I should have known the good weather couldn’t last the full two weeks: European weather just isn’t that consistent. So when it began to rain Monday night after we were in bed, I shrugged my shoulders and tried to enjoy the sometimes violent pitter patter of rain on the tent…I also made a mental note to thank Martin for insisting on putting the rain cover on. Those extra few minutes the first day saved us (meaning Martin) a world of pain that Monday night.
The rain continued through the early morning but cleared up in time for a late brunch and by the afternoon we were back on the beach enjoying the great weather again. Upon returning to the camp that evening however we noticed newly posted signs warning of expected high winds and a strong storm…I thought this was odd considering the storm had passed through the previous night. Martin quickly corrected my misunderstanding….last night was just rain, tonight we would experience a storm.
So while preparing dinner, we also set about preparing the camp, taking in all of the towels from the clothes line, hammering down the stakes and putting stuff in the tent. When we finally sat down to dinner, we could see the dark sinister clouds looming in the distance threatening to ruin our dinner and evening…it was the calm before the storm and we were enjoying our last meal, waiting to go down with the ship. But as we helped ourselves to seconds, I couldn’t help notice that the meanest looking clouds had all but passed over us…in my eyes we were almost out of danger.
Unfortunately for me, I couldn’t have been more wrong. Just as the words “in the clear” escaped my lips gale force winds, class 2 hurricane style, came ripping through camp, stirring up dust, twigs, and small trees and making us run for cover in the tent. (On a side note, I now understand the need for such a large tent – we had room to move our entire dinner - table, chairs and all- into the tent and continue supper without any additional interruptions (except to pick the foliage off of our plates).
We spent the rest of the night inside, playing Yahtzee and drinking wine. And while the storm was fierce, shaking the entire tent, I couldn’t help but feel the excitement (or electricity, did I mention the thunder and lightning) of it all. My biggest concern was if the side of the tent would knock over our bottle of wine and how I was going to make it to the bathroom without getting blown away….Martin’s biggest concern was if the tent was going to blow away, leaving every once in awhile to check the ropes and stakes (again mental note to thank his insistence).
After 12 hours, the wind and rain (which at one point sounded like someone had turned on a fire hose and aimed it directly at our tent) finally subsided and we were able to emerge without any damage… others couldn’t say the same. On one of my treks to the bathroom in the middle of the night, I noticed several collapsed tents, blown away chairs and one tent completely uprooted and replanted upside down in front of the bathroom building. With large surf crashing in the background and winds blowing loud enough you had to yell, it truly felt like the 50 year storm.
The rain continued through the early morning but cleared up in time for a late brunch and by the afternoon we were back on the beach enjoying the great weather again. Upon returning to the camp that evening however we noticed newly posted signs warning of expected high winds and a strong storm…I thought this was odd considering the storm had passed through the previous night. Martin quickly corrected my misunderstanding….last night was just rain, tonight we would experience a storm.
So while preparing dinner, we also set about preparing the camp, taking in all of the towels from the clothes line, hammering down the stakes and putting stuff in the tent. When we finally sat down to dinner, we could see the dark sinister clouds looming in the distance threatening to ruin our dinner and evening…it was the calm before the storm and we were enjoying our last meal, waiting to go down with the ship. But as we helped ourselves to seconds, I couldn’t help notice that the meanest looking clouds had all but passed over us…in my eyes we were almost out of danger.
Unfortunately for me, I couldn’t have been more wrong. Just as the words “in the clear” escaped my lips gale force winds, class 2 hurricane style, came ripping through camp, stirring up dust, twigs, and small trees and making us run for cover in the tent. (On a side note, I now understand the need for such a large tent – we had room to move our entire dinner - table, chairs and all- into the tent and continue supper without any additional interruptions (except to pick the foliage off of our plates).
We spent the rest of the night inside, playing Yahtzee and drinking wine. And while the storm was fierce, shaking the entire tent, I couldn’t help but feel the excitement (or electricity, did I mention the thunder and lightning) of it all. My biggest concern was if the side of the tent would knock over our bottle of wine and how I was going to make it to the bathroom without getting blown away….Martin’s biggest concern was if the tent was going to blow away, leaving every once in awhile to check the ropes and stakes (again mental note to thank his insistence).
After 12 hours, the wind and rain (which at one point sounded like someone had turned on a fire hose and aimed it directly at our tent) finally subsided and we were able to emerge without any damage… others couldn’t say the same. On one of my treks to the bathroom in the middle of the night, I noticed several collapsed tents, blown away chairs and one tent completely uprooted and replanted upside down in front of the bathroom building. With large surf crashing in the background and winds blowing loud enough you had to yell, it truly felt like the 50 year storm.
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