in theirsnow suits... the rain, the snow, normality, plight, kept the pub going. kept us going. it is a paradox of the pandemic that social distancing and isolation actually brought communities closer together and they hope is that thank you day will become an annual opportunity to renew and strengthen those bonds and friendships. thank you day is supported by community groups, businesses and national leaders. prince charles thanked hospital radio. its origins are in the thursday evening club for carers. know that it has been of immeasurable value in connecting people, in providing comfort and companionship. harry kane thanked community volunteers. we thank you on our behalf for everything.

thank you. there will be thank you tartan, tea and cakes, river bank litter picks, and street parties. —— have been. everyone has got behind it from royalty to harry kane, and that sense of people wanting those moments of connection to celebrate the things that bind us together, that is what driving it. as britain prepares to leave its long covid quarantine, the hope is that the sacrifice and love that kept people going can be distilled into a huge annual thank you, ready for any challenges to come. # don't you look back. as far as the weather goes, we have got helen to thank for that. hello. menacing clouds across many parts of the uk today and there is heavy,

those thundery showers will continue throughout the rest of this evening. a little bit of sunshine early on between but even through the night i think will continue to see them, particularly for scotland, northern ireland, northern england, perhaps the thundering element using a wave is certainly quite a cloudy and settle like mile two, few shallots by that gets it on for the south. that is where we expect to see the lengthy spells of sunshine through the day tomorrow. not running up the odd shower here and after a fairly darn start northern ireland and northern england eventually the rain starting to pull away and a brighter weather coming through. —— fairly damp start. look at what is looming large towards the south, some unseasonably windy and wet weather coming in as we go into the weekend so quite warm in that sun is comic strong sunshine but, as i say, through monday evening and overnight and particularly wales chief is in wet weather in the south and particularly windy weather.

hello this is bbc news. the headlines... a cabinet minister indicates that the use of face coverings will become a personal choice when lockdown restrictions in england are eased. we trust the british public to exercise good judgment. people will come to different conclusions. more than 20 million people watched england's brilliant night in rome — as they thrashed ukraine, and moved onto the it has been a long year for everybody, and i'm chuffed that the two performances we put on have brought so much enjoyment and happiness to people. ministers extend the period in which legal action can be taken against housing developers in light of the cladding crisis. from retail to real estate — john lewis outlines plans to build 10,000 homes for rental over the next few years. now on bbc news,

it's the travel show. you've gotta love it — proper british coastline. we're on an adventure across the uk as it opens up for travel again. yes! we're open! from rugged coastlines... ..to breathtaking landscapes... ..and natural habitats. see that?! 0urjourney will take us to the four nations that make up the united kingdom. and with an eye on our carbon footprint... ..we�*re in an all—electric revamp of an iconic british motor. on this week's show, lucy's behind the wheels in wales, where she'll be trying to take it down a notch... oh, god. i'm going a bit too fast. that's right. it's quite a discipline. ..making some new mates in the countryside...

do you want more food? oh, that feels really weird on my hand! cackles. ..and throwing herself right in the deep end. woo! hello and croeso i gymru, or welcome to wales, and the next leg of our travel showjourney across the uk. i don't know about you but i'm pretty excited! we're in cardiff, the capital of wales, a country that usually attracts! million international visitors a year. now, how do we turn it on? nothing but silence. at the moment, i don't really feel like i'm driving a big van.

it's just... it's quiet, it's smooth — a bit too smooth. there's no sound, which is freaking me out a little bit. i'm not completely confident with it yet. at one of cardiff's most recognisable landmarks, there's definitely a sense that tourism is returning. but i'm heading south to the waterfront — a symbol of the city's successful regeneration. cardiff bay — or tiger bay, as it was known to locals — was home to one of the earliest large—scale multiracial communities in britain. # tiger bay... # it's not very far from the dock. # as the welsh coal industry grew, so did cardiff. by the 19th century, it was the biggest exporter globally. workers flocked to the area, creating a community in butetown that was soon home to more than 50 nationalities.

# tiger bay... # keith murrell is the man behind butetown carnival, an annual celebration of the area's diverse past. this is the core of the traditional butetown community. things have been changed but this is almost the epicentre of where everything was happening. so, describe the festival to me. i would say it's two days of music and fun, but the emphasis is on local music. so, you know, with a lot of tourists coming here, would you say butetown festival is something that they would consider? would they be welcomed here? absolutely. as i said, in its heyday, we were getting attendances of 25,000 people. that was a time when maybe 4,000 people were living here. so it was obviously catering for the whole of the city and yet, presenting butetown in the most positive light. this is a port. and this community most especially is built on a port.

it's about people coming and going — we love people coming and going. one of the things is — again, about community pride — if you've got something, you want people to come to it. last year, organisers were forced to take the carnival online. but this year, they're hoping to hold a stripped—back event — and preparations are under way. for the last few years, june has performed at the carnival. her trinidadian—inspired outfit is homage to the people that once migrated here hundreds of years ago. butohjapanese is a style of very slow motion. i'm not a young person anymore so moving quite slowly, it's giving me another vehicle to perform. so, i'm just going to take yourfoot forward and you just slowly lunge as if you're in slow motion. it almost looks like the bionic man. chuckles. like someone�*s hit

the slomo button on us. and you just — you just — that's it. youjust, kind of, breathe and slowly move and maybe i'm gonna do a wave, so you take yourtime to... oh, god — i'm going a bit too fast! that's right. it's quite a discipline. and then just do a little wave. just a little wave. oh, my gosh, the concentration! my legs are shaking a little bit. so what was that about you not being young? my thighs are aching and ijust did that for about two minutes! well, it's been brief — i've only been here for a couple of days — but i have had the best time here in cardiff and i genuinely cannot wait to see what else wales has in store for me. i leave the city for the rolling hills of the brecon beacons, less than an hour's drive from cardiff. the national park is home to over 1000 farms, largely dedicated to livestock.

and with over 250,000 visitors a year, one particularly savvy farmer has developed an interesting business model — trekking with sheep. he's checking me out. he's just checking — he's checking i'm all good. his problem is he can't really see very well because his hair is so long it's in his face. meat patches, my new pal for the afternoon. do you want more food? i need to prove that i'm your friend. oh, that feels really weird on my hand! cackles. you've got a very warm tongue there, patches! come on! patches, you can have more food in a moment. the plan is to follow a trail around the farm with my fluffy companion. he's pretty obedient. sometimes he, kind of, veers to the left or right and i feel like i'm the one being walked. it turns out to be trickier than it looks. come on, patches! come on! so, nicola, since lockdown,

have you seen demand for this experience growing? yeah, so a lot of people want to be outside in the open air. this experience, because we are able to be distanced, there isn't so much pressure on that, and people just enjoy being with the sheep and being able to stroke the sheep and actually being able to physically be around them, whereas normally they just see in the fields and they run away. when we first opened, it was quite slow. we didn't really have that many people. i think people were a bit wary. they're bit like "hmm, really? walking sheep?" yeah, yeah. they'd not really heard of that before. we started because it was similar to alpaca trekking but with sheep, it's more native. and we ourselves were used to looking after sheep, whereas alpacas were something a bit different and a bit scary. now, before i head off, nicola says she's got one more surprise in store. welcome to wales�* very own crufts—inspired

goat agility training course. so the easiest one to start with this probably this one. they come up, then you can give them a little bit of food and then they'll walk down the other side. alrighty! whee! up you go! come on, you can do it! you can do it! climb, climb, yeah! yay! there we go! woo—hoo! well done! good boy! i am getting tangled a bit! yeah! come though... ..and this way. good boy! chuckling. so, how did you start with these agility courses? we've seen that dogs do agility. we've actually seen pony and horse agility... yes. ..and we've seen some videos of youtube on people doing sheep agility and we thought "we'll have a go!" goats! why not? so, and goats love to climb.

yes. they love to just jump and just cause havoc. as we saw. yeah! so we thought "why not have a go and to see whether they enjoy it?" and they seem to love climbing things. yeah, i was gonna say, they do really seem to enjoy this, and they're learning as well. exactly. these guys are only about 16 weeks old now. yeah. they haven't been doing about long, so it's all new to them and they're just loving every minute of it, really. yeah, so what's the purpose? obviously, you said to me they are learning and learning skills, but do they compete? no. laughs. not yet! we haven't seen any goat agility competitions yet. yeah, yeah. there's always a first for everything, huh? exactly, exactly! maybe we'll enter in some dog agility with the goats. both chuckle. i'm sure we'll get some funny looks there. yeah, i'm sure! come on! for my next adventure, i'm swapping green hills for craggy coastlines

as we head west. pembrokeshire is the uk's only coastal national park where beaches and coves punctuate nearly 200 miles of cliffs. the beauty of pembrokeshire hasn't gone unnoticed, and, in recent years, the amount of visitors to the area has been growing. now, as lockdown loosens this summer, businesses are expecting more bookings than ever. so, welcome to ramsey island. my guide ffion has worked on the waters around ramsey island for over 20 years. this is the largest gull in the world. it's the greater black—backed gull. i've seen one eat a rabbit, whole, live, down in one. they have also been known to take little terriers, so definitely not one to be messed with. seagulls are pretty intimidating though, aren't they, so... at nearly 400 feet in places, the western cliffs on the island are some of the highest in wales,

making it one of the best places for birdwatching in the uk. 25 years ago, an oil tanker spilt 72,000 tons of oil into these waters, turning beaches black and killing thousands of seabirds. this devastating event spurred on locals to develop a marine code for visitors. part of the problem is other water users who aren't used to the area don't know the area, don't know the wildlife. and it is not knowing about it, so not knowing that they may be disturbing it. the code encourages visitors to plan ahead, reduce speed and keep their distance from wildlife. people will only save what they're passionate about. and to make them passionate about it, you've got to take them out and show it to them. so it's about striking a real balance between showing them what an amazing wildlife we have on our doorstep, but also not impacting it,

not having a detrimental effect on it in the, sort of, meantime, so it's trying to strike that balance. in recent years, this stretch of coastline has made a name for itself as one of the best places in the world to go to coasteering. which is essentially scrambling along the cliffs. it's hard to put a date on when coasteering started — i'm sure it's been happening for hundreds of years — but we are the first company to provide it as a commercial activity. so we made it more accessible to people and gave anybody, essentially, the opportunity to come and see what the coastline around here has to offer, you know? and, yeah, it's a bit mad to think that it started just over here. how did you cope during the last year? how has it been for you guys? so it's been really difficult but we are seeing a lot more tourism in the area. there's a lot of people that would be going to europe or further afield and if we can give them an insight into the spaces that we have on our doorstep, because we know how important they are — especially after the lockdowns, the difference that being outside can make.

we just need to make sure that we're not abusing those spaces and that we're really looking after them, so that generations to follow can also enjoy them. so, now that i'm looking out, the nerves are kicking in a little bit, but it's more about the temperature of the water, rather than the activities — i'm actually really looking forward to exploring, kind of, nature at sea level. i've never done this before, so get me in that water! yes! there's no way i could have done that without my hands. i need more confidence. as well as performing backflips, sam was also an expert on the local geology and wildlife. then it was back into the waves

for the big finale. sam had one lastjump in store for me. this is real adrenalinejunkie stuff, and it is notjust aboutjumping off the cliffs and getting in the water, it's so much information, so much nature and wildlife, and sam is so good at breaking it down, so you experience the mixing of the crazy sport element and just learning, honestly i could do this all day. next up, lam heading 90 miles inland, to the dyfi valley. situated on the southern edge

of snowdonia national park, it's home to one of the steepest cliff funiculars in the world. i can hear it filling up with water — here we go! we're on the move. what's unusual about this is that it's powered by water, one of only a handful of its kind. this funicular is 30 years old, and was put in place to essentially get people up and down the hill, a hill that was originally used to get slate down. it's a little bit disconcerting looking at the view, but what a view, and what a fantastic use of sustainable technology. and it's all part of this — the centre for alternative technology. founded in the 70s on a disused slate quarry, this place was ahead of its time,

a pioneer in the move towards renewable lifestyles. in 2009, the region was given unesco biosphere status to recognise the area's green credentials. down the road from cat, and another attraction is doing its bit to promote a more sustainable future. all with the help of the world's second largest rodent — the beaver. well, as we came out of the last lockdown we had a new addition to the nature reserve, and we now have a family of beavers. family of beavers! so explain to me what i'm looking out on here. where would the beavers live? so, the beavers are in an enclosure, that's just in this area here. they have seven acres of wet scrub to get their teeth into,

and they're here to help us with reserve management. 400 years ago, beavers were hunted to extinction for theirfur, meat and oil. this loss had a devastating impact on the land, and today ecologists are hoping their reintroduction can reverse this effect. and what was it like finally getting them here? to actually release them and see them swim into that pool, it was a bit goosebumpy. yeah, i bet! so, here we are, the beaver enclosure. i say to people, i'm going into the bog on a daily basis. sadly, beavers don't have a great rep, but kim's hoping to change that. there is a lot of misinformation out there about beavers, some people don't understand that they are vegetarian, and so there is some conflict that they are going to eat all the fish from the rivers. as with anything that is new and a change there is fear around that, but we are just trying to educate people that this is what beavers do in this landscape. well, beavers arejust one additional tool in the current climate crisis. where you have beavers, you

have increasing biodiversity. amazingly, kim has already seen a change to the reserve. so, they've only been in six weeks and already we're seeing in changes to the water channels, they're connecting up the pools, they've made a canal, and we're seeing lots of pathways like this when they are coming in and out and they're feeding on this stuff, on the willow. i couldn't come all this way and not see what all the fuss was about. but because beavers are nocturnal, we had to come back at dusk. yeah, yeah, there is a beaver coming! oh i see it, i see it, yeah, yeah, yeah! coming straight towards us. just coming across. right into the sun. well, we have been waiting quite a while, i was just about to give up hope, and around the corner came a beaver, totally worth being eaten alive by midges

for. i think i've inhaled about 20 as well. totally worth it. we saw beavers! for my last leg of this journey i'm heading west to aberystwyth, a popular welsh holiday resort and home to a thriving student population. i am at the university's art centre where wales�* musical tradition is being given a new lease of life. sings in welsh. the two outside rows are like the white notes ona piano... plays harp. ..which means you get that nice echo sound, and the middle row are like the black notes. but i won't demonstrate because i never tune them, because life's too short. this is the triple harp, an instrument only played by a handful of people across the world. i think it's europe's only

unbroken harping tradition. so it very nearly did die out, but it's great that recently i think there has been a surge in interest in young people. cerys is member of avanc, a welsh folk band formed of young musicians from all over wales. over lockdown they recorded and collaborated remotely, streaming their performances to thousands across social media. would you say doing these virtual performances and recordings, has that kept you sane during lockdown? yeah, there's a world out there. yeah, but i bet you can't wait for things to get back to normal, so performances can resume, things like that. oh, the wind is playing the harp! it'sjoining in. yeah, this is the wind playing the strings. ghostly harp notes. well, here's hoping i can play this thing better than the wind. i am not going to lie, cerys, i feel a bit unnatural here. i look the part...

you look the part, and that is all that matters. laughs. all right, here we go. i'm on the red string... and then you get the hand on the other red string, and you just play them, and you've got a little echo. plays harp. like that, and back down again, then here... it's really messing with my eyes! how do you do this without going mad? that was the first bar of a famous welsh tune called pwt ar y bys, which is the one everyone learns first, so you're well on the way. you'll make a star of me yet, cerys. what a trip! wales has made me feel well and truly welcome. and that's what's really struck me at every turn during this journey — the openness of the people i've met, their history and their hope for the future. next time, in the final leg of our uk series: christa

christa is in northern ireland where she'll take to the skies... ..try her hand at oyster shucking... ..and explore one of the country's magnificent natural wonders. incredible. legend has it that it came about because of a fight between two giants. good evening. between the showers we had a little sunshine through the day, but showers are going to be on the cards throughout this evening, overnight and into tomorrow, with this area of low pressure driving our weather.

and this are of low pressure developing rapidly to the south could bring some unseasonably windy weather through monday night. but for what remains of this evening, there'll be further thundery downpours around. i think the thunder will ease a little as we go through the night, but it will stay unsettled. further outbreaks of showery rain for scotland, northern england, northern ireland. fewer showers further south, but a mild night for most, some low cloud coming on to the north—east coast of scotland. tomorrow it looks as if the northern half of the country will have the thickest cloud, the showery outbreaks of rain. further south it looks drier and sunnier than today. not ruling out the odd shower — can't be ruled out anywhere — but there will be some heavy ones further north, eventually starting to ease a little across northern england, perhaps later to northern ireland ahead of this gathering mass of rain. so, in between, i think it'll feel warmer than it's felt today, just because we've got some more sunshine, some strong sunshine coming through. and, as a result, some high levels of pollen at this time of year, grass pollen, and some high levels of uv as well.

now, as we go through the week ahead at wimbledon that means there's the chance of some interruptions, but monday looking a little bit drier, tuesday concerning us, and wednesday and thursday, i wouldn't like to rule out some showers, but they will tend to diminish in frequency and intensity. but as we go through monday evening and overnight this area of rain gathers force, pushes its way north across much of england and wales, but we will see some impacts potentially from gale—force winds through the channel, unseasonably windy weather for the time of year affecting many parts of the southern half of england, southern half of wales, in fact, eastern england as well. while scotland and northern ireland, as you can see, moving into tuesday, will stay showery, some heavy showers, but some areas may well escape those showers and stay dry. but this area of low pressure, this rain makes its way up into eastern parts of both england and scotland during the day on tuesday. showers follow on behind. still quite warm, 18 to 19 — about average for the time of year — but that's going to trigger some heavy showers as well. those showers are still around on wednesday, diminishing in number through thursday and friday,

but some question marks over the weekend. as ever, you can catch up with all the weather including the warnings on the website.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm geeta guru—murthy. all covid rules in england could go if lockdown restrictions are eased as planned later this month — including the use of face coverings. south africa's former president jacob zuma says he'll defy a court order to hand himself in to start a 15 month jail sentence. at least 45 people have died after a military plane crashed in the southern philippines — up to 50 survivors have been taken to hospital. nations send help to cyprus as it tackles a huge wildfire. its president describes as the worst in decades. and mesmerising aerialfootage of sheep goes viral — we'll have more on that.