11 APRIL
It was raining since we checked in last night. We made
our own breakfast in our room. It was still raining lightly when we left. We went
to the local supermarket where there is a petrol kiosk to fill up the tank.
We drove along the foothill of Pyrenees. Compare to
the day before, the scenery was cloudy and hazy in rain conditions. After an
hour of drive we felt the mountain upslope gradient. The road was winding and
wet and the rain getting heavier. There were some light snow flakes falling and
we drove up the mountain.
Soon I saw cars descending on the opposite direction with
car canopies and bonnets covered with thick layers of snow. It was definitely
snow ahead on the mountain. The snow fall soon get very heavy. Thing was happening
so fast. By now the road are covered with layer of snow. Not long later, as I
was approaching a mountain bends, I saw many cars and lorries stopped at an
open area.
I did likewise and attempted to turn the car around. I
realised the snow fall has been so heavy the entire vicinity had been covered
with thick snow. And to my disappointment, the steering wheel had become uncontrollable.
So I stopped and start observing and planning my next
course of actions. It was worrying as I may be stranded here for a day. An hour
later, I saw a snow plough drove past, bulldozing the snow to the sides of the
road. Those stranded vehicles had now mounted their snow chains and began moving
off. I couldn't as my car steering wheels are still stubbornly useless.
Fortunately, the two cars behind me moved on, allowing
me to let the car reverse to a clear patch where I could turn the car around to
go down the mountain. The drive down the mountain was worrisome. But there were
other cars ahead. I kept a safe distance and drove very slowly to maintain controllability of the car
and not allowing the car to skid. The snowfall started to dissipate as the
temperature warmed up toward the foothill.
It was a real experience encountering and unexpected
heavy snowfall. Don't trust the weather forecast of light snow. Have to prepare
for the worst!
We had lunch at Pardes and charted our way to Quillan, positioning ourselves for the next day drive to Toulouse
Quillan
Hotel we stayed at Quillan
Pardes
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