New York City is vibrant, exciting and fast-paced, but battle your way across it, jump on an Amtrak at Moynihan Train Hall, and 90 minutes later the blaring horns will be replaced with the serenity of New York State.

In the splendidly named town of Poughkeepsie, pick up a hire car for an adventure in an area packed with America’s rich colonial and early heritage, as well as spectacular views.

First stop is West Point, the oldest occupied military post in the US, which dates back to the War of Independence, and, nearby, General George Washington’s final HQ.

As the prime mover in the 18th Century battle for independence from the British, Washington knew his Continental Army would need a training school. 

He also realised the Patriots needed to stop the British from moving up and down the spectacular Hudson River. 

West Point, on a narrow bend, was a perfect place to achieve both, and a giant chain was made to float on log rafts across the river as a barrier. 

Today a ring of 13 remaining links – one for each founding state – stand in a loop in the training school grounds. It’s quite a sight.

High-roller mansions are another feature of the Hudson Valley, and near Poughkeepsie is Hyde Park, the home of Franklin Roosevelt, the president who saved America from economic collapse in the 1930s Depression. 

Artefacts abound, such as his ‘lucky’ hat, the wheelchair and leg irons he used after contracting polio, details of the New Deal to give relief and work to the unemployed, and his ‘four freedoms’ speech, emphasising freedom of speech, and of worship, freedom from want and from fear.

At the end of each of his presidential victories, FDR would give a speech from the porch of the ancient Beekman Arms in nearby Rhinebeck. 

The inn has been there since well before the American Revolution – and still looks like stage coaches will pull up out front on the old King’s Highway.

An hour north, in the state capital of Albany, you can change gear again. 

The commanding state Capitol building looks like a transplanted French chateau, in stark contrast to the ultra-modern concrete buildings lining the huge plaza outside.

Alongside all this is the New York State Museum. Next to depictions of the state’s history is a 9/11 exhibit. 

A burnt-out fire engine jolts hard, along with the testimonies from survivors. It’s powerful and moving.

Staying at Morgan State House is an experience. It’s an elegant three-storey brownstone facing Washington Park, which was once home to suffragette Alice M Wright, whose spell in jail in London for her activism meant she missed her journey back to the US on the Titanic.

Upstate New York offers excitement at every turn, but it’s a different kind of excitement. More than anything, it gives perspective, and that’s never a bad thing.

Dozens of Brits holidaying in Mexico have caught a serious stomach illness that triggers explosive diarrhoea, health officials warned today.

At least 74 people are known to have fallen ill with cyclosporiasis since May, with more than half of these having returned from the country. 

Most were traced back to all-inclusive hotels in the Riviera Maya and Cancún regions, where thousands of Brits flock to every year.

The unpleasant illness, which can also cause stomach cramps and flatulence, is caused by consuming food or drink contaminated with cyclospora, a microscopic parasite. 

The sickness can last for more than a month but most cases resolve within a few days.

Although usually mild, it can be life-threatening in immunocompromised patients. 

UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) officials revealed all 74 cases seen in the past three months were reported in England, Scotland and Wales. 

Just over half of were female, with the average age of patients being 44. Travel information was known in 52 of the cases. 

Forty-eight had been to Mexico. Of them, 42 stayed in different hotels in the Riviera Maya and Cancún regions, on the Caribbean coastline.

Most reported eating a wide variety of different food and drink within their hotel as part of an all-inclusive holiday package, UKHSA chiefs said. 

Cyclospora most often occurs in tropical and subtropical regions of the world including South and Central America, South and South East Asia, the Middle East and Africa. 

Seasonal outbreaks of cyclosporiasis in UK travellers returning from Mexico have been reported annually since 2015 — excluding 2020 and 2021 — with the number of cases fluctuating each year.

Some 79 instances were recorded in the first year, with this rising to 359 in 2016. Last year, just 36 cases were logged. 

More than half a million Brits travel to the country every year.  

Health officials warned those travelling to Mexico today to maintain good food and water hygiene at all times even if staying in high-end all-inclusive resorts.

They advised tourists choose freshly prepared food that is thoroughly cooked and served piping hot. 

Certain foods, including fresh uncooked berries and herbs, unpeeled fruit and salad items should be avoided, as these can be difficult to clean, they noted. 

The stomach infection is diagnosed by testing of stool samples, and although most cases resolve on their own, antibiotics can be given to treat severe or prolonged infections. 

It comes after one family launched legal action against holiday giant TUI last year after they were struck down with the illness during their five-star luxury break to Mexico.

They reported seeing flies, cats, birds and raccoons around the food, some of which was not chilled and was served with dirty cutlery.

The family also claimed they were bed-bound for three days and still suffered symptoms following their return to the UK.

British tourists caught up in a ‘catastrophic’ wildfire that ripped through a holiday hotspot in France today described their ‘terrifying’ bid to escape the flames that destroyed campsites and homes.

More than 3,000 terrified tourists and local residents fled for their lives from their holiday homes and campsites in the popular holiday region of Pyrenees-Orientales, southern France, as the wildfire swept through villages.

Britons have told how panicked families who had quickly packed their belongings and fled campsites in the commune of Saint-Andre in their cars became trapped in traffic jams after they realised they were in fact heading towards the quickly expanding flames of the wildfire.

Zak Dhabalia, 55, a retired British hedge fund manager who lives in the nearby village of Sorede and saw the flames come perilously close to his home, said it was an ‘extraordinary and terrifying experience for us all’.

Dhabalia, who lives with his French wife Sylvie Dhabalia, told MailOnline it was ‘terrifying’ to see how quickly the wildfire spread across the vineyards towards the campsites which were gutted by the flames, adding that he could hear gas canisters exploding at the site.

The former banker said that on a nearby road, panicked holidaymakers and locals who had tried to flee the fire in their cars ‘couldn’t move’ after some realised they were heading towards the fire.  

‘We were scared because we thought that if the wind changes we’d be packing our bags and making sure we had an available exit route,’ Dhabalia told MailOnline. 

‘What was scary was that on one of the roads, you had this massive blockage because people were turning their cars around as soon as they realised they were heading towards the fire – and the people who were already trying to get out, couldn’t move.’

The blazing wildfires have so far gutted scores of homes and destroyed a campsite in the nearby commune of Saint-Andre. Video shows the flames getting perilously close to campsites, where children can be heard screaming in terror.

The flames have ripped through 500 hectares of land and Dhabalia described how the flames quickly spread towards the campsite within just 15 minutes – too quickly for firefighters to be able to contain the fire before it ravaged the holiday homes. Thousands of people have now been evacuated to temporary accommodation.

‘I have to say it’s been quite an extraordinary and terrifying experience for us all. I was initially driving back to my property in the morning and I could see that the fire was really raging quite close to the junction near the village where I live,’ Dhabalia said. 

‘Over the course of about 15 minutes, I could see the speed and rapidity of the fire spreading across the vineyards and headings towards the campsites which were later destroyed and evacuated. I started hearing explosions as well – basically gas cannisters going of on some of the properties and mobile homes in the area.’ 

Dhabalia said his family were lucky and didn’t end up evacuating, but his friends and neighbours were ‘in tears’ as they had to flee from their homes, worried that their livelihoods would be destroyed. For many, they returned to the blackened shells of their homes.

‘Everyone was shocked by this fire. Elderly people were panicking, they said they had never seen a fire like that this close to the village,’ Dhabalia said. ‘We are still in a state of shock about what happened, it’s a sobering experience.’

Harrowing photographs show the extent of the damage caused by the wildfires, with the gutted remains of homes seen in Saint-Andre. Cars were incinerated and a campsite was destroyed by the blaze.

More than 3,000 tourists have now been evacuated from their holiday campsites across the region to temporary accommodation in town halls as the blaze swept through the villages close to the seaside resort of Argeles. 

The local mayor described how she saw dozens of ‘families with flabbergasted children’ walk through the doors, some still in their swimsuits as they were unable to reach their campsite due to flames.

‘Our town is hard hit, there is a lot of damage,’ the mayor of Saint-Andre told France Bleu on Tuesday. ‘The village is burned on both sides, a third has been hit by the fire.’

British tourist Dave Robson, who had been on holiday in the nearby Argeles-sur-Mer, shared footage on social media of planes dropping retardant and water onto the wildfires one after the other. 

He wrote on Facebook: ‘It seems you can’t take a holiday in Europe these days without getting caught in a wildfire. Smoke in the town, fuel stores going off like bombs and firefighter planes lining up down the valley.’  

The wildfire broke out on Monday afternoon and the blaze spread rapidly near the villages of Saint-Andre, Sorede and the seaside resort of Argeles due to the ‘extremely hot weather, drought and strong winds of up to 180km/hr’. 

Officials said the wildfire has been contained but remains dangerous as about 450 firefighters backed up by surveillance aircraft today continued to battle the flames south of the city of Perpignan. 

‘The fire has been contained,’ senior regional official Rodrigue Furcy told local radio, but the worst affected area was ‘under close surveillance and firefighters were still battling the blaze’.

Seventeen firefighters had sustained light injuries and one was admitted to hospital after a fall ‘but the good news is that there have been no fatalities’, Furcy continued. 

Thirty houses had been damaged, along with a warehouse and a campsite, with thousands of people evacuated to temporary accommodation. 

Roussillon Bernadette Michalak Guimbert, the deputy mayor of Argeles-sur-Mer, told France Bleu that she saw families arrive in the town hall ‘in swimsuits’ because ‘they were returning from the beach or from walks and they could not reach their campsite’. 

Guimbert added that among the evacuees are ‘many families with flabbergasted children’. She said they woke up this morning ‘very dazed’ after they were forced to flee the flames of the roaring wildfire.  

Several roads were also closed and the train service from Perpignan to the Spanish border was suspended for several hours.

Bordering on Spain, the Pyrenees-Orientales region has been affected worse than any other French region by a devastating drought.

Last week, firefighters battled another wildfire near the southwestern city of Bordeaux that forced around 8,000 people to flee their homes and holiday villas.

Authorities in Spain’s northern Basque Country region said France had stopped freight trucks from crossing the border at Irun due to the fire.

More than 60 square kilometers (23 square miles) have burned in the Gironde region and the neighboring Landes. 

The Gironde region was hit last month by major wildfires that forced the evacuation of more than 39,000 people, including residents and tourists.

France is this week in the midst of its fourth heat wave of the year as the country faces what the government warned is its worst drought on record. 

Temperatures in the south of the country are expected to reach up to 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).

Wildfires have ravaged countries across southern Europe this summer, forcing thousands to be evacuated and thousands more to cancel their holidays.

Greece, Italy, Algeria and Tunisia combined lost more than 1,350 square kilometers (520 square miles) to blazes that affected 120,000 people in late July, according to European Union estimates.

Last week, a series of wildfires ripped through Portugal and neighbouring Spain as temperatures soared to over 44C, forcing the evacuation of thousands of holidaymakers from villages and campsites. 

The popular holiday island of Rhodes – known for its sparkling beeches and ancient Greek sites – was also ravaged by wildfires for 11 days last month. 

After thousands of people were evacuated during the height of travel season, Rhodes is weighing how the crisis will affect its vital tourism sector, which fuels most of its economy and some 20 per cent of Greece’s.

It’s the same for other Mediterranean destinations such as Italy and Spain, where the tourism sector is also being hit by heat waves and wildfires.

Climate scientists say heat waves are more intense, more frequent and longer because of climate change — and coupled with droughts have made wildfires harder to fight.

They say climate change will continue to make weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive.

‘Climate change kills,’ Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said last month during a visit to the Extremadura region, the site of three major blazes. ‘It kills people, it kills our ecosystems and biodiversity.’ 

Wildfires raging through Europe this summer have so far burned the second-largest area on record, even though the region is only halfway through its typical fire season, according to data from the European Union’s Joint Research Centre. 

Victor Resco de Dios, professor of forest engineering at Spain’s Lleida University, said the large fires France and Portugal suffered in early July were ‘extremely unusual’ and demonstrated how climate change is causing the fire season to start earlier and last longer. 

‘Today’s fires in the Mediterranean can no longer be extinguished… large fires are getting bigger and bigger,’ he said. 

Southern European countries such as Portugal and Greece experience fires most summers, but hotter temperatures are pushing severe wildfire risk north, with Germany, Slovenia and the Czech Republic among those hit this season.

In stark contrast to the wildfires seen in France, Spain, Greece, Croatia and southern Italy in recent weeks, northern Italy and Scandinavia have been hit by devastating floods and storms.

In the Italian town of Bardonecchia, near Turin in the Val di Susa valley, a ‘tsunami of mud’ crashed through the streets on Sunday, sending people fleeing for their lives. 

Dramatic video shows the churning river of mud forming a huge wave as it burst its banks and slammed into a street following heavy rain.

Horrified residents and tourists were sent running for their lives as the ‘mud tsunami’ smashed through a gate and sent debris flying towards them on Sunday evening.

Further video shows a thick wall of mud thundering down the river banks that pass through the Alpine town, blanketing cars with debris.

Rescuers desperately searched for five people believed to have been missing following the mudslide but authorities later said all residents had been accounted for and there were no victims. 

Italy has been faced with a series of deadly floods and storms in recent months, with 13 people killed in May after a devastating flood tore through homes in the popular holiday region of Emilia-Romagna. 

Desperate families, including young children and the elderly, had to clamber on to their roofs in the tourist hotspot as they waited anxiously for rescuers to reach them in helicopters.  

In the city of Cesena locals were forced to swim through the submerged streets, past sunken cars and floating furniture, to reach higher ground.

Last month, severe storms also battered the north of Italy, killing two woman and a 16-year-old girl scout. 

The overnight storm on July 25 saw roofs torn off and hundreds of trees uprooted in Milan. Roads were blocked and cars were smashed by the debris.

Two women were killed in the northern Monza and Brescia provinces after being crushed by falling trees, while a teenager was seriously injured when he was hit by a falling branch in the Veneto region.

In the area around nearby Brescia, a 16-year-old girl on a scout camp was killed when a tree fell on her tent, according to Italian news agencies. 

Firefighters evacuated the other members of the camp, taking them to a sports hall nearby, ANSA said. 

Tourist attractions also bore the brunt of the bad weather, as the Sforza Castle was shut after some tiles were brought down and rain was heavy enough to penetrate the glass-vaulted Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, Milan’s famed shopping arcade. 

Elsewhere in Europe, a 135mph tornado toppled a construction crane in Switzerland last month, killing one person, while ripping roofs off buildings. Storms also lashed France and Germany with torrential rain flooding streets in Berlin. 

And last week, heavy rains triggered landslides and flooding across southern Norway and Sweden, forcing communities to evacuate.

The Norwegian dam at the Braskereidfoss hydroelectric power plant, on the Glåma, Norway’s longest and most voluminous river, burst on Wednesday after days of rain. 

It caused devastating floods, with footage showing wooden cabins floating down overflowing rivers. One clip shows a mobile home crashing into a bridge on Norway’s Hemsilar river.

People were seen standing on the bridge as they watched caravans being swept away, crashing into the bridge and being crushed under the weight. 

Brits heading to Spain face a potential summer of chaos as pilots at a dozen airlines including Ryanair and easyJet consider strike action

• Spain’s airline pilots union is considering taking strike action over the summer
• The union has pilot representation in airlines like Ryanair, easyJet, and Jet 2

By Rita Sobot

Published: 09:21 EDT, 12 May 2023 | Updated: 09:24 EDT, 12 May 2023