The route forestiere VTT attempt MKII

If you have been paying attention, you will remember that Pat, Kevin and I had a bit of an epic on our mountain bikes at the end of October (27th, to be precise), thanks to Pat incorrectly noting down the route description. Well, as the day dawned crisp, cold but perfectly clear and calm again today, Andy and I decided to have a bash at the 'proper' route, a 38km ride, initially along a single track road but then heading off onto the forest tracks up onto the hillside. This time, I had programmed my GPS with the route in order to lessen the possibilities of a mistake that could be costly both in terms of time out on the hill in the cold (and by 'eck, there were some really cold spots) but also in terms of energy expenditure, neither of which we could afford. This was also to be my first outing on the mountain bike using my new SPD pedals (I had been using baskets before but they were becoming a pain). So I was quite excited as we set off.

The first section, along the road was as I had remembered from the previous excursion.... good riding for 18km on good single track tarmac where we didn't meet a single car! Everything was working great and my Spds were a dream. We then headed off onto the forest track and the ascent started. By the time we had covered just under 4.5km on the forest track, we had already climbed 300m (without stopping!). We found a lovely sunny spot and had a sandwich which would replace some of the energy that we had expended. The woodland spread out before us in all it's autumnal glory. Quite, quite beautiful.

We only went wrong once, when we went a kilometer off down the wrong forest track due to ambiguous instructions in the guidebook. But fortunately, the GPS showed us where we had gone wrong and we were able to rapidly retrace out steps.

We were expecting an end to the ascent at some point, but it just kept on coming. We would encounter enticing sections of downhill, only to be subjected to yet more ascent round the corner. Surely it had to end soon? The profile that I downloaded from the GPS when we got home shows what we were actually up against. The lowest point is where we started out onto the route forestiere (click the image to enlarge).

With about 5km to go and faced with yet another ascent, I have to admit that we got off the bikes and walked for 50m or so. This isn't what we had been expecting. After 3 and a half hours, we finally arrived back at the car with toes that were numb from the cold and craving a nice pint of tea. Here is a summary of our exertions!

We enjoyed a lovely beefy stew (made 2 days ago) with roasted squash for tea this evening. Very yummy and much needed it was too! I think we may even have earned one of Gils' delicious Sunday patisseries tomorrow!

Marrons

Or 'chestnuts' to you! The last time we went looking for chestnuts in the woods (a couple of weeks ago, if I recall correctly), we were disappointed to find only small, inconsequential things that did not warrant the effort required to collect and shell the things. But today, we were pleasantly surprised to find a carpet of big, firm chestnuts which we will roast on top of the woodburner, shell and then use to make a stuffing for a pork dish, a chestnut puree or whatever else we fancy this weekend. Mmmm! The dog is hilarious with chestnuts and plays with the casings in a decidedly giddy manner. Bless!

Wood

Following my chat with our elderly absent neighbour, M Benazet, last week, I was keen to strike while the iron was hot and to stash the load of dead wood that I had collected into a pile on his land down the road. So Andy took the chainsaw down there and cut the branches into manageable lengths ready for us to load into the back of the car and dump (in a neat pile, of course!) outside the back of the house. The wood was all beautifully dry and an ideal size for our woodburner and it is comforting to know that we need have no worries about access to a good supply of more of the same should we run short during the winter. It actually took 3 trips in our estate car to collect all that we had been working on but we now have an impressive pile which is ready to be reduced to woodburner-size logs in due course. Next, we have our eye on two silver birch trees that have fallen on Claudine's land and which seem to be easily accessible from the road. They will provide us with more than enough wood to see us through until springtime :-)

Dusting down the roadie

It's been a while, a couple of months I think, since we last had an outing on the road bikes and I have to say I have missed my little thoroughbred. We are enjoying a spell of fantastic weather here at the moment and conditions were perfect today (if not a tad chilly) for a spin into the mountains. So we parked at the usual roundabout from where the road heads off up to Seix/Oust/Aulus and departed in the direction of Couflens which is a village at the foot of some amazing hills. We had a good ride up, 16km or so and 600-700m of ascent, admired the view and then, because of aching sit bones following quite intensive bike activity recently, did a U-turn and sprinted back down the quiet roads to the village of Seix where we felt we had earned a nice hot coffee. My head was starting to pound from the cold on the descent so the hot drink was most welcome (reminder to self, take more dosh next time so we can afford cake!). It had been a nice little outing and hopefully it won't be the last before the winter weather descends and the bikes are consigned to the barn until the springtime.

VTT day (again) :-)

The day dawned crisp and clear again today and it was quite an eerily beautiful spectacle first thing, as the clouds started lifting from the valley behind the house. After last week's VTT outing, I had a hankering to get back on the bike again but this time to do a route slightly closer to home. I had been told that there was a route that linked one of the little villages off the Col de Port road with the 'route forestière' that ran from the Col down to Liers (Pat and I did that track a couple of weeks ago and it was fab!), although I had no idea how good or bad it would be with the bikes. The lure of the downhill forest track proved enough of a temptation for Andy, so we set off from Pissou and rode up the Col de Port road to the Col de Caognous from where we picked up the single track road that skirted the hillside at a slightly lower level. All great. Nothing technical and it was lovely to see more of the little communities that dot the hillside around here.

So eventually, we reached the end of the road and after a bit of fumbling around, found the route that would lead us up to the Col. But it was hardly 'bike friendly'! It was the old 'chemin de Boussenac' that was used by the communities way before cars were invented and which has since become overgrown and tricky to negotiate on a bike. And it deteriorated further until we were pushing our bikes up a narrow woodland path that was overgrown with bracken and brambles. It was exceptionally hard work and not particularly enjoyable. I was more than a little relieved when we finally hit the forest track and were able to begin our descent back down into the next valley. We shortly arrived down at Liers from where we were greeted by breathtaking views of the Pic de la Journalade. The views back down the valley towards Massat were also quite beautiful - lovely spot to do some bike tinkering as we recovered from the bone-shaking downhill! This is also where they have transformed a lovely old church into a 'Gite d'étape' or hostel - the bells still remain.From there, it was downhill all the way back into Massat from where we only had to negotiate the hill back up the Col de Port road to Pissou. That proved to be hard going, with Andy suffering from dehydration and certain muscles in my legs giving me trouble. But we made it and rewarded ourselves with a delicious 'mousse au framboise et cassis' that I had collected from Gil le Boulanger this morning - a simply divine patisserie with layers of fairy-light sponge alternating with the best raspberry and blackcurrant mousse that I have ever tasted! Mmmmm!

Oh yes, exercise total for the day, 28.79km, 1177m of ascent (I am dubious about this figure, to be honest!) in 3 hrs 32mins, burning 1517 kCal.

Success :-)

The day started off well with a beautiful autumnal scene looking towards Mont Valier from the attic window. The sky was clear as a bell up here at Pissou but we had to make the 25 minute journey down to the Saturday market in St Girons this morning where it was grey and chill. Pissou was obviously above the cloud layer! We spent a couple of hours getting our market provisions (including Andy's genuine Castelnaudary terracotta 'cassoule' that he has been hankering after for a while) and doing the supermarket shop. By then it was 12.30 and we were debating whether to head straight home for lunch or see if we could find a good local eatery which we have so far failed to do. We opted for the latter and decided to follow signs for 'La Table de l'Ours' which was actually on our way home out of St Girons. I was simply dreading the prospect of yet another failed attempt to find somewhere nice to eat at lunchtime, so it was with some trepidation that I walked into the restaurant which was just nicely situated, away from the road, up on a hillside above St Girons. They had a 3 course 'menu du jour' but I thought that would be too much at lunchtime, so we opted instead for the house speciality which was 'La salade de l'ours'. An 'ours', by the way, is a bear - the Pyrenees used to be home to wild brown bears which are now gradually being reintroduced to the area!

Anyway, I digress. The salad duly arrived and it was quite a plateful to say the least! The centrepiece was a beautifully done piece of duck breast, but there were also thin slivers of magret de canard, a slice of fois gras de canard on a slice of lightly toasted baguette, some goats cheese also very lightly melted on a piece of baguette, a lovely green salad with lardons (bacon pieces) sprinkled over it and beautifully dressed. I knew it hit the spot when Andy uttered those words I have been waiting to hear..... "This is actually rather good"! Result! The salad actually met his impossibly high culinary standards! Yee-haa! I was particularly jovial at the end of the meal as I had benefitted from a 1/4 carafe of rather yummy house white wine. So all in all, it was a very successful outing and one that I hope to repeat in due course.

Herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically across the plain

... well, not quite....they were actually wild boar/sanglier attempting to escape the chasseurs who are currently out in force! I took the pooch up the Col de Port zig zags this afternoon and then headed right towards the Rochers du batail. We were about half way along when a group of a dozen or more boar appeared 100m ahead of us, from the forested area down to our left, crossed over our track and then disappeared down the other side. I wasn't quite quick enough in getting my camera out, unfortunately, but I am just relieved that there weren't any hunters in hot pursuit otherwise we could have been in trouble!

So anyway, yes, the pooch and I had a lovely walk (and a bit of a run) this morning in lovely conditions - clear blue sky, surprisingly warm temperatures - and we were rewarded with the most spectacular views of the snowcapped Pyreneean chain. Quite breathtaking. There were patches of snow up on the top which sent the dog into giddy mode which was quite hilarious! I did take a movie shot of him but need to adjust it before posting.

So, exercise totals for the day, 11.55kms, 2 hrs 42, 682m of height gain and 535 kcals spent :-)

Apart from that, during this last week, we have more or less finished laying the barn floor, although we still need to chock between the beams and the boards where there are significant gaps, in order to prevent it from bouncing quite as much

I also spent a couple of hours yesterday hauling sections of fallen trees down the hillside on our elderly neighbour, M Benazet's part of woodland down the lane, ready for Andy to get his chainsaw out and cut them into log size sections ready for stacking on the terrasse. M Benazet is now 85 and grew up in the Massat Valley and still speaks the local dialect. He popped by with his daughter during the week and we had a good chat. He was quite surprised to learn that I had an interest in the dialect and it brought a smile to his face to read parts of my newly-acquired book on understanding and learning the dialect :-) While he was here, he asked if we could drop an old, dead apple tree behind his house which we were all too happy to do, in order to bolster our wood supply!