The summer of 2026 will be remembered as the one that was so devoid of anything but heat that hosepipes were banned and even remote or hybrid workers craved the offices for their air conditioning units.
A notable miss has been the wind, or at least a strong breeze, in many parts of the country, which has some seeking the windiest parts of the country for a short getaway.
An Eternal Appreciation of the Wind
While often bundled into the category of bad weather, it’s very much missed when it’s absent for so long. Throughout human history, we’ve had a fascination with the wind, even in times when we’ve had a much better understanding of the weather event. The Three Little Pigs, for example, was published in the Victorian Era, and yet it lives on to this day. Not only is it popular in its nursery rhyme form, but it’s evolved into modern gaming, too.
Huff N’ Even Puff is a staple in a wide-spanning series of slots that continues to lean into the story of the Three Little Pigs. They’ve got to prepare and build the best possible house to protect from the strong winds conjured by the deadly wolf. In this retelling, the ability to upgrade places on the reels with the different building materials to secure better prizes is how the story is drawn on, while the wolf is an ever-present atop the game.
It’s also very useful in a less characterful role. The Thing, The Revenant, The Lighthouse, and The Hateful Eight, while mostly very tundra-set or coastal, really immerse viewers because of the roaring winds in each scene. It plays an extra role, being a force that the characters need to reckon with and offers a backdrop to an otherwise more tranquil setting.
We have long known the power of the wind. This invisible force that has the power to knock down poorly built houses, bring a refreshing cool, or even upend people in extreme circumstances. In order to understand it, as ancient human civilisations often did, it was ascribed to a god as their power. Ancient Egypt’s Amun, Borrum of Celtic lore, Aeolus kept the winds in Ancient Greece, and Fūjin commanded the winds in Japanese myth.
Ways to Embrace the Winds in the UK
For anyone looking to tap into this ancient fascination with the wind, or just revel in a cooling breeze after such a sweltering summer, luckily, the UK Met Office has a list of the places with the strongest winds in the UK. Naturally, winds are at their strongest as we get closer to winter, so the more extreme speeds are less likely to be encountered at the back end of the summer.
If you’re looking to plan a trip, it’s also noteworthy that some of the windiest places in the UK are superb getaway destinations. Shetland (14.6 knots on average), Orkney (14.3), the Western Isles (12.6), and Argyll and Bute (12.1) rank as the windiest places in the country by the Met Office’s most recent figures. After them, for a less windy trip, you could look to Gwynedd (11.3) in Wales, or Tweeddale (11.0) and Banffshire (10.9) in Scotland.
We have an ancient appreciation of the wind, but given the summer we’re in, it makes sense that more Brits want to take a trip to somewhere with at least a reliable breeze to help cool down in the day.
