Mont Valier (6)

I was a bit late getting up this morning and by the time I arrived at the Col de Pause it was already 9.45. I wasn't sure of my fitness, as with the all the building and travelling I haven't had any big mountain days this year. Still, I decided to head off at a good pace and see how far I got.

I made Spain at the Port d'Aula in 1 hour 10 mins and after another 1 hour 30 mins I was back in France beneath Pic de la Pale de la Clauere, I was flying along! After a quick stop for food I made the summit just 3 hours 30 mins after leaving the Col de Pause - a personal record.

Etang Rond and Etang Long from below the summit

The last haul of zig-zags to the top

Glacier Arcouzan far below the summit

The summit

On the descent to the Col de Faustin I passed a young couple, the only people I saw all day outside of the Col de Pause. Vultures, Isard and Marmots were in abundance.

Two baby marmots quite oblivious of me, mum was long gone!

Isards

I decided to return by a different route and descended via the Couloir de Peyre Blanc to the Cabane d'Aula. 1200m (just short of 4000 feet) of knee jarring steep descent after which there's a cruel sting in the tail of another 400m (1300 feet) of ascent and descent to reach the Col de Pause once more.

Mont Valier on the right and Petit Valier to it's left. The final part of my ascent

followed the skyline left to right. My descent dropped steeply from the low

point left of Petit Valier all the way to the Cabane d'Aula visible bottom left.

It was a tough day and strangely a repeat of the first mountain trip I made when I first arrived at Quelebu. Then I thought I was pretty fit and it took 8 hours, this time 6 1/2 hours!! Not bad for over 2000m (6600 feet) of ascent - I'm tired but pleased.

Phew!

90% of the cladding finished! Still some scribing in against the stone walls, the gable ends of the dormers and the barge boards to do. Time for a day off...a day in the mountains at last!!

Cladding

Another hot still day had to find some shade to work in. Larch cladding progressing well - should finish it tomorrow.

Another very hot day. Spent most the day doing preparation work for cladding, then a fruitless trip to St Girons looking for an "old" new front door.

Pressing on

It's been incredibly hot for the last few days (38 in the shade) but today has been thankfully cooler.

The day before yesterday I finished knocking through to our bedroom, cut through the oak truss (the tie beam of which is securely bolted to the wall), fitted the oak frame, hung the door and finished the flooring.

Yesterday I had a huge clear up - burning the mountain of offcuts, cleaning out all the new buildings, using the mounds of spoil in front the house to fill behind the retaining wall of the last extension.

Today my neighbours collected some the surplus rocks and I've been plastering the scar from the staircase removal (the whole in the floor has already been boarded in and painted) and fitting the last windows.

A planned walk for tomorrow will have to wait until Thursday - I need to get provisions. Meantime I'll crack on with finding a door and cladding the extension.

All Change!

No more staircase in the living room

Doorway to our bedroom at first floor - but what to

do with the huge oak traversing the doorway?

Second part now watertight

The rear

View from the new porch

Another day

Another day of roofing, another day of rain, another day and I'll be pretty much watertight...good weather arrives again tomorrow!!

Thanks Andrew and Jen for the mushroom guide, it arrived safe and sound - I will try some Russulas!

Enjoying reading "The Paris Wife" at the moment.

Roofing and Rain

How come every time I start on my roof the heavens open? Torrential rain for the last 18 hours and more to come : (

Pressing on with making the second opening between new and old....into our bedroom at first floor.

Big thunderstorm last night with lots of rain...just before I got the roof waterproof of course

Taking shape

Very hot this afternoon and I have flu!! Still work continues, albeit a bit slower.

Progress

A couple more days progressing the bathroom and entrance. Beam and posts are now up to support the covered entrance and the window opening over the bath is formed...next the roof.

Pic Seron (6)

A couple of blissful weeks of glorious sunshine with Susie, Jasper, Ruby and Susie's sister Jen, her husband Andrew and their daughter Rosa.

Mostly relaxing, a bit of swimming in the local river, a trip to Turguilla and swimming in the Etang de Reglisse, shopping at the market, local walks, some mushrooming, spotting glow worms and toads and a bit of scything.

Ruby's underwater pictures of fish in the lake

Onions and leeks were harvested, and the first aubergines are ready.

Jasper and I built the start of the next part of the extension for which he received a Djembe drum.

Back home to a jungle! lots of strimming, weeding and some more building!! Windows in.

Blog views into 6 figures!

Another lovely break in Totnes with Susie, Jasper and Ruby. Managed to buy some bikes for £10 each from the local dump and after a bit of maintenance we all have fully functional bikes for some family excursions.

Susie and I got away for a day trip to Bath and visit to the fashion museum, calling in at Glastonbury Abbey en route.

The weather has been good and we've managed a few trips to the beach as well as decorating our bedroom.

We're all back to the Pyrenees shortly for some home building and more holiday!

Phew!

Some very long working hours but finally before I left, everywhere was (more or less) watertight. Works continue whilst I'm away with a friend doing the floor slabs and foundations.

One more day to finish!

A dry warm day, concrete early in the morning, dormer and valley gutter work all day, onion harvest in the evening...and what a harvest!

Windows have failed to arrive in time...which is a real pain in the arse.

Last of the rain?

Raining again this morning so a trip to St Girons for cement and food. More concreting to finish one of the door jambs, then the rain stopped at 1.30, so on with the roof. It's gonna be tough to get everything watertight in the next 2 days!

Dry at last

The rain continued all morning, so I busied myself with making shuttering for the one of the new door jambs and filling it with concrete. At mid day the rain finally stopped - hurrah!

I got on with the roof and have managed to finishing placing insulation and counter-battens on the front roof and have the rear roof watertight and the battening almost finished.

Rain

Still f***ing raining....rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain....arghhhhh!!!! If it was drizzle I could cope but it's unrelenting heavy,torrential rain...good knows how many inches have fallen, all the rivers are bursting and Quelebu is a quagmire. Why do I have to build my roof during what has been one of the wettest months on record?...and it's July for Christ's sake!

Break through!

A big demolition day today as Justin and I broke through the wall between my house and the ruin. Heavy, dirty work with percussion drills, hammers and crowbars. As is often the case the building dictated where the opening could go. The plans changed numerous times as we encountered huge granite blocks just where we didn't want them. In the end we have had to place the lintols and support them with acro props. The supporting walls will have to be built or shuttered in concrete later.

The mess was extreme and it's taken three hours to get the house reasonable ship shape. But the space is going to be amazing. Can't wait for Susie, Jasper and Ruby to see it.

The rain has continued unabated all day, but tonight it seems to be coming to an end....I hope so for the next three days I'm back on the roof.

Monsoon

I have abandoned the roof works and I am using the materials to build an Ark.
The rain has been as heavy today as I've ever seen anywhere - including Wales and Scotland in winter! It started at 2.00am and noise woke me since then it's been unrelenting. I managed to build the valley gutters on one of the dormers and lay a few battens but I'm soaked through so have given up for the day. The saddle is a bit unorthodox but it's one piece of lead and as I can only get fairly thin sheet here there's a limit to how much you can boss it.

Tomorrow Justin is coming to help me make the first doorway between the buildings...tonight I knocked through to be able to mark out the door on the other side.