I was lying down, reading, enjoying the coolness of the turf beneath the tent against my back, when it slowly dawned on me that the coolness was really feeling rather damp. I sat up, and found that in just 5 minutes of heavy rain water had soaked through the groundsheet wherever anything had been placed on it - pillow, sleeping back, backpack, me. You may imagine with what speed I had everything packed and back in the car. Fortunately I'm well equipped for sleeping in this car, which I find very comfortable, and once I'd sorted myself out I fell fast asleep, only waking in time to go up to reception to book my Original Sound of Music Tour for tomorrow. They'll be picking me up from the front door of the camp reception, which I consider very civilised, and the tour goes for 4 hours. Just as well I'm a complete Sound of Music junkie - I'm almost more excited about this tour than anything else on the trip so far.
The storm continued for most of the rest of the day which was good timing as I was too tired to do anything other than spend it curled up, warm and dry and cosy, among the softest of my various belongings, reading Jane Austen's Emma, dozing, nibbling things (it was a shopping day today, so lots of fresh fruit, bread and sweet, buttery cheese on hand) and watching the rain drops wiggle their ways down the windows. Part of me is itching to be out exploring, but the other part knows that I still have ten days to go on this trip and that the best thing I can do for today is rest in order to be able to make the most of these last few days.
Dormouse. And no, I didn't take this picture - I wish I had, I think dormice are the cutest things! This one was taken by someone called Colin Varndell, and I found it here.