After a decade of preparation, Dan and Kika Deckert are preparing to take their 36-foot sailing boat Uma on a round-the-world trip, with departure planned for November 2026.

Their target is to complete a circumnavigation within 12 months without fossil fuels for propulsion, onboard power or cooking. Sailing will provide Uma’s movement, while solar panels, batteries and regeneration under sail will power life at sea.

Route plans will take Uma south-west out of the Mediterranean and across the Atlantic before heading around Cape Horn. Travel will then continue through the South Pacific, Australia and the Indian Ocean, around the Cape of Good Hope and back across the Atlantic.

An electric boat built through experience

Uma is a 1972 Pearson 36 that Dan and Kika bought after graduating as architects. Neither had sailing experience, but they spent the following 12 years learning at sea, rebuilding the boat and documenting their adventures.

More than 30,000 nautical miles and 30 countries later, Uma has become a long-running test bed for electric sailing. Their first system used a second-hand forklift motor and batteries before they moved to Oceanvolt electric propulsion.

Svalbard also features in Uma’s story. In 2021, the boat reached the High Arctic without a diesel engine after Dan and Kika crossed the North Atlantic.

No diesel, generator or cooking gas

Uma 3.0 uses twin Oceanvolt electric propulsion, 3kW of solar generation, 50kWh of battery storage and up to 1kW of regeneration under sail.

Hydrogeneration allows the boat to turn movement through the water into electricity while sailing, helping recharge its batteries during longer passages. Oceanvolt says the amount generated depends on factors including boat speed.

Dan and Kika say every essential system, including navigation, communications, cooking and water production, must work within the energy available from solar power and regeneration.

“We never set out to become experts. We simply kept asking better questions and learning what the next step required,” they say.

Could Uma make history?

Previous attempts at fossil-fuel-free ocean voyages have not followed the same rules, according to the press kit. Some carried backup fuel or generators, while others did not complete the voyage.

Success would give Uma a claim to becoming the first all-electric cruising sailboat to complete a circumnavigation under the couple’s stated conditions.

Adventure is only part of the project. Dan and Kika want to show what long-term life aboard an electric cruising boat can look like.

Readers can also follow the voyage through Sailing Uma’s website, YouTube and social media, with future live tracking planned.

Shoppers hunting for bread at a UK supermarket got a little surprise when a baby corn snake was spotted slithering through the bread aisle. This unexpected discovery, however, has drawn attention to a much a bigger issue that exotic pet rescuers are currently facing. The little snake, now named Crumbs, was found at a Heron Foods store in Maryport, Cumbria. Staff noticed her before she was taken to a local vet and later moved to Pet Encounter, an animal education organisation based in nearby Workington.

It’s still a mystery how she ended up in the supermarket. There’s no confirmation that Crumbs was intentionally left behind, so she might have just escaped and wandered in. What we do know is that the organisation was already swamped with an unusually high number of snakes needing help and homes when Crumbs was discovered.

Pet Encounter takes in more snakes

So far in 2026, Pet Encounter has taken in 21 snakes, compared to only 14 for all of 2025. This increase means they’ve already taken in seven more snakes this year than last year, and there’s still time left in 2026.

These numbers reflect the snakes coming into their care. They don’t necessarily indicate a national rise in snake abandonment but do show the added strain on the Cumbria organisation. Pet Encounter focuses mainly on animal education, not just on being a typical reptile rescue center. So, dealing with animals like Crumbs adds a new layer to their work.

Crumbs receives veterinary care

After being found in the store, Crumbs was taken for a veterinary check up before arriving at Pet Encounter. The young corn snake got an examination and an electrolyte bath before making her way to the organisation. They named her Crumbs after the spot where she was found.

The unusual setting of her discovery made headlines, instead of being found in a garden or natural habitat, she ended up in a supermarket, right among the shelves of one of the most common shopping items, how she got to the bread aisle is still not known.

The demands of keeping exotic pets

Snakes need proper enclosures and environmental conditions suited to their species. Their owners must be ready to maintain those conditions for the snakes’ entire lives. So, owning an exotic pet often means dealing with specialist equipment and ongoing costs, not just the initial price of buying the animal.

This issue is crucial for rescue organisations, as an owner who can no longer provide proper care must find a suitable place for the animal. The growing workload at Pet Encounter has made them think about how they can keep helping animals while also focusing on education.

Other snakes found in unexpected places

Crumbs isn’t the only snake that’s been found in a strange spot. Pet Encounter has also dealt with a king snake that was discovered in a boiler cupboard after someone moved into a new home in Workington. Then there was a milk snake found on a pavement, which was also taken in by the organisation. These incidents show the range of situations where privately kept reptiles end up needing help.

Another local group, Little Beasties in Ulverston, has faced similar odd cases. They’ve rescued a royal python found in a wooded area near Slack Head and pulled a corn snake out of a drain at the Barrow Raiders rugby ground. The group has raised concerns about whether new owners fully understand what it takes to keep a snake before committing to the idea.

Discovering the Snake 

The sight of a tiny corn snake slithering through a supermarket bread aisle is unusual enough to spark conversation, but Crumbs’ story also draws attention to the influx of animals at local rescue groups.  While this doesn’t prove that snake abandonment is on the rise across Britain, and we still don’t know exactly how Crumbs ended up in that supermarket, her story shines a light on an ongoing issue.

In Portugal, supermarket shelves are turning into quite the battleground. For Mercadona, the challenge isn’t about getting people through the door, after all, the Spanish chain is drawing in more Portuguese shoppers and rapidly expanding across the country. However, when it comes to where these customers spend their weekly grocery money, Lidl is increasingly emerging as the preferred choice.

This makes the latest numbers particularly telling for Mercadona. Even with its growing footprint in Portugal, the gap between these two Spanish competitors has widened to 6.4 percentage points. Lidl now holds 13.8% of the grocery market, while Mercadona lags at 7.4%.

Lidl pulls ahead

Data from Worldpanel by Numerator for the first half of 2026 shows a crucial difference between the two chains. While Mercadona is connecting with more households, Lidl is getting its customers to shop more often. This strategy is helping Lidl solidify its market position without just relying on opening more stores. That’s where the real competition lies between these retailers.

Mercadona made its debut in Portugal back in July 2019, launching its first store in Vila Nova de Gaia. Since then, it has built a strong network and aims to reach the Algarve by the end of 2026. The Portuguese wing of its business reported revenues of €2.092 billion in 2025, up 18% from the year before, and profits catapulted from €7 million in 2024 to €26 million. Still, this impressive growth hasn’t resulted in a similar rise in market share.

Mercadona attracts more households

In the first half of 2026, Mercadona’s market share dipped by 0.1 percentage points to 7.4%, while Lidl gained 1.3 points, climbing to 13.8%. This puts Lidl comfortably ahead of Mercadona as the competition in Portugal’s supermarket scene heats up. The difference seems to stem from consumer behaviour.

Portuguese households are becoming more inclined to split their shopping across various supermarkets, picking where to shop based on factors like price, convenience, product selection, and overall value. For Lidl, this trend is working in its favor. Its growth has significantly come from existing customers shopping more frequently, thereby fostering a stronger relationship with them rather than just trying to reel in new shoppers.

Why Lidl is gaining ground

On the other hand, Mercadona has succeded in reaching more Portuguese households. The percentage shopping at Mercadona rose from 53.1% to 55.6%. However, this increase hasn’t translated into a more substantial shopping frequency, basket sizes, or spending per visit.

Its narrower product range might also be a barrier to turning new customers into regular shoppers. Worldpanel by Numerator points out that Portuguese consumers tend to mix their purchases among different chains, influenced by factors like brand variety.

Continente and Pingo Doce still dominate

However, above these two Spanish contenders, Portugal’s well-established supermarket giants continue to lead the way. Continente maintained a 27.6% market share in the first half of the year, despite a slight drop of 0.3 percentage points, while Pingo Doce bolstered its position to 22.3%, gaining 0.9 points. Combined, these two chains represent exactly half of the grocery market in Portugal.

Mercadona faces a bigger challenge

So, while Lidl isn’t claiming the entirety of Portugal’s supermarket market, its rising performance against Mercadona is hard to overlook. As Mercadona keeps opening new stores and reaching more households, Lidl has figured out how to encourage its existing customers to shop more often.

For Mercadona, the challenge is no longer just about getting Portuguese consumers to give them a try, it’s about convincing them to make Mercadona a larger part of their regular shopping trips.