chanvre chaux (lime and hemp)

Susie is in the UK for a week so the perfect opportunity to do some messy building works. I recently demolished the built in wardrobes on either side of the main window in our bedroom and upcycled them to create new ones along one side (still awaiting doors). The gable wall is half covered in chanvre chauw, but where the wardrobes used to be is the original mess of stonework and poorly done render that was there when I arrived at Quélébu 20 years ago. I hacked off everything that was loose and fixed a batten a dado height (below this will be boarded allowing for the distribution of new electrics and hiding the central heating pipes).

I decided to try a new recipe for the chanvre chaux. Up until now I have used chaux hydraulic NHL3,5 but this time I thought I'd try chaux aerienne (the more active lime used to make lime putty in the UK).

I used a mix of approx 12.5kg of chaux aerienne, 2.5kg of chaux hydraulic blanc (to speed up setting), 25ltrs (2.5kg) of hemp and about 15-17ltrs of water. The mix is super sticky and once on the wall easy to smooth - the best mix yet! Unlike the chaux hydraulic which is rather grey, the end result is a lovely straw colour.

As I had half a bag of lime open, I used it up putting some chanvre chaux in the porch, which had been waiting for finishing for a couple of years!

 

More from the spycam

 

Point 1894m à coté de Tuc de Coucou

With beautiful clear warm weather and so little snow, we decided on another walk into the mountains. It's a year since Debbie, Susie' sister died so we thought we'd visit a summit and build a cairn in memory of her.

Sheri was staying with friends in Cescau, so we picked her up in Castillon and headed for the Riberot valley. From here a relatively short but steep climb leads up to Tuc de Coucou.

As we exited from the woods we met our neighbour from Coumarba, Justin Piquemal, who was going up to parapente from the summit. We took a slightly different route from the normal path (a variant of GR10) to visit the Cabane de Trapech d'en haut. A tiny hut with room to lay out a sleeping bag and no more.

There are great views from here. 

Cascade de Muscadet in the far distance

We chose to build the cairns here. I found a rather uncharateristic round granite pebble and balanced it on a slab which I wedged in some verticale bedding planes. Susie built a complemantary structure alongside.

We pressed onto the summit for lunch and far reaching views in the sun.

A little avalanche debris, but little snow.

Valier in the far distance.