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!

Spring already? Surely not!

It's all a bit worrying. We're only just into the first week of January and yet the first patches of snowdrops are through and today at 1300m we spotted some Liverwort (Hepatica Nobilis) in the beech woodland above the Col du Portet d'Aspet

OK, so we are currently enjoying the most glorious, warm, sunny weather thanks to a fantastically stable high pressure area, but I think the plants and flowers are going to get an almighty shock when Winter does reappear, which surely it must do at some point over the coming few weeks?

In the meantime, we have been making the most of the glorious weather and had an outing up above the Col du Portet d'Aspet today. We were all prepared to don the snowshoes but it was quite clear on arriving at the Col du Portet d'Aspet that there simply wasn't the snow up there to warrant putting the snowshoes in our packs! We made our way up through the beautiful beech woodland......

... and it was only when we got up onto the ridge at 1500m that we found snow and even then, it wasn't deep. The views were however spectacular as always.

Up on the top, we had a brief pause for a slice of pizza from the boulangerie in Aspet - not a bad lunchtime view!

We were only out for 2 1/2 hours but that's the beauty of where we live now..... it's so easy to just 'pop out' for some good exercise and amazing views!

The drive back down to Aspet was rather more eventful than we would have liked though, as we hit a large patch of black ice and ended up doing a very very scary 360 spin which very nearly landed us off the side of the road. Thank heavens for the wide muddy verge just at that point and the lack of traffic on the road. It was one of the most frightening experience of my life and unsurprisingly not something either of us would like to experience again :-(

But back to the good stuff .....the roadie got another airing on Thursday when we got out for a lovely 70km/1100m+ ride which took us up through Aspet and the Col des Ares before dropping down to the Vallée de la Barousse and back via Barbazan and Sauveterre. The last time I did any proper hills was way back in August, but my legs felt surprisingly good, despite the knee niggle which I have had before on the bike. Full stats on the usual site.

Back at home, we have been doing more apple tree pruning and I believe we have rescued another tree that was in danger of being overwhelmed by mistletoe. It's the big tree on the left in the photo below - the smaller one on the right cannot be saved and is going to be pulled out to make way for new stock;

Here's the 'after' photo. Hopefully it will reward us with a good crop of apples this coming autumn!

The fantastic weather is set to last through to mid week next week, so more outdoor action is planned. Watch this space.

More snowy stuff

The weather during this past week has been dismal ..... cold and wet and with strong gusty winds, but not quite cold enough here at 600m to snow. However, from 800m it was a different story. Today dawned cold, crisp and clear - not a day to waste indoors after being effectively cooped up all week. No, we had to get up into the mountains for some fresh air, sun and snow and a reccy for some potential ski touring activity this winter. It was a half hour's drive to the Col de Menté and from there a short hop up to the Mourtis ski station which is not due to open for another 2 weeks, despite the amazing conditions. The piste bashers and snow canons were busy preparing the pistes which provided the perfect surface for us and the pooch to snowshoe up. We soon regretted taking our snowshoes and not our skis as we were surrounded by ski tourers who were taking full advantage of the fantastic powder, skinning up and skiing down the bowl on the other side of the ski resort. But it was stunningly beautiful up there and we will be heading up with our skis during the coming week. In the meantime, I'll let the photos do the talking

Still smiling!

Well, the leg has healed wonderfully well and I am now able to pick up the exercise again which, after 4 weeks of doing so very little, is a great relief! I was, however concerned about my fitness levels but it was only by getting out and doing stuff that I would find out where I stood.

Winter proper arrived on Wednesday and Thursday last week, with snow settling down to 800m. We are at 600m so we were just treated to heavy rain and cold, which wasn't so pleasant, but with the woodburning central heating working well we stayed snug and toasty indoors. On Saturday, with a clear, blue-skied day forecast, Suzanne suggested we head out for a snowshoe outing. Oh yes please - what better way to celebrate the 1st December and the first proper snowfall of the year! Ian and Jane joined us as we headed out to Arbas, just 10 minutes along the road from us, and then up the hillside to the track below the Estives de Paloumère.  It took us 45 minutes on a track and then paths, to reach the Estives (the summer mountain pastures for sheep and horses) but it was one of those jaw-dropping 'WOW' moments when we did. It was one of the most stunningly beautiful winter wonderlands that I have ever seen.

We headed on up the hill, determined to reach the point that would afford us the best views of the high mountains

The wind had created fantastic rime formations on the ground and on the hillside above - it was like a cake decorated with ornate royal icing! Quite spectacular.

The views from the top were worth the effort - WOW!

But we didn't hang about for too long as the windchill was quite significant and the pooch was suffering with cold paws. We headed back down, taking in the beauty, before heading back to the car

It had been a grand afternoon out in great company and the legs felt fantastic and not even tired after 11.5kms and 550m of ascent on the snowshoes. And thanks to my wonderful new Canon Ixus 230HS camera (which I highly recommend to anybody looking for a slip-in-the-pocket, highly intelligent camera with an array of manual as well as fully-auto functions, by the way), I was able to capture the outing with some lovely photos! I was well-chuffed (as they say oop North!). More please!

Winter

Our Spanish break seems like an age ago already. But we arrived home in the nick of time as Winter conditions really took a grip here on the Saturday, with a significant snowfall and extremely cold temperatures making the roads treacherous.

However, eventually the heavy snow clouds cleared and grey gave way to blue. After a few days of being cooped up, we were keen to get out for some fresh air, so we donned the snowshoes and left the house for an explore up the Peguere 'road'. It was stunning. We were the first to venture out and it was hard work breaking trail in the 50-70cm deep snow. But what a stunning afternoon it was.

We didn't make it all the way up to the col as the pooch was tiring, despite attempting to follow in our tracks. Still, it had been a very welcome breath of fresh air and stretch of the legs. The sun was weakening as we took the final track home and we were pleased to soon get back to the warmth of the house and a hot chocolate!

The arrival of the snow was actually good timing as I was due for an easy 'taper' week last week ahead of the Trail du Maquis trail race in Dun on Sunday. Although Dun is down at only 300m alt, there was still a decent covering of snow on the ground and the air temperature was a chilly -7C when I rocked up at 08.00 on Sunday morning after spending the night at Pat & Kev's just along the road. I had decided that I was not going to put any pressure on myself and would just treat the 27km/1100m+ race as a training run as the conditions underfoot would undoubtedly be 'tricky' and 27kms is the furthest that I have ever run! It would however be good training for the Citadelles in 8 weeks time. The course was hilly and indeed very challenging - the hills kept on coming.

I have to admit that my new superlightweight running poles were an absolute godsend on the ascents and helped me to avoid energy-sapping foot slippage. My un-insulated Camelbak pipe froze early on which blocked my supply of liquid fuel, but the slices of dried, sugared kiwi fruit that I carried with me did a fantastic job of keeping my energy levels up! I shall be stocking up on them for future races! When I reached the top of the particularly pointy hill that you can see in the elevation profile above, one of the volunteers shouted 'vous êtes la troisième fille.... allez!' What? I was in third place amongst the girls? Bloody hell! I'd better push on! I can't let that slip! So I did. I really started to tire over the last 7 kms but was still able to raise a smile for one of the photographers

I did indeed finish in 3rd place after 3h42m. I was well chuffed with that! On the podium again! It's true that only 11 out of the 99 starters were girls but 6 out of those were in my age group and I was 39 minutes ahead of the next V1F finisher ... not bad for an oldie ;-) But I was exhausted, not only because of the exertion but also because of my lack of fuel. However, I couldn't stomach the fantastic sausages and beefburgers that were being served up in the hall after the event. I felt queasy just thinking about it. I was only able to face proper food in the evening once I had got home. It had been quite a day! Full stats on the usual site.