Electric scaryland…
At 9pm last night the clouds rolled together, the birds flew high and stopped chatting…then it hit us! The worst electrical storm I have ever endured on this Earth, let alone beneath nylon. Crack from above the amphitheatre of our once sheltered corrie, the land was gone and replaced by maelstrom, giant hail stones the size of ping-pong balls pelted us, I kept shouting for Tom, he spilt his dinner while tying his front porch down at speed. At 11pm silence fell and it seemed that the worst had moved on – zap and thunder shook me as the Earth vibrated once again, sitting fully clothed in my wet weather gear ready at any moment to make for one of the WW2 bunkers that littered the hillside below us. I poked my head out during a relatively calm-ish moment to assess the damage – made a quick dash to re-peg the sides of the Voyager, it had held well but we were both ‘well shook up’!
12pm came and a re-match in the skies, I feared for my walking pole stuck firm in the earth outside (not so bright as I recall the nightmare)! Crack, snap, zapp went the blasts every 10s or so – we were in the eye of it now. 2am and this passed again – Tom commented later how he had seen the clouds moving innocently together after dinner, and they met right above our heads! No Bivi for him that night. We awoke early and exchanged battle stories – I have never felt so isolated, but it made us more confident in both our gear and ourselves as survivors! GR-11 really throws the punches, but then you get the dawn and the sun-rise above perfectly diffused sky…
In the aftermath we made our way through thick fog (M I C K E Y Mouse…)and eventual sunshine to Burguete. Feeling good we pushed on into Day 5 territory and found refuge in a Navarrian walker’s refugio – 2 floors and loads of room all to ourselves! This made up for last night’s hell, well actually spaghetti and warm dry sleep did…until a Catalan couple entered dripping after the on/off rainfall, scared by the lurking bull outside to camp, we accommodated and they got the fire going. 10hrs of sleep in safety followed…
At 9pm last night the clouds rolled together, the birds flew high and stopped chatting…then it hit us! The worst electrical storm I have ever endured on this Earth, let alone beneath nylon. Crack from above the amphitheatre of our once sheltered corrie, the land was gone and replaced by maelstrom, giant hail stones the size of ping-pong balls pelted us, I kept shouting for Tom, he spilt his dinner while tying his front porch down at speed. At 11pm silence fell and it seemed that the worst had moved on – zap and thunder shook me as the Earth vibrated once again, sitting fully clothed in my wet weather gear ready at any moment to make for one of the WW2 bunkers that littered the hillside below us. I poked my head out during a relatively calm-ish moment to assess the damage – made a quick dash to re-peg the sides of the Voyager, it had held well but we were both ‘well shook up’!
12pm came and a re-match in the skies, I feared for my walking pole stuck firm in the earth outside (not so bright as I recall the nightmare)! Crack, snap, zapp went the blasts every 10s or so – we were in the eye of it now. 2am and this passed again – Tom commented later how he had seen the clouds moving innocently together after dinner, and they met right above our heads! No Bivi for him that night. We awoke early and exchanged battle stories – I have never felt so isolated, but it made us more confident in both our gear and ourselves as survivors! GR-11 really throws the punches, but then you get the dawn and the sun-rise above perfectly diffused sky…
In the aftermath we made our way through thick fog (M I C K E Y Mouse…)and eventual sunshine to Burguete. Feeling good we pushed on into Day 5 territory and found refuge in a Navarrian walker’s refugio – 2 floors and loads of room all to ourselves! This made up for last night’s hell, well actually spaghetti and warm dry sleep did…until a Catalan couple entered dripping after the on/off rainfall, scared by the lurking bull outside to camp, we accommodated and they got the fire going. 10hrs of sleep in safety followed…
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