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tv   The Travel Show  BBC News  January 18, 2020 10:30am-11:00am GMT

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authorities in italy have discovered a painting by austrian artist gustav klimt stolen 23 years ago, believed to be worth some $60 million. the painting, ‘portrait of a lady', was taken from a gallery in the city of piacenza, with investigators believing the art work to have been stolen through a skylight. in december, a workerfind the painting in the gallery wall. in december, a workerfind the painting in the gallery wall. now it's time for a look at the weather with darren bett. hello there, most of us will enjoy dry weather this weekend. we are seeing some wintry showers in scotland. those will continue to become fewer through the rest of the day. becoming dry for northern ireland, northwestern, but a high cloud here spilling down towards wales on the south—west, otherwise we will see these skies and pointy sunshine. six to 8 degrees, that is near—normal for this time of year. with those showers fading away
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from scotland, the winds dropping and with clear skies this evening and overnight, we have a frost pretty widely, even in towns and cities, —2 —3 possible. the exceptions the highlands and islands, here we have a milder stronger breeze coming in from the atlantic around the top of high pressure. follow the lines round and into the north sea and they could be one or two showers here early on sunday morning. they should say offshore. apart from that, more cloud and more breeze in the north—west of scotland, we have more winds, frosty start, a cold winter's day. again, seven or 8 degrees, probably milder in the cloud towards the north—west.
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hello this is bbc news. the headlines... the chancellor warns business leaders that there will "not be alignment" with eu rules in any post—brexit trade agreement — and that some businesses
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will benefit while "some won't". a clock projected on the walls of downing street — one of a series of events announced to mark the moment the uk leaves the eu. british scientists say the number of people already infected by a new virus emerging in china is far greater than official figures suggest. heavy rain and thunderstorms in australia help to tackle the bushfires but bring flooding to some areas. following campaigns, free sanitary products will be available to all schools and colleges in england from monday. now it's the time for the travel show. this week on the travel show: the swamp that is becoming a tinderbox. let's rehydrate this peat. same time, ready? three, two, one...whoo. where the amish go on their holidays. i think we have been very blessed
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to have a place to go like this. people accept us and it is quite unique. plus, what will the 20s bring for travellers? our global guru runs up his highlights for the coming decade. theme music plays. this week we begin the swamp. this area is home to dark swarms of mosquitoes, blood—sucking ticks, poisonous copperheads and rattlesnakes and even the occasional black bear.
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back in the 18th century, this place was considered so bleak and inhospitable, it was given a name that was just as unwelcoming, the great dismal swamp. it is right on the border between virginia and north carolina. back when the us was formed, it was around i million acres. today it is much smaller, about an eighth of his original size and it looks very different. now it is protected wildlife preserve with trails for biking and hiking and a lake for boating. but the changes have brought some problems. the wetlands are now much more vulnerable to the effects of climate change. in 2011, a devastating forest fire burned through 6500 acres,
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taking more than 100 days to put out. i am meeting the man leading efforts to save the swamp. it is a beautiful but windy day out on lake drummond. we're getting pushed around a bit in the canoe. but we've got a good guide, chris. a little breezy. what are these big trees here? these are bold cyprus trees. bold cyprus actually used to dominate the forest community here, historically, because it was a wetter environment so these trees were very abundant. while the great dismal swamp kind of sounds like the lair of a fantasy villain, but it is beautiful here. it is absolutely gorgeous. i mean, it has got a diversity of different ecosystems all in this one landscape. the name does not give it a welcoming feeling but,
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once people get to learn the area, they realise how special it is. we are actually walking along washington ditch, named after george washington, who was one partner in the dismal swamp land company. these ditches were dug under his direction to drain the swamp, log the timber and then farm the land. "to drain the swamp" — he's not the only us president to say that. no, no, i guess not. it took more than 200 years of development for the wetlands to drain and for the area to become just a little less dismal. in that time, the swamp featured in another chapter of american history. before the civil war, runaway slaves came to hide here.
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they formed communities and they were called maroons. so these people chose to live in the swamp? yeah, that's because life on the plantations was so horrific that they chose to be free and, if they had to go to live in the swamp to have their freedom, they just resigned themselves to do so. with mosquitoes, with snakes... very courageous. i'd say so. eric has traced his family history back to a slave, called moses grandy, who used to work in the swamp. after securing his freedom, grandy wrote a memoir. he did not have to live day to day in the swamp. he was on a plantation, but he described how some of the people who lived in the swamp and who were enslaved, he described very vividly their conditions. i heard you are running tours? we do the underground railroad tour
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based on moses grandy‘s slave narrative. dealing with the great dismal swamp on in the north of virginia. it is important for me to make sure that their history does not remain hidden and we are looking to carrying that on from generation to generation as well. but despite this area's dramatic past, its ecosystem is under threat. the drain started by george washington has dried out large section of the swamp. now chris and his team are trying to re—wet it. this is one of our water control structures which acts as a little dam where we can manage the water, to raise water levels in the ditch, slow the drainage and then it allows to rehydrate the peat soil. these are called boards. we put them in these channels. cool and so those are about what? six inches, about half a foot. so it will raise the surrounding water, raise this water and then rehydrate the surrounding area. correct. and why is that important?
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the ditch network that's been here dries out the peat, makes it more prone to severe wildfires. it also, because it subsides, it does not provide a base for our forest. you need healthy soil to have a healthy forest. it is hoped rehydrating the swamp will reduce the severity of future fires and, during the hurricane season, protect nearby communities from flooding. by holding more of the water in the swamp, instead of just funnelling down these ditches, which serve as pipe, i mean, drain pipes, it will actually reduce some of the peak flood flows and it also spreads out the extent of the flow across the landscape. like a giant sponge. a giant sponge, exactly. let's rehydrate this peat. same time, ready? 0k.
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three, two, one...whoo. nice. well, it sounds like the swamp won't ever be as expensive ——expansive, or as dismal as it was during washington's time but that is not the point, is it? no, we are never going to restore the swamp to what it was. what we're trying to do, with managing the swamp is to bring back some of those past characteristics that are beneficial to promote resiliency going into the future. if you are planning a trip to virginia in the near future, here are some things we think you should look out for: where most people start is the state capital of richmond. 0ur tip is to head to the new neighbourhood of scott's addition, an old industrial
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zone that has been regenerated. in particular, it has become a focus for the city's huge craft beer scene. download a walking tour and enjoy a day of brewery hopping. there's more than 30 to choose from, so just make sure to take it easy. for the great outdoors, head for the blue ridge mountains and in particular shenandoah national park. there are 500 miles of trails to explore and five campsites to stay on. wild camping in the back country is also possible, but check out shenandoah‘s websites for some of the rules and restrictions first. this part of the world is also nascar central. there are good short stockcar races at richmond and martinsville but the biggest is bristol motors speedway, just over the border in tennessee. the season runs from april to september. it is cheaper to book tickets in advance but you can turn up on race day and see it as well. make sure to get there early though
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as there is a real festival atmosphere and plenty going on besidesjust the racing. still to come on the travel show: 0ur global guru brings us his highlights for the next ten years. and how this place became the amish disneyland. i have learnt a very important part of how to win at shuffleborders — pick a teammate that is much better than you. that is how you win. so don't go away. hello again. at the start of a new year,
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it is always fun to make some travel plans for the coming 12 months. but the beginning of 2020 gives an excuse to extend that horizon for a full decade. so this week i'm picking some of my travel highlights for the next ten years. 2020, of course, is an olympic year and tokyo picks up the baton from rio. i am planning to be in the japanese capital for the games, but i won't be buying any flights or hotels until a few weeks before the opening ceremony, which is on the 24th ofjuly. i have observed a pattern emerge from all the summer olympics since sydney 20 years ago. initially, prices are high. but, as the extravaganza approaches, it becomes clear that supply is outstripping demand and rates begin to fall. in 2021, i'll be heading for scotland for a transport revolution.
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by the end of next year, there will be self—driving buses on a spectacular route, shuttling across the forth road bridge every 20 minutes and carrying half a million passengers annually between the scottish capital and the ancient kingdom of fife. but to comply with safety laws, each vehicle will have a driver on board. by 2022, dubai's burj al khalifa could be deposed as the tallest building in the world. thejeddah tower on saudi arabia's red sea coast is expected to stand at least one kilometre high once it is complete, with an observation deck about two—thirds of the way to the top. it will also house the highest hotel in the world. the 12th of august, 2026, will be the height of the european holiday season, and the date for a total eclipse of the sun. the stripe of darkness will traverse
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the spanish cities of bilbao, zaragoza and valencia before arriving here, on the island of majorca. in 2027, the great british university cities of oxford and cambridge should be reconnected by train. 60 years after the old railway line was ripped up, they will be barely an hour apart. currently the journey by bus or connecting trains takes at least twice as long. the line will also serve two very different tourist attractions. bletchley park, the top—secret home of second world war codebreakers, and bicester shopping village, which is exactly as it sounds. los angeles gets another year in the olympics sun in 2028. the southern california city last hosted the games in 1984. since then, downtown los angeles has been revitalised, and that is where i plan to base myself.
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after the closing ceremony i will walk along to union station and step aboard an intercity train, either the express service that is likely to be running by then to las vegas, or the california high—speed rail link to san francisco. and 2030, well, that marks the intended completion date of an 8000 kilometre swathe of woodland stretching across africa from senegal to eritrea. the great green wall project aims to transform the sahel, the region to the south of the sahara desert, and build local resilience to climate change. the hope is to create 10 million jobs, some of them in tourism, as travellers flock to see the changing face of africa and what is billed as the largest living structure on the planet. that's it for now, but keep your questions coming. you can contact us on any
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of our social media accounts, and i will do my very best to help. see you next time. to end this week, i am headed down to sarasota, on florida's glorious gulf coast, where every year a small neighbourhood is transformed by one of america's most distinctive communities. welcome to pinecraft. since starting as a tourist resort in the 1920s, this has become a holiday hotspot for the amish. we have a mural here depicting everyday amish life. and a friendly man welcoming us. maybe we can ride the horse. the amish are christians that have held on to a simple, rural way of life. they are best known for their regimented plainclothes, worn for reasons of humility and modesty. they also reject most forms of modern technology, some even avoiding electricity from the national grid. well, i guess we grow up working.
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i mean, we don'tjust sit around doing nothing. it's always, you've got something to do. and, like, in the evening, of course we read books. we don't have tv. and our children like to come home, we have cookouts. it is a very secure life. you grew up in an area where your life was always, sort of, you knew what to expect. course as time goes on it's not so simple anymore, you know? we don't do things like we did 100 years ago or 50 years ago. this might look like a normal street in central florida, but actually many of these are amish holiday homes. and if you look right here, this is a power line. even the amish want to kick back on vacation. the neighbourhood offers more modern conveniences than you might find in one of their
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traditional settlements. bicycles and golf carts replace horse and buggies, and the holiday homes, they all have power. we heard there is a saying that whatever happens in pinecraft stays in pinecraft. every winter and spring, an estimated 5000 people come to visit. but if you're not amish, you might have to prepare for a cold reception. they tend to keep themselves to themselves, not so much out of unfriendliness than modesty. and when the camera comes out, everyone tends to scatter. i've been to a of places and i've met a lot of people, and i fit in most the time, but here, obviously i stick out like a sore thumb here, and i don't exactly know how to interact. so it can feel a little bit lonely at times. i head to a hotel which welcomes both amish and non—amish guests, where, luckily, john and wilma
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have agreed to sit down with me, and even then we take a while to warm up. so we will have some fun, make a few little pieces for television, and tell some stories like this one. can you both tell me a bit about pinecraft? there's no other place like it in the world, i don't think. why do you say that? it's really a social life for older people. you go to the park, it is kind of a gathering place where people come, sit and visit. there's shuffleboard down there. and people, a lot of the older guys are shuffling, mostly men, but there is always one court open for the women. so, yeah, you get to know people from a lot of different areas. different denominations, you know? they come in here and it has been interesting that people, what we would call outsiders,
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that are not really amish, just happen to be in the area, and now they are coming back ever since. there is that cincinnati couple, some of them. yeah. we have become close friends with them. they are nice, clean people, you know? not...people that you don't have to be ashamed of. i think we've been very blessed to have a place to go like this, that people accept us and, yeah, it's quite unique. 0n john's recommendation, i head to the park, hitching a ride on a very non—traditional mode of transportation. my new guide is immanuel, a long—time resident here in pinecraft. so this game is called shuffleboard. yeah. and what's the point? the point is to get your puck
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on the area that is marked. in shuffleboard, players are awarded points for landing discs within the scoring area. but land it in an area called the kitchen, and you are deducted ten points. so my teammate is the guy over in the blue. it seems like quite a popular sport. it is very popular in the wintertime down here. and away we go! so i will try to get up there and see what i can do... that's right. alright, here we go. my first ever shuffle. my first ever shuffleboard. three, two, one... aw, i knocked us both out! i am hitting them, which i think is good. but no—one has scored any points. 0h.
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it turns out the shuffleboard court is definitely the place to be. john has come over all the way from the hotel to cheer me on. i'm afraid you are not ready for the tournament. i was playing better until you showed up, i swear. so are we going to play or what? no, i'm just watching. just criticising? yeah, i like to criticise. no, i don't think that was good. their score goes up, oui’ score goes down. and now we're 26 and they're on 68. you might think there's four more rounds left but, no, it ends at 75. which means if they score one more. . . so if we don't knock this yellow one out, we lose. he has to knock two of them out. and that looks like it is game over. game over? you win? we win. well, it was a learning experience. thank you so much.
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thank you, that was so much fun. i appreciate it. how was i? iwas 0k? yeah, for the first time. ok, that's good to know. apparently, all it takes to make friends in pinecraft is losing a game of shuffleboard. well, it looks like i will have to practise my shuffleboard skills. and while i do that, coming up next week... lucy is in the basque country, where tourists have been paying over the odds for a local favourite. and rajan is injeddah, the gateway to mecca, finding out about the city's incredible cultural heritage. i seem to be part of the band! which is great, but i've no idea what i'm doing! so make sure not to miss that.
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but for now, from me, mike corey, and the rest of the travel show team here, in the united states, it's goodbye. hello there. we have been used to mild, wet and windy weather. so things this weekend are going to be very different. instead of low pressure, we actually have an area of high pressure building in, settling things down. that means for most of us this weekend it is going to be dry. the sunshine will be out, the winds won't be as strong, but it will be cold. we have already had a frost this morning. there will be another one
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this morning as well. this weather watcher picture gives a flavour of how it has been. down to —3 or so. there have also been some showers of a wintry flavour in scotland already. those showers will continue to become fewer through the rest of the day as the winds ease a bit and it should then turn dry for northern ireland and north—west england. more cloud coming in here spilling into wales in the south—west, otherwise blue skies and sunshine and lighter winds. maximum temperatures around six to eight degrees. that is around normal for this time of year. clear skies, light winds and showers fading away from scotland, we are going to get a frost developing widely and even in some towns and cities. temperatures could be down to —2 or —3. the exception is the highlands and islands of scotland. here we have a milder winter coming in from the atlantic around the top of our area of high pressure. follow the lines all around and into the southern part of the north sea and there could be some showers flirting with some of these coastal areas early in the morning. apart from that, and the cloud that is coming in and the stronger wind into the north—west
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of scotland, we have got light winds, plenty of blue skies, a cold crisp winter's day tomorrow. then again, temperatures typically seven or eight degrees. it will be milder where it is cloudier towards the highlands and islands. that milder atlantic air will eventually push its way south through next week as our high pressure gets squeezed southwards but as we move into monday, quite a contrast across the uk. milder where it is cloudier and breezier further north, colder further south where it is clearer. there may be some mist and fog around in the morning slowly lifting. then the sunshine develops once again. more of a breeze, though, for northern ireland, scotland, bringing in some more cloud, especially western scotland. pretty mild, though, for the north—east of scotland. further south, after a frosty start, again, seven or eight degrees. into next week, you will notice, well, where does the sun go? it looks like is going to cloud over more. there could be some mist and fog patches, but with the cloud around, it won't be as cold at cold night.
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this is bbc news. the headlines at 1100. the chancellor warns business leaders that there will "not be alignment" with eu rules in any post—brexit trade agreement — and that some businesses will benefit while "some won't". a clock projected on the walls of downing street — one of a series of events announced to mark the moment the uk leaves the eu. british scientists say the number of people already infected by a new virus emerging in china is far greater than official figures suggest. heavy rain and thunderstorms in australia help to tackle the bushfires but bring flooding to some areas. following campaigns, free sanitary products will be available to all schools and colleges in england from monday.

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