Farm Diary

This is not a problem in Dover as ferries are frequent and have spare capacity. Outside Dover we saw a field of stubble ablaze, and judging by the fact that the roadside hedge was also on fire, the possibility of a carelessly discarded cigarette seemed likely.

As harvest was only just getting under way a week or so ago, other fields of standing corn were at great risk from what I could see as we drove past.

Since we had booked a crossing to Dunkerque, the cheapest available on the internet some months ago, we now faced a slightly longer journey than strictly necessary!

Having crossed over later in the evening than planned, the overnight accommodation at Le Mans (itself a trifle over optimistic '“ especially in a Land Rover) was cancelled and we stayed at Dunkerque for the night; a pleasant town, which we had not visited before. T

he next mistake was to be guided by the 'Sat-Nav' out of town, forgetting to take my usual route and before I knew it we were well on the way to Paris, which may be theoretically the shortest route, but from past experience is most definitely not the quickest.

After battling through the traffic on the 'pripherique' we were able to give the Land Rover its head and keep a steady 80 mph as we headed south. With five people on-board, luggage, tools etc: combined with its complete lack of any aerodynamic qualities, it managed to consume a fair amount of fuel.

With the recent devaluation of sterling which helps UK agriculture no end in its competitive stance in Europe, the flip side is that when travelling or holidaying, fuel and food prices are no longer cheaper (not much anyway) than in the UK.

For full feature see West Sussex Gazette August 13