Turguilla

David on 'Les Choucas'

Climbing today at Turguilla and the rain held off until 4.00pm. In fact the weather was warm and sunny for most of the day as we were above the clouds. We visited 3 sectors - "C'est quand qu'on arrive?" where we climbed Maries Celle (5b), then we moved to "C'est encore loin" climbing Les choucas (5b), L'ami molette (6a), then two excellent routes C'est pour toi (5c) and Spitonneur (6a) and finally "C'est pas vrai!" climbing Le rhum des coins (5b) which was not worthwhile.

Yaron on 'Spitonneur'

David managed to walk in and climb 3 of the routes with his repaired heels and Yaron experienced his first hanging belay!

Hanging belay on 'Les Rhum des Coins'

Away from civilisation at 1900m the site has a "belle ambiance des montagnes" and lovely rough granite.

Anisclo

Whilst I scythed, picked and froze my french beans, harvested potatoes and washed clothes, Yaron and David went to Spain to the Anisclo canyon. It's truly spectacular but I've been many times already. The Spanish side of the mountains were very hot, whilst here in France the clouds blew-in in the afternoon, and tonight it's drizzly. Hopefully a short walk in the mountains tomorrow.

Climbing at Auzat

Yesterday Yaron and David headed off to Foix and the underground river at Labouiche (whilst I caught up with shopping and farmwork). They spotted this great bit of art on the way.

Today we headed to Auzat for a spot of climbing on the granite (mostly 5c), with Penny and Will - it was hot on the rock.

On the way back over the Port de Lers the parapentes were out.

David's heels were still really painful but tonight we've put some compeed on so hopefully they'll be up to one last walk or climb before their holiday is over.

Mont Valier (3)

A religious experience?

Rupert was keen to get a big mountain day in before he left tomorrow, so with the weather forecast to improve in the afternoon, I decided to take him, Yaron and David up Mont Valier from the Col de Pause via Port d'Aula and Petit Valier. Although there's only 1850m of height gain it's a long and tiring route with a short section of exposed scrambling before Petit Valier -but to my mind the best way up the mountain (without climbing).

We set off from the Col de Pause at 8.00 in thick damp cloud with poor visibility. We quickly reached the Port d'Aula (1hr 20) where conditions improved dramatically. It was one of those days when France was deep in cloud and Spain bathed in bright sunshine. Occassionally the cloud would spill over the frontier ridge and strange miniature rainbows would appear before us.

We saw the usual wildlife - marmots, isards, vultures, and a Pyrenean frog. After the scramble along the ridge in cold swirling clouds, the sky cleared a little and Valier appeared above the 'cotton wool' sea.

It took us 6hrs to reach the summit (including lunch stops) but the views with the many layers and types of clouds were fantastic and worth the effort.

David on the summit

With visibility still poor below 2500m in France and Yaron and David looking tired (too long sat behind desks), I decided not to return via the Couloir de Peyre Blanc so we returned the same way.

Col de Peyre Blanc

The return leg was at a much slower pace and we finally got back to the car after 11hrs.

Back at the house David removed his boots to reveal some horrific open blisters - amazingly he'd felt no discomfort until the last hour of the descent.

Ouch!

Visitors and mushrooms

Yaron, David, Rupert and Charlie arrived yesterday evening. Although it was the hottest day of the year so far, last night we had an electrical storm and today it has remained cool and overcast. So a walk nearby and the chance to collect some mushrooms.



Tomorrow, a bigger walk in the mountains hopefully.

The Moon setting behind Mont Valier

Port d'Aula, Port de Salau (Mountain bike)

Climbing out of the cloud

It's been quite a while since I was last on the mountain bike (years) but I've been harbouring a plan to cycle upto the Port d'Aula (2260m) traverse the spanish slopes to the Port de Salau (2087m) and descend to Salau and then Couflens.

Today was the day and together with Ian and Barry, an early start was made. The thought of 1700m of ascent was a bit too daunting so we drove to the Col de Pause (1527m) to kill some of the height gain. We were soon above the clouds but the early morning sun wasn't too hot, so the ascent was lovely.

The rocky track which leads to the Port d'Aula is at an unchanging gradient from start to finish and we reached it in a little over 2 hours.

The first section of switchbacks leading to the Cabane d'Areau

On the Spanish side things change dramatically - no paths, no waymarks, just steep slopes to traverse on narrow sheep tracks. perhaps 10% of the 5km could be ridden the rest was pushing, dragging or carrying the bike. Awkward, but not too demanding. Another 1hr 30mins saw us at the Port de Salau and the start of 1400m (4500ft) of descent.

The Port d'Salau

We managed to ride 90% of it. In fact the trickiest part was the path between 1450m and 1300m where many rocks made the going delicate - more so after one of my feet slipped off the pedals and the other shin received an almighty whack from it - drawing blood and I'll have quite a bruise!

Stopped in at Les Myrtilles when we arrived in Salau for a couple of beers before pressing on back to the car.I won the prize for the ascent, Ian for the descent and Barry got a special prize for sheer determination in the face of adversity. All in all a grand day out.

Wrestling with the Hay

The upper terrace

The middle field

Another hot day (two in a row) and after two trips to St Girons (I can never manage to guess correctly all the plumbing components I need for a job first time around) I have finally finished getting all the hay in. The last field has three Giant Haystacks and the last one, which I have just finished, must be the Big Daddy of them all - about 12 feet high. It was all I could do to throw the hay up onto the top of it.

Big Daddy

Stuff

The rain stayed away for most of today, so after scything field 4 (long overdue) I quickly knocked up a table from a couple of old shutters. Then down to the hayfield to build a haycock with the second day's hay and to rake the third day's hay in windrows and turn it. Hannah, Saskia and Natasha then arrived, baskets in hands, to pick some cherries if I would show them where the cherry trees were. It didn't take long to fill the baskets - just as well, as the rain started shortly afterwards!

Ariege Monsoon

Jeez - will it ever stop raining?

Rain

Spoke too soon, the hay making rain-dance does it again.

Heat, Hay and Flies

Summer seems at last to have arrived and I've been busy making hay in a field in the woods below the house. It belongs to Paul in the village, but he's happy for me to use it and store the hay in his barn nearby too. After the cool and wet May and June, the sudden heat has hatched just about every fly in the Ariege. It's worst down in the woods and so hay making has been hellish. I think the cut grass attracts the flies. It' bad enough that there are a million flies swarming around you, going in your eyes, up your nose, in your mouth, but most of them are clegg flies (a type of horse fly, the female of which is a voracious blood sucker) so you're being bitten too. There were a few massive horse flies (I've seen smaller birds - really scary) and some hornets too - so I decided to build a mesh hood for protection. I now look like a cross between Ned Kelly, the Elephant man and member of the Klu Klux Klan! But it does the job. It's a big field and it'll take three days to cut. So far I've cut 2/3rds, 1/3 is drying and 1/3 is in. Last stint of scything tomorrow. I start at 6.00 each morning but by 9.30 the grass is getting tough, the scythe needs peening and I'm knackered.

Managed to nearly cut my ring finger off at the first joint when I smacked it against the edge of corrugated iron roof. Saw the two bones, some tendons and cartiledge - thought it might need stitching. But instead I used some of the vet's "miracle spray" which worked wonders on the sheeps foot and it's done an equally miraculous job on my finger. Still quite sore and swollen but it fused back together in 24 hours and seems to be working as it should - though with some discomfort.

Where is the summer?

It's the second week of July, the number of decent summer days this year I can count on one hand. It's 1o degrees and I'm sat in front of the fire reading book. It was warmer for most of the winter and certainly sunnier. What's going on!

Et Voila!

Bon appétit!

Supper

Drizzly today, so a short walk in the woods to collect supper - chanterelles, hedgehog of the woods and a few small ceps. Together with some of my home made bacon I think probably a risotto is on the menu.

Pic de Lasaugede

The upper part of the route viewed from Pic Soubirou last winter

As the weather forecast for at least the first half of today was good (rain arriving in the late afternoon) I decided another day in the mountains was called for. Three peaks to the west of Certescan were the targets - Pic de Lasaugede 2760m (the Spanish call it Tuc de l'Estany Blanc), Pointe 2696m, and Pointe 2771m (the Spanish call it Tuc de la Lleia) though it has no name on the IGN map.
Starting from Ossese I climbed above the Cascade Lastien, but I failed to find the path to the Cabane de Bonrepos - in fact there is no path, only some red paint marks to show the way traversing the steep slopes above the cliffs, and occasional cables to protect the route. Knowing that I'd gone too far I decided to head straight up the mountainside, hoping to intercept the correct route. It was precariously steep and I was just beginning to think that it was a foolish idea when I came across a good path traversing the slope, there were no red paint marks but it appeared to be going the right way. Alas, it became clear that this wasn't the path when I eventually rejoined the stream at Fonta. Oh well, nothing for it but to climb the mountainside again. After much searching for red paint marks I decided I might as well use the map, compass and my nose to find my own route to the cabane. The tiny cabane (about 4 feet high) was within sight when the red paint marks miraculously appeared. I was met by a berger (shepherd) and his dog who were staying there - transpired he was a mountaineer and ski tourer too (he skied down Cap de Ruhos when he was 15!) - we exchanged a few stories before I pushed on.
The going for the next part was easy, now I had the paint to follow, though there was no path and the going was fairly rough. Some fantastic granite spires loomed overhead, if they were in the Alps every part would have a climbing route on it - I doubt they've been climbed here.

All too soon it was time to leave the paint marks behind and just use the map to find a route up through 'Aliot' to 'the prison' the local name for the upper cirque. The going was similar to the nearby french route to Certescan, a mixture of bilberry, roche moutonées, snow and large blocks of granite. I scrambled up onto the rim of the cirque over snow and compact granite slabs. The ridge was very narrow and the final climb to Pic de Lasaugede over a chaotic mass of huge granite blocks. The views to nearby Pic de Montabone and Certescan were fantastic and below on the Spanish side was Estany Blanc (wrongly called Lac Gueroso on the IGN map) with its ice just beginning to melt.

The Spanish sides of Pic de Montabone (left) and Certescan (right) viewed from Tuc de Lleia. I climbed along the horseshoe ridge on the left.

Estany Blanc

I spotted two walkers (tiny specks) climbing to the Col de Certescan - I crossed it many years ago with Ollie on the HRP.
The ridge to the next two peaks was narrow and exposed, but once I'd got my head used to it, it was a very enjoyable scramble which took about an hour.

The first section of the ridge from Pic de Lasaugede (left) to Pointe 2696m (right)

From Tuc de Lleia I descended the huge scree slopes on the Spanish side before crossing back through the Col de l'Aliot and into France.

The view over Pic Marterat to Mont Rouch (middle of the picture with the obvious snow couloir running diagonally upwards to split the French and Spanish summits)

By now the cloud was nearly upon me - The day had started without a cloud in the sky, but all day I had been watching a sea of cloud, slowly advancing towards the mountains. I checked my position on the map, set the altimeter then I was engulfed. Visibility was about 10m. No paths, no markers, difficult terrain. With just map, compass and altimeter I managed to navigate all the way back to the red paint markers once more. By a combination of luck and skill I arrived at one of the few additional cairns between the paint marks (otherwise I could have easily missed them). I was pleased,but the going now was desperately slow. Even though I had the paint marks to guide me safely down, they were at 15-20m spacing and with 10m visibility it often became a trial and error search in the mist to find the next mark. After the hut, I had no prior knowledge of the route (having failed to find it on the way up) and things were even slower - especially as here a wrong turn might send me over a cliff! Eventually I made it down and regained the path to the car but it had been another long day (10 hours) with more than 2000m of height gain - again.

La Vie Ariegeois

Yesterday I was up early to cut the hay in Dédé's field (beautiful grass which after some light rain the night before was easy work for the scythe), then back home to finish the drawings of John and Sandrine's gites. A meeting at 12.00 with their builders which became a long lunch. Then back to the field to turn the hay. In the evening more fruit harvesting - wild cherries and strawberries.

Today up early to turn the hay with Minsou (Dédé's wife - I think they're both in their 80's but she insisted on helping). Then back home for l'apero with Philippe and Celine and all the neighbours (10 of them) to celebrate the completion of their outbuilding behind my house. A short siesta to sleep off the drinks (it was very hot today - 33 degrees in the shade) then back to the field to turn the hay again. A big storm was brewing and as the hay was already dry I decided to proceed immediately to gathering it into two haycocks. Minsou arrived again to help and as the thunder and lightning continued around us we finished getting in the hay - of course once it was in, the storm passed - with not a drop of rain!

The haycocks - probably need restacking so they're a bit steeper sided when the hay and the weather have settled.

Back to Dédé and Minsou's for l'apero, then more locals arrive, le Suisse, his wife Evelyne, another couple from Biech and the Mayor. Finally at 8.00 it's time to stagger home slightly pickled.

Glow worms

Hot and humid today with thundery weather this evening (but no rain). Quite a few incredibly bright glow worms outside tonight.

Works over the past few days:
Topping fields 2 and 4 and 5, scything the various paths from them down to the stream and a few parcelles close to the house (not mine);
Finishing the barn accommodation - made a couple of beds, some curtains, some duvet covers, finished the wiring, now just awaiting a solar panel and all is done;
Some architectural work for my neighbours;
Weeding the vegetable patches;
A short walk;

Tomorrow probably cutting a small field for hay which belongs to Dédé (one of my neighbours) - which means it will probably rain for the next week.

Maubermé

Maubermé towers 6500ft above the nearest point of access

I climbed Pic Maubermé (2880m) today (it was third time lucky as the last two winter attempts were disastrous). The weather looked doubtful this morning at 6.30 when I left the house but I was soon above the clouds and the weather was perfect. There was still some steep snow just before the Port d'Urets but I managed to avoid it and was there in 3 hours exactly. The onward route was mostly on snow or crappy scree liquified with snow melt. although a detour near the summit produced a nice bit of climbing. It took another two hours to reach the summit which is the highest in the Couserans.

View over the clouds from Port d'Urets

The summit shot

Mines de Bentaillou (telephoto lens shot from the summit)

Rather than descend the same way I headed for the Port de Hourquette and descended towards the Mines de Bentaillou, but kept right passing the refuge de sans and crossing the bottom of the Couloir Tartereau (scene of my recent avalanche). It was a long outing (9hrs) and with over 2000m (6600ft) of vertical ascent and then descent and about 24km (15miles) my feet and knees are feeling it.

Waterfall at the bottom of the Couloir Tartereau

Fruity

Looks like being a bumper berry harvest this year (in stark contrast to last year when we had virtually none). Fruits from the forest and ice cream for desert tonight - wild strawberries, wild cherries and a few raspberries.

Overcast most of today but forecast is for some clear skies tomorrow morning, so I'll probably make a long overdue trip to the mountains.

The great escape!

Marigold (furthest away in this picture)

Marigold after the last race - all the sails down except the mainsail - there are normally another 5.

Just back from 4 days of crewing on a 22m, 1892 gaff rigg (aurique en Francais) racing yacht called 'Marigold' in the Marseille Vieux Port regatta. It was an amazing experience. Marigold is a beautifully restored wooden built boat with cotton sails, laid ropes and rigging and no winches. She was restored about twenty years ago and Jason, who I go skiing with, has been the skipper for the last 15 years or so. He invited Ian and I to help crew her and we both jumped at the chance even though we both suffer from seasickness. In fact this wasn't a problem and neither of us had any problems. Everyday there was a race on a different course around the islands off Marseille. Normally there were 8 of us sailing the ship (though a few more people joined in on Sunday). Marigold weighs well over 30 tons, but with 250 sqm of sail, in a good wind she really moves. It was amazing when the wind got up, to feel the power of the boat as she lent over at 40 degrees and sped along.

The races where against similar wooden gaff rigg boats but with a huge variety of ages (some from as recently as the 1940s) - marigold was about the oldest and the only boat with cotton sails and all original features, but apart from the day when the wind was very light, she is very competitive and we got a first and second place.

We slept onboard every night but on Saturday night it was the fete des musiques in France. We wandered into the Quartier des Paniers of Marseille and partied until the early hours to a huge selection of music from Marseille's multi-cultural population, with every street and square providing a different sound (and taste as nearly every house had a table outside and was selling some home made food or other). Ian and I managed to stay on until the end of the last race of the Regatta before a zodiac (an inflatable speedboat) came to collect us at the finishing line. A mad jump from one boat to the other and we were whisked back to Marseille just in time for the train home.

Meanwhile, the day I left for Marseille my sheep decided to make a break for freedom! They managed to escape from the field and find their way to Aleu village, and then the next day up onto Joubac - the nearest 'mountain'. John (my neighbour) came to the rescue and managed to track them down and somehow to herd them back into one of my fields before my return yesterday. Una, Tara and Jeanie are looking pretty sheepish today. The hay has dried whilst I've been away and I spent most of the day putting it back into 4 haycocks.

Past few days

For the past few days the poor weather has continued and I've been catching up with farm work and finishing off the inside of the upstairs in the barn - which should be finished next week. This will provide somewhere for visitors to sleep which is less cramped than trying to put everyone up in Quelebu and a bit more private. Photos when all is finished.

Yesterday a trip to Ikea Toulouse to get a few bits and pieces and a new sofa. The one I have at the moment is a second hand Ikea one given to me by Ian and Ruth when I first bought Quelebu, it's a bit tired now and was never very comfortable - but it'll go well in the barn 'appartment'.

I had a broody chicken today sitting on ten eggs - so I hurriedly built a broody box for her so she wouldn't be disturbed - but then she changed her mind! Women! Oh well I have a broody box for next time.

Weather is set to improve at last tomorrow, just as I leave for a few days in Marseille, typical. Will have to spread out the hay before I go and hope its dry when I get back.