Britain's Best Canals

The series starts with John navigating the Peak Forest Canal, which runs through stunning countryside from Buxworth in Derbyshire to Ashton-under-Lyne.

The broadcaster leaves central Manchester, heading east along the Rochdale Canal. Not long into his journey, John finds himself struggling to contend with 19th-century technology at a cotton works. Further up the canal, he helps out members of an conservation group clearing the waterway of dumped supermarket trollies.

The broadcaster takes in the delights of the Lancaster Canal, setting out from Tewitfield. As he meanders down the waterway, John cannot resist visiting Carnforth railway station, where he re-enacts his favourite scene from the classic film Brief Encounter, some of which was filmed there.

John travels down the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, one of the oldest and prettiest canals in Britain, setting off from Wolverhampton in the West Midlands down to the River Severn.

John is barging his way along the Oxford Canal, which meanders through the heart of the gentle English countryside until it reaches the River Thames in Oxford.

The Regent's Canal runs through the heart of London linking the docks with the rest of Britain. John navigates the history filled route, finding the East End's haunted Ragged School, and making and sampling a bottle or two of Mother's Ruin along the way. The veteran broadcaster even finds time to stop off to feed the giraffes at London Zoo. Last in the series.