01x02 - River Deep Mountain High

[bunniefuu]

[Joseph] Ran, what is it that

drives the intrepid adventurer

to come to these territories?

[Ran] It's impossible

to generalize over it.

It's in the DNA

of that particular person.

[Joseph] You could

step out here,

and you wouldn't

come across civilization

for hundreds of miles.

[Ran] Hundreds of miles.

You can go in an airplane

over this place

and for an hour,

you can see nothing.

It is so nice knowing

there is a place like this.

♪

[Joseph] I'm Joseph Fiennes,

and I'm in Western Canada

for a unique adventure.

As an actor, I've helped bring

fascinating stories to life.

But I'm here with someone

whose real-life journey

is more awe-inspiring than

anything I've encountered,

Sir Ranulph Fiennes.

The Guinness Book of Records

named him the greatest

living explorer

after being the first person to

surface circumnavigate the globe

via both the North

and South Pole.

[Reporter] The expedition has

covered more than 100,000 miles

by land, sea, and ice.

[Joseph] He's also my cousin,

known to me as Ran.

Now I'm living the dream,

as I join him

on a new adventure of our own.

That was so smooth.

I think he might have

done it before.

Do you think

he's done it before?

In 1971, age just 27,

Ran led a team to attempt

the first recorded crossing

of British Columbia

via its waterways.

The expedition was captured

by a BBC film crew.

Now, some 50 years later,

we are retracing

the epic route across land.

So far, we've explored the

depths of ancient glaciers

I'm standing right now,

my feet being absolutely frozen.

[Ran] Poor cousin Joe,

let's get the towel out.

[Joseph] and witnessed

the awesome power of nature

that Ran faced five decades ago.

Ran, you were just paddling

down here just a moment ago.

[Ran] Just paddling, sunbathing.

[Joseph] Now we're

continuing our adventure,

traveling through

beautiful landscapes

and meeting incredible people

and most importantly,

spending time together.

[Ran] In those days,

we thought we could do anything.

[Joseph] So join me as I

take on the wilderness of Canada

with my cousin Ran, the world's

greatest living explorer.

To the edge

but not over the edge?

[Ran] I can't promise. [laughs]

♪

[Joseph] Ran and I

began our journey

with a Déné

First Nations blessing.

And we truly have been blessed

with natural beauty,

as we've traveled hundreds of

miles across this stunning land.

Just like Ran's team

five decades ago,

we've got the finish line,

Vancouver, in our sights.

And who needs a podcast

when you're traveling

with the world's greatest

living explorer,

who's got hundreds of stories

for each of his adventures.

[Ran] In the Arctic, we had

19 polar bears on that one trip.

It was because we found

that polar bears

would only follow

the rear person.

They'll always go

for the rear person.

[Joseph] To pick off

the most vulnerable?

[Ran] The r*fle was

the only thing we had,

so we gave it to the rear man.

And on one occasion,

he heard something,

and the bear was only

about 20 yards behind him.

[Joseph] I would volunteer

to lead, if that was me.

[Ran] Ha ha!

[Joseph] But on the previous

leg of our journey,

Ran shared more than just tales

of his countless adventures,

as he also opened up about

the new challenges he's facing.

[Ran] I was seeing a doctor,

and he said, "I think

you've got Parkinson's."

I don't shake much.

If it shakes, I can

look at it and say,

"Stop it," like

you would to a dog.

So I don't get the shakes

at the moment, touch wood,

but I do get memory lapse,

more than I already had.

[Joseph] It made me realize that

this might be our last chance

to travel together like this,

so I'm grateful Ran

was more than up

for joining me on this trip.

Ran is 79, knocking on

very closely to his 80th year,

and as much as I admired

hugely his determination

and his strength

and his sheer joy

and love of life

and walking and the wilderness,

I noticed this time around,

there were restrictions

within his movement.

And he was now embarking

on another adventure,

dealing with the condition

of Parkinson's.

And I think that has thrown

Ran, as it would anyone.

But he has such

an unstoppable energy.

Five decades ago,

the 27-year-old Ran

effortlessly scaled the

mountains of British Columbia

to gain a bird's-eye view of

the river they were navigating.

This vantage point allowed him

and his team to decide

on which fork

in the river to take.

Hoping to replicate

this experience,

Ran planned to lead me

up a mountain.

To do this, we've crossed

the border from British Columbia

to Alberta to Mount Norquay,

named after one of the first

indigenous provincial premiers.

Here they've installed

a via ferrata trail,

a climb equipped

with steel ropes and rungs

to assist novices like me.

However, this time,

given Ran's condition,

it was advised

he shouldn't climb.

[Ran] Well, I would have been

an instructor in ferrata

only 20 years previously,

sort of thing,

before I got Parkinson's.

And so I thought, what a shame,

I'd love to go back

and do a bit of ferrata work.

♪

[Joseph] For Ran, via ferrata

was a walk in the park.

This is a man who,

at the age of 65,

climbed the highest peak.

In May 2009, Ran reached

the summit of Everest

on his third attempt.

With this achievement,

he became the first person

to cross both polar ice caps

and reach Everest's peak.

I would have loved

to climb via ferrata

with my legendary cousin,

but instead, I have to get

my tips in beforehand.

[Ran] First of all,

get your second carabiner

and fix that on the far side,

then undo your existing one.

If you always remember that,

it's 100% safe,

apart from rockfall from above.

[Joseph] Or bears or eagles.

[Ran] Bears and eagles

on ferrata, no.

[Joseph] No way.

Should we embark?

[Ran] Let's go.

[Joseph] Okay.

Luckily Ran can join me for

the first, more leisurely part

of the ascent.

This would make Everest

a bit easier, wouldn't it?

[Ran] It certainly would.

[laughs]

♪

[Joseph] Seeing that Ran

can't lead me up,

he's organized

local guide Kevin Hjertaas

to show me the ropes

and get me kitted up.

How long do you estimate?

[Kevin] It usually takes

about six hours.

Bit of hiking,

bit of rock climbing.

[Joseph] Before I disappear,

there is that lesser-known sport

of spotting

the amateur climbing

[Ran laughs]

and hopefully not falling.

[Ran] Good luck.

[Joseph] Thank you

so much, thank you.

During the six-hour route,

I'll be ascending 360 meters,

climbing rock faces,

scaling ladders,

and navigating wire bridges

across sheer drops.

I know I've got Ran watching

on binoculars down below,

so he'll be watching

my every move,

so I've got to make sure.

[Kevin] He'll be criticizing.

[Joseph] He will,

so help me out with technique.

[Kevin] All right.

But he'll be thinking

back to Everest

and thinking we look

pretty weak up here.

[Joseph] Yeah, he will, yeah.

♪

[Ran] Go left, Joe, go left.

♪

[Joseph] This is the point Ran

stressed earliertransitions.

Unclip, move,

and reattach one carabiner,

and only then,

release the second.

Isn't that right, Ran?

[Ran] Yup, that's it.

Well done, brilliant.

♪

Disappeared behind a rock.

Probably come out

to the left, I suppose.

♪

[Joseph] What a view.

♪

Is this the summit right ahead?

[Kevin] Yeah, that's

the summit block there.

[Joseph] Wow.

[Kevin] But to get there,

we have to swing around

and then cross this bridge.

[Joseph] Oh, wow. I see.

How much time would that

save us going across there?

[Kevin] Well, it's

the only way we have,

so that's gonna

save us all the day.

[Joseph] Okay, well,

I'll go with that, then.

Well, we've done ladders.

Why not do wire bridges?

It's got a wonderful

simplicity to it.

[Kevin] [laughs]

That's a great way to put it.

All right, the idea is you want

one lanyard on either cable,

and then it's just

a matter of balancing

and tightrope-walking

as you go.

[Joseph] Kevin leads the way

across the 10-meter-long wire.

♪

If there's ever a time to ensure

you're securely clipped on,

below me is a sheer drop.

♪

This is probably

the one section of the climb

Ran is happy to have missed.

[Ran] The vertigo, it's a phobia

from when I was small,

and I tried to get rid of it.

[Joseph] And the Ran way

to do that is confront it

in the most extreme

way possible.

[Ran] Everest didn't

really get rid of the vertigo

because when you look down

on Everest,

you just see a white slope,

not a sheer cliff.

After that, I climbed

the north face of the Eiger

on which many top

European climbers have died.

And that was at least

6,000 feet sheer.

[Explorer] So Ran's

basically hanging,

completely above the void.

[Ran] Not liking it one bit,

I'll tell you!

That worked.

I felt that I now don't

have it anymore, the vertigo.

But a couple of years

later at home,

our gutters on the third floor

are blocked up with leaves,

and they begun coming

all over the place, the water,

so I got the big ladder out

and I started climbing up it,

and about halfway up,

it wobbled like hell,

and it just came back.

The vertigo came back

in a very big way.

[Joseph] How you climb

to the top of Everest

when you're afraid

of heights is beyond me.

But wire bridge navigated,

I press on up the mountain.

[Ran] Well done, Joe.

[Joseph] I've only got

the final summit block to climb,

and I'm there.

[Joseph] From the top

of Mount Norquay,

I've been promised

a 360-degree view

of this beautiful

wild region of Canada.

Nearly there.

Last push to the summit.

What a joy.

What a great day at the office.

♪

Well, thank you, Kevin.

And we're the only ones up here.

[Kevin] My pleasure.

Go enjoy it.

You got it all to yourself.

♪

[Joseph] That's got to be

good for the lungs.

Pure mountain air.

I can see why Ran is driven

and addicted to this.

Just stunning.

The summit is just

under 2,500 meters high,

not quite the near

9,000 of Everest.

[Ran] We got to the top

of Everest 11 p.m. at night,

just beautiful.

You're looking down

from the highest place on Earth

towards the moon, really.

And you're looking down

on the clouds way below,

all of which

are the color of the moon,

you know, beautiful color.

And every now and again,

big peaks stick up black things

through the clouds.

[Joseph] On Mount Norquay,

my view is uninterrupted wilderness.

[Kevin] Everything back there

is, like, totally untouched.

That is wild country for

as far as you can see that way.

[Joseph] I could

sit here for hours,

picturing the 1971 expedition

navigating the rivers

and forests of the uncharted

wilderness beyond.

But I need to get back to Ran.

♪

I'm intrigued

to know how he feels,

remembering himself here,

as a mere 27-year-old,

especially given it spawned

a remarkable 50-year legacy

of exploration across the globe.

♪

I've got a hold of these,

and I wanted to take you

down memory lane.

So this is

"Headless Valley team. '71."

[Ran] '71, that's right. Yep.

[Joseph] All these

strapping army lads

doing this amazing expedition,

but they were backed up

by Ginny.

[Ran] Yeah,

my late wife of 36 years.

She was as tough

as the rest of them.

[Joseph] Yeah.

Here we go.

[Ran] Oh, Bothie. Oh, yeah.

He was given to us

as a wedding present.

He was the only dog ever

to have peed on both poles.

He was in the

Guinness Book of Records.

In Antarctica, 800 miles

from the nearest person,

and he could not smell

lampposts or grass,

couldn't smell any other dogs,

couldn't hear any other dogs.

And he used to go outside

and bark like hell

so that the echo would

come back off the mountains

like another dog.

[Joseph] Oh, good old Bothie.

[Ran] He was a wonderful,

wonderful dog.

♪

[Joseph] You are now

just shy of 80.

We're looking at photographs

of you at the age

of anywhere between

25 and 30 years of age.

[Ran] Yeah, 25 and 30.

That's right.

[camera shutter clicks]

[click]

Now I think of that bloke,

me, back then

as someone totally different

because deaf, blind,

not blind, but going that way,

getting definitely into an age

where my runs become shuffles.

[Joseph] But do you, do you

what's your mental age?

What age do you think you are?

Do you think you are

the actual age you are?

[Ran] When I see

these photographs,

it sort of reminds me

of in those days,

we thought we could do anything.

[Joseph] And, Ran,

you're a hero to me.

Let me just put that out there.

I'm sort of interested now

to ask you a more personal

and pertinent question

about the next chapter

in your adventures,

with you dealing

with a condition

that affects so many people.

[Ran] Parkinson's.

[Joseph] Parkinson's.

[Ran] Yeah, no,

that is a battle,

which is mainly memory,

then the other one

is your balance.

You've got to concentrate

when you walk.

So balance, memory, and shaking.

Michael J. Fox, the actor, got

what they call Young Parkinson

when he was 29 years old,

and he's still going strong.

So there is hope.

♪

[Joseph] It seems Ran

is facing his new challenge

with the same unwavering spirit

that made him

the legendary explorer he is.

Having gone down memory lane

with the photos,

I thought I'd give Ran

the sights and sounds

of that 1971 expedition for real

and get him

out on the water again.

On their quest to transnavigate

British Columbia

via its waterways,

Ran and his team traversed

nine rivers and lakes

in motor-powered dinghies.

♪

[Ran] Ah, Jojo. Ha!

Hey, you've got

a proper boat there.

[Joseph] Here's another

chance to impress Ran.

Whoops!

Oh. No!

[thud]

[bleep]

Oh!

Blown it.

[Ran] Well done

getting the boat, eh?

[Joseph] I'm not

sure about that.

I think I need some practice

with you at the helm.

[Ran chuckles]

Just glad I didn't

hit the plane.

Wouldn't have been the greatest

way to start the day.

♪

[Joseph] With our boat

luckily still afloat,

we can get out on the lake.

Mind your fingers,

the ones you have.

[Ran] And, and having witnessed

your expert acrobats,

I'm impressed.

[Joseph] Really,

you're not nervous?

[Ran] Nope, not at all.

[Joseph] I am. Okay,

I'm gonna push us off.

[Ran] Right, lovely.

[Joseph] Here we go.

Having traversed deadly rapids

crossing British Columbia,

I guess my erratic steering

is less of a worry for Ran.

[Ran] Ah, good to be away

with you, out in the wilds.

[Joseph] This is as close

as I'll get to the nine weeks

Ran spent navigating

the waterways of this region.

Back then, they had to motor

against strong currents,

so keeping those engines

in fine nick was essential.

[Ran] We took from the beginning

18 spare propellers,

and even that wasn't enough.

And because the river

was so strong

and there were

so many whirlpools,

you had a situation

where you couldn't avoid

going near the rocks

to get away from the whirlpools,

so it was nightmarish,

quite honestly.

[Joseph] And in a rock

versus propeller situation

rock usually wins.

So you got through 18

on your trip?

[Ran] That's right.

And round the fire in a wood,

we had to heat up the propellers

to bang them

into a different shape,

otherwise we wouldn't

have lasted.

[Joseph] Have I got

a bit of a shallow area there?

[Ran] Oh, I see

what you're talking about.

Yeah, that's not good.

[Joseph] I'm just gonna

maneuver out of there.

I don't want to break

We don't have 18 props.

We've only got one.

[Ran chuckles]

50 years ago, the boundless

wilderness of this region

was one of Ran's

first big challenges

as a fledgling explorer.

What is it that drives

the intrepid adventurer

to come to these territories,

do you think?

[Ran] It's impossible

to generalize over it.

It's in the DNA

of that particular person.

And in my case, my granddad

came out to be a miner

in 1885 up in the Klondike,

and he was not successful,

so he became a fur trapper.

[Joseph] Given

we share some DNA,

I love hearing

about our family history.

The stories of both

his grandfather and father

had a profound influence

on his life,

though he met neither.

Your father was k*lled

in what year was it? '40?

[Ran] Four months

before I got born.

[Joseph] Okay.

[Ran] So November '43.

[Joseph] '43.

[Ran] I was born in '44.

He was k*lled in '43.

[Joseph] And what happened

to your grandfather?

[Ran] He died a natural death

the same year

that Dad was k*lled.

[Joseph] Really?

[Ran] And his eldest son,

Uncle Johnny, had been k*lled

in another Scottish regiment

in the First World w*r.

[Joseph] So you grew up

surrounded by

[Ran] Women.

[Joseph] Women, and sadly

the ghosts and the death

of the men who were tragically

absent in your life.

[Ran] Yeah,

that's exactly right.

Totally. My sisters didn't

have a brother and no uncles.

They were all female.

I was spoiled rotten. [laughs]

[Joseph] I can imagine.

I can imagine.

[Ran] Yeah.

[Joseph] Whatever strand of DNA

drew Ran to come here,

I think I've got

a bit of it, too.

This place is breathtaking.

It's epic. It's huge.

You could step out here,

and you wouldn't

come across civilization

for hundreds of miles.

[Ran] Hundreds of miles.

You can go in an airplane

over this place,

and for an hour,

you can see nothing.

Not a single

little hut, nothing.

It is so nice knowing

there is a place like this.

[Joseph] Even here

in this pristine wilderness

of the Muskwa-Kechika,

humans have had

a profound impact.

We've arranged to meet

with local naturalist

Wayne Sawchuk to delve deeper

into the ecological history

of the region.

Hi, Wayne.

[Wayne] How's it going?

[Joseph] I've had

to pull the prop up.

It's very shallow.

And it's not my boat.

This time, with

a more cautious approach,

I nail the landing.

♪

[Ran] Wayne, very good

to meet you, indeed.

[Wayne] A great pleasure,

at long last.

[Joseph] Safely on land,

and Wayne has a welcome

cup of coffee waiting.

I bet that pot

has a few tales to tell.

[Wayne] This pot has been on

the trail for a number of years.

Let me tell you.

[Ran] It's got history.

[Wayne] It's got

a lot of history.

Not as much as you,

Ran, but a lot.

[Ran] I could do

without the age.

[Wayne] Indeed.

♪

[Joseph] During the hours

and hours on the open highways

of British Columbia,

Ran and I have spotted bears,

moose,

bighorn sheep,

and bison.

I'm keen to know more about

these North American icons.

[Wayne] Back in the day,

maybe 100, 150 years ago,

of course, all the bison

were shot out of this country.

There was a few

isolated herds still left.

And from those, they've been

bringing the bison back,

reintroducing them.

The bison are doing very well

wherever they've

been reintroduced

because predators are low,

and as long as

there's not too much hunting,

the bison do very well.

[Joseph] The North American

plains used to be home

to millions of bison,

but by the late 1800s,

those millions had been

reduced to a few hundred.

One of the reasons

for this slaughter

links to a dark chapter

in North American history.

[Wayne] No bison was hard

on the First Nations.

If the government

wanted to weaken

First Nations governments,

one way to do that

was to get rid of the bison.

[Ran] Right, right.

[Wayne] You know,

it's a sad colonial history

that we have here.

[Ran] Very, very sad.

[Wayne] And the bison

are part of that.

[Joseph] Wayne really

gave great insight

into that relationship

between man and land

and the history of really

the sort of ecosystem

and, and how it all works.

♪

Our conversation with Wayne

was fascinating,

but it also touched

on some troubling aspects

of Canada's past.

And it's something Ran and I

are intrigued

to explore further.

[Joseph] During Ran's 1971 trip,

he witnessed

the harsh conditions

First Nation tribes

faced on reservations.

Now, 50 years on,

how have things changed?

We've arranged

to meet Matricia Bauer,

who runs an indigenous

cultural hub in Jasper

called Warrior Women.

Matricia.

[Matricia] Hi.

[Joseph] Hello, hi.

Thank you for meeting us.

[Matricia]

Very nice to meet you.

[Ran] You, too.

[Joseph] Her story is emblematic

of what First Nations endured.

[Matricia] So back when you were

here originally in Canada,

I was three years old,

and I was still on the reserve.

[Joseph] But Matricia

was taken from the reserve

during the so-called Scoop,

an era when indigenous children

were forcibly removed

from their homes to be adopted

by White families,

a practice that lasted

from the 1950s to the 1980s

under the guise

of child welfare.

[Matricia] My mom was

a residential school survivor.

And it was like

a boarding school

where the children were

kidnapped and taken away,

so she was raised

in an environment

where it wasn't a loving one.

And I think that really,

as she became a parent,

was very difficult, and she

suffered a lot from alcoholism,

which is how a lot

of people at that time

soothed, you know,

those traumas.

So we were eventually removed

from the home as well.

And I have eight brothers

and sisters,

and we all went

to different foster homes.

[Joseph] No way.

[Ran] And are the others

also able to tell people

all about the truth?

[Matricia] I think that we're

all dealing with our trauma

in our own way.

For me, going back to ceremony,

embracing my culture,

practicing my culture,

adding drumming, adding singing,

is really what healed me

in order to raise my family

in a good way.

[Joseph] Canada is

gradually confronting

this dark period of its history,

taking steps to make amends

for past wrongs.

But by arriving here

on Highway 16,

I'm alerted to the

heartbreaking realities

that indigenous women

like Matricia

and her daughter Mackenzie

still face today.

[Matricia] Highway 16

is the home to what we call

missing and m*rder*d

indigenous women.

And the reason why

that's so important is,

especially for a mother,

you know, my daughter,

just by being indigenous,

is seven times more likely

to go missing or m*rder*d.

[Joseph] Over the decades,

more than 40 women,

most of them indigenous, have

been m*rder*d or gone missing

along the 700-kilometer

stretch of highway.

Many had relied on hitchhiking

as their only means

of transportation.

A horrifying statistic

and one that everyone

should be cognizant

and aware of.

[Ran] Horrific,

horrific figures.

Has that improved

at all recently?

[Mackenzie]

Just a couple of years ago,

we finally had

the National Inquiry

for Missing and m*rder*d

Indigenous Women

and some actions

that the federal government

really needs to take.

And so when we talk and when

we have these hard conversations

and we sit

in that uncomfortableness,

that is actually

so important for us to do

because it brings awareness,

it brings life,

and it puts, puts back

into perspective

that those are people.

[Joseph] Yeah.

Matricia and Mackenzie

are ambassadors

of their knowledge,

helping to educate and reveal to

people the resilience and beauty

of their Cree

First Nations culture.

Talk to me about your beliefs

in Cree culture.

[Matricia] In our culture,

we believe that we combine

body, mind, and spirit.

[Mackenzie] It's a lot

more holistic because

how your spirit is feeling

affects how your body's feeling,

which affects

how your mind is feeling.

And it's all this,

like, beautiful circle.

[Joseph] Ran, tell me,

if you're on an expedition,

how does mind, body,

and spirit play into you

if you're surviving for 90 days

alone on an ice floe

in the Arctic?

[Ran] Different,

it's not something

you can generalize over.

What you've got to do

is to beat this weak voice

that comes into your head

and tell it that you're gonna

keep going at least that day.

I developed my own battle

in my head,

which was that the people

I respected most,

my dad and my granddad,

the two of them were beside me

and they were

walking beside me.

And so I did not want to be

the first to give up.

[Matricia] That's very honorific

of how indigenous people

call on their ancestors as well

as part of ceremony.

[Mackenzie]

In indigenous culture,

we believe that our connection

to our ancestors

are actually the connection

to the star world.

And so we call

the Northern Lights

cîpayak kâ-nîmihitocik,

and that translates to our

ancestors dancing in the sky,

because we believe that

everybody who's passed on

before us, you know, they're

back up in the star world.

But every once in a while,

they like to show up

and they like to do

a little dance to remind us

that they're still there,

they're still watching us.

[Ran] I never knew that.

That's really good. I like that.

[Mackenzie]

Isn't that a good one?

[Ran] I'll know that

next time I see them.

[Mackenzie] Absolutely.

[Ran] Brilliant.

[Joseph] I found it fascinating,

inspiring, heartbreaking,

and poignant to hear

their stories

and the way that they welcomed

two European White guys

and really embrace them.

[laughter]

[Matricia] I think

it would be really important

for Mackenzie and I

to share a song with you.

[Ran] How lovely.

[singing in indigenous language]

[Joseph] It's fascinating

to hear Ran speak

about how he coped facing

treacherous conditions

by evoking the spirits

of his ancestors.

But I'll never quite

understand what drove him

to pursue challenges where

he'd stare death in the face.

[Reporter] He will pass

through mile after mile

of crevasse fields,

and on this expedition,

there will be no one there

to pull him out of danger.

Three years ago, Fiennes

emerged from the Antarctic

after 97 days

more dead than alive.

[Ran] It was a close-run thing,

a very, very close-run thing.

I had to try

to get back to land

because all the time,

the ice was breaking.

In the case of being

frightened of dying

because you don't know

what's going to happen

when you go into the other

world, if there is one.

I had a massive heart attack

and was on life support

for three days and nights.

[Joseph] Ironically, Ran's

heart attack in 2003 was not

during a grueling expedition,

but while boarding

a commercial flight.

So now do you have a fear

of death or no fear of death?

[Ran] No, I just know

that I was, quote, dead, unquote

for three days and nights.

[Joseph] And you don't

remember anything at all.

You were just in a sleep.

[Ran] Exactly.

There were no angels

or bright lights

or anything at all.

Nothing to be frightened of.

You know, there aren't gonna be

endless devils and pitchforks.

[Joseph] The rest is silence.

[Ran] A deathly nothingness.

[Joseph] My cousin,

the ultimate pragmatist.

I like our chats, Ran.

They're very good chats.

[Ran] Sorry not to be able

to come up with anything

remarkably wise.

Ha ha!

[Joseph] The wisest

man I knowRan.

After hundreds of miles

on the road, we are closing in

on our final destination

Vancouver.

But en route are

the huge 300-horse stables

of the Banff Trail Riders,

set in the heart of the Rockies.

After endless hours in the car,

we can't resist the chance

to experience

this wilderness on horseback,

the way explorers of this region

did hundreds of years ago.

Erica, hi. Joe.

Lovely to meet you.

[Erica] Hi. Nice

to meet you as well.

[Joseph] How do you do?

My cousin Ran.

[Erica] Hi, nice to meet you.

All right, guys, do you want

to come on down here with me

and we'll see some horses?

[Joseph] Love to. Ran?

[Ran] Yeah, that'd be great.

[Joseph] Yeah, let's do that.

[Erica] I think your horse

is gonna come over

and say hi to us anyways.

[Joseph] They're all

coming to greet you, Ran.

[Ran] Aw!

[Erica] Yeah.

[Joseph] And once I've picked

my horse, time to saddle up.

♪

Because of his Parkinson's,

Ran's been given

medical advice not to ride.

[Erica] All right, Joe,

if you want to hop on,

we'll go for a ride.

[Joseph] Can't think

of anything better.

Maybe we'll find Ran.

I don't know where he's got to.

But Ran being Ran,

he has other ideas.

[Julie] Hello, Ran.

[Ran] Hi, Julie.

[Julie] This horse is an

amazing horse called Big John.

[Ran] Oh, lovely Big John.

How old is he?

[Julie] He's about 15.

[Ran] Right?

That's quite a good age.

[Julie] It is a perfect age.

It means he's smart

and he's pretty worldly.

[Ran] What a lovely horse.

Because I had Parkinson's,

they thought he oughtn't

to get on a horse.

I fought the rules against it,

and they very kindly

let me go for a ride.

That goes in there?

[Julie] It does.

[Joseph] So Ran's cut a deal,

with a few extra

safety precautions.

[Ran] Hey, ah!

[Joseph] A huge, but very

composed Big John on a rein,

and Ran is on a horse.

[Ran] Much appreciated.

[Joseph] That famous

Fiennes tenacity.

[Ran laughs]

[Julie] Oh, you know what?

There you go.

[Ran] A lovely horse it was.

Big John took me back

to my riding days.

I am honored to be

on your back. Absolutely.

[Julie] Oh, I know that

he's honored to have you.

You're a bit of a legacy

out here, Ran.

[Ran] It's just wonderful.

[Joseph] So although

we didn't do much exploring,

we did both

end up on a horse.

And I'll take that as a win.

In October 1971,

after nine weeks

and 2,400 kilometers of rivers,

lake, and thick forest,

Ran and his team were

moments from success.

They reached the bridges

of Vancouver,

the largest city

in British Columbia.

But the expedition boats

shot past the metropolis.

Their goal had been to travel

from the northern border

of British Columbia

to its southern border

with the United States.

And this happens to be just

beyond Vancouver, out to sea.

So that's where

we're heading today.

And I've organized

something special for Ran

back out on the water.

We will be going whale watching,

something I've never done.

We'll go out on a Zodiac on one

of those rigid inflatables.

[Ran] And we are going

at the time

when they're most likely

to be there?

[Joseph] I believe so.

They've got a very good

schedule, I have to say.

They, they come here

when the weather's good,

and then when it gets bad,

they shift off to Hawaii.

I think it's

pretty clever of them.

[Ran] Yeah, yeah.

[Joseph] For our whale watching

trip to the American border,

we are being joined

by Martin Haulena,

the chief vet

from the Vancouver Aquarium.

He'll be able to give us

a little insight

into the amazing animals

we're hoping to see,

animals Ran would

have been hard-pressed

to find here in 1971.

[Martin] So, Ran,

when you were here before,

the whales were

exploited quite a bit,

and then after the big,

massive protections came in,

they worked, you know,

the whales have bounced back,

so now we have humpbacks

that are almost resident

right here

in downtown Vancouver.

[Joseph] So, the question is,

will any show themselves today?

[Joseph] After being hunted

to the brink of extinction,

nearly 400 individual

humpback whales

have been recorded

in the sea around Vancouver

a success story that has been

dubbed the "humpback comeback."

And today, we're in luck.

[Ran] What's that over there?

[Joseph] Oh, wow.

[Martin] They're at the surface,

they take a bit of rest,

so that deep dive.

And that breath holding

does come with a bit of a cost,

so they need

to blow off the CO2,

blow off the lactic acid

that they've built up

during their dive,

take a little bit of rest,

and then go do it again.

[whale blowing]

I love that, that breath noise.

That's my favorite thing.

You hear that big breath

go in and out.

That's a lot of air moving

in a big set of lungs.

[whales blowing]

[Ran] We saw

for maybe three hours,

whales coming up

and then huge [blows] snorters.

And then we tried to get

a little bit nearer to that,

and it was just wonderful.

I could have stayed there

for hours watching.

♪

That's great to watch.

[Martin] There is

a big one. Wow.

[Joseph] Beautiful,

just stunning.

♪

So, Ran, this is our last day.

It's a pretty nice way to end

our trip, don't you think?

[Ran] Wonderful.

Couldn't be better.

[Joseph] Yeah.

[Ran] Oh, look at that tail!

[Joseph] Don't you think the two

moving here in synchronicity

a bit like us

these last few weeks?

[Joseph] Yeah, moving together.

Edging towards

the finishing line.

[Ran] In a mellifluous manner.

[Joseph]

In a mellifluous manner.

[laughing]

[Ran] Good one.

♪

[Joseph] Sadly, it's time

to leave these impressive beasts

and head for our finish line,

heading for the same spot

Ran did five decades ago.

1971, when you

crossed the border,

what were your feelings?

[Ran] Huge relief

and thanks to the good Lord

and wonderful, wonderful

country, Canada,

you know, just incredible.

But, of course, here, where

is exactly the U.S. border?

I knew that it was at a place

called Point Roberts,

and I kept asking people, have

we got to Point Roberts yet?

And finally I got the yes,

big, big relief.

[Explorer] Where's the border?

That's it, Jack!

[cheering]

[Joseph] So, how did

you celebrate it then?

[Ran] You would think

I'm joking.

There was a bottle of champagne

lurking somewhere,

and we thought we'd attack it.

[Joseph] Well, Ran, as you've

made the trip a second time,

we have another bottle

of champagne here to celebrate

not only your extraordinary

expedition back in '71,

but also

the extraordinary journey

that you took me

back on this time.

So, with your permission,

could I open this bottle

and toast your good health?

[Ran] Cousin Joe,

it was wonderful

having you on it, really!

[pop]

Ooh, well done.

[Joseph] Whoa. Sorry about that.

Nearly took your eye out.

Sorry about that.

[Ran] Yeah,

the best champagne ever.

♪

[Joseph laughs]

Delicious.

[Joseph] Your good health, Ran.

Thank you so much. Bless you.

[Ran] Cheers.

♪

[Joseph] As our journey

comes to an end,

I'm left with a profound sense

of gratitude and privilege,

having witnessed

breathtaking wilderness

alongside my extraordinary

cousin, Ran.

I remain in awe

of his boundless drive,

invincible spirit,

and unwavering optimism.

I'm rather liking

just sh**ting the breeze.

And I can only hope this won't

be our last adventure together.

[Ran] We'd done an expedition

together before,

but not one which involved

anything as wonderful

as this one.

[Joseph] What did you say?

[Ran] Deaf. What I think I said.

Doing it all with Joe

as my expedition companion

has been a great experience, and

I'd certainly go on another one.

[Joseph] You say the word,

Ran, and I'm there.

♪

[Ran] All's well

[Joseph] that ends well.

[Ran] That ends well.

[Joseph] Very well put.

[Ran] Yeah.