Mont Valier(10) depuis Col de Pause

Valier in the distance from our start point

A call from Ben late Wednesday night and a hastily put together plan to climb Valier the following day. Haven't climbed/skied with Ben for 10 years as he's been in Andalucia, so great to catch up. a bad night's sleep with my neck arthritis wasn't the best preparation and although in the end we were pretty quick, it didn't feel it and I felt like I was struggling for pace in comparison with previous ascents.

Although Ben lived in the Ariege for many years, he had never been up, so it was extra special that we had perfect weather and mountain to ourselves for the entire day.

On the Spanish side of the Cuns d'Aula

On the section leading up to the col de Peyre Blanc, there were still the remnants of the recent snow on the ledges but we were in short sleeves for virtually the whole day. Ben was first to the summit by a few minutes but we were both under 4 hours.

Looking down the couloir Peyre Blanc

A longish lunch before the return by the same route. The short uphills were tiring but we back at the car and just as little rain started in little over 3 hours. 22km 1300m ascent and 7hrs 10 moving time...10 mins quicker than last time!

summit panorama

climbing up from col de Peyre Blanc to the scrambling section

First dusting of snow

 

The recent rains brought a first dusting of snow on Monday night.

    Perhaps at last I have found a tractor at a good price?

Half marathon

After months of training, Susie just ran the Bristol half marathon in 2hrs 25mins and raised about £400 for the charity MIND - well done darling!

The great european tractor swindle

So after wasting over a month of my time the french division of Argo tractors who own Landini, Valpadana and McCormick, eventually got back to me and kicked their concessionaires up the arse. Another two weeks passed before the only concession who is allowed to sell me a tractor eventually confirmed that there weren't any tractors to sell me! Argo didn't have any stock. The tractor is due for revision in 2022 so they aren't going to acquire any more either...nor will they tell me what the price was when they did. Other farmers here tell me tractor prices in France are 30% more than in Italy, Spain, Poland or Denmark for example, which is why more and more people import. When an organisation is trying to keep the prices that they charge a closely guarded secret, you can be damned sure you're getting ripped off! Despite the so called free market in the EU, claiming back VAT for import/export transactions remains extremely difficult and most sellers are unaware of the VAT rules governing sales of new equipment for export...there's a risk of paying the VAT twice and not being able to reclaim it all. This area of uncertainty coupled with price secrecy, gives the distributors the ability to rip off the consumer. 

My current tractor was a bargain but remains a 'grey import', unregistered in France. Even for a small new tractor, a grey import can save 4000 euros and as I rarely drive on the public highway there is little incentive not to make my next tractor a grey import also.

Paul Faux (aka Paul de Tachi)

It is with great sadness that we heard that Paul - great friend, mushroom hunter and character - died this morning. He was 98 years old. He'll be greatly missed.

You can read about his extraordinary life (in English and French) here

Turon d'Ars

For Sheri's birthday we planned an journey into the upper reaches of the valley above the cascade d'Ars....A journey up the Ars!!! It's a long walk from Aulus so we dumped a car there and headed in a second car to Gerac from we started the walk.

A couple of hours saw us past the Cabane and Tuguilla and on top of Pic de la Croix des Lauzes (2349m).

Helicopter airlifting a shepherds shelter from just below Pic des Trois Comtes

A steep descent amongst boulders eventually took us to the bottom of the valley d'Ars and the cabane called Turon d'Ars. A well appointed new cabane with mattresses, blankets and a wood stove has replaced the old round stone shelter the Orris du Turon d'Ars.

The brown turf roof of the Cabane du Turon d'Ars (centre bottom)

After lunch and bubbles at the Turon, an excellent path leas to the highest and largest lake in the valley where Susie and Breezy swam and the rest of us waded in to cool off.

From here a scrappy path in in creasing heat eventually lead via three more lakes to the top of the cascade d'Ars and the long but easy plod to Aulus.

Cascade d'Ars

Susie Al and Breezy had a beer in Aulus, whilst Sheri and I went in her car to collect mine from Gerac. A long but enjoyable day. 

 

Trois Seigneurs descent par la voie originale

Sheri and Michiel are back from the Netherlands and before Michiel departs to rejoin his boat, we decided to get a walk in with them and Alun and Breezy. Trois Seigneurs seemed to fit the bill! We left a car at the end of the path on the Vicdessos side of the Port de Lers to save the trudge up the road at the end of the day then set off in the clockwise direction starting with the ridges.

Scrambling over all the granite tops, a liitle over 2 hours saw us lunching on the summit, briefly soaked by a short lived squally shower. For the descent we decided to take the now mostly ignored original VN which ascends directly from the Etang d' Arbu. It's a nice path which finds it's way to the lake through the steep cliffs without much problem.

Famous five?

A quick dip in the lake before the descent back to the car.

The first of our homegrown pumpkins was a refreshing snack back at the col.

Tuc de Bouc depuis Frenchendech

Farewell to Ruby with a brief stop in the city of Beziers (and alas the worst lunch ever)

It's been a pretty poor summer for the weather and we haven't got out into the hills very much at all, so we planned a walk to stretch the legs without being too tough. 

We (Breezy, Alun, Susie and I) departed Frenchendech and headed upto the Etang d'Arraing.

After a rest at the refuge and coffee, we continued to climb to the Col d'Aoueran, branching right to reach the easy summit of Tuc de Bouc...a branch left would have taken us to Pic Crabere (but we have climbed that before).

The summit of Tuc de Bouc with Pic Crabere behind and to the right

Pic de Mede from Tuc de Bouc

Easy walking over heather clad hills eventually led us to another col, Col d'Aouarde, from where a long descent eventually took us to the Chapelle d'Isard.

 

Retrospective of the middle part of the route on our descent - ascending the wooded valley on the left, reaching the barrage below the dark peak on the skyline, from there behind the pointy Pic de Mede in the middle distance, to reach Tuc de Bouc to it's right and on the skyline.

Inside the Chapelle d'Isard still being renovated after the roof was storm damaged in 2018 shortly before my last visit. 

From the chapelle we regained the path of ascent from the morning and returned to Frenchendech. A long day (8 hours, 6 1/2 hours of walking) with 25km and 1600m of ascent. 

Tractor and water problems

For the moment the new tractor seems a no go. The Italian seller would have to register in France for VAT to sell me the tractor without VAT and that would cost him 800 euros - which is how much profit he's making on the sale! Landini France and their concessionaires, remain utterly useless. So I've repainted my tractor from head to toe in black and red. 

Our water is supplied from a reservoir (small semi-underground concrete tank) a few hundred yards from the house. This has sprung several leaks and needs to be replaced. The water board SMDEA have farmed this out to a sub-contractor and yesterday afternoon arrived to announce that they had disconnected us from the reservoir and connected us to a more distant reservoir. Unfortunately this is at a greater altitude and as a consequence our water pressure has jumped to 4 bar and the gite's to 5 bar (72psi)!! This is high enough to cause damage to our  hot water cylinder and likely to cause leaks etc in any compression joints. We had no pre warning, they told us after we had been connected and the technician just came with a manometer to prove the pressure readings! I asked what he was going to do about it, but after calling his boss the answer was "nothing". It was up to me to install pressure reducing valves to the supplies. This has taken me all day, two trips to St Girons and cost about 270 euros! I turned the workshop upside down trying to find my hemp for the joints and in the end Patrick came to the rescue which saved a third trip to St Girons. Meantime I have had words with the Mayor who has had words with president of SMDEA.....hopefully we'll be reimbursed - If not I'll with hold payment of our next few water bills.

Ruby, Ruby, Ruby, Ruby

With the easing of restrictions on international travel Ruby has at last been able to visit - after 18 months apart. Jasper will hopefully visit soon too. No flights from Bristol to Toulouse yet so we had to fetch her from Beziers about three and half hours away.

The weather for the past  few months has been pretty awful, we even had to light the fire in the evening last week, but Ruby seems to have brought good weather.

After a couple of days of R and R, it was time for an excursion into the mountains and with the hot weather (30-34 degrees) we headed to the Etang de Reglisse from Gerac for a swim. 

Susie and Ruby looking fabulous

It was a bit cooler up high and in the event the lake just a little too cold for a swim, though semi emersion was a pleasant relief! A few vultures overhead on Pointe de Rabassère, but little other wildlife today.

In the early hours of yesterday morning we were awoken by cats fighting, Susie went downstairs to find Socrates stuck in the cat flap being attacked by another cat (probably Clarence our semi adopted stray) from behind. Susie tried to help but ended up being bitten twice, quite deeply by Socrates on her ankle. A visit to the doctor ended up with a heavy dose of anti-biotics, but these clearly weren't working when 36 hours later her foot started swelling up. Another trip to see an on-call doctor and then to the 24 hour pharmacy to change anti- biotics....hopefully all will be well.

After rebuilding the tractor last year, I think it is time to upgrade to slightly heavier more powerful tractor better adapted to the work we now do with it - hay making, harrowing, timber hauling, mulching, topping. The little Carraro is always doing tasks requiring 100% of it's output and some more. Some quotes for a bigger Carraro or Ferrari tractor proved too expensive but a 50hpValpadana 4655VRM seems to fit the bill. But trying to get a price is like pulling teeth. Unlike cars and trucks the price of agricultural equipment is a closely hidden secret. There are no published recommended prices - everything must be negotiated with the dealer/concessionaire...its a bloody stupid state of affaires in my opinion.

Our local concessionaire for Valpadana/Landini is bankrupt, the next two nearest are bloody useless and haven't even replied to my requests for a price, a fourth said he wasn't allowed to give me a quote as I m not in his sales area. Landini France who supply the tractors seem equally bloody useless and also have not replied to any of my e-mails. As the tractors are built in Italy, I contacted an Italian tractor seller who has been extremely helpful and even arranged transportation quotes - like when I bought my current tractor, it will prove much cheaper and easier to buy the tractor in Italy and import it than to buy from a French business. In my experience the French are hopeless at commerce, invariably 30% more expensive than the Italians, never read e-mails and require a face to face meeting to do anything at all - and as my nearest concessionaire is about 250 miles away that is an expensive trip which may result in nothing other than an inflated price! The remaining hurdle is getting the Italian seller to not charge VAT (this has to be paid in France under EU law) and selling my Carraro, though I've been assured they are highly sort after and I should get a good price.....though in keeping with tractor law, I can't possible reveal what that price will be!