Getting away in the snow

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Happy Birthday Dad!!! Wink

We woke up and it had stopped snowing, yippee!!! Peter cooked us a wonderful cooked brekky to get us on our way. We headed up the hill with all the trees ladened with snow, it looked like a real winter wonderland. First obstacle of the day was the fallen trees in the road so we were unable to get past. We reversed back down the hill to find the local commune man with his chainsaw to get the tree out of the road.

Tree down on the roadTree down on the road  

We got to the end of the piste and took one look at the piste and decided to park the truck and walk!!! All the trees were bent double with the weight of the snow and it was impossible to get past them at this time.

We had a lovely walk up the track pondering how we were going to be able to felt the roof with a foot of snow and get all our kit back down the track before heading back to the UK???

We passed Olivier on the way with his “croissant” which is an excellent tool for cutting trees and he was busy clearing the piste so he could get his truck out which gave us hope for getting the truck up later on in the day.

We got to the barn and it was stunning, although not ideal for roofing and packing up we felt really happy to see the area in the snow, quite a different feel about it, equally amazing and peaceful.

 Olivier & croissantOlivier & croissant On the pisteOn the piste Snow laden treesSnow laden trees Donkeys and horsesDonkeys and horses

Al got on to the outbuilding roof and tackled clearing the snow so we could get a tarp on it. How he did not slide off I have no idea….he very wisely put some batons on the roof as protection so he could move about more easily without falling off.

I sorted out the bathroom, packed up all the bedding etc. and sorted out all the stuff we needed to take to the UK.

Alison and Peter turned up to help,  armed with coffee, hot chocolate and biscuits. They carried some bags with me back to the start of the piste. We took a load of kit in the muck truck at the same time.

 

Olivier had cleared a path so I could at least get the truck ¾ of the way up the track which helped. Alison and Peter returned up the piste with the muck truck and I met them half way to take over. They headed off with their dog Daisy who was loving the snow!

The sun almost came out and this prompted us into making a decision for the final bit of the roof. We had the choice of just putting a new tarpaulin over the old ones and leaving it but the better option was to remove the old ones, get the felt on the roof and then cover it.

We decided to get on with it and get the felt on. It actually did not take too long and we were pleased to get this done, it should preserve all the recent work we have done before we slate it next year.

After felting it and covering it again with the new tarpaulin, we finished off the soup and did the final bits of packing.

Departing sceneDeparting scene 

One more trip to the truck with the muck truck and Al carrying the ladders to go back to Freddy and we were set for off.

We left the ladders and a note with Feddy and Daniella, wellies and a note with Alison and Peter and a cheque and a note with Cecile!!! Then we were off.

We had aimed to get away by 2pm ish so considering everything we were pleased to have got away by 4pm!!!

We had a good trip north to a lovely little village called Aubazine,  just south of Limoges. It reminded us of the village in the film “Chocolat” we found a cracking little logis and got there just before the restaurant closed. Literally we had a 2 second shower before eating. A great 4 course meal for 23 euros a really good find.

Needless to say it did not take long to fall asleep.

Categories: Autumn 2008, The Project

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