Sunday 22 May 2016

Thunder, hail and raging rivers!

What a day of contrasts. We sweated like pigs ALL morning climbing, climbing, climbing ever higher with the impressive Pico Gratal watching over us. We had lunch in the sunshine at a pass before a very steep descent through pretty beech forest. 

Out in the open on a dirt road we could see the sky darkening above  us,  and minutes later we were surrounded by clashes of thunder bouncing around on the peaks above. It got louder and louder with flashes of lightening and came right overhead. Rob was loving it, I was terrified - and then we were bombarded by hailstones the size of small marbles - they hurt! We huddled under a bush getting very cold but eventually it eased off. 

Our troubles weren't over though, as the track ahead had turned into a raging river of brown mud. We had to wait nearly 30 minutes for the torrent to quieten before we could safely cross, me hanging on to Rob of course. 

Quite a dramatic afternoon, enjoyable in a perverse sort of way. 

We seem to have struck it lucky with our accommodation - it's a basic hostal but has a restaurant attached and the food looks fantastic. Roll on dinner time!

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