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A mother who says she experienced “hell on earth” was among the British tourists forced to flee Rhodes this weekend as fierce wildfires continue to rip through the Greek holiday island. Officials on the island, which sits southwest of Turkey in the Aegean Sea, launched Greece’s biggest-ever evacuation operation as the blaze tore through vast swathes of land, threatening resorts popular with holidaymakers. Tourists were forced to shelter in schools, sports stadiums, airports and alternative hotels as firefighters desperately fought to contain the flames, which officials fear may worsen on Monday as wind speeds more than double on the island. As Britons rushed to book seats on packed flights home after the evacuations, holiday firms including Jet2, the UK’s biggest tour operator, announced they would be cancelling services to Rhodes and would be sending empty planes to bring stranded tourists home. Airline easyJet said they would operate repatriation flights to bring home stranded British holidaymakers. Two rescue flights are scheduled on Monday and a third on Tuesday, they said. Greek authorities also told people in some parts of Corfu to evacuate due to further wildfires on Sunday evening. Around 19,000 people in total are reported to have been evacuated from Rhodes, the largest of Greece’s Dodecanese islands, which has a local population of about 115,000. Becky Mulligan, a 29-year-old training manager from Leicester, was staying at the Princess Sun Hotel in the Kiotari resort on Rhodes’s southeast coast when she, her five-year-old daughter, and sister, 20, were forced to quickly pack their bags and flee as the sky turned “orange”. “Smoke started coming up against the window of the hotel so we decided to run,” she told The Independent. “There were helicopters hovering above making the whole building shake. “We ended up legging it down a dirt track as the smoke came up around our legs. I thought I was going to die. It was like hell on earth.” Ms Mulligan and her family were forced to seek refuge on the beach as they waited for coaches to come and pick them up, which she described as the “most scary point”. She said hundreds of people were waiting to be evacuated with grown adults “basically trampling on children to get to the buses”. The trio was then taken to Gennadi Grande resort and from there bussed to another location, where they were forced to spend Saturday night on the floor of a hotel room. On Sunday morning they managed to escape safely, sharing a taxi with another family to the airport where their flight back to the UK was due to depart after 11pm. Dan Jones, a sports teacher from Torquay, Devon, said he had to climb onto a fishing trawler with his sons on Saturday night, describing it as “the scariest moment in my entire life”, adding: “What brave boys.” Ian Wakefield told Times Radio he spent the night in a school playground in Faliraki after being evacuated from his hotel in Pefki. He said: “It didn’t really feel real – being in imminent danger of being burned to death. Between midnight and around 5am this morning we were going through an evacuation which was pretty chaotic. “There were a lot of upset people and children who were understandably quite hysterical. It was all very confusing – the instructions from the hotel manager were unclear. “You had to make your own choice in the end. I’ve had to leave quite a lot of luggage in the hotel.” As fire crews struggled to contain the blazes and thick black smoke continued billowing into the sky, British holiday firms began cancelling flights to Rhodes, although some planes touched down on the island on Saturday night and early on Sunday morning despite the emergency. Jet2 Holidays cancelled all flights to the island until 30 July and said it would send empty planes to bring stranded Britons home, while Tui said it would cancel all flights and holidays until Tuesday. Thomas Cook later announced it had cancelled all holidays to Kiotari and Lardos – the areas of the island most at risk – until 31 July and would be in touch with customers to arrange “swift refunds”. It has also offered full refunds to customers due to depart for other parts of the island on Sunday and Monday who wish to cancel their trip. But some holidaymakers suggested that operators should have cancelled flights to the island sooner. Lowri Jones from Crymych, Pembrokeshire, Wales, described scenes of “chaos” at Rhodes Airport when she arrived there on Saturday night. The mother of one, 52, travelled to the Greek island with her thirteen year-old-daughter for a holiday. “It was absolute pandemonium at the airport, with long queues of people trying to find out what coach they were,” she told The Independent. “We booked with Tui and there has been very little communication from them. “We had been due to stay at the Atlantica Dreams hotel in Gennadi but were driven – without warning – to a completely different resort in the north of the island due to the wildfires.” She added: “Me and my daughter ended up spending the night on the floor with other people in a room with no air conditioning in sweltering heat – it was horrible. “To be honest, I don’t think we should have even been there in the first place. The flight was delayed because the pilot had to do a risk assessment to see if it was safe to land because of the fires. “Tui should have told us it wasn’t safe and given us a refund – at least that way I could have made a decision about booking somewhere else. Now I’m stranded in Rhodes and having to look at booking flights home.” A spokesperson for Tui said it is continuing to monitor the wildfires and appreciated the “distressing and difficult” situation for its customers. Anyone who remains in Rhodes is urged “follow the advice of the local authorities who are managing tourist movements in impacted areas,” they said. Britain’s ambassador to Greece said the Foreign Office had sent a “rapid deployment team” to help UK tourists who were among thousands forced to flee for their lives on Saturday as the wildfire spread. Read More ‘It was hell on earth’: British tourists describe fleeing Rhodes wildfire inferno Rhodes wildfire: How are British travel companies responding to the emergency? Corfu evacuations begin as fleeing Rhodes tourists spend second night in airport Holidays and flights to Greek island ravaged by fire cancelled UK airlines still selling tickets to Rhodes despite wildfire inferno Greece: Smoke turns Rhodes sky grey and hazy as wildfires continue to rage

Cher has revealed that she is launching her very own gelato brand in Los Angeles. The “Believe” singer, 77, shared a video on social media showing a colourful food truck emblazoned with the word “Cherlato” on the side, as well as graphics of her holding a cone with a scoop of the popular treat. She wrote in the caption: “Yep, this is real… I’m launching my gelato… Watch out LA! All started five years ago and now it’s finally HAPPENING. More to come…” The pop star has had other business ventures in the past, including in the fashion and beauty industry, but this is her first foray into the food world. Fans were excited by Cher’s announcement, with many declaring that they would definitely be visiting Los Angeles to try her Italian ice cream. Some were tickled by the brand name, “Cherlato”, while others suggested ice cream names that were puns on her song titles. “If I Could Turn Back Lime vegan gelato,” one person wrote, riffing on Cher’s hit song “If I Could Turn Back Time”. “Do you believe in scoop after scoop?” another said, referring to her song “Believe”. A third had several suggestions, and wrote: “Flavours had better be based on song titles! ‘I Got Ube Babe’, ‘Believe in Life After Rum’, ‘If I Could Turn Back Lime’, ‘The Scoop Scoop Song (It’s in His Hershey’s Kiss’)’. Best I could come up with at almost 2am.” In May, Cher celebrated her 77th birthday, but showed no signs of slowing down as she wrote on Twitter: “Will someone please tell me when will I feel old? This is ridiculous. I keep hearing these numbers, but I honestly can’t understand them. What’s the deal with numbers? I’m dyslexic and numbers are hard for me.” She added in a more poignant note to fans: “Thank you for staying, I know it’s been hard.” Cher made headlines in November 2022 after she confirmed her romance with 36-year-old music producer Alexander Edwards, who she called “AE” on social media. She told fans that “love doesn’t know math” after confirming they were in a relationship. Cher and Edwards first met during Paris Fashion Week last year. However, in May, it was reported that the legendary singer had called it quits with Edwards, despite rumours that the pair were engaged. According to TMZ, the couple ended their relationship after six months of dating. Cher previously prompted speculation that she and Edwards were engaged after she shared a photograph of a huge diamond ring she received from Edwards on Christmas day. But the publication quoted a source as saying that the pair were simply “playing into the speculation it was an engagement ring”. Read More Ruth Handler: The Barbie inventor who revolutionalised prosthetic breasts and narrowly avoided prison Fans defend Prince Harry and Meghan Markle amid breakup rumours Gemma Atkinson and Gorka Marquez share newborn son’s sweet name and first photo Barbie’s here: 7 other fashionable films to watch Popeyes widely mocked for attempt to join ‘girl dinner’ trend Three barbecue recipes to try that aren’t burgers

There’s a reason high-intensity interval training (HIIT) is so popular – it’s designed to give you a killer workout in a short amount of time. HIIT classes are short, sharp bursts of exercises where you’re working out above 85% of your maximum heart rate, and Sean Johnson, regional fitness manager at Orangetheory Fitness, can see why they’re “tempting”. “A lot of people are pressed for time and seek a ‘quick fix’. To many people, the assumption is ‘no pain, no gain’ and so therefore seek out a hard-hitting, pulse-shattering workout to undo the unhealthy habits they may have gotten themselves into,” he says. “A hard workout can feel very rewarding when you move fast and blast around for a short time.” Plus, there are benefits to HIIT training, with Johnson saying: “A shorter, more intense workout does have the ability to elicit a longer afterburn compared to a less intense longer workout.” But is there a chance we’re overdoing it, in a bid to ‘get the most’ out of our workouts? There’s a growing trend for lower intensity exercise – often using a heart rate monitor so you can track where you’re at – which might provide a whole host of benefits, without making you feel a bit sick. Signs you might be overdoing it “Working at a maximal heart rate can sometimes cause people to feel lightheaded, dizzy, faint and nauseous. This isn’t very fun and can also deter people from coming back,” suggests Francesca Sills, exercise physiologist at Pure Sports Medicine. Johnson agrees: “Working out for too long at an intensity that is too high can put numerous stresses on the body such as fainting, vomiting and even serious cardiovascular and respiratory health issues.” A heart rate monitor can help you track how hard you’re pushing yourself, but if you don’t have one, Johnson recommends going by “feeling”. Orangetheory uses three terms to define your perceived exertion: “Base pace is a ‘challenging, but doable’ feeling, push pace is an ‘uncomfortable feeling’ and all out is an ‘empty the tank feeling’,” Johnson explains. He doesn’t recommend spending more than a minute in the ‘all out’ section, and other signs you might be overdoing it include “fatiguing earlier than you normally do, dizziness, light headed, you get injured or have joint and muscle pain regularly”. Downsides to HIIT? Sills suggests there aren’t necessarily downsides to HIIT, just “things to be wary of”. She says: “If you’re working very hard for a long time or for longer than you are used to, it’s possible that you’ll finish the session feeling unwell rather than energised.” Johnson says there is the risk of overtraining with regular HIIT classes. “In the shorter term, working out at an intensity too high can stress your adrenal glands and stimulate the release of cortisol (the stress hormone). In turn, this can have numerous side effects such as increased blood pressure, increased heart rate, encourage fatigue and ultimately hinder recovery. “If your body cannot recover properly, you will find it hard to get into a regular routine with your fitness and will see a lack of results.” The benefits of slowing down Johnson suggests incorporating lower-intensity exercise into your routine can improve your everyday life. “Doing workouts that don’t raise your heart rate to the extremes can help reduce the risk of injury (and risk of falls and trips), reduce fatigue and pain, elevate your mood, improve sleep quality, while still helping to burn calories,” he says. Sills mentions how ‘zone two’ workouts are a “hot topic” in the fitness world recently – this is a type of low-intensity, sustained exercise where you’re working at around 65-75% of your maximum – for example, going for a gentle jog where you can still hold a conversation. She says these types of workouts are gaining popularity because of the “large amount of benefit it brings to the health and efficiency of your cardiovascular and metabolic systems”. If you’re used to leaving it all on the floor with an intense workout every time you hit the gym, it can be tricky to know how to slow down. Johnson recommends using the ‘FITT principle’ to adjust your exercise routine: Frequency: Instead of doing your four workouts next week try doing only threeIntensity: Do your normal four workouts, but take it down a notch in each one.Time: Instead of doing four x 90 minute workouts next week, maybe try doing four x one hour workouts.Type: Switch it up and use different equipment or style of workout. Johnson adds: “Having slower days will enable you to focus more on the form and technique, which transfers over to the high intensity days as well.” Doing HIIT safely While it’s a good idea to mix up your workouts with different intensities, there are a few things you can do to make sure you don’t overdo it in HIIT. Sills recommends ensuring “you are eating well to fuel your body for performance”, and “get on top of your sleep routine to allow your body to rest and repair”. If you’re a newbie to exercise, she wouldn’t necessarily recommend a HIIT class immediately: “If you haven’t done much training before, it’s important to learn how to do things right and build a good base level of strength and fitness before going in and smashing yourself. If you aren’t sure how to perform exercises well when you’re fresh, you aren’t setting yourself up for success when you’re fatigued.” And finally, she says: “It’s important to work within your own limits. Often these classes are busy, loud and intense and people can be encouraged to continue to do more weight, more reps, etc. Issues arise when people push too far beyond what they can manage. Instead of working at a 10/10 all the time, drop it back to an eight to nine.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live How to perk up urban balcony gardens and window boxes Sadiq Khan and Romesh Ranganathan: Women still aren’t equal in politics and comedy SPF cocktailing: Why you should steer clear of the buzzy TikTok trend

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