this is bbc news. we'll have all the headlines and the main story is at the top of the hour after this programme. stories at the top of the hour after this programme. this week on the travel show... ..mont saint—michel marks its millennium. that view is pretty amazing. there's the shadow of mont saint—michel on the sand. the pops and toots that make this port one of a kind. horn blasts one, two, three, four, five. - and saving these bundles of fluff from extinction. yeah, he's thinking about it. all right. we'll give him some time. here he comes.

i'm beginning this week in northern france, on a journey that two—and—a—half million people take each year. i'm kind of getting an idea of how popular this place must be, because it's off season, it's super cold — but this bus is packed. i can see — i'vejust got a glimpse of the abbey. it does look pretty special. this is mont saint—michel, one of france's most—visited sites. it's an island off the coast of brittany, in normandy, connected to the mainland by a half—a—mile—long bridge that opened back in 2014. and this year, the island celebrates a very special anniversary. it is the 1,000th anniversary of the construction of the church.

how on earth did they construct something like this 1,000 years ago? mm—hm. yeah, this is the best of medieval engineering. and it started off as a sanctuary dedicated to saint michel, saint michael, in the year 708. then it took off, you know, the pilgrims started to come. they had to come across the bay, so walk through the sands, and then it developed in the 11th century with the construction of the church. the abbey sits at the top of the cliff, surrounded by the village below. even nowadays, there are quicksands out there. there are lots of strong currents. so it must have been a really important site for people to want to make that kind ofjourney. yeah, it was a journey of a lifetime. it's just quite funny to come in here, and the contrast with the medieval look, and then you've got shops.

yeah, people are often surprised — but don't forget, there were pilgrims coming here, as they needed to be housed for one or two nights. so there's been inns and souvenir shops, even, for hundreds of years. of course, they were religious kind of souvenirs, medals, you know, rosaries, these kind of things. so, what's it like taking tourists around here, then? well, it depends on the time of the of the year, really. it can be a very nice, peaceful time, you know? but i tend to like less and less working here in the middle of summer. because. . .why�*s that? because there's too many people. but it's beautiful, of course. a new governing body recently took over the running of mont saint—michel, with plans to improve the tourist experience. viking helmets, crossbows. eiffel tower. he laughs you see? they're encouraging people to visit off season and steering them away from the souvenir stores, towards more

of the surrounding area. but accessibility is still a bit of a problem. it's so steep and so slippery that even this electric attachment is struggling to get up there. so my strategy is to get as much speed as possible up that hill, and, as soon as i start slowing down, i'll be like, "solenn! save me'" they laugh on your mark. excuse moi! atencion, atencion! coming through! solenn! right! we got it. come on. the islands governing body told us that making any changes to this protected historic site is difficult, but they're hoping to find a solution within the next few years. 0nly around 30 people live

here on mont saint—michel. bonjour! bonjour, ade. ines and jean are two of them. their home has been injean�*s family since before the 17th century, and is full of trinkets and antiques. tell me about this? this is your house? 0ui. and what is it like to live in this place, day to day?

distant bell ringing up in the abbey, the bell is rung for evening prayer. the abbey is home to a small number of monks and nuns, members of the monastic fraternities ofjerusalem. some of them spend their mornings down in the village tending to their guesthouse, or working part—time jobs to help cover the order�*s expenses. yes, it's reallyl a unique place. and, you know, also, - we are here to say that this place has been made first for god, and for worship. | would you just like it just to be purely holy? no, that's, you know, that's the way it is. i you cannot change the reality. when we come here in- mont saint—michel, we know that there will be a lot -

of noise during the services, and that some groups. are going to walk during the mass or whatever. but we are here for them also. back outside, i've taken to my crutches. these are the last steps, ade. are you sure? yes, they are the last steps. is there champagne up here for me? and now, we have to go down. ade laughs oh, my days. that view is pretty amazing. and look at this. wow! look, there's the shadow of mont saint—michel on the sand. oh, yeah. that's the best time of the day. when i come to this place, in particular, the north tower, as we call it, for me, it sums it all up. i often compare the mont saint—michel as being thejewel, and the bay the box. so, that's the jewel in the box, you've got it all. and that image has been

there for 1,000 years? yeah. and if you're thinking of coming to france this year, here's some things to look out for. the loire valley's among the best places to see classic france. vineyards, medieval towns, and more than 300 chateaux. the city of blois is the best jumping—off point for the wider region, and is itself home to two of the most popular castles — including the chateau de chambord, a 16th—century masterpiece that many think leonardo da vinci had a hand in designing. in the summer months, you can head for nantes, in brittany, which every year hosts a huge citywide art trail. its 30 stages take in the big

attractions at the jules verne—inspired machines de l'ile theme park. you'll have to pay to ride the great elephant or sea world carousel, but many other sites on the route are free. the beach town of boulogne is home to europe's biggest aquarium — and it's vast! there are about 6,500 species at nausicaa, and the main tank's so big, it takes about six weeks to fill. there are rotating exhibitions. right now, augmented reality allows you to experience what life is like for creatures in the open seas. finally, you'll see crepe stands in most french cities — but in brittany, they're the real deal. the region claims to be home of the crepe, but also its savoury cousin, the galette. made out of buckwheat,

they come with egg, ham and cheese, and are best eaten outside in the breton sunshine. still to come on today's show — the canadian port that likes to blow its own horn... horns blast ..and the big bear hugs that could help save a famous marsupial from extinction. that's quite the noise. well, that noise is, "you're close enough." so stick with us for that. i'm in mont saint—michel in northern france, where an unlikely dish has become something of a tourist attraction. rhythmic beating i'm getting into the beat here! the mere poulard omelette has been served here since the 19th century, when the owners were in need of a quick and easy recipe

to serve to the island's many visitors. since then, it's become a strange staple of the french election cycle. if a presidential candidate visits mont saint—michel and doesn't eat the omelette, superstition says they're doomed to failure. and some people might say that you have to be pretty importantjust to afford it, because prices start at 32 euros. just for an omelette! you do get entertained, though. the moment of truth. time to see if this lives up to all the hype. i like it. really light and fluffy. i'm feeling presidential already. to canada next — and a gem from our archives. 0n the country's east

coast lies the seaport town of stjohn�*s — capital of the province of newfoundland and labrador. its little harbour may look like many others around the world... ..but listen a bit harder and you'll soon spot what sets it apart. he hoots rhythmically it's a symphony in the harbour. that means we're not playing violins, we're not playing basses or banjos, or guitars. # ya, ya, ya, ya, ya! # meep, meep, meep, meep! # we're playing wind instruments — and they're the ships' whistles. he honks melodically or something like this, you know? i go from ship to ship and ask the officers if we could use their horn for the day, orfor that particular time. and most of them are happy to participate because it's something different from the mundane tooting their horns.

this is the time score. and the way this works — coastguard will give the countdown over channel 11. that's the ship—to—shore radio here. and there's two people. you have a time—taker, who reads out the time, the seconds, loud, and the other person follows the score. i am very keen on experimental and weird music. and so, when asked to compose a piece of music for 5—10 freighters, i easilyjumped at the chance. i have no idea what it was going to sound like. basically, we're given a graphic score where we can kind of basically, like, fill in dots, so to speak, that indicate when somebody is supposed to honk their horn. 41, 42, 43... quite often, you can hear a harmony which is actually not intended, but itjust happens to come out

like that sometimes. it's absolutely beautiful. horns play one, two three, four, five, six, seven... - horns play rhythmically horns comme— horns play rhythmically horns continue sheila was doing the horn today, i her first time, and she started out, "ok, i gotta get this - right, i gotta do this right," and after a while, she got into it and got into the adj lib, improvised spirit of the thing. - and you could almost - see her, her body language was going to the music. and i thought, "ok, this is fantastic." i ..60, yes! good job! i didn't get quite the melodic structure i was hoping to get, but it was a beautiful...

beautiful to hear anyway. well, it's interesting, i i guess it puts a little bit of a twist in your lunch hour, for sure. - so, other than that, - i think it's pretty interesting and comical, i guess... i don't know what else more to make of it, really. - rhythmic horns tooting people think we're crazy — of course we're crazy. but actually, no, that's what art is all about. if beethoven had been in stjohn�*s, or if he'd been here today, he probably certainly would've written a harbour symphony. right, we're off to australia next — and to a sanctuary that might well end up saving a whole species from extinction. and notjust any species — we're talking tasmanian devils, a creature made famous by popular culture, but which faces a really bleak

future if we're not careful. we sent jacqui wakefield to see some of the work a few hours north of sydney. jacqui: this is a whole other world from the arid plains many people think of as rural australia. barrington tops national park, about five hours' drive north of sydney, is all about greenery, lush rainforests, and wildlife everywhere. the bush here is full of animals like koalas, wallabies, and kangaroos. but there's one animal that's been newly introduced, and it could help save a species from extinction. it's hoped these hills will provide a safe haven for the tasmanian devil, whose populations are being ravaged over on their home island, tasmania. 90% have been wiped out

by a highly infectious disease that causes facial tumours, and eventually death. but this sanctuary is at the centre of efforts to save it. hey, guys, thanks for coming out. welcome to aussie ark. now we have a couple of special little animals for you guys to have a look at today. we've got sandra dee here, and we also have pickles. so far, aussie ark has had seven breeding seasons, with a total of around 300 baby devils — orjoeys. i think she just likes moving around. she's just investigating. so devils have a very, very good sense of smell. so, she's — you can see her nostrils going. she's sniffing around, because we all smell all new. it's all new people, all new smells. look at all her whiskers! they admit here that inviting visitors in was something of an afterthought, but kel reckons it's now an important part of a conservation effort.

to have a sweet deviljoey that you can cuddle and interact with absolutely changes people's perception, because they're sweet and they have personalities, and they�* re inquisitive. and that's really important. no—one will want to protect and look after something that they're scared of, or don't understand, or see as just really aggressive. and why save the tassie devil? so, australia actually has the highest rate of extinction of mammals, compared to the rest of the world. one of the more recent animals to go extinct was the tasmanian tiger — leaving the tassie devil the biggest marsupial predator in australia. the joeys aren't set loose into the wild of the sanctuary until they've done some growing. each animal considered for release is selected for its genes. they're making sure the population is genetically diverse enough to be self—sustaining. and before this one — called wedge — goes, there's a thorough health check.

people would expect this devil now to be jumping out and grabbing onto your throat. yeah. look at it. we just get a little grumble. devil growls that's quite the noise. well, that noise is, "you're close enough." "that's enough, folks. " come on, mate. 0k, he's in. watch your legs, please, grab it and twist. can you give kel a reading, please? of course. 11.15. ooh! is that a big boy? that's about as big as you would expect a male to get. yeah. wow, what a boy. all right, out he comes. 0k, and he's heavy for kel, so come in... all right. even while he's wiggling, just down low here, watch for him to swing, 0k? sure. tim gives him the once—over while i administer the anti—tick medication. watch for the swing. ok, i'm already having a look over and around, so fingers and toes — all good this side. he's a big boy, so he's been dominating the yard where he is. yeah. we've got a tiny little

discharge in the eyes. only got about a kilometre. nah, much shorter! oh, thank you very much. ok, so we're going to drive into the middle of a fenced sanctuary... ..which essentially, for these devils now, is being released to the wild. people — particularly those that don't live in australia — can't understand the concept of our invasive species and predators, like we've had introduced to australia fox, cat, and buffalo, and pig, and rats, and mice. we didn't have any of these things. so, what we have to do is create islands of habitat that are invasive—pest—free, invasive—species—free. this is us! we're taking two devils out with us — miss fig — a female — and wedge, the big, strapping male at the health check. they'll have an area of about four—and—a—half square kilometres to call their home.

effectively, for them, that feels like living in the wild. we've got a great vista, they'll take off, probably follow the road. long—term... yeah? ..what�*s the hope? the long—term hope is that devils in tasmania survive in the wild, and that they function in their ecological role. and secondarily, that we have devils back in eastern australia on mainland. so he'lljust kind of think about it now? well, sometimes they're not even facing the right way. he is. all right. yeah, he's thinking about it. all right, we'll give him some time. here he comes. come on, mate. aww. see how quiet he is? yeah. look — really shy, really timid. hello. good boy. how good's that? having a bit of a think, yeah! amazing. it's great, right? for now, let'sjust hope these two are warm tonight, and that this one has joeys in three months, and the male has represented his genetics. and so, you know — and that's

the nature of conservation. it's really complex. yeah. but we can at least just have some simple fun knowing that, after a decade, we've got to a point that we can let some devils go into this island of habitat. ade: jacqui wakefield, miss fig, and wedge, in barrington tops national park. and don't forget, you can catch up with all our adventures on social media. but for now, i'm off to get warm — cos it's freezing! bye— bye!

hi. 0n catch up tonight... a clear sentence, potential changes to scottish rules and the swedish city hosting eurovision in 2024. but first, dangerous muscle—building drugs are being sold illegally, a bbc investigation has found. doctors warn they cause erectile dysfunction, mood swings and liver problems. secret filming found they were in shops for sale as bodybuilding supplements around the uk and online.

the feed standing agency says selling them is a criminal offence. —— food standards agency. the bbc approached all the shops involved in the investigation expressed confusion about the regulations. now, the man who killed 26—year—old ellie edwards outside a pub on christmas eve has been jailed for life and must serve a minimum of 48 years in prison. chapman killed ellie when he opened fire with a submachine gun as part of a gang feud. ellie was an innocent bystander. the scottish government wants to decriminalize all drugs for personal use. drugs such as heroin and coke wouldn't become legal, but users would be offered support and treatment rather than being prosecuted. time now to leave you with 10 seconds and get move on, seconds and get your groove on,

because the swedish city of malmo is to host next year's eurovision. malmo's had eurovision before in 1992 and 2013. you're all caught up. bye for now. hello. it's been quite a mixed weather picture on friday, certainly for scotland and for northern ireland. we started on a rather gray and cloudy notice and the rain and cloudy note and the rain that started on thursday lasted to the early part of friday morning with accumulations of around 32 millimetres across parts of northern ireland. that's around about a third of a month's worth of rain. but from there, the weather did at least get a little bit brighter. so the weather front... you can see that's across the northwest of the uk here tending to edge your way through friday afternoon with brighter skies. working in across england and wales though, there was lots and lots of sunshine and it was a hot day. the highest temperatures spotted across eastern areas where the warmest spots actually got up to about 30 degrees celsius. st james's park is in central

london, but it's quite warm. even further north in hull 28 degrees celsius. 28, as well, in cambridge. heading into the weekend's weather prospects... well, we're going to see showers and thunderstorms break out. initially, they'll work across northern ireland, wales and western england before spreading northwards and then kind of leaping into northeast england and scotland. now, some of those downpours are likely to be really torrential, the heaviest of which could bring 50 millimetres of rain in the space ofjust a few hours and could bring some areas, some flash flooding. but equally, some areas will completely dodge the downpours all day and just keep the warm sunshine temperatures, well, high twenties for parts of eastern england, 27 or so for parts of northern scotland. but in the west, a cold front working through the weather, gradually turning a little bit fresher with temperatures just easing back a little bit. a wimbledon, well, chance of a shower might see a rain

at wimbledon, well, chance of a shower might see a rain interruption here for a time. and so the overnight temperatures will be at the lowest across eastern areas, 13 and 14 degrees, quite comfortable, 17 or 18 further east, a little on the sweaty side, sunday's forecast. on the sweaty side. sunday's forecast... then again, it's a showery weather picture. there is a chance that we see some storms break out across france, run into eastern areas of england. but i think the bulk of the showers will start to move in through the afternoon as those temperatures rise and they'll tend to move in from the south and the west. temperatures lower, generally into the low twenties, but still mid twenties across parts of the east and a fresher feel to the weather as well. now into next week, we take a look at the big jetstream pattern, a ridge in the central atlantic. that's actually part of an omega block pattern. these blocks don't move around very much. and so the weather's kind of stuck. and for us, we're underneath an upper area of low pressure, a trough that will help low pressure after low pressure form. so in other words, it looks pretty unsettled. and throughout much of next week, even as one area of low pressure moves away,

thatjet stream pattern will just encourage another area of low pressure to follow pretty much over the same areas. so we are looking at some rain and some showers around often into next week. on monday, perhaps the heaviest rain will be across western areas, maybe some thundery rain mixed in here. there will be some warm sunshine around as well. temperatures quite close to average really for the time of year, about 19 to 23 degrees celsius. and deeper into next week, we could see lots of showers in the forecast. temperatures, if anything, a degree or so below average for the time of year. and some of the downpours when they do come through will be really quite heavy, maybe even torrential in places. so it's certainly worth keeping an eye on the sky into next week. that's the latest weather for now.

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