After finishing another guided cycling trip from London to Paris making this one my 6th time it was time for a quick blast back to Bristol and a very early start to go underground in Bristol for a BBC series “Britain Beneath Your Feet” which is coming out early next year.
I meet the film crew at 7 am by the Cottage pub, we got geared up and i led the team in canoes to gate 504 which is right in the center of town by the fountains. From here we made our way underground in Bristol passing beneath the center with some very low sections with the ceilings being only 2 foot off the water.
A map of the tunnels underground in Bristol can be found here – https://www.bristol.gov.uk/sites/default/files/assets/documents/big-blue-map-of-bristol.pdf
As we paddled through we came to our first obstacle after around 200 meters of paddling in the form of a weir. We had to take all of the kit out of the boats and drag them over the top. The water on the other side was now part of the river Frome and had been diverted to flow away from the center. The water level was very low and in order to get the kit in the boats meant wading through deep, sticky mud.
We then paddled up stream navigating a few lefts and rights until we came back out into day light again after around 2 km of paddling underground. Now we started filming for the series with myself and the presenter ‘Dallas’ in a boat together going into the tunnels and exploring. We had several peaces to camera and i had good few lines to deliver so i am looking forward to seeing how the final film comes out.
I will keep you all posted when the release date of the film is, i am looking forward to it.
