We had a little lie in before Al did the honours with a great Sunday brekky, fresh fruit for the healthy start and then an enormous cepe omelette, twas delicious and could have fed an army but we somehow managed to put it all away. Always better when most of the meal is free!!!

Since it was foul weather we decided to crack on with the plasterboarding. We really seemed to make good progress and had a late Hot Caesar Salad with another new dressing at about 330pm once we had finished the bathroom side strip.

Not wanting to stop since we were in the swing of things with scaffolding up, scaffolding down, clear an area move into it etc etc.  move out of it clear another area, we cracked on and finished at 7pm ish once we had run out of plasterboard. Great we now have nearly 2 strips of the barn done and it seems to be transforming the place. Al has been a wonder with the electrics and only a tiny bit more to do tomorrow then all of upstairs is wired and ready for power!!!!

We were not hugely hungry so we made a small pizza to share with a Greek style cucumber and tomato salad with mint and dill delicious. We had not played scrabble for a while so had a game of that before dinner which was fun.

The sun shone and the wind blew.

Once we had got going we set off with a couple of pocket knives and a basket to search for mushrooms. Now shrooming is an art form for which we are rookies. There is something about sun and rain and early morning starts. Add to that terrain and foliage, cycle of the moon, time of year and whether you get there before anyone else and we really don’t stand a chance. We do however know is what we are looking for, assuming it is the right time of year. We got back to the barn at lunchtime with 2 shrooms and a load of alpine strawberries. Not a great achievement but one of the shrooms will feed both of us.

After lunch we put the sides of the raised bed together and then set about putting plasterboard up in the main area of the top barn.

An early shower and time for a game of checkers and a wine before heading down the valley to meet Alison and Peter for dinner at the Auberge in the village. A fabulous evening catching up with them over great food. When we got back up the valley we sat out on the bench and had a night cap before retiring.

We woke to a dry but low cloud day and quite cold. So the usual clear up with washing up, internet and healthy fruit breakfasts before we set to with the DIY.

We were quite keen to get the wood prepped for the raised veggie beds so we had a bit of a chopping and preserving of wood morning, using some of the decking. It stayed dry so we could at least do this all outside as the preserver really stinks!!!

Beginning to make more progress with the electrics before we get the ceiling up in the main barn. Al prepped where the light switches would go and drilled suitable holes for cables and the sous chef followed with chisel behind. All 4 sockets are now ready to accept switches and one is all wired up for action.

We had arranged to meet Irish Ian and see how his new pad is progressing so we had quick showers before lunch and then headed down towards Seix. We stopped in to see Scottish Annie on the way who has put her barn on the market and is hoping to move towards Mirepoix.

Sadly the nursery was closed as we wanted to get some plants for around the terrace area so another time. We then trundled up to Ian’s new place to have a guided tour a year down the road. Big progress and it is going to be lovely. Converting barns into houses, yoga studios and all sorts. We managed a couple of aperos down in Seix before we headed our own ways.

Al busy prepping chicken stir fry for supper tonight so looking forward to that and the sun forecast for tomorrow is now storms, I do hope they are wrong as we were planning a good yomp up to the tops, we will see what the weather looks like in the am and make a plan.

The mornings had developed a bit of a routine. The alarm is set for just before 8am. If we didn’t do that we would oft still be in bed at 9; outrageous! Put kettle on and a pan for washing up water if it hasn’t been done the night before. Odd ablutions, washup, make coffee for me and a cordial (yes Breezy is off the diet coke) for Breezy. Then internet before breakfast.

The internet is our main communication these days, especially here in the mountains where mobile reception is so limited. With Ski Breezy it is impossible to ignore emails for more than 24hrs at this time of year with fresh enquiries for the chalet coming in each day. For me it is doing the blog, pictures, seo stuff for Ski Breezy, sorting out materials and general emails.

After breakfast we crack on with the list. Today was forecast rain but started clear so we profited first off with some outdoor work. Siting the new compost bin and starting digging a raised bed.

Once the midges got too annoying and the drizzle started we headed indoors for a bit of wiring prep before plasterboarding the bathroom ceiling.

Bit more internet before curry night in the outhouse; my turn to cook.

Once again the sun is streaming in the window when the alarm went off so definitely a day for working outdoors.

Cleared the ground between the two terraces for planting up together then I got back on the roof with a bucket of tools and attacked the leaks while Breezy started carefully taking forklift pallets apart. When I was done with the mastic I joined Breezy. The aim was to make a compost bin similar to my Fathers using the boards of the pallets. Each board is notched to slot into the one below. Managed to complete the bin before lunch; or at least as much as we could with the wood from 3 pallets. It is amazing how low the bin is with that much wood, but at least it is free and dead easy to add to once further pallets are gleaned.

After lunch we set about lopping branches off the big fir tree behind the barn; lifting the foliage with a view to building another terrace. All that we lopped off we burnt along with the grass we had strimmed before. Further plans for that area include some raised beds for vegetables at some stage this year ready for use next season.

Finished the day making a kitchen roll holder, showering and sharing a bottle of Blanquette on the top terrace before trout salad supper.

Up early as it was the weekly St Girons day and lists were huge.

A quick brekky, sun shining again which was good news and off we trundled.  We dropped the strimmer in for a service as it is not running very well so makes things much harder work than they should be. then on to Le Forgue to load 10 sheets of 1.20mx 2.50m plasterboard on to the roof rack and collected a few more odds and ends.

On to get the muck truck wheels and trailer wheels inflated before a quick trip to Bricolage for garden stuff.

Whirlwind continued with washing chucked in the laundrette, collected salad plants and plants from gamme vert, re collected the clean washing, bought phone cards and then finally on to Carrefour for a big food shop and all before 10.30am!!! We both hate shopping so the quicker the better.

Slight mishap on the way back with a wing mirror smash with another van, luckily we had the window open otherwise I think it would have smashed the drivers window as well. Nobody hurt so that was the main thing.

We passed Olivier (donkey man) on the way back who is bringing the donkeys up to graze, not with us for a while as they are opposite but at least they are on their way sometime, rumours were spreading that he was not grazing this year so very happy that they are.

We decided to tackle the heavy work before lunch, washing on the line, food in the fridge then 10 loads of lugging the huge sheets of plasterboard up the hill. Not the easiest of things to manoeuvre and took a couple of hours. As well as then having to wiggle them upstairs through a tight gap which was amusing again but we got a system going so it went quite quickly. Only another 20 odd to go….

A delicious lunch on the top terrace, fresh prawns and garlic dip and fresh French bread, perfecto.

We had to reassemble the muck truck back together. As much as I love this machine, definitely a design fault with getting wheels back on. Only way to do it is to deflate the tyres but not too much to squeeze them back over the middle tyres. Anyway, all done and serviced by Al so ready for use again.

A quick last load of things up from the van before planting the flowers into the bed on the top terrace and all the salad into the garden too, should have an abundance of salad soon to keep us going over the summer, lovely.

Final bits to do was chopping 29 baton lengths for the insulation and pre nailing them all for easy assembling skills later on.

Seem to have got loads done today, a quick wash up, hot showers and internet before we head to Clive and Giselle’s for supper.

Started the day with pouring rain. That continued for most of the time which gave us another opportunity to check out the weatherproofness of the roof. Low and behold, one of the previous leaks is still persistent and another two have appeared. Yet again I shall have to venture up there with a hammer, screwdrivers and a tube of mastic. Maybe we should have opted for new Spanish slates rather than the very authentic old reclaimed jigsaw.

We are starting to get some inquiries through for the chalet in Chamonix for the coming winter ski season. So following the usual internet and email session after breakfast we set about some small jobs like fitting a couple of kitchen unit doors and fettling another unit.

Then we set about sorting out all the wiring to go in the roof for lighting. The plan is to run all the lighting on 220-240v ac through an inverter off the battery. With the advent of low wattage GU10 bulbs we can use down lighters in the ceiling combined with some low wattage suspended lighting. In total I would like to get all the lighting in under 300w in total.

As shopping tomorrow in St Girons it was also a great opportunity to go through all the electrical stuff we have and make up a shopping list of whet we need to supplement it. Having brought over any surplus stuff from renovating the house in the UK and scavenged a substantial amount from Chamonix it is surprising how little extra kit we need at this stage.

Also with shopping tomorrow food stocks are low and so creative cookery was in order. I managed to make a sort of paella dish with random vegetables, loads of garlic, some lardons and whatever spices I could find. Throw in a couple of handfuls of rice and it was surprisingly tasty. Breezy even said that she would have it again; not that I could ever replicate it.

Rain swells the waterfalls opposite the barn

Not quite so sunny, though not cold. The whole of the morning we spent indoors rebuilding kitchen units which we salvaged from a chalet renovation in Chamonix over the winter.

In order to get them all down to the Pyrenees we had to take a hammer and persuade them to flat pack. I suspect that they were not designed to be taken apart and so it took a while to reconstruct them. Fortunately Breezy had been round with masking tape and labelled all the pieces so at least we knew which bits belonged to which unit.

It is surprising how big a kitchen you can fit into the back of a small van when you try hard enough.

After a sandwich for lunch we set about sorting out some storage issues in the outhouse with a little rack on the wall plus a few odd jobs like strimming grass, cabling, gardening and sorting out tools.

Hot duck salad for sups and an episode of Spooks.

After another very healthy breakfast, Breezy hit the internet while I washed up and then picked up the brushcutter to clear a pathway over to the van through the meadow. I only had to run away once from the swarm of horse flies that had built up on the way.

The frame that we made yesterday needed a little bit of tweaking to get it to fit snugly and then we set about making another two identical. By the end of the day we had 3 complete frames varnished and ready to pop into place. Think we shall wait to see if we can get some scaffold before wrestling with them on step ladders.

Early showers, bit of blogging and an omelette supper (forgot to buy pasta).