Our documentary, On Hannibal’s Trail is on BBC2 now - fridays 8:30pm for 6 weeks - sorry for the early plug but if you are reading this you have great timing because you have missed the first episode (friday 20th Jan) in which Ben and 1 are pretty rough presenters! Luckily we had Danny who is a TV and Radio presenter by trade and I am led to believe that Ben and I improve!
The idea of following in Hannibal’s footsteps was born on a cycling holiday in the Pyrenees with my brothers. We were looking across the peaks after struggling up the notorious ‘Tour de France’ climb, the Tourmalet. Being history fans, we were wondering who else might have passed through this amazing mountain range.
Following Hannibal’s 4000km trail from Spain to Rome and beyond was hugely appealing – history and bikes – what else would anyone want on holiday? Making it into a documentary for the BBC, on the other hand, was quite worrying!
My two brothers and I are a lucky combination, arguably well suited for this cycling, travel and history documentary expedition. Danny is a journalist, Ben is an IT developer, I’m an archaeologist. Ben and I have criss-crossed Europe a few times on bikes. Danny, on the other hand, hasn’t cycled much but knew how to present a documentary – something Ben and I, after a brief crash course on the BBC lawn in Shepherd’s Bush, were still quite nervous about.
The documentary is the story of two epic adventures: Hannibal’s and ours. Of course, I cringe when I describe our 4000km cycle as epic because I know that it isn’t anything much compared to other cycling efforts, and certainly nothing compared to Hannibal’s trip.
He started out from the Spanish city of Cartagena in 218BC with a force of more than 100,000 men and 37 elephants. For 15 years he wrought havoc on his enemy, inflicting, among other devastating blows, Rome’s worst ever defeat at the Battle of Cannae. It was only when his homeland was invaded and Carthage threatened that he returned and was defeated at the Battle of Zama by Scipio – later named Africanus in honour of this victorious campaign.
In September 2009, after two years of researching, training and planning, we found ourselves on the port promenade of Cartagena about to start our journey. Robin, our director, and John, our cameraman, were ready to film our send-off by members of the local Carthaginian Society, who were dressed up in their ancient Iberian outfits. It was a classic moment, but we were to find that cycling and filming weren’t always such easy companions.
It was a real physical and psychological challenge and we completely underestimated the toll the filming would take. A typical day could involve filming in the morning for a few hours and then cycling during the heat in the middle of the day, filming again in the late afternoon, and then cycling some more; catching up kilometres, which occasionally led us well into the night.
In saying this, one of my best memories is cycling into the Alps north of Vaison-la-Romaine through the Gorge du Gas where Hannibal was possibly first ambushed. It was past midnight and pitch black, the atmosphere was foreboding and it was possibly one of the only times when I could say I was feeling like Hannibal and his men would have. We could see the mountains looming around us in the night as we tried to speed towards camp. All we could hear was the whirring of our wheels and we had no idea what was out there. It was only the next day when we found out that one side of the road for the last 20km had a 500m drop off!
There were so many classic moments: riding through vineyards in France and standing at the top of the Alps looking down on Italy like Hannibal might have when he supposedly inspired his troops with a rousing speech. We also turned up at the Quirinale Palace in Rome to visit the only known bust of Hannibal only to be almost refused entry due to our poor dress and generally grubby appearance – we had been cycling for six weeks!
Riding through Tunisia was also amazing – intact ancient aqueducts still in use today lined skinny, fast-moving, heavily trafficked roads. Our slight diversion on the way to Zama was Dougga, a fantastically intact Roman town well worth the pain inflicted by bone-rattling rutted paths and umpteen police forces all out for some “baksheesh” (tipping for services).
Even now it’s hard for our brains to compute the whole trip. The Roman historian Livy described the battle with Hannibal as “the most memorable war in history”. Hopefully, in a small way, we’ve stimulated more public interest – not just in riding bikes in beautiful places but in Hannibal’s war and his Carthaginian civilisation. We plan to be back on the road soon – Napoleon’s march to Moscow was 200 years ago this year and Alexander the Great’s march is a tempting but frightening possibility!
I have also partnered up with an experienced cycle guide firm – Ride and Seek Bike Tours www.rideandseek.com - to offer this and other historical cycle journeys to anyone with a passion for history seen from the saddle. At least with his guidance we shouldn’t get lost like we did many times on Hannibal’s trail!
So if you fancy watching 3 Australian brothers, generally in pain on their bikes telling a historical tale tune in to BBC 2 fridays at 8:30pm. The Guardian described it as " like a history lesson from your mates down the pub" which we are pretty happy with!
For more information on the Wood brothers’ trips, visit their website www.woodbrothers.tv
