All change again!

Well, this week, as promised, has been positively spring-like with temperatures reaching the high teens... positively balmy! Wonderful!

On Tuesday, we headed up to the Col du Portet d'Aspet and rather than heading up to the Pic de Paloumère ridge again, we explored a new route up the other side of the Col which took us to the Sommet du Puech at 1669m. We had now idea how much snow would be up there and although we wore the snowshoes from the car, the path had seen plenty of passage over the weekend and the snow was well tracked and trodden down - we were thinking we should have worn our trail shoes instead! But from the Col de la Bène, the snow was deeper and the path steeper - the snowshoes started to come into their own. We soon reached the cabane du Bazet and were greeted with open views of the snow-clad mountains and our way up to the Sommet du Puech. The views on this outing were, not surprisingly, spectacular, despite the high level cloud which made for a very milky sun

So, 10kms and 615m of height gain for an outing of nearly bang on 3 hours - it was just wonderful to be 'up high' again.

Yesterday, with the lovely weather continuing, we got out for a 23km blast on the mountain bikes, just to check out conditions. Many of the tracks and trails were a complete mudfest after the recent poor weather, but it was fun rediscovering bike handling skills that I haven't used since we were in the UK!

I have done a couple of short runs over the past week which seem to confirm that I really am getting somewhere with my knee problem/lower ITB pain. My right foot is once again tracking straight rather then turning out when I run and much of the tension that has surrounded my knee for the past 10 months feels like it has been released. Just in case anybody is interested in what my rehab routine consists of, I am persisting with the myofascial release of my ITB using the foam roller, working on releasing the tension in my calf muscles and also my ankles, strengthening my glutes (especially glute med on my right hand side), strengthening my vastus medialis and strengthening my core. It has to be a regular routine if I am to stop the tension building again. But I'm getting there, slowly but surely.

The glorious weather is set to change dramatically overnight thanks to a cold front which is bringing proper winter storm conditions to the Pyrénées. The temperature is plummeting and heavy snow is forecast down to 400m, accompanied by strong gusting winds. Nice ..... NOT!

Progress report

On Monday, the installation of our new sanitation system was signed off. A 4000L fosse toutes eaux and a 30m2 sand filter bed satisfies the authorities and means that our household waste is no longer fertilising our field! This may or may not be a good thing, as Andy found a cracking tomato plant with ripening fruit in the midst of the lush vegetation down here. Hey ho!

We took a much needed break from work on the house for the week that our friends Jenny and Mike were with us. During that week we celebrated both Jenny's and my birthdays and Andy, as in-house chef, did us proud with some truly delicious dinners. The weather during the week wasn't full-on sunshine every day and was a lot cooler than we have been used to of late, but still only Wednesday morning and Saturday afternoon were wet, which was a darned sight better than the UK weather last week which sounded truly miserable, so our friends were happy. The relative dry weather meant we were able to get out on the mountain bikes on three occasions which was fantastic fun

We also had a lovely walk from Artigue above Luchon up to the Spanish border at the Col des Taons de Bacanère.

One foot in France, one in Spain....

Spain, and the remains of an old cable winching building, probably used in WW2 by Franco's army...

Since the weekend, a wonderful high pressure system has taken up residence over us and we are enjoying clear sunny days and temperatures into the high 20s. It is just glorious! Unfortunately, we know this will not last and the nights are already cold, so we are having a big push to get the woodburner and central heating system installed before the weather turns. Lets hope we don't have any major hiccups along the way.

4 weeks? Really!

Oops. Well, it just goes to show how busy life is these days, doesn't it! Work on the house continues with a vengeance..... which goes without saying really, doesn't it! The most pressing issue? We have got friends coming on Sunday to stay with us for a week, so the pressure has been on to complete the renovation of the 'guest bedroom'. This has involved ripping out all of the old 'non conforme' socket and lighting wiring and replacing it with wiring that complies with current regulations. This naturally involved the creation of more holes in the walls which was a messy business. Then, we insulated the ceiling and put up plasterboard using the most important bit of kit that we have so far invested in - the 'lève-plaque'! It is going to get a lot of use.

We discovered that the skirting boards are actually riddled with woodworm, so they have had to come out. But a serious question for you.....what do you see in the following photo? A work of art depicting a seaside scene maybe? Or just a rotten skirting board? Squint and you may be surprised!

We acquired some lovely chestnut boards from a local saw mill which Andy has transformed into new skirtings which I will be treating with linseed oil to bring out the colour and the grain. Then, the wallpaper can go up and a big clean up before the lush curtain can be hung and the furniture put back in place. It is going to be a gorgeous room, this one. 

Work on the new bathroom is also ongoing, but hampered and frustrated by simple things such as the shower tray that we originally bought getting broken by a falling hammer and then the replacement tray that we bought from Toulouse not being level due to a manufacturing fault .... grrrrr. But the stud wall is in place and all we need now are a new shower tray, some water pipes to bring water up from the other end of the house and some time and patience.... that's all

The new sanitation is in the process of being installed thanks to our mate Bruce from down the road, which will bring us in line with current regs as well as drain the bank account :-/

We have taken delivery of our lovely new Stratford woodburning boiler but obviously the installation of the heating system has not yet commenced as we have got other priorities. Here's hoping that the fine, warm weather continues and we don't actually need heating for another month or so. Cross your fingers for us?

We have not surprisingly had very little spare time to get out on the bikes recently. Once a week seems to be the limit of it which has been frustrating. But one of those rides happened to be my longest and hardest mountain bike ride to date, 38kms/1200m+... which was hard, not just because of the distance and ascent but because of the nature of the riding which included a long section of narrow, rocky single track with a drop off to the left which did not amuse me and which saw me pushing the bike more than I would have liked. The ride profile was like this....

Full ride stats are on the usual site

Next week, Mike and Jen are here and we will be having a bit of a break from the DIY, getting out more on the mountain bikes, getting up into the mountains and celebrating both my and Jen's birthdays. Let's hope the lovely warm weather holds.

Biking

Mention the Pyrénées to most people, especially those who enjoy a bit of road biking, and the famous cols of the chain such as the Tourmalet, Aubisque and Aspin will be hot topics. The Tour de France has obviously reinforced people's idea of  the Pyrénées as an arena of suffering for the masochistic road cyclist. However, the amateur road biker who doesn't fancy energy-sapping, leg-busting col-grinding will no doubt be relieved to hear that there are endless opportunities here for mile upon mile of gently undulating riding on quiet lanes amidst stunning scenery. After our last couple of outings, I am convinced that where we are now, near Aspet on the border of the Haute Garonne and Ariege departments, is the best area for road cyclists of all abilities.

We have had two cracking rides on the road bikes over the past week. The first one, last Wednesday, was an exploration which took us into the undulating 'bosses', the fingers of hills that are North of the A64 autoroute. This area provides contrasting scenery ....

.....and also contrasting riding to the roads that are south of the autoroute, with the option of either following the little valleys that separate the 'fingers', keeping the ascent to a minimum, or tackling them head on, which gives you a ride profile something like this!

In some ways, rides such as this with small hill after small hill can be more exhausting physically than sticking the bike into granny gear and grinding your way up a col. But thankfully the little old legs were working well and I felt fine after the 70kms/1000m+. It had been a beautiful ride out in perfect weather on wonderfully quiet little roads. Full stats on the usual site.

I have been working hard to try and resolve the issues that I have been having with my right knee when I run, doing regular targeted exercises to try and strengthen my right glute max and glute medius muscles in particular, combined with stretches for other specific muscle groups that affect the knee. The overall result appears to be reduced tension on my hamstring, looser calves and less tension on my knee. I will probably test it out running when the weather cools down a bit, but for the moment my work seems to have made things easier on the bike and I am really enjoying our outings. 

Our other roadie outing was on Sunday and was my longest ride for some considerable time, 88kms/1100m+, which took us from here near Aspet along the amazingly quiet roads of the Comminges, heading East and then South along the river to arrive at our old stomping ground of Saint Lizier and Saint Girons. Fantastic riding! We meandered back via the beautiful roads through Montgauch and Cazavet...

... before heading West again back towards home via Saleich and Urau in the Comminges

For some reason, after 70kms, we chose to finish the ride not by taking the easy route, but by tackling the relatively insignificant Col de Larrieu which links Aspet with the Arbas Valley. We have ridden down the Col into the Arbas Valley before but have not ridden it in the other direction. It felt so steep in parts (OK, so apparently it did ramp up to 14%!) and I had a serious battle with myself not to stop and rest. But, despite the increasing heat, I somehow managed to keep the pedals turning and made it up the col in one piece. The profile ended up like this!

Again, no repercussions in the leg department. This is a very very good sign!. Again, the full stats are on the usual site.

For a relative change, we took the mountain bikes out for a run today. With temperatures set to rise up to 30+ Deg C, we tried to set out in decent time so as not to die in the heat. Exploring new routes and new link ups is great and it allows you to eventually separate the 'good' circuits from the 'not so good'. Today's circuit was a grand old mixture of 'Jeez, sod this for a game of bingo, I'm going home' and 'Bloody hell, that was just amaaazing!' The problem section was approx 1km long, up through the woods from Izaut l'Hotel to Arbon, a steep, rocky, slippery path that was beyond my riding capabilities where I had to resort to pushing my bike. Andy on the other hand put in a sterling performance. Thankfully, the route soon became rideable again and we enjoyed some fantastic views

After some superb riding, we arrived at the Col des Arès before beginning a fast, fun descent down a forest track and then good paths with some pretty technical riding in parts back down to Payssous and the meander home. Apart from the tricky section up to Arbon (which can be avoided by riding up the little lane instead!), the route was fantastic and I can't wait to ride it with mountain biking friends who have promised to come and visit us in the near future. 30km/700m+, 2h30 of riding and we were back in time for lunch :-) Full stats on the usual site.

Tomorrow (Wednesday), we sign for the house and get the keys. We are going to busy over the coming weeks and months, but we will of course make time for more biking and hopefully walking and running up in the mountains too. Fun times ahead!

Busy times

Yes, I know these pages have been sadly neglected for the past 2 weeks. But, you see, I have been just a little bit busy. Preparations for the move to our new home are at full pelt. We get the keys on the 27th of this month! There is some work that we want to get done before we actually move in.... messy, dirty, dusty work like sanding down the big beams on the ground floor before we treat them and then attempt to restore them to their former splendour. The house is now empty, the owners having done a fine job of clearing it of the vestiges of the lives of three generations, which has been an enormous task. We are obviously now impatient to move in and get to work creating our new home.

When I returned 10 days ago from my trip to the UK, the poor weather that I had experienced there decided to follow me home, which I really did not appreciate. However, at the end of last week the weather finally took a turn for the better with temperatures climbing to 30 degrees. I was keen to get up high to experience more of the amazing scenery that we have in this area, so we popped up to the Col du Portet d'Aspet and made our way on good paths to the ridgeline that runs high above it. The views did not disappoint

I wanted to use the outing to test out my knee and I was very encouraged by what I was feeling. Despite running several sections of the very undulating 10km/800m route I had no discomfort at all except for on the final 100m of the descent. I may actually be making some progress here! I now need to be careful not to get too carried away by my enthusiasm and do too much too soon. Steady steady!

The bikes have also had an airing over the past week with a cracking 33km/700m+ ride out on the mountain bikes which saw us linking up several different tracks and paths in the area. We also had a wonderfully leisurely 63km ride out on the roadies in the sun, over into the Barousse Valley and back through the foothills of the Comminges. Just stunning! Good times, good times.

Change of scenery

On Wednesday last week I left to spend a week in the UK for a long overdue visit to catch up with family and friends. But before I left, Andy and I got in a cracking mountain bike ride on Monday during which we explored and linked up even more of the myriad paths, tracks and trails around Aspet. The ride involved a fair bit of ascent and some technical riding, some of which I think I have captured on the video cam that Andy gave me for Christmas. We managed to fix it to the handlebars although I believe the video quality would be improved if we got it set up on my helmet. I'm currently working on putting the various video snippets together to make a short movie which I'll stick on Youtube when it's done. In the meantime, the ascent profile ....

.... and a glimpse of Pic de Cagire towards the end of the ride which came in at 30kms with 850m of ascent

The next day, as the weather remained good (dry, not too hot), we popped up the road to the Mourtis ski station above the Col de Menté (just 25 minutes us)  from where we walked up to the Pic d'Escales 1816m. From there, stunning panoramic views of the high mountains

The Spring flowers are really starting to appear now. These gentians were just stunning

Then it was home to pack for a flight back to the UK on Wednesday and a flying visit to mum's in Dorset before heading up to stay with friends in the Peak District for a few days. Typically, the stunning weather that the UK had been enjoying decided to break on the day that I arrived. But never mind, Ayshea and I still enjoyed a lovely day around and above the Derwent Reservoir which is one of my favourite parts of the Peak District.

Unfortunately, my knee troubles are continuing which meant that my running was curtailed. It was disappointing as the Peak District is a fantastic area for running. Still, I'll be back another day and will make up for it then. After catching up with more friends over the weekend, it is now time to head West to visit my son and future daughter-in-law. Back home on Thursday.

Mixing it up

It's been busy busy here over the past 2 weeks. Things are progressing as they should with the house, the buyers having signed the compromis de vente, which is reassuring for us. The search for a new home continues, but nothing has yet jumped out at me as being 'the right' property. But we have time. Patience is required!

Meanwhile, apart from a couple of days when we had cold temperatures and some rain which left snow on the higher mountains above 1800m, the weather has been relatively dry. We managed to give the roadies an airing, with a 70km/900m+ very undulating circuit from Saint-Girons which proved to be much harder work than it should have been. I think I need to eat more! Here is the profile;

It took me a couple of days to recover from that exertion, but the legs felt well enough to have a quick trot down the Chemin des Diligences in Massat three days later and we clocked 24 minutes on the 4.7km circuit, which wasn't bad considering it wasn't totally flat and also pretty slippy underfoot. It was good to push the speed a bit for a change.

But then, I decided to see how the old pins felt if I ran solidly for 20kms, on the level, on hardpack. It's not something I have ever really done before, as my longer runs are offroad and generally tend to include a variety of ups and downs which means constant changes in the stride and pace which gives certain muscles a rest. I chose the voie verte (disused railway line) from Saint-Girons for the outing and managed to clock 1h53m for the run. The unchanging stride and the hardpack surface, however, took their toll and various bits of me were complaining by the time I got back to the car. But it was a good exercise to test my endurance and no real damage was done. It was once again good to push the speed on this distance.

Last Thursday we decided to give the mountain bikes an outing on the 40km/1000m+ forest track circuit on the other side of the Col de Peguere. The last time we tackled it was back in November 2007 when it was one monumental effort - we ended up pushing our bikes for the last ascent and it took us over 3h30m to complete the circuit! Last week it was a very different story. We cruised the circuit, easily managing the initial sustained ascent and subsequent shorter hill sections. I was however a tad concerned when we arrived at a notice advising us that the track up ahead was closed to the public because of forestry work! We had done 30kms by that point and turning around to retrace our steps simply wasn't an option!!! Fortunately, we were allowed through to continue on our way, much to my relief. We were back at the car within 2h45m - we had flown! The best bit is that the legs felt absolutely fine, a million miles from how they felt 4 years ago. We have come a long way fitness-wise since then. Full stats on the usual site.

Rest and lots of food was called for over the next couple of days, as I was competing in a trail race in the Languedoc on Sunday. All of the races that I have done to date have included sustained sections of steep ascent and plenty of runnable descents. This race was different. It was the Trail du Boer in Moussan, just to the north of Narbonne. This was 23kms, with 500m of ascent, on paths and tracks amongst the vineyards and 'garrigue' (scrubland) of the Corbière - a lovely part of the Languedoc and just 10 minutes from where my friends' Iz and Nick run their guest house at which I stayed. Anyway, easy peasey, I thought, no problem, I should cruise the circuit. Wrong! It was a cruelly undulating circuit, not dissimilar to the roadie circuit from Saint-Girons profile (see above), which really took it out of the legs. OK, so doing the long VTT circuit 3 days before wouldn't have helped.... in fact it was probably a pretty daft thing to do so close to the event.  Despite doing a good warm up and constantly fuelling as I ran, it felt like I was going backwards and everybody was overtaking me. That said, in hindsight, I covered the first very undulating 10kms in 58 mins which really isn't too shabby! I think I was actually pushing myself harder than I appreciated. The final 5kms were excruciatingly painful as my ITBs started to seize up. I made it back in 2h34mins which was in the top 2/3rds of the field of 233 runners. Here is the profile.

I was exhausted and aching all over. But I had done it. Full stats on the usual site. Time for a shower at Iz and Nick's before I tackled the 2 1/2hr drive home, safely loaded up with wine that I had bought on the way through. Two day's later and I am now able to walk down the stairs relatively pain free and the legs are recovering. Let's just call the race 'good training'! The next target is a 29km race at the end of January. That'll be interesting.

Oops!

Crikey, it's over 2 weeks since I last blogged! But we finally arrived home on Monday so hopefully I will get back into the rhythm now and post more regularly. But for now, a summary of our 'Travels in Sadie' over the past 2+ weeks.

The main point of our second visit to the UK in the van this year was to attend Andy's dad's wedding to Lynne in Tamworth at the beginning of the month. After a lovely few days in Dorset with mum and Jamie, we headed North, spending the night before the wedding in the Malverns where we had a good but very undulating and hot 10km run in the morning. Hard work! A shower in the van then up to Tamworth for the 5pm wedding followed by a few hours at the reception and then a 1 1/2 hour drive to All Stretton below the Long Mynd in Shropshire where we visited back in June. We parked up in the same spot and had a quiet night but were awoken in the morning by the National Trust representative placing a note underneath our windscreen wiper, informing us that overnight parking was not allowed and that our reg had been noted. Great. Thanks. No matter that the 'byelaws' that they referred to were at the bottom of the back of a tattered, weather-worn, practically illegible sheet of A4 at the entrance to the parking area. No matter that it was 'out of season'. Arse. So, we moved down the road and bit the bullet of 2 nights' campsite fees. From there, we managed a stiff 13km mountain bike straight up onto the Long Mynd from Little Stretton which really tested the legs followed the next day by a lovely 12km walk up on to the Mynd in fantastic weather which I wished later we had run!

The weather was glorious but after 2 days on the campsite we decided to head down towards Exmoor. We found a fantastic spot to park up up on the moor above Minehead with great views and managed to get in a very windy run along the coastal path towards Bossington before the weather closed in

It was way too windy to contemplate riding the bikes so, after a brief detour to Bristol to pick up Andy's repaired HTC, we headed back down to Dorset where we stayed for another few days before catching the ferry from Portsmouth to Cherbourg. I had wanted to explore Brittany on this trip but the weather in the North Western corner of France was overcast and cold and the forecast for the foreseeable future was not good either. Sun was however promised from the Poitou Charente region southwards. So we headed South and ended up in a lovely spot at Talmont-sur-Gironde on the coast just south of Royan in Pineau country. Pineau is one of my favourite aperos so I was a happy bunny! The bonus was that we had a fantastic, free parking spot on a big parking area dedicated to campervans. Great!

The area has some waymarked mountain bike circuits which I was keen to explore now that we had found the sun again. We managed two circuits while we there, one of 21.5km and the other 33km, both of which lacked waymarks at critical points which made for a frustrating time! But still, it was good to be back on the bikes again and to explore more of this undulating area which is dominated by vineyards and agricultural land.

From there, we headed South again to the mountains South of Pau for our final few days away. The smaller ski resorts are perfect areas in which to park up at this time of year. They generally have spacious, flat parking areas which are deserted and from where you can easily get up high into the mountains for a walk. We parked up at Gourette, a few kilometers below the Col d'Aubisque and followed the GR on the stiff climb up to the Etang d'Anglas and then onwards and upwards to our high point of the Hourquette d'Arre at 2465m, a total climb of over 1100m in just over 6kms. It was stunning and just amazing to be back up in the mountains again in perfect conditions! We stopped a couple of times to soak up the peace and quiet and the breathtaking scenery.

We ran just about the whole of the 1100m descent which was tough on the legs and which would result in me being in a great deal of discomfort for the following two days! But what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. We popped up to the Col d'Aubisque while we were in the area which was, again, a beautiful spot

Then, it was time to head home. We had two more days of lovely warm, still weather which allowed me to get the washing dried and the van unpacked. But then a quick blast of winter which saw the first proper dusting of snow on the local mountains. Andy took this lovely panoramic photo from our walk up to the Cap des Campets from Peguere this afternoon - chilly! Time to light the woodburner, methinks!