Now on Bbc News the Travel Show. Youve got to love it proper british coastline were on an adventure across the uk as it opens up for travel again. Yes, were open from Rugged Coastlines to breathtaking landscapes and natural habitats. Did you see that . 0urjourney will take us to the four nations that make up the united kingdom. And with an eye on our carbon footprint. Were in an all electric revamp of an iconic british motor. On this weeks 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 here. I take on a local delicacy. You got me, i ate one, well done and try an unusual test drive. Laughter im in south east Northern Ireland and im 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. Kens Microlight Business is one of thousands here to have had to cope with the ups and downs of the pandemic. Myjourney will take me over 100 miles up the coast to finish at one of this countrys 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. And the idea is i have breakfast at this place i am going, which is, i suspect to most people, would be a great delight, a real delicacy. But as for some other people, myself included, its a bit more of a daunting prospect. Well 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, there. Hiya. I have found the right place. Are those Oyster Beds . Yes. Fantastic. Do we go out on the truck . Yes. Lets do it. Do wejustjump on . Yes, jump on. Along the coast of Northern Ireland, inlets of the sea like Killough Bay have developed as an ideal place to farm oysters. They say 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 grows for around three years before it is considered for market and lots of care goes into making them taste their best. These are the big ones to go to markets and restaurants and such. Every three or four weeks we turn them because there is growth in them. I will show you all this white and purple, that is all new growth. Yep. So that breaks off. We turn the bags to break that off, which makes the oysters harder and makes the shells nice and round. You pick the bag up and 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 we want to go to. The more you do that, the better the Meat Quality and the quality of the meat. It can be endless. It is good and bad, isnt it . How has business been in recent times . The last time you came in march, everything stopped. There was no local market. The exports tapered off and finished. So we found other channels but still it is only getting back to the way it was now. As far as we were concerned, we were down here and we got more work done, so we worked the oysters 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 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. Yeah turns out it was, for us. Who knew . Like, thats thats exactly it. Are you ready . You will really enjoy it. Before the pandemic, Perrine Sold Oysters direct to customers at Market Stalls to people who, sometimes like me, need a little bit of convincing. What do you say at the market when people arent sure . What is your Sales Pitch . A lot of people dont like the idea of it in their minds but there is always the same reaction. They dont 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. I heard you have to swallow it down. You can do but it is better to chew it. Are you ready . As ready as i will ever be. I mean, it does not taste of fish. It is not fishy, it is like the sea. It is more like 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, im off for some culture in the next part of myjourney, which takes me up the coast with a quick stop off at the Capital City of Northern Ireland, belfast. Here and in some other parts of Northern Ireland, it is 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 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 offered a digital Walking Tour for people to do individually. Ive been really lucky doing Street Art tours in cities around the world but there is something special about a Street Art tour in belfast. Its notjust the beauty, its 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. Its pretty incredible but im 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. Its not yet reopened to the public during my visit, but im getting an early preview as it gets its finishing touches. Inside its been faithfully restored, bringing things like the ornate ceiling paintings back to their former glory. So, what condition where they in when you came in . Were theyjust very dirty . Yeah you could 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 im imagining michelangelo on his back. We have an amazing birdcage scaffolding, all on one level. We are working above our heads and moving around accordingly. You did exercises to try to watch your necks and heads, certain ballerina exercises, stretching your head. People always say michelangelo, do you work on your back for the ceiling . Michelangelo didnt do that either. Its a myth i know. One of the main difficulties for ruth was in assembling the team. Having planned to bring in expertise from across europe, the pandemic meant that she 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 im 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 Parts of that series were filmed here in various castles. 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 i7th century, the impact of the troubles on tourism meant relying on deserters 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 surviving long term. We took a look 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 forests 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 its a very special place. So youve been around for a while . I grew up here. My father was a chauffeur for the family here, started work in 1960. And when i was a Wee Boy of four, i was intrigued by where he was going. I would hide underneath a coat in his wee Van And Halfway to work i would pop up and say, surprise, im coming to work with you i completely fell in love with it and decided i wanted to spend the rest of my life here. One of my aspirations was to 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 dont know what this is going to be. Adrian was laughing when he was talking about it, so we will 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 are four years old again, back on the estate. If i had someone like that when i was four, i couldnt have contain myself. So you want a Wee Go . Yes, obviously laughs. There you go. All you gotta do is press the button and hold on tight. Sure good to go . Ive got mine pressed. Laughs 0k. Ah, shes off genius. Thanks adrian, see you later bye, remember to come back now thats it, im off to see the Giants Causeway, by you think that is far enough . I think i should stop her now. I dont 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 weve 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 am waiting for my guide liam, warden of the island. Hes 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 . Im 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. See you there. A Puffin Bus usually 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 cant quite get my head around how many of them there are here. Pretty amazing. There must be Hundreds Of Thousands of birds here. There s indeed, there are Hundreds Of Thousands, theres about 140,000 guillemots alone. You see how the Flat Top there is just completely covered in guillemots. There is about 7000 8000 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 dont have to worry too much about Land Based Predators here, but theres 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 there. Oh, there they are they are 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. Laughs. 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 im heading back to the mainland, and just a little further up the coast. Coming to The End of ourjourney soon. Not far away. Youve done a good job, Old Girl four countries, lots of adventures. Now, theres 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 am on my way. Giants 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. Its mad to think that nature created this. Legend has it that it came about because of a fight between two giants. Its 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 thats not the story that captures most peoples imagination. So there was a irish giant called fionn mac cumhaill, who lived here with his Wife 0ona and their son 0isin, and theres 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 hes 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 dont like getting their feet wet, so so he decided to get up early the next morning and build a causeway across to staffa. Whichever story is true, Giants Causeway seems sure to keep the visitors coming for a long time yet. And for me, its where my journey in Northern Ireland comes to an end. Ive been really struck by the resilience of the people ive met here, and their optimism. They are 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 there. Saturday saw the warmest weather of the year so far in all four nations of the uk. And in Northern Ireland, whereas you can see it was Beach Weather in county down, temperatures actually broke the all time record. The highest temperature since records began in Northern Ireland, ballywatticock 31. 2 degrees. But in england, in wales and in scotland, we saw some pretty hot temperatures. However, the far north of scotland was much, much cooler, just 13 degrees for parts of shetland, whereas you can see we had a lot of cloud. You can pick that out on the Satellite Picture through Saturday Afternoon. And that cloud has been pushing a little further south westwards, so starting off sunday morning, rather cloudy and murky for parts of Northern Ireland. Quite a lot of cloud for scotland, too, with some patchy rain in the far north. The cloud should tend to break up to give some spells of sunshine, although it will stay quite murky for some northern coasts of Northern Ireland. I think england and wales will see the Lions Share of The Sunshine, and thats where well have the highest temperatures as well. Slightly cooler day for scotland and Northern Ireland. For england and wales, particularly down towards the south, were looking at highs of 30, possibly 31 degrees in the london area. And The Sun very, very strong at the moment, very high Uv Levels in southern england, parts of wales. The lower levels further north only because well have more in the way of cloud. So, as we head through Sunday Evening and into the early hours of monday, we keep clear spells, especially across england and wales. Still more Cloud At Times Across Scotland and Northern Ireland, some mist and murk. And it will be another very warm and muggy night. 0vernight lows between 12 17 degrees. So, we start monday with high pressure still in charge, but notice the centre of the high is slipping a little further westwards. That will allow a very gentle North Or North westerly flow of air across the country. And thatll bring just a subtle change in the temperatures, a slightly cooler day for many, a bit more cloud working into North Sea coasts as well. Some cloud for north west scotland, parts of Northern Ireland, and youll see maybe just the odd shower, the Odd Sharp Shower breaking out across southern areas. Those temperatures a little down, still quite warm in the south. A little Bit Cooler further north. As we look further ahead, there is a lot of dry weather on offer this week. Still some relatively high temperatures. It mayjust start to turn a bit more unsettled by friday. Welcome to Bbc News. Im reged ahmad. Our top stories a race against time the search continues for hundreds of people still missing following devastating floods in germany and other european countries. The german president has been visiting one of the worst hit areas. 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