An early start to head down the valley to go shopping. A little rubbish to bin, recycling to do and stuff to go in the skip on the way. Clothes washing went into the laundrette leaving us 1/2 an hour to get to Mr Brico and back.

More white spirit, wire brushes and some paint later and we collected some clean clothes. On to La Forgue to look for some posts to make a banister around the clothes. Found 3 posts about 3″ square and 120cm long and 30€ each. We bought then but I have a sneaking feeling that we shall find an alternative and give them back.

Food shopping for the week and some fresh fish fillets for this evening and back to the barn and unpacked by 1pm.

In the afternoon we set about finishing and installing the steps in the bathroom and then had a massive clear up on the ground floor, including clearing the front wall for pointing. It is a nasty word but it is not over yet.

It is now evening and neither of us can remember seeing the fish at the checkout or putting it in the fridge. Think that fish is off the menu!

Woke to the sound of donkey bells, just this time they were just outside the door. It would appear that a piece of blue string with a few volts running through it is not enough to contain the beasts.

After a quick run around to rope off solar panels I made some coffee and got Breezy a diet coke before sitting down at the laptop and booting up the satellite to work on the internet preparing for the winter in the chalet in Chamonix.

Pointing was at the top of the list; sealing the 1st floor into the wall. Any excess went around the door that faces the river. Gradually we seal those little holes and gaps that the critters use the access the building.

Chicken salad for lunch and then I finished stapling fly mesh into the eaves (more critters foiled) and Breezy phoned the bank to sort out an issue over where she is taxed.

Life at the barn is so much easier with modern communications. Before we would have had to drive down to Salau and stand on the bridge to get a tenuous signal on a mobile. Make an expensive International call, and then probably be in a queue listening to the “Four Seasons” only to discover that the person you need to talk to is back in 30 minutes. Not enough time to go up and down again so you hang about and repeat the process and return to the barn some 2-4hrs later.

Now we boot up a PC & the satellite broadband; don a headset dial a number on the PC and we are there. Using a couple of different VOIP accounts and a piece of software most calls are free and others are very cheap. We do have to be careful of volume of down/upload internet wise so that we do not exceed our quota, but it is so much easier.

The rest of the afternoon we continued with the bathroom steps.

Internet stuff for Ski Breezy first thing until the sun hits us. It was another glorious day so we set too with clearing piles of wood left about the place from previous coppicing sessions.

Our aim is to create a second wood shed with metre length pieces which can dry out and then next year we can chop them into pieces we need depending which stoves are working.

Lots of lugging wood up the hill to the top terrace and chain sawing them into pieces. The new saw horse has been invaluable. It was hot work not so much the sawing but the traipsing up and down the hill in the heat, good training for the winter ski season in Chamonix!!!

We wanted to make a start on the steps to get down into the bathroom. At the moment it is a very big step onto a small box and since Fi is arriving soon we thought it would be nice if she did not have to stretch her legs too much!!! Framework built success.

Hot showers early as we wanted to pop down and see Rene and Anuk as we feel a bit like hermits up here. Adam and Daniella were at the bar so we joined them for a drink. Anuk very busy and Rene busy in the kitchen so we did not get to see him. Olivier passed by and stopped as he was on the way to move the donkeys across, by the time we got back they were installed on one side of our land. We also had a sneak visitor of a mule who belongs to a shepherd higher up the valley.

Delicious roast chuck for sups. While that was cooking we had a few hands of rummy on the terrace. Dinner outside, cheeses inside and then a bit of reading and to sleep. Feels like Autumn is on it’s way with the cooler evenings.

Started the day a little slower than normal after a little trop du vin the previous day. Never the less we still did an hour or 2 at the computers working on Ski Breezy and sorting out emails etc.

Then 1st up was chainsawing wood that was in a pile at the back of the main barn and stowing it under shelter. Time consuming with me holding the wood and Breezy sawing at ground level on a block (or visa versa).

After lunch I fitted a floor safe in upstairs and Breezy got on with some more varnishing. We sealed the lower decking terrace and made a sturdy saw horse.

In the evening we had a visit from a young stag. Beautiful red colour and velvety horns.

Clive, Giselle and the kids are due about midday for lunch so we got up early to start preparing salads and marinating meat for the BBQ. Fortunately the weather was great and we could eat on the decking under a parasol. The kids could run about and play in the river and the adults could sit in the shade and sup wine.

Guests left at 8.30pm giving us enough time to clear up and retire to bed.

We woke up the sun shining which was great, although autumn feels like it is here already as the mornings are a tad chilly. Brrrr!!!!

We headed off down the valley for the weekly food shop and collection of supplies. We managed a wander around the market too and bumped into Lee for a quick drink and met Susie and her 2 kids too. They have been mad busy on the extension.

Back to the barn for a very late lunch at 330pm after getting unloaded and the washing out to dry. Prawns in the sun delicious.

We then did the final bit of the first floor. Al fettled the fiddly bit at the edge while I sanded the floor and gave it a second varnish, looks good.

We could hardly get into the workshop so we had a quick 30 minute sort out in there so we can move before calling it a day.

We had a glass of fizz outside and raised a glass to Mum as it would have been her birthday today before retiring inside for some dorade fish and green beans for supper.

I made a cake for Clive’s gang for tomorrow and Al prepped some spuds for a potato salad so we had less to do tomorrow.

Both have good books at the moment so had some reading time before hitting the sack

So yesterday we pottered about in the sun shine playing with concrete and resealing decking. The concrete was to make good the wall around the gable end window to stop bats getting in, plus putting a post in for the washing line.

Today we planned to work in the woods chopping back stuff and burning but the clouds were swirling in the valley and it would not have taken long to get a soaking.

Instead we set about finishing laying the pine on the 1st floor of the barn.

By 7.30pm Breezy had varnished it and all we need to do is the really fiddly cutting bit against the far wall. Gonna be stiff tomorrow, there’s a lota nails in there.

Well we had just been saying how great it was not to get jet lag and what was all the fuss about when we both woke at 2am for a few hours then the next thing it was 11.30am!!! guess we needed the sleep but will need to set an alarm for tomorrow to get back into real time as such.

So opted for a late lunch and missed brekky.

So Al tackled adding on the extra solar panel for the main barn and I strimmed the back terrace, so it is beginning to feel like someone lives here again.

Salad lunch out the front and just finishing off that when Murray turned up with his 2 kids for a chat as they were going for a walk up to the waterfalls. All on good form. We don’t often get visitors up here so always nice when we do.

The afternoon was Al fettling the trailer and I finished off the strimming around the front.

Planted some roquette in the veggie patch and then called it a day as the mizzle had started. Hope it is a one off and the sun returns, will be very unhappy if the rain from July returns again!!!!

Omlettes for dinner and catching up on internet banking, work and general backlog of e mails.

Got back to the barn last night after a wicked trip down the Colorado, rafting and kayaking.

Fresh prawns for sups and an early night and no alarm this morning. Solar panels are up and so is the internet. Got a jungle of courgette plants and loads of weeds. Grass and bracken are strimmed and we are clean and tidy. Time to kick back a bit and get some exploring done.

Would you believe it; rain again.

Having got Hans to sort out the window area at the bottom of the stairs yesterday I left him to fit the window and point it up today. It looks great.

Breezy and I got on with other bits and pieces around the place and prepared a few other odd jobs that we could get Hans to help us with.

The weather did improve enough for the ridge of the roof to dry out and for Hans and I to get on it with some mastic to seal the nails better.

By the end of the day we had a completed window, a line of insulation in the roof and (hopefully) a roof with no leaks.

Now all we need to do is finish off the food before heading off tomorrow.