remotely, and most of the marshals who would normally be on site will be in a call centre instead. translation: we help them| if they are lost or need urgent medical help or can't find a toll operator. it's taken complicated and costly planning, but hosting the hajj is a matter of prestige for saudi rulers. barring overseas pilgrims will cost the kingdom around $12 billion this year and impact hundreds of thousands of jobs in the holy city. but the hajj is a gathering which could easily become a coronavirus super spreader event and with around 1a out of 3a million saudis still unvaccinated, it's a risk the kingdom isn't willing to take. sophia tran—thompson, bbc news.

now it's time for a look at the weather with tomasz shafernaker. hello, shorts and t—shirts weather once again today — pretty much across the board — as those temperatures sky—rocket. the sun is strong, and here's another reminder ofjust how strong it is. very high uv levels across many parts of england and wales. not quite so high in scotland — a bit more cloud here. actually, temperatures across the northern half of the uk will be a somewhat lower today. that's because we have slightly cooler air coming off the atlantic. so 20 in glasgow, for example. in london and the south—east, we'll probably hit around 30—31 celsius. balmy evening, balmy night on the way. across the northern half of the uk, we keep the cloud — it'll also remain fresher — around 11—12 celsius. but the south, look how warm it is! 17 in cardiff, 17 in london. mid—teens in liverpool. tomorrow, another hot day. not quite as hot, but i'm sure you'll agree, hot enough.

hello this is bbc news. the headlines... borisjohnson and chancellor rishi sunak — who received covid alerts after health secretary sajid javid contracted coronavirus — both say they will self—isolate. the move cmes as england prepares to ease restrictions further the government said the pair

were due to be exempt from some self—isolation because they were taking part in a special pilot scheme. labour criticised the move, saying many members of the public felt it was unfair it really was one rule for them, another for the festivals, and they've only you turned because they've only you turned because they've been caught out by this. there are lots of questions as to how this trial is and how you access it and i hope the minister can come to the house of commons tomorrow and explain. —— one rule for them, anotherfor explain. —— one rule for them, another for the explain. —— one rule for them, anotherfor the rest of explain. —— one rule for them, another for the rest of us. german chancellor angela merkel is visiting one of the villages in the west of the country hit by unprecedented flooding. more than 180 people have died in the floods in germany and belgium england, scotland and wales say that from tomorrow fully—vaccinated travellers returning from france must self—isolate for ten days — unlike from other amber list countries two athletes and an official at the tokyo olympic village have tested positive for coronavirus — five days before the start of the games

now on bbc news... the travel show — christa larwood is in northern ireland for the final part in the road to recovery series. you've got to 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. did you see that? ourjourney 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, christa goes behind the wheel in northern ireland.

where my search for a seabird pays off. are they all birds? there must be hundreds of thousands of birds here. i take on a local delicacy... you got me, i ate one, well done! ..and try an unusual test drive. genius! hi! woohoo! away we go! i'm in south—east northern ireland and i'm trying to get a good lay of the land. plus, after the last year—and a half, this seems

plus, after the last year—and—a—half, this seems like a good way to get away from it all. ken found during the first lockdown that lots more people were getting in touch to take to the skies. and ken's microlight business is one of thousands here to have had to cope with the ups and downs myjourney will take me over 100 miles up the coast

to finish at one of this country's iconic natural wonders: giants causeway. and it all starts by leaving petrol power behind and switching to the travel show electric van for an early—morning visit to killough bay in county down. check that out, smooth! it was too early for the hotel breakfast this morning. the idea is i have breakfast at this place i am going, which, i suspect, to most people, would be a great delight, a real delicacy. but for some other people, myself included, it's a bit more of

a daunting prospect. we'll see how we go. this is one of a number of bays along the coast here that, over the years, have become renowned for a local delicacy. brother and sister luc and perrine have been farming them by the thousands. hello. hiya. i think i've probably found the right place. are those oyster beds? yes. fantastic. do we go out on the truck? yes. let's do it. do we justjump on? yes. all right. along the coast of northern ireland, inlets of the sea, like killough bay, have developed as an ideal place to farm oysters. they say that each bay,

with its distinct conditions, give the oysters slightly different flavours. luc and perrine's family oyster business has 700 bags of oysters out in this day. each oyster grows for around three years before it is considered for release to market and lots of care goes into making them taste their best. these are the big ones ready to go to the markets and restaurants and such. so, we turn them. every three or four weeks we turn them because there's growth in them. i will show you all this white and purple, that's all new growth. that breaks off. so, we turn the bags to break that off, which makes the oysters harder and the shells nice and round. you pick the bag up and grab it on the sides, turn it on its side. then you let it go and back up again and hit it. let it go, back up again, other way, hit it and back over. if they are on the seabed,

they would just roll, the shells would keep going down and make them round and harder. naturally, that is the shape they want to go to. the more you do that, the better the meat quality and the content of the meat. so that seems to be an endless sort of... it is good and bad, isn't it? how has business been in recent times? the time covid came, in march everything stopped. there was no local market. the exports tapered off and finished. we found other channels, but it's still only getting back to the way it was now. as far as we were concerned, we were down here and we actually got a lot more work done, so we worked the oysters a lot more than we had done before and it is much better quality now. we found with that little break, we were able to fix things and work the oysters a lot more, bag them much better and work them better and more often to get a betterfinished product. so an unexpected benefit of covid is better oysters. turns out it was for us. who knew? that's exactly it. are you ready?

you're going to really enjoy it. before the pandemic, perrine worked selling oysters direct to customers on market stalls to people who, sometimes, like me, need a little convincing. what do you say at the market, when people aren't sure? what is your sales pitch? a lot of people don't like the idea of it in their minds, but there is always the same reaction. they don't know but then they put it in their mouth, make a funny face, chew it and swallow it and they like the aftertaste. so you have to chew it. you have to chew it? i've you have to swallow it down. you can do, but it's much betterjust to chew it. ready? as ready as i will ever be. i mean, it doesn't taste of fish. it's not fishy at all. it's like the sea. it is more like salt and seaweed more than anything else.

i could see how you could convince people. you got me, i ate one! well done! you can try another one again. well, that went better than i expected. with breakfast sorted, i'm off for some culture in the next part of myjourney, which takes me up the coast for a quick stop—off at northern ireland's capital city belfast. here and in some other parts of northern ireland, it's notjust covid that tourism has had to overcome in recent years. the 30—year conflict known as the troubles halted a lot of travel to this city up until the good friday agreement was signed in 1998. a sort of dark tourism emerged afterwards as visitors explored the places and murals associated with the conflict, but in recent years murals with other topics

at their heart have become a bigger part of the urban landscape. seedhead arts have been offering walking tours of these modern murals and during covid made a digital walking tour for people to explore individually. i've been really lucky doing street art tours in cities around the world but there is something special about a street art tour in belfast. it's notjust the beauty, it's the culture and history of this place. the best thing is that even during a lockdown in the middle of a pandemic, you can grab the app, head out into the fresh air and safely see these works of art. it's pretty incredible! but i am really here for more traditional arts. the grand opera house is the only remaining victorian theatre in northern ireland. currently celebrating 125 years, it was saved from demolition in the �*70s, bombed in the �*90s, and now it

has been through a year—long restoration attempt right in the middle of a pandemic. it's not yet reopened to the public during my visit but i'm getting an early preview as it gets its finishing touches. inside, it has been faithfully restored, bringing things like the ornate ceiling paintings back to theirformer glory. what condition where they in when you came in? were theyjust very dirty? yeah, you weren't able to pick out the figurative details and the varnish deteriorated significantly, so they were brown and yellow in colour. how did you get up and do it, because i'm imagining michelangelo lying on his back. we have an amazing birdcage scaffolding, which was all one level. so, basically, we are working above our heads and moving around accordingly. we did exercises, to try to watch our necks and heads, certain ballerina exercises,

stretching the head. people always say, "michelangelo, do you work on your back "for the ceiling?" no, michelangelo didn't do that either. it's a myth! i know. but one of the main difficulties for ruth was in assembling her team. having planned to bring in expertise from across europe, the pandemic meant that ruth needed to uncover local young talent for thejob. challenging, but very worthwhile. some of the team members enjoyed it so much that they want to go and study further, study and go to university to study conservation. now i'm leaving the modern buzz of belfast and heading north back along the coast for something more historic. there are quite a few castles in northern ireland, and that will come as no surprise to fans of game of thrones, knowing that parts of that series were filmed here in various castles. it all seems like such a nice idea, owning a castle, but they cost

an absolute fortune to run. and for glenarm castle, first built in the 17th—century, the impact of the troubles on tourism meant relying on visitors for lots of income would have been a risky strategy, until recently. so, during the pandemic, when tourism was at an all—time low, they decided to take a leap and invest in tourism for the future. it was all about long—term survival. we took a look at how we could reinvent ourselves to come out again when this would be over. we knew the public perception would have changed and that outdoor space was going to be more valuable moving forward, and so we concentrated our efforts on creating outdoor space and activities. in addition to the gardens on the grounds that were already drawing visitors, adrian added new glamping pods

and electric bikes to explore the wider area, including forest on the outskirts of the grounds. this area, which has barely changed in 400 years, has been recognised in recent years for its vast biodiversity. this makes me feel like i am really fit. i will never cycle without this again. for adrian it's a very special place. so you've been around for a while? igrew up. i grew up here. my father was a chauffeur for the family here, started work in 1960. when i was a wee boy of four, i was intrigued by where he was going. so i would hide underneath a coat in his wee van and halfway to work i would pop up and say, "surprise, i'm coming "to work with you!" so i completely fell in love with glenarm and decided i wanted to spend the rest of my life here.

one of my aspirations was to try and open it up more, to share it with everybody. now that is what we are doing. back at the castle, adrian had one more thing to show me. i don't know what this is going to be. adrian was kind of laughing when he was talking about it, so we'll see. adrian, your car has shrunk! this is my toy — every good estate should have one. and it turns out the mini land rover is actually part of a fleet of them that adrian has brought in for kids to use on a new off—road course. oh, that is brilliant. look at you! you look like you're four years old again, back on the estate. if i had something like that when i was four, i couldn't have contain myself. so you want a wee go? yes, obviously! laughs. there you go. all you gotta do is press the button and hold on tight.

all right. you're good to go. i've got mine pressed... laughs. 0k. ah, she's off! genius. thanks adrian, see you later! bye, remember to come back now! that's it, i'm off to see the giant's causeway, by! the giant's causeway, bye! you think that is far enough? i think i should stop her now. i don't trust her in the wee land rover. laughs. the next part of myjourney takes me further north—east, and off the mainland to rathlin island. a ferry has long been a lifeline for the 150 people who live on this island. and it became particularly vital for getting supplies to the residents over the last year. the islanders took the decision

early in the pandemic to stop non—essential access to the island, and only recently opened up again to tourists. so far it has helped keep the island covid—free, and we've done two lateral flow tests before coming over to try and help keep it that way. one of the main draws for tourists is the chance to get close to puffins and other rarely seen birds. so, i'm waiting for my guide liam, warden of the island. he's lived here all of his life and has promised me a glimpse of the birds. the man himself. hello! hello, you must be christa! did my big blue bus give it away? i'm afraid so. would you like to see the puffins? that would be lovely, can i follow you? yes, follow me up to the seabird centre. see you there. a puffin bus usually takes most visitors up to the site, but we have special permission

for the travel show electric van. the seabird centre opened up for the first time in 1.5 years just a couple of weeks before our visit. and a viewing platform at the back shows the birds putting on quite a display. are they all birds? yeah, they are all over the place like little pebbles. i can't quite get my head around how many of them there are here. pretty amazing. there must be hundreds of thousands of birds here. there is indeed, there are hundreds of thousands, there's about 140,000 guillemots alone. you see how the flat top there is just completely covered in guillemots. there's about 7,000 or 8,000 guillemots in that one area. for protection, they would like to be in close proximity to the others, so safety in numbers. so if you are nesting in the middle of that density over there, the chance of your egg and your chicks surviving is much greater

than if you are out on a lower ledge on your own. because they don't have to worry too much about land—based predators here, but there's always other birds. there are great black—backed gulls and ravens and things that come along and take eggs, so if you are in one of those places you are better protected. but now it is time to find the star of the show, the puffins. if you look out for the orange feet, they are the first thing that jumps out at you. they are on the bare soil or the green grassy bits down the bottom there. oh, there they are! they're quite obvious, once you are looking for the feet. they nest on the ground so at the minute there will be one bird in there incubating the egg, and the other one, its partner could be out feeding at sea. and how has it been, over the past year, because you have had quite a unique experience here on rathlin island. it is strange, because you expect to hear a bus coming up

the road with people or something and it is not happening, it is just quiet, saturday afternoon and there is not a voice to be heard anywhere along the way. but you get used to it, and it's quite nice. i think in some ways i really felt more relaxed for a year, orfor a season. laughs. you know, because summer can be quite busy for people doing all sorts of differentjobs and facilitating all the people that come here. and not having all that pressure meant that people were pretty laid—back, it was a chill—out year i suppose. and now that people are free like myself to come over on the ferry, is it nice to welcome people back to rathlin? it is brilliant they are coming here and having the opportunity to get back to see what is on offer on rathlin. to end my time here, i'm heading back to the mainland, and just a little further up the coast. coming to the end

of ourjourney soon. not far away. you've done a good job, old girl! four countries, lots of adventures. now, there's one place in northern ireland that i have always really wanted to go to. in fact, i remember really clearly as a kid seeing a picture, and saying, "what is that place? i want to go there!" now i'm on my way. giant's causeway is a unesco world heritage site, and it has been here for millennia. but even this place has been affected by covid in its own way. this is it, look at this. incredible. it's mad to think that nature created this. legend has it that it came about because of a fight

between two giants. it's thought to be the most visited tourist site in northern ireland. about a million people came in 2019 — but with changes to visitor numbers during the pandemic, the national trust have said this is a once—in—a—generation chance to change how they manage their tourism approach, to avoid what they call the pitfalls of over—tourism. they have begun spreading visitors out more throughout the day, to help make a more positive impact on the local area. its natural hexagonal columns stretching out to the sea are actually formed because of the way lava slowly cooled when it was created. but that's not the story that captures most people's imagination. so there was a irish giant called fionn cumhaill, who lived here with his wife 0ona and their son 0isin, and there's a scottish giant called benandonner who lives on the scottish island of staffa, one of the outer hebrides. the two of them get into an argument, hurling insults across the sea at each other, and eventually fionn decides he's had enough,

he needs to go to staffa to put an end to it and challenge benandonner. but it is a well—known fact that giants don't like getting their feet wet, so so he decided to get up early the next morning and build a causeway across to staffa. whichever story is true, giant's causeway seems sure to keep the visitors coming for a long time yet. and for me, it's where my journey in northern ireland comes to an end. i've been really struck by the resilience of the people i've met here, and their optimism. they're determined to notjust get through this crisis, but to do better on the other side of it. and i think, for uk travellers, the past year has been a good chance for us to take stock and appreciate what we have right here on our doorstep.

hello, shorts and t—shirts weather once again today — pretty much across the board — as those temperatures sky—rocket. the sun is strong, and here's another reminder ofjust how strong it is. very high uv levels across many parts of england and wales. not quite so high in scotland — a bit more cloud here. actually, temperatures across the northern half of the uk will be a somewhat lower today. that's because we have slightly cooler air coming off the atlantic. so 20 in glasgow, for example. in london and the south—east, we'll probably hit around 30—31 celsius. balmy evening, balmy

night on the way. across the northern half of the uk, we keep the cloud — it'll also remain fresher — around 11—12 celsius. but the south, look how warm it is! 17 in cardiff, 17 in london. mid—teens in liverpool. tomorrow, another hot day. not quite as hot, but i'm sure you'll agree, hot enough.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines... borisjohnson and chancellor rishi sunak — who both got covid alerts after health secretary sajid javid contracted coronavirus — now say they will self—isolate. initially, the government had said the two men were exempt from some self—isolation because they part of a pilot scheme, and labour denounced that as unfair. it really was one rule for them and another for the rest of us, and they have only u—turned because they have been caught out by this. there's lots of questions as to what this trial is, how you access it and i hope a minister will come to the house of commons tomorrow and explain. german chancellor angela merkel visits the region of western germany hit by unprecedented flooding.

more than 180 people have died in germany and belgium.