Experiencing different cultures is part of the magic of travelling.

But some have the potential to leave tourists scratching their heads, thanks to bizarre local customs.

Commenters took to online forum Ask Reddit to reveal some of the choicest examples after user ‘LifeOnMarsden’ posed the question: ‘What is totally normal in your country that would be really bizarre to foreigners or tourists?’

The discussion, which has gained thousands of comments since it began, recently resurfaced online. 

Getting the ball rolling, ‘chillphilsonthegrill’ said: ‘In Canada, we put maple syrup on snow and wait for it to get all gooey, then we eat it.’

Explaining how this is done, fellow Redditor ‘truecdn’ added: ‘You basically make a mound of snow and cut a trench in it, then pour the hot syrup into it and the snow cools it. Then, when it’s still gooey, you roll it onto a stick and eat it off the stick.’

Sharing another peculiar foodie tradition,’seeyouyeah’ suggested: ‘Throwing cheese down a hill then running after it.’

The comment, which earned 788 upvotes, refers to the Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake event in Gloucestershire, England, where competitors roll a cheese wheel down a steep hill and the first person to cross the finish line wins.

In another food-focused comment, ‘Azel’ said: ‘In Cambodia, there’s this food called “Happy Pizza”. It’s a pizza with marijuana on it.’

While ‘molecularpotet’ shared how, in Colombia, people put cheese in hot chocolate.

They explained: ‘You put in a bit of cheese in the cup, it melts, and you take it out with a spoon and eat it with bread. No, it doesn’t make your chocolate taste cheesy, it just melts in a nice way… the first time I did this with foreigners they were completely beside themselves.’

And while it’s not a foodie custom per se, chewing gum is banned in Singapore – a rule that locals find ‘odd’, Reddit user ‘Im_Tsuikyit’ revealed. 

Sharing the story behind the ban, which was implemented in 1992, they said: ‘The fact gum is illegal here in Singapore may be odd to foreigners, but there’s a reason for that. The reason being, people [were] constantly spitting gum onto the ground, sticking it on cars and elevator buttons, making everywhere you went covered in gum. And when the gum dried up, it would become very hard to remove.’

Also in Singapore, ‘bluezebra1990’ said that in food halls, coffee shops and food courts, you can ‘reserve a table or a seat by placing a packet of tissue or a handkerchief on the spot’.

They added: ‘No need to leave my bag or bottle or anything else to reserve the spot before I walk over to a food stall to buy food. I come back and my 20-cent packet of tissue is still there.’ 

And quirky customs extend to drinking too. Offering insight into a Russian tradition, Reddit user ‘Skordge’ revealed it’s customary to put ‘liquor bottles under the table when you finish them, because there’s a superstition about empty bottles on a table bringing bad luck’. They added: ‘You follow it even if you don’t believe it because you never know if anyone drinking with you actually does and takes offence.’ 

Several users, meanwhile, pointed out that ‘clamanto juice’ – clam juice and tomato juice – is frequently mixed into beer in Canada and Mexico. ‘It’s a “hangover cure” but I’ve had it and it might be the most repulsive thing ever,’ user ‘thatdrunkgirl’ commented. 

And user ‘DrUnce’ revealed that drive-through daiquiri shops are an unusual custom in the U.S. The cocktails are served in closed containers, so they can’t be sipped while driving. 

Another common theme in the discussion was different countries’ approaches to parenting. For instance, ‘Zrina94’ said Denmark’s approach to caring for children ‘baffles a lot of foreigners’.

They explained: ‘We find it natural to leave them unattended. They are left in their prams to nap basically everywhere, usually outside, no matter what time of the year it is.’

‘Rimana2015’ replied that it’s customary for children to be left to nap outside in Finland as well.

Sharing a parenting custom of the Ute people, an indigenous tribe in the U.S, ‘nativehoneybaby’ said that it’s traditional for new mothers to be confined to a room in their homes for 30 days after having a baby, only leaving to go to the doctor. 

The Reddit user, who explained they are Ute themselves, said that ‘it’s to help the baby identify where his/her home is’.

Manners and politeness are other topics that seem to underpin intriguing local customs.

Irish Reddit user ‘Madra_ruax’ suggested that the custom of ‘thanking the bus driver’ can confuse visitors from other countries. They said: ‘If I don’t thank them, I think that [the bus drivers] think I’m rude.’ Another UK-based Reddit user admitted this is commonplace in Britain too. 

Sharing a custom in Iran, ‘Sunchild21’ said ‘it is common to say “no” out of politeness’ when you are offered something.

They explained: ‘Only if the other person asks again will you say yes. Cab drivers will do this too for instance.

‘You ask how much you owe them and they’ll say something along the lines of “oh, don’t worry it’s worth nothing” to which you then reply by insisting on paying. Only then will they tell you the price.’

User ‘EasyDeezy’ said: ‘In Bulgaria, we nod for “no” and shake [our heads] for “yes”… foreigners get really, really confused.’

And Reddit user ‘Skordge’ revealed that in Russia, it’s not customary to smile at strangers. 

One unnamed user said the ‘no smiling’ practice also happens ‘in Eastern Europe and Scandinavia’, adding: ‘When we smile, it actually means something.’

Local festivals can baffle foreigners, the forum suggested. Reddit user ‘TommyTbone’ revealed that Swedes dance around a penis-shaped maypole that’s festooned with flowers to celebrate Midsummer each year. ‘Historically this was to ensure a plentiful harvest,’ they explain. 

Other customs that can cause confusion are the different words used to describe the same thing, the forum highlighted.

Australian Reddit user ‘Imnotavegan’ said: ‘We call flip-flops “thongs” and erasers “rubbers”.’ User ‘guustavoalmadovar’ weighed in and said that flip-flops are called ‘jandals’ in New Zealand.

While ‘butterpopkorn’ said that in Malaysia, water is referred to as ‘sky juice’. 

Angry locals of a tiny Cornish town have blasted the arrival of a massive cruise ship that increased the local population by 50 per cent on the day.

The 58,000 ton Spirit of Adventure cruise ship stopped in Fowey, Cornwall, on Friday. While some admired its size, others weren’t happy about the 775ft ship docking at Fowey Harbour.

Local residents said on social media the ship coming to the town was ‘awful’ and ‘shouldn’t be allowed’. Some also highlighted how the fumes being pumped into the air by the Spirit of Adventure was impacting the air quality in the coastal town. 

This comes after it was revealed that Fowey residents are being priced out of their homes due to an influx of second home buyers, which has pushed house prices up by more than £100,000 in just a year, according to the Sunday Times. 

Just three years ago residents in the coastal town voted in favour of banning new-builds being sold as second homes in a referendum, adding fuel to the fire in the long-running dispute between local residents and second-home owners.

Under the new rules, homeowners now have to prove the house is used as a primary and not a secondary residence.

Fowey has 1,461 homes in total and 239 of them – which makes up 16 per cent of all houses in Fowey – are being used as second homes, according to data by Cornwall Live from last year.

Many second home owners also come to the town without knowing how to properly pronounce the name – much to the dismay of local residents. The town is correctly pronounced ‘foy’ – like ‘joy’.  

In the most recent controversy in Fowey, local residents took to Twitter to share their outrage.

Reactions on X (formerly Twitter) include author Sasha Swire saying: ‘Awful. Shouldn’t be allowed,’ and another user adding: ‘With a very low tide it looked far too big for Fowey.’ 

A third said: ‘Madness! And they want to attract more like this in Fowey!’ 

‘That’s a lot of filth being pumped into the atmosphere in the heart of Fowey then. Impressive scale though’, a fourth commented. 

This sentiment was shared by another resident, who wrote: ‘How awful. It’s so horrible when you find someone’s parked one of those floating blocks of flats, blocking the view, never mind all the pollution they chuck out.’

The 775ft-long cruise ship Spirit of Adventure weighing nearly 60,000 tonnes is the longest and heaviest ever to dock in Fowey, according to harbourmaster Paul Thomas.

He said the arrival of the Spirit of Adventure was a ‘big deal’ for tourism in the Cornish town and surrounding area, but its arrival had to be carefully prepared to guarantee a successful docking.

The massive cruise ship Spirit of Adventure towered over St Fimbarrus, Fowey’s parish church and Place House’s grade I listed tower. 

‘What we are trying to do is attract this size of ship, which is just on our limit, but it means we can have those passengers going to visit the town and nearby destinations,’ harbourmaster Thomas told the BBC and added that another pilot even travelled to Germany to use a simulator to test how the ship would dock in different weather conditions.

Polruan Coastwach station manage Ray Wrigg said the ship’s size was impressive and even hid most of the houses opposite of it, saying that ‘gives you an idea of how high she is.’ 

Fowey’s deep-water port is a popular destination for cruise ships due to its strong Celtic connection, maritime history and literary involvement. 

The town of about 2,200 residents offers various shops and eateries for day trip tourists to enjoy, as well as several historic buildings.

The Spirit of Adventure, described as a ’boutique cruise ship’ by operator Saga, has an impressive, modern interior and offers a private balcony for every guest, all-inclusive drinks and speciality dining. It also has several luxurious restaurants and offers a wide selection of shows, a spa and a selection of bars. 

The outrage over the massive ship anchoring in the tiny Cornish town comes after the Mail discovered that hordes of selfie-obsessed tourists from huge cruise ships similar to the Spirit of Adventure ruin La Dolce Vita in the Italian Riviera’s most exquisite gem Portofino. 

On a typical summer day in the Italian port town, two colossal cruise ships sit on the horizon, black smoke billowing from their funnels. Together, they carry more than 4,000 passengers from the United States, Britain and several European countries.

And, thanks to a local law allowing these behemoths to anchor as close as 600 metres from the protected bay, a swarm of visitors can hop on tenders from the mothership to reach Portofino in just minutes.

Several mornings a week, the cruise-ship hordes descend on the town — just as other tourists are alighting from packed ferries from the neighbouring coastal towns of Rapallo and Santa Margherita.

But the visitors do not just arrive by sea. By 10am, the main public car park has already reached its 250-vehicle capacity. 

Motorists are being turned away as buses from Genoa, 22 miles away, bring their own crowds. 

Cruise ships, ferries and day-trippers: by 11am, this tiny village is under siege. Hundreds of tourists are approaching from every direction.

Portofino now finds itself caught in a battle between those wanting to protect its charm and those who argue that anyone has a right to visit it whenever they choose.

As the throngs arrive, the residents are forced to retreat from the mayhem, while luxury holidaymakers withdraw to their yachts and five-star hotels.

An experienced manager who works within the hospitality industry in Portofino said: ‘We of course want people to see Portofino. 

It’s an iconic place and everyone is welcome. But for safety reasons, in terms of crowds and preserving the village, we should look at attracting smaller ships as it’s a small place.’

By now, the cobbles are barely visible under the sandals and trainers of ‘hit and run’ tourists, as the locals call them.

Holidaymakers wielding selfie sticks ignore signs warning they risk a £240 fine if caught lingering in ‘no waiting’ and ‘red zones’. 

The town’s mayor, Matteo Viacava, introduced the policy earlier this year to prevent what he called the ‘anarchic chaos’ caused by tourists blocking the narrow streets when they stop to take pictures for Instagram or film videos for TikTok. 

The decree states it is necessary to prevent ‘serious obstacles and potential danger’ — not least on the quay which has no safety barriers. 

Locals are battling to stop John Lewis‘ plan to replace Waitrose supermarket with huge 20-storey tower blocks. 

A ‘Stop the Towers’ campaign has been organised by residents of west Ealing who are against the plans for almost 430 homes. 

Campaigners say John Lewis has ‘ignored’ public opinion and local planning guidance.

The public consultation on the controversial plans opened on August 10 and closes on August 31 – a move objectors say is a ‘deliberate attempt’ to avoid scrutiny, as many residents will be on holiday and won’t have time to respond. 

In February this year, Ealing Council leader Peter Mason said the plans were ‘disappointing to say the least’. 

He added that it felt like the ‘big institution’ was trying to ‘twist arms and bully through a scheme’. 

Cllr Mason questioned the height of the four proposed tower blocks, with the tallest reaching 20-storeys. 

Subject to ‘ongoing discussions’ with the Labour-led council, 35 per cent of the homes will be affordable – although the documents do suggest this could drop to 20 per cent. 

Co-chairs of the campaign, Denise Colliver and Justine Sullivan stated: ‘The arrogance of JLPs development team is breath-taking. 

‘They’ve ignored both the weight of public opinion and also the Local Plan site-specific guidance.’

They added: ‘No one objects to appropriate, proportionate development that will genuinely benefit local communities. But yet again we are seeing developers trying to ride roughshod over local people’s wishes and needs, ignoring democratically implemented local plans, just to make a fast buck.’ 

Leader of the Liberal Democrat group at the council, Gary Malcolm, said: ‘There have been too many tall towers built over the past fiver to ten years. 

‘A huge amount of housing is needed but it’s better to have lower density schemes,  that are good for families.’ 

Cllr Malcolm added that John Lewis is going against one of the council’s policies which was brought in last year to crack down on tall buildings.

John Lewis has said residents will have until the date of the planning committee to submit their views on the major development.  

The plans also include a café, a Waitrose and ‘public realm improvements’ on Alexandria Road. 

A planning statement submitted by Savills on behalf of the retailer says it is ‘an exciting and significant opportunity to optimise a well-connected, heavily under-utilised, brownfield site’.

The Conservative group said: ‘We are listening to residents’ stated concerns about the proposed height of the development, the amount of parking proposed, the potential strain on local infrastructure, and the provision of retail. All of these questions need to be addressed.’

The department store giant is hoping to build 1,000 new flats on sites of old Waitrose stores as part of a £500 million deal, with its flagship scheme in Bromley in addition to a site in Mill Lane, Reading.

A spokesperson for John Lewis said: ‘As the housing crisis continues, we have the opportunity to make better use of a supermarket and car park site to deliver much-needed homes for the local area, as well as improved community facilities, new commercial space and a new Waitrose shop. 

‘We’ve set out our ambition to maximise the delivery of affordable housing to ensure good availability of quality, rental homes for local people, including nurses, teachers and other key workers. 

‘This is an ongoing process where we’ve been working closely with a range of stakeholders and will continue to do so while the application is considered. 

‘The plans have been submitted to Ealing and the local authority will now consider the application in line with all relevant planning policies. 

‘We are confident that Ealing will welcome feedback from local residents between now and determination of the application as has always been the case with other major applications in the borough.’

The anhinga devil bird is perched on a branch, wings outstretched to dry in the afternoon sun.

Its silhouette resembles Batman crossed with a piano, thanks to alternating black-and-white wing feathers. A fish has just slipped down its serpentine gullet and, below it, lurking in the shade of a mangrove swamp, a 12ft alligator nurtures an egg.

‘I shot the ’gator yesterday afternoon,’ says Bill, a local wildlife photographer. ‘Right where you are standing.’

I am in the boondocks of the Gulf Coast of south-west Florida, on a boardwalk leading to a bird hide on the J.N. ‘Ding’ Darling National Wildlife Refuge. This is a million miles away from theme-park Florida and the busy beaches of Miami.

This part of the Sunshine State has been made accessible by Virgin Atlantic’s daily flights into Tampa, which is only an hour away by road.

The gangplanks here are lined with educational poo boxes containing fecal recognition panels, so you know what you are stepping in.

A plaque next to the ‘Beware of Alligators’ sign announces that they were kindly donated by Jim and Patty Sprankle and a local duck decoy manufacturer.

There is a certain relish to the conversational tone of my new acquaintances. Pythons and very large lizards are also commonplace here.

‘I ran over a python last week on the road to the Everglades,’ says a man with a long lens. ‘Had no choice. She was spread the width of the road — at least 30ft long. She looked startled and whooshed off into the bush.’

Somewhat less assured, I set off to complete my seven-mile cycle tour of the reserve. There are several ’gator warning signs along the way. I change the setting on my electric bike from cruise to sprint and decide to give the kayaking I’d booked earlier a wide berth.

I’m near the city of Fort Myers, and it’s a miracle there is anything to stand on as it’s less than a year since Hurricane Ian — the fifth strongest to hit America — took Florida by surprise, killing 150 people and causing £91 billion in damage.

I have turned right onto the highway that leads from Sanibel Island up to Captiva Island, where I am staying on a narrow isthmus of sand and lush vegetation. It was here that the hurricane made landfall on September 28, 2022.

‘The noise was the most remarkable thing. Like being inside a giant kettle drum,’ says Molly Malone from the seafood stall at the Sanibel Island Farmers Market.

It uprooted houses and trees, hurling them across the isthmus from the Gulf of Mexico into Pine Island Sound, in a random spasm of destruction which, inexplicably, left some properties unscathed.

Some bits of the islands still look battered, but in most areas the sub-tropical foliage has grown back to cover the briefly denuded landscape.

On Captiva, the ’Tween Waters Island Resort & Spa where I am staying is open for business as usual, with nearly everything restored.

The two islands are connected by causeways and bridges to Fort Myers, the county seat of Lee County, and boast some of the best beaches and climate in the world. Most of the time! It’s also home to some of the deepest pockets in America, so it’s little wonder that many of the colonnaded mansions have already been repaired.

I pootle around in a hotel kayak on Pine Island Sound, after being assured there was nothing more dangerous here than manatees. These creatures, known locally as sea cows, resemble walruses, and are only lethal if you let them sit on you.

Then I cycle up the beach road to the Mucky Duck for a sundowner and supper.

People here wave cheerily, especially when they’ve got your credit card. This is the land of Mr Cheerful, and I am reminded of that great film, The Truman Show, in which the protagonist finds that his whole life is in fact a fake, and that he is unwittingly the star of a TV reality show.

I make a stop at The Mucky Duck ‘English pub’ located on the beach.

Next to my table, an elderly man in a stripey T-shirt is sitting on the sand in a white plastic rocking chair, a ‘dark and stormy’ rum cocktail in one hand and his smartphone in the other.

The sun slips into the sea and my splendid new friend puts his arm around a scantily clad Mexican woman who is necking Moet from the bottle. It is clearly time for me to retire for a nightcap back at ’Tween Waters.

Fort Myers has a population of about 90,000. It was put on the map by, among others, those leading lights of the American industrial revolution, Henry Ford and inventor Thomas Edison. These two great friends had neighbouring summer homes that have been turned into a single museum.

I check into the stylish and luxurious Luminary Hotel on the quayside, and take one of its electric bikes out to explore.

This is cigar country, so I go into The Cigar Bar, a crepuscular place oozing high-class nicotine and with a walk-in humidor that is enough to make the most militant anti-smoker pause for pleasure.

Kendyl, the 27-year-old bartender, says the hurricane has made insuring homes too expensive for many locals: ‘So they’re being snapped up by wealthy outsiders. But soon it will be like Atlantis if this climate change continues.’

Televised hockey flickers on the screen through the haze of Montecristo and Davidov, so I slip out and cycle round to Izzy’s Fish & Oyster bar, down the grandly porticoed high street, for some pre-supper bivalves and a glass of Chablis.

Then on to The Veranda restaurant. Here, a car valet takes my bike away and a man in a bow tie shows me to the table where Ben and Barry, whom I met on Captiva Island, await for a last-night blow out. This is the posh South, straight from the film set of Gone With The Wind. Lacquered teak and ceiling fans, fresh seafood and old money.

A more refined taste of Florida. No Mickey Mouse in sight.

Terrified locals living in a remote corner of Cambridgeshire are begging the council to remove a notorious railway arch dubbed ‘Britain’s most bashed bridge’ after a slew of traffic accidents. 

The Stonea railway crossing close to Ely was struck 33 times in one year as motorists were seemingly unaware of the bridges low 6ft6 dimensions before it was too late.

Residents are campaigning to improve the underpass, close to where Brian Dewey, 73, from Little Thetford was killed in a crash involving a Volvo and his orange motorbike in June. 

Simon Milburn, the area coroner for Cambridgeshire nd Peterborough has said ‘the cause of [Mr Dewey’s] death currently remains unascertained [and is] pending further investigations.’ 

James Fuller, who lives close to the Stonea railway crossing is among locals actively campaigning for action at the underpass, and claims that despite records showing the bridge has been struck 33 times, the real figure is much higher.

Mr Fuller, who has lived in the village for a year, said: ‘It’s a 6ft6 underpass here and those of us who live locally know that the bridge is struck more times than is officially recorded.

‘It’s a very dangerous location that’s not been addressed. We’ve witnessed plenty of awful smashes along with a death on the road network some weeks ago.’

Numerous drivers have found their vehicles have got wedged after ignoring the height restriction signs and attempting to drive through the underpass. The crashes not only cause damage but also long delays for other vehicles.

His neighbours, Pam Boss and Glen Lea, who have lived in the village for more than 20 years, said they believe the bridge gets hit around twice a week.

Mr Lea said: ‘We’ve been trying to get something done about that bridge for 20 years and I don’t think anything is ever going to be done.

‘We’ve been told it has not been bashed enough but they don’t take into consideration the drivers who have hit it and just driven off.

‘One reason they hit the bridge is because they come round the corner too fast and they are following their Sat Nav.’

Residents say Cambridgeshire County Council is reluctant to close the underpass because vehicles will have to use the manual level crossing and will be constantly held up as trains frequently pass.

Mr Fuller added: ‘We genuinely feel that if this road was in any other part of Cambridgeshire it would have been fixed. We feel we are the poor relations in Fenland.

‘People have been promised that changes will be made for more than 20 years and nothing is ever done about it.’

He has written to Network Rail, Cambridgeshire County Council and local MP Stephen Barclay calling for the underpass to be closed, or safety measures to be put in place, but nothing has been done.

He said: ‘It seems that Network Rail and Cambridgeshire County Council have no interest in closing it, despite how much the locals push for it. They say there’s not enough money.

‘It seems the ease of getting workers to London is a greater priority than keeping those of us who live at Stonea safe.

‘I think there needs to be a much more imaginative response to the problem and at least some measures need to be put in place, even reducing the speed of the road to 20mph would help.’

He said the layout of the road around the bridge was also ‘dangerous’ and contributed to the problems. He added: ‘The signage is insufficient and all the road markings aren’t there.’

A community relations executive for Network Rail wrote to Mr Fuller earlier this year stating that only the county council has the powers to close the underpass.

A Cambridgeshire County Council spokesperson said: ‘Officers visited the site following the fatal collision and assessed the condition of signs and road markings in the area. 

‘The road markings are to be refreshed to add clarity to the road layout ahead and the advance warning signage is to be improved to better advise drivers of larger vehicles that they will need to use the overpass.

‘The bridge is the responsibility of Network Rail, who have plans to automate the crossing on the bridge, although these are currently unfunded. Until this automation takes place, it will not be possible to implement any major changes to the current layout.’

A spokesman for Network Rail said: ‘Bridge strikes are a scourge on our railway which pose serious safety issues for road and rail users and can delay tens of thousands of passengers while we inspect the bridge and repair any damage – creating cost from public funds which should be used upgrading and improving our network. We are well aware of the issues at this particular bridge and share the concern of local residents around the number of incidents here.

‘We’ve made substantial investments to improve safety for road and rail users at this site with the installation of a collision protection beam and improved chevrons have been installed by Network Rail to reduce the likelihood of future collisions. We have also met with highways representatives to recommend further traffic calming measures on the approach to the bridge.

‘Bridge strikes can be avoided. We urge operators and drivers to always know the height and size of their vehicles, carefully plan their routes and look out for road signs showing the height of bridges. 

‘Network Rail always looks to recover the repair and delay costs from the driver and the operator and reports all bridge strikes to the Traffic Commissioners for consideration of enforcement and licence revocation.’

Cornish locals have slammed ‘idiot’ holidaymakers who had to be rescued by lifeguards after driving on to a beach and getting stranded in their cars.

Lifeguards could be heard on the loudspeaker warning the tourists to not park on the beach, however the announcement came too late to save the cars from sinking into the soft sand. 

Comical footage showed four cars stuck on Towan Beach in the popular tourist town of Newquay after the motorists decided to ignore conventional parking spots and drive their vehicles right on to the sand.

In the video, a group of bemused surfers can be seen walking past the cars on their way to the water as a lifeguard tries to remedy the all-too-familiar situation for locals.

Connor Duffy, 33, a chef from Newquay, said the ‘idiot summer’ had begun after he spotted the vehicles recklessly making their way on to the beach. He said motorists made the same mistake at least once a week despite road signs warning them to stay off.

Thousands of tourists visit Newquay every summer for its excellent surfing and lively nightlife, but locals aren’t always best pleased with how they treat their town. 

Mr Duffy explained how the motorists all drove down together, but it did not look like they knew each other.

He added: ‘They then had to get two RNLI trucks to leave their posts of lifeguarding to come and sort them out. They had to be pulled out by locals as no tractors could be called in.

‘Then they had to clear the ramp as they each took turns at speeding up the beach and onto the ramp without getting stuck again.

‘Lifeguards tried to sort it as quickly as possible, and did so.’

Mr Duffy said a crowd soon gathered and were seen chanting ‘you can do it!’ before cheering when the cars were finally removed from the deep sand and taken up the ramp.

He added: ‘Just shows common sense isn’t really that common. Happens at least once a week now due to tourists not reading the signs and thinking that they are fine to do so.

‘It’s the same with the bins on the beaches, tourists put still-burning coals in the bin and set it on fire.

‘Fire engines are down all the time over the summer because people don’t know how to go to the beach, safely. Shame really.

‘But this was funnier to watch than anything too serious. Some say entitled people, but it was just a bunch of silly people who don’t think very hard.’

It comes less than a week after another ‘idiot’ tourist parked their £25,000 Mercedes GLe SUV on the sand in Newquay as well.

The car was eventually towed off the beach by a local tractor and taken to a local garage. 

Further up the south-west coast in Devon, more motorists found themselves in trouble after torrential rain left them unable to move their cars.

The North Devon Show was forced to close its car parks and cancel the event yesterday due to health and safety concerns.

Pictures of the car park show tractors assisting vehicles unable to move from the mid.

One person took to social media to say: ‘It took us 3 hours or more to get out the car park as we were just sat in a queue that wasn’t moving!

‘I think this needs to be looked at for next year. Poor lady in front of me was pregnant and nearly wetting herself!’

Every year, some of Britain’s wealthiest families descend on large parts of Cornwall and holiday in their second homes for the summer.

But second-home owners could soon be forced to pay twice the amount of council tax as the Government prepares to hand local authorities more powers to raid holiday homes. 

More than 100,000 holiday homeowners in the UK are set to see their bills rise at the first given chance, including in tourist hotspots in Cornwall, which has already approved the change.

In the past, Cornish residents have sprayed graffiti on second homes, demanding, ‘Rent or sell your empty houses to local people at a fair price’. 

Last month, CCTV cameras were deployed at a beauty spot beach in Polzeath, Cornwall, as part of a crackdown on anti-social behaviour by youngsters at night.

The cameras at Polzeath have an infra-red function to monitor the beach in the dark, when young people have been seen drinking, taking drugs, having sex and littering.

Beach rangers have also raised particular alarm about the behaviour of some public school children and have visited their headteachers to explain the concerns.

Two cameras have now been provided by the council to help beach rangers and police who have two officers patrolling at night. It follows years of concern about the behaviour of youngsters which led to a dispersal order being granted last summer.

The area is a holiday hotspot enjoyed by the likes of David Cameron, who enjoys trips there with his family and has been seen bodyboarding at the beach. The former PM, who left Downing Street in 2016, owns a £2million holiday home in the village of Trebetherick, less than a mile from the beach.

Beach Ranger Andy Stewart, 53, has been patrolling the beach nightly with two local cops and security staff from the Surfside restaurant trying to manage the hoards of public school kids, many as young as 12, who flock there to party. 

And his efforts seem to have worked.

Andy, a retired local police officer who started as a Beach Ranger in 2019, confirmed ‘the problems have eased and there is no more ongoing monitoring or enforcement’.

Spanish locals have been spotted out before dawn to lay down their towels in a prime spot on a Costa Blanca beach – as holidaymakers are waking up earlier and earlier to claim sun loungers. 

Early-risers in Torrevieja on Thursday proudly planted their flags in the sand even before the sun rose.

They started setting up at 5.30am just after council cleaners had finished their night shift as similar scenes also played out just over an hour’s drive away in the popular holiday spot of Benidorm.  

One local dug his sun umbrella – in the red and yellow of the Spanish national flag – into the sand and plonked his deckchair beside it before disappearing. 

Another even planted a mini-Spanish flag into the top of his parasol – and stood next to it with his arms crossed in front of him as if he were defending his territory against foreign marauders.

Having a lie-in during time off abroad now seems to have gone out of the window for holidaying Brits as instead an early battle begins each day to claim the best spots.  

It comes as a study revealed Brits get a thrill out of managing to grab a sun lounger by the pool before anyone else. 

In a survey of 2,000 Brits by M&S Bank, 13 per cent of Brits said managing to get a sun lounger was one of the most exciting things about going on a summer holiday.

Other thrill-factors for a trip away included the smell of suntan lotion (18 per cent), getting your suitcase out (17 per cent) and googling the weather before travelling (18 per cent). 

Paul Stokes, who commissioned the study, said: ‘It’s easy to forget things. It sounds simple, but make a list.’ 

Traditionally, early-rising German tourists have been the first off the blocks to grab one of the outdoor beds, leaving many British holidaymakers disappointed. 

Locals in Benidorm were also spotted setting up their sunbeds in the middle of the night to beat British tourists. 

Pictures showed residents on the beach erecting parasols in the dark in front of the ocean.

As the waves crash against the sand in the dead of night, a desperate man can be seen in one video unravelling a beach mat with a deadly serious look painted across his face.

After putting the first one down successfully he appears to check that the coast is clear before wiping the sand from his hands and starting to lay down a second one at a right angle, perhaps to confuse his opponents.

As the camera pans round, it shows that he is adding to a line of colourful parasols and deckchairs already in place as a woman gazes out over the empty beach.

In one photo a local tests out one of the chairs while his friend sets up the equipment at night. 

Snaps taken in the daylight show the empty deckchairs and umbrellas before the morning scramble as Brits sleep soundly in their hotel rooms.

Despite the dangerously high temperatures, sunbathers have packed out Benidorm’s beaches, with many arriving very early to pick out the best spots for a day on the beach. 

Meanwhile, a security guard has been showered with praise for removing towels from the sun loungers at a hotel in Tenerife.

The staff member can be seen wandering round the poolside taking notes in the video while wearing a luminous yellow jacket.

Under the view of a hotel guest absorbed in a book, he sets his sights on one of the deck chairs, places a tub of suncream aside and whips a green towel away from it.

He then folds it effortlessly with one hand before placing it in the correct spot.

Sharing the clip to their channel, @renovatewithroberta wrote: ‘They should do this everywhere.’

The clip has been viewed more than 176,000 times since it was posted on TikTok last year.

Commenting on the post, one person wrote: ‘I agree, first come, first served.’

A second added: ‘They should do this at all resorts everywhere.’

A third wrote: ‘Spot on, you wouldn’t walk into a restaurant and leave your jackets on the chairs to reserve a seat’.

Another person posted: ‘Never got why people on holiday wanna get up first thing in the morning for a lounger, if they could only have breakfast at 6.30am, they’d freak out.’

Meanwhile, keen Britons have been spotted at the crack of dawn descending on a hotel pool to bag the best sunbeds at a Majorcan resort.

Footage shows hoards of holidaymakers armed with towels and inflatables rushing to reserve loungers on the Spanish island.

In a military-style operation some even rush over to get their hands on the spare loungers and cushions that have not even been put out yet. All the while a beautiful beach sits empty just 100ft away.

It comes as recent footage showed the increasingly tense sunbed war shrouding Brits’ summer holidays. 

The Majorcan ‘sunbed police’ can be seen taking revenge on hotel guests who had reserved loungers.

A staff member appears fed up as he swiftly removes towels and inflatables used to hog beds by the pool at the Viva resort on the Spanish island.

Dubbed the ‘towel police’ by TikToker John McGowan, the worker can be seen shoving holidaymakers’ belongings into plastic bags.

He even walks around the pool area with a stopwatch and clipboard to time how long each sunbed has been reserved for, Mr McGowan explained. 

If the hogger has not returned within 30 minutes, their items are removed from the beds.

It is generally accepted in Spanish resorts that a towel left on a sunbed is claimed by its owner for the entire day. The origin of this rule is not known, though it is thought to be a German invention.

One commenter quipped: ‘Well done to this resort. Hope others take note. It might make people’s hols less stressful if the towel dash doesn’t happen anymore.’

Sunbed wars have long been a common start to the mornings of British holidaymakers’ trips abroad. 

Although not all hotels allow this rule, when in place it can create heated competition.

Hilarious footage of guests at the four-star Spring Hotel Bitacora, Playa de las Américas in Tenerife, shows crowds of desperate tourists waiting next to their resort’s swimming pools and descending en masse to grab the best spots at the earliest possible time.

Britons armed with swimming togs and sun cream raced past rival holidaymakers with a grim determination to secure their place in the sun for a day.

Some were reported to queue for 90 minutes first thing in the morning – waiting for some unknown signal before stampeding past opposing tourists towards the sun loungers.

Meanwhile at the Camp de Mar in Majorca a holidaymaker was shocked to see next-level towel reservation after sunbed hogs puts their towels down on the floor at the entrance to the pool area.

Photos show beach bags and towels placed in an orderly queue leading to the closed-off pool area so hotel guests can secure their sun bed the moment that it opens.

Holidaymaker Geoff said: ‘In an effort to control the sunbed madness, the door from the hotel to the pool area was kept locked until 8am.’

‘So people were lining their towels up on the floor in a queue order by the door before it opened. I must add this wasn’t youngsters, but mostly elderly and middle-aged people,’ he told the Mirror.

Discussing the behaviour of the other guests at a four-star hotel in Camp de Mar, he said: ‘The towel line actually went back much further [than the picture shows] and the owners were seated on the sofas just out of sight, ready to fly outside when the door was unlocked.

‘I don’t know what time they started, but we were up at 6.30am one morning to grab breakfast before an excursion, and there was already an established towel queue forming at the door. Crazy behaviour!’

Earlier this year, a holiday hero spoke out against some ‘entitled’ tourists who reserved sun loungers for nine hours while he and his wife were on holiday in Bali.

Newlyweds Thom Aspland and Lisa were honeymooning at Bali’s Grand Barong Resort where they were met by unfurled towels on sun loungers at 6.30am.

After returning at 1pm and seeing the chairs untouched, the couple waited for a further hour of no movement, before finally ditching the reserving towels and taking the spot themselves.

They were met at 3.30pm by the shocked pair of ‘entitled’ tourists ‘iPads and books in hand’. 

The couple were even sure to teach their competitors a lesson by ushering other tourists in their place as they left.

Speaking to Yahoo News, Thom said: ‘We definitely thought they were entitled, but were surprised they didn’t confront us.’

He assumed that the lack of confrontation was down to the fact that ‘they knew what they had done’. 

Thom also noted the hilarious extent of the couple’s pettiness in getting on the beds in the first place.

‘We didn’t even want the beds,’ he said, but the compulsion to prove a point was too strong.

‘Many places here have an hour rule, so we just made sure we gave them an hour once we got in the pool,’ he added.

He revealed that he and Lisa had been looking on from the bar for two hours before making their move.

He also gave comical detail about the approach of the pair who thought they would get away with the nine-hour reservation, saying that ‘they quickly walked towards the chairs, then stopped and looked at each other to pause’. 

‘They then frantically looked for their two personal towels’ before departing to their hotel room never to be seen again,’ he said.

The happy couple made absolutely certain that they proved their point when they left by passing the beds on to a mother and daughter after telling them the whole story.

Thom shared the ‘petty’ revenge story online with droves of followers agreeing that leaving towels on seats all day was ‘sun hogging’ and disrespectful.

‘Am I the only one hoping there’s a day two to this situation,’ one person said.

Another wrote: ‘Proof that not all heroes wear a cape.

‘Would shout you both a Bintang if I were there.’

‘I would’ve done the same except I wouldn’t have waited – if they weren’t there using them its free for all,’ a third added.

Some also commended the couple for waiting the hour that they did.

Thom then posted an update of the empty poolside chairs on the following morning as a sign of victory.

‘Free all morning,’ he declared.

In August, the hilarious moment a holidaymaker bagged five sun loungers by sprinting towards them before throwing his towels on the best pool-side spots was posted on TikTok by a guest who filmed the chaotic scene from her balcony at the Paradise Park Hotel in Los Cristianos, Tenerife.

The video shows a large pool surrounded by a decked terrace, moments before several people emerge and start running towards the sunbeds.

One man dressed in yellow can be seen sprinting towards the loungers with several towels on his arm. He skipped past rows of other chairs until he reached the ones in the prime pool-side spot.

While the other guests made their way towards the loungers, he took a shortcut to arrive there first and threw his towels down to claim the seats at an impressive speed.

This wasn’t the first time the man was on the hunt, as another video showed him in a black T-shirt securing the best spot.

Jess Clarke, who filmed the crowd, captioned her video: ‘Day Three Sunbed Wars’.

It quickly gained more than 11,000 likes and hundreds of comments were left by viewers saying, ‘Love it, so funny’ or remarking, ‘I’ve never seen sunbed wars that bad’.

Another commented: ‘Guy in yellow put in a proper shift.’

A fourth said: ‘9am sunbed wars paradise park Tenerife what a sight.’

One user recognised the man from Ms Clarke’s previous video titled ‘Day 1’.

The hotel is known for sunbed reservation races and similar scenes were captured on camera last year.

A viral TikTok video from July shows tourists at the Tenerife hotel making a shameless dash for the best poolside spot.

Footage shows a crowd of holidaymakers show up at a pool at Paradise Park just as it opens.

They then drop their towels on the hotspot’s best loungers – with some even glancing around guiltily as they do it.

TikTok user Sarah, whose clip has already garnered more than five million views in just one day, simply captioned it: ‘The Sunbed Race’.

Paradise Park spokesman Rafael Ruiz-Benitez de Lugo told MailOnline last year: ‘We were amused to see it – considering that our hotel has five swimming pools and areas with space and sunbeds for everyone.

‘Although we see quite a bit of talent among our guests for obstacle races.’

Weeks before, in June last year, sunbed blockers had their towels taken away by hotel staff at another resort in Tenerife.

Holidaymaker Amanda Proctor filmed the moment the workers picked up dozens of towels that guests had laid out on empty sun loungers in a bid to reserve the best seats next to the pool at the five star Gran Costa Adeje Hotel in southern Tenerife.

Amanda said that the staff at the hotel, which features four pools, took the guests’ bags and towels and left a note on the chairs telling them where to collect their belongings.

The holidaymaker said there was a sign at the hotel saying guests were not allowed to reserve sunbeds before 10am.

A spokesman at the hotel told MailOnline: ‘At GF Gran Costa Adeje, we defend the right of all our guests to enjoy our pools and we ask everyone to respect our policy.

‘All guests will have their space in our solarium. In this situation, our colleague, like the entire GF Gran Costa Adeje team, is a hero without a cape. We are very happy with the reaction to the video and from our customers.’

Beyond the veranda of the lakeside cottage, a brilliant June sun turns orange then red before it sinks behind the shoreline.

Sibelius’s stirring music swells from speakers and a gentle breeze rustles the reeds. Indoors the log fire flickers in the stone hearth.

Time to light the wood-burning sauna, accompanied by a tot of Finlandia vodka.

After the blast of heat — I manage 12 minutes — I leap naked from the pontoon into Lake Asikkala, a couple of hours north of Helsinki. This is the ‘wahay!’ moment, a sizzling consummation of earth, fire and water.

Welcome to the Finnish lifestyle that has seen the Nordic nation come top of a recent World Happiness Index compiled by the UN (no less) and designed to quantify that most ethereal of commodities: contentment.

The competition was set up by the General Assembly under Resolution 66/281, and Finland has won six times in the last ten years. 

Last time it pipped Denmark into second place, with Iceland, Switzerland and the Netherlands following behind in that order. So is it all it’s cracked up to be? As far as the lakeside cottage is concerned, yes. 

And being a big fan of the great Finnish composer, Jean Sibelius, on my second day I leave my charming billet and head back down towards Helsinki for the shores of Lake Tuusula to visit the home of the composer.

It does make me happy being here. So content I can’t help myself and blast out the first few bars of the A minor Impromptu on the Steinway in front of the tiled hearth (before memory failure brings me to an abrupt halt).

My guide smiles indulgently — happy as well — before continuing her narrative. The fireplace is in Sibelius’s favourite key, she says. ‘He could hear colours in the way that you can see them. To him that shade of green was F major.’

Unusual, perhaps. But Finland seems to be a land of the imagination, where not seeing is part of the picture, where the obvious has been airbrushed from the score. The land where the spirit rules and banality is banished to the sidelines.

Finland’s popularity as a long weekend destination is well established with budget airline connections from the UK. This is, after all, the home of Father Christmas, 187,888 lakes, a current affairs radio channel in Latin and a football league that only plays in swamps.

How could anyone resist? Even in the height of winter. On a previous visit, I had seen a sign at the airport which read: ‘Nobody in their right mind would come to Helsinki in November. Except you, you badass.’ With all due respect, nobody in their right mind would jump into the Baltic through a hole in the ice after a drink-sodden session in the sauna. Or count all those lakes. Or have an Elvis impersonator who sings in Ancient Greek.

But I digress. Back to Sibelius. His home, with its splendid antique sauna, was at the heart of an early 20th-century arts and crafts movement. The Tuusula shoreline is dotted with such grand wooden dachas. All lovely looking, happy-seeming places.

Out on the lake, in an old flat-bottomed fire tender, we glide along the shoreline before alighting at Krapi, a rambling old farm that is now a family-run hotel. Before dinner, I continue my sauna crawl in the hotel’s spacious tiled broilerhouse. ‘Sauna’ is the only Finnish word to have made it into the English language and is a ritual that’s been going on since caveman settlers discovered that hot stones sprinkled with water unclog even the dirtiest pores.

In the past, women gave birth in them because the soot from the traditional smoke sauna was bacteria-resistant, so created a sterile environment. 

It is also where the pre-marriage purification ceremony took place and where the dead were washed and prepared for burial. In fact, they are so popular that there are 3.3 million saunas serving only 5.3 million people in Finland.

Perhaps that’s why everyone is so cheerful. When you ladle water on to the stones, that lung-busting vapour given off is called löyly. 

After observing the steam ritual — and a self-administered flogging with birch twigs — I dress for dinner.

Hearty Finnish fare is served from a table groaning with pickles, smoked meat and fish. Soused herrings and freshwater lobster (rapu) jockey for position with baked hams, beef and venison.

But first, a tureen of lohikeitto, a cream of salmon soup. 

My four-day tour by hire car takes me on to the 800-year-old coastal town of Porvoo some 20 miles east of Helsinki, the second oldest settlement in Finland. Cobblestoned streets are lined with brightly coloured wooden houses, and warehouses sit above the banks of the muscular Porvoonjoki river.

At the heart of the old town — Vanhakaupunki — is the 14th-century Lutheran cathedral, a modest white edifice that has risen from the rubble of invading armies more times than you could shake a crosier at. 

My final night is in Helsinki, where I have time to explore a wonderful modern sauna complex called Löyly. A proud piece of modern architecture over the bay, it boasts a traditional and a smoke sauna.

The locals, who seem exceptionally friendly, try to insist I take the plunge into the Baltic. 

A naked chap with a big grin and a large glass of cider offers to show me the way. ‘Are you mad?’ I ask… but he seems happy enough.

Protesters in Ireland have blocked access to holiday homes being used to house migrants, claiming the asylum seekers were being moved there ‘underhandedly’ and citing fire safety and sewage management concerns.

A group of 34 asylum seekers was accommodated at three holiday homes on the site of Magowna House Hotel in Inch yesterday evening.

However, access roads to the site were then blocked by local protesters using tractors with another gate blocked by a silage bail.

Today some asylum seekers expressed fear over the ongoing situation, while one of the drivers of the tractors, who did not want to provide his name, said locals had concerns about fire safety and sewage management on the site.

He said they expected another bus to arrive and that the asylum seekers were being moved ‘underhandedly’.

‘So we stopped the roads, we blocked the roads so a second bus could not get in.’

He said this was because there would be ’70 people in this locality with nowhere to go’, and questioned how the asylum seekers would integrate into the community.

Four asylum seekers have decided to leave the accommodation amid the protests. 

Protesters said they would not prevent an asylum seeker from leaving, and those blocking access to the site have allowed some members of the media through and said they would allow food deliveries.

Minister of state for community development Joe O’Brien said the hotel did not have a fire safety certificate but there was no issue with fire safety or wastewater management at the holiday homes.

‘I just ask people to step down the blockade, I think it is done on the basis of a misunderstanding of what’s happened,’ he said.

Mr O’Brien said there is ongoing work at the hotel and people would not be accommodated there until it is safe.

He added that there are 500 asylum seekers without accommodation and the Government is ‘looking at every possible angle and every possible case’.

On concerns about the isolated location of the holiday homes, Mr O’Brien told RTE’s Today with Claire Byrne that a shuttle bus would be provided to Ennis for asylum seekers who wanted to access services there.

There were tense exchanges outside the centre with some asylum seekers wanting to leave over concerns for their safety and lack of satisfaction with the accommodation.

Some asylum seekers took their belongings and left them outside in preparation for leaving, while others said they were happy to stay.

Sultan Muhammad, from Afghanistan, said he came to Ireland five months ago and had been staying in Citywest in Dublin.

He described the situation Co Clare as ‘difficult’ but said the accommodation was ‘okay’.

‘We are feeling good here. I like this place. I like it, I will live here.’

A Fianna Fail TD for Clare said there has been a lack of information about the accommodation of asylum seekers at the site and ‘someone has put the cart before the horse’.

Last year, Clare county council decided Magowna House in Inch was unsuitable for accommodation for Ukrainian refugees, he said.

‘Magowna House could not be used.

‘It wasn’t fit for purpose last night so they’re crammed into ancillary buildings on the site and I just think someone has put the cart before the horse here,’ Mr Crowe told RTE’s Morning Ireland.

‘I would take the view that if you’re going to bring people to a facility, it should be safe, it should be a sanitary environment.

‘It’s questionable if Magowna House is at that level yet.’

Mr Crowe said he hopes to meet with the minister for equality and integration Roderic O’Gorman this afternoon.

He said the protesters are ‘entitled to their concerns’.

He said he visited the hotel earlier that day and saw it being fitted with beds.

‘I went out because there was a lack of information and my office was being bombarded with emails and phone calls,’ he said.

‘We did get a briefing note from the Department late on Thursday but there was still a lot of stuff I couldn’t answer.

‘It [the briefing note] related to the mechanics of the situation: that there would be a contract between the department and the owner, that it would initially be for a 12-month duration, that there would be a manager on site, that meals would be cooked on site and that it would be for men in the international protection system.’