After the usual morning start with internet bashing for the chalet in Chamonix we had a fruit breakfast with yogurt in order to deplete the fridge.

Then straight on with mixing concrete to use up the cement leftover from laying the floor last year. It is already beyond its best but will do fine for building up the walls of the last little outbuilding. Also leftover was a bit of oak and a big piece of douglas fir so before lunch they went into the wall as lintels for the doorway. We did actually raise the level of the door which is now the only one I can walk through without ducking. Breezy, needless to say, does not suffer from the same issue.

Lunch was again using up leftovers of cheese and pate in sandwiches in the sun.

We began the afternoon sorting out odd jobs ready to shut down the barn before we leave on Sunday. Breezy went down to the van and cleared and swept it out. Checking oil and water levels. I took the wheels off the trailer (it won’t fit through the door of the barn with them on) and then cleared stuff away inside to make space to stash it. Between us we manhandled it into the barn and then sorted out kit in trunks destined to stay, go to Chamonix or the UK.

With the last couple of hours of the afternoon we set about the walls again. By 5.30 we only have 3 sacks of cement left. We have managed to stabilise the walls to a stage where they are no longer going to fall down. Year on year to date they have slowly tumbled and the structure was unstable to say the least. Now however we can start to imagine it with a roof and being a useful space.

Now showered, Breezy is making a banana yogurt cake (to use up leftovers) which we will take to Clive and Giselle’s kid when we go for dinner tomorrow. Smoked duck, boulanger potatoes with leak & courgette for supps tonight; just to use up leftovers.

Now raining. Not seen that for quite a while.

Another glorious day and after Ski Breezy bookings to deal with we set to with finishing off the 3rd wood shed at the back of the barn. We made short work of it and it was all chopped, covered and any small pieces put down in the lower wood shed for use when we get back.

Although the window was in and the shutters were on, we still need to get anti theft devices on so we spent an hour or so sorting out bars and locks and all pretty secure now we hope.

A little bit of a tidy up before a quick lunch in the sun. We could no longer delay the dreaded walls and cement but we were in the sun so it was quite nice work. More alarmingly was the amount of baby adders about hiding under all the stones. So we were being very careful when picking up rocks. Half way through Henri arrived to see progress. All good news from him, he seemed happy and also has given the thumbs up for the 2 windows to go in….hoorah. That will be next year though!! Finished off a bit more cementing and then hot showers and down to Salau.

Olivier came to take the donkeys away so it will seem quiet without them but it also meant we could take down the rope surrounding the barns.

Rubbish to dump, recycling galore and Al needed to see Clive with gutter dimensions and I needed to print off booking forms from the auberge. We had a quick drink there before trundling back to the barn, fire on and a game of scrabble before supps.

Another blue sky day. We were up at 7am again as Ski Breezy stuff seems to be filling up and it is good to get all the Chamonix work sorted before we start the day. Good to have the fire going whilst we work though as it is fresh each morning before the sun hits us.

After brekky Al got a mix going for the window and I sorted all washing up, solar shower up, filling up log box etc etc before then tackling securing the window in with the mortar, pretty easy job and looks good. Used the rest of the mortar by the door and that is the pointing finished till next year.

We had Annie and Jean from the village up for an apero a midi which was fun. Annie has been in the village since a baby so we learnt a lot about the history of Salau which was great.

They left and we had a bite to eat before starting on the log pile and brushing off walls. A quick visit from Pascal to confirm lunch on Friday and a quick tour of the barn.

We got half the wood pile sorted and another hour will see us finished tomorrow.

Hot showers and internet before Lee arrived for dinner. Chilled courgette and mint soup, mild tomato curry chicken and rhubarb was on the menu. All seemed to go down well. He is working hard and we were fairly tired so we had opted for an early supper so we could still get an early night in before work tomorrow.

Last night we received and email from Hans sayings that he could make it over today to help us with the window in the gable end. We had planned to start building up the walls on the last little ruined building to use up the cement. Plans change.

The alarm was set for 7am to give us time to work on emails and the web stuff for Ski Breezy before Hans was expected around 9am.

Hans actually arrived just before 11 in time for the sun to hit us (and coffee) giving us loads of web time and some time to do odd chores.

Trying to fit something new, straight and with right angles into a hole which is completely irregular is a little tricky and time consuming.

No injuries, one burnt out power plane and a small mountain of wood shavings and sawdust later and the window is in (complete with fettled shutters).

In between helping Hans and I with the window bits, Breezy also managed to sort out the veggie garden, stock take food and a number of other “must do” jobs.

Having done some monster walks the last two days I could definitely feel it in my legs. Sauze, Kate and Breezy said that they felt similar.

England were playing Scotland in the World Cup Rugby so after breakfast Sauze and Kate wandered off down the piste to see if they could catch the 2^nd half at the Auberge. Absolutely no sign of life there they continued on to Couflens to get phone reception and spoke to husbands; receiving rugby updates by phone.

They returned in time for coffee and cake up in the trees. After 2 hours of chatting it was then time for lunch on the terrace. More chatting and Sauze just had time to dye Breezy’s hair before heading down the valley to catch Peter & Alison for a drink down in Salau. More chat and back to the barn for supps, salad and wild mushroom risotto cooked by Sauze. More chat and hilarity followed by a last game of bananagrams and bed.

We were up and out the door early as needed to get down the valley for the weekly stock up of food. Collected some sand, did the laundry, large food shop and then back and unloaded by midday hoorah!!!!

Prawns in the sun for lunch and then we sorted out some food prep, collected brambles and tidied up the main barn a bit.

Sauze and Kate arrived from Chamonix just as it was dark and just as we had finished a game of scrabble. Great to see them and we had a good fish supper and catch up before hitting the sack.

We have a stack of ballast left over from laying the concrete floor last year and we also have some sacks of cement which need using before they go rock hard over the winter. So most of the morning was put over to cleaning off the walls of the last little building at one end of the main barn. After the normal internet session for Ski Breezy stuff we gathered a bunch of tools and set about finding something solid enough to build on under the plants, earth, ants nests and tottering rocks.

Before lunch we got to the stage where a wall was ready for building on and all the loose rocks at the front had been taken off. Rather than starting with concrete and building we opted to get some other jobs done out of the heat of the midday sun.

Having said out of the sun, I went up on the roof to have another crack at making the zinc ridge piece weatherproof.

The post arrived in the guise of Anouk from the Auberge in Salau. She had not many guests and decided to walk up. We sat on the decking with cordials and chatted for a while before it was time for lunch.

In the afternoon we put some finishing touches to the stair well in terms of a surround.

Another glorious day not a cloud in the sky.

We had the usual Ski Breezy to tackle first off then it was on to odd jobs.

Securely fit the last window in the out building….now done, sort out the wood pile at the top so the donkeys don’t trash it and it is snow tight for the winter for the wood to season….now done, make holders in wooden tree stumps for the pressie Al’s folks gave us to hold a bottle of wine and 4 glasses….now done, change the solar panels around so we have more input going into the outbuilding so we hope to have battery at 100% by the time we leave. Day light hours now getting shorter and battery not getting charged to it’s potential….now done.

Time for lunch, yummy chicken salad in the sun.

Al was keen for another forage, we had just started when Annie turned up so a good excuse for a catch up in the sun and a quick tour around the progress at the barn. Take 2 we headed off again to new areas and came back with a good supply of mushies and plenty of brambles for a tart as well as enough for brekky too.

Hot showers, fire on, and a hot salad on the agenda for supps.