Mountain bike action

It's been up to 20 degrees again today - it's amazing just how quickly the snows are melting. A dent is even being made in the enormous avalanche piles that are in front of the house - I can't wait until I can look out of the window and not see snow and I can't wait until the snow at higher levels has also melted so that I can go running locally again. This afternoon, however, we popped down to Saint-Girons then up the valley to Engomer for a quick spin on the mountain bikes around a 12km circuit with 300m of ascent, partly on easy quiet lanes up to Castillon-en-Couserans with great views up the Biros and high mountains beyond. But the second half of the route which was mainly on the offroad GR de Pays included some short but very stiff climbs on narrow footpaths which tested the legs and the lungs somewhat - it took us through to Audressein and up to Arrout, down to Alas, up again through the woodland and finally a steep, tricky descent back down to Engomer on which I admit I was obliged to get off and walk, the wuss that I am! But my new fatter tyres otherwise did their job and held the ground well offroad which gave me much greater confidence and allowed me to 'let loose' rather more than I would have done before - hurrah! We were back at the car in under an hour. A brief but welcome little outing after our confinement of the past week, topped off by a quick visit to Castillon itself where today was the annual plant and flower market at which I picked up some tomato plants to replace those that I lost because of the snow. I also bought some aubergine, courgette and hot chilli plants for which I now need to find space! I can see them ending up in big tubs on the terrasse. Tomorrow we will start clearing some of the trees that fell last week and tidying up around Pissou with the chainsaws - it will be quite a job but I am already looking forward to building up our wood piles for next year.

And the good news is ......

.... there is still life in the potager! Yes, despite the stupid weight of snow that threatened to crush the life out of them, my veggies are (mostly) more robust than I had imagined - hurrah! In particular, I am chuffed to bits with the brave little soldiers that are my peas. Before the snow came, I covered them with a protective strip of horticultural fleece and today I was able to remove the snow from the strip and peel back the fleece to reveal the (mostly) still strong little fellas! A couple have naturally succumbed to the crush but the rest should grow up to be strong, productive little plants
The celery, rocket, carrots, mixed salad and French beans also seem to be bouncing back. But the same cannot be said for the poor raspberry canes which have taken a right hammering and are mostly buried under the snow (in the right of the picture below). But raspberry canes are generally robust things and hopefully, given some space and warmth, will bounce back in no time. The tomatoes, as I expected, are broken and bruised thanks to the collapse of the cloche and will probably all have to be replaced. But generally, things could have been worseThe rickety fencing around the potager will all have to be replaced but I have been able to re-establish the electric fencing this afternoon, so no hungry animals will be able to profit from the gaps. The temperature has been back up towards 20 degrees today and the melt looks like it should be rapid, thank goodness. My neck/shoulder is pretty much back to normal (provided I continue to look after it), so we will be heading down to the plain tomorrow for a much needed outing on the roadies - I can't wait!

On the turn

We had another few centimetres of snow overnight but this afternoon, the first sign that this God-awful weather system has moved on, as temperatures climbed to a heady 8 degrees. The melt has started and probably over the weekend we will see the streams and rivers reach breaking point as the massive quantity of meltwater makes its way down from the mountains.

But here and now, it is time to take stock. From a 'growing' point of view, I am thankful that I had the foresight to protect the new cornichon plants with upturned plant pots and the young sweetcorn plants and curcurbits with plastic bottle halves. They have escaped the snowy onslaught unscathed. The same cannot be said for the rest of the potager - the cloches that were supposed to protect my new sowings collapsed under the weight of the snow and I was quite patently stupid to even think that I could plant out the tomato plants before mid May! I should have listened to the locals - I blame the intoxication of the fantastic hot weather that we were enjoying, before Winter decided to give us one last, painful and totally unexpected metaphorical slap!

In fact, I am feeling generally pissed off at the moment - not only am I decidedly unhappy about the blow that the weather has dealt us from a potager and 'growing stuff' point of view, but I have pulled a muscle in the back of my neck/into my shoulder, probably when throwing a ball for the dog the other day (I did exactly the same thing last year for goodness sake!). This means that I am going to have to restrain from all physical activity until it is sufficiently fixed and no longer giving me pain. So no biking (not that the current conditions are exactly commensurate with col-bashing and the turbo-trainer is now out of action due to the power unit blowing up (or something) and tripping the circuit when we had a power-cut when Andy was using it this afternoon - gah!), no running (not that there will be anywhere snow-free around here for the coming few days but let's not let details get in the way of a good moan) and no clearing of snow or sorting through the fallen wood around us. A sedentary few days ahead and I don't 'do' inactivity particularly well. Anybody got a dose of patience they can spare me?!

C'est un catastrophe!

That is how our neighbour Claudine describes the events of the past 24 hrs. You have to go back to records for the 1940s before you find an equivalent snow fall for the month of May - over a metre in the space of 24 hours. The snow avalanched off our roof several times during the night which made exiting from the house somewhat interesting this morning!
The damage caused by the shere weight of snow is extensive. The mobile phone network is down as is the ADSL broadband but fortunately the land line is working again this evening so dial up access is possible. The electricity is on and off, on and off but we have not been totally without power for much longer than an hour so far, whereas I gather that the town of Foix has sustained more prolonged outages. We're lucky!

This morning, we checked out our little road, playing russian roulette with the snow falling from the trees. It was obvious that the plough would be unable to make its way up to Pissou until the fallen trees and branches were cleared. Sure, it is the commune's responsibility, but we reckoned that they would have their work cut out so we set to with the chainsaw, ably assisted by Claudine and within a couple of hours our section of road was clear and, as if on cue, J-P rocked up in the plough just half an hour after we had finished. Good timing! The one good thing to come out of this is that we will now have enough wood to comfortably see us through at least another winter (one it has dried of course). But the clear up has only just started. Temperatures are now rising and the snow will start its slow melt. That in itself will bring its own set of problems. Hurrah for Spring!

Update

The blizzard continues, the snow deepens (over 50cms so far), ...the power is on and off and trees all around us continue to buckle and break under the weight of the snow. Trees and branches are strewn across our little road, effectively imprisoning us here until the snow stops enough to allow some clearance with the chainsaw.I just wonder how much more there is to come .....?

Blizzard

What date is it? Ah yes, May, 4 May. And we are currently in the midst of a full-on blizzard. May. Blizzard. The two don't go together somehow, now, do they. You remember that rather nice piccy that I took on Sunday, of the beech trees and their wonderful new foliage? As I type, I can hear the heart-wrenching gunshot sound of tree branches, complete with their new coat of fresh leaves, splitting and breaking under the weight of the heavy, wet snow in the woodland opposite. How very unseasonal. How very unwelcome. Let's hope we have a stinking hot week next week and the melt happens quickly. I have road biking and running to do, not to mention potager potterings to be getting on with!

Conquering lasyarseitis

It's too easy when the weather is pants to make a pint of tea (yes, I know, we're weird), kick back and stay snug and cosy in front of the warming glow of the woodburner. So it took a herculean effort for me to drag my lazy arse upstairs, get changed and then head up to Peguere to do the route forestière circuit with the pooch this afternoon. But oh, did I enjoy it once I got going! It was wet but a perfect temperature for running. My legs turned easily on the soft ground but I made time to stop and absorb the beauty of the beech trees in their new green fineryI have no idea what time it took me to do the 6km circuit as the battery on my Garmin died very quickly after I left the car. Still, I wasn't out for a full-on training run so the time was irrelevant - I felt good which was all that mattered. So now I am back and enjoying a pint of tea, snug and cosy in front of the warming glow of the woodburner happy in the knowledge that lazyarseitis has been conquered.... for today anyway.