now i'm bbc news it's the travel show. you gotta love it, proper british coastline. earlier this summer we went on an adventure across the uk, as it opened up for travel again. yes, we're open! from rugged coastlines, to breathtaking landscapes... how you doing, guys? ..we met all kinds of people along the way, as we headed down the road to recovery in our head—turning, all—electric travel show van. this time we're leaving britain and heading to the republic of ireland. i'm going to be finding out how this country has adapted, both to the challenges of the pandemic... kisses rock. that was a real smacker. ..and to changes in irish society as a whole... we're ireland's first drag house, and now there's this incredible scene where you see all these different styles of drag and performers which we didn't have before. ..to rediscover a modern ireland, looking forwards to a world beyond covid. i'm going to be travelling from the capital city of dublin through cork and onto ireland's most south—westerly point at mizen head. now, i've actually only been to ireland once or twice before, and that was quite a while ago, so i'm looking forward seeing how it's changing. and of course covid has changed the country in many ways, at least in the short term. ireland's cautious approach to covid meant that some of its pubs and bars were closed for 18 months, and as the industry begins to recover, i'd heard that there might be the signs of more changes on the horizon. so myjourney begins at ireland's most visited tourist attraction — the guinness storehouse, which had to close its doors to tourists during the pandemic. the story of the brand is told over seven floors, at a site that's been here in dublin since the 18th century. so this is our historic passenger tunnel, it was built in 1895. do you know how much guinness is made here at the moment? would you believe that we produce about 25 pints of guinness every single second, and that's 880 million pints every single year. and, you know, sometimes you would have three generations of the same family working for the brewery at the same time. but i'm heading up to the top floorfor a taste of the brand's future in the form of a new 0% alcohol beer. while other brands may have had alcohol—free beers for some time, the question is, does this still deliver on its iconic flavour? clock ticking. you genuinely wouldn't know, well i genuinely wouldn't know. tell me, though, why you think this will be popular? why will people want to buy this? well, there's a number of reasons. occasions are changing, people are looking for alternative options to alcohol, and zero alcohol is becoming very popular, and it is essential i think in today's society, people want to have those options. we brew it in the exact same way, there's no guinness zero brew, it's brewed as guinness, and then right at the end of the process we decide ok, that vessel is our guinness zero vessel and we remove the alcohol from that vessel using a cold filtration process to remove the alcohol, so you retain all of those flavours, you just remove the alcohol. now, obviously the pandemic, covid, has been terrible for the whole world, but when visitors come here, can you see that they're really happy to be in somewhere like this now? can you feel the excitement? 0h, sure, even irish visitors and tourists alike, so we've seen a huge amount of irish people coming into the storehouse, and the excitementjust to see the building open. over the last 18 months the store has been talking to the world virtually. now it's great to see people coming back through the doors and people are excited. it's notjust the drinks that are changing, however. irish pubs are found all around the world, but back home here in dublin, the city's first alcohol free bar has just opened its doors. we offer a wide range of drinks, we offer high end cocktails, to local beers, like the one you're drinking now from dundalk. and i think it reallyjust gives people the choice because when they go to establishments that have alcohol, the choice is very limited when it comes to non—alcohol. i mean, what people have mentioned is that there's a mindset of people taking care of themselves more because of the pandemic or the effect psychologically of the pandemic. do you see that as being actually a better time, a better climate for you in a way to prosper? yeah, definitely, because we're moving away from being an alcohol free bar to being a well—being bar. a lot of the drinks that we have here are plant—based drinks, they're actually very good for you, they can help boost your immune system, they're full of vitamins, they can calm you down in the way that a red wine might calm you down. so you're kind of surfing the zeitgeist, if you like, aren't you? well, we are. that has been a great experience. that bar is really cool. and to think that i spent a whole day in dublin in bars drinking, but not actually drinking alcohol, it goes to show that the stereotypes that we have of these cities have got to change because i suspect this is going to be a big part of the future of socialising in places like dublin, and i will drink to that. ah, nice. next, i'm leaving dublin and beginning myjourney west. charging the van shouldn't be too much of a problem here. there are around 2,000 charging points which actually compares better than the uk on a charger per person basis. so, this is ennis, in county clare, a lovely little town, narrow streets, bookshops, just what you'd expect from an irish town. but where i'm going, on the outskirts of ennis, is actually a car park... irish music playing. ..because it's here where the aerial dance company fidget feet are doing a performance of the first show since the start of the pandemic, made possible largely through local authority finding. the show is designed to give a child's view on the world as it emerges from the pandemic. the group is led by chantal mccormick who's been a leading voice on the challenges for the arts in ireland during the covid crisis. applause. in terms of the performers, how much training, education, how much do they have to learn before they can do something like this? so, it's a long journey because it's a very high skill that you need to get, and that was hard during lockdown because how can these artists keep their skills because they have to do it every day. now, we're kinda looking at ireland almost through a post—pandemic lens. how can you see irish culture, in a sense, moving forward and progressing? are you seeing optimistic signs? it's like, when you're a company, a lot of the times ifeel like to be recognised as an aerial company or a dance company, or whatever, it's like, oh, you've to gotta go international and then when you're international and you're famous then you can come back to ireland and then you're famous, and it's really interesting what this pandemic has taught us is, you know, we can't rely on constantly going out of your own country to be this, so, what is the riches inside of here? so for me it's the irish language, it's the irish dancing, it's the irish music and it's the aerial that we now have. so, it's like, i don't doubt that culture isn't going to survive a pandemic, because sometimes it's not a choice that you choose, like, it's something inside you that goes i have to dance, or i have to do aerial, or i have to sing or, you know, and wejust have to keep doing it. and what better way to finish the show in ireland than with a traditional ceili. if you think about it, during the pandemic these guys couldn't really perform and that must be desperately sad for them, and thank goodness that they were funded and kept going by grants, because the result of them being able to perform again, today now, that is incredible, the joy and pleasure they give people. wow. long may that live. give yourself a huge round of applause. cheering and applause. the next part of myjourney will take me south towards ireland's second largest city, cork, but i couldn't pass by without stopping at one particular famous landmark. right, well, the place we're going to now is somewhere i've heard an awful lot about, and you may have too, but if i told you it's connected to a little town and a castle called blarney, and that by going there i'm going to improve my social skills no end, you might guess what i'm talking about. the 600—year—old blarney castle is set across a 60 acre site, but its most famous attraction is, of course, the blarney stone. it's said that the gift of the gab is given to those who kiss it. this is our first view of where the famous blarney stone is. up there? yah! can i have a go? absolutely, let's do it. let's do it. the stone was brought to the castle from the holy land during the crusades. soon after, legend has it, that the lord of the castle saved a witch from drowning, who thanked him by casting a spell on the stone to cure his speech impediment once he'd kissed it. of course, with the onset of the pandemic, kissing the blarney stone stopped, but now, with a strict disinfecting procedure in place, it's once again open to those eager to pucker up to stone. and here we are. this is the world—famous blarney stone. just here? 0k. so it's the last six inches of the wall, that dave's just cleaning there now for us... right. so to kiss it today you're going to have to lie down on your back... yeah. ..grab the two bars... mmhmm. ..and then you're going to slide in. but dave's going to be holding on to you the whole time so you're in a safe pair of hands there. 0k, good. but you have it easier nowadays. the old way to kiss it, we would've got you by your ankles and held you out over the outside of the wall. literally dangling over the wall? absolutely. 0k, well i...yep, ifeel lucky. whenever you're ready. 0ver we go, down. yep, so, dave's gonna lower your down, grab the two bars and then you're gonna slide back and kiss the last six inches of the wall. the last six inches, right at the bottom. there you go. whoa. he kisses the rock. that was a real smacker. perfect. that's great, it feels like a real proper old—fashioned ritual that's gone through centuries and i was part of it. thank you! but the question is this. paul, i'm now supposed to be more eloquent and charming? yes, so after kissing the stone, we've now bestowed the gift of eloquence or the gift of gab on you. well, i don't know about that, but at the risk of being platitudinous, you do look particularly handsome at the moment. oh, how kind of you — appreciate it. now i'm taking a short drive to the east of cork, out to the coast. this part of the country is considered by many to be the culinary capital of ireland. one big reason for that is ballymaloe cookery school. it's a place where people have been coming from around the world in recent years to learn cooking skills, and taste some of the food created by internationally renowned cook darina allen. darina, thank you so much for having us here. you're going to demonstrate something to cook for us, but what is it? very simple. i can't let you leave ireland without being able to make a soda bread. irish soda bread is thought to date back to the early 1800s, and was popular partly due to its simplicity. really important thing to remember with soda bread is you don't knead it, so no need to knead. it can be made in minutes from just four ingredients — flour, salt, baking soda and buttermilk. do you see how lovely and gloopy that is? yeah. that's from my own jersey cows. how cool is that? so just flatten it out. finally, darina adds the traditional blessing of the bread by scoring a cross in the top of the dough to help it open out as it cooks. and then — very important — you've got to let the fairies out of the bread. you prick it in the four corners like that and that lets the fairies out of the bread, because the fairies are always up to mischief in ireland, and they'lljinx your bread if you don't let them out. so if you're pure of heart or if you've had a good night in an irish pub last night, you'll have seen those fairies coming out. and now we need to put it straight in the oven. so you have a huge estate here, darina. well, it's. .. darina began the cooking school here in the �*80s on the same estate where her mother—in—law, myrta allen, established a restaurant two decades earlier. within a few years of starting the school, people began coming from around the world. so, if you had to define what irish cuisine is, what would you say? well, know, i know a lot of people might have thought we live on corned beef and cabbage, but of course it's changed so much over the years. but the fantastic thing is that here in ireland we have such brilliant raw materials and such great produce. so what we would serve at ballymaloe — our basis of what we do is irish country house cooking, but then with all kinds of influences from all over the world — from india, mexico. because we can grow things — we can grow epazote from mexican food. of course, we grow those curry leaves, lime leaves — all kinds of things. and there we go. and before i leave darina, there is one more thing we must do. that is so nice. it's soft, spongy almost, you know. it's — the taste is lovely. and you made that, just like that. back on the road, i'm heading into cork city. here, old stereotypes of ireland's conservative outlook are once again becoming outdated. a growing drag community has emerged in cork. they've been through a difficult covid period and tonight will be the first public performance for some drag artists here since the pandemic began. just so many different genres of the drag in cork. i mean, you have everything from your club kid to your more burlesque to your more classic drag. yeah. and there is the likes of me, say, a girl doing drag. that was certainly quite unusual, you know, in ireland anyway. change has come here only relatively recently, however. but legendary female impersonator danny la rue came from cork and went on to become one of the 1960s�* highest—paid entertainers. but that success and acceptance was mostly found in britain after moving there as a child. ireland back then was such a different place, entirely different — different attitudes and different outlook. it was only in, i believe, �*93 that homosexuality was actually decriminalised. so i — lots of people that i know from that time upped sticks and moved. they might have gone to the uk or wherever they went, went to a country that was more liberal with its attitudes, or where the community was larger so you could feel that security. and then, of course, ireland has progressed so much. # gonna get married... ireland was the first country to legalise gay marriage in 2015 through a referendum. all cheer. covid aside, cork has vibrant pride celebrations, and now danny la rue's grandnephew has established a leading collective of drag performers — the house of mockie ah! we're ireland first drag house and we're now the biggest house. other ones are springing up. and there's this incredible scene where, like, you see all of these different styles of drag and performers which we didn't have before. and a lot of that comes down to the fact that we now have social media and things like ru paul's drag race, which bring drag into your home. so it's like — you know, before, we found out about drag through, you know, through family. but now you can literally go on instagram, so there's styles of drag everywhere. so it's more easy to be inspired, which is great. and tell me about how the pandemic affected you and the whole scene here. specifically with queer people and the lgbt+ community, again, our space has been taken away. and for the likes of myself and the other queens, our work was taken away. yeah, it's taught us a lot and what i've loved personally seeing is how resourceful queer people are. i haven't seen some of my friends in 18 months all in the same room. i haven't a proper audience in so long, but i'm ready to not do drag in my bedroom anymore! i'm pretty excited to come back on stage. soft music plays. so you didn't think you'd do it again after the first time? no, no. what?! no. well, the first time i was in drag i fell on the parade stage, broke my heels, my wig came off, and i still kept going. persistence and determination. soft music continues. well, that was brilliant fun. flamboyant, yes, but also wickedly satirical in places. but what i ultimately saw was a bunch of really good friends — brilliant entertainers, but loving performing live together in front of an audience who loved it as much as they did. soft music continues. to finish, i'm heading to the most south—westerly point in ireland, mizen head. well, this is simply glorious. beautiful sandy beaches, some brave souls out there in the sea. wow, incredible. they call this coastal region the wild atlantic way. stunning stretches of coastline go on for miles and miles. so that's it — the most south—westerly tip of ireland, and there the vast atlantic, stretching all the way over to the americas. soft music plays. embracing change is nothing new for people here. this is the last sight of home that many irish migrants saw as they headed to a new life in america in the 19th and early 20th century, and a lot has changed since then. the famous dublin—born writer george bernard shaw once said that the heart of an irish man is nothing but his imagination. and while i've been here, i've witnessed first—hand how people have used their power of imagination to survive, adapt and stay in business during the pandemic. their creativity, good sense of humour and sheer grit and determination have been truly inspiring, and ifor one wouldn't have missed any of this for the world. after a couple of days of sunshine and showers we are now seeing an area of low pressure moving in from the south—west that is mainly affecting england and wales. that is bringing with it some heavy rain and it is also strengthening the winds too. we start with some heavy rain across east anglia and the south—east but it will soon move away. but for northern england, it will be wet through much of the day. the rain continues to push into the south—east of scotland. for wales, the midlands and southern england it may brighten up, there may be sunshine but also showers. around the area of low pressure we have strong winds, particularly where it is wet, and it will make it feel cold. some of the wet weather could push into the north—east of scotland later, but we are missing the worst of the weather across western scotland and northern ireland with no more than one or two showers and some sunshine. the area of low pressure bringing the wet windy weather is slowly going to move away during wednesday, and the next system will be pushing in from the atlantic. we started with wind easing on for eastern england. the winds will ease, cloud and showers move away, sunshine comes out for many but then we look to the west. it will be clouding, then rain pusing in through northern ireland. clearing through the day, than in the afternoon rain will push in mainly for northern ireland. ahead of that, it should be a little bit warmer. temperatures of 16 or 17 degrees. there's warmer weather on the way later in the week. the weather front parking off scotland and northern ireland, high pressure into the south—east of the uk, so drawing drawing in a south—westerly wind all the way from the tropics. that's going to bring some higher temperatures, probably bring a lot of cloud, mind you, on thursday, and rain and drizzle at times across scotland and northern ireland. some dampness here and there across western england and wales with brighter skies further east. even with a lot of cloud, temperatures could reach 19 degrees in belfast and newcastle. could make 20 or so across other parts of england and wales. we still have that weather front hanging around a bit across northern parts of the uk. the position of the rain keeps chopping and changing, there's still the threat of rain for northern ireland, perhaps first thing in northern england as the rain moves northward into southern and central scotland. these areas not quite as warm, but with lighter winds and more sunshine breaking through across england and wales, it will be very mild, temperatures of 20 and 21 celsius. welcome to bbc news. i'm lewis vaughan jones. our top stories: facebook apologises as its platforms suffer their biggest ever outage. they say service on the social network, on whatsapp, and instagram is resuming but full access may take some time. a donor to britain's governing party involved in a russian corruption scandal. the latest allegation to come out of the pandora papers. we report from haiti, where busloads of migrants supported by the us find themselves back in a country they haven't lived in in years. translation: what hurts i is the treatment we received. inhuman. most of all, the chains on our feet. we're not slaves. migration is a right, not a crime. lights, cameras, industrial action. tv and film crews across the us vote to go on strike

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