An early start to get Iain a packed lunch and on the bus in St. Girons for 0820. We took the trailer down with us to St Girons where we had a coffee and croissant before putting Iain on the bus. He has a train from Toulouse up to La Rochelle where he has a few days with friends before heading home to Yorkshire.

It has been great having Iain here for a couple of days and I think that he has enjoyed the new level of comfort we have available. The weather has certainly been kinder than the last visit.

While in town we got the washing done; picked up another load of cement, a cucumber and some fizzy water before heading back up the valley.

Odd jobs in the afternoon before finishing early and relaxing with books on the sofa. Snack supper and watched “The Artist” on a computer before an early night.

Wall to wall sunshine again. Last night however was a different story. During the evening the clouds built up and thunder and lightning started. And although it did not actually rain with us at the barn; the river suddenly went brown and swelled to such an extent that I have never seen before. The waterfall opposite was still the normal clear colour and normal dimensions but the falls just up from us were thundering and the colour of mud. Quite impressive.

Today Iain has decided to take Breezy and I out to lunch as a thank you. We have selected the Haut Salat in Seix. Everyone we know who has been there has raved about it both in terms of quality and economy. We were not disappointed.

Beautiful food and some nice wines. Thank you Iain!

Back at the barn we had a sedentary afternoon which included a siesta.

The thunder and lightning started again in the evening but this time it poured. Putting about 900 litres into the rainwater capture. A light supper of pate and cheese and some cards.

Breezy got out the door early with the strimmer before I had finished working on the website for the chalet in Chamonix. Breezy’s Father arrives tomorrow so we have a list of  “must dos” for the day and a list of “nice tos”. The must dos are mainly cleaning but first we should take the opportunity to make some more mess.

I got on with sanding plasterboard while Breezy sorted out a bed for Ian. We have a couple of single mattresses which zip together but unfortunately all the beds are different heights. An early job was to cut down the legs of one of the beds to create a level frame as a double bed. That sorted and bedding on we had a general sort out and tidy up. Tools away, rugs down, sweep up downstairs and sort out the wood.

In the afternoon we were chopping wood outside when Peter came to visit with Daisy the dog. We stopped for a drink and a chat before stocking up the log box for the main barn. Breezy was eager to get some paint on the walls even though some of the panels still had some wet filler. It is now red; not a bright red but a warm earthy red. It is amazing what a lick of paint can do to brighten up a place.

The cloud has come down again though I don’t think it will rain. Shower under the tree courtesy of the sun; omelette and salad upstairs in the main barn.

Over the past few days Breezy has been taking handfuls of stuff out of the outhouse where we still sleep and moving the kitchen up to the big barn. On one hand it is a shame to see the shelves of the small outhouse that has been home for so long slowly depleted. On the other hand it is great to have such a beautiful space to cook and live in upstairs in the barn.

We woke up early in the tent as the sun hit us. All the crew and performers were still asleep in their vans when we left the site at 8am to head back to the barn. Managed to get to St Girons before noon to pick up some water containers and get the washing into the laundrette. Food shop for the week and continue on up the valley to Salau. Filled up with drinking water from the source in the village and back to the barn about 2pm for a late lunch of prawns and aioli.

I sanded down the plasterboard and refilled where necessary while Breezy did a big clean of the upstairs area of the barn. Slowly we are getting rid of the dust that goes with a building site. Each time we mop a bucket of water goes further before becoming black and being refreshed.

Bedroom taking shape

Finished off watering the garden before chicken on the BBQ and dinner on the terrace.

After the usual session of internet bashing Breezy set about a couple of small walls to block in the stairs. Again using some of the wood salvaged from Chamonix and some creative cutting and fixing we are making progress on the bedroom. This bedroom will have access to the area under the stairs as a wardrobe come store area.

Meanwhile I was creating a strip of ceiling between two joists for lighting.

Other things done in the day included grouting the tiles in the porch area and emptying the bags of cement from the van and carting them up to the barn. Again the mucktruck is invaluable.

We saw Annie and Jean on the piste who were walking up and threatened to call in on their way back down but the weather closed in and it started to drizzle so we didn’t see them again.

In the evening we christened the new cooker with some chilli and ginger marinated pork, lit the colonial stove and had a read before bed.

Having put plasterboard up yesterday the bedroom feels like it is rapidly taking shape. The best part of the day was spent doing all the little things that don’t really show any advancement. Breezy set to with a spreader and filler going over all the joints and screw heads while I put up some lighting and sorted out the electrics.

We also cemented in the last couple of tiles in the porch.

Another hot shower courtesy of the sun and an early night.

Another glorious day, summer has arrived so it feels. Up early as it was the weekly shop to St Girons and as usual a long list of things to get done whilst in town. A quick brekky and off we trundled.

We had supplies at Le Forgue to collect, washing to throw in the machine, plasterboard and cement to collect from Cazale other end of town, roses and plants to buy for the garden, food to buy and fuel and gas to collect. All tikced and done by 10.30am and back to Salau. We popped in to the auberge to drop off power tools we had borrowed and a quick coffee and discussions on how to collect Dad on Sunday as the Tour de France is coming through and St Giron is closed and Dad is at the other side of St Girons!!! Change of plan off to Foix we think is the only solution.

Washing on the line, food in the fridge and then started lugging sheets of plasterboard up the hill and getting it in place at the same time so we did not run out of space.

By 230pm we were hungry and had one wall up,  most of the plasterboard up the hill, plants up and ready to go in this afternoon. Time for prawns in the sun. A quick lunch as we could see thunderstorm clouds looming and we did not want to get caught out with materials down by the van.

All good though the storm came as we had washing in all dry, materials all in the barn and most of them used. A pretty good start to Bedroom 1!

Huge thunderstorm for about 30 mins which helped fill the water butts and then it cleared again so we could get the clematis and roses in which Dad gave us money for last year as birthday pressies but was the wrong time to put them in. They should add some colour to the terraced area and let’s hope they survive the winter up here.

Showers and then internet. I cooked a newish cod dish for supper very simple with anchovies, capers, lemon, baby toms and  olive oil with some stir fried veggies. It got the thumbs up. Early to bed we were both quite tired but a good progress day.