Sabbatical 2010 Bulletin No 5 – 20th June 2010

While we away in Italy it rained a lot. Well on Tuesday 15th when we were walking round Vicenza in the rain about 14 inches of rain fell in 24 hours in and around Draguignan. It made the BBC news (see this link) and we have been a little apprehensive about what would await us on our return today. In fact it hasn’t been too bad for us; water bubbling up in the sitting room as usual and earth washed into the pool (which is v. disappointing as it puts me back to square one in cleaning it). Being atop the hill is good news.
Whatever inconvenience we have suffered however is nothing compared to the state of Draguignan and some parts of Ampus. These are pictures we took on our return this afternoon, five days after the storm.

There are quite a few cars like this in Draguignan

And this is the state of a main street there.

The huge “Carrefour” at Trans is now closed and there’s quite a lot of mess there. But what most shocked us is the state of La Clape at the bottom of the hill from Ampus. Here the Nartuby rushed down the Gorge de Chateaudouble and this is the result.

That is at the turn to go up the hill to Ampus.

That's looking back down at the junction.

And you’ll see that’s the bus stop.

In fact we're told the road from Chateaudouble to La Clape has been washed away.  It's closed and people living there who want to get to Draguignan have to go via Ampus now.

Here in Ampus, this is the road at the bottom of the Chemin des Cantalus

And this is what the bridge over the Nartuby looks like at that point – yes, it’s gone.

And here, in a strange way is a more joyful sight, the Nartuby filled with water as never seen by us before, at the Pont du Ratton. Anyone fancy walking up it now?

Video of the Nartuby at the Pont du Ratton