Storm clear up

After over a week of storms and torrential rain the clear up begins. Two trees each about 30m down in separate fields....this one is a poplar which fell on the bailer, the other (less accessible) is an ash. There have been many landslides including one which has cut us off from saint girons which we narrowly missed being in! They have been working to clear it for three days...hopefully tomorrow the road will open.

In the mountains the snow is over 3m deep....the best for at least 5 years.

weaving barn progress

The end is in sight! One more day of chaux chanvre to go, then the second fix joinery (skirting boards and architraves) and final connections of plumbing can be done. 

There's still the floor to be tiled in the back room and some decorating to today but all should be ready for Susie's birthday party.

 

Works to the powerlines

Finally the rotten pole supporting the high tension electricity cables has been replaced, this time with  steel one. The last one has only been there 14 years and there are the sawn off remnants of two more previous to that. 

Five lorries were required, one with a crane/hole borer, one for the crew and equipment, one with an access boom to reach the cables, one to transport gravel and aggregate, one to transport the generator to maintain supply for everyone during the works plus a mini-excavator. Last time (2010) there was just a tractor which had everything needed. 

the equipment in 2010

One of five lorries required this time

After the passage of all the vehicles over three days (all of which were a little too wide for the road), torrential rain during the works and despite Enedis's best effort to clean up, the place is a mudbath. 

When they finally unhitched the cables from the old pole it fell over by itself.

Theworks were completed just in time as today we have snow.
 

Ground floor progress and a first trip out on the skis

 The race is on to finish the down stairs of the weaving barn for Susie's 60th birthday part on Feb 21. The plasterboarding is almost finished as are the elctrics and plumbing. The WC arrives next week and Ian Smith is going to skim the ceilings and walls in the front room in a couple of weeks - the rest of the walls I ll tape and joint, with thestone walls being chaux chanvred (lime and hemp rendered) by me once the plastering is finished.

front room ready for skimming

The back room which we'll use for washing the fleeces still needs to be tiled

WC and hot water tank

Also managed to get out on the skis for the first time in 12 months since fracturing my Meniscus. I skinned up 400m from Com de la Trappe and did half a dzen runs before skiing back down to the car. Conditions were hard and icy, but the knee didn't complain.

New Year wander on the Chapelle d'Isards circuit from Frenchendech

Agi and tristan weren't able to make it on the snowshoe hike a few days ago, so we agreed to catch up on New Year's Day. A stomp upto the Chapelle d'Isard fitted the bill. Cold and frosty whenever we were in the shade with old snow and hoar frost!