the race is a wild mix of horses, skiing, all done over this frozen lake. before the main event, i caught up with valeria, who's been crowned overall winner here twice in past years. before the first race, i always said, "why am i doing this?" and after the race, i said, "yeah, i know why!" 2009, i was the first woman to do skijoring. it was really special because everyone was looking at me, "can she do that? "is she strong enough? "is she not scared and everything?" but it was really nice because i had a third place in my first race. can you control the horse with the reins, and how different is it for the horse? we definitely can control them. we have to control them because if there is something next to you, you have to go left or you have to go right. you have to stop the horse

if something happened. after the start, they normally say, "ok, where is my boss? "ok, it's six metres behind me," and they are sometimes really looking for you and trying to connect you with the reins. some horses, they love to do it. they say, "wow, there is nobody on it, i go." cries of encouragement. at one point, valeria was in the lead and looking good. come on, come on! go, go!

for the riders, the sheer amount of snow and ice kicked up by the horse's hooves mean face protection is pretty important. by the horses�* hooves mean face protection is pretty important. by the final lap, you could see the horse is beginning to tire and she was desperately trying to hang on. so, our rider came fourth, unfortunately, but it did look like a really tough race. they came round three times and, gosh, these horses were going so fast. it was really thrilling. carmen high up in the alps there in march. 0k, we're off to sri lanka now. and at the start of the year,

our adventurer karolis mieliauskas set off to paddle down a historic canal system and to meet local people cleaning up the waterway on his journey. adventure on the very first step. the trip starts! ooh! whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! i hope to do it in three days. 0k. first 100 metres is done! as i start myjourney, i get a warm welcome from the people who live here. hello, hello! hello, how are you? i'm fine. good. very good, very good. i'm going down the canal. bye. bye—bye, guys. see you. all the best.

and what's the sign? have a look. "dear neighbours, keep the canal clean." oh, no. no good, no good. i was expecting to see some rubbish, but not that bad. not that bad. it looks like the rubbish comes from these houses. tell me, please, is that right that you are cleaning? cleaning the canal? yeah. how many people like you here? about six people. six people who are cleaning? i think i can see one now approaching. hello. that's nice, that somebody is doing this. there is also a local boat tour company that runs rubbish collection days on these waterways.

it's run by a guy called fernando. 0ur cleaning project name is captain fernando cleaning project. we started this cleaning project in 2016, actually, five years ago. so, step by step, we came to a very good stage. plastic pollution is a big problem these days. if you walk on this beach, it's very polluted, and if you go on the canal and lagoon, it's very polluted. now, people's minds are slowly, slowly changing. people just throw the rubbish into the canals, but now people start to think, little by little. a long time ago, those canals were used for transportation, but now, these days, people use it to dump rubbish. the easiest thing is not to throw rubbish into the canal. what we can do — educate your

brothers and sisters so we can have a clean and healthy lifestyle. so, boys, thank you very much for coming. cheering thank you, fernando. right, it's now time for our last look back, and as i get to choose, this is a moment of pure self—indulgence. as a child growing up in the uk, i absolutely idolised the footballer george best, and i wasn't alone. even the legendary pele was a fan. so you can imagine my delight when i found out that george's former home in belfast was opening up as an airbnb. i simplyjust had to go and stay there. commentator: waiting i to receive was mighty best. he simply walked the ball into the net! what a goal! united in the lead. he was a key part of the iconic manchester united team that in 1968

became the first english side to win the european cup. mrwiederkehr, president of the european union of football associations, handed it over... and it all began here, in belfast�*s cregagh estate, where fans now have the chance to stay at his childhood home. hello. you must be peter. i am. welcome to george best's house. thank you. come on in. thank you very much. wow. so, this is the main room. uh—huh. the bests would've lived in this house from 19118. so, we've recently put the house back to as it would've been in 1961, when george first went over to manchester as a 15—year—old in search of fame and fortune. how easy was it to source this kind of furniture? itjust came from a number of sources. local charity shops, antique dealers, etc, so...

the house was bought by a local nonprofit group called eastside partnership and in its new retro—furnished state is now available as a holiday rental. so, all the proceeds that we get from the use of this house are used to support other community projects in east belfast. right, well, it's night—time, and it feels...a bit intrusive. but, anyway, this is obviously one of the bedrooms where the family lived in. but not only am i staying in the same house — i'm actually going to be sleeping in the very room that he had as a child. i wonder what he would've made of this. hopefully, he would've found it quite funny.

right, it's time for me to get some sleep, although i'm not completely tired yet. i need some reading material. and i think this should do the trick. goodnight. i'll tell you what — waking up in george best's old bedroom was one of the highlights of my year. it's been so good in 2022 finally being able to hit the road again properly. and i hope you managed to get away, too. have a great new year, and i'll see you in 2023.

hello. a fine end to boxing day across many parts of the country, especially further east and south across the uk. wintry showers in scotland. how about the next few days? well, it is going to be very unsettled — rain and wind at times, risk of gales, in fact, in the run—up to the new year. but let's have a look at the short term. so, through the course of this evening, lots of clear weather about and temperatures will dip away quite sharply as well. just a few showers there still, wintry ones across scotland, but a weather system is approaching from the west, so milder conditions starting to spread into parts of wales and southwestern england by the early hours of tuesday morning. but this weather system, as it sweeps across the country, in the morning, it will still encounter the cold air in scotland and parts of northern england. so, with that clear night and the low temperatures, as the weather front overrides that cold air, anything that falls out of the sky will be snow across the highlands, maybe for a time in the pennines, too.

but to the south of that, that mild stream of that south—westerly wind is going to be rain, so really unpleasant around welsh coasts, southwestern england through the afternoon — gusty winds, heavy rain. the last place to see the rain on tuesday will be the far southeast. this is, i think, where the rain will reach you early evening. and out towards the west, on the other hand, it should clear up come the evening. here's wednesday's weather map, and the next area of low pressure sweeps in — quite a few isobars there — pressure lines, big pressure gradients. so, strong winds blowing in and, again, another dose of gale force winds, particularly around western and maybe southern areas — a really changeable day. in the south, relatively mild, 12 celsius, but further north, the other side of the weather front — it's pretty chilly there for northern scotland and the northern isles. the low pressure's still with us on thursday, quite a large area of low pressure, blustery winds. a cold front will have swept through by then, so i think slightly colder, particularly in the north —

even some wintry showers around, temperatures around 6—7 degrees there for glasgow and aberdeen. in the south, might still make double figures in london and norwich. so, the run—up to the new year, new year's eve there, saturday, it stays relatively mild, but it's not going to feel like it because of all that wind, rain and risk of gales — bearthat in mind. bye— bye.

this is bbc news broadcasting to viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm christian fraser the headlines russia says at least three servicemen have been killed in a ukrainian drone attack on an air force base in the south of the country. the woman killed in a shooting at a pub in merseyside on christmas eve has been named as 26—year—old ellie edwards. at least 50 people have died in the united states and canada as deep freeze severe winter weather sweeps across north america. the united nations tells the taliban to reverse its decision on banning afghan women working for humanitarian agencies, after five major organisations suspend their work in afghanistan. demonstrations in south—western iran to mark the fortieth day of mourning since a nine—year—old boy was killed during anti—government protests.

boxing day sales begin in the uk — but will shoppers be cutting back