baptised by the water of the river sava. longest river within the balkans, croatia's capital, zagreb. croatia was part of the austro—hungarian empire until the end of the first world war. and you can see much of that architectural influence around zagreb. the city has been fought over by competing armies for centuries. in the 15th century, so the story goes, the ottoman army was camped on the other side of the sava river, just over there, preparing to attack the city. to deter them, a cannonball was fired with such pinpoint accuracy, it landed on a chicken intended for the commander's dinner. so freaked out were the turks by this that they scarpered and never returned to the city again — so the legend goes. but ever since 1877, as a nod to this alleged act of defiance, a cannon has been fired every day at noon from this tower. wow! incredible. alem is a trained engineer who used to work on the zagreb trams before he saw an advert for the position of cannon man in 2008, and landed the job. ah, how come — what does it do? laugh

and so, my near—1,000km voyage down the river sava, through the balkans, is complete. a crucial artery stretching all the way back to roman times. and how, more recently, it was the backdrop to some of the most brutal fighting of the 1990s. both sing in serbian for me, it's been truly incredible to see how the river is now helping to heal the wounds of that conflict. and let's hope it continues to make new friends out of old enemies. both sing in serbian hello there. at the moment, the weather doesn't feel much like late summer. over this weekend, we have seen of sunshine and showers. we have got more showers to come during the second half of the weekend. the big cricket match of course is taking place at southampton, england, on top, hoping for some more wickets. and generally speaking, the day should be dry. there are not going to be many showers across this part of the country. many places will start sunday dry with some sunshine. showers coming into northern ireland, spilling now into southern scotland, northern england, moving into the midlands and into the aftern

and so, my near—1,000km voyage down the river sava, through the balkans, is complete. tery stretching all the way back to roman times. and how, more recently, it was the backdrop to some of the most brutal fighting of the 1990s. both sing in serbian. for me, it's been truly incredible to see how the river is now helping to heal the wounds of that conflict. and let's hope it continues to make new friends out of old enemies. both sing in serbian. hello, we have a changeable week ahead but the start of the week isn't looking bad. here's the forecast, sunny spells and showers on monday. on the whole, not a bad day. tuesday is looking very different, an atlantic storm is developing around 1,000 miles away from is heading in our direction and it is going to bring heavy rain and gales. but in the short term it is not too bad. apart from a few showers in the morning across southern parts of wales and the south of england, they should clear away, though maybe one or two showers in the north in the afternoon, on balance a fine day for most of us. 20 in london, the mid or high tee

here in the north of the country, the river sava is on the tourist agenda, too. river takes on a new and important role as an internationally recognised border. 0ver there is croatia and on this side of the river is bosnia and herzegovina, where i will be continuing my journey. it is a far cry from the beleaguered war—torn image some might have of bosnia and herzegovina. during the 1990s, the river here was the scene of the fiercest interethnic fighting. sparked by the break—up of yugoslavia. but today, the people who live here are recognising the river's potential. during the war, the river was a physical barrier separating opposing sides. attitudes towards the river might have changed during the war but the natural environment is still feeling the effects. land mines and munitions were used extensively in the river sava basin, which proved not only to be deadly but also polluted the water and the problem has been compounded by industrial waste. but this group of young people are determined that their natural heritage will not be placed in any further jeopardy. p

and so, my near—1,000km voyage down the river sava, through the balkans, is complete. n a crucial artery stretching all the way back to roman times. and how, more recently, it was the backdrop to some of the most brutal fighting of the 1990s. both sing in serbian. for me, it's been truly incredible to see how the river is now helping to heal the wounds of that conflict. and let's hope it continues to make new friends out of old enemies. both sing in serbian. hello there. last week, storm ellen brought us some very wet and windy weather. this week, we have another named storm. this is storm francis, named by the met office. you can see this hook developing in the cloud structure, on the satellite picture. this shows an area of low pressure that is deepening rapidly. it will continue to deepen as it moves across our shores. an unusually deep low for the time of year, bringing some unusually strong winds. with that, some heavy rain. it's a combination that could well cause some disruption. so, that rain already setting in for many of us. it will continue to pile northwards

and so, my near—1,000km voyage down the river sava, through the balkans, is complete. etching all the way back to roman times. and how, more recently, it was the backdrop to some of the most brutal fighting of the 1990s. both sing in serbian. for me, it's been truly incredible to see how the river is now helping to heal the wounds of that conflict. and let's hope it continues to make new friends out of old enemies. both sing in serbian. hello there. we are moving into the last full week of august and i think at times it is going to feel as if autumn has arrived early. we are going to have another bout of wind and rain as we head through this week. and it is going to turn cooler as well. to the rest of today, temperatures generally in the mid to high teens, to the low 20s in the south. a mix of sunshine and showers and then through tonight, many of those showers will fade. a few will linger and a few more heavy ones will push back into the south west and parts of wales by the end of the night. mild in the south, 13, 1a degrees, but a very chilly night across northern ire

this river, the sava, has been a crucial trading route for centuries, dating back to 400 bc, when thehe cliff face there. and my intention is to follow the river from here, at its very beginning, until it meets the danube, in belgrade. it's a near 1,000 kilometre course, flowing through four countries that just over 25 years ago were joined as part of yugoslavia. the emerald waters snake through the cliffs and then widen into one of the sava's main tributaries, which has now become famous for watersports. and i'm getting a face first perspective. this is bellyaking. and, yep, there's a hint in the name. it looks like a kayak, but you lay on top of it and use your hands to peddle. like many slovenian kids, luka grew up in the countryside and the sava was a huge part of his childhood. i spent my whole life in the same house about 50 metres away from the river, so when i wake up, if i had my window open, i can already hear it. further down the valley, two tributaries merge and the sava starts its journey proper. and at the fork in the rivers lies this majestic castle, lake bled, and its

next week there's another chance to see rajan making his way down the mighty river sava in the balkansfrom me and the rest of the team here injapan, it's goodbye. hello there. the heat and humidity yesterday across many central and southern parts of the uk was probably too much for many to bear. top temperatures of 36.4 celsius in a couple of locations across the southeast and it was warm pretty widely but parts of wales, northern ireland and scotland were cooler because of more cloud and a few showers. for the weekend at looks like it for be mainly dry and sunny thanks to high pressure, the heatwave continuing across southern portions of the uk. high pressure slowly pushing out into the north sea dragging in a north—easterly breeze so eastern coastal areas will be refreshingly cooler through this afternoon. there will be a variable cloud, perhaps the chance of a shower developing across north—west england and the north midlands but most places will be dry and sunny and it is going to be quite warm. light winds for many, the easterly breeze will be noticeable across eastern coastal cou

next week there's another chance to see rajan making his way down the mighty river sava in the balkanse and the rest of the team here injapan, it's goodbye. hello. there is quite a mix of weather on offer across the british isles just at the moment. the headlines are being made by the heat but, at times, some low cloud is running in to some of the coastal areas, making it a great deal cooler and then, when all that heat really powers on through, we get that possibility of some thunderstorms and that is the mix that will take many of us through wednesday. there is heat to be had widely across western europe at the moment. the moisture being fed around this low out of biscay, up towards the british isles, where we start wednesday on another really humid note. widely across the british isles temperatures in the teens if not the low 20s. the bulk of the morning thunderstorms to be found across the north—eastern quarter of scotland. these gradually drifting towards shetland by evening, and then leaving behind just the chance of one or two thunderstorms dotted around, but generally they will

next week there's another chance to see rajan making his way down the mighty river sava in the balkanse and the rest of the team here injapan, it's goodbye. another hot date, hot and humid across southern and eastern areas with temperatures in a pile with lows of yesterday. and an abundance of strong august sunshine. more co mforta ble, of strong august sunshine. more comfortable, low 20s further north in the sunshine but in between we have had some stubborn cloud. very slow to clear across east wales, the north of england and some could linger near the north sea coast. it will return as we go through this evening and overnight. just the outside risk of some showers. tentative increase to the night. being drawn up in the south and west and the odd one further north but the big talking point again tonight is how warm and oppressive the night will be. more so for northern ireland and scotland. humidity is higher here for the coming night compared to the wondrous console warm start to the new working week but there is an increased chance now of some thunderstorms. a met office warning abo

next week there's another chance to see rajan making his way down the mighty river sava in the balkanse injapan, it's goodbye. hello there. for the second friday in a row, some of us have experienced some extreme heat drifting up from the near continent. in fact, the first friday of august saw temperatures peaking at 36.4 degrees in central london, and the heat was pretty widespread across the midlands, central and southern england, widely seeing those temperatures in excess of 30 degrees. that said, not for all. in parts of north—west wales and the outer hebrides, we saw temperatures only at around 16 or 17 degrees, and here there were some showery outbreaks of rain. so over the next few hours those temperatures will fall into single figures. by contrast in the south—east it's going to be a very uncomfortable night for getting a good night's sleep. we wake up on saturday morning, perhaps low to mid 20s. so that means plenty of sunshine around, albeit hazy for the weekend. we keep the heat in the south—east for some very warm nights to come. much fresher in the far north—west. that's b

next week there's another chance to see rajan making his way down the mighty river sava in the balkanse and the rest of the team here injapan, it's goodbye. hello. the heatwave will continue for a few more days for many of us. we had temperatures on monday again of 35 celsius, the fourth consecutive day where temperatures were above 3a celsius. this was the picture in west sussex, lots of sunshine there, but we've also already seen lots of heavy showers and thunderstorms. and tuesday brings us a similar day, hot again with the chance of those thundery downpours. we've got very warm air with us at the moment, as there is across much of central and western europe. but bubbling up in the afternoon, we are set to see those torrential downpours. in fact, we start off tuesday morning already with some really heavy showers, particularly across the northern half of the uk. a hot, humid start to the day, especially further south. there will be a good deal of sunshine in store for tuesday, but especially during the afternoon, we'll see more of those showers popping up. they could be heavy and th

next week there's another chance to see rajan making his way down the mighty river sava in the balkans rest of the team here injapan, it's goodbye. hello there. pressure is on to bring in the harvest. there is heavy rain and thunderstorms in the forecast for next week. at the moment, it's all about how high the temperatures are going to get. it wasn't quite as hot on saturday as it was on friday. but still, the temperature in hampshire reached 3a degrees. the highest temperatures were in sussex and at frittenden in kent, and it's these sort of areas that we'll see the focus of the heat again during sunday. we start with some very high temperatures in the morning in the southeast corner of england, perhaps 19—20 degrees. again, it's cooler as you had further north, maybe 11—5 in the northwest of scotland. in between, we have got this zone of cloud that's pushed in off the north sea. there may be 1—2 light showers in that as well. any shower threatening the far southeast should move away. gradually, the sunshine develops more widely, the cloud gets burned back onto some of those north se

next week there's another chance to see rajan making his way down the mighty river sava in the balkansand the rest of the team here injapan, it's goodbye. hello there. top temperature on thursday was 30 celsius. nowhere got above 30. that's the first time in over a week we've seen that, so temperatures are falling now over the next few days and we'll have a north—south divide. southern parts of the country will feel most humid, with the risk of thunderstorms over the next few days, whereas further north, higher pressure will tend to bring a lot of dry weather with some sunshine. but there will be some mist and low cloud across more eastern areas. so, for friday, we've got lower pressure to the south, this weather front generating the showers and thunderstorms. higher pressure, though, across the north, which will bring the fine and settled weather, but we will start off with that low cloud and mist, across many central and eastern areas, which will tend to burn back to the coast through the day. best of the sunshine western scotland, northern ireland, northwest england, where it will f

this river, the sava, has been a crucial trading route for centuries, dating back to 400 bc, when the named it after their river god savus, protector of merchants and travellers. and this is the river's source, the magnificent savica waterfall, bursting from two separate points on the cliff face there. and my intention is to follow the river from here, at its very beginning, until it meets the danube, in belgrade. it's a near 1,000 kilometre course, flowing through four countries that just over 25 years ago were joined as part of yugoslavia. the emerald waters snake through the cliffs and then widen into one of the sava's main tributaries, which has now become famous for watersports. and i'm getting a face first perspective. this is bellyaking. and, yep, there's a hint in the name. it looks like a kayak, but you lay on top of it and use your hands to paddle. like many slovenian kids, luka grew up in the countryside and the sava was a huge part of his childhood. i spent my whole life in the same house about 50 metres away from the river, so when i wake up, if i had my window open, i ca

baptised by the water of the river sava. and so the first half of myjourney is complete. al. ideye hope you willjoin me. —— and i hope. good morning, welcome to breakfast with rogerjohnson and tina daheley. 0ur headlines today... confusion as the exam regulator withdraws key guidance on appeals, just hours after it was published — one senior conservative mp calls it farcical. the end of shielding in the uk, as wales becomes the last nation to suspend its guidance for the most vulnerable. manchester city crash out of the champions league. a missed opportunity once again, as a series of blunders sees them beaten by lyon to miss out on the last four for the third year in a row. # take me to the lakes, where all the poets went to die... taylor swift's tribute to the the lake district — and what the locals make of it. good morning. grey, misty and murky for much of the uk today, lots of cloud out there, lots of humidity as well and later on this afternoon, particularly, i think, the threat of some intense thundery showers spreading into the south again with a further risk of fl