:00:12. > :00:13.Hello, I'm Shaun Peel. Back to you.
:00:14. > :00:14.First tonight, the region is bracing itself
:00:15. > :00:20.In just 13 hours, the third leg of the Tour de France
:00:21. > :00:31.will pass through the East dn route from Cambridge to London.
:00:32. > :00:35.BELL RINGS 24 hours before the real thing hits town, more than
:00:36. > :00:37.a thousand cyclists were trying out the roads of Essex today.
:00:38. > :00:41.Today is a cycling event th`t follows some of the stage that will
:00:42. > :00:44.be ridden tomorrow morning by the professionals.
:00:45. > :00:46.We've over 1,100 cyclists here taking part and we should bd raising
:00:47. > :00:55.And this is where the real thing will kick`off tomorrow.
:00:56. > :00:58.The grandstand is in place on the starting line of stage thred of the
:00:59. > :01:04.Meanwhile, on Parkers Piece, the big tour themed weekend will be
:01:05. > :01:11.The roads around here will begin closing tonight
:01:12. > :01:13.and extra trains are being laid on to get into the city tomorrow.
:01:14. > :01:19.There is extra parking at Cambridge Rugby Club,
:01:20. > :01:21.but if you want to try Saffron Walden, there is Park and Rhde
:01:22. > :01:27.There will be a giant screen on Saffron Walden common
:01:28. > :01:31.and big crowds are expected to line the town's streets.
:01:32. > :01:35.The position that most people seem to want to go to is to go to is
:01:36. > :01:37.the bottom of the High Street, which is where the route turns
:01:38. > :01:41.That's a very sharp left`hand turn, so we are all quite interested
:01:42. > :01:44.to see how the cyclists are going to negotiate that.
:01:45. > :01:48.The bells at many churches along the route will toll to welcome the Tour.
:01:49. > :01:50.Among them, the Church of the Holy Cross at Felsted.
:01:51. > :01:58.Many people are saying, we are going to come because we will
:01:59. > :02:03.In the village of Rayne on the edge of Braintree, a music festival is
:02:04. > :02:07.And as the race skirts the edge of Chelmsford,
:02:08. > :02:10.Melbourne Park is being turned into a car park, while the centre of the
:02:11. > :02:17.Road users can't say they'vd not been warned, the Tour is coming.
:02:18. > :02:21.Neither can customers at thd Waitrose supermarket in Cambridge.
:02:22. > :02:25.It put up a sign pointing out that a "local sporting event" max disrupt
:02:26. > :02:30.A case, perhaps, of the Tour de France being,
:02:31. > :02:40.Police are investigating a burglary near Milton Keynes,
:02:41. > :02:45.It happened early today at house near the town of O'ney
:02:46. > :02:50.One raped the woman, who's in her fifties, while the
:02:51. > :02:55.Tributes have been paid to the naturalist, Philip Wayrd,
:02:56. > :03:01.With his wife, he founded the Otter Trust near Bungay in Suffolk
:03:02. > :03:04.and they're credited with saving the otter from extinction
:03:05. > :03:11.Philip Wayre at the Earsham Otter Trust,
:03:12. > :03:14.which became the test`bed for an international wildlife experiment.
:03:15. > :03:16.Pesticide pollution had all but wiped out lowland otters by the 70s.
:03:17. > :03:18.so the trust bred them in captivity.
:03:19. > :03:20.In 1983, it began releasing them agahn.
:03:21. > :03:27.People said, if in ten years time, if you've made no further
:03:28. > :03:30.reintroductions on these rivers and the otters are still thdre
:03:31. > :03:33.and still breeding, OK, we will believe it works.
:03:34. > :03:37.As Cambridge countryside calpaigner, Robin Page, observed for himself.
:03:38. > :03:44.1993, wild otters arrived in this little brook and otters are
:03:45. > :03:52.He was a fantastic man and he set the agenda
:03:53. > :03:58.Philip Wayre had already established the Norfolk wildlife park bdfore
:03:59. > :04:00.founding the Otter Trust with Jean Franklin, whom he later married
:04:01. > :04:06.His family are now organising a celebration of his life,
:04:07. > :04:23.Well,it could well turn out to be a decent day first thing
:04:24. > :04:27.First of all, we have a much more comfortable night to come.
:04:28. > :04:30.Fresher, under largely clear skies, just one or two isolated showers.
:04:31. > :04:31.Dry for many and feeling a little cooler, with temperatures
:04:32. > :04:37.Tomorrow, lots of sunny spells around.
:04:38. > :04:40.By the afternoon, we are re`ching temperatures in the low 20s.
:04:41. > :04:43.But a few sharp showers around, and they're not going to be ide`l for
:04:44. > :04:50.showers, perhaps the odd rumble of thunder. But sunny spells in
:04:51. > :04:53.That's it. There's coverage of the tour
:04:54. > :04:56.tomorrow on Radio Cambridgeshire and BBC Essex, and there's
:04:57. > :05:04.We're back in breakfast news with bulletins from 6.30am.
:05:05. > :05:14.Hello. We are going to carry the weekend weather into the first part
:05:15. > :05:14.of the working week. A mix of sunny spells and showers, essentially.
:05:15. > :05:20.spells and showers, essentially Overnight, a mix of clear spells and
:05:21. > :05:24.showers. Not that many showers around, but when they turn up they
:05:25. > :05:28.could be on the heavy side. The Bristol Channel, perhaps across
:05:29. > :05:33.western Scotland. Temperatures in most towns and cities no lower than
:05:34. > :05:39.11 or 12 degrees. In Easton parted could be a chilly micro start. The
:05:40. > :05:43.cloud will start to develop as temperatures rise and we can see
:05:44. > :05:49.some showers breaking up. Pretty hit and miss, you are more likely to
:05:50. > :05:57.stay dry than to catch more than the odd shower through the day. Pretty
:05:58. > :05:58.well scudded across Scotland and Northern Ireland, lengthy