Early start as we planned a trip to Col de la Core for a little explore walk to a lake as the forecast was hot, hot, hot. Lovely breakfast of our usual fruits and yoghurt before we trundled off in Vinnie. Col de la Core is about 50 minutes away from us.

A relatively easy hike to Etang D’Ayes. We were going to climb a peak and do a ridge walk but opted for a more leisurely day with time at the lake to relax. A steady 2.5 hours walk there and once there the lake was too tempting for the lasses, we were in but Al was not tempted. Refreshing swim in a gorgeous lake and not too busy.

It was only a couple of hours back with time for sme bilberry and raspberry picking on the way.

A quick stop in Seix for a cold drink and we bumped into Annie so she joined us as well. Then back to the barn via a quick rose at the Auberge.

Hot showers and luckily Al had already marinaded the pork so food was not far behind. A glorious evening with Balsamic marinaded pork, a sweet potato, beetroot and feta salad plus the usual green salad mix from the garden.

We had dinner down by the outbuilding and spent hours looking at the amazing starry night before crashing pleasantly pooped!!!

Another walking day with all 3 of us but not before Breezy and I have had a fried breakfast with some of the bacon that Laney brought out with her.

Then off to Col de la Pause to set off on the traversing path under the ridge towards Pic de Fonta. It is a lovely path in and out of the trees and very easy to follow. A better option than parking at Lasserre and walking all the way up in the heat of the day (especially on a fried breakfast).

The traverse meets the path up from Lasserre about 200-300m below the summit to gain the ridge which we then followed all the way back to Col de Pause. It has got to be one of my favourite short walks with a little scrambling and fantastic views over to Mont Rouch and Valier. And we did not see a soul once we left the parking.

Breezy let me choose the walk for the day so we set our alarm early and got a packed lunch sorted and headed for Port D’Aula. Having done some exploring of the frontier to the West of Port de Salau last year, I wanted to walk the ridge from Port D’Aula towards Port de Salau.

We parked at Col de Pause and trundled up the hill to the Port then turned left and headed towards Port de Salau.

Absolutely stunning views and hot weather.

Rather than complete the section to Port de Salau we dropped off the ridge before Pic de Montaude at Col d’Aurenera and traversed back to the van at Col de Pause. A great walk, and a definite one for the more adventurous visitors when we can walk back to the barn and retrieve a vehicle later.

Shower and BBQ on the terrace.

Quick breakfast and internet / emails, make a packed lunch and out the door for a walk.

Drove up to Col de la Core and then set off up Cap de Bouirex. 500m of climbing to fantastic 360 degree views where we sat for 45minutes identifying the mountains and different walks we have done. Absolutely amazing scenery.

Having taken all the views we set out along the ridge to Col de L’Arrech where we dropped into the woods on a forestry track back to the van. stopped a few times on the way back for raspberries and butterflies.

Stopped in Seix on the way back to pick up cold drinks and a lemon and bumped into Lee in the supermarket. Hope to get him and family up in the next week or so for some food.

Back at the barn the shower bag is scorching hot. Breezy dared to dip in the stream before a shower. Bit of a contrast as the stream is freezing, won’t catch me doing anything quite so brash.

As Adam and Lisa were up for a walk we set the alarm early to make a picnic and get out the door.

We drove up to the old mine above Salau and set off up to Col de Crusous (2217m). Breezy has wanted to walk down the ridge that we can see from the barn from Pic de Soubirou (2277m) so from the Col we headed across the ridge to Soubirou where we had lunch before heading down towards Salau. It was steeper than it looks from the barn and a slip could result in a very rapid descent.

We changed plan from traversing back to the van at the mine and continued down through the forest to Salau. The path was somewhat difficult to find and follow but we got down to the bar at the Auberge about 5.30pm to find our next guests, Stevie & Debs. Beers all round and a lift to pick up vehicles before Lisa and Adam headed off towards Tarbes.

Back up to the barn for a quick shower and marinate some more meat for the BBQ. Another starry night of chatting the evening away.

Weather looked good when we woke up so we made butties, had brekky and headed off around 930am for an explore, mainly to recce out a walk for when Dad visits in September trying to find something which is not too steep, not easy in this neck of the woods!!!

First obstacle was trying to get down the piste, Fernandez was busy repairing the piste, cement mixer there, JCB and a 4×4 truck too. We had about a 20 minute wait before we could get past.

Next obstacle another JCB thing before Couflens being loaded onto a truck to head back down the valley, so another pit stop!!!!

Anyway finally we got underway and headed up the Estours Valley just before Seix. We were mainly following the GR10 along a gorgeous river with lots of cascades. We took a smaller path to visit the waterfall D’Acouzan which took us past 2 small granges which make our place look positively city like. Their access is a 40 minute walk in at least. Both had satellite dishes up and one had a good veggie patch but very isolated. After this the path petered out and we nettle bashed for a bit before arriving at the very pretty waterfall. The sun came out for us so a good chance to have lunch in the sun looking at the mountains and cascade.

We decided not to go on up to the Cabane as we had intended as we needed to collect scaffolding on the way back and did not want to be doing that in the rain which was forecast. So we trundled back down on the GR10 back to the van. A nice wander and explore.

Collected some scaffolding from Clive’s on the way back which he has lent us FAB and then back to Salau.

A quick stop to sort out UK phone calls, and book into the Auberge for Saturday night for dinner with Peter and Alison and back to the barn.

A few trips up the hill with all the scaff which was easy compared to the plaster board and the rain held off so we decided to go on a forage and came back with a couple of cepes for a starter tonight. Should be good. Rain held off for us but expecting storms tonight and rain tomorrow but then better weather on the way so they say we will see.

Another glorious day and a few fuzzy heads after the Prosecco….

We had planned another adventure explore walk we wanted to do from the barn. We headed up to Cabane Pouill which is just over an hour from the barn on the way to Port de Salau. From there we headed off on small paths that kept disappearing up to Lane Formente (2227m) quite steep. We popped over a small col before hitting the ridge which gave fabulous views of the walk we did the day before.

It was then a walk/scramble along the ridge up to Pic Montaud at (2496m) Looked more daunting than it actually was and we got to the summit for a late lunch in the hot sun with fab views.

We decided not to go back down via Port de Salau but instead via the col just this side of Pic de Mortabere and rejoin the PDS hike by the top berger’s hut.

Some skinny dipping on the way down for the guests!!! and back to the barn for about 5.30pm. A big day but great fun with fab views and all heads clear again for sure!!!

Continued with the fizz theme for the evening and then had a Thai Curry and salad for supper, with more giggles…..

Another blue sky day perfect way to celebrate my birthday. After brekky, cards and pressie opening  we did a car drop and then headed in Vinnie up to the mine and headed up to Col de Crusous 2267m which is a steep 2 hours hike up. The ridge over to above Rouze is something we have wanted to do for a long time. Once up FAB views and a great hike all the way across to Soubirou 2277m where we could see the barn. Sauze’s camera has an amazing lens so got some piccys of it in the distance from the peak.

Sauze had carried a bottle of fizz up the hill for us all so we popped that at the top and had butties and flapjack. Saw one lone Issard on the way up and loads of purple autumn crocuses.

Still a long way to walk after lunch but mainly it was down gradually to the Col de la Serre de Cot and a steepish walk back down to Rouze where Sauze’s car was for a lift back.

Fab day.

Back to the barn,  girls braved the river with much noise, hot shower was a better option for us though!!!!

Prosecco began to flow with nibbles on the top terrace, noise levels got louder and then Al cooked us a delicious prawn and anchovy pasta and salad. Some amusing bananagrams going on from the girls whilst Al was cooking.

Chocolate tart with candles had made it’s way down from Chamonix too.

Many a giggle till gone midnight before crashing!!!

A FAB way to spend my birthday. Thank you Al, Sauze and Kate for making it so much fun.

The forecast was good for today so we planned another walk to explore another part of our little paradise.

We had a couple of hours before leaving sorting out Ski Breezy e mails comme d’hab! and making some butties for our walk. We left the barn about 915am.

On the way down we passed Clive who had some kitchen cupboards for us to look at as he has been ripping out a kitchen in Couflens. We looked at them and decided they would be useful so probably pick them up tomorrow.

We climbed up in Vinnie to just beyond Raufaste and parked Vinnie. A very steep and hot climb up to Pic de Fonta and incredible views. A real 360 degree panorama and fantastic views of Mont Valier. Also good views of the Soubirou ridge which is on the other side of the valley which we want to explore too.

Under 2 hours and 900m later we were at the summit. The ridge we had spied when walking with Dad before so although no official path we decided to give it a whirl. Only one very small part of down climbing, a little exposure but not too bad giving great views and a very steep descent towards Col de la Pause.

We had a good lunch spot overlooking Valier before descending, knees taking a pounding most of the way. Round trip was just about 4.5 hours and more than likely one we will do again.

We stopped at the Auberge for some cold drinks to take away and to collect post then back to the barn for much needed hot showers.

We had time to measure up windows, shutters and amount of surface area that needs tiling downstairs, next year. Tiles in Italy are a great deal cheaper so may pop through when in Chamonix and see what they have on offer.

A brief shower but still really warm. Internet, pasta surprise and more of Sauze’s Christmas pressie we hope. Planet Earth DVD collection, if you want to see great photography, wildfire and nature it is a must. There are 5 DVD’s each with 6 one hour slots so should keep us amused in the colder months here!! Thanks Matey, almost as hooked as Spooks!!!!!

Having already done the internet thing, washed up from the night before and made sandwiches Breezy took Fi a mug of tea. We headed out in the van to the Lac Bethmale on the other side of Col de la Core. From there we followed the GR10 up to Cabane D’Eliet and up to the lakes, Etang d’Ayes and Etang de Bellonguere. From there we headed up Pic de Montgarie before descending back to the van.

On the way through the woods we got quite excited when we discovered and collected a load of slightly fury bolet mushrooms. Breezy even found a small cep.

Picked up some bread and postcards in Siex on the way back to the barn before opening a bottle of fizz up in the trees to celebrate Fiâ’s birthday. The mystery bolets turned out to be edible, called the old man of the woods but don’t taste of anything; so we junked then and put the cep out to dry. Smoked duck for supps and a lovely cheese board.