Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/08/21/slow-tv-take-a-2-5-hour-narro.html
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In a similar vein, here’s the northern stretch of the Rideau Canal near Ottawa, Canada:
Four hours! The real-time footage is interspersed with historical tidbits.
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And there’s this:
Six seasons of some other guy traveling the canals by narrowboat. I got drawn in to the novelty of it for a bit, and then kept watching just to see if anything would, you know, happen. It never did. For some people that’s a real draw, so if you’re into that kind of thing then this is the kind of thing you’ll be into.
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Bilbo Baggins? There’s not enough people being mean in the world already?
I’ve enjoyed Boing Boing for years and thought this site was better than that.
I think you’ll find that may have been the actual name of the horse. I heard her say to the horse ‘go on, Bilbo’ at about the 38/39 second mark in the second video.
Conclusions. Always better reached in measured steps, rather than by jumping
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To be clear for those who didn’t see the video description, Bilbo Baggins is the name of the horse:
Boat horse Bilbo Baggins pulls narrowboat Elland through the Bingley Five Rise Locks on the Leeds & Liverpool canal in April 2012.
You can hear the nice horseboater in period costume call the horse Bilbo at the locks.
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I’d been watching Cruising the Cut, also on Amazon. I’ll check out your suggestion, since I ran out of episodes!
ETA: There are seasons of this on Amazon, not sure if YouTube has more of David John’s adventures.
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My apologies. That’s what I get for watching without sound and leaping to conclusions.
Sorry!
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If you sci-fi levels of excitement you will need to go to Scotland
https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/falkirk/falkirkwheel/index.html
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Falkirk Wheel needs more video …
Tom Scott is always good:
Action in this one starts about 2 mins in:
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Welcome to BoingBoing bbs.
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There is deliberately only natural sound, no music
A+ for that alone
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lol that is totally how it looks as written. I just sort of glossed over it figuring there must be a good reason for the Bilbo Baggins reference, like maybe that person really liked breakfast.
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I’m a huge fan of Travels by Narrowboat, and I watch Cruisin the Cut too, but mostly because I’ve binged all the seasons of TBN and need a narrowboat fix. TBN’s Kevin (AKA country house gent) is so hapless, you can’t help cheering for him. He also sometimes shows you how he cooks, which learns you a thing or two about being British.
Some of the best parts of TBN is that he shows you every bridge, lock, and bend in the canal. You can follow along on google maps, and every stretch has a scene. It’s also a secret triumph between him and all his viewers whenever he piggybacks with another boat on a lock, and Joy! when the canal trust volunteers are on hand to run the locks. But the best part is the put-put-put of the motor soundtrack that pervades the whole thing. It reduces my blood pressure by 10 points. At the end of the season, it turns out he spent 6 months to travel like 42 miles as-the-crow flies, and as another poster said, I guess I’m into it because this is the kind of thing I’m into.
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Sweet! I was seriously worried that I was somehow missing something, you know? Just wasn’t in on the joke, hep to the jive. Good to know that I’m not completely clueless, just wired differently.
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Two and half hours? Amateurs -
Norway still does it best, how about nearly ten hours of a Norwegian train trundling slowly to the Arctic:
It’s a bit like a diesel-powered version of ‘Frozen’.
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I just watched my first two episodes of TBN, and was amazed at how he just seemed to jump into it without any preparation. David Johns went through the purchasing process, inspection, and figuring out how everything worked on the boat before getting started. Definitely go with the flow vs. planned approach to travel. The maps on TBN are cool, though.
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Very relaxing…until the zombies come! Then it’s ZOMBOAT!
(Sorry I’m not allowed to link- it’s a show on Hulu)
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I am allowed to link, so here you go -
And welcome to boingboing Amy!
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