^{A large lie in after a 2.30am finish from the antics the night before. We woke up to the sun shining always lovely.}

^{A few errands in the am and a visit to see Daniella’s new pup a border collie which is adorable. Much needed time for Al and myself at the Bergerie discussing the next steps. It has been a very busy week with very little time to discuss things between ourselves so it was lovely to catch up in the sun on the land. Chris arrived after spending the day with Annie and Murray and we trundled up to see the sculptured limestone and the waterfalls all looking very impressive with the recent snowmelt.}

^{We managed a few beers before Chris cooked some roast chuck for us all.}

^{Took 2 vehicles to St Girons as Chris was keen to be a tourist for the day. Breezy and I had a list of things to do and buy which took slightly longer than anticipated so we missed the market and had to scoff lunch before meeting the guys for half a days work. A productive pm for the lads…with getting a third of the first floor joists in. Clive drilling the holes in the walls and Murray and I  filling in afterwards with stones and cement making it look new!!!  Breezy’s birthday along with Gizelle and Clive’s wedding anniversary plus Martine’s birthday  (married to Johnny, secretary for the mayor) So we had been invited to a “party” partagez which is the equivalent of a “pot luck” in the UK bring something for the meal and something to eat and it is a free for all. Met loads more extremely hospitable and interesting locals who made us all feel very welcome. Chris in his newly purchased beret from the market.}

^{A night to remember!!!!}

^{The sun finally shone but wow was it cold after the snow getting down to 1200m, a tad parky to say the least.  We had a very successful day today and achieved loads.}

^{Chris collected an extra scaff tower from Murray’s and then  helped Clive to get cement mixer etc on site too.}

^{Clive joined us who is “the man in the know” re the actual structure of the roof and we had been waiting for him before we could progress much further. He is another English chap who  has been in the area for years living just above Couflens in a lovely place which he is gradually doing up along with his wife Gizelle and 3 kids.}

^{By the end of the day the whole roof was stripped off; ridge beam, purlins the lot and a great deal of heave hoing from the guys as the wood was in huge pieces and very wet so doubly heavy.}

Builders Bums  Snow   Roof Off

^{Clive had done a great job at cementing in  the first floor rafters the very large pieces of wood which we had struggled to get up to the Bergerie and it actually feels like progress is being made. Slowly but surely.  7.30pm much needed beers to end a very good day.}

^{We spoke to Clive the evening before and he said that we would see him at lunchtime after he finished off another job. Hans and I started to shift the large floor beams into the building while Breezy used the mucktruck to collect water from the river and decant it into the 500ltr water but we bought yesterday. The two beams are 7m long and large sections. Each weighs about 750kg. We managed to get then into the building with ropes, pulleys and sweat. With hoists on the safest of the old roof joists we managed to lift the beams into positions where they would be easy to slot into place. After that success we went back to stripping the roof. By the end of the day we were left with a skeleton of a building. Strange to think that if it was in this state when we first saw it we would never have even contemplated buying it. It would have saved us loads of dosh if we had.}

Hans' new hat How Big? Heave 

^{Clive did not show in the end so we caught up with him by phone to make arrangements for Friday.}

^{Very grey day with loads of rain over night and we still need to get the gravel up to behind the barn, not sure if the truck will make it up in the boggy conditions, we will see.}

^{Al loaded 30 sacks of gravel that then Chris tried to get up the hill. In the end it was a mix of truck and muck truck.}

^{We abandoned Murray at the end of the track shovelling the rest of the gravel into sacks for transporting later that day.}

Progress 

^{It was wet and not very safe to get on the roof so Hans went home. Murray had French lessons that afternoon so we were down to Chris, Al and myself.}

^{We decided that time was better spent sorting out the water issue and how to get a regular supply of water at the back of the barn for use for cement. A trip to St Girons and Al and I within 10 minutes had found exactly the right containers to solve the problem…BRILLIANT!!!}

^{Delivery Day 2 and the truck had arrived at the end of the track before us and had already started unloading masses of materials….and we were just beginning to ponder just how  long shifting all of it was going to take when peep peep Monsieur Le Mayor arrives in full force…luckily on our side, giving the driver what for on why he would not transport the materials up to the Bergerie. He gave it his best shot but to no avail Monsieur Cazale was having none of it and continued unloading!!! At least my concerns re the mayor making life difficult for us were now no more. Phew.}

^{Hans a lovely Dutch chap arrived today to work with us. He has a place just the other side of  Seix and has lots of  experience on roofing so a great asset to the team.}

^{So another day of shifting materials up the track for Chris, Murray and I, while Al and Hans attacked the dismantling of the roof.}

^{Luckily the weather was reasonable which made life a lot easier.}

Tight    It's Long

^{End of the day was highly amusing as after many ideas and thoughts re the large wood and how to get it there the end decision was to get Chris’s 4X4 truck with the wood on balanced with the muck truck behind. It looked very funny and I think we all had our doubts if it would actually work but it did at a snails pace it was manoeuvred all the way up to near the front door. This had to be done twice since the wood was so heavy.}

^{Thank goodness we did get it moved that night because with all the rain over night it would not have happened the next day.}

Delivery day…will they won’t they drop the materials on the land? I was hopeful but to no avail as Monsieur Cazale was determined that end of the 4X4 track was as far as he was going. Not an ideal start but at least the sun was shining. So Plan B was to use Chris’s 4X4 to transport the materials up to the barn, fairly time consuming but it worked with each round trip taking about 50 mins. Chris was FAB with getting the full truck up the hill. We had managed to shift all of the first load except the large 7.5m pieces of wood by the end of the day which was good as another 17 tonne truck was arriving tomorrow with more materials which would also need shifting. “Muscles Murray” a very tall and strong Scottish chap who we had met before was keen for work so was happy to help us out for the roof. He and Annie have a barn just the other side of Couflens with 10 dogs, 2 horses, some goats and lots of veggies.!!! and plenty of work to do too so any time that Murray can give us is much appreciated. Al and Murray began stripping tin from the roof in the afternoon.

^{So… it was a Sunday morning and so we did not set an alarm. Add the fact that we had early beers last night and then some gin while cooking, and lastly some wine over scrabble. Needless to say Breezy won. Life is generally easier that way.}

^{Back to the plot; set off about ten up to the grange and started shifting slate (yes more slate) up to the back of the building. Also strimmed the remainder of tracks we will need once the materials arrive tomorrow. Still concerned that the delivery driver will refuse to drive right up to our land. Over the phone they have been making noises about only delivering to the start of the 4×4 track. If that happened we have another step in the already mammoth task of putting a new roof on. Namely transporting eight six ton truck loads of materials 1km up the track before we even get it over the bridge and up to the back of the barn.}

^{We did sort a system out for moving stuff up using Chris’ truck on the far side of the bridge and our little trailer. Then using the muck truck on the near side with the trailer. The 4×4 only just fits over the bridge with about an inch either side so we don’t wanna do that for every load. Many thanks to my folks for the muck truck and trailer. They are worth their weight in gold.}

^{Later Chris fettled the chainsaw. I quote “I have never… pause… I have… pause… where’s that thing gone… pause… I have never in my life… look at this… you could cut yourself on this… pause.” Anyway , it works now thanks to Chris.}

^{Moroccan chicken tonight then a big day shifting more stuff tomorrow. All the materials and scaffolding to sort out.}

Muck truck and Breezy     

Chris strimming

Up to and including then anyway. Well…! We all seemed to have got up this morning. There was a loud guffaw from ‘the other room’ early on, (what I meant was early, as in not near to lunchtime but not near dawn either). Anyway, we all deserved a bit of a rest, A and B had travelled across from Chamonix and C (me) had managed to spend 2 days travelling down from Wirksworth!! That deserves a blog all of its own……….. and literally that is another story!! A only wanted me to bung a cupla words in cos he wanted to have a bath. To get back to that guff aw (alas more tea vicar) it was the other picture on the wall and not what you may or may not have been thinking. I will actually reach the point…….. it may take a few paragraphs and I DO have to keep you all interesting! Pierre……. now he can speak good English but I will not go into that, suffice to say that his English is as good as my French J . I thought he was looking like he didn’t finish after we had all gone home last night, but he did look as if he was on a mission this morning after we had breakfasted, pardon et moi, petit dejeuner. And Monsieur Adam, well……. he told me all sorts about all sorts and we’re not talking liquorice. The Bar, I had been told about the bar and it does have draught beer, but not for too long, so if you want it you had better get over here and help because if you don’t Daniella and Freddie will be serving you bottles instead. Im getting there, OK! So apart from telling us that the barn was just off the beaten track, it was/is A & B didn’t say that le bear/mayor doesn’t like you going up his’beaten track’!! Well, by god I wouldn’t either (anyway I have just got to tell you about this Peurto Rican guy who I just met, He has this thing about Hampsters!!………I’m not going to say anything else other than the fact he was wearing a Kilt to The Bar). Je suis arrive dans la propertie au A & B al la compagne au Salau……………. perfait ce tre bein, wonder bra, coool, lubbly jubbly……… Wow, location, location, location……… need a bit more of the weather, weather, weather tho! rained in the pm and put a bit of a halt to the works but, guess what?? yeah, you got it we go to the bar……… what a life………. don’t tell A & B I’m moving out here J OK lets get serious, I’m not really going to move out, I just found out the Bar doesn’t open in the winter…….TBV/ totally bad value, what! So to work. There is one helluva lot of it to do, and guess what it all involves handballing (for those of you not familiar with the expression it has got absolutely nothing to do with drinking beer or playing with ‘les Ballons’) basically it means hard graft and carrying stuff up to the house in ya andy pandies!