Slightly overcast start to the day but air temperature warmer. After arriving at the barn we had our first visitor of the day Monsieur le Maire. He walked up to the Bergerie with his dog to see how work was progressing. All good in his eyes with lots of advice too, which was more than welcomed. He liked the work, thought it looked good for the area…he is on our side, a good way to start the day. Al and I set about getting the rest of Raymond’s slates up to the Bergerie and then a load from Annie’s as well. Murray and I then stayed on that for most of the day with the odd bit of cleaning and drilling in between. Giselle steamed ahead with continual cleaning at a rate of knots and has been a HUGE help, merci Giselle. Al persevered with re grading the slate so that hopefully the back will be a smooth running process. Meanwhile, Clive and Hans tackled the smaller slates to finish the front whey hey! It looks great and looks like it has been there for years, which is just how we wanted it to be. We left at gone 7pm after taking a load of scaffolding down to Clive’s van as we slowly try to tidy up before we leave. Time is precious at the moment.

Old Slate

How shall I say it…more slate!!!! Giselle, Al and I cleaned slate pretty much all day, covered in dust from head to toe. Only at the end of the day did Hans say “Breezy you look really funny” uum I thought why? He said I was a tad black!!! The sun shone all day and made progress for Hans and Clive on the roof great. They managed to get 25 metres square of slate down and it looks great. They work well together and steamed ahead. We all retreated to the bar at 7pm for much deserved beer and rose for me!

A very Productive day. Hans and Clive worked together slating the front roof and fitting Chatiers (air vents) to the annex. By the end of the day half the front is done! Two more good weather days should see it finished. Having the scare of not having enough slate to do the front a few days ago we have managed to get permission from different people to raid (recouperer) slate from their old roofs. We now have a few extra tons in a pile to be graded and cleaned; a boring job but someone has to do it. We may even have enough to do the back as well? Breezy and Murray had a few forays down the valley snaffling more slate during the afternoon. Well deserved beers were consumed in the bar early doors. Having worked Saturday and no time to shop we are running low on food. Need to address that soon.

A day of repose. A lie in and then phoned my folks in St Girons to arrange a rendezvous before they left for the airport. Took them to a flea market. Breezy survived it, having kept me away from junkyards for the last five years. We did find four large old hand made nails to finish the trusses off. Back to Salau and up to the barn with some nibbles and a bottle of rose. Met up with Cecile and Eke on route who joined us for a while. An early night in preparation for another hard week.

10am start with Clive, Murray, Breezy and me. Breezy graded slate and cleaned them up for Clive to attach to the roof. Clive also sorted out the gutters and felt so that we could crack on Monday morning. Murray and I went on slate finding missions. Clive kindly donated his personal stash to our roof. They need replacing but without them we would not be able to progress. Clive is passionate about what he does, and I marvel sometimes at the devotion he gives to our project. My parents visited mid afternoon while the place was still in sun. They had an adventure finding us. Having parked at the beginning of the piste and walked up. “How much further” & “Have we passed it”. I keep forgetting that we are over 1000m altitude and walking up hill is an effort. Cracked open a bottle of rose wine!! Saturday night we spent at Clive and Giselle’s for food and rugby. Fantastic food and England beat France. All three kids had face paint on. Tri colours on one side and St George’s cross on the other. So, now gotta watch the final next weekend. There’s a birthday bash for a local, Patrick on Friday and we are planning a bit if a picnic do at the barn on Saturday so rugby in the bar on Saturday night sounds good to me.

Definite progress  Laughter

Breezy took a trip into St Girons for 6cm nails required for the large slates. 40 mins each way just to buy nails. Should have sorted that in advance. First emergency run of the month. We did get some other stuff at the same time but the nails were the initiator. Today the scrubbing of slate starts. Having graded it into piles of similar length; each slate needs the bottom third cleaning with a wire brush. Planked (sarked) the rest of the roof in poplar, as it is naturally resistant to rot and termites. By the end of the day part of the annex was slated. Clive usually recons on an hour to slate a metre square. That’s a bit depressing as we have 140 to do Breezy and I then went down to St Girons to meet my folks for dinner and arranged a rendezvous for Saturday at the barn..

The poplar planking for the roof went on the front as well as gutters. Even the first layer of felt and some slate!! It looks like we could have the beginnings of a roof. Biggest concern is if we have enough slate for the front roof viewable from the track? Need to get on to locals for more old slate!

   Murray 

Today is the day we cap the walls. A double ring of steel reinforcement runs around all the walls in a trough created by building up the walls on the facing sides. Clive is on the cement mixer creating concrete which is bucketed all around the walls to a depth of 10-15cm. Murray is learning French all day but Giselle is helping again. Hans and I try to keep up with Clive by getting rid of concrete as fast as he can make it. Giselle buckets it up and passes them over the walls and Breezy is spreading it out and tamping it in. By 1pm all is done and the weather is changing. We just got all the walls covered when the heavens opened. Lunch was had under a tarpaulin and we retired to the bar for a celebration at 3pm as no more could be done. In the evening we got a text from my parents to say they are flying out the next night. Fantastic!!

Van returned safely, Vinnie all healthy so back to normal. Mum and Dad left today via Carcassone, looking forward to hearing about it. Not sun but no rain all day until 7pm when we had just reached the bar!!! A day of getting things done, or so it felt like. We had Gizelle on site today, nice to have some female company and someone my own size!!! well actually smaller than me would you believe it? Probably not but true!!! Walls built up, “jambe de force” constructed and cemented in. These just need to be nailed with old authentic nails. Steel reinforcement around the walls, entwined and ready for capping tomorrow. Me up and down the hill all day shovelling, gravel and delivering water. Muddy as!!! Visit from Pierre who insists on helping us tomorrow, which will be a useful extra pair of hands for capping day. All set for a big day tomorrow weather permitting.

Hoping of better weather was wasted, it was a foul day!!! I headed off to get the hire van, to my horror a HUGE van with new rear window…eek must plan route home to involve no parking and no reversing!!! Mission accomplished!!! Phew. Parked the van at the end of the track not going up there with that huge thing…..and wandered up the 4X4 to crack on with work. Hans was at home due to rain. Murray, Clive and Al were battling on with cementing, walls, etc. not ideal and even less ideal as the cement mixer had broken. By 3.30pm it was torrential, we were all drowned rats so packed up and headed back at 4pm. Hot bath before we headed out to meet M&D for supps at St Lizier. They had had a good day in spite of the weather, a drive into Bethmale valley, lunch and a wander in St Girons and reading on the balcony!!!