yesterday we saw some very heavy and persistent rain. today, that rain has moved its way southwards. the heaviest burst of rain at the moment across parts of wales and the south—west of england. a lot of cloud generally speaking. northern ireland brightening up. the scotland a lot of cloud around but sunny spells as well. just the odd shower. 16 or 17. 12 for cardiff plymouth. to this evening and tonight the rain attended clear but we will keep cloud cover and where we don't have cloud cover and where we don't have cloud we will have mist developing. frost free. 6—9 is the minimum temperature. it is going to be quite a cloudy day for many. the cloud at times producing the odd shower. further we had some rain at times but not necessarily an awful lot. hello, this is bbc news. the headlines: the speaker of the us house of representatives is in poland after meeting ukraine's president endured saying american support will continue until the fight is done. we are continue until the fight is done. - are proud to convey to him the message of unity from the congress of the united states and a message of the united states and a message of appreciation and admiration to the people of ukraine.— the people of ukraine. russia's ministry of _ the people of ukraine. russia's ministry of defence _ the people of ukraine. russia's ministry of defence has - the people of ukraine. russia's ministry of defence has 46 - the people of ukraine. russia's - ministry of defence has 46 civilians have left residential buildings next to the steel plant of mariupol. defending the black sea port of odesa but fears grow after the airport runway is damaged by a russian missile strike. politicians in the uk welcome the resignation of conservative mp neil parish who admits watching pornography in the house of commons twice that of the common speaker calls for a radical action to overhaul working practices in westminster. now on bbc news: rajan datar is in dublin, a unesco city of literature, celebrating 100 years since the publication of jamesjoyce's epic novel, ulysses. this week on the travel show, centennial celebrations in a city of stories. the beauty ofjoyce's language, the way he relates to the common man and woman, is incredible. how to make your holiday budget travel further. the simplest way to cut costs? don't travel when everybody else is. and closing in on colombo. karolis heads for the finish line. that's it, baby! this week, i'm in dublin, a unesco city of literature that's produced a host of famous writers from samuel beckett to oscar wilde. but i'm here puzzling over one particular novel that's made the irish capital a must—visit destination for any book—lover — a novel that this year celebrates its 100th birthday. and that book is ulysses byjamesjoyce. now, even though it's widely regarded as being one of the finest pieces of literature of the 20th century, it's also notoriously difficult to read. now, i've tried — and i must admit, i've failed, too — but i'm told that if you invest in it, if you flow with its stream of consciousness, it's extremely rewarding. set over a single day, ulysses follows two characters, leopold bloom and stephen dedalus, on theirjourneys across dublin. today, there are guided tours that follow their footsteps and help readers make sense of it all. this is davy byrne's pub, it's like one of the set pieces in ulysses. bloom goes in there, ends up getting a gorgonzola cheese sandwich. you know, which even now is fairly sort of hip to the groove, you know. right, and a glass of burgundy, like. you know, you're not dealing with muck here. jack's an actor who's been running these tours for about five years. "men, men, men, perched on high stools by the bar, "hats shoved back at the tables, "calling for more bread, no charge, "swirling half—masticated gristle, no teeth to chew, chomp, chomp from the grill, "bolting to get it over, sad boozers' eyes..." it is a famously hard to read book, but do you think as an actor, you are helping it to come alive? well, i hope so. it's like waves washing over you. the beauty ofjoyce's language, the way he relates to the common man and woman, is — is incredible. many of you might note that these are examples of stream of consciousness, which is a technique thatjoyce used and it's basically like how you think yourself. i'll start off a little thought in my head and then i'lljust not finish it, because i know where i am going with it — i don't need to have the whole nine yards. and he doesn't, either. so he'll have half—finished sentences. so you have to keep up. withoutjoyce, you know, we'd be missing one of the main planks of attraction to dublin. his works are all about notjust dublin life, but about life. so, what is it about this city that inspired joyce and other great writers? to try and answer that, i've come to the old library at trinity college dublin, home to one of europe's most famous literary treasures, the book of kells, a ninth—century religious manuscript. so here we are, early in the morning, about an hour or so before the public arrive, to see the famous long room, which is just beyond these doors. whoa! look at this. it's known as the front room of the nation, hosting foreign dignitaries, as well as around one million tourists each year. this ceiling is incredible. and it goes on and on. this must be at least 60 metres or something. you're a librarian, here, helen. tell me about this city, dublin — what it is that inspires so much great literature? i think it comes down to an oral tradition and a nation of storytellers. dublin itself, you'll see not just oscar wilde's statue or beckett's bridge, but you'll look down and see that there's an inscription of ulysses in the pavement, in the sidewalk — it's in the bones of the city. the old library has some 350,000 books, and more than half of them line the shelves of the long room. the collection is a vital piece of dublin's literary heritage, but it's under threat. so, with so many books — i mean, hundreds of thousands — storage must be a huge problem? absolutely. these volumes in here, they're our most valuable, our most valued. they're also our most vulnerable. this is this beautiful library, as you see, but, in effect, we're in an inner city ring road, and all that particulate pollution from all the traffic is coming through the windows and coming and landing on the books. so, there is a restoration project going on to deal with exactly that, right? absolutely. this year, the library has launched an ambitious 90 million euro restoration to improve the building's environmental controls and help protect the collection. during the project, every single one of these books will be cleaned, catalogued and moved off site. if you didn't do it, what would happen? well, the books would deteriorate more. the building, already, we know there are structural issues with it. we've got to do it. actually, there isn't a choice. we absolutely have to do this project. the more damaged or vulnerable items will be treated here, at the conservation laboratory. so, this is an example from the manuscripts collection. it's a map, and here it is being surface cleaned, and clodagh�*s using what we call a smoke sponge. you see the kind of muck that we get off. and then a very fine brush, to make sure no debris is left. so, over here, this book had suffered from the board separating from the text block, and it has been re—backed with this new piece of leather, and the next stage is to look at the pages of the book. oh, wow. and in this case, there is a running tear, so in situ tear repair will happen now, just to prevent that from extending through use. so, yeah, so, researchers who are going to be reading this a lot, they're going to be turning pages, which leads to wear and tear? that's right. so, in our treatment, we have that in mind, and what we are looking to do is stabilise the item. we can't leave this collection just sitting on the shelf as some kind of backdrop. it's an incredibly valuable resource, you know? it's telling us about our past. it needs to be enjoyed. it needs to be used. it needs to be celebrated. the restoration will provide researchers and tourists with a refreshed experience when it opens in 2026 with new exhibits and a redesigned long room. and who knows? just maybe it'll inspire the next james joyce. the collection here at trinity college dublin is due to close some time next year, but even if you don't make it in time, there's plenty to do and see around this city. around 70 million people across the world trace their ancestry back to ireland, and the emigration museum celebrates this small country's far—reaching impact. it features the stories of more than 300 irish men and women and even offers genealogy appointments to help tourists explore their own family history. for a refreshment, you could stop off at the country's most visited tourist attraction, the guinness storehouse, which produces 880 million pints of the black stuff every single year. i popped over a few months ago to check out their exhibit — and sample their new alcohol—free stout. you genuinely wouldn't know. well, i genuinely wouldn't know. and if you're a budding joyce fan, you can't miss the bloomsday celebrations onjune i6. this annual festival taking place on the date depicted in ulysses, and there are events inspired by the novel all over dublin, including street performances and fancy dress. stay tuned, because later in the programme, i'll pop into one of the festival's most famous landmarks. still to come on the travel show, holidays for the hard up — simon's here with tips on travelling for less. tuesdays and wednesdays tend to be the cheapest days to fly on. and a man, a plan, a canal — karolis spots the finish line in sri lanka. super exciting moment — i'm approaching the kelani ganga river. ulysses byjamesjoyce is 100 years old this year. now, many people find it impenetrable, but there are a bunch of folk who meet every week, here in dublin, to discuss the book's merits and joyce's genius. so i'm here to find out what's the story? welcome, everyone. this is sweny�*sjoyce pharmacy. sweny�*s pharmacy is one of the landmarks featured in ulysses, and today, it's run by a group of volunteers as a tribute to jamesjoyce. "and they all looked — was it sheet lightning?" "it was darker now, and there were stones and bits of wood on the strand." "a fair, unsullied soul had called to him." i "now is then. "no reasonable stumbles over word offer refused." these readings moved online during the pandemic but even though the shop's open again, they continue to have people tune in from all over the world. "the chemist turned back, page after page, living "all the day amongst herbs, ointments, disinfectants, "all his alabaster lily pots." no idea how i read that, but thanks for listening! chuckles. that's what we do here — we read it out loud. you know, we have people here from different nationalities, different parts of ireland and you hear it all sorts of music, if you like, butjoyce would have loved that. does it make it easy to understand and get into it? yeah. because it's a book you grow up hearing about and ulysses is supposedly so difficult, it's a really nice feeling to suddenly be sitting here, and it is accessible. and if you want tojoin in, you can find more information on the sweny�*s website. hello and welcome to this month's guide. those cold, winter months are almost over in the uk but, of course, events elsewhere in europe are rightly taking our focus. i wanted to look at how things are affecting the wider world of travel at a time when we're all feeling the pinch, and look ahead to what the effects might be in the next few months. the most obvious impact on aviation is the closure of large amounts of airspace, notjust above ukraine, which is more than twice the size of the uk, but also russia, the world's biggest country. for decades, flights from europe to east asia have traversed russia. it's the shortest route between hundreds of city pairs. as a result, some airlines are routing flights north of russia. for example, finnair is sending some flights to japan, directly over the north pole. others are routing them south of ukraine — although this can add thousands of miles and extra hours in the air. links between asia and north america are also affected, with cathay pacific saying its hong kong to new york flight could be routed over the middle east and europe rather than directly over russia and arctic canada, turning it into the world's longest flight. longerflight times plus higherfuel prices spell sharply increased costs for airlines, and while they can't pass that on to the passenger immediately, because of strong competition, within a few months, ifear, you could be looking at higher fares and less choice as airlines cut unprofitable routes. and, with all that happening, i wanted to offer a ray of light for people who still wanted to get away, so here are my tips to help your money travel further. the simplest way to cut costs ? don't travel when everybody else is. on a recent friday night, i paid £200 for a one—hour hop from london to northern ireland, but then on a monday lunchtime three—hour flight to lithuania, the fare was just £7. in particular, if you don't have to travel in a school holidays, then avoid them. tuesdays and wednesdays tend to be the cheapest days to fly on, and you can also find good deals on a saturday evening and sunday morning. unsurprisingly, fares are often low for flights very early or very late, but apart from the antisocial hours, you might end up spending more on the ground transport or a hotel stay. travel with minimum luggage. this is my cabin bag and it meets all known free hand luggage allowances. also, ignore those constant invitations to pay for a seat in advance. there is one for you on—board, you just don't know which one it is yet. well, that's all we have for this guide. let's hope for brighter times ahead for all of us. join me again next time for the latest in the world of travel, and, in particular, we'll be looking at the joys ofjourney by rail, as interrail celebrates 50 years this summer. see you soon. and, to end this week, we return to sri lanka, where explorer karolis mieliauskas is paddling 50 kilometres down the country's canal network to the capital, colombo. but he's hit a problem. when we left at last week, his catamaran was letting in water, and night was approaching fast. we join him for the final instalment as he crosses the negombo lagoon to a local church. still a few kilometres to go and sun is down already. now is absolutely the time to get out from here and to reach the shore. i can see already lights. probably will not manage to reach the place with any kind of light. it looks like it is very close now to the all saints church, and google maps shows very good. hopefully, somebody is waiting me. i cannot really see you, but thanks god, i am approaching the shore. can i park my boat somewhere here? thanks, god. good evening, sir. after 14 hours on water, i am finally here in the saints — all saints church and, yes, first, i want to thank the gods for possibility to be on the ground. drumming hey! looks like — looks like a party here. singing do — do you have a room here? yeah. you do have? yes. may i have a look? yes. thanks god, i have a room for tonight. it's just 200 metres from the church. and, yeah, very long day but thank you, thank you, thank you for today. good morning. so the last stretch in front of me. canal to colombo. i expect to reach it by the late afternoon, today, and is another maybe 12 kilometres. the couple hours rowing, is so nice to see that water actually here is not dirty at all. so very nice. probably closer to colombo will be worse, but for now, is proper good. 0h. may i have one, yes, to drink? thank you very much, thank you. looks amazing, isn't it? wow, mm. so sweet, oh! it is rather hot now, it is really refreshing. as i enter colombo, sure enough, the canal water becomes more polluted. unfortunately, most of this litter will end up in the sea. super exciting moment, i am reaching kelani ganga river, which means three days on water is done! i have just arrived at the temple and, today, the people here are celebrating the first visit of buddha i have just arrived at the temple and, today, the people here are celebrating the first visit of buddha into sri lanka, it happened 2500 years ago. looks like there will be quite a lot of people here. over three days, i have paddled more than 22 kilometres to get to the celebration in sri lanka's capital. i have seen a canal network that, at times, has been overwhelmed with pollution, but i have also seen hundreds of spots of natural beauty that have given me wonder and hope. karolis at the end of his mammoth journey there in sri lanka. coming up next week, in athens, coming face—to—face with years of history and learning about the battle to bring the acropolis back up to date. i have never been so happy to see concrete. that is amazing. the last time i was here it was all rough, gravelly, and really hard to push along. do try and join us for that. in the meantime, don't forget you can follow us on facebook and instagram, and watch past episodes on bbc iplayer. i am now going to go off and shelter from the rain, and potentially read another page or two of ulysses. from us here in dublin, goodbye. it is turning into a mist weekend of weather particularly in the northern half of the uk. the final day of april brought some really heavy rain. that was the scene yesterday from a weather watcher in glasgow. weather watchers certainly required. it showers the reason why the wettest weather we've had actually for quite some time. for today that rain is moved southwards and so the wettest weather is across parts of england and wales whereas further north in scotland that was glasgow a short time ago. this afternoon much brighter. some areas of cloud around but some sunny spells around to. quite a lot of cloud for england and wales. mist or in places and some outbreaks of rain by the end of the day. 12 for cardiff and plymouth. 16 for glasgow. 17 in parts of highland scotland and out to this evening and tonight the rain tends to clear a way southwards but we will keep extensive cloud cover. some areas of mist and fog around as well but it will be a male knife. frost free, certainly, 6—9. bank holiday monday not necessarily the brightest of days. there will be a cloud around but some holes in the cloud. you can see in places across western areas the best of the sun trying to be found in wester in scotland but a bit of patchy rain in southern scotland. showers popping up elsewhere and many places will remain dry. quite cool investor in scotland. a northerly wind develops. the highest impetus for the south up to around 17 degrees. as you move out of monday into tuesday we do see a frontal system trying to approach from the west but pressure generally remains a relatively high so that means any rain will be quite sporadic in nature. quite on and off, not reliable. a lot of dry weather around. off, not reliable. a lot of dry weatheraround. having off, not reliable. a lot of dry weather around. having said that, a breaking out and sunshine in wales. some patchy rain may be late in the day, as we head deeper into the week this is the pressure chart the wedding day on thursday. high pressure builds to the south so that will keep things large the dry. frontal systems up to the north—west so that is why we have the chance of some rain at times but certainly not all the time. actually, it is dry through the first week of may. some rain at times. the nights are largely frost free and then it is set to turn warmer. temperatures for some of us into the low 20s. this is bbc news. i'm chris rogers. these are the latest headlines... pressure mounts for radical reform of working practices in westminster after mp neil parish resigns for watching porn in the commons. the government's business secretary says he's firmly against introducing a windfall tax on oil and gas companies. that he didn't rule out the government introducing such a policy in the future. warnings of further increases to food prices as inflation takes hold in the uk as the cost of living hits a 30 year high. 46 so arrive in donetsk after being able to leave residential buildings next to the besieged steel plant in mariupol.