Etang d' Arraing depuis Frechendech

With so little snow this year and warm temperatures already here, walks into the mountains are possible without skis, raquettes or crampons (although today we took the latter just in case). The long walk from Frechendech to Etang dArraing, is always delightful. Without leaves on the trees the Chapelle d'Isard was clearly visible on the other side of the river.

As we exited the tree line just below the cabane d'Illau we could see that the snowline was only 50m or so below the dam. A light dusting of snow had fallen overnight above about 2200m and cliffs of Pic de l'Har above the cabane looked magnificent.

Iron staining in the shale cliffs opposite the cabane

When we arrived at the snow it was immediately deep, but fortunately mostly carried our weight. Below the dam there was just a dusting. We found somewhere out of the wind by the refuge EDF for lunch, gazing down on the frozen and snow covered lake.

The dam from below 

Pic de Crabère

The lake side of the dam shows how low the water is

Retrospect from below the snow

It's been a while since we had a longer walk. Including a leisurely lunch, we were out for 7 hours with 1100m of ascent and 18km.

 

Studio progress

floorboards removed

New beam end scarfed

Next step - joists and floor.

 

high temperatures for last couple of weeks have quickly stripped away the late snow, I got one ski at Guzet before it closed...hoping the snow will stay high up to allow for a tour in what has been a terrible season.

Chateau de la garde visible across the valley from Sahusset

After picking up some acro propos for the barn, Susie, Sheri, Michiel and I made an afternoon exploration around Sahusset - an ancient Hamlet perched on the mountainside high above Pont de la Taule. Although it has electricity it has no permanent inhabitants and comprises a handful of houses. We approached from Moulin Lauga on the only access - possible on a quadbike. There's an old marble mine on the way and the path is littered with huge cut blocks of marble that were never recovered. After the village we cut back on path that eventually reaches the ridge that continues all the way to Pic de la Fonta. The path evaporated long before the ridge but we picked our way through the coppice to eventually reach it and climbed along the pathless wooded ridge to about 1100m. Returning we descended a ridge to the north of the Ravin de la Souleille, passing a collection of well built (but now roofless) barns with date carved threshold stone of 1670.

Back at the barn, we're nibbling away. the barn has been cleared of it remaining contents, an old fireplace filled in, the mangoire mostle demolished and the stones moved to prolong the terrace wall in the vegetable that I built a few years ago.

One of the big beams has a rotten end. I m hoping to use a scarfing method using oak pegs and wedges and repair it. Accuracy is important for this to work, which isnt easy when the beam isn't square in section!

rotten end removed

partly made replacement end

 

The next project!

It's been ten years since I first wanted to buy the barn next to our house. Opposition and pressure from my other neighbours persuaded me to defer the first opportunity to buy the owners gave me. More recently they announced they wanted to sell again....and it became clear that one of the neighbours actually wanted to buy it all along! It was disappointing to think we might lose the opportunity to buy it as we really need a studio/workshop for transforming the fleeces into yarn and then into woven, knitted, felted and crocheted creations. as well as the possibility of teaching. Serendipity smiled on us though, as the owners (who also sold me the ruin next to my house that I transformed into our kitchen and the children's bedrooms in 2012) decided they only wanted to sell to us.

There's a LOT of work to do, but it has such potential and we hope to re roof with photovoltaics to be self sufficient for electricity.

 

A productive walk

First morels of the season

A pair of antlers

 

Pic Estibat depuis Liers

We grabbed a leg-stretcher from Liers upto Pic Estibat by the west ridge. Nice views but not particularly interesting terrain. A chance to see James and Paul's "project" converting the old school into their new home.

We started from the church at Liers which has an unusual arrangement of bells.

The long broad ridge gives great views to the south and west and finally at the summit, to the east.

Certescan, Montabone and Pic de la Leia

Pic de la Journalade and Pic des Trois Seigneurs

Mont Valier, always present

After some very changeable weather, which gave rise to fantastic skies and sunsets, we finally had some snow at the weekend, so that there is now around 120cm at 2000m. More snow this weekend in the mountains, so hopefully a chance salvage some skiing from a season largely without snow.

An earth star fungus

The sheep enjoying the hot sunshine today

 

chanvre chaux (lime and hemp)

Susie is in the UK for a week so the perfect opportunity to do some messy building works. I recently demolished the built in wardrobes on either side of the main window in our bedroom and upcycled them to create new ones along one side (still awaiting doors). The gable wall is half covered in chanvre chauw, but where the wardrobes used to be is the original mess of stonework and poorly done render that was there when I arrived at Quélébu 20 years ago. I hacked off everything that was loose and fixed a batten a dado height (below this will be boarded allowing for the distribution of new electrics and hiding the central heating pipes).

I decided to try a new recipe for the chanvre chaux. Up until now I have used chaux hydraulic NHL3,5 but this time I thought I'd try chaux aerienne (the more active lime used to make lime putty in the UK).

I used a mix of approx 12.5kg of chaux aerienne, 2.5kg of chaux hydraulic blanc (to speed up setting), 25ltrs (2.5kg) of hemp and about 15-17ltrs of water. The mix is super sticky and once on the wall easy to smooth - the best mix yet! Unlike the chaux hydraulic which is rather grey, the end result is a lovely straw colour.

As I had half a bag of lime open, I used it up putting some chanvre chaux in the porch, which had been waiting for finishing for a couple of years!

 

More from the spycam

 

Point 1894m à coté de Tuc de Coucou

With beautiful clear warm weather and so little snow, we decided on another walk into the mountains. It's a year since Debbie, Susie' sister died so we thought we'd visit a summit and build a cairn in memory of her.

Sheri was staying with friends in Cescau, so we picked her up in Castillon and headed for the Riberot valley. From here a relatively short but steep climb leads up to Tuc de Coucou.

As we exited from the woods we met our neighbour from Coumarba, Justin Piquemal, who was going up to parapente from the summit. We took a slightly different route from the normal path (a variant of GR10) to visit the Cabane de Trapech d'en haut. A tiny hut with room to lay out a sleeping bag and no more.

There are great views from here. 

Cascade de Muscadet in the far distance

We chose to build the cairns here. I found a rather uncharateristic round granite pebble and balanced it on a slab which I wedged in some verticale bedding planes. Susie built a complemantary structure alongside.

We pressed onto the summit for lunch and far reaching views in the sun.

A little avalanche debris, but little snow.

Valier in the far distance.