i love hammocks!

howdy,

i got back last night from a test ride/trip.

next month we're heading back to blighty for a visit and whilst there we're going to go camping with some friends.

i'll be heading off for three days/nights touring on the bike and sleeping rough before meeting nikki and the others for a long weekend camping in the new forest.

so - i've got myself a new camping set-up which involves a hammock (with built-in mosquito net) and waterproof tarp.

it is light enough to be carried with me on my bike (which our old knackered tent isn't!).

see below for a photo of the hammock set up:



and with the tarp:



so on wednesday lunchtime i set off and rode about 40 miles/60 km through the ardeche mountains until finding a nice secluded spot to stop for the night.

i made myself a little fire, opened a nice bottle of local ardeche beer i'd bought in a nearby village and made myself some pasta.

i was amazed by how comfortable it is to actually get a nights sleep in a hammock. even after a hard days riding (and it is hard doing 5 mile/1,500 ft climbs with panniers on the bike!) i was comfortable enough to feel fully rested by morning.

then, yesterday morning, i set off again to do another 30 miles to meet nikki before heading off to pick pete and miho (nikki's brother and sister-in-law) up from the train station for their long-weekend visit.

(i told you that you might make it onto the blog!)

also, and this will only interest a vast minority of you, i've switched bikes.

i'm getting rid of my disc brakes (and the brilliant frame that unfortunately only supports discs) and getting back-to-basics with more technically sensible v-brakes.

after a full day of stipping two bikes in order re-build one new one i also wanted to use this trip to see how it works - i was not disapointed - it's a great bike.

it was amazing to slowly (whilst undulating) descend towards the rhone valley as although spring is only just starting here (with the buds on the trees ready to burst through any day now!) it is in full flow at the lower altitudes with cherry/apple blossom and wild flowers everywhere - beautiful.

unfortunately there are no photos from the trip as i didn't want the extra weight of the camera and so you'll have to wait until you come and visit before you can see it.

cheers, gairy.

Stone-tastic!

Hello!

Last week I took a little trip over to Chamonix to visit my mum and sister and left the boys here to continue work on the reinforcement of our little house. When I returned (having been away for just over three days) I was surprised, shocked and extremely impressed to find that both Gairy and Monkey Boy had been hard at work and had not only finished but finished to an extraordinary high standard, the stone wall.

It needs no further words, so have a gawp at it yourselves.....

Here it is at the beginning, please bear in mind that these stones are NOT light!



As they went they also filled in the gap between the wall and the little house with lots of soil, rocks and stones (not a small undertaking in itself).



Below is the view between the little house and the ruin (soon to be herb garden).



Here is a view of the completed wall in all its splendor!



The nice thing about the wall is it looks like it's been there for years already.



The boys worked out that they roughly moved 72.5 tonnes over the 4 days building the reinforment! That's 2.5 cheiftan tanks!

Or 32 Shabooboo's!



Also, did we ever mention that our stove arrived? It's lovely but bloody heavy and luckily the stone masons helped move it inside our barn (rolling it on logs just like the Egyptians built their pyramids).

Also, we're hoping the plumber is going to start work soon, so it's all going on!

Got to go and see how my bread is doing.

Cheers
Nikki

stone masons in training

a very merry sunday afternoon to one and all!

it's been action stations here recently with mucho activity and the breaking of our 'most people here at once record' (9 people!) twice this week.

- the stone masons have been here a week now and we've now got the double door in the end of the barn and loads of other holes in the building which will eventually be windows.

they've also done the levelling of the downstairs floor (removing some bedrock) and the reinforcement of the back wall.

here's how it looked on the first day (we were a little frightened!):





and how it looked a few days ago (it now has a top on it but it's shuttered in and so isn't much to look at yet):



check out the view from our kitchen over the vegetable patch and into the forest!



- we've had the plumber round to give us another quote based on a much simpler system as his original quote was WAY high and overly technical/complicated.

- the stove is arriving in the morning which should be a lot of fun and easy too!

- the chestnut windows and oak floor boards have been delivered and look amazing. we can't wait until they're in.

- but.....by far the most exciting development has been our own stone masonry work.

we've finally gotten round to making a more permanent entrance to the bottom door for our house.

for the first year we were happy with a wooden plank but seeing as the house needs to be better reinforced we decided to build something a little more substantial.

below you can see how it's developing.

as it was pretty much at the beginning just as we'd inserted the drainage pipe:



as the first step went in:



the path and step skeleton shapes are in:



here it is as it is now. we've got a raised bed on the right in which we're planning on planting some wild flowers and herbs for the kitchen"



and from the top early on:



and with the steps in:



and as it is now:



ok, that's all for now.

gairy.

yesterday.....

morning,

late afternoon yesterday (after a hard day of cutting/hauling firewood and then laying the foundations for our new green-roofed wood store) me and nikki decided to pop along to the abbey/waterfall to check out the sunset views etc...

we were not disappointed!

the view as we walked down to the abbey:



the view through a hole in the wall:



and through some old windows:



nikki posing against the sunset/backdrop:



while we were out monkey boy made a pretty amazing bone needle from the deer bones we kept from the deer that died (see previous post).

here it is:



and a close-up of the eye:



and next to a regular needle:



it's really beautiful (not something usually said about a needle)!

finally, nikki made a wooden handle for a knife whose handle had broken from a piece of ash.

it's been finished a while but i've only just gotten round to taking photographs.

here it is:



the handle was split down the middle and the knife inserted. then two walnut pins were inserted and the whole thing glued together by mixing charcoal with wood glue to colour the glue.

you can see the walnut pins and glue below:



right, i'd better go and get on with my own project otherwise the only thing i'll have achieved recently will be the blogging of the other two's achievements.

gairy.

my home-knitted big necked jumper!

Hello!

Just wanted to share with you my just finished jumper that I have been knitting over the last couple of years! (no, I haven't been knitting it continuously, but on and off - it seems I only really like knitting in the winter time for some strange reason?).

Anyhoo, not much to say other than this is my first home knitted jumper and I took on the task without a pattern - just based it on a jumper I bought a while ago, that I like a lot. So, I'm feeling pretty darn pleased with myself (having made up the pattern and getting it just as I wanted).

Here's some pics for your viewing pleasure.







If anyone wants one then you're out of luck, I would have to charge an absolute fortune to cover the labour costs, sorry!

Now I win either way, if it's sunny then that's great, but if it gets cold I get to wear my new jumper!

Laters potatas
Nikki

a mini adventure

hi all,

yesterday afternoon i went for a ride to photograph a ruin (an abbey we think) and an amazing waterfall (ok, you got me, it was also to ride one of the best sections of singletrack i've ever ridden).

the ride started off sunny and warm (blue skies and shorts/t-shirt all the way!) and then ascended above the snow line with me struggling through some stubborn lingering snow up on the hills which made hard work of one particular climb.

then, after a bit of road riding and a little forest track descent, i was back out into the hot sun.

here are a couple of shots of the view as i emerged from the forest and took off my jacket (as i was beginning to boil in the bag)





the photographs really don't do the view justice - it's absolutely awesome.

you can still see the snow capped peaks in the distance (south - down towards the ardeche gorge).

then began the really good single track - 5 miles of technical twisty rocky descent into the valley below.

on a recent ride i deviated from my usual route and explored a new ridge which ended up leading to an old ruined abbey and +200ft waterfall (which we'd seen from the road but hadn't been able locate on foot/bike until now).

here's the view from a distance of the abbey.

(check out my bike - it's really very very good!)



and a little closer.



and from the front.



and this is the waterfall. this is taken from only half way up/down (i think i've found a route to get to the bottom and so i'll maybe post some more photographs if/when that happens).



it is absolutely stunning!

(and we get to live round here!!!)

we're planning on camping out there at some point soon before the numbers of people get too high and the winter run-off stops flowing and the fall gets smaller.

on the way back down i saw a herd of mountain goats - here is my favourite.



ok, now on to the adventure part.

as i began a really technical section of the descent and headed from a fast straight section into a rocky/steep hairpin bend i braked but my bike didn't respond with it's usual confidence and precision (instead it felt like i was riding a bag of overcooked spaghetti).

evidently i had a puncture and so ended up going over the bars and rag-dolling over the rocks until coming to a stand still covered in dust and blood.

a quick evaluation revealed that no real harm had been done but i did receive two of my favourite injuries: a swellbow and a shinjury. i also hit that little sticky out bone on the outside of your ankle on a rock (which really hurt).

so, feeling a little battered, i began fixing my puncture.

i used my spare innertube and removed the many thorns from my tire and set off again.

but.....i had a rear puncture(s) and had already used my spare tube and so after using my last patch from the puncture repair kit i was a little buggered.

i improvised a patch by cutting the old innertube up and using a section of rubber as a patch which partially worked and then decided to hit the road (less bumps) and drag my sorry-ass home.

after having to stop every mile to pump up my rear tire i eventually arrived home just before dark.

quite a day.

for all those parental types thinking that i was being reckless heading off into the wilderness on my own i did have with me:

- a spare tube
- a puncture repair kit
- a first aid kit
- an emergency space blanket
- a lighter to make a fire
- 4 pints of water
- additional warm clothes
- knife/multi-tool
- map/compass

and of course i was wearing my helmet!

so i'd have been fine if i'd have had to spend the night outside before being able to make it back - i'm nothing if not prepared.

today i'm feeling like i took a kicking but am otherwise ok.

i can't wait for my next ride!

gairy.

squatters rights!

today it felt like spring (or a very respectable british summer!) with blue skies and temperatures warm enough for shorts and t-shirts (and even no top for most of the day for me).

we've been seeing butterflies, beetles, lizards and a whole host of birds buzzing/scuttling/scampering/flying around the place - it's been brilliant.

it's not been quite so much fun seeing müca in heat. despite the fact that they're now fully grown it stills seems weird to see the two kittens (cats really) 'at it' every time we turn around or walk round a corner.

while we were working on the logs today we kept seeing a pair of coal tits just above our heads in a sycamore tree looking for a place to nest.

they seemed to eventually settle on a nice little hole in our barn/house.

we saw loads of nesting coal tits in there last year and are looking forward to seeing/hearing them again in the coming weeks.

overview:



in the opening looking out:




close-up:



they're really beautiful birds - ok, not so magnificent as the great or blue tits but still.....

we've also seen the return of the black redstarts which seems a good indicator of springs arrival.

gairy.

happy birthday to us!

evening all,

here's all that's new in our simple world.....

- the guttering is finished, completed and totally up and running!

it's been a long slog for Monsieur Monkey Boy which we think he's glad is over.

this is the final section upon completion:



- the barn is coming along nicely.

the cellulose boards are almost all up, the majority of the hemp/wool insulation is in the walls and we've got all (except one) doorways built ready for door fittings.

other developments include: the wood burning stove is on it's way, the plumber is going to start soon, the stone mason will start on the window/door openings next week, the first portion of windows are ready to be delivered and the french oak floor boards are awaiting delivery too - not bad huh?

here's the latest shot of the hallway:



- it was our 1 year anniversary on the 7th of this month (doesn't time fly!)

we celebrated with a game of poker and nikki's first drunken night since we arrived.

she ruined the poker game (which she was losing) by spilling her drink and lunging across the table for monkey boy sending the cards/chips flying.

her drunkenness continued as monkey boy had to assist her in (play-fighting) attacking him (as she had zero coordination) and she still only ending up hurting herself in the attack.

never the less a comedy night was had by all and only a hearty breakfast of fried eggs, sautéed mushrooms, hash browns and roast tomatoes could save us from the hangover the next morning.

unfortunately no photographs were taken to show the hilarity.

- after watching one particular episode of ray mears monkey boy decided to make a leather punch in order to see if he could emulate a particular style of handle making that ray illustrated.

the results are pretty stunning:





the handle is made of ebony, walnut and sweet chestnut - it's a beauty!

- here are some photographs that monkey boy took recently:

some cherry tree sap/resin



some nice fungi on a branch



and a self-reflection in a bubble on the top of the water overflow trough



- finally, we took delivery today of some trees which we've had to get in order to reinforce the floor of the barn.

they're about 9m/30ft long and weigh oh so much!!! they are scots pine (the ones the few remaining caledonian forests in scotland consist of) and are a local native species of the area.

besides the delivery (they were taken from the foresters land about 2 miles away - local wood for local people) we're moving them all using only human-power.

we've had some fun already de-barking them and cutting/moving them.

it's very hard but really satisfying work. we're aching tonight!

here they are being off-loaded



and starting to be sorted



and the beginnings of a pile of usable ceiling posts



right, tiredness is taking over and so i'll stop.

later, gairy.