but i wanted to prove a few things, and i thought that harold's march of 1066 was quite a good physical challenge and, along the way, lots of people came out to help, and i wanted to prove how kind people can be. aside from the distance, what made the walk more gruelling was wearing 4.5 stone of chainmail helmet and authentic thick garments. it was wet and windy and horrible. and some days, i was walking on busy a—roads, so it was a bit scary in places, but i spent months preparing and training, getting used to all the gear and learning how to do my boots properly and stuff like this. his neighbours gave lewis an enthusiastic welcome home on wednesday night in awe of his achievement. did you think he would do it? yeah. there were a few times where i thought he was biting off more than he could chew, but i think he could. it was always there. he had the determination and commitment. king harold, of course, met his death in the battle of hastings. more than 950 years later,

lewis' walk is helping to give the spectre of male mental health problems an eye. ian reeve, bbc look north. now it's time for a look at the weather with nick miller. hello. autumn weather is waking up again. wind, but more importantly, more rain heading our way as we go through the week ahead, in fact spreading across northern ireland and scotland, as the night goes on, parts of northern england, especially the further north you are. south of that, a few breaks in the cloud and we'll see some mist and fog patches around. and temperatures may end up a little bit lower than this in some spots, but 10 degrees in belfast to start the day tomorrow. maybe a brief lull in the rain early on, but more heavy rain is going to come in quite quickly in the morning and then spread across scotland. and parts of northern england, especially northwest england, will see that rain into the afternoon. we'll see a few bursts of rain towards the north and west of wales as well. elsewhere in england and wales, some hazy brightness perhaps. the wind picking up, turning milder in a southerly wind as well, but for northern ireland and scotland —

particularly western scotland — it is going to be a very wet day, with rain continuing even into monday night. so, rain totals starting to mount here. there could be a few impacts out of that. that's your forecast. hello, this is bbc news with martine croxall. the headlines: the mayor of greater manchester accuses boris johnson of exaggerating the spread of coronavirus in the area to try to persuade local leaders to accept tougher restriction as he calls for increased financial support. anywhere could end up in tier three this winter. in fact, i would say places are likely to end up in tier three. therefore, it's everyone‘s concern to protect the lowest paid in our community. the earlier we have the restrictions, in those areas where there is high instance, the better for the economy of those areas because we stop the infection spreading in a way which will do further damage to

the economy. the government says there have been nearly 17,000 more cases of coronavirus in the uk, reported in the last 2a hours, and a further 67 people have died. there's fierce debate over possible further lockdown restrictions in wales that could last for up to three weeks. an annoucement could be made in the next 2a hours. vigils and rallies are held across france after a teacher was beheaded in an islamist attack close to his school in a paris suburb on friday. an update now on the lighthouse testing facility in glasgow. the uk government has said that the scottish government's claim that there is a capacity issue at the covid testing facility in glasgow is categorically untrue. the uk government spokesperson said

re—routing of test to other laboratories is a routine practice to ensure timely processing, but the uk government —— scottish government we re uk government —— scottish government were told that there was a problem causing test to have to be re—routed on friday. disagreement between the two. now on bbc news, the travel show. rajan datar is in rome as it prepares to mark 150 years since becoming italy's capital city. this week on the travel show... ..rajan‘s looking for a knees—up in rome... wow! ..face—to—face with neanderthals in gibraltar... honk! ..and i'm braving the elements in japan. this is great!

welcome to the land of the trees. this is wakayama in centraljapan, a short train ride south of osaka, and this is where many of japan's urban population have been coming to escape the congested cities during the pandemic. and i've come to try a style of rafting that you can only do right here. before that, though, we're off to europe and italy's eternal city. rajan: rome, a city that plays to its own tune... they play a fanfare ..with iconic, ancient history punctuating the landscape of this modern metropolis. italy itself, though, is actually a relatively young country. for its nation builders, there was only one city that could be capital and this year is a special anniversary. because, over the next year,

rome is supposed to be celebrating its 150th anniversary as the capital city of italy. but looking around me now, i get the feeling it's not going to be quite the fanfare that they were hoping for. since its initial big outbreak here, italy has suppressed the spread of the coronavirus better than many other countries. but cases are on the rise and international tourism is still way down. tour guide desiree says she's seen demand from international travellers drop by as much as 90%. now we are in front of the coliseum. this is the coliseum, it's still incredible. so, who are the tourists that you have been showing around? where are they from?

so there's good and bad. yeah. now what i'm seeing here looks like ancient rome, ancient history here. yeah. want to take a look? shall we have a look? yeah. fantastic. the forum was once a place where romans gathered together for big processions, speeches, and markets. to understand how rome was, you have to come here in this place with this weather, too. but what is the connection between this, thousands of years ago, and you and your friends today? what is the connection? i feel the connection today, too. i'm roman. when i'm here, when i walk around the ruins, i can feel the people.

that's where here... lots of history. and 150 years ago, it was that historical connection that made rome an obvious choice to be capital. back then, the country that we now know as italy was a separated collection of states with rome at the heart of the pope—governed papal state. but italy was in the process of becoming unified and all roads in this effort led to rome. why was it so important, do you think, that rome had to be the capital of this newly formed italy?

for italy to become a unified country, it was decided that rome had to be taken from the pope by force, starting right here at the city walls next to the porta pia monument which now holds a museum for the military unit called the bersaglieri, who broke through the city walls first. so, this is the document that marks the creation of the bersaglieri. hard to believe i'm actually touching the document, and allowed to touch a document that was...that is so essential to italian history. "bersaglieri" means "sharp shooters" in english and they were famed for their mobility. this is fascinating. that's porta pia where we are right now and just along the city wall there is the actual invasion opening where they actually went

through. this is proper history. history of this country. today, many hold them with deep affection here and notjust for their military accomplishments. at national events, the bersaglieri have long been known for a unique style of parade displaying their historic speed and agility. and i've been granted a private performance by the distinctive marching band. and here they come. man shouts an order playing marching music wow! bravissimo! that's fantastic! tell me, how easy is it to run and play?

it must be really difficult. what's it like when you're out there in the streets, under normal conditions, and people are watching you? how does it feel? so, can i have the honour, then, of giving that command before you start your march? si, prego. thank you. he speaks italian di corsa,

march! this year, there was due to be a large street parade for the 150th anniversary, with the bersaglieri taking a starring role. the event became significantly low—key thanks to coronavirus, but, fingers crossed, look out in 2021 for heartier celebrations. carmen: rajan reporting from rome. now over to america, where we are meeting the woman in alabama putting the sparkle into mardi gras. the culture of mardi gras is so much fun. we have a good time. i mean, it's fun, fun, fun. 0ur mardi gras, it was the first. it's done before ash wednesday.

everything ceases at 12 o'clock tuesday midnight. and then they go into lent. in mobile, we're more family orientated. people here come home for mardi gras rather than coming home for christmas. just kind of pour in, have a good time and just reunite a lot. i grew up in mobile, so i've grown up with mardi gras in my blood and i am a mardi gras designerfor royalty. ladies and gentlemen, royalty definitely in the house tonight. the queen and king are selected as the royal ambassador for the city. now, there are a lot of different organisations, but there are two that rules the city and that is mamga — the mobile area mardi gras association. it's predominantly african—american. and the mobile carnival association is caucasian, mostly of european descent. but, overall, we blend, and we enjoy each other,

and just have a good time. i would not want there to be one big mardi gras association. i think the cultural differences and the beauty of the difference in the cultures make it so nice. i started sewing when i was 12. my mother was a seamstress, she loved sewing and i would watch her. she'd make all of my clothes, all kinds of little pretty dresses. when i was 12, i says, "i need some new clothes." and she says, "well, you make them." i started making trains for the ladies of the court. my niece was in the court. i made her train. and, from that, i started making other people trains. a train is around 18 feet long and about nine feet wide, so they're very large and they weigh anywhere from 50 to 65, sometimes 75lb, depending on the amount ofjewels that's on that train. are we going to get to see this tonight? yes. we'll get a

chance to see it. mamga, which is the african—american version of it all, had their first coronation back in 1940. the queen and king's coronation is where the queen is crowned. the king is already the king, but he has now selected his queen. but she hasn't become queen yet until she's crowned, so the coronation is the crowning of the king's new queen. ladies and gentlemen, her gracious majesty, queen rosemary elaine dunning. we look at them as role models and you kind of have a leader mentality or you have that leader's strength to make the right decisions in life.

and what we're doing when we showcase the trains in their coronation, we are showing how that person grew into life to be a role model. still to come on the travel show... ..christa is back in gibraltar to find out why the rock was home to the biggest concentration of some of our distant ancestors anywhere in the world. wow! and i'm injapan to try out a distinctive style of rafting that dates back over 600 years. i'm totally soaked from my waist down. so don't go away. now over to gibraltar, where christa's been to find out what its hidden secrets have been revealing about some of our

closest human relatives. christa: 0n the southern tip of the iberian peninsula lies gibraltar, a small, british overseas territory tucked between europe and africa. thousands of years ago, this was home to the highest concentration of neanderthals anywhere in the world. clive finlayson has been excavating these caves for many years now, slowly uncovering its secrets. a friend of mine called it neanderthal city. they really are unique in the world and the two main ones are, on the left, you have gorham's cave to the left of those steps and, on the right, vanguard cave. also, evidence suggests they lived here till about 2a,000 to 33,000 years ago, making it one of the last—known places they occupied before extinction. this wasn't open water when the neanderthals lived here. in fact, the beach and the water

was miles that way. this was an open plain, like a mediterranean serengeti, where you had wild creatures roaming, ready for the hunt. taking a boat trip here is the easiest way to view the caves, but occasionally you can apply for special access to go into them as it's a unesco world heritage site and also an active dig area. wow! it was here that the first fully adult neanderthal skull was discovered back in 1848 and, then, later on, the bones of seven other neanderthal individuals. wow. big, aren't they? incredible. it's amazing to think that, you know, these people were standing exactly where we are now and they would look out at this fantastic view. instead of the sea, they would have had the plains out there, herds of animals roaming right

across and they could plan exactly where they wanted to go and do the hunt from here. but, of course, they could also come back, retreat here into the safety of the cave afterwards. come and have a look. i mean, what you have here are different events. for example, look, there's a limpet shell there. i mean, we'd have to excavate here, but that may be a place where they were living and eating and then moving along. so each of these layers is an event. so there are hundreds of stories still waiting to be told just in this one cave. and most of the discoveries from the caves can be seen at the gibraltar national museum. well, neanderthals are a different human species, researchers have identified a combined total of 20% neanderthal dna in modern humans today, a result of interbreeding thousands of years ago. clive himself has 2.5% neanderthal dna. so, is this like an artist's interpretation? no. this is a forensic reconstruction and it's using as much detailed

information on neanderthals, metrics and so on, that we have at our disposal today. this is as close as you're going to get to seeing a neanderthal or what he or she would have looked like. it's brilliant, isn't it? a real twinkle in the eye. well, i think that's what makes a human. the female is called nana, and it was her skull that was first discovered back in 1848. the little one, called flint, was found some years later. extracted dna from both has meant that we know what their hair and eye colour would have been. so, come on into one of our laboratories. so, what is it you're doing here? i am painting with silicon. did you start with this and end up with this? i have taken five months from the skull to the... five months! that's incredible. so detailed. do you mind if i touch it? of course. here we go. 0h!

you can press. it's so... it's squidgy. it's like skin. exactly like skin. honk! this model is based on a male skull found in a cave in france, but they now have the skills to forensically reconstruct him here in the museum. so what's the benefit for us of being able to see the flesh of it rather than just the skull? i think it helps to understand, for us to empathise with these people. you put flesh, you give them names and suddenly you're looking at people. and i think that's what makes the difference. i think part of the hard science that we've done over the years has missed the fact that we have not seen them as people. it's going to be a while before this one's finished, but i just couldn't leave without knowing one last thing. what. . .what‘s the hairstyle going to be? i think...rock star style. she laughs flowing locks! yeah, it's just... it was all the rage.

carmen: to finish off this week, i'm in the japanese prefecture of wa kayama. they call it the land of the trees. domestic tourism has risen here recently, with the government subsidising japanese getaways, making escapes to remote wildernesses like wa kayama popular. for centuries, the wood here was so sought after that it was used in buildings all around the country. but transporting it was no easy task. they came up with a novel solution and, today, travellers can experience the old journey downstream. it really does look quite strange by today's standards. i don't know what i was expecting, but it really is just a bunch of logs strung together. it must float 0k. it's been around long enough. so, what's it like to drive and

steer such a long raft like this? in the past, once the trees had been felled and strung together, the rafters would ride them down the river to their destination. today, with travellers on board, the rafts are safer.

there are life jackets, handrails and a bench, plus additional measures now for coronavirus, like masks and reduced capacity. but it's still very open to the elements. so, we're approaching the first rapid and it's meant to be the steepest and the most exciting. hang on. whoo! whoa! this is great! i'm totally soaked from my waist down. whoa! this is the slower part of the ride, so to speak. but it's just fascinating to think

this is what they would have been doing 600 years ago to transport all the logs down to the city to make the temples and the shrines. and these skills certainly come in handy these days when the temptation for getting away from big, city life and all the new restrictions is greater than ever. not that it's all tranquil relaxation... so, we're approaching a rapid now and we stand up so we don't get too wet. here we go! whoo! whoa!

so, that was our last rapid. it was so interesting to watch these four guys navigate this seven—tonne log—raft down the riverjust like they would have 600 years ago. it's amazing. that's all we've got time for this week. coming up next week, we'll be looking back at some of our most memorable trips to africa, like when lucy met the former poachers now responsible for protecting some of rwanda's majestic primates. it's very rare that i'm lost for words, but these beautiful creatures have just completely taken my breath away. and don't forget to follow us in all the usual places. we're bbctravel on twitter and facebook and bbctravelshow on instagram. in the meantime, from me,

carmen roberts, and the rest of the travel show team here in wakayama, it's goodbye. hello, there. quiet, grey and rather dull sums up this weekend's weather. here's a view from earlier in west yorkshire and while some of these leaves will not be on the trees to long this week, the winds are picking up. nothing too extreme, mind you. more significant will be the rain coming in as low pressure will be moving across the uk as the week goes on and some of that rain is going to be quite heavy. and in fa ct, is going to be quite heavy. and in fact, the rain is moving into northern ireland and scotland as the night goes on, parts of northern

england especially the further north you are. south of that, it will stay mainly dry, some breaks in the cloud and 102 mrfog mainly dry, some breaks in the cloud and 102 mr fog patches. tempers mainly dry, some breaks in the cloud and 102 mrfog patches. tempers may end up lower than this, but double figures in belfast to start the day tomorrow. a brief lull in the rain early on in northern ireland but further heavy rain will come in quite early in the morning and stick around throughout the day and put across scotland as well, so the rain totals will certainly start to mount through monday and parts of northern ireland in particular and western scotla nd parts of northern ireland, and particularly western scotland. so there may be a few impacts from that, and some rain pushing more widely across north—west england as the day goes on, into parts of wales. whereas, elsewhere in england and wales, maybe some hazy brightness. all parts having the breeze picking up. there will be higher temperatures. it is a southerly breeze. and into monday night, this weather front is going to take its rain across england and wales. those areas that have stayed dry during the day. not too much on this one.

still some further heavy rain, though, on tuesday across northern scotland. quite a strong easterly wind, here. whereas, elsewhere, mild winds coming in from the south with sunshine and a few showers. but it looks like some prolonged downpours coming back into northern ireland and parts of scotland during the day. it looks to be the windiest day on tuesday. some gales through the irish sea. the mildest day, too. look at this. 18 celsius in hull on tuesday. but then again it is going to be pretty blustery and you may catch a shower. tuesday night into wednesday, eventually the rain is going to ease from scotland and northern ireland. but we are going to see another area of rain pushing into particularly central and eastern parts of england, though wales could see a bit of rain, too. and some of this is going to be quite heavy as well with brisk winds associated with that. still mild to the south, turning a little bit cooler across scotland and northern ireland. so it is all change in our weather this week. there will be rain, some heavy rain at times, and winds are picking up, too. milder to start the week. goodbye.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. huge crowds rally across france, in solidarity and defiance following friday's brutal murder of a teacher near paris in a suspected islamist attack. deadlock between the mayor of greater manchester and the uk prime minister over the imposition of tougher coronavirus restrictions in the city. thailand's prime minister says the government is ready to talk, as protestors defy a ban on gatherings for a fourth day. a convicted murderer who became the hero of november's terror attack on london bridge is to be considered for release from prison ten months early. and coming up, the story of a man who tweeted that he was not ok and received hundreds of thousands of responses from well—wishers