of the uk, particularly into scotland and northern ireland through sunday, and some cooler air working in here, too. that will mean perhaps a more comfortable night, though, with temperatures in the low teens. for england and wales, it stays very muggy and humid. 18, 19 the lows as we move into the small hours of monday. monday daytime, a little more cloud down the north sea coast, should burn off through the day. the cloud tending to thin out across scotland and northern ireland and temperatures here pushing up a couple of degrees on sunday as maximums, whereas i think it willjust be a touch cooler but far from chilly, as you can see, with temperatures in the high 20s across england and wales. but here's our week ahead. we carry on with high pressure until we get to thursday, but looking changeable friday onwards.

this is bbc news. the latest headlines.

the german leader angela merkel visits the region worst affected by devastating floods. she says the world must act faster in its battle against global warming. she pledges aid for rebuilding the area quickly. it all suggests that it has something to do with climate change. we have to hurry, we have to get a move on in the fight against climate change. the uk prime minister and chancellor have made a rapid u—turn and announced they will now self—isolate, after being identified as contacts of the health secretary, who's tested positive for coronavirus. we did look briefly at the idea of us taking part in the pilot scheme which allows people to test daily, but i think it's far more important that everybody sticks to the same rules. two athletes and an official at the tokyo olympic village have tested positive for coronavirus five days before the start of the games.

now on bbc news, the travel show. you've got to love it! proper british coastline! we're on an adventure across the uk as it opens up for travel again. yes, we're open! from rugged coastlines to breathtaking landscapes and natural habitats. did you see that? ourjourney will take us to the four nations that make up the united kingdom. and with an eye on our carbon footprint... ..we�*re in an all electric revamp of an iconic british motor. on this week's show, christa goes behind the wheel in northern ireland. where my search for a seabird pays off. are they all birds? there must be hundreds

of thousands of birds here. i take on a local delicacy... you got me, i ate one, well done! ..and try an unusual test drive. genius! hi! whoo—hoo! i'm in south—east northern ireland, and i'm trying to get a good lay of the land.

plus, after the last year and a half, this seems like a good way to get away from it all. ken found during the first lockdown that lots more people were getting in touch to take to the skies. and ken's microlight business is one of thousands here and to have had to cope with the ups and downs with the ups and downs of the pandemic.

myjourney will take me over 100 miles up the coast to finish at one of this country's iconic natural wonders — giants causeway. and it all starts by leaving petrol power behind and switching to the travel show electric van for an early—morning visit to killough bay in county down. check that out — smooth! it was too early for the hotel breakfast this morning. the idea is i have breakfast at this place i am going, which, i suspect, to most people, would be a great delight, a real delicacy. but for some other people, myself included, it's a bit more of a daunting prospect. we'll see how we go.

this is one of a number of bays along the coast here that, over the years, have become renowned for a local delicacy. brother and sister luc and perrine have been farming them by the thousands. hello. hiya. i think i have found the right place. are those oyster beds? yes. fantastic. do we go out on the truck? yes. let's do it. do we justjump on? yes. all right. along the coast of northern ireland, inlets of the sea, like killough bay, have developed as an ideal place to farm oysters. they say that each bay, with its distinct conditions, give the oysters slightly different flavours. luc and perrine�*s family oyster

business has 700 bags of oysters out in this day. each oyster grows for around three years before it is considered for release to market and lots of care goes into making them taste their best. these are the big ones ready to go to markets and restaurants and such. every three or four weeks we turn them because there's growth in them. i will show you all this white and purple, that is all new growth. that breaks off. we turn the bags to break that off, which makes the oysters harder and the shells nice and round. you pick the bag up and grab it on the sides, turn it on its side. then you let it go and back up again and hit it. other way, hit it and back over. if they are on the seabed, they would just roll, the shells would keep going down and make them round and harder. that is the shape they want to go to. the more you do that, the better the meat quality

and the content of the meat. it is good and bad, isn't it? how has business been in recent times? the time covid came, in march everything stopped. there was no local market. the exports tapered off and finished. we found other channels, but it is only getting back to the way it was now. as far as we were concerned, we were down here and we got a lot more work done, so we worked the oysters a lot more than we had done before and it is much better quality now. we found with the break, we were able to fix things and work the oysters a lot more, bag them much better and work them better and more often to get a better product. the unexpected benefit of covid is better oysters. turns out it was for us. who knew? that's exactly it. are you ready? you're going to really enjoy it. before the pandemic, perrine sold oysters direct to customers at market

stalls to people who, sometimes, like me, need a little convincing. what do you say at the market, when people aren't sure? what is your sales pitch? a lot of people don't like the idea of it in their minds, but there is always the same reaction. they don't know but then they put it in their mouth, make a funny face, chew it and swallow it and they like the aftertaste. so you have to chew it. you have to chew it? i heard you have to swallow it down. you can do, but it is better to chew it. ready? — as ready as i will ever be. i mean, it doesn't taste of fish. it's not fishy at all. it is more like salt and seaweed more than anything else. i could see how you could convince people. you got me, i ate one! well done! you can try another one again.

well, that went better than i expected. with breakfast sorted, i'm off for some culture in the next part of myjourney, which takes me up the coast for a quick stop—off at northern ireland's capital city belfast. here and in some other parts of northern ireland, it's notjust covid that tourism has had to overcome in recent years. the 30—year conflict known as the troubles halted a lot of travel to this city up until the good friday agreement was signed in 1998. a sort of dark tourism emerged afterwards as visitors explored the places and murals associated with the conflict, but in recent years murals with other topics at their heart out become a bigger part of the urban landscape. seedhead arts have been offering walking tours of these modern murals and during covid made

a digital walking tour for people to explore individually. i've been really lucky doing street art tours in cities around the world but there is something special about a street art tour in belfast. it's notjust the beauty, it's the culture and history of this place. the best thing is even during a lockdown in the middle of a pandemic, you can grab the app, head out into the fresh air and safely see these works of art. it's pretty incredible! but i am really here for more traditional arts. the grand opera house is the only remaining victorian theatre in northern ireland. currently celebrating 125 years, it was saved from demolition in the �*70s, bombed in the �*90s, and now it has been through a year—long restoration attempt right in the middle of a pandemic.

it's not yet reopened to the public during my visit but i'm getting an early preview as it gets its finishing touches. inside, it has been faithfully restored, bringing things like the ornate ceiling paintings back to theirformer glory. what condition where they in when you came in? were they very dirty? yeah, you would not pick up the figurative details and the varnish deteriorated significantly, so they were brown and yellow in colour. how did you get up and do it, because i'm imagining michelangelo lying on his back. we have an amazing birdcage scaffolding, all on one level. we are working above our heads and moving around accordingly. we did exercises, to try to watch our necks and heads, certain ballerina exercises, stretching the head. people always say michelangelo, do you work on your back for the ceiling? no, michelangelo didn't do that either.

it's a myth! i know. but one of the main difficulties for ruth was in assembling her team. having planned to bring in expertise from across europe, the pandemic meant that ruth needed to uncover local young talent for thejob. challenging, but very worthwhile. some of the team members enjoyed it so much that they want to go and study further, study and go to university to study conservation. now i'm leaving the modern buzz of belfast and heading north back along the coast for something more historic. there are quite a few castles in northern ireland, and that will come as no surprise to fans of game of thrones, knowing that parts of that series were filmed here in various castles. it all seems like such a nice idea, owning a castle, but they cost an absolute fortune to run.

and for glenarm castle, first built in the 17th—century, the impact of the troubles on tourism meant relying on visitors for lots of income would have been a risky strategy, until recently. so, during the pandemic, when tourism was at an all—time low, they decided to take a leap and invest in tourism for the future. it was all about long—term survival. we took a look at how we could reinvent ourselves to come out again when this would be over. we knew the public perception would have changed and that outdoor space was going to be more valuable moving forward, and so we concentrated our efforts on creating outdoor space and activities. in addition to the gardens on the grounds that were already drawing visitors, adrian added new glamping pods and electric bikes to explore

the wider area, including forest on the outskirts of the grounds. this area, which has barely changed in 400 years, has been recognised in recent years for its vast biodiversity. this makes me feel like i am really fit. i will never cycle without this again. for adrian it's a very special place. so you've been around for a while? igrew up. i grew up here. my father was a chauffeur for the family here, started work in 1960. when i was a wee boy of four, i was intrigued by where he was going. so i would hide underneath a coat in his wee van and halfway to work i would pop up and say, "surprise, i'm coming to work with you!" so i completely fell in love with glenarm and decided i wanted to spend the rest of my life here. one of my aspirations was to try and open it up more, to share it with everybody.

now that is what we are doing. back at the castle, adrian had one more thing to show me. i don't know what this is going to be. adrian was kind of laughing when he was talking about it, so we'll see. adrian, your car has shrunk! this is my toy, every good estate should have one. and it turns out the mini land rover is actually part of a fleet of them that adrian has brought in for kids to use on a new off—road course. oh, that is brilliant. look at you! you look like you're four years old again, back on the estate. if i had something like that when i was four, i couldn't have contain myself. so you want a wee go? yes, obviously! there you go. all you gotta do is press the button and hold on tight. all right. you're good to go. i've got mine pressed...

ah, she's off! genius. thanks adrian, see you later! bye, remember to come back now! that's it, i'm off to see the giant's causeway, bye! you think that is far enough? i think i should stop her now. i don't trust her in the wee land rover. laughs. the next part of myjourney takes me further north—east, and off the mainland to rathlin island. a ferry has long been a lifeline for the 150 people who live on this island. and it became particularly vital for getting supplies to the residents over the last year. the islanders took the decision early in the pandemic to stop non—essential access to the island, and only

recently opened up again to tourists. so far, it has helped keep the island covid—free, and we've done two lateral flow tests before coming over to try and keep it that way. one of the main draws for tourists is the chance to get close to puffins and other rarely seen birds. so i'm waiting for my guide liam, warden of the island. he's lived here all of his life and has promised me a glimpse of the birds. the man himself. hello! hello, you must be christa! did my big blue bus give it away? i'm afraid so. would you like to see the puffins? that would be lovely, can i follow you? yes, follow me up to the seabird centre. a puffin bus usually takes most visitors up to the site, but we have special permission for the travel show electric van. the seabird centre opened up

for the first time in 1.5 years just a couple of weeks before our visit. and a viewing platform at the back shows the birds putting on quite a display. are they all birds? yeah, they are all over the place like little pebbles. i can't quite get my head around how many of them there are here. pretty amazing. there must be hundreds of thousands of birds here. there is indeed, there are hundreds of thousands, there's about 140,000 guillemots alone. you see how the flat top there is just completely covered in guillemots. there's about 7,000 or 8,000 guillemots in that one area. for protection, they would like to be in close proximity to the others, so safety in numbers. so if you are nesting in the middle of that density over there, the chance of your egg and your chicks surviving is much greater than if you are out on a lower ledge on your own. because they don't have to

worry too much about land—based predators here, but there's always other birds. there are great black—backed gulls and ravens and things that come along and take eggs, so if you are in one of those places you are better protected. but now it is time to find the star of the show, the puffins. if you look out for the orange feet, they are the first thing that jumps out at you. they are on the bare soil or the green grassy bits, down the bottom there. oh, there they are! they're quite obvious, once you are looking for the feet. they nest on the ground so at the minute there will be one bird in there incubating the egg, and the other one, its partner could be out feeding at sea. and how has it been, over the past year, because you have had quite a unique experience here on rathlin island. it is strange, because you expect to hear a bus coming up the road with people, and it is not happening, it is quiet, saturday afternoon and there is not a voice to be heard anywhere along the way. but you get used to it,

it was quite nice, i think in some ways i really felt more relaxed for a year, orfor a season. you know, because summer can be quite busy for people doing all sorts of differentjobs and facilitating all the people that come here. and not having all that pressure meant that people were pretty laid—back, it was a chill—out year i suppose. and now that people are free like myself to come over on the ferry, is it nice to welcome people back to rathlin? it is brilliant they are coming here and having the opportunity to get back to see what is on offer on rathlin. to end my time here, i'm heading back to the mainland, and just a little further up the coast. coming to the end of ourjourney soon. not far away. you've done a good job, old girl!

four countries, lots of adventures. now, there's one place in northern ireland that i have always really wanted to go to. in fact, i remember really clearly as a kid seeing a picture, and saying, "what is that place, i want to go there!" now i'm on my way. giant's causeway is a unesco world heritage site, and it has been here for millennia. but even this place has been affected by covid in its own way. this is it, look at this. incredible. it's mad to think that nature created this. legend has it that it came about because of a fight between two giants. it's thought to be the most visited tourist site in northern ireland. about a million people came

in 2019 — but with changes to visitor numbers during the pandemic, the national trust have said this is a once—in—a—generation chance to change how they manage their tourism approach, to avoid what they call the pitfalls of over—tourism. they have begun spreading visitors out more throughout the day, to help make a more positive impact on the local area. its natural hexagonal columns stretching out to the sea are actually formed because of the way lava slowly cooled when it was created. but that's not the story that captures most people's imagination. so there was a irish giant called fionn cumhaill, who lived here with his wife 0ona and their son 0isin, and there's a scottish giant called benandonner who lives on the scottish island of staffa, one of the outer hebrides. the two of them get into an argument, hurling insults across the sea at each other, and eventually fionn decides he's had enough, he needs to go to staffa to put an end to it and challenge benandonner. but it is a well—known fact that giants don't like getting their feet wet,

so he decided to get up early the next morning and build a causeway across to staffa. whichever story is true, giant's causeway seems sure to keep the visitors coming for a long time yet. and for me, it's where my journey in northern ireland comes to an end. i've been really struck by the resilience of the people i've met here, and their optimism. they're determined to notjust get through this crisis, but to do better on the other side of it. and i think for uk travellers, the past year has been a good chance for us to take stock and appreciate what we have right here on our doorstep.

hello. this weekend has brought lots of sunshine and lots of warmth to the uk. and there's more to come on into the week ahead as well, as high pressure keeps our weather largely settled. saturday saw a new record high temperature in northern ireland. there was more cloud around here though on sunday, and that is because despite having high pressure, we have still managed to work the remnants of a weak cold front into the north of the uk, through sunday, hence a cooler day for scotland and northern ireland and some more cloud around here. a little bit of that cloud will trickle down the north sea coast overnight as well. a pleasant enough night for going to sleep though for scotland and northern ireland,

unlike the rather sticky, humid conditions which will persist across england and wales. monday, a lot of fine weather to come, a lot of sunshine, some cloud will bother the north sea coast through the day but it should look brighter, particularly for northern scotland and northern ireland and it will become warmer once again, temperatures two or three degrees up on sunday. england and wales perhaps two or three degrees down but still very warm with temperatures in the high 20s. as high pressure sticks around, very little difference in our scenario for tuesday, still plenty of fair weather to come, the slim chance of a shower across eastern england. it could produce quite a bit of rain if we do see a shower but it is a very small risk. we have got temperatures widely in the mid to high 20s. wednesday, high pressure sitting firmly in place, a little bit of north sea cloud, perhaps a bit of fairweather cloud inland but a lot of sunshine and a lot of warmth and that is building for glasgow and belfast through the middle of the week. temperatures 26, 27 degrees here.

thursday, it is looking very similar yet again. sunshine dominating the picture, a little bit of fairweather cloud here or there and in that sunshine, temperatures mid to high 20s. the end of the week though does pose a question mark in terms of our forecast. big areas of high pressure, always slightly unpredictable to break down how quickly they will clear away, maybe friday but certainly on into next weekend, it looks like the picture will become dramatically different as low pressure sweeps into the uk, ushers in cooler air and i think we will see some pretty big thunderstorms for a time as well.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the german leader angela merkel visits the region worst affected by devastating floods she says the world must act faster in its battle against global warming. it all suggests that it has something to do with climate change. we have to hurry, we have to get a move on in the fight against climate change. the uk prime minister and chancellor have made a rapid u turn and announced they will now self—isolate, after receiving covid test and trace alerts. we did look briefly at the idea of us taking part in the pilot scheme which allows people to test daily, but i think it's far more important that everybody sticks to the same rules. no—deal in doha but afghan and taliban negotiators issue