It’s one thing to walk the length of Hadrian’s Wall, it’s quite another to walk it wearing nothing but a pair of swimming trunks.

Yet that’s exactly how one man is planning to spend his weekend, all in the name of charity.

Why the trunks? Well because he has previously swum the English Channel and taken part in the International Ice Swimming Championships in Russia.

John Myatt decided to tick the walk off his bucket list after a family holiday was cancelled due to Covid-19.

The 48-year-old set off from Wallsend this morning to walk to Bowness-on-Solway and raise money for Rugby For Heroes.

A warrant has been issued for the arrest of a South Cumbria mother facing sentence for drunken child cruelty crimes, after she failed to attend court twice in a week.

The woman, who is aged in her 30s and based in Kendal, last appeared at Carlisle Crown Court early last month when she admitted three child cruelty offences involving a girl and boy both aged under 16 who, court papers say, were “wilfully assaulted”

The woman, who can’t be named to protect the identity of the children, was due to have been sentenced by a judge on Monday this week but the court heard she mistakenly got on a southbound train heading for Manchester instead going north to Carlisle.

Recorder Eric Lamb adjourned the case until today for the woman to attend but she again failed to appear and when asked by the judge whether any reason had been given for the woman’s non-attendance, her barrister Sarah Magill replied: “None, Your Honour.”

Four kayakers had to be rescued from Derwentwater yesterday evening after one capsized, and two others got into difficulty trying to rescue him.

The four had set out to camp overnight on St Herbert's Island, and the fourth was recovered from there.

Image source, Stuart Holmes/Keswick MRT

Volunteers from Keswick mountain rescue team and Cumbria fire service boats went out to rescue the four, and a coastguard helicopter was also scrambled, after police were alerted at around 18:00.

The men had no obvious injuries, but were taken to hospital in Penrith for routine checks.

The 250-year-old predecessor to the new bridge was destroyed by floods in 2015.

It does not get more Cumbria than this - a flock of sheep has opened a new bridge in Cumbria.

People in a Cumbrian village, divided when a historic bridge washed away during Storm Desmond in 2015, now have a new crossing.

The new Pooley Bridge, officially opened this morning, has taken five years to plan and build, and is made from stainless steel, the first of its kind in the country.

Colin Hindle owns the Granny Dowbekins Tea Room beside the bridge and says most people in the village like the new structure..

• Temperature at 3,000ft (900m): 4C to 5C (39F to 41F)
• Winds: A fresh south-westerly initially with gusts to 40mph, veering to a moderate westerly wind with gusts up to 35mph by noon
• Cloud: During the morning, overcast with bases around 1,000ft to 1,600ft (300m to 500m), clearing up in the afternoon with sunny spells and patchy cloud at 2,000ft to 2,500ft (600m to 800m)
• Weather: The morning will be wet, with cloudy skies and some outbreaks of showery rain moving in from the west, but the afternoon is expected to have lengthy sunny spells and it should become mainly dry.
• Visibility: Poor during the morning, and above the cloud bases, becoming mainly good in the afternoon, but poor above 2,000ft (600m).

There's been a sharp week-on-week increase in the number of patients in Cumbrian hospitals with Covid-19, according to the latest county council data, external.

In the week ending 16 October there were 50 coronavirus inpatients in the county, compared to 29 the previous week.

Image source, AFP library picture

Matthew Saunders, a public health consultant with the County Council, says some of the patients are not being admitted because they are severely ill with Covid-19, so the figures are less concerning than in the first wave.

John Bowness
BBC Radio Cumbria reporter

The first traffic has driven across the new Pooley Bridge, five years after its historic stone predecessor was swept away by Storm Desmond.

The £5m structure, the first stainless steel bridge of it's kind in the country, had to be opened without formal warning this morning to minimise crowds.

Image source, Cumbria County Council

When the previous stone arches, which had stood for 250 years, were destroyed, the village was cut off from its most convenient access to main roads, the Lake District, and even its steamer pier.

The man who designed the new river crossing, architect Héctor Beade Pereda, says says its design means it could survive a flood far greater than that which destroyed the old bridge.

Murray Craig, 20, has been named farm worker of the year in the British Farming Awards, external.

Image source, BFA

Murray is a farmer's son, and works on the Swindale Foot farm, which surrounds the Haweswater reservoir near Shap.

He manages more than 1,000 sheep, and helps run a beef herd, as well as having travelled to New Zealand to shear up to 10,000 sheep, three years running.

The judges said he was a credit to the farm, having taken on huge responsibilities for his age, and Murray himself said: "I am lucky to have a supportive boss who has always been open to career progression and what I would like but you don’t get anywhere unless you are prepared to progress yourself and put yourself out there."

Kyle Pelham repeatedly attacked the woman and isolated her from friends and family.

BBC Weather

This morning will be mainly cloudy and wet with outbreaks of rain, locally heavy.

Turning brighter from the west by this afternoon with periods of sunshine.

Moderate to fresh south-westerly winds and temperatures of 10C (50F).

This evening will be mainly dry with clear periods and easing winds.

You can see the latest weather for your area, by searching for your location here