Thunderbolts and lightning, very, very frightening

Just after going to bed last night it started to rain , no surprises there but we were ready for it this time. It was long until the thunder and lightning started and within minutes the storm was raging right above us. I'm usually a lover of storms but I have never been so frightened in my life. The claps of thunder were so loud that the ground shook at it really hurt my ears. Even with my eyes shut, the lightning was really bright. Within about half an hour I suddenly realised that I was laying in a pool of water. The polythene cover had worked but the rain was so torrential that it had pooled on the ground and, as we were on the downward end of the pitch, was coming in from under us. I checked on the children – Alex as usual was still asleep and Shannon was laying awake (but dry at least). the storm must have raged for about 4 hours, then died down for a while. Chris took the opportunity to go to sleep but I was too worried and ended up being awake nearly all night. The rain had stopped by morning so we took our time packing up in order to try and get the sleeping bags dry (again!).


We set up the 'crap nav' for Warsaw and were on our way. The intention was to spend a whole day there and camp nearby. It was a really crappy journey. We were all really tired (apart from Alex), Chris and I were suffering from eating something dodgy the night before and I had a screaming backache from sleeping in a wet bed. The outskirts of Warsaw looked very grim, but as we neared the old town it started to look like a promising place to spend some time. We parked up and set of to walk to Rynek Starego Miastra (the old town square) but I was feeling bad and needed a drink and, as usual, Alex was hungry so we sat down at the first restaurant for the kids to have some soup and us just water (tummies still feeling bad). It was a real rip off – the served iced tap water and charged the equivalent of £1 a cup.


We soon reached the square. The centre of Warsaw was destroyed during World War II and the network of streets in and around the square has been painstakingly reconstructed. It looks very beautiful but it was absolutely mobbed and also full of 'tourist tat' hawkers. In my sensitive state, I have to say I didn't really enjoy it. Chris particularly enjoyed all the busker's lamenting Jewish fiddling music!


While in Warsaw, Chris picked up a map of campsite's in Poland. We decided to set out on the road to Krakow and camp along the way. Chris picked the best site for the route we wanted to take, the intention being that the following days drive would be shorter and less boring for the children. En-route we stopped at a couple of local shops to get stuff for tea. The kids were really amused that I'd mimed chicken to the lady in the shop because I wanted eggs.

We arrived at said campsite and I went in to see if they had a cabin (rain was brewing for a change and our tent was still wet from last night). The lady didn't speak English but gestured me into her office and got me to type my request into the computer and used her translation software. She then gave me the keys to they cabin and pointed in the direction it was. It took us a while to find it as there was no rhyme nor reason to their numbering. To put it mildly, it was a shithole! It was covered in graffiti – beds and all. The whole cabin smelt of damp and it was really creaky. Still, we told ourselves, it's warm and dry.


Chris, by this time, was exhausted and had a nap while I got the stuff ready for dinner and made a cup of tea.

[chris/]

I was exhausted from lack of sleep in the thunderstorm and the long drive and had been pushing myself to reach camp. I helped unpack the bedding, clothes and tea stuff but then needed to lie down as I was ready to drop. Unfortunately I should have made the effort to apply some mossie cream then, as when I awoke half an hour later for tea I had a cluster of four bites down one side, a number on my ankles and a fetching trio on my forehead that made it all lumpy.

Our neighbour from the next door shack popped by and was highly amused that we were barbecuing on the porch – we'd put a disposable barbie on the Campingaz rings. He then gave me a warm can of Polish lager saying it was good and very strong at 5.7%. I think he'd had a couple already. I gave him a cold bottle of Latvian beer (offered instead of Lithuanian beer in case of neighbourly rivalry, but a paltry 5%) and we chatted as best we could with our non existent Polish and his limited English, which was quite good considering that he was a motor mechanic. When our sausages, eggs and beans were ready we decided there were less mossies inside so we retired to there.

I was still exhausted and shortly after tea I went to bed, shortly followed by the kids. This was only about 8.30 pm. Our friendly neighbours were enjoying their holiday, and shrieking drunkeness awoke us at varying times till the early hours. Mustn't grumble, they were on holiday too and weren't to know how tired we were and how ill we felt from the undercooked pork rustled up the night before.