Better late than never!

Susie, Jasper and Ruby visit - part 1

Picked Susie, Jasper and Ruby up from the airport on Monday. It's the first time Jasper and Ruby had ever been outside of the UK and the first time they had flown so they were suitably excited.

Le mardi, j'ai cherché Susie, Jasper et Ruby de l'aéroport de Blagnac. Pour les enfants c'etait le premier fois dehors Royaume Uni et le premier vol, doncs ils se sont excité.

The weather was a bit crappy for the first few days but it didn't matter too much. We got out and about and also visited the caves at Niaux with their prehistoric paintings.

Nous n'avons pas le beau temps ces premier jours mais dommage. Nous avons promené un peu et nous avons visité les grottes de Niaux avec leurs murals prehistorique.

The happy couple

On Tuesday I proposed to Susie (we'd already chosen and commissioned the ring). We plan on getting married next summer.

Le lundi j'ai fais une demande en mariage à Susie (nous avons deja commandè la bague).

The ring! (blue black sapphire in white gold)

Jasper and Ruby seem to love the environment here and are happy that we're getting married.

Jasper et Ruby aiment le pays ici et ils sont content que nous nous sommes marié.

Ruby

Jasper doing "the apeman"

Jasper and Ruby

Susie, Jasper and Ruby visit - part 2

The weather finally improved on Thursday/Friday and everyone got a taste of the heat here even in February. Friday was Ruby's birthday so we all went skiing. The first time for Susie and the kids, but they all did really well and enjoyed themselves.

Le jeudi/vendredi, le beau temps est arrivé enfin et mes visiteurs ont senti la chaleur de fevrier. Vendredi etait l'anniversaire de Ruby et nous avons fait du ski. Le premier fois pour Susie et les enfants, mais ils ont aimé beaucoup.

During the week we also made some sausages, tapped birch trees for their sap and made some birch syrup (delicious with pancakes).

Pendant le semaine nous avons fais les saucisses, ramassé le sevre de bouleau et avons fais du syrop (délicieuse avec les crêpes)

The girls having a snooze

Jasper had his first attempts at shooting an air rifle and he did really well - hitting a sub-10mm bullseye at 15m from a standing position and achieving excellent grouping.

Jasper a fais son premier essaye à tirer un carabine d'air comprimer.

Jasper shooting

Ruby's birthday

Lichens and fungii

On Sunday afternoon the snow started and by Monday morning there was 20cm. The snowplough was late so we had to set out for the airport regardless. No bother for the car but it was slow going and we only just made the check in. In fact I had to plead with the airline staff to let them board (even though I secretly wished they'd have to stay).

La neige a commencé de tomber dimanche l'apres-midi et lundi il y avais 20cm. La chasse neige etait tardif mais néanmoins nous sommes parti à l'aéroport. Nous avons progessé lentement et ils ont manqué presque l'avion.

ill

I have been suffering from a bout of man-flu and a dry hacking cough last few days (probably aggravated by building dust at Pont). Snow is slowly arriving on the mountains now and at Guzet they now have a reasonable number of pistes open (though none of the black runs). Is the ski season about to start?

Susie, Jasper and Ruby arrive on Monday alas they seem to have missed the amazing weather as the coming week is forecast to be wet and changeable...never mind, it's the first of many trips.

Today before the drizzle arrived at 4.00pm I've been a tree-surgeon, a laundry boy, a puncture repair man, a woodsman, a farmer, a blogger and in a minute I hope to be asleep...I didn't get much rest last night.

J'ai souffert d'une atteinte grippale et de toux sèche ces derniers jours (probrablement aggravée par la poussière à Pont). La neige arrive lentement sur les montagnes et à Guzet ils ont à présent un nombre raisonnable de pistes ouvertes (mais aucune des pistes noires). La saison de ski serait-elle sur le point de démarrer ?
Susie, Jasper et Ruby arrivent lundi, hélas, ils ont vraisemblablement manqué le temps exceptionnel vu que la semaine prochaine est annoncée humide et variable... pas grave, c'est le premier parmi de nombreux séjours.
Aujourd'hui, avant la tombée de la bruine vers 16h, j'ai fait office d' arboriculteur, blanchisseur, réparateur de crevaison, forestier, fermier, blogger et dans une minute j'espère dormir... ce qui n'a pas été beaucoup le cas la nuit dernière.....traduction par Dani (Merci)

Cosy

A big tidy up today at Quélébu, as my back is a bit sore from hurling rocks and hauling plasterboard. The upstairs is now spotless and has lots more space, and the cosy little attic is ready for Jasper and Ruby. Hopefully they'll have their own bedrooms by the autumn.

Aujourd'hui une grande nettoyage à Quélébu, au cause de mon doleur au dos de jetant les pierres et tirant les placoplâtres. L'etage est nickel et il y a plus d'espace et le sympa grenier est pret pour Jasper et Ruby. J'espère que ils vont avoir leurs mêmes chambres en automne.

Moving rocks

After working at Pont for most of last week and Saturday being probably the last day of the amazing weather, I decided to stay at home today. I got to work clearing the land beside the ruin and then starting to move and sort the tonnes of stone which were lying close to the building.

Pont

Works progressing nicely at Pont - the walls to bedroom 2 and 3 are insulated and plasterboarded as is the roof. Only the sloping soffits still have to be boarded. The lighting and sockets are wired and working.
Of course there's bedroom 4 to do and all the second fix joinery, decorating, and board jointing to do yet!

Hot

Another beautiful day...alas I'm busy working inside at Pont for the next couple of weeks.

Pic de la Calabasse

A lovely day in the mountains today with Ian, Ben and Sandrine. A fairly relaxed start at 10.15 from the ancient slate mine (1000m) above Ruech. It was freezing in the deep sunless valley but we followed the Besset stream and soon emerged into glorious sun and summer temperatures.

After the little cabane we skipped the Col de l'Herbe Soulette and climbed the snowy ridge to the summit of Pic de la Calabasse (2210m). Crampons were necessary for much of the ascent.

The ridge to the summit

The views from the summit are immense and we lay in the sun eating lunch for an hour.

Panorama to the east

Panorama to the west

The onward route took us down to the Col de la Calabasse.

Pic de la Calabasse from the Col de la Calabasse, Sandrine in the distance

Then along the snowy ridge over Roche des Gours, Pic de Paumaude, Tuc des Pans and finally the Col de Lourech from where we cut across to the Col de Quimes. Here we quit the ridge to descend steeply past numerous barns to eventually reach the forest track and then the car. 7hrs and 1200m height gain.

We returned to news that a mini bus had crashed off the road at the Col du Pause and 3 people are dead, 2 seriously injured and another 4 also injured.

Lenticular

Some more lenticular clouds behind Mont Valier early this morning.

Busy

Been rushing around a bit too much since getting back from the UK - chopping firewood, working at Pont, a trip to Pamiers to get insulation, a trip to the notaire, a trip to a friends house in Boussenac to check for frozen pipes. A half hour walking the fields was a welcome moment of calm. It's easy to forget how beautiful it is here.

Bright sunshine this morning with lenticular clouds over the mountains. Light rain swept in over the peaks this afternoon. More sunny weather on the horizon so this weekend will be a good opportunity to catch up on farm work - topping the brambles, lopping low branches and maybe pruning the old apples trees. Maybe a walk in the mountains too.

Dartmoor

Back from another trip to the UK visiting Susie, Jasper and Ruby. Did some decorating for the Dare's during the week which has helped to fund my trips!

A lovely crisp day walking on Dartmoor last Saturday.

Susie and Ruby posing

Susie walking on water

Some lovely lichen

Lovely Susie

Dom and Bridget

Light snow here at Quélébu on my return, but there is still no significant snowfall on the horizon - it's looking like a dire ski-season.

Tractor mended!

My plan worked and the tractor works! There was a small hole in the hose between tank and fuel pump.

Je suis desolé que je suis tardif avec les traductions en français, ils arriveront bientôt.

Tractor problems

A couple of very frustrating days trying to solve a diesel engine problem. The tractor runs for 10 mins or so then it starts to miss, loose power and eventually conks out and won't restart. At first I thought there was some water in the fuel as the behaviour started when I was traversing a steep hill and I assumed that the water in the fuel (which would sit at the bottom) probably moved over fuel tank outlet and was sucked into the cylinders. After changing all the fuel the problem has persisted. Once it's conked out I'm pretty sure there's no fuel getting through (no smoke from the exhaust) but I can get the tractor running again by bleeding the fuel line at the injectors. So now I'm pretty sure that it's air getting into the fuel line....but where from? It's a two cylinder, air cooled Ruggerini RD 220. So a pretty basic diesel engine.

My plan is to replace all the fuel lines (they look pretty old and perished) and jubilee clips, plus the fuel filter for good measure. Hope that does the trick otherwise it might be something more serious, beyond my knowledge and therefore expensive!

Studwork

Back to Pont today to continue with the studwork which is nearing completion.

Then home for a bit more excavation in the ruin, the pipe is a combustion air supply to the fireplace.

Warm

On Friday I made a day trip to London to accompany Susie to the funeral of her father.

Today I started clearing out the ruin next to the house, which I hope to acquire soon. The weather here is unbelievably warm (25 all day) but winter may finally arrive next week if the forecasts are to be believed. As usual here, the ruin is full of rubble, car parts, bottles and other assorted rubbish. I'll probably need to borrow a mini digger to properly empty the building. Plans have been quickly drawn for a possible extension of the house but I won't be 'counting my chickens'...'until the fat lady sings', or at least until the notaire has prepared documents for us both to sign.

Etang Bleu

After yesterday balmy day basking on hot rock in shirt sleeves, today with a change in weather and location we plunged into winter.

Post holing in rotten snow on the way up

The weather was cloudy and rainy this morning but we knew it would be snowing higher up. We headed off for the Etang Garbet with the idea of maybe pushing on to the Etang Bleu if the weather wasn't too bad. It is rare for Paul and I to venture into the mountains together without some disaster besetting us (a few years ago we were avalanched out of a couloir climb on Pic Maubermé), so it was no surprise when on reaching Garbettou that we realised we were following fresh bear tracks through the snow! They were difficult to photograph in the flat light but the size of the print, the size of the stride and the 5 forward pointing toes with big claws were a give-away. He was somewhere out there in the mist but we didn't see him. A few minutes later the crash of a sizeable avanlanche somewhere to our left in the low clouds rang out. It was reassuring to know that after yesterday's uneventful rock climbing that things were back to normal!

The Etang Garbet was completely frozen and by the time we got there it was blizzard conditions. The push on to the Etang Bleu in the rapidly deteriorating weather didn't appeal so we headed for home.

The frozen Etang Garbet

Climbing at Calames

Paul is staying for the weekend, so today as there is no snow to speak of and the weather is unbelievable warm we headed over to Calamès for some rock climbing. It's been nearly 18 months since I roped up but the I soon got back into it. We climbed several routes at 5a, 5b, and 5b+ in glorious sunshine. We bumped into Donna and Tes at the crag, then called in on Emily and the twins on the way home.

Rain forecast for tomorrow, but hopefully we'll get a full day in the mountains regardless.

Shin splints

A short time before Christmas I started running again, after a five year lay-off. Although I've done 2 half marathons, I've never considered myself "a runner". All started well but now I am beginning to suffer shin pains (which was one of the reasons why I gave up I now remember). After a couple of miles my shins hurt, I feel myself running flat footed, it feels like my forward foot is already swinging backwards before it hits the ground and when I stop to try and stretch, I find I can't pivot my foot upwards from the ankle. Any advice would be most welcome.

On Tuesday night I had a pleasant evening with Magnus, Anne-France, their children and briefly Serge (Danni his wife was unwell so he had to leave early). Yesterday I was hunting for the first time in ages and today I finished the pointing for the first two attic rooms at Pont de la Taule. Next week I can make a start with insulating the roof, building the studwork and plasterboarding.

Another balmy day, 25 degrees in the sun this afternoon.

Woodpecker

A decidedly balmy day today with an assortment of birds in the garden.

Back home

After a lovely break in the UK with Susie, Jasper and Ruby, I've been back home for a couple of days now. The chainsaw is mended, firewood cut, the Rayburn is lit and the house is warming up again after my 2 week absence. There's very little snow in the mountains and none forecast in the coming week - glad I managed to get a ski tour done earlier in the year.

Nevertheless the weather turned cold yesterday afternoon and we had a dusting of snow during the night here at Quelebu.