There's something about driving through the French countryside. Picturesque villages, warm, inviting, rustic. And this morning that exactly described our drive. Sunflowers, sweet corn, beans, growing on sunbaked earth.
When would it rain again! We haven't seen any significant rain since our first day in France, over seven weeks ago. We are heading towards the coast, hoping despite the heat, the air might feel fresher. Not wanting to drive too far we made for a former campsite, now a campervan park right beside the canal Garonne. Once again we were in former cycling territory.
The last time we passed the campsite there were just two campers on it. Now it's a paid area, there were around thirty. Because of the intense heat we've not been able to walk out as much as we would have liked. But this evening once the sun was down we walked alongside the canal, aware that the sky above was darkening.
Then the trees began to sway, shedding leaves that fell fast into the still waters of the canal. It won't come too much, we thought. Well, it did.
Thunder, lighting, rain. How long have we waited? How long did the parched earth have to wait? The torrents of falling water made us think of the wildfires burning in Spain and France, hopefully some of this deluge would pass their way. Just over a week ago we were on a campsite at Los Gallardos. A few days ago the site was evacuated because of smoke drifting across from a large wildfire close by. Crazy to think we'd been in the area not that long ago. Well Marge, we're nearing the end of our trip, at least you get a good old clean after days of driving dusty roads. Tomorrow we will be back to normal. Temperatures touching 40c, and wall to wall sunshine!