Windy

The wall is almost finished which is fortunate as the wall inside which is providing the stones is nearly totally gone. Tremendous south winds today, hot, dry, laden with sand and at times very frightening. An enormous oak is down, crossing the chemin and entering our field. Another willow, also a good size crossing the chemin and entering another field crushing the fence. Lots of clearing up to do next week.

 

Pic de Cagire et Pique Poque

We had intended to climb Pic de Cagire and the neighbouring peaks from the Col de Menthe, but a notice on campdecamp.org suggested that because of nesting bearded vultures the route was off limits. We changed our plan to ascend Cagire from the north side - less interesting and with the same route route for ascent and descent. Alas the info appears to be out of date as there were no indications that any of the paths were closed.

It's a pleasant enough climb of about 1000m in beech, then pines, before breaking onto open hillside. Tremendously strong winds made for a tough time on col and the ridge between Cagire and Pique Poque. It's a celebrated viewpoint but the south winds were laden with saharan sand and everything was hazy. The strond wind made it difficult to linger and admire the view.

Cagire

Pique poque with its transmitter

We saw a solitary isard twice on the ascent, then again on the descent. This time I was quick enough with the camera.

It was a relief to get out of the wind and back down. A well earned beer in Aspet was reward for our toil.

 

More building works and RIP Clarence

More studio works today. Digging out muck, demolishing internal stone walls, moving rocks to make the retaining wall in readiness for the soil from the excavation beside the barn - there are a lot of rocks!

Level shave been taken across the tops of the beams and new rafters and a floor have been designed and costed. Having a platform to work from at first floor will greatly help all operations!

Having sold my shotgun, which I have used only once since moving to France, I ve purchased a new rifle (I ll probably sell my old one at the begining of the next hunting season). The Tikka is lighter, probably more accurate and weather resistant than my model seven. First some gunsmithing operations have been called for to make the rifle fit me better. So far I ve shortened the length of pull, altered the pitch of the stock, installed a new better recoil pad, adjusted the trigger and fitted the bases for ready for mounting the scope. A socket for a bipod is next.

Sadly, I found Clarence dead in the hay barn this afternoon. He's a wild cat that we've been looking after and feeding for about 4 years and have grown very fond of, even though he never let us touch him. He'd not been showing up to eat for the last couple of days, although we heard him meowing early in the morning. We have no idea how he died.

 

Etang d' Arraing depuis Frechendech

With so little snow this year and warm temperatures already here, walks into the mountains are possible without skis, raquettes or crampons (although today we took the latter just in case). The long walk from Frechendech to Etang dArraing, is always delightful. Without leaves on the trees the Chapelle d'Isard was clearly visible on the other side of the river.

As we exited the tree line just below the cabane d'Illau we could see that the snowline was only 50m or so below the dam. A light dusting of snow had fallen overnight above about 2200m and cliffs of Pic de l'Har above the cabane looked magnificent.

Iron staining in the shale cliffs opposite the cabane

When we arrived at the snow it was immediately deep, but fortunately mostly carried our weight. Below the dam there was just a dusting. We found somewhere out of the wind by the refuge EDF for lunch, gazing down on the frozen and snow covered lake.

The dam from below 

Pic de Crabère

The lake side of the dam shows how low the water is

Retrospect from below the snow

It's been a while since we had a longer walk. Including a leisurely lunch, we were out for 7 hours with 1100m of ascent and 18km.

 

Studio progress

floorboards removed

New beam end scarfed

Next step - joists and floor.

 

high temperatures for last couple of weeks have quickly stripped away the late snow, I got one ski at Guzet before it closed...hoping the snow will stay high up to allow for a tour in what has been a terrible season.

Chateau de la garde visible across the valley from Sahusset

After picking up some acro propos for the barn, Susie, Sheri, Michiel and I made an afternoon exploration around Sahusset - an ancient Hamlet perched on the mountainside high above Pont de la Taule. Although it has electricity it has no permanent inhabitants and comprises a handful of houses. We approached from Moulin Lauga on the only access - possible on a quadbike. There's an old marble mine on the way and the path is littered with huge cut blocks of marble that were never recovered. After the village we cut back on path that eventually reaches the ridge that continues all the way to Pic de la Fonta. The path evaporated long before the ridge but we picked our way through the coppice to eventually reach it and climbed along the pathless wooded ridge to about 1100m. Returning we descended a ridge to the north of the Ravin de la Souleille, passing a collection of well built (but now roofless) barns with date carved threshold stone of 1670.

Back at the barn, we're nibbling away. the barn has been cleared of it remaining contents, an old fireplace filled in, the mangoire mostle demolished and the stones moved to prolong the terrace wall in the vegetable that I built a few years ago.

One of the big beams has a rotten end. I m hoping to use a scarfing method using oak pegs and wedges and repair it. Accuracy is important for this to work, which isnt easy when the beam isn't square in section!

rotten end removed

partly made replacement end

 

The next project!

It's been ten years since I first wanted to buy the barn next to our house. Opposition and pressure from my other neighbours persuaded me to defer the first opportunity to buy the owners gave me. More recently they announced they wanted to sell again....and it became clear that one of the neighbours actually wanted to buy it all along! It was disappointing to think we might lose the opportunity to buy it as we really need a studio/workshop for transforming the fleeces into yarn and then into woven, knitted, felted and crocheted creations. as well as the possibility of teaching. Serendipity smiled on us though, as the owners (who also sold me the ruin next to my house that I transformed into our kitchen and the children's bedrooms in 2012) decided they only wanted to sell to us.

There's a LOT of work to do, but it has such potential and we hope to re roof with photovoltaics to be self sufficient for electricity.

 

A productive walk

First morels of the season

A pair of antlers

 

Pic Estibat depuis Liers

We grabbed a leg-stretcher from Liers upto Pic Estibat by the west ridge. Nice views but not particularly interesting terrain. A chance to see James and Paul's "project" converting the old school into their new home.

We started from the church at Liers which has an unusual arrangement of bells.

The long broad ridge gives great views to the south and west and finally at the summit, to the east.

Certescan, Montabone and Pic de la Leia

Pic de la Journalade and Pic des Trois Seigneurs

Mont Valier, always present

After some very changeable weather, which gave rise to fantastic skies and sunsets, we finally had some snow at the weekend, so that there is now around 120cm at 2000m. More snow this weekend in the mountains, so hopefully a chance salvage some skiing from a season largely without snow.

An earth star fungus

The sheep enjoying the hot sunshine today