Phew

Where has this week gone? Is it Friday already?! Since Monday's roadie outing, we have mainly been very busy with business stuff - it's that silly time of year again and I will be glad when the holiday season comes to an end. But fortunately, it has been a stinkingly hot week with temperatures peaking at 34 degrees in the shade yesterday which had made staying inside the best option anyway. We had a major storm yesterday afternoon/early evening which not only gave the potager a much needed watering but also cleared the air which had become oppressive - the temps dropped by 13 degrees in 3 hours!

Today, with overcast but humid conditions, Andy and I had a rematch with the run up to the Cabane des Roses which I last tackled in March. That was the first time that I attempted to run the 3-4kms with 300+m of ascent so it was interesting to see how I managed on this second attempt. Very well, is the answer. But not as well as Andy who, thanks to the loss of 9kgs in the past 3 months, succeeded on his first sustained uphill run I think probably ever! We reached the cabane after 3.9kms with 335m of ascent in 31 minutes. That's not a bad pace. The view from up there was wonderful as alwaysAnd the view to the other side, back in the Massat/home direction was dominated by the enormous bank of cloud rolling over the hillsideCôté potager, it is starting to yield some really good produce. I have maybe left the celery a little longer than recommended before pulling it, but it is mighty tasty all the same. Red onions and shallots are almost ready for harvesting too.The cornichon, courgette and squash plants plus mini sweetcorn, French beans, tomatoes, carrots, beetroot and goodness knows what else have also really benefitted from the alternating very warm and then wet conditions. I should really start seeing some good produce in the coming weeks.