Storm Babet hits Craster

What a difference a few days makes!

This was the same view across Craster Harbour from our holiday cottage last Friday when we arrived.

It started getting blowier on Tuesday and by Wednesday evening things were starting to get quite rough, with waves starting to crash over the harbour wall.

But that was nothing compared to what was to come. Overnight the winds got up to gusts of nearly 50 miles an hour and the rain lashed our east-facing bedroom window upstairs.

I went downstairs about 5:30 in the morning to find the roof had started to leak so mopped up and put a bowl down to catch the drips.

That had to be changed for the biggest pan in the cottage later.

As it got light  yesterday (Thursday) morning we could finally see how stormy the sea was, but now the winds were abating and the tide going out.

I checked the weather forecast after we had had our breakfast.

It looked like it was going to be OK for the next few hours, so we took a trip to Preston Tower (see here).

We were glad to be cosy indoors as it got stormy again, even inside the harbour. The waves were higher than the harbour walls.

This morning it was still raging as we packed up to head for home.

Driving conditions on the way home were rather tricky, to say the least, especially going through Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire, which got rather badly hit by the rain, but we were safely home by about 2pm.Well that was eventful! I don't think I've ever seen seas like it. Not a sign of things to come, as the effects of global warming accelerate, I hope.... but I fear storms like this will become ever more frequent.

You can see more of my photos and some videos of the storm evolving over Wednesday to today here on Flickr.