Michael Portillo embarks on a second spectacular rail journey through Alaska into Canada on the White Pass and Yukon railway.\n\nArriving in Skagway by seaplane from railwayless Juneau, Michael heads first for Dyea and the Chilkoot trail, which the first gold prospectors hiked 100 years ago to the Klondike. Among them, he discovers, was author Jack London, whose stories of sled dogs captured the spirit of the gold rush. \n\nIn the puppy pen of a sled dog training camp, a dog musher tells Michael how huskies helped to build Alaska and gives him an insight into how the dogs continue to work and race today. \n\nBoarding the 52-mile railway, built in 1898, which climbs 2,600 feet before dropping to the head of Canada’s Lake Bennett, Michael looks forward to beautiful scenery on a railway laden with history. At the lake, Michael meets an indigenous guide to hear of the role of First Nations people in the stampede for gold. \n\nIn Carcross, Yukon, Michael helps to carve a totem pole and is invited to shake his tail feathers in a “grouse” dance.\n\nFrom Vancouver in the south of British Columbia, Michael prepares to trace some 600 miles of the first transcontinental railway route across the Canadian Rockies. He boards the Canadian Pacific Railway Engine 374, which linked the vast nation of Canada from the Atlantic to the Pacific in 1887, to unearth the story behind this grand feat of engineering and the bribery and corruption which brought down a government. And Michael learns that without this railway, there might not be a unified Canada today.\n\nFrom Vancouver’s Skytrain, Michael explores the nation’s most densely populated city. A taste of the outdoor life in the thousand-acre Stanley Park prompts Michael to head for the home of the Vancouver Giants and Trinity Northwestern University to try an iconic Canadian sport, ice hockey. It is a brave move - but not a glorious one.\n\nMichael is on more familiar territory on set at the Canadian Motion Picture Park, known in the industry as the Hollywood of the north. He discovers the first film made in Canada was created at the time of his guide. Michael directs an Oscar-worthy scene of his own.
Source: BBC 2
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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 3: 19. Los Angeles To Laguna Beach
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 ...
07-12-2022
BBC 2
Series 3: 7. Montreal, Quebec
Following a special 1899 Canadian edition of his Appleton's guide, Michael Portillo has left the United States and crossed the border to embark on the next leg of his rail journ ...
16-11-2022
BBC 2
Series 4: 3. Skagway To Vancouver
Michael Portillo embarks on a second spectacular rail journey through Alaska into Canada on the White Pass and Yukon railway.\n\nArriving in Skagway by seaplane from railwayless ...
21-09-2022
BBC 2
Series 2 Reversions: 1. St Louis To Jefferson City, Missouri
02-09-2024
BBC 2
Series 4: 10. Edmonton To Jasper
Michael Portillo continues west through the Canadian Prairie on his thousand-mile rail journey from Winnipeg, Manitoba, to Jasper, Alberta. Following his 1899 Appleton’s g ...
11-10-2022
BBC 2