Leading article: A car with a sweet tooth

Intrepid travellers have always managed to find room in their backpacks for the odd chocolate bar. For anyone attempting to scale mountains, trek through snow or cross a desert, a quick, sugar-filled snack is a tried and tested way of keeping the body going.

But fuelling a vehicle with the stuff? Now that just seems a waste. Adventurers Andy Pag and John Grimshaw set off from Dorset yesterday in a fleet of lorries bound for Timbuktu. They will be propelled every inch of the way by a biofuel that started life as chocolate. The trip, designed to highlight the possible uses for biofuel and draw attention to desertification, will take them across the Sahara – not a place to leave a chocolate bar on the dashboard.

Are we alone in thinking that chocolate is best used and appreciated as a fuel for pedestrians? Let's just hope the adventurers remembered to pack some treats for themselves, as well as their vehicles, to sweeten their 4,500-mile drive.