Part 4: Panama, Darien Gap and Colombia • 2017 • episode "S1E4" • Walking the Americas with Levison Wood

198:47

James May charts the journeys of explorers through experiments and messing about in boats. Chapter 1: Christopher Columbus The host profiles famous explorers, beginning with Christopher Columbus. He may be celebrated as a national hero for 'discovering' the USA - but he never set foot there. James starts by travelling to south-west Spain, from where these world-changing voyages began. May takes the helm of his own sailboat to test the cutting-edge sail technology that allowed ships to travel further than ever - and the rudimentary navigation techniques that Columbus had to rely on. Chapter 2: Sir Walter Raleigh James follows Walter Raleigh's rise from rural Devon to London high-society. He meets top barrister Benet Brandreth KC at The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple to learn the techniques of persuasion that allowed Raleigh to talk his way to the top. James also explores the darker and more complex corners of Raleigh's legacy. Chapter 3: Captain Cook Captain James Cook was the last explorer in the age of sail - and one of the busiest, charting one third of the globe. His voyages brought huge advancements in navigation, biology, and geography, and in Britain he is generally thought of as a hero - but in other parts of the world, that's not the story. James May examines how this studious and serious son of a farmer broke through the class ceiling to become the greatest naval captain of his age.

2025 • Travel

43:18

This week we are exploring Romania's largest and most iconic region,mistaken by many Americans and others as a country in its own right. In fact Transylvania is a name that most of the western world still associates with Dracula, werewolves and folk legend. But this land beyond the forest defies all preconceptions and remains one of the most culturally important and beautiful parts of Eastern Europe.

S1E5 • Flavours of Romania • 2018 • Travel

44:25

The stories of mountaineers who have reached the summit of the world's tallest mountain, including a look at the dangers of the low oxygen levels at high altitudes. The programme examines the factors that allowed Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay's 1953 expedition to succeed where so many had failed, and reveals how the Sherpas, who work as porters and guides for expeditions, have a physiology uniquely adapted to surviving at high altitudes.

2021 • Travel

77:56

Riding across Oltenia, Charlie checks out a "glamping" resort and eco-hotels, enjoys the view from a sky hammock and takes in Craiova's arts scene.

S2E5 • Flavours of Romania • 2023 • Travel

59:13

The second of a two-part series, in which adventurer and broadcaster Simon Reeve travels deeper into beautiful and troubled Burma. Simon journeys up the vast Irrawaddy River to the old royal capital of Mandalay, home to an exotic market for precious jade. In Burma's mountainous highlands, he experiences the country's vibrant ethnic heritage at an extraordinary and explosive fire-balloon festival, Burma is a melting pot of different ethnic groups, and having seen first-hand the suffering of the Rohingya people on the first leg of his journey, Simon now travels secretly into one of Burma's many other conflict zones to meet a huge rebel army who have been fighting the Burmese military for decades.

S1E2 • Burma with Simon Reeve • 2018 • Travel

59:12

Simon Reeve begins his most ambitious journey yet - travelling the entire length of the Americas. In this first leg, Simon travels from Alaska, down through Canada to Vancouver.

S1E1 • The Americas with Simon Reeve • 2019 • Travel