around 100 drivers in cornwall have had to abandon their cars in whiteout conditions as heavy snow has fallen across the region. there was an amber weather warning in place across the south west and south wales, with wider yellow warnings for snow and ice in place for much of the country. our correspondentjon kay reports from devon. when it came down, it really came down. a treacherous rush hour in devon tonight. main roads blocked. back lanes impassible. vehicles abandoned across dartmoor. i can't move my car, i came off the a30 and was just slipping and ijust couldn't move my car from about here. so i thought it was safer to not try and drive it. in cornwall, a hundred drivers have been stuck on bodmin moor. police say they have been making intensive efforts to reach them. with traffic, that stands as far as the eye can see uphill and as far as the eye can see in the distance.

if these vehicles don't get moved, this could be a major incident, depending on how long we are stuck here, really. parts of mid wales have had a pasting and, with more heavy snow due tonight, some rural communities are at risk of being cut off. on snowdonia, a warning for climbers and walkers. the wind chill factor at the top, you're talking about —20 degrees. so we are trying to emphasise the importance of preparing well before going out. in devon and cornwall, those who can are turning out to help. they are expecting to work right through the night. this is nothing like as bad as the beast from the east last year. this is just the wet stuff from the west. but, after a relatively mild few months, the snow seems to have taken many of us by surprise. i'm waiting for my husband, in his 4x4. so, hopefully he'll be able to get through. he's got snow tyres also because we ski so we are fairly

used to it. and he's got snow chains, i don't know if he'll throw them in the boot as well. he will be able to ski here tomorrow! i know, yes! looking forward to it! see you on the slopes! it's horrible, isn't it? no! it's lovely weather! says he, rubbing his hands, freezing! freezing cold. i'm getting in before we get snowed in. have a nice time. good luck. bye bye, mate. sliding! jon kay, bbc news, dartmoor. time now for the travel show. on this week's travel show: it took a lot of courage for a black family to get in their car and just hit the open road. we talk to the african—americans whose old travel stories helped to shape a hollywood film. dignity always prevails. we have another incredible journey for you as two friends take on a risky rafting challenge in pakistani. this feels quite serious now. i haven't seen ed

for almost 2.5 hours. and i'm here in morocco to meet the donkeys who deserve a good rest. this one's called daisy, and i think we're friends now. hello and welcome to the travel show with me, ade adepitan. this week, i'm here in beautiful morocco. it looks stunning, doesn't it? and later on, you'll find out why i am hanging out with these dudes. but first: i'm not a medical doctor. i'm a musician. i'm about to embark on a concert tour in the deep south. what other experience do you have? if you're a big film fan, then you'll probably know that this week that the oscar

nominations were announced. you, in the deep south? there are going to be problems. in the running this year is a film called green book, which is centred around a guide that african—americans used in the days of segregation to make their travels around the usa safer and easier. it's perfect, tony. a while back, we met some of the people who can remember how their family used that guide. travelling on the road if you were black during this time, you were taking your life in your hands. we estimate that there were over 10,000 sundown towns. sundown towns were all—white towns. they could have a sign at the border saying they would run out all the black people.

it took a lot of courage for a black family to get in their car and just hit the open road, you know, which is something i think that in america, we take for granted. they call them jim crow laws and those laws made it illegal for people of colour to stay — to eat in restaurants, to stay in hotels, to use bathrooms — they had separate bathrooms. some places, you couldn't walk on the sidewalk with a white person — you had to get off the sidewalk and walk on the street. the green book was an historic travel guide that was published for black people during thejim crow era. it was more than just gas, food and lodging. there was everything from anything you might need on the road, whether it was a doctor or a church or a department store. drug stores, there

were golf courses... disneyland was listed in the green book. you know, it was a pretty major guide. by the 1960s, we estimate it had been sold to over 2 million people. my mother is from kansas, my father is from north carolina, so we travelled mainly back and forth to those places. my parents would use the green book to plan places where we might stop. without it, it would have been far more difficult, if not practically impossible, because you can pack — people used to pack food, but for us to get to kansas, we had to pack food that is going to last for two or three days. where are you gonna stay? my grandmother owned the only hotel in charlottesville, virginia that black people could stay in, in the 1940s, ‘50s and ‘60s.

the green book listing was very important to the business because people travelling through the south, and even places in the north, really relied on that book to figure out where they were going to stop. the inn wasjust a fantastic, vibrant place. many famous entertainers, famous entertainers and figures would come to the university, and if they were african—american, they had to stay at my grandmother's place. one of the things that i am very proud of is this picture of louis armstrong that he autographed to my grandmother. it is an artefact in my family that i hope will be passed down from generation to generation. in the early 1960s, when desegregation began, most people, when they had a choice of staying in the holiday inn down the street or the motel 6

or whatever, decided they'd rather stay there. for many black people it was a point of pride to be able to go where they had been denied access before. i stumbled on the green book by accident. i was writing a book on route 66 and found that it was at a route 66 exhibit, and there was a green book under glass and tucked away in a corner. when i first put my hands on a green book, it was magical. it is this feeling of, you too can enjoy america. it was a very hopeful, positive guide. i am in new york because i am

a scholar in residence at the schomburg center for black research. and it is amazing because they have the largest collection of green books in the world. i have scouted about 1,600 green book sites so far, and of those, less than a quarter are still standing, but i'm also working with city planners to have them recognise these sites as culturally significant and historic sites. the green book was an innovative and resourceful solution to an horrific problem. to me, it is a source of pride. that african—americans, that black people were resilient, they were resourceful. our ancestors would be proud of the green book,

that we survived and came up with these tools. they had a lot of courage, a lot of drive, and were not going to be denied. i think that those lessons should be a comfort to people facing today's america. up next: i bet the last time you were on holiday and asked for ice in your drink, you didn't give a second thought to where the ice came from. well, researchers have in london. they have uncovered how the capital kept cool over 200 years ago. this is an amazing historical find. historic london is very fascinating, and to understand and discover this is quite special. it was known more less

that it was here. it was not quite certain as to whereabouts it was. it was built in 1780s by a fellow called samuel dash. originally, the ice well was used to store ice sourced locally, and that would have come from rivers and canals, and it was pretty disgusting — whatever you can imagine was floating in the river or canal could easily have ended up in this icehouse. but in the 1820s, william leftwich took over the ice well. he imported his ice from norway and it was much better quality ice from the frozen lakes in norway. the ice was brought over and transported up the region's canal to here, where it was then installed and eventually sold off to local landowners who wanted to come and buy a bit of ice, before the days of refrigerators. it was used for medical use, people could buy a small portion of ice. you can see there is a scar here on the wall, there is another scar there, and we think

there were two doors here. probably insulated timber doors clad with leather and stuffed with straw perhaps to insulate them. if there is enough ice in there, it retained its temperature all year round. i think the tube is something like eight metres below. it is quite incredible that it hasn't been interrupted by the tube. which we can hear it going past now, yeah. stay with us here on the travel show. we're headed to northern pakistan for an incredible rafting journey down the spectacular hunza valley. and did someone said baby donkeys? they are really affectionate! now we are off to the northernmost region of pakistan, stunning but not

a place that is on everyone‘s travel itinerary. it is here on the border with china that we are headed for our next incredible journey. i'mjohn rider. and i'm edmund le brun. in 2018, we set out to raft down the length of the hunza valley in pakistan. as far as we can tell, no—one has done this before. the river passes through a really interesting part of pakistan, right up in near the border with china. it is a very ancient trade corridor that passes north—south, the old silk road, mountains, people, history, culture, it's a fascinating place. when we set out, it was late in the day.

we were a bit distracted, because we had people from the local police force along the banks watching us. thanks again for your help, and i think we go through the water now. and the water at this point, it's going pretty swiftly, and so we nudged our boats out and just managed to keep a straight face, without too much screaming. we were there on a river which supposedly hadn't been rafted before. that feeling of independence wasjust fantastic. i think that travelling by raft, you slow down. you see things that you might not see otherwise. and there were moments when, on the river, we were caught between the old silk road footpath that's now crumbling into the river on the one side, and then on the other, the highway. and so you're sort of — in a weird way, you're caught between times.

the trouble with rafting a river for the first time is that you really have to scout every hundred metres, because you really don't know what's around the corner. there were many moments going down the river where we encountered sections that we knew that we couldn't navigate. we actually found out that they were too difficult to raft the hard way. that was quite scary, actually. once it's upturned, there was nothing for him to catch hold of. i lost my raft. it just went all the way down river, sped away. been tipped out of the boat. the currents are doing really weird things. ok, i'm going to go and chase it. as soon as i set off injohn's raft, in pursuit of my own, i realised that it was a bad decision.

the water was getting rougher, and sure enough, i hit a corner. losing the second raft. so i managed to swim to the bank and suddenly assess the situation. and there we are, northern pakistan, and we've lost both our rafts, all our bags. i then didn't know where john was. 0k, it feels quite serious now. i haven't seen ed for almost 2.5 hours. i don't know what condition he's in. we've just got to the road.

what's your name again? faizadeen. faizadeen is helping me. there's no sign ofjohn. people often assume that we felt, was there a security concern there? and actually, security was the furthest things from our mind. the key is always doing research before you go, because some areas are incredibly dangerous, and just 5 kilometres away, it's completely safe. so, after i'd lost my raft, i didn't find john for five hours. a very tired john on the other side of the river. we found the raft eventually. it took us — i think it was about four days in total. everyone we spoke to offered to walk up and down the river or offered their car. it was really quite overwhelming, the level of generosity that we received. did we achieve what we had set out to achieve? yes, in a sense. we made it down to gilgit from the chinese border alive. that feels like a pretty big sense of achievement to us.

did we raft the whole length? no, we didn't. we walked sections, we cycled long sections to scout ahead. we walked sections, we cycled along sections to scout ahead. so, the whole trip was a real patchwork of different means of transport. you know, rafts are completely unsuitable for going on rivers like this. and if we were really serious, we would do it in a completely different sort of boat. but what the rafts did give us was the sense of adventure, and through that, we actually uncovered a side to pakistan, which we really never see in the news. jonathan rider and edmund le brun there on their trip down the hunza valley in northern pakistan. and if you're inspired to embark on your own incredible journey, don't forget to do your research and check your government's foreign travel advice before you head off. well, to finish off this week,

i'm back here in morocco, where you'll find animals working across the country transporting goods, and tourists too. donkeys, mules and horses are a much cheaper alternative to vehicles, and in some cases, the only option in the mountains or the narrow lanes in the medinas. but they aren't always looked after. morocco has no national animal welfare legislation. some local regulations exist, particularly in and around marrakesh, that require working animals in the tourist trade to have health checks every four to six months. just outside the medina, there is a free animal drop—in clinic, run by spana, which tourists can also visit. good morning. hello, good morning. welcome. spana is a global animal welfare charity with centres across morocco. trying to eat myjacket —

you can't have it! this place is very well—known in and around marrakesh. people are coming from as far as 50km away from here. so, it's like a walk—in clinic? yes. in morocco, in the five clinics, we saw around 211,000 animals a year, donkeys, mules and horses. but in marrakesh, we saw more than 15,000 in a year. and it's free for them to come? it's free, all the treatments are free. wow. they're free. this is so cute. we've got a baby donkey with its mum. so cute, you want to hug it. it's quite shy, though. they also work closely with local authorities to make sure the owners and their horses comply

with the local laws. so, there are two horses over there, and once they're given the a—ok healthwise, they're given the yellow tag, which is put on their legs. one of the horses is getting checked over because apparently it's got a bit of a respiratory problem, but that one's ok, and it's going to get its yellow tag and its thumbs—up for health. oh, what's happened here? got another animal coming in. looks like a dog that's injured. with the constant flow of patients, the centre relies on the help of volu nteer vets. is she alright to touch? yeah, she's friendly. not all the animals recover well enough to work again. others leave babies behind, which leads me to the next place i'm going to visit. jarjeer mule and donkey refuge lies in the foothills of the atlas mountains, not far from marrakesh. it's where donkeys go to retire. it's also an orphanage and a care

centre for working equines. they're really affectionate. hey! the refuge centre was established by british couple susan machin and charles hanton ten years ago. they'd come to morocco to retire. so, we lived in our villa, and we didn't know what we were going to do. and then, over a period of a few months, a few donkeys came for shelter, and i became very interested in them. so were you donkey fans before you came here, or...? no, i said we were lawyers! well, you can be a lawyer and like donkeys. no, we didn't have time for donkeys. tell me, how do visitors find out about this place? social media. that good old thing. what tourists say is they've stayed in marrakesh, they love morocco, but what upsets them is seeing the donkeys working. westerners aren't used to seeing donkeys working anymore. they take a view about morocco that morocco is cruel to its animals,

which isn't true. morocco still uses working animals, but didn't know what to do with them at the end of their life. they come here. the couple are using their pensions to run the place. they don't charge an entrance fee, and guests are free to roam and play with the animals. it's feeding time for the donkeys and, yeah, they're chowing down. they were a bit hangry before, and i suppose after the hard life that these donkeys have led, this is probably a really nice respite. over the years, the sanctuary has grown, and today, is home to around 30 donkeys and mules. adoption programmes are in place too if visitors want to sponsor an animal. so, jarjeer refuge gives all the donkeys and mules that arrive here a name, so they can bond with the workers and the visitors.

and this one's called daisy and i think we're friends now. hello, daisy. hello. she's just chilling out. ok, well, that's it for this week on the travel show. join us next week, when lucy prepares to go subzero in the french alps. well, my time to take my icy plunge has come. i'm not as nervous as i thought, but i haven't touched the water yet, so i honestly have no idea what to expect. find out how she got on with her first attempt at ice diving. and don't forget, you can follow all our adventures in real time on the road by going to our social media feeds. but for now from me, ade adepitan, and from all the travel show team here in stunning

morocco, it's goodbye. hello. there is more snow to come in this forecast as we head into friday. the main focus is the zone, say, from south wales across east anglia and anywhere south of here. all driven by this area of low pressure, which stays close by as we go into friday. now, whilst the earlier amber warning from the met office has expired, we still have yellow warnings in place for both snow and ice. so, slippery surfaces, tricky travelling conditions. stay up—to—date with the latest travel news on your bbc local radio station.

by friday morning, we are likely to see perhaps 5—10 centimetres of snow across parts of wales, south—west england, particularly over the higher ground, up towards the chilterns and the cotswolds. at least a couple of centimetres elsewhere. and we will start to see further sleet and snow showers piling into north—east england. some of those may well get further south and westwards, perhaps down towards the midlands. should be a fine start to the day across northern ireland, but cold and frosty. and a really cold start again across scotland, although not quite as cold as the nightjust gone. and, once again, frequent snow showers piling into north scotland, the highlands and also the northern ireland. so, as the day wears on on friday, we will keep our zone of snow showers across central and southern england. it will become more fragmented and increasingly sleety through the day. still further snow showers piling into north—east england, across the north york moors. as i mentioned, some of those may just get across the pennines and down towards parts of the midlands. it will be a breezy day in places, particularly the further south you are, so that's just going to exacerbate the cold feel. and, for most, temperatures are not

going to get much above three or four celsius. but we should at least see them above freezing across parts of northern england and scotland, where we struggled through thursday with the fog. as we go through friday night and into saturday, we still keep this feed of showers, mainly down eastern and some western coasts. and we start to lose the sleet and snow from south—east england. but a cloudier night here, so temperatures will stay above freezing. elsewhere, further west, under clear skies, getting down to —1 or minus two celsius. still “i! —5 across the highlands of scotland. then we start the weekend, and our area of low pressure moves away into france and germany, and for a brief time through the weekend things are looking drier and quieter. now, with a northerly wind, we are still going to pick up some wintry showers down some eastern coasts. a few mayjust clip some western coast, but for most on saturday it's a dry date, with some crisp winter sunshine. a dry day, with some crisp winter sunshine. after a frosty start, temperatures getting up to between 3—5 celsius, perhaps 6—7

across south—west england. so, to sum up the weekend, it's going to stay cold, there will be some sunshine, further wintry showers and perhaps we could see some rain later on sunday, with some snow across scotland. bye— bye. a very warm welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name's mike embley. our top stories: the deep freeze. cities in the american midwest grind to a halt as temperatures hit record lows. substantial progress, claim american negotiators, but no agreement yet in the us—china trade war. we're going to have a great trade deal with china if it all works out. we look forward to it. it will be great for both countries. venezuela's self—declared interim president says his family has been threatened by units loyal to his rival, president maduro. is this a disaster waiting to happen? we visit one of the 200 dams the brazilian government says are at risk of collapse.