A stroll in the woods

Heading for the Col

Above Cominac

Picnic time

We return to fantastic summer like weather in the Pyrenees. A lovely walk local walk to the Col de Boulogne and Cominac to start off the holiday. We spotted 2 different species of swallowtail butterfly and a black woodpecker.

Bristol Airport - stupidity or profiteering?

After dropping Susie, Jasper, Ruby and our luggage off at the railway station in Totnes I went off to park the car and join them. Incredibly after 20 minutes of searching I was still unable to find anywhere to park and ended up missing the train! I managed to catch a later one and still make the flight - just.

At Bristol airport I encountered the most incredible idiocy. As required by UK airport regulations, every time I fly I put the toiletries in my hand luggage (liquids and gels) in a clear ziplock plastic bag and ensure that they are less than 100ml each. Never a problem. Only now Bristol airport has decided that this isn't good enough - the ziplock bag must measure exactly 20cm x 20cm! Mine was 20cm x 24cm and so they detained me and then destroyed all the contents of my ziplock bag because my bag was the wrong size. I was f***ing furious and ready for a major argument but they were calling my flight and had to settle for telling the guy what I thought of his interpretation of international flight security regulations...to add insult to injury I was allowed to keep the plastic bag. I wish it had been a bit bigger because then I could have used it to suffocate him.

The UK Government says that the bag should be approximately 20cm x 20cm NOT exactly 20cm x 20cm. Bristol airport is profiteering by selling the 20cm x 20cm bags for £1 each. Know your rights!!

Devon

A week long trip to Devon enjoying some lovely spring weather. Trips to the gardens at Dartington, the beach with the Dares (where Pearl became a mermaid) a trip to Herefordshire to visit Susie's sister and my dad and even time for some home improvements, this time in the living room. Now we're all off to the Pyrenees!

Cabane d'Eychelle

Etang d'Eychelle still frozen

The panorama from the Cabane

Cabane d'Eychelle

A quick trip upto the Cabane d'Eychelle today carrying firewood and some rations for an overnight trip with Susie, Jasper and Ruby next week (cache safely hidden away). It was snow shoes all the way and the wood weighed a tonne! Spent a couple of hours cleaning the Cabane which was filthy and took down a huge bag of rubbish, though another is still there awaiting removal (I could only carry one).

All neat and tidy...there's a fireplace too

We're in the middle of a heat wave here, glorious temperatures up in the 30's - spring has definitely sprung, feels like summer.

A bit chilly

Owl pellet

A bit more concreting today - in much cooler weather thankfully.

Another fruitless search for morels in the afternoon - a larger tour to the Col de Boulogne, Col de Bidal and high above Cane. The first orchids are out and I found an owl pellet for later dissection!

My ham is also finally nearly ready - its the first ham I've done off the bone but has matured beautifully.

Works back home

A glorious day today - 37 in the sun, I'm burnt and knackered.

Pressed on with making shuttering, and then capping the rear wall of the ruin with concrete. Then I demolished the remains of the gable to the approximate level of the final wall. This will need capping with concrete also to stabilise it, but first there is a doorway to create through it...it's 70cm thick...oh boy!

Pont

Bedroom 2

Little bedroom 3

The attic bedrooms at Pont are beginning to take shape...but with the return of good weather (32 today and still 22 after the sun had set) I'll be working on the extension this weekend.

Wild boar!

A three hour stroll through the woods after a day at Pont and then signing for the ruin at the Notaires. Close to Bauch I came upon an area of broom and could hear pigs! I waited and it wasn't long before a good sized wild boar poked its head out and eyeballed me. We stared at each other for about 20 seconds...then I clapped my hands and it ran off with about 10 other by the sounds of commotion and panic in the undergrowth. I made for the cover of an abandoned piece of farm machinery - just in case! It was one of those days, earlier I spooked a herd of Roe deer

Animals, garlic and a spoon.

All day at Pont, bedroom 2 is now just waiting for second fix joinery and decorating, bedroom 3 should be in the same state tomorrow.

Home in time to enjoy the evening. The chickens are finally settling down and tonight for the first time the cockerel went into the chicken house by himself (last two nights I've had to catch him!).

My grey hens

The sheep are happy as the grass is growing fast...

There are eight, one is hiding!

...as is the garlic.

I also made my first "find" here during excavations...a french pewter spoon which after some cleaning and polishing looks very fine.

Chickens and Walls

After working to improve security on the chicken run yesterday, this morning I was up early to buy chickens. 4 grey hens and a chestnut rooster. No eggs yet.

As the weather was glorious I decided to work at home (next week it will rain so I'll press on with the inside works at Pont). I sign for the ruin on Tuesday, but decided to make a start on the back wall. It has a bit of a bow where the pressure of soil has pushed the wall inwards so it needed knocking down for a few feet and rebuilding. Also I needed to make holes the new floor joists. The knocking down went quickly...but so did the rebuilding by 4.30 I'd finished. Like most old stone buildings here, the walls are effectively dry stone walls with a little bit of clay soil in the middle of it. The roof and careful pointing should keep it waterproof.

Starting the knocking down - many stones had to be abandoned as they're too heavy to lift

All rebuilt

Ready for a concrete topping

Holes for the beams

Of course it needs small stones wedging in the wall face, a concrete topping and some pointing, but the skills I gained building the barn a few years all came flooding back.

Toasty

Another amazing warm cloudless day today (30 degrees in the sun). Spent most of the day plastering at Pont. 2 bedrooms are now ready for painting. I ran out of plaster before I could start the landing so continued with some more pointing in the last bedroom. At 3.00 I headed for home.

The sun doesn't set until 7.00 so I topped field 6 with the tractor and topper, strimmed the front garden and then pottered about in the garden. Spring is sprung and everything is starting to grow...time to sharpen the scythe!

No Morels Yet

Lungwort

Wood Anenome

A warm sunny day today. So after the usual chores, I weeded the strawberry bed - then after discovering several mushrooms decided to go off in search of Morels. Still too early I think, but there were plenty of flowers.

The sheep are enjoying the sun.

Work resumes at Pont tomorrow.

Devon

Another week with Susie and the kids in Devon. Some fantastic weather, a weekend having a huge tidy-up in the garden, some paid work doing DIY for Dominic and Bridget. Some hunting around the charity shops, a bit of seat re-covering and DIY table building and we have a new dining room!

Spring flowers

I dug over the vegetable garden in the heat of the early evening - more hungry mouths to feed this season! Just 2 spring cabbages left in the fresh food larder.
The lovely weather has brought out the first flowers in the woods around Quelebu.

The barn, the woodshed, the workshop and the house on the horizon, fields 1, 2 and 3 below and the lavoire I excavated a few years ago at the bottom.

Pont progress

The stairs

Bedroom 2

Bedroom 4

After several long days at Pont, the plasterboarding and insulation in the attic is at last (98%) finished. The back of work in the attic is at last broken and in a few weeks it should all be finished and the 4 bed property with barn and double garage on the market. Just in time to start the build at Quelebu!

The good weather continues

Hot

Field 7

Another amazingly warm and sunny day. Good weather is forecast all this week.

In shorts and a vest top I worked all day in the fields, replacing the plastic tread-in fence posts in fields 3 and 6 with timber ones. I then used the plastic ones to fence 7 for the first time. I'll let the sheep at it this week.

I finished up with digging over one of the small vegetable patches where I'll plant some garlic.

Ski

At last a day on the slopes! I missed the day after the big snowfall so today was on the pistes at Guzet. Mostly up and down the blacks on Freychet, before the heat and crowds turned me away at lunchtime.

After my recent bout of flu which required antibiotics (for the first time in about 12 years) I now seem to have another mild infection and my tonsils are the size of golf balls!

Spent the afternoon in the sun mucking out the sheep, fetching hay and straw from the barn in the tractor and moving more rocks from around the ruin.

Enfin une journée sur les pistes! J'ai manqué la journée après la neige est tombé donc aujourd'hui je restais sur les pistes à Guzet. Plusiers fois dans les pistes noires de Freychet, avant le chaleur et toutes le monde m'a rentrée.

J'ai pris l'après dans le soliel nettoyant la grange, ramenant du foin et de la paille avec le tracteur, et portant les cailloux au tour de la ruine.

Mmmm

Clear skies and plenty of snow - time for a ski tour I think!

Éclaircies et beaucoup de la neige - ski de rando?