The Grand Union Canal was created in the early 1930’s by the amalgamation of several existing canals. The section from London to Braunston was already to a wide beam standard, but in the 1930’s the narrow beam section from Braunston to Birmingham was deepened and widened to create a broad gauge canal capable of taking 70 tonne barges. Because of onward deliveries beyond the wide beam system, paired narrow boats became the normal operating mode.
Today’s legacy is an attractive and heavily used leisure canal. This programme covers the journey from one of the hubs of the canal network at Braunston through pleasant open countryside, through Royal Leamington Spa and Warwick, and finally right into the heart of Britain's second city, Birmingham. The penultimate few miles are little changed from when the commercial carriers abandoned the network in the 1960’s, and then suddenly, one emerges onto the world stage, right into the heart of one of the most ambitious and successful urban regeneration schemes of modern times; Gas Street Basin and the waterway heart of modern Birmingham.