Shopping day…..we headed off into St Girons to get supplies for the floor, insulation, reinforcement, waste pipes, conduit and pine floor for upstairs which all squeezed into Vinnie with a few ties to hold it all in on our way home.  Had a coffee with Murray at midday and arranged for him to work with us on Friday so hopefully we should have the floor in the annex down by Friday afternoon.

Back to Salau for a very late lunch, before heading up to the Bergerie to shift materials up to the barn. We also laid the pipes into position and realised we had a slight problem with some of the piping so would need to head to St Girons again in the am. to get some new pipes.

Sorted out a complete list for POA for Thursday so we could use Murray to the max on Friday!

A quick drink at ours with Annie and Chris as the bar was closed

A slightly better start to the day weather wise, and it was mainly dry all day which was great and meant we could get loads done.

Chris turned up to help us lift the wood burner out of Vinnie and into the barn with the use of the Muck Truck and trailer. Thanks Chris for your muscle power! And glad we found Annie’s dog without too much trouble.

Lots of preparation work for the annex levelling the floor ready for insulation, DPC etc before the cement goes down. Also plenty of shovelling ballast from the field by the river up to the annex door.

While the sun shone we decided to prune the trees out the front to keep the light coming in through the front window and door as well as a bit of bramble clearing. We both thought of you Monti Bianco as we tackled the brambles!

Lunch in the sun, with our somewhat disastrous effort of bread making. We managed to get a recipe from John (Al’s Dad) since I had forgotten the one we used last year. It was not very successful for some reason we are blaming the altitude so we have tried again tonight to see if we have more success!!! So our butties were somewhat interesting but still tasty!

We have also decided that we would like to paint the bridge as a “nice too” so I wire brushed it in the pm while Al shifted more ballast so that when the sun shines we can paint it.

All in all a productive day. We aim to shop tomorrow for building supplies so we can crack on with the annex floor once we have got all the materials up to the Bergerie.

Caught up with Adam for a beer once we got down and then lists of things to do plus lots of phone calls to make.

After a fantastic 10 days travelling down from Chamonix on holiday where we managed some great climbing in Italy and France, an exposed Via Ferrata near Briancon 3 leisurely days sight seeing with Dad in Provence and 3 days of decadence with Dad at the Swans at their lovely house in Grimaud (thank you both very much for your generous hospitality as always) it was back to reality of DIY at the Bergerie.

We had a good trip over with a night in Carcasssone, a visit to Mirepoix and Camon before we arrived back in Salau. We decided to take the small gite this time in the hope that it would be warmer than the apartment we have rented before. 5 beds, next to the river considerably warmer and plenty of space and a bonus of a washing machine!

We trundled up the Bergerie in the morning in pouring rain to get ourselves organised for the work ahead on the annex. We are hoping to get the floors in the annex so we can get the composting toilet installed and working before we leave in 3 weeks time.

So we needed to clear out the inside of the annex and then search for likely places where we could put a couple of holes through the 60cms walls to accommodate some pipes. The first one was relatively easy, the second one we gave up on and the third one was a relief that we found one we could use.

We then sorted out the first floor, floor joists in the annex already to be nailed into position when we are ready to do it.

The rest of the day was mainly a planning day with sorting inventories of kit, looking at security options (since people have tried to get into the barn) shifting kit around and emptying most of the van except the wood burning stove.

We had a roast chicken for supps before Annie and Chris turned up hoping for a drink at the bar but it was closed so we had a few drinks at ours before hitting the sack.

As we got back