[bells ring] We're trying to watch Canal Boat
Diaries! You carry on ringing, yeah! [Clint]: that is an absolute liberty!
Canal Boat Diaries series 4 has been and gone it's been out on the BBC it's on iPlayer if you
want to catch up with it four episodes a lot to cram in because we're traveling from Sheffield
to Braunston, that's 300 miles in four times 30 minute segments yeah some things are going
to get cut out but today I'm going to show you what happens between locations sometimes
we have to end filming let's say in Nottingham (end of episode three) and start again on the
next episode somewhere else like Loughborough so in this video I'm going to show you exactly
what happened between those two locations via my trusty iPad down here I'm just going
to watch it along with you and tell you what's going on as we get through it right here we go
well first of all we've got these lovely shots of naughty lass moored up in Nottingham where
I broke down at the end of episode three it wasn't planned it just it just happened unfortunately the
oil pressure switch um just basically popped off its uh where it was mounted and sprayed oil all
around the engine bay and lost oil pressure so you can't really operate the old engine can you
so I got my friend Sven here into have a look - this guy's called Sven Osborne is a local
boat mover and top boat mechanic
[Sven] you can feel that it's broken off and the leftover being in the banjo [Robbie] right
can we fix it [Sven] we can fix that! excellent
see I do all my boat building on the Towpath I've fitted two boats out now
so you get very good at figuring out how to hold things how to move things
I'm just watching on while this goes while the blow torch is out
I have got a blowtorch it's just uh probably safer that I don't use it
give it a second and it'll set
Shouldn't take long in this temperature but this is something like 20 times stronger
than normal solder so... you've got that lovely, and she's getting there... she's
got it [talks about his job
towing boats]... I'm towing one down to the Erewash and taking one back up to
Mercia [marina] we like towing it's working for a moment your boat's set up the way you like it
yeah and you've got a heater at the back that's a good idea right so we'll just get a wobble
right together check we're all good on that then we're happy to go I just need to uh refill it and
fire it up and then we'll check it yeah excellent such a nice guy Sven - I mean he was there the
next day pretty much and that's that's very rare for mechanics to be able to just drop
what they're doing and come out to see you I obviously did say that we're making a TV program
yeah and I mean I haven't even thought about that even thought about moving um...
this is it Canal life you sort of just
you make plans but often you just think oh someone's going through a lock so if I go now
you know I can save water and save time so your day has to be very fluid
he's fixed it!
Sven - absolute legend he is, although I felt bad because in the series we had a shot of him
he's in it but you just think it's me because we look quite similar
in in terms of body shape both quite tall
this is on the Nottingham & Beeston Canal headed out of Nottingham so now I'm free to
crack on with the journey as planned At this point in time it's 20th of December I believe
and look at that rain this is what greeted me at Beeston I went through Beeston lock so I've
left the canal behind me and now I'm on the river Trent again but it does not look good
apart from that lovely time lapse so I had a lot of time here I had about a month in Beeston
whoa
I was just chatting to this boat right here Ed cheers Ed about wood
on the River look at all this stuff here it just floats floats along I
thought this is too big this one to let slide so I've had it out the river and uh
a chainsaw out... So I've got my supplier firewood coming to me right to my door and but I had to
travel to a nearby house to um see this guy who was a guitar luthier who is someone that
makes guitars but he's just setting it up and he's also telling me all the normal problems
that need to get sorted out [Robin] They're all very similar cool and it doesn't matter whether
you've paid for an 85 pound Argos special or a 10 000 pound custom job PRS nearly always we get a
problem playing the F chord because the nut slot's aren't cooked properly the action is usually too
high which is usually a case of sorting out the bridge and/or the truss rod but the big problem
is always individual places all over the fins board where you've got high frets and that's
usually when you need a fret dress! Here I am in Pub of the week one of the pubs in beeston anyway
Look I'm all on my own (this is just a video I sent to a friend) look that's your seat there
(who doesn't like football) but you'd have to watch football with me and you might not like that
Here's me after I've had me head shaved - that's right I haven't
got any hair! - certainly not after her going to this barbers anyway
I'm just joking with him - if I get this shot I don't have to pay for my haircut
'Yeah free haircuts for life!' [Laughter]
This is what I saw every day pretty much looking out on Beeston Weir
so cold
so what do you do when it's cold you go to a room full of sweaty metal fans I'm not in the
crowd here but I'm above looking down soaking it all up because this is exactly my cup of tea
this band's called The Amity Affliction, they're from Australia and
it was a good show this is in Birmingham basically the home of metal isn't it
this might look ridiculous to you but it brings back a lot of good memories for me
in the mosh pit when I was a lad [Music]
the genre of this music probably called metalcore
so they're screaming and singing - exactly waht this crowd wants
[Music]
so after that gig I'm back on the river and look at these cormorants I love it when they just fan
their wings like that drying them off and uh let's check on the wood... It's been about
a week since I fished out all this wood from the river I've just got my moisture
meter here and that'll tell me whether I can burn it or not let's have a look sticking that in
18.2 moisture that's pretty that's all right actually that's pretty good it's when it's
reading something like 40 what's in the red means you can't do it that's looking all right
if I chop this up oh look at that it's perfect. noice.
next this one had too much wind on it to have any uh
noise so I'll just play some music from my latest album Choons one
and two - have you not heard about this??! It's just been there the whole time [Music]
but this little bit is simply just a junction to take you
*up onto the River Soar that's the way I'm headed here a beautiful sun setting
This is just about exactly a month after I arrived at Beeston
there's the naughty lass coming through the lock... and then this is onto the canalised
section of the river Soar and yeah you can see oh it's very muddy you'll need your boots when
you're on this towpath it's not hardly even a towpath but um you can see that ice there
so there's no ice until about there and then all the way around that bit there is all iced over
not very thick but I'll I'll try again tomorrow morning because as you can see the sun has set
That was actually a video that I just made up for my producer and my drone pilot we've
got a WhatsApp group and I just shared them a video of how the journey's going because
I'm moving the boat on my own and it's not going too well because it's as you can see
very very cold very icy oh but it's magical isn't it I'm just gonna let these play out
now these are the kind of shots that I'm always getting a few of these
um just in case they're needed so they're not...
it's not the end of the world if I don't get these but these are nice little things to just
pop in over the top of what I'm saying um just like how I edited my YouTube videos just now
um having a nice image over talking makes it more interesting doesn't it really
this is actually just half of my barge pole and the other half well you can see where
it's splintered off at the end so that yeah that's the end of my old barge Pole
completely splintered right down the middle can you see it? Luckily I've
got the most amazing people in the world supporting me on YouTube and just all over
and this is one of them Andy Peyton a local guy came down he was he saw the
live videos I've been making so if you want to actually see the journey go back to my YouTube
channels and you'll see the live streams of the journeys I made between Beeston and Loughborough
and here we are near a place called Mount Sorrel
and um this is the tug coming down and it's a guy I know actually
but I've not seen him since [canal boat diaries] series one!
so it's always nice to see a friendly face
yeah before long it's my own turn to uh break through some ice no one had been this way
since it all frozen over no one's stupid enough to go through all this!
in fact that ice it's not the thickest if you watch canal boat diaries series 4 episode 4
you will see me going through even thicker but this is all the day before we started shooting
in Loughborough so I've got to get there first into this Basin crashing through all this ice
I'm just filming it just in case we need it
which is the only way I'm using reason why I'm using this footage now on YouTube
because we didn't use it in the program and I've actually thought you know I'm not gonna
barge my way into the basin I'm gonna stay at the previous junction... but I went for it,
I was in the mood to get something done and when that happens you can't stop me!
Just to reach the end of this basin it just became my primary goal or I'm just going
to do it I don't care I'm facing this way I'm just gonna keep going no turning back!
it's really quite sad this basin because it should be nice old features that you
recognise from the canal's past but it's all modern buildings student accommodation
there's a hotel there's a gym there's no pub so there's no 'Pub of the Week' action
there was nearby Wetherspoons that I got my breakfast in the next day but that was it
my primary focus here is to try and get in try and turn round
fill up with water it's just uh it was a very busy evening and it dragged on and on and on
but sometimes it's like that it's not all you know sitting on the back of the boat drinking beer
that's what we work towards!
so you can see there it's a really difficult thing
to do try and turn around in ice it's not going to happen is it
I just went straight in there
moored up and then I spent the rest of the day breaking up all
the ice around me yeah it wasn't fun and I didn't film any of it
so that's it that's what happened between episodes three and four I hope that's filling it in for you
somewhat and it was entertaining just to see some other random clips on my phone before I
go I want to add in some new names to my crank it crew logbook these are people that are supporting
the channel through Patreon.com/robbbiecumming Helen Scott is a producer joined by Scott Hudspeth
so he also gets a little red flags next to his name and then we've got Adam sorry Adam I messed
up that letter there Wickens and Hazel Smith if you're on the crank it crew give yourself a
massive pat on the back because you've helped me through well at the moment a time where I don't
really know if I've got another series of Canal Boat Diaries and I'm trying to work on stuff like
music and maybe even writing a book but all that takes time and it takes me away from YouTube so
I really do appreciate your support I must say a massive thank you as well to all the comments that
I've received over the last few months about BBC Canal Boat Diaries being on and I've just
been completely blown away by the response that everyone has shared with me on Facebook as well
that yeah there's so many people and it's I've not even been able to get through all the comments
that's how many there were so thank you if you've left a comment I really do appreciate your support
[Music]
right what would you rate this as a way of breaking the eyes it's beyond PG! [Laughter]