VTT day ... and a half!

Today was the day that Pat and Kevin were going to have a look at the forest tracks route that Kev had identified on the map and which looked, on paper, like it should be around 33km with 700m of ascent. Yep, I'm up for it, I said, sounds like fun, particularly since I had really enjoyed my mountain bike outing with Pat last week. Besides, it would be good to get a feel for some more of the forest tracks in the area so that Andy and I can take ourselves off and explore further in future.

The first part was along a very quiet single track road on the other side of the valley from the Col de Port. Easy riding. After about 50 mins, we reached the point where we branched off onto the forest track. My Garmin GPS training device was showing 12 and Pat chirped up '12km, yes, that's about right'. I remember thinking 'has it really taken us nearly an hour to do 12km?' We hadn't exactly been hanging about! I should have listened to my intuition. Anyway, the turning that we then needed to take off the main track should apparently have been another 4 to 5km further on. We realised after too long that a) we had missed the turning and that b) my Garmin was for some reason showing miles and feet instead of km and metres! We had no idea where we there. The only sensible thing we could do was to turn round and retrace our steps. Anyway, here is a piccy of Kev!
The return route, once we reached the road again, seemed to go on forever...it seemed to be one steady incline whereas I didn't remember it being a downhill run on the way out. And to make matters worse, it soon dawned on us that the 12km that Pat had expected from where we had parked was in fact more like 12 miles! I didn't recognise the route back and questioned whether we were in fact on the right road. I kept on expecting the van to be parked over the next hill but each time I was disappointed. I started to suffer from a lack of fuel and bonked in the last couple of miles as the upwards gradient took its toll. There was nothing left in me. I was shattered.

It was only when I got home and downloaded the data from my Garmin and plotted it onto my Memory Map mapping software that I discovered we had in fact covered over 65km with over 1300m of ascent during which I had burned over 2000 calories! No wonder I was dropping. Lessons were learnt from the outing but it was an enjoyable few (4!) hours on the bike. My legs had felt strong and I felt fit. So it's all good :-)

Barn flooring arrives!

The nice man from Mr Bricolage turned up this morning with our load of 'dalles agglomérés', or tongue and groove chipboard panels from which we will create the 1st floor of the barn. The only 'problem' we have is that the barn is not exactly square and the beams are not exactly even, so it looks like we will have our work cut out to get a good level floor laid! Watch this space!

Toulouse!

We bit the bullet and made the trek up to Toulouse again today. However, instead of just gracing Ikea with our presence (we needed more rugs, cushions, bed stuff), we decided to make a proper day of it and head into Toulouse city itself where we would have lunch and do some shopping - if Andy couldn't find his 'rouleau patissier' (rolling pin) in Toulouse then there was no hope! Besides, I had heard it was a lovely city and well worth exploring.

So, after the obligatory Ikea trip, we got parked up in central Toulouse by 1pm and headed straight for 'La Maison du Cassoulet' for which I had read excellent reviews and which promised quality regional cuisine. We were not disappointed. We both had a very pleasant salad for starters followed by coeur de canard (ducks' hearts), flashed to perfection in a frying pan and I had monchons de confit de canard which just dropped off the bone. Fantastic cuisine and I was so pleased we had at last had a decent meal out, following several previous disastrous attempts to have a proper French 'luncheon'.

Lunch was followed by a meander into the shopping area which was a wonderful mix of the traditional and the modern, with little cafes and brasseries tucked away in old streets but also modern department stores and designer shops. We did find the wooden rolling pin that Andy has been searching for, so no excuse now for not making me loads of yummy patisserie!

Big stuff and bigger stuff!

Not posted for a few days as we haven't really been up to a great deal. Only shopping in Pamiers, spending loadsa money (well a bit) on some chipboard flooring for the barn which will be delivered this coming Friday. We have also boosted our wood supplies by recovering and logging various bits and pieces that we have found within walking distance of Pissou. Our woodshed/pig poke is now pretty much full and the overflow is being stored under the tree on the terrasse :-)

But anyway, I digress.... look at the size of these....!

They are 'Coulmelle' or Parasol Mushrooms which have suddenly started springing up around here - the cap on a mature one is a good 6 inches across! It is advisable to only eat the cap, as the stem is very tough and woody. So we chopped up the two big ones and one of the smaller ones and tossed them into a cast iron pot along with a chunk of beef and had it for tea .... yummy! And no funny belly next day either, which is good news. We will be on the look out for more!

The 'bigger' in the title above, refers to this which is 110m high - it will no doubt be awesome in the spring once the winter snows melt. I took the pooch up there this afternoon as we both needed a bit of exercise ... it was a bit of a walk/run thing. I had the intention of carrying on up past the waterfall, climbing another 300m to reach the Etang du Garbet but I had a banging headache and decided instead to retrace my steps. But the view from the falls was lovely, with the autumn colours in all their glory looking down towards the Aulus valley.As a point of information, the path to the falls from Aulus and beyond, up into the mountains and through into Spain was used during the 2nd World War as an escape route for French resistance fighters. I found this story particularly touching. One day, I would love to undertake this route which has loads of historical significance ... you can imagine the trials and tribulations of people following the same route during the 2nd World War when their lives were at stake.

VTT day

Well, my mate Pat is still on her own (Kev is back this afternoon) so she emailed to suggest a VTT (Vélo Tout Terrain - or 'mountain bike' to you and me!) ride from the Col de Port. Great idea. The bike hasn't seen any action to speak of since we came out here so she was due for a spin. The route she described sounded interesting with a good descent on forest tracks from the Col de Port to the village of Liers which is in the next valley over from Pissou) and then a fairly steep ascent back up to the Col de Caugnous which may involve some 'portage' or carrying of the bikes. OK, I said, I'm up for it - lead on!

The weather was a tad chillier than it has been for the past few days but that was good. So I met Pat at the end of our road and we cycled up to the Col de Port which took us around 50 minutes (considerably slower than on the roadie!) from where we hurtled ourselves down the forest track. Now, Pat doesn't hang about and we reached a speed of 44.6kph on the descent which was decidedly uneven in places. She naturally reached the road at the bottom ahead of me but then she does know the track fairly well. I was pleased with how my bike was feeling and also how I felt, although the fore-arms had taken a bit of a hammering on that section.

The next section was a short section of tarmac on which we caught up with a 'transhumance' group leading the cattle down from the higher pastures in readiness for the winter. I was wondering why there had been a fair amount of fresh droppings on the road! Fortunately, we turned off fairly soon and started our ascent back up to the Col. It was OK initially but we then took a turn which led us onto a footpath and a steep ascent on which Pat chose to carry her bike. I, however, could not get it into a comfortable position on my shoulder so chose to push it instead. Hard work! After a few breaks, we at last reached easier ground from where the road led us back down the hill to Col del Four from where we went our separate ways. Total for the day? 25.05km, 1030m of ascent and 1454 calories burned :-)

Return of the Merens

A month or so ago, I had a chat with a local bloke who owns 5 'Merens' horses which he occasionally pastures down in the woods below Pissou. We had the pleasure of watching them being taken down to the pasture then, and today it was apparently time to move them on again. We watched the same man and his daughter (I think) appear from the woodland footpath in front of the house, two of the horses with halters on, but the other three walking free. They are lovely sturdy mountain horses, not dissimilar to the Fell pony in the UK, jet black in colour, with a long flowing mane. They briefly stopped to graze at the back of the house where the public 'chemin' leads back on to the road. Then they were led off down the road to new pastures. A lovely sight.

A productive day, I would say

The day dawned clear again, blue sky and temperatures up to 20 Degrees - marvellous. We decided that whilst it was still fine, we should get the timbers of the barn treated, as this would entail putting everything outside whilst I was spraying. It has been a job that we have been meaning to do for some time. We desperately need to get a floor down on top of the 1st floor timbers in order to create a workspace in which Andy can do his woodwork and use his boy's toys - the shippon on the ground floor really isn't an ideal environment in which to be using table saws and circular saws! We did however have to remove one visitor who seems to have made the underside of the beams his home. Strange that it was all on its lonesome when we had previously seen quite large numbers of them up in the rafters. They had however been sensible and moved on before being forceably removed!It only took a few hours to apply 2 coats of spray so we are now ready to order the tongue and groove chipboard sheets which will form the base layer of the first floor.

While I was spraying away, Andy took his angle-grinder to the step at the entrance to the terrasse which has been getting in the way since we moved in. However, we ran out of concrete before he was able to complete the new, much more aesthetically pleasing (and less of a liability!) step that is replacing it. So more shopping to be had there.

It seems that Josette is currently letting her goats have the run of the hillside at the moment. We noticed that some of the flimsy fencing just up the road had been pulled aside (we assume deliberately) to let them have access to the road and wherever that may lead. Well, it just happens to lead to Pissou! We were alerted to their presence behind the house by the washing line by the jangling of the bells around their necks. However, a whiff of Taff and they shot back up the road en masse. Shame really, as the area behind the house does need grazing ..... either that or strimming!

For evening meal, we had a rather yummy Portugese fisherman's stew that Andy made with the last of the fish that we bought on Saturday. It was simply scrummy and there was even enough left for our lunch tomorrow!