By all accounts we were extremely lucky. We sat in bed at 3am listening to the howling winds outside, never for one minute thinking that 40 miles away on the coast the storm was claiming many lives.
Our position below the chateau in Chalais means that we are protected from the predominantly westerly winds, and the little damage that we suffered here bears no comparison to the pictures filling the French news reports today.
Monsieur Sarkozy will be in the region tomorrow taking control of events, but this was the force of nature showing who is really the boss.