Pic Seron(10)

As Al and Breezy are out of confinement and we missed the last walk with them, we planned a "catch-up" walk. They chose Pic Seron and although Pic de Mont Rouge was an option, on arrival we decided to stick to plan A. The clouds were clearing, the sky was blue, but the grass was decidedly wet which made for slippery moments on the granite!

We headed up to the quarry then on to the Crête de Seron (West ridge), which has become the "voie normale" in recent years. It's the best way up the mountain for sure.

The weather was warm with a cool breeze, a welcome rest-bite from the normal high humidity of June. We were above the clouds, but they pursued us through the morning eventually engulfing us just after the summit.

Me scrambling up "the canon" reminiscent of Tryfan

Clouds chasing us up the mountain

Lunch on the summit

Looking down to the Etang d'Aubé

Descent into the clouds

We descended from the summit after lunch via the Etang d'Aubé and the col de Cerda. Still some old snow between the summit and the Etang.

A pleasant 6 hour walk including lunch and stops. On the return from Gerac we spotted some vultures watching us from Freychet.

 

Sheep shearing

Sheep shearing is always a stressful time. First we have to get all the sheep into the bergerie and at this time of year they know what that means, so they resist! This year we got them all in except 4. Donnie (who has the best wool), Thelma (who is the most cautious having been terrorised by dogs before we bought her), Laurie and Fudge. After much enticing with sheep nuts, I got Laurie and Donnie into the entrance...Donnie crashed through the fence to escape and Laurie jumped the gate to land in safely in the bergerie with the other sheep.

Next morning an early start to prepare for the day ahead and the arrival of the sheep shearer (who was 1hr30 late!).  Apaché our largest sheep (pictured below) we have decided is claustrophobic. All the other sheep quickly chill out when shut up in the bergerie, Apaché gets more and more agitated, knocking the other sheep over, pacing around and trying to either jump the gates, crash through them or lift them up. By morning she was becoming impossible and in the end I had to hold her head tight and stroke her cheeks to keep her calm while we waited the shearer to arrive. She was of course the first sheep to be shorn and with good weather and a late in the year shear, the wool was quickly off. An added bonus was that we could shear them outside.

Things went much quicker than in pervious years and by 12.15 all 26 sheep were shorn. The three escapees had not ventured close to the bergerie, but amazingly one by one I caught them in the open field and within 10 minutes all was over.

 

Pic de Portabere et Pic de Montaud

Susie is in Chamonix for the next three weeks doing her 200hr yoga teacher training. I m holding the fort, trying to complete the bathroom rebuild and mostly likely doing the hay-making and sheep shearing before going to collect her at the end of the month. The weekend and the first half of the week were spent working on architectural projects then Thursday and Friday I collected and laid the floor tiles in the bathroom and porch - progress at last, plasterboard next!

Saturday, time in the mountains with Sheri, Michiel (returned from the ship) and Ian who hasn't been on walk with us for probably 10 years! Alun and Breezy are back (from the UK) but still in self-isolation, though we waved and had a socially distanced beer with them on our return.

It's hot and humid (June) so we planned a walk up to the Port de Salau (which usually catches the wind). 

Rather than head to the port we veered right to the col between Pic de Portabere and Pic de Montaud before striking up the narrow ridge to land on the summit of Montaud (2496m). The original plan was to descend the ridges over Lane Formente (a reverse of the route Susie and I did with Alun and Breezy last summer), but the clouds were building over Mont Rouch and scraping the summit of our Pic and we decided to descend the same way, continuing this time to include the Port de Salau.

On the descent we met some dutch walkers who had spotted what they thought were deer, a closer look with my telephoto lens revealed that they were in fact Iberian Ibex.

 A cold beer at Alun and Breezy's concluded our walk of 14km and 1400m (4600ft) of height gain.