Clutching his 1899 copy of Appleton’s Guide to Canada, Michael Portillo travels on the Ocean train from Nova Scotia to New Brunswick. Along the way, he investigates the world’s biggest tide at Hopewell Rocks and admires its dramatic rock formations and caves. \n\nMichael apparently defies gravity on a magnetic hill in a 1965 Pontiac Bonneville. North of Moncton in Miramichi, he joins the Elsipogtog First Nation in a pow wow, where he learns about quilting and traditional dress. In Amherst, Michael investigates the history of an ambitious ship railway designed to ferry ships by rail over the isthmus between the Bay of Fundy and the Northumberland Strait. He quarries highly-prized Wallace sandstone for a 150-year-old family firm.\n\nIn the Acadian fishing village of Neguac, New Brunswick, Michael discovers sea farmers are producing up to 15 million oysters a year. Michael takes to the water to investigate how it is done and is rewarded with a taste of the freshest mollusc he has ever sampled. \n\nMichael's guidebook leads him to Miramichi, where he reads that French-speaking Acadians settled after they were expelled by the British from lands they had occupied further south. Intrigued by a tale of 18th-century ethnic cleansing, Michael visits an historic village to find out about these people and why Britain took such drastic action against them. \n\nBoarding the night sleeper for the next 400 miles of his journey, Michael heads for Quebec City, where old Europe survives in the New World. With its narrow streets and flights of steps and a hotel modelled on a 16th-century chateau, Quebec City was the heart of New France and reminds Michael of Paris - yet the Quebecois national dish leaves him cold.
Source: BBC 2
Series 2 Reversions: 9. Chicago To Champaign, Illinois
21-08-2023
BBC 2
Series 2 Reversions: 5. Santa Fe, New Mexico, To The Grand Canyon
14-08-2023
BBC 2
Series 2 Reversions: 4. La Junta To Colorado Springs
10-08-2023
BBC 2
Series 2 Reversions: 2. Sedalia To St Joseph, Missouri
08-08-2023
BBC 2
Series 2 Reversions: 1. St Louis To Jefferson City, Missouri
07-08-2023
BBC 2
Series 3 Reversions: 3. Berkeley To Santa Cruz
Following his Appleton's guide, Michael Portillo makes a trip to the jewel in the crown of America's National Parks, Yosemite, to behold its towering granite cliffs, its giant s ...
06-06-2018
BBC 2
Series 1 Reversions: 4. Schenectady To Niagara Falls
28-07-2016
BBC 2
Series 4: 5. Kamloops To Calgary
Clutching his 1899 Appleton’s Guide, Michael Portillo boards one of the world’s most famous trains, the Rocky Mountaineer, to cross the backbone of the North America ...
26-09-2022
BBC 2
Series 3 Reversions: 5. Los Angeles To San Diego
Michael Portillo strikes oil in the suburbs of Los Angeles, contemplates his navel in the orange groves of Riverside, makes a California roll and paints a pretty picture in Lagu ...
11-06-2018
BBC 2
Alaska And Canada: 1. Ninilchik To Spencer Whistlestop
Michael Portillo heads for the Last Frontier of the United States armed with his 1899 Appleton's Guide-Book to Alaska. Written by an intrepid 19th-century female explorer, the b ...
24-07-2023
BBC 2
Series 4: 4. Vancouver Island To Kamloops
Michael Portillo explores British Columbia, steered by his Appleton’s Guide to Canada, published in 1899. He discovers how two superpowers nearly came to war over a pig an ...
22-09-2022
BBC 2
Series 2: 10. Albuquerque, New Mexico, To The Grand Canyon, Arizona
03-02-2017
BBC 2