Arenal beach in Javea yesterday - yes 27th May!

Well it´s nearly June and so long sunny days should virtually be guaranteed now ... or can they? So called British summers are generally very short lived and Bank Holidays usually have a habit of being wet. But yesterday, one town on the Costa Blanca decided to replicate a typical British Bank Holiday Monday weather wise! Javea, a town approximately 40 km north of Benidorm had a freak hail storm yesterday afternoon and left the beach covered with hailstones!

It only lasted about 30 minutes but was surreal - the morning and early afternoon were basking in sunshine, as was Benidorm and then suddenly at about 6.30pm it went very grey and the heavens opened!

White beach - a most unusual scene

It´s not only this part of Spain that has had unusual weather - the ski resort of Sierra Nevada, in Granada reported that people were still skiing over the weekend!

Here in Benidorm we have had some unseasonably cold and wet weather for this time of the year - generally by May it is wall to wall sunshine.  For us locals we are actually quiet happy as we know, come August it will be unbearably hot. But for holiday makers, and the film crew here recording series 6 of the hit comedy Benidorm, it has caused headaches with filming schedules, with scenes having to be swopped because of the recent rain.

Levante front 2 weeks ago!

The only ones happy when the weather is bad are the bars - which are ram packed with British television stations blaring out to keep them all amused. It can be difficult to find things to do when the weather is bad - the favourites are probably 10 pin bowling or the Marina Shopping Centre.

But lets hope that it´s all behind us now and you will be fighting for the sun lounger by the pool this morning whilst sipping on a cold beer to keep cool rather than hot toddy to keep warm!

What everyone comes for - the beautiful sandy beach

However, the weather is not keeping holiday makers away. In the first four months of this year, tourism figures show a 22% increase on last year , bringing in revenues of 1.2 million euros . In April alone the region received 495,228 foreign tourists, over 100,000 more than in April 2012. Obviously visitors are confident that they will get better weather and value here than back home - and in most cases it is true!