ann and andy lawrenson

Well, we survived another storm of biblical proportions on the Thursday before we left Spain, with loads of flashing lightning and rolling thunder that continued for minutes at a time,before packing up and heading for Villegly, near Carcassone. The Beast behaved immaculately all the way, but I could hear the constant sound of Ann grinding her teeth with anxiety at the thought of being stranded at the roadside again. The journey went fine until about ten miles from our venue when we took a wrong turn as soon as we got off the motorway and ended up crawling round tight bends in tiny villages on the wrong side of the road. We eventually arrived at the site (very rural, very quiet, very pretty) with thunder rumbling all around and just managed to get set up before France welcomed us with a deluge similar to the one we had left in Spain but longer lasting and with much stronger winds. I had just gone for a walk when it struck and was soaked within seconds. It hammered down throughout the night, and apparently they had hailstones as big as golf balls just down the road. The caravan roof sprung a leak around one of the seals which will need fixing. Fortunately not over the bed! Today’s newspapers reckon that 70 per cent of the grapes have been lost over a swathe of country 20k wide. I feel an application for an EEC subsidy coming on.
We went out for a coffee this morning, which was exactly twice the price it is in Spain. The village seems very run down, and I would hate to be a paint supplier in France. You’d sell about two tins a year! All the best for now, Andy.