A leisurely start to the day, the mist was hanging over the tops so we donned thermals and headed up the valley.

We decided to try and finish the retaining wall for the access to the bridge, lots of rock carrying and within 10 mins the thermals were off and we were down to T Shirts for the rest of the day. We managed to finish the wall by just after midday yippee.

Exploration time as we tried to find the source…but to no avail. We did, however find another old barn on our land well and truly hidden from all surrounded by lovely big trees and a cracking view of Mont Rouch.

After a fab picnic lunch by the river we prepared the ramp next to the wall for cementing in the near future. More rock carrying! Enough of rocks and we began to attack more brambles which are a total mare to clear slowly but surely we are getting there but still many more briars to get shot of. Ended the day with a 20 minute challenge of removing a very stubborn tree which was surrounded by metal and well and truly embedded. Now we have a much clearer front of the Bergerie to look at and makes access a great deal easier.

  Having weighed up options we went into St Girons in the morning. We have got loads done but recognise that we will very soon run out of options with the tools we have, so tool buying it is. Picked up a couple of forks, PPE for chainsaw, string and a wheelbarrow.

Back to the apartment for lunch of chicken sandwiches in the sun on the balcony and then back to work. Sun shining so set about sorting the bridge. Basically the bridge is fine except for the foot step to get on and off it. So if we want to get stuff over it to put a roof on it means building a ramp either side. Decision was made to build walls to retain a load of stone and pour concrete over the lot. Got on really well dragging stone out of the river (nearest) until we were done for the day. Maybe another day or two will see it finished. Then, a car horn started papping in the 4×4 track. We ran up thinking something was wrong to find “Monsieur le Maire” to welcome us and flex his muscles… “Ooh La La.”

 

We stopped at the bar on the way home to meet up with Adam the old local French guy to try and find out exactly where the source was, well actually we were aiming at him showing…he has no time this week so if we have not found it before then he will come up and show us. Met another couple Alison from Yorkshire, Boston Spa and Peter her fiancée from Central America. Both working and living in Toulouse and have bought a holiday home in Salau, which we were then shown around. Very nice folk and they are already talking about having us over for dinner. A good finale to the day.

Rather a dismal day today but ideal for inside clearance. Looking at the main part all seemed a tad scary and daunting, to me anyway!

 

Concern being that the whole roof would fall down if we touched the vital beams. Eek! Climbing hats went on, very good idea. We decided to clear a pathway to reach the back door safely so we could then chuck the dead wood straight out rather than manoeuvring it around the front of the building. This would have taken ages. A great make shift corrugated iron shoot helped immensely in the time it took us.

Getting the old beams out was interesting, Al being a decent height and me considerably smaller made it challenging but we managed to get the beams out with the walls still in tact. Al was concerned re the central main beam holding the roof up so we constructed a winch system to inch it 3 inches across to rest more securely (we hope) on a more stable cross beam.By the end of the day we had amazingly cleared out the whole main building of dead wood, salvaged as much of the other wood as possible for later use and created a HUGE pile of dead wood outside. We are no ready for a big bonfire! Enough of dust and old hay we opted to clear an area by the 4X4 track. Hopefully this will become one of the driving entrances, which we are planning to do to enable us to drive in one way and out the other.

I was in need of fresh air so we had a little stroll up to Cascade Leziou, which we can see from the Bergerie.

Having arrived last night in Salau and found the apartment. We went up to the Bergerie this morning with a packed lunch of ham, tomato, goat’s cheese and mango chutney sandwiches. The bread in the bread-making machine actually worked which was a bit of a surprise based on throwing something together last night in a tired stupor. We also had a flask of black sweet tea. Progress today was great.

Totally cleared out the granny flat (annex) and dug down enough to put a concrete floor in. Shifted over a ton of stone and earth. Bearing in mind that this only represents about 1/12 of the total floor space, we have a way to go, and the rest of the space is more tricky with some things that are integral to holding up what is left of the roof.

Half way through the morning three kayakers came down the stream wearing full face helmets and paddling from rock to rock (no eddies to be seen – not that they would have used them anyway).

Towards the end of the afternoon we set about the brambles, nettles and bush clearing as a break from lifting, digging and carrying. Looking forward to a bonfire before we leave. On the way home the bar at the Myrtille was open so we caught up with Danielle and Freddy for an early evening drink. One of the locals swears there is an eau de source (spring) behind the property. He was a bit vague as to where but is adamant he has seen it when foraging for champignons and that the water is of quality to die for. Plan tomorrow is to attack the main space. Helmets are a must!