Right side with window    Back wall done!

Decision was made to crack on with the joints so I mixed up a load and we did just that. Dug over some more of the veg plot while waiting for the mortar to go off before brushing it off. Just finished brushing as Annie and Jean turned up. A bottle of white and a good chat with them before lunch. Then back to mixing and pointing. Two loads later and we have certainly broken the back of the job. Another three mixes and we should be done.

Then it’s just floors, windows, stove, la, la, la…

Evening fire and blog writing, pasta surprise and scrabble I hope.

As we were invited to lunch at Alison and Peter’s we decided to potter about for a couple of hours in the morning. Fairly bright with a few clouds and odd showers.

Had a bit of a sort out of kitchen stuff and food. Graded the last of the slate from the back of the main barn. Stripped some more box for the table legs. Then off down to Salau to do some chores before lunch. Caught up with Annie and Jean on route to arrange for them to come up to the barn for a drink.

The bridge in Salau was like our office with Breezy on emails and me on the phone. Sorted out payment for a load of solar kit for electricity, so hopefully that should arrive soon. Spoke to Stevie who is coming out to visit this week. Spoke to Lee who is going to do Mont Valier tomorrow. We bailed on that one as we only have clothes for working and eating, not winter kit, and inadequate footwear for Mont Valier. Arranged to do a day walk with Lee Thursday or Friday.

Gathered some more drinking water from the spring then off to A & P’s to charge up drills and phones as well as eat.

Eleven of us in total with a couple of faces we had not met before. All predominantly French, fab food and managed to get away by 5pm

Had a visit from Adam and Patrick from the village. Patrick builds walls for a living and said that he would point up about 30 square meters in a couple of days. Mmm… maybe we get him in for the main barn?

Started making table legs; a bite to eat and bed.

A hot day which clouded over later and we had a small storm which cleared the air.

The morning was spent; guess what? Pointing up joints in walls. After a couple of mixes we finished the second wall (fortunately out of four) and it now feels like we will get it done.

After a beef steak sandwich for lunch we set about a table for Breezy. She is right in that eating at a table is far nicer than eating off your lap. First attempt failed when I had a go at cutting planks out of some of the old roof timber. I never realised how hard it is to cut even planks from a log using a chainsaw. Clive has a small spirit level taped to the handle for such a purpose. Plan B was to use some of the off cuts of poplar from the roof to make the table top. Having attached them together and chainsawed the ends off to make them square we set to planning the top smooth. An hour or so later we have a pretty cool table top. Next, the legs. With an abundance of Box wood we set about gathering the right thicknesses and lengths and taking the bark off.

Goulash and cous cous for supper and a game of scrabble by oil lamp.

A real scorcher of a day and so much so that the water we heat in the solar bags was almost too hot and we nearly needed to add cold water!!!

The morning was spent again with the dreaded pointing fiasco which we are both looking forward to finishing. That took all morning before having a late lunch and then doing some outdoor stuff.

We still have a huge pile of wood to make into logs and we said we would take a trailer load to Alison and Peter so chopped a load for them before starting a fence for the veggie patch area in a hope to keep out the donkeys and wild boar from eating anything we plant. Trial and error I think on that front, firstly seeing if what we plants actually grows and if it does, will it survive the grazing animals???

Shower with a view 

Disaster of a dinner, roast chicken that was inedible, a real scrawny thing which any meat we could get off was so tough that I did not bother attempting to try and eat it, roast potatoes were good though!!!! Looking forward to a meat fest tomorrow!!!!

     

Day off YIPPEE!!!

After a restless night with deflating lilo which needed constantly pumping up….moving back to the old ones which manage to stay up for the whole night!!!

Absoloutely gorgeous day so we headed off to Trein D’Oustou just about 20 mins away and headed off on a walk recommended by Lee who knows the area really well and is a fund of information on where to go and what to do when it comes to the outdoors. A great bit of advice.

We did have a fairly necky start in Vinnie as we followed a very narrow and steep rough road till no further and then poor Al had to reverse back down, and over the tight bridge, rather him than me. Done in style without a dint.

We trundled up an excellent 4X4 track until we got stopped by a sign which we should have ignored will know next time and started walking from there up the track which climbed on and on for yonks, we finally appeared at the top and 5 mins from the Col de le Serre du Cot to get an excellent view back down into the Salal Valley, could now quite see the barn but saw lots of other familiar areas and have a plan to do a circular loop following the whole ridge ending back in Salau.

It was so lovely to get out and have a break from the old DIY for a day.

Back home for a delicious spicy goulash, good to see the deer again just in front of  us by the river.

Woke up to blue sky which stayed for most of the day which was great not to be in the drizzle to work.

I shifted the sand up to the barn while Al got a mix going on the ongoing chore of getting the outbuilding pointed and bug proof, will we ever get there????

Henri popped by and said that he would come by at 1:30pm ish to help us with getting the water butts up full of water to behind the outhouse.

So began the challenge Henri arrived with his motor bruette (wheelbarrow) which can carry 600kg so half filled one of the butts and then spent the next few hours trying to heave and ho with it up the hill balancing acts and all sorts of problems, would have been much easier to empty it and then do a load of trips to fill it once in situ, anyway, it was a good way to get to know Henri a bit more!!! He has been very kind to us and says if we need anything to just ask, which is a plus.

The afternoon we spent strimming with the new gadget which was fab so we have a clear terrace out the back and shifting slate to the front.

Decided to have a BBQ so used Ken’s brasserie dual purpose until we get his wedding gift, the real BBQ out here when we will be BBQ’ing all the time I guess. Steaks with jackets and BBQ veggies was lovely. We have been so lucky to be able to sit out most evenings until it gets dark and hitting the sack at about 10pm.

Bit of a shock to wake to the alarm but we knew we had a busy day ahead in the bright lights of St Girons. Good day to go to town as it was heavy drizzle all day.

We collected some more cement from La Forgue before heading to the Tourist Office to find out about public transport to Carcassone which is a bit of a mare to say the least no direct route so thinking of other options to get back for our flight. The chap in the Tourist Office used to be a guide in Chamonix so wanted to chat about weather, snow, places etc. Managed to get to the lawn Mower shop before 12 so we got a new head for the strimmer which has been excellent. A quick trip to collect sand before a monster session at Maccy D’s for the old internet stuff.

Found the laundrette, chucked in a load of washing before heading off to see if we could find a table at the bric a brac shop but no luck there, back to collect the washing, food shop and then trundled back by 5pm.

Managed to get hold of Nigel from the solar shop and order our few bits and pieces to provide light for us, so excited about that, not sure when it will arrive and how effective it is but time will tell.

Breezy Blogging

Had some prawns with aioli as a starter and then some cod with potato casserole and veg which all seemed to disappear.

It was a much colder night and the extra layers were appreciated!

A glorious lie in until 9 thirty; muggy weather but dry.

Felt like we had to break the back of the pointing up walls in the outhouse so got straight onto it (after my morning coffee).

Henri (le mayor) arrived as we were just mixing our second batch of goo. He saw the water containers and said that if the weather held he would bring his tractor up and help us part fill them from the river and transport then up the hill and install them with us.

Later Annie and Dominic visited for a cuppa so we caught up with then and the latest batch of puppies.

In preparation for installing water containers we had to shift a load of sawn up wood and slate. As we were shifting the slate we graded it all in piles and dragged a load more down from behind the main barn. In the end Henri did not show up so we had potato casserole and home smoked duck breast in the smoker Breezy bought me for Christmas (delicious).

Arrival and cleaning of Water Storage Containers

No wind to disturb us overnight and sunshine to bring in the new day. We started with sawing up some wood near the bridge and then dug out a load of saplings which were threatening to turn the meadow into forest. All of a sudden you start to think about the amount of work required just to maintain the land and get scared.

The day deteriorated into intermittent rain / drizzle. During wet bits I tidied up the tool store and Breezy typed up notes for the blog. We labelled up a load of tins for nails, springs, bolts etc

Finished the chilli for lunch with jacket potatoes (that cooker is great).

In the afternoon we dug compost into the veggie patch and then set about stuffing more mortar into joints in the outhouse. Ekke arrived part way through and offered to sell us a couple of 1000 litre water cubes. Great!! Ekke went to see the waterfalls as we finished off the mix and then we all went down to the village to sort out the water containers.

Another cheeky drink in the bar and then back to the barn for a Spanish omelette to finish stuff up.

A very windy night and disturbed sleep as doors blew open, sheets of iron flew about and cardboard flew about the inside of the building. Scrambled egg on toast is such a great way to start the day.

We used some of the wood we had to make window frames in the outbuilding thinking that we would use mortar to fit them in place. Then did a mortar mix to finish the back wall above the mezzanine.

A late lunch of chuck butties before Cecile arrived to survey our handy work on the joints. She imparted some useful tips for us.

Breezy set to strimming out the back of the main barn until she ran out of strimming cord. Then we set to digging the new veggie patch.

In the evening we showered and went to the bar in Salau for a rose and a beer before a chilli and rice dinner.