Bikey bikey

It has been a mixed bag here weather-wise. A week ago we had howling gales, rain and low temperatures which resulted in snow down to 1300m - thoroughly unpleasant. Mid May and we had the woodburner lit which is just bonkers. But that's Spring in the Pyrenees for you. It is unpredictable at best. Fortunately we got out for a cracking mountain bike ride the day before the weather worsened and covered 30km on a fantastically varied circuit from the house which included technical woodland single track, hardpacked tracks and short sections of tarmac. For the first time in quite a long while I actually felt like I had some energy and was hungry for the exercise. A great feeling! The ride was only slightly marred by Andy's chain breaking just as the storm was about to hit! All good fun.

The road bike has also seen some action with a couple of good 70km rides from the house, the last one on Thursday in weather more befitting the month of May (clear blue skies, temperatures into the mid to high 20s....) which involved 70kms/1000m+ from here near Aspet over the Col des Arès to the Barousse Valley then up to Mauleon-Barousse, down to Barbazan and back through the Comminges. Everything was working well and the knee played the game which was something of a relief. The same can't be said when I attempt to run unfortunately. The twinge on the lateral side of my right knee starts as soon as I attempt to run downhill which is, both metaphorically and literally, a pain. I have however been working hard on exercises to fire up the glutes which I think are paying off. The leg generally feels under less tension now and the ITB pain in particular seems to be lessening. I am going to head out for a test run tomorrow and see how it all feels in practise. Cross your fingers for me!

Lastly, the bird sighting of the week is a red-backed shrike which is another stunning bird that I have never seen before! It is on the red list in the UK. Photo courtesy of nature-photography.co.uk

Birds!

This area is amazing. The variety of bird life is truely stunning and continues to surprise me. Today when we were out walking locally we spotted two bee-eaters sitting on an overhead cable. I have never seen such beautiful birds. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia;

Slightly later on as we were walking back to the car we spotted a short-toed eagle circling overhead, being mobbed by a kite. The wing span of the short-toed eagle around 1.70m! Photo courtesy of Iberianature.com. What a bird!

Another unmistakable spot yesterday was the Egyptian vulture which we again saw locally. It is a striking bird which was soaring gracefully above a ploughed field.

I must also mention the elusive nightingale which has regaled us with its song most mornings as we have been walking the pooch. It eventually revealed itself to me, coming out from its dense hiding spot in the bushes to pose briefly on a low branch, singing its heart out. Just wonderful.

Have I mentioned the hoopoe yet? No? We often hear its characteristic 'Oop oop oop' call in the trees around us here and have spotted it several times in flight. I love its Latin name Upupa epops!

Photos

Today, we signed the compromis de vente for the house. The seller cannot now retract from the sale so we have a bit more security, so it seems like a good moment to post some more photos of the property. This one is a photo of the property that currently hangs on the kitchen wall.....

This is the property (centre photo) in its setting - wonderfully peaceful!

The inside of the house is perfectly habitable and full of wonderful old beams and other original features. It does need bringing into the 21st century but that will be an ongoing process. This room will be the living room...

... the door through to the kitchen...

The floor boards in the first floor bedrooms are in wonderful condition. We may however be replacing the wallpaper!

It is however the potential of the attached barn that we are most excited about. The structure is in fantastic condition and the timbers all appear to be sound. This is just the end offshot section. The barn as a whole is over 300m2 in size across 2 floors!

The 5600m2 of land also has masses of potential for the creation of a potager, an outdoor living area and possibly even, at some point in the future, the installation of a natural pool. We're going to be busy when we move in, that's for sure. We're hoping that date will be at the end of June if all goes well. Fingers crossed!

At last!

I was starting to despair. The process has been long and frustrating and I couldn't see an end to it. People speak of patience, but mine has been severely challenged over the past few months. But then, on Friday, I had a call from an agent that had shown us around a property a few weeks ago. He had been well-briefed on our criteria and on our budget. Madame, he said, a property has just come to me that I think fits your criteria, he said, do you want to take a look? Email me some photos, I said. Which he did. Wow, said I. We popped along the road from Aspet to view it the same afternoon, we put an offer in on Saturday, haggled a bit on price and had our final offer accepted yesterday! It is the property I had always hoped we would find but was despairing of ever finding it. In brief, it is a wonderful old farmhouse that has been well maintained, is perfectly habitable and with bags of character, has a mahoosive attached barn that is in excellent condition and with tons of conversion potential, has 5000m2 of land and, most importantly, is in the perfect situation. Just 5 minutes from Aspet and yet on the edge of a tiny hamlet with waymarked VTT/mountain biking from the door, paths and tracks that lead up to the Col de Larrieu and beyond and more road biking possibilities than you can shake a stick at! Oh, and it is so peaceful. I still can't believe it is within our budget. Here are some photos.

Watch this space for further developments!

Spring, where are you?!

The month of April has been dire, weatherwise. It has been generally grey, damp and unseasonally chilly, although the odd day of warmer weather and glimpse of sun has poked its way through just to tantalise us. But the fantastic thing about the area that we are in now is the abundance of 'all weather' possibilities for running and mountain biking in the form of a vast network of tracks and woodland trails that surround us. I had forgotten just how much fun my mountain bike is and can't wait to explore more of the marked circuits.

But the best thing about the move here is that the social life has taken a turn for the better. I have met up with an old school buddy, Lee, who I haven't seen for around 34 years and who got back in touch with me via Facebook. He introduced me to another couple who live locally and who are keen cyclists and runners. Andy I have been out on the road bikes a couple of times now with Suzanne and Steve and it is great to have company again. We have even been out for dinner!!!! Suzanne is also my new running buddy - yee haa! Good times.

On the house front, we finally completed the sale of our house above Massat last week which is a big relief. Our hunt for a new home in this area is ongoing. We have visited several potential properties, none of which have ticked all of the right boxes. I have been getting increasingly frustrated and disheartened. But it feels like our luck may, yes, just may be changing. Suffice to say we currently have offers in on two properties and will hear early next week whether we have been successful with one or the other! It is both a nervous and exciting time. Watch that space.

Move

It has been a very stressful and hectic few weeks, which is standard fayre where a house move is involved. But we finally completed the move out of Pissou yesterday and are now attempting to settle into our new 'home'. This naturally is not going smoothly but at least I have got a few boxes unpacked and have plenty of tracks & trails on the doorstep to explore. The area is wonderful and I am really hoping I can find a new home here in the coming months, although I have to say I am dreading moving again. But getting settled is more important.

In other news, the running has unfortunately taken a nose dive. I did the Trail de Quillan race 10 days ago which is a  27kms/1300m+ circuit which I successfully completed last year in 3h24m. This year however it was a disaster. I experienced exactly the same problem as I had in my last long run from Varilhes. The liquid fuel and gels that I was taking in were quite simply not reaching my legs. In technical running terms, I bonked and it was an incredibly unpleasant experience. My energy levels hit zero and I found myself grinding to an uncomfortable and discouraging walk - it took me 30 minutes longer than last year to complete the course! Something was very wrong. Time for some research. Quite by chance, Pat had just sent me a link to a website that included a pertinent article about sustained stress, adrenal hormone imbalances and resultant problems with the metabolism of carbohydrates and glucose absorption by the muscles. I have had all kinds of other physiological problems in recent weeks that also seem to tie in with the notion of adrenal hormone imbalances. Another article that I found on the internet gives further fuel to the theory. Things are starting to fall into place. Unfortunately, there is no way I can contemplate a 40K race when there is a very high probability that my body will fail me. So the Citadelles this coming weekend is off. It would be stupid of me to even contemplate the longest race I have ever done when there is a high probability that my body will fail me and besides, I need to be up for and excited by the challenge rather than approaching it with apprehension and worry. It can wait until another year.

So, running will take a back seat for the foreseeable future and mountain biking and possibly even some road biking will take its place. There is so much potential in this area and there is even a cycle club that runs from the village, so some good times are ahead. There is always a silver lining to the cloud :-)

Hints of Spring

We have just enjoyed a week of the most gloriously warm, no hot, weather during which temperatures climbed well into the mid 20s. We have had the parasol out on the terrasse and have had to be careful not to get sunburnt! Signs of Spring are appearing all around us. The Spring flowers are coming through with white anemones, violets, white and purple hepaticas, lungwort and, in just the past couple of days, some primula have appeared. Leaf buds are appearing on the trees and the catkins are in full flow. It is wonderful to finally see some colour around the place.

The birds also seem to sense Spring in the air. We have been listening to the great spotted woodpeckers drumming in the woodland opposite - they are a fantastic sight through the binoculars - and have also spotted green woodpeckers and can hear them yaffling all around us. A male and a female bullfinch are visiting the bird table.....

.... and yesterday, two black redstarts entertained us with a spectacular and prolonged chase around Pissou as they vied for territorial supremacy, darting and swooping at fantastic speeds above our heads. This is the victor!

Of course, I can't do a blog post without a mention of running, can I! The Trail des Pieds Cloutés was 2 weeks ago from which I recovered well. On the Wednesday, after dropping off a van and a car load of stuff at the 'new' house, Andy and I had a gentle 11.5km trot out along the lanes near Aspet. All was feeling good. So on the following Saturday afternoon, I did another hill endurance session up the Peguere road which is now snow-free. A brisk 1km warm up followed by three sets of 1.15kms up an ave 12% gradient. I was able to complete each set at a faster speed than last time (mid January) but kept my HR at the same level which means I must be getting fitter and stronger!

I had no repercussions from the hill session so on Tuesday decided I would get in a hard, long run, probably the last one before my next race on the 25th March. I decided to tackle on foot a mountain bike circuit from Varilhes that we did back in October 2010. It was hard work on a bike and no easier on 2 feet! In fact, I felt like my legs were empty, despite taking on liquid fuel and a couple of gels. They just wouldn't go! The muscles were obviously still fatigued after my hill session 3 days previously. So I did the sensible thing and took it really steady, resorting to a walk whenever necessary and didn't give myself too much of a hard time about it. It was all good training. Another 28kms/800m+ in the bag. Full stats on the usual site.