By . Ray Massey, Transport Editor . PUBLISHED: . 19:54 EST, 27 March 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 13:30 EST, 28 March 2013 . Forget the traditional Easter egg hunt. This year, it seems we’re hunting for the sun instead. Nearly two million Britons are preparing to fly away to escape the Arctic chill this Bank Holiday – up around 30 per cent on a typical Easter weekend. There has been a rush for last-minute holiday and short-break deals to beat the cold snap, which forecasters say will be with us until May and will send temperatures plunging to -6C this week. Forecasters expected this to be the coldest March in the UK for 51 years, with the Met Office saying from March 1 to 26, the UK mean temperature was 2.5C, which is 3C below the long-term average. Scroll down for video . Queues: Traffic at Junction 10 of the M6 in the Midlands today as people get away for the Easter weekend . Watch out: This graphic shows how road and rail travel routes will be affected over the Easter weekend . Backlog: Easter getaway traffic today on the Kent side of the Dartford toll crossing on the M25 motorway . Passengers queue at Stansted airport today as the Easter getaway begins . Holidaymakers received a boost this . morning when a planned 24-hour strike by French port control officers . was called off, allowing ferries to run as normal. French port control officers had been . due to go on a stoppage that would have hit ports such as . Calais, Dieppe and Cherbourg. The . Met Office said this March was likely to be the fourth coldest on . record for England, joint third coldest for Wales, joint eighth coldest . for Scotland and sixth coldest for Northern Ireland. This March joined 2006, 2001, 1995, 1987, 1979, 1970 and 1962 as years when the month saw some significant snowfall. The coldest March in the UK was in 1962, at 1.9C, followed by 1947, 2.2C, 1937, 2.4C , and 1916 and 1917, 2.5C. The cold weather is expected to continue through the Easter weekend and into April. P&O Ferries had warned its . passengers to expect long delays today and on Good Friday and there were . fears of traffic build-ups on routes to the port of Dover in Kent. However at 2am the strike was called . off after successful late-night talks in France. 'This is excellent news . for British holidaymakers,' said P&O Ferries spokesman Chris . Laming. But those staying at . home will have to contend with problems on the roads and railways, with . the RAC expecting more than seven million motorists to be gearing up . for an Easter break. There . will be disruption on the roads as freezing weather, jams and roadworks . take their toll, while on the railways thousands of passengers face . delays and replacement buses due to engineering works. Among the worst is the partial closure of Reading station, causing diversions and delays between London and the West Country. Pretty: A walker observes the frozen Summerhill Force in County Durham today as Britain continues to shiver . Chilly: A cyclist braves the snow near Reeth in the Yorkshire Dales, as this March is set to be the coldest in the UK since 1962 . Elsewhere: Meanwhile St Michael's Mount off Marazion, Cornwall, looked beautiful today in the Springtime sun . The Association of British Travel Agents said 1.7million Britons will get away from the continuing cold by holidaying abroad this Easter. A £5 million-plus rescue package will be offered to farmers who have lost livestock in the severe blizzards that have hit Northern Ireland, Stormont ministers have agreed. Affected farmers will be eligible for hardship payments from a pot of emergency funding while the power-sharing Executive has also agreed to pick up the tab for disposing of the thousands of animals killed in the huge snow drifts that have enveloped parts of the region. Many have snapped up last-minute offers to escape some of the coldest March conditions on record, heading for sunny spots such as the Canary Islands, Majorca, Tunisia, Egypt and Turkey. Top city break choices are Paris, Dublin, Amsterdam, Rome and New York, an ABTA spokesman said, while France and Austria are the most-popular ski destinations. Heathrow will handle 1.2million . passengers between now and Tuesday and 3.6million over the two-week . school break to April 14. Today will be the busiest day, with 116,000 . heading to the sun or the ski slopes. Some 98,000 passengers are due to take . off with British Airways tomorrow alone. Gatwick airport listed . Barcelona, Geneva and the southern Spanish city of Malaga as its top . destinations. In trouble: Cyclists ride past a car that is disappearing beneath the incoming tide at the Putney Embankment on the River Thames, two days ahead of the 159th University Boat Race on Sunday . Forecasters say there is little chance of a let up in the freezing conditions over Easter . Accommodation booking website hotels.com reported huge . rises in Britons searching for trips to Corfu and Rhodes. Other popular . spots include Orlando in Florida, Agadir in Morocco, and Mexico City and . Cancun in Mexico. Projected figures sourced from the Guardian of airline travellers for March 29 to April 1 2013 compared to April 6 to April 9 2012 . ABTA chiefs added that from now until Tuesday, a total of 214,000 will fly from Gatwick, 110,000 from Manchester, 110,000 from Stansted and 55,000 from Luton. Scottish airports will also see more than 100,000 departures. Chief executive Mark Tanzer said: ‘After two wet summers and no end in sight to the winter, many Brits are desperate for some sunshine. We’ve seen a surge in last minute bookings to warm destinations.’ For those staying in the UK, around . one in 17 still plan to have a break, with at least one overnight stay . away from home over the Easter. These trips will generate £600million . for the UK economy, according to national tourism agency VisitEngland. Motoring . groups said the seven million drivers set to take to their cars over . Easter faced jams and roadworks, as well as the bad weather. The RAC is . increasing its patrol hours by 10 per cent during the four days of ‘road . rush’ which begin on Good Friday. Traffic . information company Inrix said drivers heading to and from north-west . England and the West Country will face the longest delays, while the . Highways Agency warned that motorists have to contend with 26 sets of . roadworks covering 145 miles around the country.
There has been a rush for last-minute holiday deals to beat the cold snap .
March average has been 2.5C and freezing weather's due to last until May .
Canary Islands, Majorca and New York among most popular destinations .
French port officers' strike called off at last minute allowing ferries to run .
John Lewis is selling fake daffodils for the first time – because  the .
bitterly cold weather has delayed the arrival of the real spring blooms.
The department store has also reported an 18 per cent increase on last .
year in sales of its other fake bouquets.
By . Ray Massey, Transport Editor . PUBLISHED: . 19:54 EST, 27 March 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 13:30 EST, 28 March 2013 . Forget the traditional Easter egg hunt. This year, it seems we’re hunting for the sun instead. Nearly two million Britons are preparing to fly away to escape the Arctic chill this Bank Holiday – up around 30 per cent on a typical Easter weekend. There has been a rush for last-minute holiday and short-break deals to beat the cold snap, which forecasters say will be with us until May and will send temperatures plunging to -6C this week. Forecasters expected this to be the coldest March in the UK for 51 years, with the Met Office saying from March 1 to 26, the UK mean temperature was 2.5C, which is 3C below the long-term average. Scroll down for video . Queues: Traffic at Junction 10 of the M6 in the Midlands today as people get away for the Easter weekend . Watch out: This graphic shows how road and rail travel routes will be affected over the Easter weekend . Backlog: Easter getaway traffic today on the Kent side of the Dartford toll crossing on the M25 motorway . Passengers queue at Stansted airport today as the Easter getaway begins . Holidaymakers received a boost this . morning when a planned 24-hour strike by French port control officers . was called off, allowing ferries to run as normal. French port control officers had been . due to go on a stoppage that would have hit ports such as . Calais, Dieppe and Cherbourg. The . Met Office said this March was likely to be the fourth coldest on . record for England, joint third coldest for Wales, joint eighth coldest . for Scotland and sixth coldest for Northern Ireland. This March joined 2006, 2001, 1995, 1987, 1979, 1970 and 1962 as years when the month saw some significant snowfall. The coldest March in the UK was in 1962, at 1.9C, followed by 1947, 2.2C, 1937, 2.4C , and 1916 and 1917, 2.5C. The cold weather is expected to continue through the Easter weekend and into April. P&O Ferries had warned its . passengers to expect long delays today and on Good Friday and there were . fears of traffic build-ups on routes to the port of Dover in Kent. However at 2am the strike was called . off after successful late-night talks in France. 'This is excellent news . for British holidaymakers,' said P&O Ferries spokesman Chris . Laming. But those staying at . home will have to contend with problems on the roads and railways, with . the RAC expecting more than seven million motorists to be gearing up . for an Easter break. There . will be disruption on the roads as freezing weather, jams and roadworks . take their toll, while on the railways thousands of passengers face . delays and replacement buses due to engineering works. Among the worst is the partial closure of Reading station, causing diversions and delays between London and the West Country. Pretty: A walker observes the frozen Summerhill Force in County Durham today as Britain continues to shiver . Chilly: A cyclist braves the snow near Reeth in the Yorkshire Dales, as this March is set to be the coldest in the UK since 1962 . Elsewhere: Meanwhile St Michael's Mount off Marazion, Cornwall, looked beautiful today in the Springtime sun . The Association of British Travel Agents said 1.7million Britons will get away from the continuing cold by holidaying abroad this Easter. A £5 million-plus rescue package will be offered to farmers who have lost livestock in the severe blizzards that have hit Northern Ireland, Stormont ministers have agreed. Affected farmers will be eligible for hardship payments from a pot of emergency funding while the power-sharing Executive has also agreed to pick up the tab for disposing of the thousands of animals killed in the huge snow drifts that have enveloped parts of the region. Many have snapped up last-minute offers to escape some of the coldest March conditions on record, heading for sunny spots such as the Canary Islands, Majorca, Tunisia, Egypt and Turkey. Top city break choices are Paris, Dublin, Amsterdam, Rome and New York, an ABTA spokesman said, while France and Austria are the most-popular ski destinations. Heathrow will handle 1.2million . passengers between now and Tuesday and 3.6million over the two-week . school break to April 14. Today will be the busiest day, with 116,000 . heading to the sun or the ski slopes. Some 98,000 passengers are due to take . off with British Airways tomorrow alone. Gatwick airport listed . Barcelona, Geneva and the southern Spanish city of Malaga as its top . destinations. In trouble: Cyclists ride past a car that is disappearing beneath the incoming tide at the Putney Embankment on the River Thames, two days ahead of the 159th University Boat Race on Sunday . Forecasters say there is little chance of a let up in the freezing conditions over Easter . Accommodation booking website hotels.com reported huge . rises in Britons searching for trips to Corfu and Rhodes. Other popular . spots include Orlando in Florida, Agadir in Morocco, and Mexico City and . Cancun in Mexico. Projected figures sourced from the Guardian of airline travellers for March 29 to April 1 2013 compared to April 6 to April 9 2012 . ABTA chiefs added that from now until Tuesday, a total of 214,000 will fly from Gatwick, 110,000 from Manchester, 110,000 from Stansted and 55,000 from Luton. Scottish airports will also see more than 100,000 departures. Chief executive Mark Tanzer said: ‘After two wet summers and no end in sight to the winter, many Brits are desperate for some sunshine. We’ve seen a surge in last minute bookings to warm destinations.’ For those staying in the UK, around . one in 17 still plan to have a break, with at least one overnight stay . away from home over the Easter. These trips will generate £600million . for the UK economy, according to national tourism agency VisitEngland. Motoring . groups said the seven million drivers set to take to their cars over . Easter faced jams and roadworks, as well as the bad weather. The RAC is . increasing its patrol hours by 10 per cent during the four days of ‘road . rush’ which begin on Good Friday. Traffic . information company Inrix said drivers heading to and from north-west . England and the West Country will face the longest delays, while the . Highways Agency warned that motorists have to contend with 26 sets of . roadworks covering 145 miles around the country.
cent on a typical Easter weekend. There has been a rush for last-minute holiday and short-break deals to beat the cold snap, which forecasters port control officers . was called off, allowing ferries to run as normal. French port control 1917, 2.5C. The cold weather is expected to the power-sharing Executive has also agreed to sunny spots such as the Canary Islands, Majorca, are Paris, Dublin, Amsterdam, Rome and New York, some sunshine. We’ve seen a surge in last minute