Glow worms

Hot and humid today with thundery weather this evening (but no rain). Quite a few incredibly bright glow worms outside tonight.

Works over the past few days:
Topping fields 2 and 4 and 5, scything the various paths from them down to the stream and a few parcelles close to the house (not mine);
Finishing the barn accommodation - made a couple of beds, some curtains, some duvet covers, finished the wiring, now just awaiting a solar panel and all is done;
Some architectural work for my neighbours;
Weeding the vegetable patches;
A short walk;

Tomorrow probably cutting a small field for hay which belongs to Dédé (one of my neighbours) - which means it will probably rain for the next week.

Maubermé

Maubermé towers 6500ft above the nearest point of access

I climbed Pic Maubermé (2880m) today (it was third time lucky as the last two winter attempts were disastrous). The weather looked doubtful this morning at 6.30 when I left the house but I was soon above the clouds and the weather was perfect. There was still some steep snow just before the Port d'Urets but I managed to avoid it and was there in 3 hours exactly. The onward route was mostly on snow or crappy scree liquified with snow melt. although a detour near the summit produced a nice bit of climbing. It took another two hours to reach the summit which is the highest in the Couserans.

View over the clouds from Port d'Urets

The summit shot

Mines de Bentaillou (telephoto lens shot from the summit)

Rather than descend the same way I headed for the Port de Hourquette and descended towards the Mines de Bentaillou, but kept right passing the refuge de sans and crossing the bottom of the Couloir Tartereau (scene of my recent avalanche). It was a long outing (9hrs) and with over 2000m (6600ft) of vertical ascent and then descent and about 24km (15miles) my feet and knees are feeling it.

Waterfall at the bottom of the Couloir Tartereau

Fruity

Looks like being a bumper berry harvest this year (in stark contrast to last year when we had virtually none). Fruits from the forest and ice cream for desert tonight - wild strawberries, wild cherries and a few raspberries.

Overcast most of today but forecast is for some clear skies tomorrow morning, so I'll probably make a long overdue trip to the mountains.

The great escape!

Marigold (furthest away in this picture)

Marigold after the last race - all the sails down except the mainsail - there are normally another 5.

Just back from 4 days of crewing on a 22m, 1892 gaff rigg (aurique en Francais) racing yacht called 'Marigold' in the Marseille Vieux Port regatta. It was an amazing experience. Marigold is a beautifully restored wooden built boat with cotton sails, laid ropes and rigging and no winches. She was restored about twenty years ago and Jason, who I go skiing with, has been the skipper for the last 15 years or so. He invited Ian and I to help crew her and we both jumped at the chance even though we both suffer from seasickness. In fact this wasn't a problem and neither of us had any problems. Everyday there was a race on a different course around the islands off Marseille. Normally there were 8 of us sailing the ship (though a few more people joined in on Sunday). Marigold weighs well over 30 tons, but with 250 sqm of sail, in a good wind she really moves. It was amazing when the wind got up, to feel the power of the boat as she lent over at 40 degrees and sped along.

The races where against similar wooden gaff rigg boats but with a huge variety of ages (some from as recently as the 1940s) - marigold was about the oldest and the only boat with cotton sails and all original features, but apart from the day when the wind was very light, she is very competitive and we got a first and second place.

We slept onboard every night but on Saturday night it was the fete des musiques in France. We wandered into the Quartier des Paniers of Marseille and partied until the early hours to a huge selection of music from Marseille's multi-cultural population, with every street and square providing a different sound (and taste as nearly every house had a table outside and was selling some home made food or other). Ian and I managed to stay on until the end of the last race of the Regatta before a zodiac (an inflatable speedboat) came to collect us at the finishing line. A mad jump from one boat to the other and we were whisked back to Marseille just in time for the train home.

Meanwhile, the day I left for Marseille my sheep decided to make a break for freedom! They managed to escape from the field and find their way to Aleu village, and then the next day up onto Joubac - the nearest 'mountain'. John (my neighbour) came to the rescue and managed to track them down and somehow to herd them back into one of my fields before my return yesterday. Una, Tara and Jeanie are looking pretty sheepish today. The hay has dried whilst I've been away and I spent most of the day putting it back into 4 haycocks.

Past few days

For the past few days the poor weather has continued and I've been catching up with farm work and finishing off the inside of the upstairs in the barn - which should be finished next week. This will provide somewhere for visitors to sleep which is less cramped than trying to put everyone up in Quelebu and a bit more private. Photos when all is finished.

Yesterday a trip to Ikea Toulouse to get a few bits and pieces and a new sofa. The one I have at the moment is a second hand Ikea one given to me by Ian and Ruth when I first bought Quelebu, it's a bit tired now and was never very comfortable - but it'll go well in the barn 'appartment'.

I had a broody chicken today sitting on ten eggs - so I hurriedly built a broody box for her so she wouldn't be disturbed - but then she changed her mind! Women! Oh well I have a broody box for next time.

Weather is set to improve at last tomorrow, just as I leave for a few days in Marseille, typical. Will have to spread out the hay before I go and hope its dry when I get back.

Wet grass

More torrential rain last night which was so heavy it came through the walls of the house over the front door and has washed away all the soil on the track which leads to the barn down to the original stones.

This morning it was dry but the sky was full of storm clouds. I carried on with the final fitting out of the barn and just before lunch turned the hay...again. Penny came over at lunch time to return some books I lent her, then after lunch, with the forecast for the next ten days being RAIN, I decided to bring in all the hay (aka wet grass) and throw it up into a haycock until we have some better weather when I'll need to respread it to dry. Of course as soon as I started the sun came out and it was hot as you like. I used the jimny and trailer to help transport the hay back to the barn where I built the haycock and six hours and more than 20 trailer loads later its all done - must be 2 1/2 tonnes of hay I reckon (more at the moment as its wet). About double what I got off the same field last year. About 2/3rds of it is in a proper haycock the other third is just piled up for now.

Rain

Rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain.

More rain

Up early to build a new permanent 'chickens only' entrance to the chicken run, then set about moving the fences to put the sheep back in field no 1.
The oak and matchboard to finish inside the barn arrived and I began moving it into the barn. The oak (surprise, surprise) was unbelievable heavy and although I managed to move the two short lengths (4.5m x 300 x 40) single handed into the barn, the longer lengths of 5.5m were too much. I shifted them to the barn with one end in an uncontrolled wheelbarrow and the other being pushed and carried by me, but had to wait for John to give me a hand to get it into the barn. The sun came out and ever hopeful I turned the hay.
Irish Barry who has a house in the village came to visit (he's here for a couple of months) then the heavens opened and the rain didn't stop until the evening. A brief lull in the rain's intensity allowed the three of us (John had arrived by now) to get the last bits of oak into the barn, but we spent most the afternoon chatting and drinking tea.
When the rain eventually stopped the sun came out but I didn't bother turning the hay, preferring to scythe the brambles and ferns rearing their heads in field no 1 and cutting the oak to length to fit on top of the walls.

Buggar!

Probably just had the heaviest down pour of the year - about 1/2 inch of rain in fifteen minutes. Like they say "don't tempt fate" (ne tenter pas le sort).

Tales from the farmyard

Up early this morning to finish the hay cutting, then into St G for shopping and Pont de la Taule on the way back to do a few bits and bobs. By lunch time with the sun shining it was back home to turn the hay.

Yesterday evening the sheep managed to get into the chicken run, overturn the chicken feeder and eat all the chicken food. It's obviously the equivalent of crack cocaine for sheep - as today they tried everything to get into the run again. - breaking a gate, braving the shocks from the electric fence and forcing their way between iron bars - in the end I had to move them to another field and crank up the electric fence charge until they'd cooled down. Unfortunately the chicken feed goes straight through them, so now they look like they have been dragged through a cesspit. They'll need to be dagged again when it has all dried.

By four the hay was cooking nicely and I began consolidating the windrows into about a dozen rows for final collecting. This year I have (two) old wooden hay rakes. I found these in Pont de la Taule and although nearly toothless I've mended them both. So much easier to use than the garden grass rake I used last year. The hay had dried amazingly quickly thanks to a gentle warm breeze and the fields SW aspect. It was ready to collect by six...until the rain started. Fortunately it was fairly light and short lived, so if it stays dry tonight and we have a few hours of warmth tomorrow I might get away with it.

Scything

After some tinkering with my scythe this morning (adjusting the position of the handles, peening/repairing the blade) I set to work cutting the hay. The weather is not set fair, but I need to cut the sward before it goes to seed and becomes too woody, and to let me get a second hay harvest - there is no good weather on the horizon so its a gamble. The grass keep is already amazingly dense and it was hard work, becoming harder as the day progressed (best to finish cutting grass by mid morning at the latest and I was still cutting at one!). In fact there is still a little more to cut but by 1.30 it was almost impossible, so I'll finish tomorrow. After 5 hours of scything the dense vegetation the underside of my scythe blade is polished like a mirror. My back is also aching - a combination of moving the handles, trying some new techniques, the heavy dense grass and the sloping terrain.

Poor weather continues...

But whilst we wait for it to improve, here are some pleasing pictures.

Field 1 with sheep and potato patch

Sheep

Field 1 again, looking grassy

The same view in mid-March just after finishing reclaiming the field.

My first cherries beginning to ripen

Another veggie patch with cabbages, cauliflower, fennel, haricot beans , mangetout, onions, leeks and chard.

Field 3 grass keep desperate to be cut but awaiting dry weather

Chickens in field 2

Wild boar

As I woke up early this morning, I decided to go for a walk. It was a about half six and it's always the best time to see wildlife in the woods. In one of the overgrown abandoned fields in the lower woods I came with 10m of large wild boar. I couldn't get a clear view to photograph it, so was edging slowly closer when I remembered that wild boar can charge and seriously injure you with their tusks - deaths even occur occasionally (especially when they're as big as this 1000lb 9ft 6" Alabama wild boar - which fortunately mine wasn't).

So I gently announced my presence and he made off down the field. For a large animal he was incredible agile - bounding much more like a deer than a pig.

Spent the rest of the day at Pont de la Taule progressing with the doorway which I knocked through with Ian's help yesterday.

Hidden doorway

With another week of poor weather on the cards and my building permissions finally approved for the house at Pont de la taule, I made a start on the structural works today. Hiding behind a wardrobe in what will be the living room, is a blocked up opening.

Externally there is no sign of it as the whole house is rendered. After some careful dismantling, it turns out that most of the door frame is still in place, sandwiched between the stone and the render.

Alas the oak lintels are rotten, so tomorrow I need to prop the wall and replace them. Fortunately I have some off cuts of oak left over from the barn.