New spinning wheel and unwanted visitors

It's been two years since I built Susie's spinning wheel, She's now a very proficient spinner and my homemade wheel has started to show wear and tear and squeek and creak! So time for an upgrade. The Schacht ladybird wheel is beautifully designed and manufactured, silent and smooth!

Yesterday a small grey fox came a calling. He tried to take Flocon our white Sussex hen, but i gave chase and he dropped her trying get through the fence. Flocon sought refuge in my office and apart from a few less feathers, she's fine. We'll have to stay vigilant. It's a difficult decision as to whether to build a secure run around the hen house. The chickens are way happier free range but if the fox returns we have no choice. I m hoping he was an itinerant, temporarily displaced by the hunting dogs who came through earlier that morning. 

Then this morning another attack this time by a male martin. Again I ran down to the hen house where he was wrapped around Tiffany our red hen. I managed to pin his rear foot to the floor with my boot and she escaped unharmed. The martin squirmed unable to escape, but I was not going to attempt to pick him up and I couldn't reach a stick to "teach him a lesson", so I had to let him go. 

As if that wasn't enough at lunchtime we heard another squawk...Susie ran outside and this time Tiffany was pinned to floor again having yet more feathers pulled out by a Buzzard - which flew off as soon as it saw Susie.

Chicken run construction is now an urgent project. There was a mouse population boom in spring but it has now crashed - neither cat has caught a mouse in months, so I m guessing the martins and foxes are looking for other food.

I was hunting on Saturday and bagged a huge wild boar of 80kgs...unfortunately it seems it's the predators that causing damage at the moment.

Last week's snow

 

Tractor

I finally got the manuals (in English) and it turns out that the gearbox isn't synchro-shuttle. But I still couldn't get it to stop stalling nearly every time I pressed the clutch?? After much head scratching and trial and error I worked out that the problem was that as I pressed the clutch, my weight on the seat reduced and triggered a safety feature that cut the engine. It's designed to stop the tractor in the event that the driver is knocked out the vehicle or injured...rather annoying as the tractor will stop if you get off it, to open a gate for instance. Anyhow, first of all I thought it might be a faulty sensor but then after adjusting the seat suspension to almost the lowest setting (I weigh 70kg and it had come set to 120kg), the problem stopped. A big relief as it's been snowing heavily on the hills (25cm at 2100m) and we even had a few flurries here today, so getting firewood in was high on the agenda.

Tractor finally arrives

So 5 weeks after I bought it, my tractor finally arrived yesterday! It took about 45 minutes to work out how to start it and and get it to move, the owners manual was missing and it has a synchro-shuttle gearbox which I've never used before. Eventually I got it moving and drove it the 5km from the Castet (where it had been delivered by an enormous articulated lorry) to the house. This morning I got to work changing the wheel hub/rim arrangement so that the tractor is as wide as possible for the steep slopes in the fields. Hopefully I'll get the manuals e-mailed to me shortly. The heavier weight, more powerful engine and generally more modern everything, should make lightwork of the haymaking and allow greater loads of firewood, hay, etc to be moved in a single trip. It's also a much quieter and cleaner engine. The large twin mirrors, adjustable steering and seat suspension should be much kinder on my arthritic neck.

 

Anna

Our friend Anna has been staying with us for the last week en route from Portugal to the UK, with her two dogs Mucks and Sugar. The weather has been mostly good with the last of the autumn colours, so We took Anna and the dogs on a few local walks - Joubac and Cap de Bouirex.

Joubac

Crazy hats found on Bouirex

No significant snow yet but the mountains are starting to look wintery 

The tractor was supposed to be delivered last Wednesday, but the lorry carrying it from Italy broke down somewhere close to the French border and then had to be towed to Volvo HQ in Bergamo to be repaired under warranty. Delivery is now scheduled for tomorrow - fingers crossed!

Pla d'Artigue

 After a couple of years of hard work the Pla d'Artigue is looking very pasture-like, we've even got the first wild flowers returning (betany and crocii). When we started it was neck high in brambles, ferns and thickets of blackthorn and sloe. 

Patrick and Nanou own a couple of parcels of land behind where I took this photo from. Nanou passed over it with Christian's new broyeur and we've spent the last week strimming, burning and fencing it.

The new extension to the Pla d'Artigue

The sheep's first visit to the Pla when we were still in the early stages of clearing it 

- note the wall of brambles behind them!

Laines de Quélébu

As Susie is getting to grips with the wool to fibre to garment production and I hope to use some of our homespun wool in a weaving project this winter, I thought it was time we had a name (and logo) for our enterprise. So here it is!

The new tractor is picked up from Italy today and should be delivered Wednesday, so it was time to try and sell the old one. I bought it in 2008 for 3000 euros from Italy (where tractors are generally cheaper than France) so with the new paint job and last years engine rebuild I put it up for 4500 euros. As it has no documents it can't be driven legally on the road and the few people I asked thought the price was too high. Once the add was up the phone didn't stop ringing and in 12 hours it had been viewed, paid for and collected! I should have asked more, but I've made a profit and covered a healthy proportion of the cost of the new one. I just hope it turns up on time.

Cirque de Cagateille, Etangs Hillette et Alet

The stable and clear autumn weather invites us to stretch our legs in the mountains - Our original plan was to climb Pic de la Fourne but the shortening days also mean it's darker in the mornings and waking up early doesn't always happen! In the event we were away a little after nine and at the parking place above Ustou by ten past ten. The steep climb out of the cirque through the pine forest passed quickly and we emerged above the tree line into bright sunshine.

About an hour forty after leaving the car we were beside the Etang Hillette and tucking into our first lunch. We were both feeling strong so decided to head over to the Etang Alet and complete the classic circuit.

There were little pockets of frozen water on the path despite the sunshine, but the sky was blue and the air crystal clear.

Gerac, Pic de Freychet and Pic Seron

Ice melting off the granite slabs

At the Etang Alet we stopped for a second lunch and we saw the only person all day - a man and his dog.

Etang Alet

Pic de la Montabone and cirrus clouds

 The steep descent was uneventful and we completed the circuit withh 1100m of ascent in about 6 hours (4 hours fifty of walking).

Cap de Ruhos depuis les mines d'Anglade

Slightly caught out by the cold start on this walk, which was in the shade all day - fortunately I had brought my gloves, but Susie and Sandrine hadn't (I offered them mine but they refused). It's a steep but short walk with the gradient hardly changing at any point during the day.

After a couple of hours we were on the col and in the sun for the first time, but now the wind started!

We pressed on to the gendarme on the ridge, but I lost the path just below it trending right too soon. It was a bit snowy and steep and Susie decided at the gendarme that she would stay there and wait for us to return the summit.

The first part of the ridge to the gendarme

Summit from the gendarme

It was a shame because we instantly recovered the path and although it remained steep the going was easy. On the summit it was blowing strong and very cold - all layers were donned!

ice clouds blowing through the Port de Materat

Vignemale with its glacier about 100 miles away (telephoto)

Sandrine and I didn't linger long on the summit and quickly descended to lunch with Susie in the sun and shelter.

lunch spot

Faces in the cliffs

 A steep descent but over all a fairly short day with 1405m of ascent.

Autumn crocii

 

Pic Rouge de Bassies depuis Coumebiere

We were a bit disappointed when we arrived to start our walk at Coumebiere, it was cold and we were engulfed in cloud. The forecast had been for good weather and the day before had been fantastic, but we had been unable to go out because of the arrival of gite guests.

We were a bit late (10.15) but we set off into the mirk at a good pace. When reached the crest of the ridge after the abandoned silver mines we emerged into the sun and above the clouds.

Emerging from monochrome into technicolour!

We continued to climb to the next col where views East to the Etang de Bassies and South along the ridge to our objective were revealed. Pic Rouge was still holding some snow despite being just under 2700m and was shining in the sunlight.

The ridge leading to the Peak is fore-shortened and for an hour or more it never seems to get any closer. We stopped for a first lunch at 12.15 on big flat rock in the sun.

We pressed on passing a group of 3, until at last our snowy goal was in front of us. The rocks at the bottom of the peak were teaming with marmots who were unusually not at all timid. Until the group of three, who had a dog, arrived, then up went the alarm calls and they disappeared underground.

Despite the glorious sun the last few hundred meters were snowy and in places there was verglas on the rocks.

Fantastical views and a second lunch before the return by the same path.

On the way up we had spotted a very new cabin a little way off the path, so on the way back we dropped in to have a look. I think it's destined to be for the berger (shepherd) - but it's great to see something a little more modern in design in our mountains.

Back home we had a hot bath, a couple of beers then steak, chips and a bottle of wine. It was a perfect day!