Exploring

St Girons market this morning, where I acquired some more herb plants, strawberry plants, chilli plants and lettuces. Hopefully this year we will be able to enjoy some homegrown produce!

It was lovely weather this morning, but it was due to deteriorate this afternoon, so I got out with the pooch after lunch for a bit of a walk/jog/run thing. I headed from Pissou, through the woods to Eycherboul and then down to the road and left up the Canadelles marked footpath. However, a short way along, I noticed a footpath sign for the Gite de Liers which is high up on the hillside, further up the valley. I was keen to link up some more circuits, so followed the good, waymarked path up through lovely woodland, past old 'granges' and eventually emerged onto a footpath which afforded superb views back down the valley to Massat in one direction and up to the snow-covered Col de la Pourtenelle and Pic des Trois Seigneurs in the other. Damn, I hadn't brought my camera! I reached the Gite from where I knew of an unmarked footpath which would take me back down to the start of the Canadelles footpath, countouring the hillside through the woodland. From there, back up to Eycherboul and back through the woodland to Pissou. It was a lovely outing, not overly long, but very pleasant and with the potential to extend the route beyond the Gite de Liers and further up the valley towards the higher hills in the future. Now that will be a nice outing!

Climbing at Calamès

With poor weather moving in over the next day or so, we decided to get out today for some more climbing action. We headed over to Bedeilhac and went up to Calamès, which is a fantastic south facing limestone outcrop that we have visited before but at which we have not yet climbed. There were some beautiful woodland flowers on the way in which included an amazing fritillaria pyrenaica.... and an orchis militaria which I had not seen before.It is a steep, scrambly walk-in, much of it on loose scree which was testing, but the limestone at the top and the view are worth the effort. We headed straight for the Papy sector which, on paper, had some nice 5a routes which I was keen to try. However, it turned out that the bolts were, er, sportingly spaced! I just did not have my 'leading' head on today and felt very unconfident on the rock, which was disappointing, so I backed off and let Andy have a bash at the route - fortunately he got up it and agreed that the bolting could have been better done to add a greater degree of safety to the route. But still, we did a few more routes (one of which I successfully led on another sector) and had a few hours in the sun in an amazing setting - it felt just like being on holiday and reminded me of past climbing trips to Costa Daurada and Costa Blanca in Spain! We got back down to the car just as the threatened rain started to fall. Good timing.

A bit of a run

My exercise over the last couple of days has consisted of some bramble clearing next to the chemin just up from the house and that has been about it. So today, with fine weather still with us, I headed out with the pooch to do the Caougnous/Peguere/Route Forestiere/Espies circuit which I really enjoy. I was feeling strong from the outset so decided to see just how quickly I could do the 12.4km circuit which includes approx 400m of ascent. I ran as much of the road up to the Col de Peguere as I could and then legged it along the route forestiere and back down the hill through the woods using the ages old 'chemin creux' to Espies and then cross country back home. I made it in 1 hr 44 mins which was nearly 15 mins quicker than the last time I did that route at the end of March. That'll do me :-)

I am hoping my new bike saddle is going to turn up in the next few days so I can get back on the roadie for some more Col action. Let's hope the weather doesn't deteriorate.

Cycling

I was joined by Lee today for a trip on the roadies up to the Etang de Lers. I had not yet done the 13km ride with 700m of ascent up to the Etang (from Massat) without a rest, as it contains some fairly stiff sections which in the past have left me gasping for breath. I was determined to make this ride the one where I could push on up to the top in one go. It was only Lee's second outing on his roadie, so I was quietly confident that he wasn't going to give me a beasting!

To my surprise, I DID make it to the Etang without a pause and even had some energy left in my legs and my lungs when we reached the top. The view back down the valley made the exertion worthwhile.
Lee was optimistic that we could push on up to the Col d'Agnes and drop down into Aulus. However, last week's snow on the road prevented us from proceeding any further, which was disappointing. Still, I am sure there will be plenty of time and opportunity later in the year for such shenanigans!

After a quick buttie and stretch of the legs, we enjoyed a fast (reaching 53 kph at one point!), fun descent back down into Massat where we had a swift half outside the Globe cafe before I headed back up to Pissou. It was a good outing and I am pleased I can now tick that one off my list! More please!

The rest of the day was spent sunbathing on the terrasse in the unseasonably warm temperatures :-)

The good and the bad

Let's start off with the bad, shall we? The dog. Anybody want a dog? Free to good home! He woke us up far too early this morning by whining to be let out, which usually means he needs to relieve himself. Sure enough, he shot up the hill like a rocket. I left him to it and went back to bed (he always let's us know when he wants to be let back in). I must have dozed off, as I was awoken an hour and a half later by him barking outside. He had returned but was absolutely coated in cow manure. He stank. Andy reminded him in his own way that that was not a good thing to have done and then we set about cleaning him down. That pooch was in the dog house. Andy reckons he was after a shag from the the unspayed bitch up the hill. Either way, that is no excuse for his behaviour!

Now for the good...... Climbing! Beautiful day today. So we headed over to a limestone outcrop which is over the Col de Port, above Rabat les 3 Seigneurs. It was a stiff, uphill walk-in which took 30 mins, but it was worth it. We had the place to ourselves. The rock was pristine and the weather perfect. The view down to Tarascon from the top of one of the routes was amazing. It was good to get my leading head on and we both enjoyed the amazing rock
The highlight for me was leading a 32m long 5a. More please!

A bit of a run

While Andy christened the turbo trainer in the barn, I went for a run with the pooch and did a good, (relatively) fast 8.5km with 250m of ascent. It was warm and nice to be out stretching my legs! The ground is very wet with several footpaths temporarily transformed into streams thanks to the recent snow melt and rain. But good fun all the same.

Warm

We had torrential rain during the night, so this morning nothing remains of the snow here at Pissou 826m. Today, clear skies and temperatures in the mid teens are helping to dry out the ground which has been saturated. It is into the 20s in the sun and it looks like things will be stable for the next few days, so some outdoor action is imminent!