More sunshine yippee!!!

Spent all morning assembling the ladder which we had begun yesterday. We got the idea from the chalet in Chamonix re having the ladder hinged to the wall to create more space….very important in our little home.

We finally got it assembled and then got it varnished and drying in the sun before mounting it in situ in the outbuilding. End product is good. We like it, no more step ladder in the outbuilding. Now means a rearrangement of sleeping but makes life a lot easier.

Olivier (Mr Donkeyman) popped in for a cuppa mid morning looking for his cows opposite us. He is wanting to graze his donkeys back up on the land in a couple of weeks which is great for us, keeps things trim.

We had a late lunch finishing at nearly 4pm so opted for a quick shower in the sun rather than later when it is cooler before popping down to meet Alison and Peter in the cafe, but the café was closed so we had a quick apero at their place before heading back for beef goulash and dumplings, more bezique and sleep!!!

Well not actually stairs but in the afternoon we did set to building a ladder up to the Mezzanine. No more dodgey stepladders to get in and out of bed. We managed to cut all the wood ready to assemble it tomorrow.

In the morning we fettled the stove in the outhouse connecting the flue with the aid of an old bean tin. Then fixed the flue on the outside. Having used some stove sealant we decided not to "fire it up" until the morrow.

Instead we chucked a chuck in the oven and smoked the place out with the spitting fat. Breezy did manage to get Skype working for a chat with Scotty and her od daughter Fiona. (Sorry Scotty that was deffo a typo error meant to read God Daughter not Odd Daughter!!!!) It was interupted at one stage when a large flying thing enterd the building and provoked Breezy to shriek and run about in small circle. Twas a moth!

A leisurely start

We had a good brekky with lots of goodies to enjoy.

Then off we trundled to Bastide de Serou to find the market. A very small market but I mananged to find some lovely Brebis cheese for us.

A disappointing trip to St Lizier as it was all closed up due to renovation work so we ambled back to St Girons for lunch. We found a small little pizza place and I had a galette whilst the others all had pizzas.

It was then au revoir to Al’s folks before we sorted out laundry, a few DIY bits to collect and then a big food shop for 10 days, hopefully won’t need to go back down the valley until next Saturday now which will be great.

We got back to the barn and it just began to drizzle.

Unloaded sorted out the food, e mails etc and just got turned around.

It feels like we have been away for ages.

Back to land of DIY tomorrow so hoping for sunshine again, always much nicer.

Woke up to another glorious morning, blue skies.

I spent the first hour or so sorting out mails etc and then it was full steam ahead as Al’s folks were arriving for lunch. We prepped lunch, collected brambles for pudding and chilled the fizz. Al trundled down to collect them from the parking at the end of the road for midday.

Al’s parents had not seen the barn for 2 years so quite a lot of changes for them to look at. The sun disappeared but it was warm enough to sit outside on the little terrace and have some prawns with aioli to start with then a hot smoked duck salad for mains and brambles for pudd washed down with a bottle of fizz and rose we were all more than happy.

Shirley John and Alun  Alder smoked duck salad

We had a quick dash at the end as the rain arrived for about 20 minutes but luckily it was a passing shower. We had a little stroll to the Cascade before heading down the valley for the night in St Girons.

John and Shirley had kindly given us a night in the hotel for our birthday pressies which was very kind and hugely appreciated by us both.

We had an excellent night at the restaurant attached to the hotel with lots of entertainment from the group of Legion D’Honneur next to us. With lots of singing and frivolities going on. Just as finished our excellent meal we were given a glass of champers to thank us for putting up with the singing…well we actually really enjoyed it but hey ho was not going to say no to a glass of champers getting used to this.

Food was delicious, foie gras all around, I had guinea fowl and al had stuffed trout and then there was cheese and crème brulees and knock out digestifs!!!! Thank you both John and Shirley for a very memorable and fun night. I got a good nights sleep not having to worry about falling off the mezzanine!!!!

We let the rabble have breakfast and get out the door before we surfaced. A simple breakfast of crusty bread, jam and plenty of coffee then out to set off. Once packed and paid up I realised that the school group must have taken my walking poles. They must have removed Breezy’s pack from the hook and replaced it to get at them but they were nowhere to be found. The rabble had left their sacks to go up Valier before heading off back to the parking so we chatted to the Guardians who said they would try and locate them and get them back to us.

We set off down to Etang Rond and up to Etang Long. The two lakes were beautiful and very aptly named as one was round and the other was in fact long. Cloudless skies and no wind made the reflections vivid and ripe for photography.

Up over Port de Barlonguere 2400m and Passage de L’Esque before traversing over above Cap de Raspe and down the ridge towards Cabane de Clot du Lac. Then joining the GR10 down the valley and back to the parking.

Port de Barlonguere Port de Barlonguere Port de Barlonguere

The school group arrived about ten minutes later and one of the teachers apologised profusely for taking my poles and said that the Guardians had sorted them out and dropped them off at the Gite D’Etape near the car park. Reunited we set off to Saint Girons for a cuppa tea with my parents before heading back up to the barn for a birthday bottle of fizz, steak and card opening.

Thanks to everyone for their very funny cards and some lovely pressies too, much appreciated and made leaving the 30’s and joining the 40’s much better!!! As they say life begins at 40, well it has been a good start so far.

A bit of a cloudy start but dry so that was fine for us.

We cracked on with finishing off the ceiling which took about an hour. Alison and the gang turned up for elevenses and we showed them round up dating them with the progress. Coffee in the sun very nice. They trundled back down to Salau and we put the last few planks in and now we have a ceiling yippee.

Morning coffee 

The rest of the morning was sorting out lighting and wiring, we now have 3 down lighters in the mezzanine ceiling, one main light and 3 flexi lights shing on to the mezzanine itself, all on different circuits so plenty of light for the evenings now, HUGE difference.

Al worked for quite a while re locating the battery up on to a shelf out of the way and sorting wires etc out. Sorted out wires for the solar panel so they now come through the back of the building which is a lot better saves us tripping over wires all the time. We put up another shelf and WOW the place really feels like a home, small and cosy perfect.

New shelf 

I went a brambling again before showers and rose o’clock.

Time to pack and get sorted for our 2 day venture, very excited about that keep the sun a shining. Pasta loading for supps and cards and bed, early ish start tomorrow.

Woke up to glorious sun shine again beginning to get used to this and so we decided the best plan of attack was to start on insulating the roof as it makes it a lot easier when the weather is dry, working from outside with all the cutting etc.

Firstly, Al solved the down lighter problem by hand drilling them with one of his Grandfather’s old tools worked a treat and now we have 3 lights in the mezzanine ceiling great, just need to wire them up, this will make a huge difference in the evenings.

We needed to clear things out from the area we were working in so things did not get too dusty before setting too with lining the roof with the insulation, basically layers of tinfoil with cotton wool like stuff in between but somewhat more expensive!!!

Firstly, we put some mesh in between the joists to keep the flies out and keep the ventilation working, a bit of a fiddly job but will be well worth it in the long run.

2 sheets of the ventilation stuff worked perfectly so very little wastage which was great news. Al luckily had a staple gun which made this considerably easier but it was quite hard work.

Sausage sandwiches for lunch in the sun it was not quite so hot today which meant we could sit outside in the sun rather than the shade.

Then full steam ahead in the pm. Recycling the old roof battens to use as battens for the ceiling and then started putting up the match board for the roof. I was in and out cutting the wood and Al was nailing it in. We got about 2/3rds of the ceiling done before calling it a day as we needed to get the outbuilding back to a state that we could get to bed that night without lights as we have disconnected them whilst putting up the ceiling, all should be back to normal tomorrow.

Breezy blogging

Quick showers and we then sat outside and read our books for half an hour which was very relaxing before heading down to Alison and Peter’s for a very funny night with some excellent food. lots of giggling and we heard that La Chase is not allowed to shoot with dogs this year due to the problem with the bears in the area. This got us slightly concerned for our wander home, fret not Alison and Peter sent us off with a trumpet to scare the bear aware should he be up there!!!! Alison had a Yorkshire lass Helen over for the week end so might well see them tomorrow if they pop up and show her the waterfall etc.

Back up to the barn and strangely enough after all those bear stories I spent the first hour hearing lots of strange noises!!!! On to bears, forgot to mention that we feel the bear has been prowling, have a look at the photo of the barn door, now what does that look like to you???

Bears can't read Bear scratch?

We had decided to go to St Girons and collect supplies, the most exciting thing about the trip was this time we would not need to make a trip to Maccy D’s for internet access yippee do da day!!!

We had a reasonably prompt start for us and were away by 8.45am and had a long list of things to do and places to go before midday.

Got loads of building stuff from the Forgue primarily for insulating the roof and putting the ceiling up under the mezzanine and also on the main roof in the outbuilding, plus some wood to build some stairs up to the mezzanine. Very quick and easy. We threw some laundry into the laundrette before picking up some odds and ends, making a few phone calls to sort refuges out for Monday night. We are planning an overnight trip away we were hoping for it to be into Spain but sadly the refuge we wanted to stay at is closed so we have booked at a refuge in the Mont Valier area for Monday night so looking forward to some exploring over there.

Collected the clean laundry before our next port of call to buy a door mat, very important!!!

A quick trip to Carrefour on the way home for a little bit of food, petrol and gas before heading home. Saw Lee briefly in Carrefour on his way home from his hols so will catch up with him in the next week or so.

We popped in to see Annie and Dominic on our way back, they are doing quite a bit to their place so that is good and it was back to the barn for lunch in the sun.

We had a productive afternoon and managed to get the ceiling up in the mezzanine, sadly the drill bit for drilling the holes for the down lighters did not fit so Al is coming up with another plan to solve that problem.

Had our usual prawns and aioli for starters (norm after a shopping day to have fresh fish) outside before moving inside for sausage casserole for supps. A few hands of Bezique which seems to have taken over from Piquet at the moment.

Insulation and matchboard ceiling  terrace  Same terrace

Another glorious day and we have decided that the Godin stove which we got off Lee is not quite right for the out building, we have other plans for where we are going to put that. We decided to use the pot bellied stove that we had brought out from the UK in the corner. It is slightly larger and fits the space better.

It needed fettling, so we took it apart and re fitted it properly, re sealing it and blackening it up again. A good job to do in the sun. Mind you I think Al had a bit too much sun today and felt rather wiped out in the afternoon.

The pot bellied stove now looks fab and is in situ, next job for that is just to fit the flus etc and test it out. Having that and the insulated roof might be rather toasty in here, we will see. It will be atmospheric anyway.

We had lunch in the shade before having a leisurely afternoon.

We tried again to locate the roof problem by a process of elimination, slowly we will sort it.

Then since it is mushroom time of year we t Pot Belly Stove hought we would see if we could find any. We had a good rummage around in the woods behind, we found a few. Used Sauze’s book to try and find out what they were but still not convinced. We are in need of going with someone who knows what they are doing so we can learn. Sauze and Patrick please come and visit!!!!

A good chilli for supper and an early night.