We awoke to find that we were without electricity.  There were trees down everywhere along eith a good 4-6 inches of snow.  As we have the inverter in the Landrover we slung an extension cable in through the window to power lights and PCs.  To investigate just how extensive the storm and snow had been, we went out for a trundle in the landrover with Ben and Nicki (we had to take the boxes out of the crew cab and put one of the mattresses in as a seat – not very comfie). 

We stopped at a lake briefly on our way to Besse.  Besse also had loads of snow and no electricity.  We found a café which was open and selling hot chocolate.  After this we headed back and took a tour of winding back roads on top of the hills.  It was still very windy.  There was a great deal of snow on the uncleared back roads.  We had to pull off the road on a slope to let a tractor through and then found that we were stuck in the mud and snow off the tarmac.  The snow chains were quickly applied to the front wheels and we were moving again. 

A couple of miles further down the road we came across a 2CV that was rather stuck.  At least seven people emerged from it!  They could probably have got together and carried it!  Anyhow, we towed them out of difficulty and ensured that they arrived at the farm they were aiming at.  We continued on our way up to a village called something like “Godiville” and had a fantastic lunch at the Gite up there. 

Back at the ‘Sweet Little House’ in the evening, Lauront appeared (a friend of Ben’s from up the road).  Nicki was upstairs when he arrived and asked what had happened to the others – he had arrived so loudly that she thought that there were at least 4 other people.  We went up to his house and met his family for drinks in the evening.  Then, after dinner, he came back to ours.  Suggested skiing in the morning if the slopes were open.