Snow

As if to underline the crap summer it snowed on the mountains last night, above is the view from the window this morning.

Netherless it was warm and dry this morning allowing me to make a start on the second gable. The first is nearing completion.

Its raining

This weekend was the Fete d'Aleu. Boules events during the day and a disco in the evenings. The village is full during August as most of the houses are second homes. The fete seems to be mostly for them. I think most of the people who live here all year round (I think about 27 of us) aren't so enthusiastic - but l'apero after Sunday mass is well attended. Apparently the mass was taken by the padrey from St Cernin the Cathedral in Toulouse - as he was on holiday in the neighbouring village of Soulan. I met a few new people and afterwards Dede and Mizou (both about eighty though you'd never guess it) invited me for lunch with their grand daughter and her boyfriend. A veritable feast that lasted 3 hours with plenty of alcohol. Desert was taken in the neighbouring house with their neice Annie and her daughter including some prune schnaps which Annie's husband made in 1945! Very nice indeed.

After some more work on the roof today it's now raining and is set to rain for the next few days. So far it's been a poor summer - perhaps we'll have an indian summer?

Pas d'oiseau

After a few steps back with the 'pas d'oiseau', at last some steps forward. Things are beginning to shape up and details are being solved. The slabs now follow the pitch line of the roof 300mm above the level of the battens.

Several slabs and their supporting blocks had to be replaced. Moving 30kg blocks of granite or a huge flagstones high on the roof was both difficult, exhausting and dangerous - calling for extreme care and concentration! There aren't too many to replace thankfully, I've started on the gable in worst condition.

Hot, hot, hot

Blisteringly hot today and with the house roof facing south-west, by 2.00 it was too hot to work. Most of the concrete is now removed and the rafter repaired - and after some measuring the task seems more manageable now - weather permitting. The roof is now under wraps as a thunderstorm is due tonight and tomorrow.


In the late afternoon I painted the inside of the barn - with no insulation on the roof (the thatch will provide this), polythene covering the window and door openings and the building drying out it's like a sauna.

Saw Mr Whippy again today (the Whip snake) about a meter and a half long and beautiful yellow and black chequered markings.

Open roof

After carrying the scaffolding and ladder up from the barn and re-erecting it against the house I finally started taking the roof off. My nightmare scenario is realised and the job's 'a biggun'. The 'pas d'oiseau' (stepped gables) are in poor condition and like most most french buildings they have been bodged with plenty of concrete and flashband. The rafters (about the size of telegraph poles) are at about 3 foot centres and as one clashed with the old concrete chimney a foot long section had been completely removed leaving the two free ends suspended on skyhooks! I've stripped one line of roof sheets against the front gable wall, removed the mineral wool insulation and removed the old concrete chimney which was exceedingly heavy. Then off to St G to get a tarpaulin to cover the hole (rain forecast for thursday).

Tomorrow I'll get out the measuring tape and take stock of the works necessary over the next 4 weeks.

A full day

This morning I capped the walls of the grange with mortar laid to falls. then finished the internal linings, fixed the eaves fascias and generally tidied up - just painting internally to do but that can wait for a rainy day. then Sophie arrived with her son Pierre and I gave them the tour of the animals and grange (they were last here in February). Next I replaced the oak cill of one of the windows at quelebu which was rotten with wood left over from the grange window, before repairing the scythe (a tear in the blade), sharpening it and heading over to la maison de la miande to help Philippe (sophie's husband). I cleared all the bracken and brambles around the house whilst Philippe was busy with the chainsaw. Back to Quelebu to feed the pigs before heading over to Claudes for l'apero. Then dinner with Sophie and Philippe who are house sitting for John and Sandrine. On the walk home a blood curdling and incessant growling turned out to be huge hedgehog by the side of the road. Amazingly bright glowworms lit the last part of the route home.

Tomorrow I start on the roof!

Last few days

A mixture of farm work and barn work over the last few days (which have been warm and sunny). On the farm fences have moved, fields have been scythed and vegetables tended to. On the barn the oak tilting fillets are in place on the roof, the insulation is fitted in the walls and the floor is varnished. Another day or so of work on the barn then it's time to 'mothball' it until the thatchers arrive and press on with the house roof and gables. Not sure what I'll find when I open up!

Rain, rain, rain

The rain continued all today. So in the dry of the barn I laid a floor. Downstairs things were a bit wetter with ground water rising! But not as bad as before - a land drain and DPM should sort it. In fact this is the first time I've been able to see how much water comes through the walls as I now have a roof to keep the inside face dry. The good news is none.



The maize flowering nicely

What a difference a day makes...

Today, in stark contrast to yesterday, it is falling out of the sky. After shopping in St G, I carried all the floorboards from the shed to the barn...they've been in the shed since the wood arrived about a month ago and have taken up just about all the floor space. 20 trips in all.

Spent the afternoon waxing my boots which I repaired yesterday (re-glueing the rands on) and waxing the waxed jacket - man what a job that is! Took forever and after finishing it with a hair dryer it turned from looking like oilskin to looking just the same as when I started. Still it's probably waterproof now.

Rain again tomorrow according to the forecast, so might fix the floorboards as the barn is dry inside.

40

Temperature hit the magic 40 degrees today and not a breath of wind. Second gable complete photos tomorrow.

L'apero

West gable complete and East underway, but it's too hot to work with clear skies and the temperature in the mid-thirties.

L'apero with the mayor and his neighbour this afternoon. Will probably go into the mountains in the next few days - it's been far too long.

Coeur du Canard 'Quelebu'

Fry some duck hearts, sliced leeks and thickly sliced cep mushrooms, in olive oil and a little butter. Season with salt and pepper. When nearly done add a little creme fraiche, a hint of mustard and some fresh parsley. Serve with boiled potatoes and carrots from the garden.

Ceps at last

The rain continued until lunchtime, but I still managed to finish the bargeboards and fix the customery bouquet to the ridge (traditional 'topping out' here).
The septic tank was emptied at luchtime then off to St G for shopping. As the moon is on the wane the mushrooms are at last pushing and a couple of ceps found in the woods near the barn will go well with my chicken tonight.

Not the barn! (just for a change)

Claude and I put the world to rights

I phone the legal help-line for advice on evicting a squatter from my bath

A rare moment of R and R

24 hours

One day later than planned, but the barn roof is now complete (except for bargeboards and tilting fillets). A few hours later we had a thunderstorm so just as well.

Tomorrow I'll finish the last few bits and probably clad the gables (weather permitting) then its back to the farm work and perhaps some rest!

Pigs and building

Another fantastic hot day. Kevin and Imogen went to the caves at Laboiuche which gave me a chance to progress the barn a little further. About 2/3rds of the roof is now decked, should get the rest finished tomorrow.

Emily and Justin came over for dinner and it was a great evening, though I think Kevin found our main topics of conversation -pigs and building - somewhat amusing.

Barn

All rafters now up and fixed, some tidying up tomorrow then plywood to fix, nearly watertight!

Kevin and Imogen

Imogen and Kevin are having a great time. Imogen has been helping with the animals everyday and with the barn, as well as climbing her first mountain, going swimming in St G and playing in the mountain stream with my friends' children...and there's still caves to visit and a donkey trek to come.

Off to St G market tomorrow as I have friends coming for dinner on Sunday. Hope to make some progress on the barn tomorrow and get some, if not all, the rafters in place.

East gable

East gable now complete. Kevin and his four year old daughter Imogen are here until the end of the month so I will only be part time on the barn from now on, but should still complete more or less on schedule.

Imogen will be helping with the pigs, chickens and vegetable harvest of course!

East gable

East gable and window are now fabricated and partially installed - should finish tomorrow morning. Ran out of nails but John got me some on his trip to St G. Next will be some grouting under the beams then the rafters!

The tanin from the oak mixed with rain, produces an strong acid which is eating through the concrete. Once the roof is on and the oak is kept dry all should be OK.

Lunch at Claude and Susan's today - watched the Tour de France on their TV as it passed through Castet d'Aleu. A couple of riders fell on the descent from the Col du Port.

West gable

The west gable structure is now complete (it will be boarded eventually). Took until 2.00, so decided to call it a day. Weather has been lovely and spent the afternoon tidying the shed and and scything field no 2.

Rain

Yesterday it drizzled all morning. I took advantage of the poor weather to move the 22 rafters down to the barn one by one. In the afternoon the rain stopped (mostly) and I managed to build the remaining panels for the west gable.
Today dawned clear and went St G early to get some maize and soya for the pigs, plus some cement and shopping. By 9.30 a storm was brewing and I just managed to get the goods wrapped in paper bags into the dry of the shed before the heavens opened. I spent the morning playing guitar as the thunder rolled outside.
With no let up in sight I took the chainsaw to some of the remining oak, cutting it to rough length so that I could prepare the door opening in the shed. A let up in the rain let me install the door frame and some of the gable. Hopefully tomorrow I can finish it. Ideally I would like to get both gables up tomorrow but the forecast is not good.

Heavy lifting complete

A twelve hour day in cooler conditions, but both the big roof beams are now in place. The lifting only took half an hour but the logistics of moving temporary staging, the crane and setting it up four times took all day.

Home produce

Just dined on the first home produce - french beans, spring onions, potatoes and some chicken and garlic (no I didn't kill a chicken, that alas came from the supermarket). First time I've ever grown vegetables, should've done it years ago.

Yukka

After shopping in the morning and deciding that the spuds should stay under for a another week, I couldn't resist the temptation to quickly put the floor in. After the efforts of the last few days, it was light enjoyable work even though all the joists had to be carried from the house and it was really humid today, though not so hot as the past few days.

The yukka in my garden is in full bloom, I never knew what the flowers looked like.

Barn

Rupert dropped in after his motocross event in Spain and gave me a hand putting the last two floor beams in and lifting the first gable studwork panels into place. Tomorrow will be a rest day from the barn - potatoes and french beans to harvest and shopping in St G to do. Next the floor and the last big lift of the roof beams, before the gables can be finished and the roofing can be started.

More lifting

Another scortching hot day (35 ish) with a hot gusty wind. Got up early and cleared the inside of the barn in the cool of morning. I worked out I could lift the two huge beams for the roof single-handed if I used the crane I built last winter and could get the pulleys to work. Up to now I 've hardly used it because there's so much friction that it's next to useless. It came pre-equipped with a nasty polyproplene rope which twists the bundle of ropes between the pulleys into a tight helix. Closer inspection also revealed that the rope was too big a diameter for the pulleys - more friction. After some thought I fetched my climbing rope some slings and jumars.

The crane was re-equipped and voila a magnificent crane was born. Moving the beams to the base of the wall was the hardest task but the bits and pieces I used for moving the Rayburn came in handy. By lunchtime I had both the beams resting on the wall. By 4.30 when help returned, one of these was already atop the wall. With John, Patrick and Camille we made quick work of the remaining beam and were able to position them ready for lifting the two beams below. These were carried into the barn and tomorrow I should be able to lift them into place. The roof beams still need to go up another metre or so on to the studwork gable walls (which are already built and awaiting placement). Not altogether sure how to do this yet, but I think once the floor is in it'll be easier.

My hands are black with the tanin from chopping the beam joints yesterday and a bit sore but the end of the heavy lifting is nearly in sight.

Barn progress

A very long day today and probably the hottest of the year (beating the 34 degrees in January!). In the morning all the oak beams had to be cut to length and all the joints cut with saw, mallet and chisel. As the beams are so heavy this had to be done where they lay - in the hot sun. I had just finished at 4.30 having started at 7.30 when the cavalry arrived for the lifting.

Unfortunately, Philippe and Jean-Michel are both on holiday so we were only six plus Yves and Michelle who weren't up for lifting. Yves gave good advice about the technique for getting the beams on top of the wall and after some very heavy work by 7.30 we had the ring beam in place and one of the internal floor beams.

Hot and tired we called it a day but amazingly Patrick, John and Camille have promised to return tomorrow afternoon to get the last two floor beams in place. Phillipe has guests and Justin leaves for holiday. I think with some preparation and bringing my A-frame hoist into action we should manage. The two intermediate roof beams may have to wait for next weekend or some lateral thinking.

Beams relocated

The final pour took place yesterday after the last wall was rebuilt and the new doorway formed.

After a spot of pointing early in the morning, Yves came over and we discussed how I might transport the oaks beams from the house to the barn. He called his brother who has a '76 Toyota landcruiser truck (with a 1,000,000 km on the clock) but indestructable and ideal for off road transportation to see if he could help. Then I remembered that Philippe who has the sawmill at Biert (the next village) has a trailer which lifts and suspends a tree trunk underneath it for transporting to the mill. After a quick phone call, he agreed to hire it to me for the afternoon for 15 euros.

I collected the trailer with the suzuki and when Yves brother arrived we managed to stack the beams before lashing them together and hoisting them below the trailer. In two loads of about tonne each all the beams were transported down the steep field to the barn. This will save masses of manual work on Saturday as now we only have to lift the beams and not transport them too.

Potatoes are now ready but harvest will have to wait until after the barn raising. The french beans are progressing well too. The hard dry clay is forcing the onions/shallots onto the surface so a bit of soil breaking and raking was required. Sweetcorn is now about 18 inches high.

The bracken continues to grow at a foot a day despite all my scything. One of us will have to give up or die first and it's not going to be me!

Rain stops play

Thunderstorms raged all night and into the early morning turning the site into a quagmire. Mud made the scaffolding slippery, rocks difficult to handle and generally slowed proceedings. Half the final wall is rebuilt, so I'm a bit behind.
Barn raising is planned for Saturday at at 4.30 so I'm doing the rounds and asking neighbours for help.

Barn again

After some wall building on the third wall (it was a bit low) the third concrete pour took place yesterday, got caught in a short thunderstorm at the end but once I'd started I had to finish. Today I moved the scaffolding to the final wall which will have the door at first floor level. It had a precariously leaning gable, before I demolished it.



Now the straight scaffolding is against it, I can see that it still bows in the middle by perhaps 6 or 7 inches. Not too much cause for concern as the wall is over two feet thick, but I decided to rebuild the top two feet to get it straight and plumb. Made a start today after repairs to the lower wall, I think this will take at least all day tomorrow, so hopefully the final pour will take place late Tuesday.
I've worked out that I can place all the beams without recourse to cranes if I can get all the beams to the top of the wall and I reckon thats possible with 8 men. So I need to drum up support for next weekend and some barn raising!

Weather

A return to more normal July weather today - hot and sunny. This morning the second concrete pour took place then some tending of vegetables in the afternoon. Thinning the carrots and watering the potatoes which are nearly ready to harvest, perhaps another couple of weeks. The oak beams were cut to length in the late afternoon, but from weighing the offcuts, even the short ones weigh 170 kgs each.

Barn update

Wood arrived today, unfortunately the lorry driver couldn't drop the beams in the field so they're beside the house with the rest of the mountain of wood. I may have underestimated the weight of the oak beams! Transporting and lifting them I now think will need a mobile crane or a JCB so I'm going to have to replan the sequence of works to minimise the time when I'll need it - and find one of course!
Today I fitted the joist hangers, took all day to drill 12 number 15mm holes 65mm deep for the bolts - the famous mega hard Aleu microgranite. Even managed to melt a tungsten drill bit.
Scaffolding is moved and shuttering struck ready for levelling and another concrete pour tomorrow. Thatch quote has arrived and hope to place an order shortly.
I will have been here full time for exactly a year tomorrow. Its good to have the blog to see what I've achieved in words and pictures.

Barn update

The stone walling to the barn is now complete and the first of the formwork is in place for the concrete which will top the wall. I'll pour the first 5m length tomorrow.

The first Ceps and Chanterelles where picked this evening and will liven up my steak (together with a little garlic).

A fox is prowling around so the chickens are confined to quarters for the next week or so.

Deer have devastated my leeks, though they left the brussels and carrots.

Also saw a pretty big whip snake (1.5m long) basking on the wall of the ruin. The bedroom window stays shut tonight!

Hot weather and thirsty pigs

Today has been a lovely hot day - about time as the rest of June has been pretty poor weatherwise. The Stonework on the barn is almost finished (tomorrow should see it complete) and the shuttering for the ring beam which will top the wall is well under way.
The pigs are constantly turning their water trough over which is driving me mad (refilling it is a major task). I've tried digging it into the ground and weighting it down with huge rocks but they are so strong they always manage to tip or push it over or - then they cry all afternoon because it's hot and they need a drink. I either need one of those ancient stone vessels that weighs in at several tonnes or an automatic drinker/fountain linked to a header tank somewhere the pigs can't reach it.

Barn

Finally sign for the barn on Thursday, so have started work. Demolishing the gables (which were leaning precariously), rebuilding the walls from random rubble and mud, and installing a new window opening in the ground floor. It's slow heavy work and you can never the find the stone to fit the gap!

The wood for the floor and roof arrives next week, so I hope to have all the walling finished by then.

Mont Valier (2)

Took Sophie up Mont Valier yesterday via the Port d'Aula and Petit Valier. A beautiful hot day in Spain and cloudy and horrible in France. Fortunately, most of our walk was in Spain but the contrast of cloud one side of the frontier crest and sun the other made for some spectacular ridge walking. Unusually there was more snow on the southern spanish side than the northern french side.

From the summit there were the usual spectacular views across Spain to Pico Aneto and the Maladeta, to the north was a sea of cloud perhaps 1000ft below us.

We saw just one person during the walk but several marmots, izards and a bearded vulture.

Finding the Port d'Aula on the way back called for map and compass in the poor visibility and the descent to the car at the Col de Pause was in dense mist.

A long day (11 1/2 hours) and about 2000m of ascent.

Pic Seron

The hay is all in and dry. I now have two large haycocks that settled to about half their original height (they're now about 6' high).

Sophie Martin is here for a week on her cycling tour of France. We climbed up to the Chateau Mirabat on Friday, visited the market in St G on Saturday and this afternoon climbed Pic Seron.

On the descent from Pic Seron, Pic de Mede in the background

Tomorrow it's back to work for me, recommencing wall building on the barn and thinning the carrots. Sophie is off for some day tours on her bike.

Hay making day two

The rain stayed away today and the forecast is now for the possibility of a thunder storm late tomorrow evening - which should be time enough for the hay in field 2 to dry. It's already fluffy and rustles and is taking on that bluey green colour. I reckon it'll be ready by lunchtime tomorrow.

Meantime I've cut the grass in field 6 (the new one which is established meadow). It's so dense it was impossible to cut really close to the ground, even so there'll be plenty of hay as the growth was at least two and a half feet high. It's a big field and took about 5 hours (with a considerable break for lunch). I should have started at the crack of dawn when it's easier to cut but I elected to tidy the workshop to make room for the things brought from England, so it was a late start.

In medieval times they reckoned a good man could cut an acre of grass in a day with a scythe (although there's an account of a man cutting four acres!). I managed about an acre in 8 hours so I think it's official - I'm a peasant.

Hay making

Before

After

Time to make hay. Hard work early this morning cutting the grass and flowers in field 2, but now it's down tossing it about is easy. It was hot today, but this evening Meteo France revised their forecast and now it looks like rain for Thursday. I'll probably throw it up into a haycock Wednesday night then take it down and let it dry a little more when the rain has passed. That's the beauty of a haycock - if I had to bale it, it would either be wet or ruined by being out too long.

Angleterre

I have just returned from a 5 day trip to the UK. Managed to decorate the flat from top to bottom, fit new tiled splashbacks in the kitchen, fix the bathroom light, varnish the floors, replace the copings on the shed, regrout the shower, clean, sell/swap and deliver the remaining contents (mostly furniture), catch up with family and friends and meet a potential thatcher to discuss details....needless to say I'm knackered!

The 22 hour non-stop drive back has just about wiped me out. It would have been quicker, but I was daydreaming and missed the Orleans turn off, ending up in Blois. I cut across country to pick up the autoroute again at Chatereaux, but nearly ran out of petrol in the middle of nowhere. As always happens when I have an open top trailer of stuff on tow, it rained heavily; from Limoges onwards. It was a spectacular electrical storm, but made for difficult driving.

The pigs are bigger, as are the vegetables and ferns (though I've cut the latter down already). Fortunately, the last week has been warm and mostly dry, so the mud has gone.

...and I have my planning approvals - in writing - yippee!

Mud, mud, glorious mud.

After the hottest, dryest April on record we must have had the wettest May. Lots of mud, especially with the pigs churning it up. The soil here is the stickiest of clays and clings to my boots (tools, gloves, clothes, etc.) in great dustbin lids of heavy gluup! Recommenced some of the barn rebuilding. Levelled the floor which is clay. Its like quicksand - you stick in it then it sucks you under. The wall rebuilding is benefitting however, as I'm only using stones and mud and though it's really sticky it much easier to squish between the stones when it's like 'plasticene'. It sets like concrete.

French Bureaucracy Update

The planner at the DDE refuses to write a letter, moreover she won't even give me a photocopy of the application marked 'sans opposition' depite me explaining my predicament - so the mayor won't write a letter. The notaire will just have to take my word for it or speak to the DDE himself. No wonder nothing ever gets done here. I blame Napoleon!

Bracken eradication

My latest thoughts on 'organic' fern eradication:

At the moment I'm scything every few days - this seems to be resulting in more and more shoots (presumably the fern rhyzomes are desparately trying to put up some ferns). In early June (when I'm in England) no scything will happen and presumably there'll be a multitude of young ferns when I get back. I hope there are so many that the sugar stores in the rhyzomes will be exhausted by the volume of new growth. Mid-June I'll cut everything back to the ground. No doubt there be some regrowth so I'll follow the same procedure, generally cutting when the ferns are as high as possible but not yet in leaf. Perhaps early July and the end of July. I'll continue to use garlic which I suspect works a bit like a mild form of 'roundup' - the garlic juice descending via the cut stem and reacting with the rhyzome. If there are no leaves to replenish the sugar supplies in the rhyzomes and no ferns are allowed to reach maturity and spread spores, I reckon they have to die out...eventually.

French bureaucracy

A frustrating day! I went to the DDE to enquire about my declaration de travaux for the barn (planning permission). A note on the door explained that the office had moved to a secret location in St G. After half an hour of searching I found the undercover portacabin hidden behind the Chambre de Agriculture. The female planning officer was very helpful and fetched my dossier.

"Yes, there has been no objections in the two month period following your submission", she announced.
"So it is approved?", I asked.
"The DDE don't approve declaration de travaux", she explained, "but there had been no objections".
"So 'in effect' I have permission?"
"Yes".

I phoned the notaire to give him the good news that the sale could go ahead.

"Good, but I need a written confirmation of the approval from the Mairie before we can proceed", he replied.

I went to the Mairie and explained to the secretary that I had been to the DDE and there were no objections. She knew, she phoned them this morning. I explained that the notaire needed a letter - could she write me one? I saw a look of fear on her face. I rephrased the question.

"Could the Mayor write me a letter?"

The look didn't go away. The Mayor wasn't there and to answer the question she would have needed to have made a decision. In France there are only 4 groups of people who can make decisions.

"Is it important?" she asked (she knew it was). "I can only write you a letter if the DDE return your dossier to me stamped 'sans objection', which they've not done. Normally they do".
"Perhaps they've forgotten" I suggested, "Couldn't you telephone them now and remind them to send it to you?"

The look of fear was still there. In France only someone who is clearly your superior can ask you to do something (and of course their superior would have to have asked them and so on and so on) - I guessed she was out-ranked by the planner.

"Maybe" she proposed, "you should go to the DDE office in person and ask them to send it to me, it'll be quicker".

Unfortunately the DDE isn't open on Monday (it's the fourth bank holiday this month) so now it'll have to wait until Tuesday.

Who are the four groups of people able to make decisions in France?

1. Monsieur Le President.
2. Farmers - they answer to no-one, apparently a 2 year City and Guilds in Agriculture puts you above the law (I'm thinking of enrolling).
3. Lorry drivers - like farmers they answer to no-one.
4. Notaires - they seem to be able to grant you anything with a stroke of their pen.

Pigs

As the pigs get bigger they're getting more adept at destroying the pasture. So it's time to rest the new field and get them in fields 1 (now fenced) and 2 permanently. Unfortunately their ark is in the new field and I can't move it until the trees are sawn up (probably 1-2 months time if I opt for a local guy with a mobile sawmill - easier than using an Alaskan mill but I'll wait to see his price!).

A complex array of electric fences is the solution. Meantime the new pasture is already 18" high and needs to be cut. If we get enough dry weather I'll scythe it for hay. Long term I need some grazers - probably a few sheep. The pigs don't eat enough grass to keep it under control. Fields 2, 3 and 4 are slowly turning to grass - 3 and 4 need raking to expose the soil to the grass seeds which are now beginning to blow around. This technique seems to be working in field 2. It's all 'intelligent' guess work really.

The ferns continue to infest everything and I keep cutting them down (with a bit of garlic wiped on the scythe blade which I'm assured helps eradicate them). With a forth coming 10 day trip to the UK, at the current rates of growth, I'll return to a forest!

Nightingale

So far so good for the blue tits.

Also found a Nightingales' nest in the bank between fields 2 and 3 with three small chicks in it. I see the Nightingale dart out everytime I pass so thought there must be a nest there somewhere. Amazingly it's just 18 inches off the ground built on some tree roots

Port de Materat

Yesterday a walk with Sandrine my neighbour. We had loosely planned Pic de Seron but Sandrine brought their young border Collie and there's a section of via ferrata (not suitable for dogs) so we changed to the Port de Materat (2217m on the spanish border). The path climbs through a succession of hanging valleys with tremendous high waterfalls and deep ravines everywhere you look. The waterfall at the head of the Valley Ossese (see 04 Feb 2007 blog post) is only the start. After 3-4 hours we reached the col and gazed into Spain as the storm clouds began arrive.

On the descent we decided to take a different path via the Cabane de Crusous and the Cabane de l'Arrech - clearly marked on the map but alas not on the ground after the Cabane de Crusous. By the time we reached the Cabane de l'Arrech it had completely disappeared and we tried to follow the map for the steep descent. At first we traversed too far north and were marooned on a high steep face. Re-tracing our steps we finally found the correct descent to the river. Here there was no way across. Perhaps at the end of the summer the river is low enough to boulder hop across or maybe there was once a bridge. Imagine the rapids in the film "River Wild" or "Deliverance" only a little smaller. After some initial abortive attempts to find a place to cross we decided there was only two ways out: either retrace our steps to beyond the Cabane Crusous and then follow our route of ascent back to the car (600m of pathless ascent and a long way), or try to find a way up the Ravine to a higher bridge. We plumped for the later but after maybe an hour of successively more difficult and precarious traverses high above the torrent below it was clear we were getting nowhere. In fact we risked ending up getting trapped on some crumbling ledge unable to reverse our ascent! Cautiously we managed to return to the crossing place. It was already 5.30 and we now had little opportunity but to attempt a crossing.

Sandrine managed to get across using submerged boulders and a fallen tree without being swept away (after a few hundred meters the river crashes over a 120m vertical cascade). I quickly followed but we still had to get the dog across. It tried to follow but was nearly swept away, just managing to hang onto a rock and then clawing its way back to safety (still on the other side of the river to us). There was no option I had to recross, then standing knee deep in the water braced against the fallen tree I managed to attach the dogs lead, then man handle her across. Wet, but glad to be finally across, an hour an half descent took us back to the car - a long 10 hour day!

Today the blue tits which have been nesting in the wall of the house finally left the nest - but only as far as the garden. The parents are still feeding them, but there are 3 or 4 baby birds in the undergrowth not yet able to fly. I hope they make it through the next few days without the neighbours cat getting them!

Visitor

Leon crazy for tea

Leon has been here for few days. On Friday we went for a walk 'cross country' through the woods (once fields) between my house and Pentussa, discovering lots of barns and collecting a 'chicken of woods' fungus which we had for supper. On Saturday it rained (so the planned walk was cancelled) so instead a trip to the market in St G, a bit of work at the new house, then at last fitting a radio in the car. Leon left this morning so after the sun and rain of the last few days it was time to scythe all the fields, dig another veg patch and plant leeks, brussels and carrots, thin out the onions and shallots and paint the final coat of paint on four of the six repaired windows.

I might just have time to plant some tomato plants I bought in the market before bed, in which case I can go for a walk in the mountains tomorrow - weather permitting.

Orchids

So many flowers at the moment it's hard to keep up! Loads of orchids in the field opposite the house - here's one of my favourites the small flowered tongue orchid