] to demonstrate as a viable option for accommodation this evening.

[00:14:08]So four iron hoops and a complete tent.

[00:14:13]People really would sleep overnight in one? Yeah, absolutely, yep. Entire families would sleep on here.

[00:14:19]>> That's ridiculous.

[00:14:20]>> Yeah.

[00:14:21]Yep.

[00:14:22]You don't really need anything else.

[00:14:23]You've got your boat.

[00:14:25]Okay, that's it.

[00:14:27]And then it's just draped over the top.

[00:14:30]>> [music] >> You could say that in a way, this was the VW camper van of its day.

[00:14:35]Some savvy skiff rental companies even offered a collection service, so when you'd had enough, you could simply dump the boat and make your way back to London by train.

[00:14:45]Hey!

[00:14:47]Well, actually, that took a remarkably short time, didn't it?

[00:14:52]I beg pardon? I said >> [laughter] >> it took a remarkably short time, actually, didn't They are quick. Yeah.

[00:14:59]Yeah. Where did they sleep?

[00:15:01]>> a pleasure. Um they would have slept underneath the the canvas.

[00:15:07]They And then then we have your airbed.

[00:15:12]So that's how they would have slept.

[00:15:13]That's how they would have slept. Yep.

[00:15:15]Just out there. That's sleeping. That looks That looks really comfortable, Tom. I I Let me demonstrate what else they might have done. Sometimes they'd have parked the skiff like that and picked up their bag and gone to the pub for the night.

[00:15:30]>> [laughter] >> Cheers, mate.

[00:15:34]Night-night.

[00:15:39]>> [music] >> The Thames has long been an important water source, supplying Oxford, Swindon, and 80% of tap water in London.

[00:15:51]>> [music] >> Every day, 5 million tons of water move along the Thames as it approaches London.

[00:16:01]Of course, it's treated before we drink it and treated after we drink it, which is why I'm taking a short detour off the river [music] at Reading to find out what goes on at Thames Water's most advanced sewage plant.

[00:16:16]Now, I know this kind of detour might seem a bit weird for a Thames walker, but when I heard that before water from the upper Thames reaches London, it's been recycled eight times, I had to find out the dirty facts for myself.

[00:16:34]Less than 200 years ago, the answer for dealing with sewage for many riverside towns was simply to deposit it in the river with disastrous consequences.

[00:16:45]In London, by the 1850s, as these satirical depictions of the day show, the Thames was a filthy place. Indeed, so full of raw sewage, it was quite literally poison, and outbreaks of cholera and typhoid weren't uncommon.

[00:17:02]These days, modern processing plants like this one that services Reading can recycle raw sewage and return clean water to the environment in less than 24 hours.

[00:17:13]>> Cheers, mate.

[00:17:14]The reason that I'm getting all suited and booted up is cuz Barry here is going to chuck me in at the deep end in a minute. I certainly am.

[00:17:21]Do you want to come this way, Tony? I'll show you where it all comes in. Yeah, yeah.

[00:17:26]This is the start of the process?

[00:17:29]So that is raw sewage. That is raw sewage.

[00:17:33]An astounding 175 million liters pass through here every day.

[00:17:39]It doesn't actually stink as bad as you'd think it would, does it?

[00:17:42]>> Raw sewage very rarely smells. But there are still some dirty jobs that need manual handling, which is where I come in, removing foreign objects from the inlet screens. As you can see, that's all your rags and plastics and That's just stuff that's come through the sewer, but you can't process any other way. There's no way that that will dissolve. We want to get as much rag and fat and paper and grit out of it as humanly possible.

[00:18:09]>> I can see a few wet wipes there. Yeah.

[00:18:12]I believe this is yours. Oh god. It's part of your training. Just hook it off.

[00:18:18]Ah, here we go. Lovely stuff.

[00:18:23]Let me know, they use a lot of sweetcorn in Reading, don't they? They certainly do. We like to be healthy. Yeah.

[00:18:29]Picking through the private deposits of 220,000 Reading residents [music] isn't exactly the best job in the world. You turn the handle and turn it off. But it needs doing twice a week across eight screens.

[00:18:48]A [music] bit salty.

[00:18:55]The next stage is automated. The sewage is separated into number ones and number twos.

[00:19:01]Liquids are filtered in the settlement ponds, where bacteria naturally neutralize impurities.

[00:19:09]The solids are dealt with by other means.

[00:19:12]Right, if you want to know what happens to the poo, in here, it's mixed up with a thickener, and then it's taken along here where it's plowed and a lot of the water is taken out of it, so that by the time it gets to here, it's really quite dry.

[00:19:39]I bet you're glad I shared that with you.

[00:19:42]And the resulting sludge is then pasteurized inside giant digesters, where the methane it produces is used to generate 45% [music] of the plant's electricity needs. The final residue is recycled for use in agriculture.

[00:19:58]And the water? Well, after just 18 hours, those former household flashes are released into the River Kennet, a nearby tributary of the Thames.

[00:20:08]That looks pretty clean, doesn't it? It does. Should we go and take a sample and see how clean it is?

[00:20:14]At this stage, it's not safe to drink.

[00:20:16]It'll be treated again before it comes through your tap, but it's definitely clear.

[00:20:21]>> [music] >> So, there you are, then. That'll go into the River Kennet and on into the Thames, where it'll continue to be treated naturally by the sun and microbes and water plants, till eventually, one day, it'll be used to clean the car or someone will drink it, and it'll find its way back here again.

[00:20:43]And as for the human waste, well, that has been turned into sludge cake, which the farmer will use.

[00:20:51]>> [music] >> Coming up, in the rowing town of Henley, Race pace. I find out what it takes to be part [music] of an elite team.

[00:21:02]I think I over ruddered there. And I captain a boat that's much [music] more my style. It's lovely, isn't it?

[00:21:09]I've already got the the elbow out the window, one hand at driving. And you've been driving it for 30 seconds.

[00:21:21]I'm walking the Thames from source to sea, following the Thames Path, Europe's longest riverside walk.

[00:21:30]I'm now about halfway along the river's 200-mile length in the town [music] of Henley-on-Thames.

[00:21:41]This Oxfordshire town has long been important as a trading hub on the route to London by river.

[00:21:48]Records show a bridge here nearly 800 years ago.

[00:21:53]But in 1857, the arrival of the train line transformed this place virtually overnight into a leisure resort.

[00:22:02]>> [music] >> In the late 19th century, if you were a Londoner, you could get the train all the way up river to here to potter around on the river. And it became really popular. In fact, one summer's day in 1888, nearly 7,000 people arrived here from Paddington. It was like Benidorm on sea, but a bit posher.

[00:22:26]>> [music] >> And central to the town's popularity as the place to be seen in Victorian times was the annual Henley [music] Regatta.

[00:22:36]It got incredibly popular, and so many boats lined the river, you could virtually walk from one side to the other.

[00:22:43]Local newspapers complained the Thames was being invaded by roughnecks and working-class savages.

[00:22:51]Today, it's still a major sporting and social event held [music] in the first week of July.

[00:22:57]They're setting up for the regatta now.

[00:22:59]Takes about 8 weeks to put in all the pontoons and grandstands and corporate hospitality tents. [music] And the thing's become so popular that it can cost up to two grand for the four or five-day experience.

[00:23:17]Central to the regatta is the head-to-head rowing races, and there's no team more successful than the Leander Rowing Club.

[00:23:26]Their clubhouse is right next to the bridge.

[00:23:32]Inside, you're left in no doubt you're in the home of greatness.

[00:23:38]They are Britain's most historic and most successful [music] sports team, with 124 Olympic medals to prove it.

[00:23:45]Cool, look at all these Leander Olympic gold medal winners.

[00:23:50]Redgrave, Redgrave, Redgrave, Pinsent, Pinsent, Pinsent, Cracknell.

[00:23:55]Here's one.

[00:23:56]W G R M Laurie. That's Hugh's dad.

[00:24:01]Can't see mine anywhere.

[00:24:05]So, what's the key to producing champions?

[00:24:11]Hard work and dedication, obviously.

[00:24:15]But could it be the breakfasts? After all, it's 9:00 a.m. and this lot have already been out training on the river.

[00:24:21]Now, they're on their second breakfast of the day.

[00:24:25]Cool, look at this diet. First breakfast, cereal, banana, milk, juice, toast, bread, [music] honey. Then, a liter of sports drink.

[00:24:33]Second breakfast, three slices of toast, two poached eggs, portion of mushrooms, 200 g of baked beans, blah, blah, blah, afternoon snack, blimey, fish, meat, potatoes, blah, I can't get through it.

[00:24:47]6,230 calories. Got that at weight.

[00:24:53]Well, when in Rome.

[00:24:56]Why'd you only get that? What? Why'd you only get that?

[00:24:59]>> CUZ THAT'S MY TOAST.

[00:25:01]>> [laughter] >> THAT WOULD EXPLAIN IT.

[00:25:06]DO YOU WANT BUTTER?

[00:25:07]>> [laughter] >> What's the point in taking all this on board? It's just the volume of training that we do. Yeah. So, it's obviously an endurance sport, and you're you're burning such a a large number of calories anyway.

[00:25:22]>> Yeah. Thank you.

[00:25:24]That's more like it. Yeah, yeah. So, I mean, we've got another session in about an hour and a half. So, I don't want to have I wouldn't eat that necessarily, because I'd probably I'd probably see it again.

[00:25:35]Do you do jobs outside of this training for some >> Yeah.

[00:25:40]So, what what what do you what do you do? So, I um nanny for a family. Yeah.

[00:25:43]Um and then I also coach as well. Uh rowing coaching. And do a little bit of swimming teaching. So, I essentially have three jobs alongside this as well.

[00:25:58]I'm going out on a training session with chief coach Mark Banks. Cheers, mate.

[00:26:04]If anyone can give me an insight into what it's like to be part of a top team, he can.

[00:26:10]The success what Steve Redgrave and uh Katherine Grainger and all those other superstars [music] where you see getting Olympic gold medals, it they make it look easy, but it isn't.

[00:26:22]He's been coaching for 30 consecutive years at Olympic and world championship [music] level.

[00:26:29]As they're rowing, what are you looking at? The blade is in the water for 3/4 of a second, and we're looking, A, that the blades are going in at the same time, that the legs are propelling the boat, the legs are pushing before we start using the upper body, and then, of course, we're looking to see that they've got a really good rhythm, which is sustainable. And it's really quite simple. It's doing the common uncommonly well.

[00:26:59]As they skim across the river, it looks so easy, so elegant. The cox keeping the boat as straight as an arrow.

[00:27:11]>> [music] >> Having witnessed how it's done, >> [music] >> it's now my time to shine as part of an elite team. And for once in my life, my size is a major asset.

[00:27:25]You about ready for a winner? Yeah.

[00:27:27]Cheers.

[00:27:27]>> [music] >> Looking forward to it.

[00:27:29]I've managed to blag my way into the boat as [music] cox. Who's taller, you or me? Uh I think just about me, just.

[00:27:36]Nah, anyway, anyway, whoever. Well, I'm on the right size.

[00:27:39]>> You're on the right size for it, yeah, definitely.

[00:27:42]Sam Royston, their usual cox, gives me some tips on how to steer. So, this is the fin. This is how it keeps the boat straight.

[00:27:48]>> Oh, that's not the rudder. No, that's not the rudder. The rudder is just this little thing back here. It's a tiny thing here. It's a tiny little metal fin, yeah. I had always thought the rudder was the whole of the white thing.

[00:27:56]No, no. So, you're you're controlling something that's about that big, and you're wiggling a little bit of string that's about that tiny.

[00:28:03]>> 30 ft long or something like that.

[00:28:05]Well, that doesn't sound too bad. Bring it on. Up to heads, go.

[00:28:11]Yes, split, go.

[00:28:16]With a good briefing, I'm ready.

[00:28:19]You have to take me seriously, you know.

[00:28:21]Pushing off, three, two, one. Off we go.

[00:28:26]I mean, how hard can it be to steer a 50,000-lb, very fragile, carbon fiber boat? And What was I saying? Rowing off. R- Rowing off. Go.

[00:28:42]>> [music] >> Race pace.

[00:28:47]Well, they say fake it till you make it.

[00:28:49]And three, in my case, that's not very long.

[00:28:57]When you get in that situation, just stop rowing.

[00:29:00]I think I over ruddered there.

[00:29:04]Okay, take two. Backstops.

[00:29:08]Going off. Row.

[00:29:12]>> [music] >> Easy now, Simon. Easy. Not that I'm making excuses, but under full power, it's incredibly difficult to keep it straight.

[00:29:25]Oh God, I'm going into the side again.

[00:29:31]One thing I hadn't realized is the rudder doesn't give you the effect that you think it's going to give you straight away. It's a It's a few beats, and so you try and compensate even more, and then when it does kick in, you find yourself way over over that side.

[00:29:47]Okay. Go.

[00:29:50]One final go.

[00:29:57]Yep. I think I've got it.

[00:29:59]Okay, that's good.

[00:30:02]And then, just for the briefest of moments, I get a taste [music] of what it's like to fly across the water.

[00:30:08]Yes, like that. Well done.

[00:30:11]In a race, these guys would be covering at least a mile.

[00:30:14]I only managed to keep it straight for about 200 yd.

[00:30:19]Well, they say it's not winning that counts, [music] it's taking part.

[00:30:23]All good there, then. Thank you very much.

[00:30:26]I'll tell you what, that heavy breakfast didn't do me any favors.

[00:30:34]From Henley, I set off along a very boaty bit of the river, heading for the next village at Hurley.

[00:30:43]Hi.

[00:30:45]Hi.

[00:30:46]Everybody waves at each other. It's a communal place, isn't it? It's somewhere where we can share our traditions and [music] our history, even our etiquette.

[00:30:58]Hurley is the home of the oldest family of boat builders in Britain, who specialize in making these handcrafted wooden boats.

[00:31:07]Richard Freebody and his three sisters have history on the Thames that goes back to the 13th century. [music] Richard, never mind that this is going to become a boat. It's just such a gorgeous piece of carpentry.

[00:31:21]>> Ah, thanks, Tony. Yeah, no, it's um it's good fun.

[00:31:24]>> It's a very elegant shape, isn't it?

[00:31:25]Like a racing car.

[00:31:27]>> Very stylish, yeah. Yeah. It is quite exquisite. What's the wood? Uh so, this is Canadian cedar and this is mahogany. So, quite quite a contrasting How long would this take you? Just just this one boat to make?

[00:31:40]About 2 years, in all honesty. Yeah. Do you never make boats made out of fiberglass or plastic? Never ever, Tony.

[00:31:47]No, that's a terrible word to even mention around here, but uh And it's a family business, right? Yeah, very much so. So, over over 300 years. So, um >> 300 years?

[00:31:57]>> Yeah, that we can actually trace ourselves as fishermen and ferrymen from 1257. Oh, you're kidding.

[00:32:04]>> Undoubtedly built our own boats to to, you know, uh carry out the work. Um But, where are the documents from that allowed you to go that far back?

[00:32:12]>> Literally, uh old documentation uh relating to the Thames. Um so, we we are officially the the earliest um family boat builders uh in England, uh which is a lovely lovely accolade to have.

[00:32:27]Richard and his sisters are the 11th generation of boat builders. Soon, there may even be a 12th.

[00:32:34]Can we have a look at who's here? Hi, uh Kirsty.

[00:32:39]>> Hello.

[00:32:40]So, the these are your son and your daughters?

[00:32:43]>> this is George, Jessica, and Daisy.

[00:32:46]Hands up any of you who might like to build boats when they're a bit older.

[00:32:50]Ah.

[00:32:51]Well, that's good.

[00:32:52]>> like to build a boat when you're a big boy?

[00:32:55]What do you think, George? Yeah, three hands up. Three Fantastic. That would be lovely, wouldn't it? Another generation of boat builders here. Yeah.

[00:33:03]It's It's lovely. It's a way of life, really, rather than a uh uh >> [music] >> a business.

[00:33:10]Today, nine skilled craftsmen work alongside Richard building and restoring traditional boats.

[00:33:17]So, Tony, I don't know whether you can give me a hand, could you?

[00:33:20]Give me a hand is television speak for muck things up.

[00:33:24]>> Well, let's give it a go. Let's give it a go. We're going to just try and replicate this this bead here on the bottom edge.

[00:33:31]>> And all that is done by hand?

[00:33:32]>> Everything done by hand, yeah, absolutely. And it's very primitive.

[00:33:35]This is a a screw that's been cut off and sharpened up.

[00:33:38]>> Oh, you're joking. Look at that. Then, you said you were integrating technology into your boat building.

[00:33:43]>> Only when necessary. Um and and basically, it's a case of of pushing pushing this up to the edge >> Yeah. and just working the scratch along and gradually pushing slightly harder and harder and getting it deeper and deeper.

[00:33:59]So, why why don't you give it a go?

[00:34:01]Thank [music] you very much.

[00:34:04]I'm so nervous about about messing it up. Oh, I can do it up here.

[00:34:08]>> That's it. Just gradually just inch it forward.

[00:34:13]I think we'll make a boat builder out of you. I think you're sure. How long do you reckon it'll take you to get this to that state? [music] Uh it would it would take me probably about an hour to get that to that stage there.

[00:34:27]So, yeah. Yeah, yeah, it's um >> like a huge amount of work.

[00:34:33]Each boat receives at least 20 coats [music] of a special varnish, the details of which remain a closely guarded family [music] secret.

[00:34:43]Of course, you never know when a potential buyer may drop in looking for something rather special for the weekend.

[00:34:50]So, Tony, come and have a look at the showroom.

[00:34:55]Oh, look at this.

[00:34:58]That is so gorgeous. So, this is this is basically the the the finished um version of what you've been helping to build.

[00:35:08]>> [music] >> This 30-ft Freebody Slipper Launch is the top of the range. It's so quiet.

[00:35:14]Yeah, they're lovely.

[00:35:17]With an almost silent electric engine.

[00:35:26]Do you fancy a go?

[00:35:27]Oh, mate, I would so love to.

[00:35:30]>> it.

[00:35:35]Ah, this is beautiful.

[00:35:38]This isn't a sales pitch, Tony, but that that suits you. Thank you.

[00:35:44]Well, that's a well-rehearsed line.

[00:35:46]But, at 180,000 lb for a basic model, I best enjoy this while I can.

[00:35:53]It's lovely, isn't it?

[00:35:55]It's so luxurious.

[00:35:58]Come already got the the elbow out the window, one-handed driving. I haven't even driven it for 30 seconds.

[00:36:06]Do you know, I think Richard might be right.

[00:36:08]Gosh, it turns easily.

[00:36:11]Oh, my little darling. Yeah.

[00:36:14]It does suit me.

[00:36:17]This is the modern version of Edwardian life on the Thames.

[00:36:21]Gently cruising along, getting towards the end of the day, lovely warm temperature.

[00:36:30]I could get used to this.

[00:36:38]Coming up, I travel back in time at Hampton Court.

[00:36:42]Henry installed this clock, which not only told you the time, it also gave you the time of the tides, a sort of Tudor supercomputer.

[00:36:53]And catch a lift on the Queen's Royal Barge. The shiny stuff all over it can't really be gold. It is. It's 22-karat gold leaf, all hand-applied.

[00:37:08]I'm walking the Thames from source to sea, and for the last 70 miles, I've been following the middle Thames, the bit of the river that's gentle and best known for boating and leisure.

[00:37:23]Soon, as I approach London, the river will become tidal and much more industrial.

[00:37:29]But, before then, there's one last stop I want to make. [music] Over there, you can just see the chimney pots of Hampton Court Palace, where Henry VIII lived with his six wives and surrounded himself with lavish art and threw lavish dinner parties for ambassadors and bishops and various cronies. [music] Hampton Court was one of Henry's favorite palaces. It was opulent, impressive, and suited [music] his character.

[00:38:07]He was loud, brash, and charismatic.

[00:38:11]And being on the river, Hampton Court gave him easy access to London.

[00:38:20]Because the river becomes tidal just downstream from here, in the year 1540, Henry installed this clock, which not only told you the time, it also gave you the time of the tides, a sort of Tudor supercomputer.

[00:38:37]Having a clock that told the tides was essential to Henry because before there were locks on the Thames, riding high water was the only way to make the trip to and from London.

[00:38:49]Today, there's an annual pageant going on at Hampton Court, a similar spectacle to the ones Henry liked to create when he traveled [music] on the river.

[00:38:59]I've been invited to join them on this gilded barge, which is known as the Gloriana and is a very important boat.

[00:39:15]The Gloriana is our present Queen's Royal Barge, and I've managed to blag a lift on it.

[00:39:22]It was built for the Diamond Jubilee celebrations and led a flotilla of a thousand boats down the Thames.

[00:39:30]This boat was launched in 2012, but it's a replica of the kind of barge that was working the Thames.

[00:39:42]From the 16th century, the river became a place for royal pomp. Gilded barges were draped with banners. Boats carried musicians. This was the river of theater.

[00:39:55]>> [music] >> The current keeper of the Queen's barge is Malcolm Knight.

[00:40:00]This event has got a veneer of the ancient, but it's actually quite modern, isn't it?

[00:40:05]>> Totally modern.

[00:40:07]Uh but obviously we have we've made it to look like a traditional uh Tudor event. But it's what the Royal Waterman used to do in Henry the VIII's time.

[00:40:16]They used to row their king.

[00:40:18]So we're now going to row to the Tower to celebrate the importance of Her Majesty's Royal Highway, the River Thames. Back in Tudor times, would all of the royals have had their own barge?

[00:40:29]>> Yes, they did. That's how they got around because the roads in in London were thick mud and everything else. In those days, the the the boat was the car of London. It was the way to get around. The shiny stuff all over it can't really be gold. It is.

[00:40:45]It's 22-carat gold leaf.

[00:40:47]Um all hand-applied by a team from Hare and Humphreys. It's a special formulation that they've put together over the years, which um weathers very well.

[00:40:56]So fortunately we don't have to polish the the gold. Just have to polish the brass.

[00:41:03]Just like in the old-fashioned high-status barges, the insides are much more muted compared with all the gold on the outside. This is where the Queen sat when she was taking her tea here. And up here, all of these paintings on the roof are hand-painted. And they're birds going from the estuary right up to the start of the river. Swan, plover.

[00:41:28]Lovely, aren't they?

[00:41:30]>> [music] >> After an hour, we reach Teddington Lock, the official end of the non-tidal river.

[00:41:44]>> [music] >> You're going ashore? I am indeed. Yes.

[00:41:48]Welcome to Sarafoloma. Thank you very much.

[00:41:50]>> It's a pleasure to meet you. Thank you.

[00:41:51]Thank you very much. Enjoy the rest of your time on the river. See you.

[00:41:57]Well, that's the end of my jaunt on the Gloriana. And indeed, it's the end of my walk along the middle Thames. This is the final lock, Teddington. And after that, London.

[00:42:07]But that's for next time.

[00:42:10]Next time, whoa.

[00:42:12]I follow the Thames through the heart of London. I have actually found something.

[00:42:17]Hey, up.

[00:42:18]Discovering how the river made the city >> This is what we call liquid history.

[00:42:23]into a trading powerhouse and an icon to the world. The bridge is coming down.