Autumn jobs

It certainly doesn't feel like autumn, but there are jobs that need doing on the turning of the seasons.

The pressing mamoth task this year is hedge laying, which has to be done every 4-5 years. Some of the hedges are already done and I've just finished the one between the house and the gite, which we can see for the first time in years. The hedges on the left which border the chemin are next. They're currently about 4-5m high and all the the thinnings of which there are mountains have to go through the chipper on the back of the tractor...I'm waiting for cooler weather to attck those.

the hedges either side of he chemin form a tunnel at present and need to laid before the winter

The autumn crocii are out in the fields and that's the signal to bring the firewood that been drying for two years (already cut, split and stacked) up into the woodshed for the winter. 

It's a strangely comforting feeling to have the woodshed full with the wood for the coming winter. ALst year there was plently of old oak beams, flooring and roof timbers to burn from the barn conversion. This year 80% of it it oak from a single tree that fell in a storm. the rest is birch and poplar which we'll burn first, saving the high calorific oak for colder weather mid winter - though its been a while since we've had a really cold winter.

There's still a couple of stère of oak left as reserve.

 

Jasper and Chloe

Time flies! Already it's Jasper's 30th birthday. He visited for a few days with his girlfriend Chloe. Wr took them on the Cabanatous circuit as it's only 30 minutes from the house and a nice length for the exceptionally hot weather that we've had this summer.

 

Birdies

Some very high flying bee-eaters through the telephoto lens

A male pied flycatcher in front of the house

 

Breakdown disaster!

Our recent guests Miriam and Santiago were due to return home to Valencia on Saturday, but late Friday evening their car broke down in Saint Girons. They called their insurers in Spain who would normally arrange for the car to be picked up by a local garage and repaired and pay for necessary expenses of Miriam and Santiago (accommodation etc). They let me know what had happened, but I'd just shared some wine with Susie so I couldn't offer to collect them.

Things don't always run smoothly and after many calls and promises that the recovery truck was coming they eventually came back to the gite at 2.30 in the morning in a taxi! The next day after more calls to the insurance company they were told that the recovery vehicle would be collecting their car immediately and they must get to St Girons asap with the keys. It was 10am. We jumped in my car and the recovery lorry was already waiting when we got there 30 mins later. He took the car to the local peugeot garage but explained that they could not repair the car as it was a honda, so we would need to find another garage to carry out the repair on Monday and arrange with the insurers for the car to be moved again. The peugeot garage were open for just another 30 mins but they allowed me to look under the bonnet and try to find out what was wrong until they closed. I searched everywhere for the OBD2 socket without luck (I later discovered this particular 1996 model of Honda Civic did not have one). The engine was turning there was a spark but there was no ignition, so the likely culprit was a fuel problem. The fuse for the fuel pump was OK, so either the fuel pump was dead or the relay was dead or there was a blockage/air lock or another electrical problem. 

At noon a taxi turned up at the house to take Santiago and Miriam to meet the tow truck....ordered by the insurers from a town over an hour's drive away it had arrived 2 hours too late, without any message it was coming.

On Monday we found a nearby garage (1 km from peugeot) that sold and repaired secondhand cars of all marks and they agreed to take the car and look at it. The car didn't arrive there until 4.30pm. On Tuesday after several calls to the garage they eventually looked at the car at 5.00pm, confirmed that there was a fuel problem, but said it was very difficult to say much else as the car was 30 years old, they had no electrical diagrams for the car and didn't know when or if they could fix it.

Miriam and Santiago both of whom were teachers and should have started back at work on Monday were getting pretty desperate. The insurance would only cover three night accommodation at 60 euros a night and it was difficult to get a straight answer as to whether the insurers would pay to get them and/or their car home. They decided they had no alternative but to try to get home and then possibly come back to collect their car, fixed or not, in a few weeks time.

I decided to take control!! I did some more research on their vehicle and armed with some tools we headed over to the garage on Wednesday morning. On turning the key the fuel pump wasn't turning, so I found the fuel pump relay removed it and connected the battery directly to the fuel pump. It ran. The relay was probably bad. With the pump connected to the battery the car would still not start, but with 7 terminals on the relay I guessed it also operated the fuel injectors, ECU, etc. I gave the garage the relay and asked how quickly they could get a replacement part. 20 minutes later his supplier returned his call and sais it was unavailable.

"Never give up" is my motto. We headed home, relay in hand, and I started searching on line for the part. There were many different fuel pumps for this year and model depending on the type of engine. This particular car had an early 1.5iVTEC engine and the relay had been discontinued the same year. However, several secondhand parts came up on ebay and even a new part from the Netherlands which would take 7 days to arrive. Santiago and Miriam decided they could not wait any longer (plus we had new guests arriving in the gite the following day) so they had to get home straight away. We agreed to take them to Saint Girons where they could eventually get transport to Toulouse and from there a train home to Valencia or at least Barcelona that night. Meanwhile I took the relay apart and inspected the circuit board inside. There were a couple of terminals on the back of the board that had hairline cracks around the solder. I got out my soldering iron and reheated them adding a little extra solder to each connection...could this fix the fault?

We had 20 minutes before their bus would leave so we headed straight to the garage and I put in the repaired relay....turned the key....hey presto it started first time!!

Port de Lers, Trois Seigneurs, Goutets, Col de Rose boucle

A long walk in the searing heat with Al and Breezy which became quite debilitating as we ran out of water after Goutets! We ve climbed Pic de Trois Seigneurs from the Port de Lers and from Goutets many times but the path from Goutets over the Col de Rose and back to the Port de Lers was new to us. At first glance it looks like it contours the mountain, but on the ground there is lot of up and down and after the Col de Rose the track is lost among a thousand cattle tracks. There are many ways to loop over the summit of Trois Seigneurs but this would not be one to do again.

At Goutets they are rebuilding many of the ancient estive buildings in the traditional way with stone roofs.

In the end the day took about 7 hours excluding lunch breaks. 1200m height gain and around 16km.

 

Tuc de la Messe 2443m

It seems like half a lifetime since we've been in the mountains. Heat, drought, mountain fires, caring for the sheep, and FCO have all intervened. Finally we decided to get out and up. Tristan and Agi were going to join us but their dog injured it"s paw. We too have more sheep ill with FCO, but finally we decided to go.

Not too early a start but quickly up the climb from Col de la Core

Amazing light pinpointing a fisherman at the Etang d'Eychelle

Col de le Crouzette - hardcore

Pressing onto the summit 

still pressing on! 

Almost there... 

On the top....good going

We were caught up and over taken by a couple of runners just below the col de la Crouzette, but changed places several times during the day. Below are some photos for you.

Just when the summer couldn't get much worse.....

Blue-tongue (or FCO) has hit SW France again. Our sheep have been vaccinated against FCO 1 in March and FCO 3 on July 24. Unfortunately it takes 4 weeks for full immunity and even though we're at 3 1/2 weeks that hasn't been enough to protect William who has a temperature of 42 and is laid low isolated in the barn. We're treating him with anti inflammatory injections and keeping him hydrated with honey and water but we lost 6 sheep in 2024 to the same virus.  

Sasha was under the weather 4-5 days ago but her temperature was normal and she seems fine today. Nouie was looking a bit lethargic yesterday and coughing this morning so we're treating him as a precaution and keeping a close eye on him.

Hoopoe

We don't often get Hoopoes here at Quélébu, but I spotted one hanging around the last few days and managed to get some photographs.

using its long bill to prob for grubs...

...got one!

Not so well camoflaged in the trees.

 

Augusts compared

2017 (after cutting hay in July)

2016 (without any cutting)

2026 the result of drought and prolonged heatwave (without any cutting)

Dry

Another ten days have passed and we've had two small showers, the temperatures remain in the high thirties....is there no end to this??

We've managed to get the sheep to stay in a field overnight so at least they have had some room rather than being shut in the bergerie. It's taken lots of evening walks to find forage, the promise of regular sheep nuts, better electric fences and me barking like a rabid dog to keep them in! 

Little has changed in the last two weeks since the previous post. The weather remains hot, there's been no rain and although the fire at Uchentein was put out another has started at the Col de Pause. The sheep have been in the bergerie living off hay and supplements for the past two and half weeks as there is nothing to eat in the fields. Rain is forecast this week...we 're keeping our fingers crossed, but it will be a long time before the scorched fields recover.

Just time for a couple more

The Wool festival approaches but there is still time to make some more stock! A couple of silk and merino networked shawls on the loom.

Drought continues

 

The weather is a little cooler today for the first time in over a month, but still no rain. This fire is at Uchentein has been burning for 5-6 days and is still expanding despite the pompiers best efforts including helicopter and planes dropping water. It's on the other side of the Col de la Core to us, but we can see the smoke.

Latest weaves

Latest garments designed and woven - a couple of doubleweave pashminas in merino, linen and silk inspired by kilim rugs.

 

 Still no end in sight for this heatwave and drought. The fields are yellow and dead. The animals stressed.

The crazy heatwave of the last 2 weeks with temperatures of 37-38 most days is set to end tomorrow. It's been a difficult time for the sheep and lambs and we've had to take them on walks to find moister grazing in the evening. Everywhere is baked.

Two little chicks are doing well and another hen is sitting, so maybe a few more to come?

Hopefully another loom arrives soon and we are gearing up for our first "market" at the 2 day wool festival in Mas d'Azil at the end of July. Time to weave a couple more new shawl designs in linen, silk and merino.

More from the camera trap

Our resident european wildcat and some of our pine martens

 

Dance!

Some photos from Susie's dance class. She maybe in her sixtieth year but she has the most energy in the room and gives a blinding 90 minute class twice a week.