Drought continues in France

The drought is continuing in France into the month of May after a very dry Spring.

There is a meeting today of a "drought committee", which meets at the request of the Minister for Ecology Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, to take stock.

Wildlife in the Loire and Cher is threatened by drought. The sun, combined with the lack of rain has caused the rivers to be at their lowest. This could cause fish to suffocate by lack of oxygen in the limited water available.

Twenty-six départements, mainly in the West, are either limiting water supplies to certain uses or are considering doing so.

The worst hit area is the four départements of Poitou-Charentes, which have implemented the strongest measures, so have banned any watering of parks or filling of swimming pools. Poitou-Charentes is popular with tourists. It lies south of the Vendee on the West of France and includes the popular tourist resorts of La Rochelle and Cognac.

Measures are also being taken in the north of France (Somme, Oise, Eure), Ile-de-France (Essonne, Val-de-Marne, Seine-et-Marne), in the Center (Indre, Cher, Nièvre ) in the Lyon region (Rhone, Isere, Ardeche) and Eastern (Jura, Doubs, Territoire de Belfort).

But the problem extends well beyond French borders. Throughout northern Europe there have been unusually dry conditions this spring. The situation could last "a few weeks or even months" because of an area of "very persistent high pressure" announced in early May by the World Meteorological Organization.

We will need to see how this might affect holidaymakers - there may be increased risk of forest fires etc. However the worst effects will be to farmers and food production. The drought has occurred just at the time that seeds and seedlings are expected to take in the fields and when they have small root systems so this could have devastating effects on agriculture and as a result food prices in France.

Update on 24/5/11 - the Government has asked banks to be considerate to farmers who may have cash flow problems. The harvest date of 15 June has also been brought forward.  The départements which have water restrictions in place can be seen on this map of France :
http://www.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/11005_carte_limitation_eau_24_05.pdf

Thankfully there is some rain predicted in the next week so lets hope the situation improves before this year's harvest is badly affected.

Update at 13th June - cracks have appeared in homes built on clay soil in drought hit regions and problems predicted for electricity supply if the heat and drought continues : http://www.connexionfrance.com/drought-homes-subsidence-structural-damage-cracks-insurance-claim-12791-view-article.html

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Review of Dried Camping Food - TravelLunch Bacon, Potato and Onion Breakfast

We tried out the dried camping food TravelLunch Bacon, Potato and Onion Breakfast.  Here are photographs of the packet and the contents and then the final cooked product !

One advantage of this dried camping food mix is that it only weighs 100g so if you are carrying all your camping gear this could be an advantage. However actually cooking it all proved slightly problematic as you had to measure out 300 ml of boiling water but this could mean you need to take your measuring jug ! It would be helpful if they had said, for example, use two mugfuls of water. Also the meal was supplied with a sachet of hydrogenated vegetable fat which is not the healthiest thing so I coooked it instead with olive oil which I had handy in the tent. The instructions indicated that you had to cook it until crispy but this was not esay as the potatoes stayed moist or else burned to the pot ! It would have been much easier cooking for example a casserole or else just actually frying some bacon and boiling potatoes !

I asked five people to comlete a taste test and the average score for taste ended up at 3 out of 10. 2 said they would "Maybe" use this meal again when camping but 3 said they would not. Everyone agreed it was not good enough to eat at home !

 We felt the portion size was on the small side. One packet, costing £4 at Cotswolds was not quite enough for an adult to eat although it would have been very monotonous to eat this without adding for example beans. The test group were then asked to describe the meal in one word and they described it as "Smoky", "Baconless", "Tasteless", "More Meat..." and "OK" !

So to sum up, this is only good if the weight is absolutely crucial and you can only manage to carry 100 g. After a long day's walk this meal should taste good !!

We also tried the new Ainsley Harriet dried foods which are available at Tesco - the Risotto with tomato and cheese flavour weighed only 120g in the packet and was very tasty but probably best taken with something. If there are two of you you could buy two different flavours and carry a packet each ! 

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Camping Recipes

If you are fed up cooking the same old camping foods - like our usual of tuna and pasta ! , then there are some great camping recipes here at http://camping.about.com/od/campingrecipes/u/recipes.htm as well as tons of other camping information !
I think I will try the recipe for baked apples - it sounds great and also the macaroni cheese one sounds like a good one to use.  When we go for a short camping weekend I tend to take rice and pasta and some tins so it does feel like I am cheating.
We have also tried the dried packets of camping food - we found one brand was excellent and one was not at all good but I forget which was which so I will maybe buy some, try them out and review them for you !

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