Warm, very warm.

I fenced the field in front of the house this morning in bright, sunny and very warm weather (low 20's in the sun).

Mid afternoon I collected half a pig from Justin (part payment for the carpentry works at his house last spring). Two years ago I butchered my first pig...it took days to process all the meat, today a little over two hours and it's all done except the sausages! Last time I made some bacon but it wasn't a great success, I'm having another go using the brine method rather than salting.

Le matin j'ai cloturé le pré devant chez moi en plein soliel (24 dégrées). L'après-midi j'ai cherché un demi cochon de Justin. Il y a deux ans j'ai coupé mon premier cochon...ca prends plusier jours, aujourd'ui ca prends deux heures moins les saucisses! Cette année j'essaie des poitrines dans saumure.

Ruperts unimog love

Rupert is in love with unimogs, this very nice one lives near the Col de Pause.

Rupert aime beaucoup les unimogs, celui habite pres du Col du Pause.

Pic des Aymesses and Pic de Cour Vic

Yesterday I finally finished the last few jobs on the staircase and Rupert and I loaded it into his van for transportation back to the UK.

Hier l'escalier etait terminer enfin et Rupert et moi avons chargé son camion afin l'importer a Angleterre.

Today we went for a day in the mountains on snowshoes with Emily. We managed to drive all the way up to the Col de Pause (though I slid the car in a deep snow filled gulley and we had to dig it out).

Aujourd'hui nous prenions une journée aux montagnes en raquettes avec Emily. nous avons reussi de conduire jusqu'au Col de Pause (mais j'ai glissé ma voiture dans un goute à côté du chemin).
From the Col we climbed up to Pic de Cour Vic (2119m) in rain and wind for amazing views of Mont Valier.

Du Col nous sommes monté au Pic de Cour Vic (2119m) dans la pluie et vent afin gagner les belles vues de Mont Valier.
We dug a little snow ledge out of the wind for an early lunch, then the sun came out and the weather improved for the rest of the day.

J'ai creusé une canapé de neige et nous avons cassé croute. Le soliel commence et il fait beau désormais.

We made a circuitous walk by picking up Pic des Aymesses (2036m) from the Col de Courbe on the way back. A lovely day in the mountains.

Nous avons fais une boucle avec l'ascension de Pic des Aymesses (2036m) depuis Col de Courbe.

So far it's been a very poor winter for snow, unless things turn around in the next few weeks it could be worse than 2005! There's enough snow to ski above 1800m (just) but it's worked by the wind and difficult skiing.

Jusqu' à présent c'etait un hiver pauvre pour la neige. Si il y n'a pas de la neige avant deux semaines ce sera plus terrible que 2005!

A short film from Emily's photos of the day. Click the image below to watch. For best results on the video player that opens, press the "google video" button (bottom right of playback screen) and select "original size" then above and to the right of the screen , select "view HQ video".

Un court movie ci-dessous. cliquer sur l'image à voir.

From My Videos

Xmas ski

It's traditional for me to go for a ski at Guzet on xmas day. Yesterday was rainy and warm and so far this winter has been poor for snow in the Pyrenees...it was looking doubtful. Overnight a cold front pushed through and we had a little snow (5-10cm) on the mountains. Guzet managed to open its main piste and one lift but we decided to head for Ax-les-Thermes which had more snow. The skiing wasn't bad in fact and in the afternoon we got a few views above the clouds.

C'est une tradition de faire de ski à Guzet à Nöel. Hier etait pluvieux et cette année etait pauvre pour la neige ici...c'etait incertain. Dans la nuit un perturbation est arrivé avec 5-10cm de neige aux montagnes. Guzet a reussi de ouvrir une piste mais Ax-les-Thermes a eu plus de neige. Un jour de ski pas mal et à l'après-midi un belle vue au dessus les nuages.

Estours

Valier in the clouds

I've always fancied wandering up this valley, so Rupert, Jason and I set off at 11.00 today for a wander. The weather soon detiorated but we pressed on through the rain all the way to the Cabane d'Aula. Still quite a lot (melting) ice and a tricky crossing of a semi-frozen stream on the way up to the upper cirque. 5hrs for the round trip with 900m of ascent.

J'ai eu l'envie de visister cet vallon depuis quelques années, donc Rupert, Jason et moi partons à onze heures pour un petit rando. Le temps se gâte mais nous persistent jusqu'au la cavbane d'Aula. Beaucoup de glace (fondant) encore et un traverse délicate d'un ruisseau, demi gélé. 5 heures AR avec 900m dénivilée.

One of many melting ice falls along the path

The Cabane d'Aula is in the snow below the north face of the Cuns d'Aula

Cold

Getting colder and colder here, -8 already today.

il fait de plus en plus froid, -8 deja aujourd'hui.

Last night I headed over to Donna's in Tarascon for dinner via Justin and Emily's. Crossing the Col de Port at 2.00am in the 'artic' conditions was exciting but we took it slow and steady and it passed without a problem. Earlier in the evening we passed quite a few people trying to cross without a 4x4 or chains...they didn't make it.

Nuit dernier je suis parti à chez Donna dans Tarascon vers chez Justin et Emily. Traversant le col du Port à 2 heures du matin dans les conditiones "artique" etais impressionante mais nous avons avancé lentement sans problems. Plus tôt nous avons passé les types qui ont essayé de traversé le col sans 4x4 ou chaines...ils n'ont' pas reussi.

Ian's new chainsaw has arrived and he was eager to fell an apple tree a neighbour had offered him for his woodturning - despite the subzero temperatures and snow. So this afternoon I went over to give him some chainsaw instruction and a crash course in tree felling. As it happened, the apple tree was a difficult proposition - old, slightly rotten, multi-stemmed and with a very uneven canopy, so I felled it. Ian got his practical experience de-limbing.

La tronçonneuse de Ian est arrivé et il a eu l'envie d'abbattre un pommier pour son tournant de bois, malgre le temps moins zero et la neige. Donc, cette apres midi je suis arrivé de lui donner un leçon. Le pommier etais un proposition difficile - vieux, pourrais, avec plusiers troncs, donc je l'ai abbattu.

Stairs

Still very cold here and still plugging away at the staircase. Should be almost done when Rupert arrives on Saturday.

Très froid encore et j'ai continué de travailler sur l'escalier. Il sera presque finir quand Rupert arrive le Samedi.

Butchering Sanglier

De-boning

Ready for the oven

I've been doing quite a bit of butchering and meat joint preparation since moving to France and I must say I'm getting rather good at it now - even if I say so myself!

Je faisais beaucoup de boucherie depuis je suis arrivé en France et je dis que mon niveau de competance est amèlioant.

More light snow

The cold weather and light snow continues, though the sheep don't seem to mind.
Le grand froid et la neige continuent, mais les moutons n'ont pas gené.
I'm pressing on with the stairs, slow steady work.
Je continuais de travailler sur l'escalier

Hope to venture up into the mountains in the next few days - hopefully on the skis.

Just noticed that the blog has exceeded 50,000 hits!
J'espère d'aller sur les montagnes tôt - en skis peut-être. 50,000 visiteurs à la blog aujourd'hui.

Snow

Spoke too soon...sub-zero and light snow all day today (only a dusting though). Hunting yesterday was cold, but today I've been working in the workshop (which is warm) continuing with the staircase.

J'ai dit trop vite...moins zero et la neige legère toute la journée. À la chasse hier il a fais froid mais aujourd'hui je travaillais dans l'atelier (chaud enfin) sur l'escalier.

Weather

After several weeks of warm sunny weather, temperatures are beginning to drop, with a couple of weeks of much colder weather forecast starting from the weekend...alas not much snow on the horizon yet.

Après quelques semaines de temps doux, la temperature commence de tomber, avec deux semaines de froides attendant...malheuresment pas beaucoup de la neige.

Router problem

Having finished half the new fencing and with the oak finally here, today I made start on Rupert's stair. I had only routed out the strings for three of the treads when the brand new router cutter threw one of it's TCT teeth, damaging the stair template, but fortunately not the oak!

Avoir finir un moitie de la clôture et avec le bois ici enfin, aujourd'hui j'ai commencè de fabriquer l'escalier pour Rupert. Mais après seulement trois pas un problème technique.
It's an expensive bit (about £60) so I called up the manufacturer "Trend UK" who also make the stair template. They were very apologetic and instantly offered to replace both parts, no questions asked, and are despatching them to me by courier tonight. Excellent service.

Sanglier

Hunting yesterday and although I saw some red deer we don't have the right to hunt them in our commune. We did get a 116kg boar though, so there's some more meat heading for the freezer.

Today I was making fence posts from the felled chestnut trees down near the barn and starting to clear and fence the field in front of the house which I will be using next year.

A metre or so of snow at 2000m but too 'soupy' to ski on today - a chance on Tuesday if the temperatures dip enough on Monday night.

J'ai chassé hier, j'ai vu les cerfs, mais malheuresment nous n'avons pas le droit de les chassé dans notre commune. Nous avons tiré un sanglier de 116kg, donc il y a de la viande au congèlateur.

Aujourd'hui j'ai fait les piquets de la chataignier à côté de la grange et j'ai commencé de nettoyer et clôturé le parc devant chez moi.

Un metre de la neige à 2000m mais 'de la soupe' donc pas du ski aujourd'hui - mais peut-être le Mardi si il fait froid le Lundi soir.

Crap weather

Mostly wet and windy since the last post - still snowing in the mountains but crappy here. I have been busying myself indoors finishing various drawing and design projects whilst I wait for the timber for a staircase to arrive.

De la pluie et du vent depuis le dernier post - il neige encore dans les montagnes mais il est merde ici. Je me suis occupé dedans avec des projects de dessine lorsque j'attend pour le livraison de bois pour une escalier.