Walks and lots of work

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If it's Sunday, as it was yesterday, it must be the day for a rando with our Randonneurs. Near Tarascon - only half an hour from here - but well into the Pyrenees. The weather has been quite iffy lately, but yesterday was glorious- brilliant spring sunshine, bright blue skies with no clouds, and welcome heat.

We parked in a small village off the main road, Bouan, and set off, climbing straight away, through the forest, and upwards, upwards, unremittingly upwards. Early on we stopped for a breather and noticed a village high above us on the other side of the valley. 'However would anybody get up THERE?' we wondered. We soon found out....the hard way. Ever onwards we climbed, though at one point the contours levelled off, and we enjoyed more level open conditions, with wood anemones, violets, hellebores, celandines and lungwort in profusion wherever the sun shone.

And still we climbed, until, guess what? That village, which turned out to be called Larnat, was only just above us. It turned out not to be populated by Horny Handed Sons of Toil minding their cows, as we had expected, but second homers from Toulouse. Goodness knows how they ever get themselves there.

Climbing over? Not yet! We called on a large stone, called Pierre Ronde, where many centuries ago, Cathars had gathered to pray, and then finally up to the Oratoire de Permissol, which exists now only in the form of a simple cross. And that's where we had lunch, stretched out in the hot sunshine, enjoying the views of the village far below us, and the Ariege valley way below that. Oh, and the mountain peaks far above too. Just for fun, after lunch, we abandoned our packs with the remains of our picnics, and climbed yet another peak which just happened to be nearby.

And then we went down again. Whereas our way up had been zig-zagged and circuitous, the way down was almost a straight line. So THAT was tough too. Our day's walk had taken us up more than 1500 feet, so even though only some 12 km, had felt something of a challenge.

There's something wrong with my camera, but luckily one of our walking friends has sent us a few photos which I'll include now.

What I CAN'T include are photos of the huge improvements we've made in the house. Though there's a way to go, the kitchen is considerably smartened up. Emily's bedroom looks great. We found a wonderful headboard and bed end in the attic and have cleaned them up and added them to her bed. New curtains, pictures, furniture and fittings acquired all over the place (thank you Dave and Gill Mason, Beachhutman George of Freecycle fame, nooks and crannies in this house, deceased relatives) complete Le Look, and a jolly good look too, if we may say so.

Mal had an improving couple of afternoons hoovering up ancient cobwebs in the attic, and that's made a big difference too, though there's still loads to be done there before it's habitable.

Finally, Malcolm's been plotting with our friend Tony, who's lived here for ages, and who has a brother who keeps horses. Today, Tony + Very Large Trailer arrived at our door with a Very Large Quantity of Manure for the allotment. Wonderful stuff! Against local advice (I'm told you're supposed to drop your trousers and test the heat of the soil with your bare bum. Oddly, I haven't done this), I'll be planting my potatoes before we come back to the UK for Easter, and the manure should do a lot to keep them nourished and happy.

Our drains were tested today by the council, and found to be OK. So we'll get our Certificate of Fitness. Just as well, I'd say. You can't have candidates in local elections being taken seriously with unfit drains

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Photos

The summit at last!
Well, one of them. This is the Oratoire where we had lunch

Larnat
...far below. Bouan's even further below than that, where we began our walk