Mountains to climb
Pyrennees
03.06.2008
We did a couple of hours work on Thursday morning and worked out what part of the issue with work was. It takes her at least twice as long as an average person to do anything because she gets distracted so often and so what she thinks is four-five hours work only takes us two or less. She also can’t plan what needs to happen next so actually isn’t capable of telling us what she needs done because she doesn’t know. We left at 10.30 after saying fond farewells to Andy and goodbye to her, and drove straight down towards Les Eyzies. On the way we stopped for a stroll aobut at the base of le Roc St Cristophe, which is an amazing cliff with old dwellings cut into big channels along its length.
Its just above the river Vezere and even the views from below it are great. We didn’t go in because we’ve been before and our budget is not doing well. We also ahd a brief stroll at Abri de la Madeleine which is another cave dwelling with a chateau incorporated, however we couldn’t see much and didn’t go in. In Les Eyzies we checked the tour times at Abri Pataud then had a brief stroll around and went to the campground and pitched our tent and had some cheese and bread for lunch. It was lovely to hang my hammock under a tree and just relax for a while. We walked back into town in time for the 3.30 tour which was really interesting and we saw where they had done a dig and then the artefacts from the dig. It was really interesting although turned out not to be the museum we had expected.
Les Eyzies is as stunning as we remembered and it was amazing to just stroll along the tiny narrow streets with houses built into the cliffs and the cliffs towering above us with huge overhangs. The architecture is amazing and the colour of the stone gorgeous, giving the whole place lots of charm despite the throngs of tourists. The shops are all fois gras and gift shops or cafes with not much of a real local economy evident but its still lovely. We spent the evening just chilling out at the campground trying to read/ organise more places from the WWOOFer book (with a glass of rose in my hammock!). we discovered the couple camping next to us were also kiwis from Dunedin and on a cycling holiday in France for a couple of months, so we had a lovely chat with them and shares tales and tips.
On Friday morning we packed up the tent feeling fully refreshed from having our own space for a while, and headed to Sarlat. We had been before but on market day and it was lovely to go on a regular day, although it was still bustling because it was a holiday. The streets are lovely stone again and lots of cute winding alleyways with surprises down nearly every one – statues or cute houses or beautiful quaint architecture.
It’s a medieval town with a really nice atmosphere and just very pleasant to stroll around. We headed south after that and spent most of the afternoon driving and discussing plans for our property and what we’ve learnt so far. We were surprised to see snow still on the Pyrennees and also surprised by how beautiful the whole area is, although in a different way to the Dordogne. The mountains and lovely and cute villages clutching to the sides of the mountains are really pretty. The air is nice and clear and even though its drizzly and cloudy its very beautiful and atmospheric. We arrived in Izault de l’Hotel about 5pm to Karen and Lee and had a while to settle in and a look around before dinner. They are really nice people and have a wee boy called Rowan who is three and normal for a three year old. They live in one room (with a mezzanine sleeping area reached by a ladder) and we have a caravan that is parked under cover. Its pretty comfortable and a lot nicer than the caravan Leni had that she was going to rent out to paying guests. They have 1 hectare by the house and another four further up the river and they keep 150 laying hens and grow trees and vegetables. They’ve been here 3 years and are still getting set up and had been WWOOFers for years before that so can tell us lots of tales.
We started off on Saturday morning going with Karen for the morning chicken routine then had breakfast and headed into the forest with Lee to collect bean poles. It was an area of forest that has been partially cleared of box (I didn’t know it grew to trees of up to 5m tall rather than the ornamental things we see as garden borders!) we collected what we could then cut down a lot more. It was beautiful working in the forest even though it had been raining and we got absolutely saturated from the wet ground and leaves dripping. It was pretty hard work scrambling up and down the hillside with long branches and cutting them down and trimming them and we were pleased when the church bell chimed one so we could stop and head back for a bowl of warm soup from Karen. The walk back was lovely too, through fields with wildflowers all over the place and the gentle ching ching of the cow bells and birds singing. After lunch we just spent the afternoon relaxing and reading some of their books, which is another impressive collection. Steve helped Lee collect the bean poles from the forest in the trailer and we did the chickens evening routine ourselves.
Sunday is usually a day of rest but because we’ve just arrived we worked a few hours. We started with the morning chickens which will be my regular chore and then after breakfast went with Lee to the other block. The walk there is lovely, along the river that flows beside the house and through fields and orchards. It was really nice working in a field in the mountains (well its really only the foothills of the mountains but it still has a mountain feel to the air and again the gentle ching ching of cow bells. We finished weeding the rows of chestnuts and got some lunch then headed out to explore. We drove further south to near the Spanish border and did a wee walk in to a very popular lake with an amazing waterfall. 
We were above the level of where iceflows still remain on the mountainside and it was gorgeous. It was rather a climb though which we were’nt aware of when we started. We climbed over 400m vertical height in 45 minutes and it was hard slog. The view at the top was probably worth it but it also got rather wet and we were fairly wet when we got back to the car. It was a gorgeous valley and we saw real mountain shepherds herding their sheep and goats on the mountainsides. It really felt like what I imagine the Swiss alps to be in summer (except for the rain) with gorgeous fileds of wildflowers, cowbells and shepherds. We tried to drive into spain on the way back but the road was closed for some reason so we just headed straight back and relaxed in the sunshine and watched our clothes dry for a while before dinner. The meals are great and very sustaining. They are vegetarian but with lots of variety and very nutritious and good and just what you need after a days work (or mountainclimbing). Its taking me a while to settle here, I think because I’m a bit nervous after the last experience. However they are very nice and we’re getting used to their routine and working out our own need for our own space too. There’s quite a bit to learn here and they have lots of different experiences to learn from too. We are also surprised by the fact that we don’t seem to be useless and as someone had said to us that we have common sense and that helps a lot.
Monday morning after chicken chores and breakfast we were in the potager clearing weeds, cutting down tree broccoli and getting rid of aphids. The potager is beside the chicken shed but the chickens don’t go out on it at all and we threw buckets of weeds over the fence to the chickens – it became apparent why chickweed is named – they pick that out pretty quickly. After lunch we went for a walk up the wee hill near here, which has a wee ruin on top and lovely views of the mountains and the village. 
It was pretty warm all morning and during the walk up but once we were up on top we started hearing thunder from both directions so headed back down again and got back before the rain. It was nice for one day not to get soaked. Karen’s parents and aunt and uncle had arrived and are very nice people. We just relaxed in the garden for a while before dinner. I have a favourite spot near the caravan which is a garden wall and from there I can see over the house garden, the river, the henhouse, the horses grazing in the wildflower meadow across the river and up to the hills. Its gorgeous and very relaxing and so I scrubbed it down so it was really comfy to sit on and I can also do my yoga stretches there. Karen and Lee had dinner with her family at the gite in the village where they are staying so we fended for ourselves and did the chickens before bed.
Tuesday was another day near the house and we started off weeding nursery trees but when we finished Lee was still out so we just continued with weeding and manure spreading on the potager and Steve cleaned out a chicken house for Karen. Lee was surprised when he got back how much had been done and seemed like he only expected us to do the trees. Lunch was a real affair, with Karen’s cousins also visiting and we all had lunch together outdoors round a big table. It was really nice and a nice rose flowing freely and good food and good company and we felt very privileged to be included as that is what is portrayed in England as the French dream. 
The hard slog behind it is not recognised and that those days are rare, so for us it was a lovely treat. We went for a walk up the hill again after lunch, this time with painting things (and a book for Steve). It was very pleasant to just sit in the shade of an oak and paint a French village and the mountains. The layers of blue of the mountains blends into the green of the closer hills and the woodlands and fields. The terracotta roves really stand out and you can see cattle grazing on the meadows and it’s a very peaceful scene. There was only the occasional cloud shadow drifting lazily across the landscape and we had to be careful to stay out of the sun as it got pretty hot. We collected rose petals on the way back down to make some rose-petal syrup and when we got down everyone was out. I had a quick bath in the river, which was extremely cold but it felt glorious. That feeling on your skin of tingling with real cold but the sun shining on you at the same time is delicious. I sat on my section of wall to dry out then did some stretches on the wall before dinner, which was bean stew Karen had made for lunch.
Wednesday we got a sleep in as Karen did the chickens and after breakfast we went back over to the other block to spread black plastic in all the spaces between the nursery trees and block it down with tyres. Then we trimmed and sharpened the box poles we had cut in the forest and started making bean frames.
On the way back to the house we nearly stood on a wee roe deer just by the river and then watched it bound off and upset the dogs and fly over fences. We did a little more nursery tree weeding after lunch until it started to rain again. It seems to rain most days here in the afternoons which kind-of limits us exploring. The fact that its simply gorgeous just right here doesn’t inspire us to go far either. We made elderflower fritters for the family for an afternoon snack, which proved and great conversation piece, and then were left to our own devices for dinner again (more leftover bean casserole) and a quiet evening reading their great collection of books and just chilling. I’m really enjoying it here now and am learning lots about different ways of doing things and also about managing WWOOFers as Lee is great to work for and has lots of very effective strategies for managing us. They also seem pretty happy with the work we are doing and we are really enjoying it. The variety is really good and Lee likes to do something different each day so he doesn’t get bored. At first it seemed like it was pretty tough to spend a whole 5 hour block doing one activity but he actually interrupts us frequently to teach us wee things and show us things and that means we get wee breaks so its never actually the full slog.
Despite never working solidly the five hours, by Thursday we were both feeling a bit tired. We finished off the tree weeding that we started yesterday then went back to the other block. Steve had a hard morning trimming the sharp points on the box sticks so they would go in the ground while I tied them in pairs with wire and helped Lee set up the bean frames. When we were done it looked from a distance like a tribe of Indians were moving in and setting up tee-pees all in a line. We did a bit more weeding of the potager then had a quick lunch of leftovers and headed out for the afternoon. We headed to Spain, which is only 45 minutes away. We thought it wouldn’t really be any different to France but were very surprised in the change in architecture almost as soon as we crossed the border. The houses became more like Swiss mountain chalets and there was lots of development going on and nice new ski accommodation complexes of stone and slate roves that match the local style well. We stopped at the supermarket to get a few things and were also surprised how much cheaper things were – particularly alcohol and petrol, so we filled the car up before we left Spain. We drove in to Vielha and then up into the mountains at Boqueira where we climbed to the top of the pass that was 2074m high. There was still quite a bit of snow there and we went for a stroll around. The scenery was stunning, we could see to far distant mountains with the sun shining on peaks, amazing green valleys and gorgeous chalet villages clinging to the mountainsides.
We had followed the river Garonne right up and were near its source where it was little more than a mountain stream. It’s hard to imagine it becoming one of the major waterways of Europe when it’s a wee mountain stream.
The flowers on the top of the mountains were gorgeous and we had a glorious time being able to be high up in the Pyrenees without having to climb a huge hill. Lee is very keen that we climb the mountain near their house but its short route is over 600m ascent and a hard slog even to fit people so I’m trying to be sensible and say no to climbing it even though I’d really like to. I’m just not sure I’m capable of it. We got back from Spain a bit late and had a picnic dinner sitting on the wall in the garden then an earlyish night.
Friday was a bit damp so we stayed close to the house and weeded the potager until I had my doctor’s appointment. Karen came with me and did all the translating which was lucky because getting a Depo injection in France is much more complicated than you would think, as its not done anymore and it took a couple of phone calls and then we’d have to pick up the prescription and go back to the doctor. The whole process will take several days. However the doctor visit was quick and easy and we got back in time to do a few more small chores before everything got rained off again. The family were out for the afternoon so we had a quiet afternoon in the house reading and putting all the ideas we’ve come up with so far on this trip onto paper. It has become apparent that if we use the land like we want to then we actually have quite a lot of it! We are learning a lot more about permaculture and it fits well with what we are hoping to achieve and is also a very efficient use of land.
Saturday was wet again and we had been thinking of going up the Cagire (with some vigorous encouragement from Lee) but called it off to try again on Sunday. We spent the morning plastering which was very enjoyable and fairly therapeutic. It was an old stone wall and the best technique was to fling the plaster at it so by lunchtime we were thoroughly plastered. We finally got my prescription in the afternoon and then sheltered indoors till evening. We all went out for aperitifs with Frederic sho lives down the road and has made an irish pub in his garden. It’s a pretty cool pub and he likes to gather musicians there and is pretty good himself on a bodhran and fiddle. He was trying to persuade me to play and didn’t believe me that I was incapable even though I had my own bodhran. We had a very pleasant evening and said goodbye to Karens family partway through as they are leaving in the morign and we won’t see them. Her aunt had made a strawberry tart, which we had for our dessert when we got back then went to bed early.
We got up and looked at the weather at 6.15 on Sunday and the Cagire was not to be seen but when we got up again at 7 it had cleared a lot and there were blue patches in the sky so we set off for the cheats route from the back which involves the car doing a lot of climbing and leaving 600m vertical ascent for us. The car struggled a bit with its part and we had a brief stop when all the dashboard lights suddenly went on, but it settled after a rest and carried on up. We left it for a rest and set off up a trail ourselves and had been walking 20minutes up a steep hill when we realised it was the wrong trail so went back down and started again up the right trail. We took it very slowly and had lots of rests and hoped the cloud would clear. We met and English couple part way up and they said the cloud would clear at 11, which it immediately did but only for ten minutes. The fist part of the trail was downhill through the forest then up a forestry trail to the refuge. After that the ‘track’ ended and we really were on mountain trails, which were often very poorly marked and we thought it was a bit risky at times when we were in thick cloud and couldn’t easily find the trail. The scenery was gorgeous and we wandered (trudged would be more accurate but less romantic) up mountain meadows and through beech forest. The cloud drifted in and out and was really lovely in the coulours of the beech and pine forests and drifting over the ridges. There were lots of flowers everywhere including the last of the daffodils (a bit later there than everywhere else) and we saw a meadow of tiny purple flowers that were all close dup but had huge drips of dew on each one and tinged it purple so it was a sparkling field of purple dew. The middle section of the trail, wihich was the steep mountain meadow trudge) was hard going and very steep but once we got up to the pass de l’ane it was sligltly easier going. 
By the time we reached the top the cloud was really thick and we could barely see each other never mind any view (which is apparently spectacular).
We headed quickly down again to find the trail before the cloud got any thicker. We climbed an extra wee bit to also get to the top of Pique Poque (turning into munro baggers) and then carried on down. The down was hard going and very steep and slippery in parts. The wind changed direction part way down which meant rain but fortunately it held off until we were back on the forestry trail and even though we were thoroughly wet at least we’d done the hard stuff. Once we got back to the car we headed south to Luchon to see if the thermes there were open and we were lucky and got in just after 3.30 for two hours before we had to head back. The Thermes are really interesting and unusual. The main feature is an underground cavern which is naturally hot and wet – so a natural steam bath. They have put paths and seats along its 160m length and you can wander round and sit in the steam baths. Then you go out and soak in a regular pool at 32º for a while then si on a lounger. The process is quite regimented and you have about 15 mins for each. We did 3 cycles and it was a lovely way to relax although very different to what we were expecting. The vaporarium is unique in Europe so was neat to have done although we probably wouldn’t have chosen it normally but it was great to have a treat after our climb. We got back to the house and got ourselves some leftovers for dinner and went to bed. As we were driving back the Cagire stuck its head out of the clouds briefly just to taunt us. We were still very happy to have done the climb even without the view and I’m very proud of myself for managing 6 1/2 hours walking and 700m vertical ascent in total.
Monday was wet and miserable and so we were saved from the box forest. Instead we did a bit of work for Karen and made some covers for her trays of herb cuttings and planted up a tray of cuttings. We stayed indoors for most of the afternoon and read books. It was interesting watching the river rising during the day and by the afternoon it was a raging torrent and the rock that was over a foot out of the water when I had my bath was now a foot under water. It cleared up a bit later on so we went for a walk along the lane until we could see the next village. We picked some wild strawberries to sustain us on the walk – they are only about a half centimetre across but very tasty. Its still lovely to look at the wildflowers as we’re walking and I certainly haven’t got at all used to it in the time we’ve been here and still really enjoy every field – and of course the cow bells.
Tuesday unfortunately was a bit clearer and we were not saved from the box forest, although it was not as wet and miserable as the first time we were there. The big problem was that I was simply exhausted and couldn’t cope. I was given the stripping task to do after the boys had cut the poles and I managed till about 12.00 till I had to give up, having lost the feeling in my right hand, having blurred vision and my left arm finally got exhausted from taking over with the scythe. I slept for the afternoon, got up for a while to read a book and went back to bed after an early dinner. It was really a shame because it was our last evening with Lee and Karen and they had invited us to a dinner party with some friends, which we had to turn down. 
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