Day 16 – 20th May 2009 – Wednesday, Orthez

Drove to Orthez and found ‘camping de la source’ on a small river, we set up in baking sunshine, very sticky and close. We had been warned by the manager on arrival about a coming storm in the evening and advised to secure the awning down tight. As the afternoon progressed we sat watching a red squirrel and listening to the woodpeckers and jays. The sun eventually gave way to thick grey clouds and blasts of wind, filling the air with masses of white seed-blossom from the trees, like snowfall – I started to get excited. The sky darkened and the thunder started and we settled in expecting some real action. Disappointingly, it wasn’t a lengthy storm, and although the lightening and the noise were impressive, the wind and the rain was pretty pathetic really.