Started the day dry but overcast so lit a fire and got the chainsaw on a few logs from the pile of stuff to burn. Once the fire was going nicely we cut the rotten ends off the beams inside and stacked them against the wall giving us more room to dig out. The rain started mid morning and continued all day. By the time we left, apart from looking like drowned rats, we had dug out another sixth of the main building and the river had swollen to twice it’s normal level. We doused the fire and departed for a bath and a drink.

Woke up to rain so we spent the first hour or so sorting out more papers and Al doing a bit of work for Unique Solutions.

Then we headed up the road for a very productive day. It was still raining so we opted to start on the massive job of digging out the main building of years of straw, compost and everything else! Quite hard work uncovering some large stones as well which needed shifting as well as a few large old rafters. We had made a good indentation by lunch.

The bonfire was roaring today and the pile is going down rapidly, which is great, tidying the place up a little bit.

We also continued with the never ending process of shifting slate from the lower outhouse to the top terrace and then grading it. Hoping that if we do a bit a day it won’t become too much of a chore.

By the end of the day I think we had cleared about 1/6^th of the main area, halved the wood pile and over the half way mark with the slate so not a bad day.

Yesterday was a day in St Girons; photocopying, buying supplies. setting up accounts, etc.

Al worked hard in the morning sorting out the plans for the Marie. Then we headed up to the Bergerie for a few hours.

Managed to start a bonfire with the wet wood and slowly wading our way through it.

Shifted another stair of slate while Al sketched the bergerie roughly on how we intend it to look.

Then off to the Mayor with all the paperwork to find he is not there….he is getting a sit on lawn mower to cut his grass with!!! Great! Not open on Thurs as it is a holiday so it goes to next Tues before submitting documents.

Wine at Myrtille and more discussions about the source…

Started today by moving more slate around. Access to the roof is better from the back rather than the front so we are concentrating on getting all the slate we have graded up there. Plan is to do a bit each day.

Finished the door to the annex out of salvaged wood from inside the main building.

Sorted out a bit more slate and then got the chainsaw going. Seems to be using loads of chain oil and a little temperamental starting so gonna get it serviced in St Girons tomorrow. Hot today and blowing a whooley so bailed slightly early to plan what we need to do tomorrow (over a beer and a glass of wine at Les Myrtylle).

Finished Door

Woke up to the sun shining and seeing the snow capped peaks which was great. A quick spot of paperwork for the Marie and then up the hill we go again!

We started a bonfire to start getting rid of the woodpile. 26 degrees of heat and a bonfire going…very hot day! We have decided to shift a stair of slate a day from the lower outhouse up to the top terrace so that hopefully it will not be too much of a chore. 20 minutes of shifting slate compared to a whole day was bliss.

We had just begun to try and prop the ever over hanging roof when Freddy and Daniella from the Auberge Myrtille turned up for a gander. It was really nice to talk to some other folk about our plans while on the property. We then sat and drank wine and beer for an hour or so which was a great way to spend time. If anybody needs a place to stay while in Salau, they have a fab little Auberge and yummy food too.

We propped the roof as best we could with timber and rocks lets hope it holds until the autumn, fingers crossed.

One of our aims this month was to get the building secure so we set about making a door for the annex with the reclaimed wood. A good time for me to get used to using power tools and sawing etc. Al is of course a dab hand and I am sure he could have made the door quicker on his own. Anyway, I enjoyed it and we now have ¾ of a door for the annex, which compliments the style of the other doors, which remain.

I was roasted and so we chucked water on the fire and headed for a beer at the bar. The usual characters were there and the conversation always seemed to be concerning finding the source for us. We are hoping to have located it before we send in our plans.

Door Making

Spent an hour and a half reading through the application for the “Permis de Construit” and working out where we are deficient. Thanks to Andy (the architect) and Martin (structural engineer) we think we have it all covered. It is going to take a few hours to pull it all together and get it checked before we hand in 4 (yes FOUR) copies in to the Marie. Having addled our brains with paperwork we set about clearing out the second outbuilding. Considering it is only just over 2m x 2m inside we salvaged a couple of ton of old slate. Enough lifting and carrying rock for a while. Think we may do something a little more creative tomorrow.

Yesterday we started digging out old slates from the outhouses. It would appear that when a previous owner of the barn saw that the roof was caving in, they stripped the slate off and dumped it in the outhouses that had already lost their roofs. Then they put tin on the roof of the barn. It being lighter has just prolonged its life rather than sorted the problem. We were wondering where the old slate went? Now we know. Lord knows how long it has been there but we have dug up a couple of ton already and not finished yet.

We had to get to the Mayor’s (the Bear) office in the afternoon to go through some permissions and an inquisition. Just as we were going to leave one of our neighbours called by, an old Frenchman with an old dog, he kept us chatting for a while and gave us some very useful contacts and information.

Dashed back to the apartment, cleaned up, put on a shirt, drove to the Marie, via a skip to get shot of a stump, and wandered into the Bear’s office. Having planned the conversation the first thing he said was “ so what do you plan to do with the property?”

Now we have a bunch of forms to fill in to get permission to replace the roof. The Bear however mellowed and even cracked a couple of jokes that we recognised; we laughed in the right places; and now we appear to be friends. In the end he was also quite helpful.

Tomorrow more digging up slate. Yipee!!!

A leisurely start to the day, the mist was hanging over the tops so we donned thermals and headed up the valley.

We decided to try and finish the retaining wall for the access to the bridge, lots of rock carrying and within 10 mins the thermals were off and we were down to T Shirts for the rest of the day. We managed to finish the wall by just after midday yippee.

Exploration time as we tried to find the source…but to no avail. We did, however find another old barn on our land well and truly hidden from all surrounded by lovely big trees and a cracking view of Mont Rouch.

After a fab picnic lunch by the river we prepared the ramp next to the wall for cementing in the near future. More rock carrying! Enough of rocks and we began to attack more brambles which are a total mare to clear slowly but surely we are getting there but still many more briars to get shot of. Ended the day with a 20 minute challenge of removing a very stubborn tree which was surrounded by metal and well and truly embedded. Now we have a much clearer front of the Bergerie to look at and makes access a great deal easier.

  Having weighed up options we went into St Girons in the morning. We have got loads done but recognise that we will very soon run out of options with the tools we have, so tool buying it is. Picked up a couple of forks, PPE for chainsaw, string and a wheelbarrow.

Back to the apartment for lunch of chicken sandwiches in the sun on the balcony and then back to work. Sun shining so set about sorting the bridge. Basically the bridge is fine except for the foot step to get on and off it. So if we want to get stuff over it to put a roof on it means building a ramp either side. Decision was made to build walls to retain a load of stone and pour concrete over the lot. Got on really well dragging stone out of the river (nearest) until we were done for the day. Maybe another day or two will see it finished. Then, a car horn started papping in the 4×4 track. We ran up thinking something was wrong to find “Monsieur le Maire” to welcome us and flex his muscles… “Ooh La La.”

 

We stopped at the bar on the way home to meet up with Adam the old local French guy to try and find out exactly where the source was, well actually we were aiming at him showing…he has no time this week so if we have not found it before then he will come up and show us. Met another couple Alison from Yorkshire, Boston Spa and Peter her fiancée from Central America. Both working and living in Toulouse and have bought a holiday home in Salau, which we were then shown around. Very nice folk and they are already talking about having us over for dinner. A good finale to the day.

Rather a dismal day today but ideal for inside clearance. Looking at the main part all seemed a tad scary and daunting, to me anyway!

 

Concern being that the whole roof would fall down if we touched the vital beams. Eek! Climbing hats went on, very good idea. We decided to clear a pathway to reach the back door safely so we could then chuck the dead wood straight out rather than manoeuvring it around the front of the building. This would have taken ages. A great make shift corrugated iron shoot helped immensely in the time it took us.

Getting the old beams out was interesting, Al being a decent height and me considerably smaller made it challenging but we managed to get the beams out with the walls still in tact. Al was concerned re the central main beam holding the roof up so we constructed a winch system to inch it 3 inches across to rest more securely (we hope) on a more stable cross beam.By the end of the day we had amazingly cleared out the whole main building of dead wood, salvaged as much of the other wood as possible for later use and created a HUGE pile of dead wood outside. We are no ready for a big bonfire! Enough of dust and old hay we opted to clear an area by the 4X4 track. Hopefully this will become one of the driving entrances, which we are planning to do to enable us to drive in one way and out the other.

I was in need of fresh air so we had a little stroll up to Cascade Leziou, which we can see from the Bergerie.