Brits flock to beaches as warm weather hits the UK’s grey summer

Brits clambered to enjoy the sun after a fairly miserable summer this year (Pictures: PA/BNPS)

Beaches and other beauty spots were covered with people rushing to use their-long awaited opportunity to enjoy some sun today.

This year’s summer has been fairly grey and miserable, broken up by some spells of sunshine and heatwaves.

Today saw the first of another sunny chunk – with temperatures hitting 24.3°C in some parts of the country and very little rain.

People were quick to seize this glimpse of summer and flocked to beaches to sunbathe and swim.

Families have been pictured in the sea at North Tyneside while others set up tents and played ball on the sand.

Some people got onto the country’s rivers and enjoyed picturesque scenes while punting with many leaving the exercise to others, choosing to sit in the boat with a glass of wine.

Whilst these beauty spots were certainly busy, those who were able to enjoy them on a Tuesday were lucky to miss the huge crowds that would have certainly shown up if the weather had hit on a weekend.

But it looks like there will be several opportunities for Brits to get some vitamin D this week as the Met Office predicts ‘sunny spells’ for the next few days.

Whilst this is true for the majority of the country, it is going to be warmer in the northwest and ‘somewhat cooler and breezier in the east’.

Families were seen swimming and bodyboarding at the Tynemouth Longsands beach in North Tyneside (Picture: North News and Pictures)

The beach in Bournemouth, Dorset, was packed (Picture: BNPS)

The beach would have certainly been busier if the warm weather had hit on a weekend (Picture: BNPS)

Saturday is expected to bring the ‘threat of showers’ but the UK is expected to be settled and warm ‘through the end of August and the start of September’.

UV and pollen levels will also be high across England and Wales over the coming days.

This will be brought on by the same high pressure system dominating the weather right now.

Temperatures in London are expected to reach 22°C tomorrow with Newcastle hitting 19°C with a bit more cloud.

Although Edinburgh should look slightly more grey than most of England, it should just beat Newcastle with a mercury of 20 °C.

People in Cambridge enjoyed the River Cam while punting (Picture: SWNS)

This weather is expected continue on-and-off until the beginning of September (Picture: SWNS)

Other managed to get to Ullswater in the Lake District in time for the nice weather (Picture: PA)

As with the rest of this summer, the settled whether predicted until the beginning of September is not expected to be consistent.

Forecaster  Sarah Kent said yesterday: ‘It’s not going to be wall-to-wall warm weather all week, that north-easterly wind will continue to peg back any chances of the temperature going too high.

‘This month has pretty much swung back and forth for many, areas in Scotland have been drier than usual, while areas in the south-east have, of course, seen plenty of torrential downpours.

‘It hasn’t been so bad, the country has generally seen 72% of its average rainfall for the month so far, which is pretty much where you want to be as we come to the end of August.’

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