Rod and I stopped there and lounged among the flowers, in a dry westerly wind, talking about the downland poet Edward Thomas, the downland painter Eric Ravilious, and why I should never have slept in Chanctonbury Ring.

BBC: England��s ghostly South Downs Way

Usually, the prevailing south-westerly wind would take the ash cloud away from Europe and over the polar region, but a high-pressure area is bringing it over Europe, where it is sitting and barely moving as the ash spreads.

BBC: Volcano cloud threatens Formula 1 preparations