What A Grey Day

WE have been very lucky with the weather in North Macedonia - lots of sun, and temperatures in the high 20s, but rarely higher.

Yesterday there were signs of change, with greying skies, and waves on the previously placid Lake Ohrid

The forecast for today was an 80-95% chance of rain all day, with thunder and lightning for most of the afternoon.

In fact the thunderstorms began overnight and intensified early morning.

Susan Lalic over breakfast predicted this might mean the bad weather had come early, and the rest of the day, which is a free day in the championships, would be OK.

And that, so far, is how it has turned out - a very accurate piece of prophesying that in earlier centuries might have seen her burnt as a witch, but of course these days such behaviour-modification techniques are frowned on as 'politically incorrect'.

Talking of which, on my morning walk into the nearest town, Struga, I have been stopping for an espresso at a cafe attached to a small campsite, Camping Lira.

It has an ablutions block divided into men's and women's sections. The former consists of a lavatory-cum-washroom, with next to it a shower; the latter also has a lavatory-cum-washroom, but next to it is a washing machine.

Incidentally, the espresso - made properly, rather than out of a machine - costs 55p, which gives some idea of prices here.

Despite the rain, I went for my usual walk on an off-road path beside the lake, but if only I had held off for an hour I would have missed discovering that my waterproof walking-shoes are anything but (to be fair, they may have been sold as being only showerproof).

Wet conditions brought out even more of these slugs than I have been used to seeing early-morning  

There were also many more examples of this beautifully coloured snail

These two seemed to be having an inter-species race, but I did not hang around to discover the outcome

Later, what I am fairly sure was an otter crossed the path ahead of me, running into a bed of reeds beside the lake.

It was far too quick for me to get out my smartphone to photograph it, but was a fun moment as I am fairly certain this is the first time I have seen an otter out of water (and I cannot remember seeing many in water).

Heavy rain beat down some of the vegetation

Little more than two hours later and the vegetation is recovering its upright stance, and the path is mostly dry

ADDENDUM: the bad weather returned with a vengeance at lunchtime, knocking out the electricity supply. Luckily Hotel Izgrev has its own generator, but - horror of horrors! - we were without internet for the rest of the afternoon, and it is only slowly returning this evening.