OMG what weather!!!

I don't know if our current coptic storm El Hashira is named after a woman and this is by no means meant to sound sexist, feminist, misogonistic or whatever BUT bloody hell she/he/it came down on us today with a vengeance, a real 'hell hath no fury like a woman scorned' kind of attitude...

I had promised to go out walking with Rachel today because now that her weekdays are tied up home-schooling Athos-Jack she had little to no time to herself and her exercise.  I had plotted a nice little 10km with not too much elevation seeing as how she had not walked since last week and she was excited about getting out in the fresh air.  To be fair the weather forecast was terrible - showing rain starting in the early hours and lasting all day but when I got up and looked out yes there was a rolling mist and yes the skies were grey but the clouds were fast moving and in places there were patches of blue sky so we decided to give it a go.

I got my approval to go out and met Rachel at the Farmyard and off we trotted taking the path which runs along the back of the restaurant parallel to the main road and which meanders through vineyards - towards the end there was a short sharp shower but undaunted we crossed the main road over onto the Arodes side and made a decision to keep close to the main road rather than walk down into the valley just in case the weather deteriorated and we needed to get back to civilisation sooner rather than later.

This turned out to be one of our better decisions because within a very short period of time the sky blackened and the heavens opened and we were bombarded by a sharp and painful hail storm which was just too horrible to stay out in and so we started to make our way quickly back to Kathikas before the heavens absolutely opened and we had to seek shelter outside Imogens.

We thought we could sit it out there and wait for the storm to pass but we were soaked to the skin - literally - and it was freezing and then there was a streak of lightning followed by the biggest clap of thunder and we decided to take Savvas up on the offer of being rescued.  I was so wet I felt really bad about sitting in the back of his car but he didn't mind thank goodness.

We had managed just half of our walk but it was at least another 5km off of our target which is to combine all our endeavours over the year and cover a distance equal to walking from Lands End to John O Groats - according to Nicky we are languishing somewhere near Launceston at the moment so we have a very long way to go.

The weather put paid to doing any much for the remainder of the day - one minute it looked like we might get some respite from the weather and then we would be hit by heavy rain and hail once again.  I kept warm by baking - we had bananas going black so I made a banana pudding - using a new recipe which involved some peanut butter for added flavour.  

The recipe also called for some caramel sauce which I made the old fashioned way in a heavy bottomed pan - bloody hell it took forever - I will buy it in future as there was an hour of my life and several kilowatts of electricity I will never get back and I didn't really like the flavour when it was finished.  Anyway it is for tomorrow's Sunday Lunch so will report back when we have had the whole 'ish together cake, caramel and cream.