When You're Tiling

It was a gloomy week weather-wise, but not to worry as we an action packed week with plenty to do inside and deliveries.

Monday saw the delivery of our kitchen units from IKEA (apres-midi, they said, but turned up at 7:30am and found us both still in bed!) We were both surprised and happy at the same time as we've heard lots of stories about deliveries not turning up at the agreed time. Wouter has checked all the boxes and made sure we have what we want (or rather we received what we ordered, so there's a start!)

The delivery also included some frames for the chairs we bought a couple of weeks ago - most of you know we are sort of camping until our container arrives, so we decided to get a chair each from IKEA so we could sit more comfortably in the evenings. The wooden chairs we have are fine for meals, but to sit and watch a movie or just relax they are not so nice any more. So off we went to the aisle and bay printed out by the lovely saleswoman, and picked the cushions and frames. It was the end of the day and we'd already been on the road a few hours, so we didn't think to check the serial number.... The next day I had a go at assembling them but found we had picked up child's frames, which are even too small for me - ha ha. So called IKEA who kindly put the correct frames in with the kitchen delivery. Monday morning I put these two together and we both sat there blissfully for 10 minutes to enjoy the luxury seating.

Tuesday was the start day for the electrician who is here to do a few things like put in more points for the new kitchen, replace the old wiring, make sure everything is in working order, etc. He is currently, pardon the pun, working in the kitchen and as soon as he's done there we (Wouter) will start assembling the units - that's after the tiling is done.

Tiles were delivered on Tuesday afternoon and tiling began in earnest on Thursday (a back breaking job and a half). The tiles were delivered all shrink wrapped so it was a surprise to find that after some rain the boxes were all wet inside the wrapping. Today I have been apprenticed as tile assistant, so I have learnt how to spread cement on the under side of tiles and deliver them to a waiting tiler.... the things you learn (a bit different from the University, that's for sure!)

Back to the electricity - it was necessary to cut grooves in the walls to reroute some of the wires and make some new points - alas, plaster on the other side of the wall fell out leaving some holes. However, looking on the bright side, this was the perfect opportunity to make a start with stripping the wallpaper in the hallway.

The next electrical thing we have to organise is the puissance (electrical loading) as every time we put on more than one item which uses a fair bit of power the fuse blows, meaning we have no electricity through the whole house. We will get this changed as Wouter needs heavy amperage for his workshop.

Wednesday we had the chimney sweep come and clean out the chimney - apparently it wasn't too bad, but we can really see the difference after having had it cleaned.

After the gloomy weather at the start of the week, today was a real stunner of a day - also quite warm, so perfect to do the tiling, finish early and end with the proverbial glass of wine.

Picture from last week of Pic Canigou with snowtop taken from the top of Cambieure:

Pradès

Today we decided to make a trip down to Pradès, which is south west of Perpignan and south of Limoux, almost at the border of Spain, Andorra and France. The weather was supposed to start out cloudy and then be sunny and reach around 36 degrees. We figured if we left early enough we would do most of our travelling while it was still fairly cool.

So we left Limoux, via Quillan, Axat and then on through the Gorges of St George – what magnificent rocks all around – a little track of a road through such a deep gulley, and with such high ‘walls’. Absolutely stunning. Note the overhang of the rocks across the road - these are high enough to allow buses to pass, so that gives some idea of scale.

Wouter had trouble with the picture below due to the high light contrast. It is quite dark below in the valley, in fact so dark that the automatic lights came on in the car, while up above the light was brilliant. Hence the photoshop adjustment to show the high walls of rock.


At Ussen we took a right turn via Le Pla, which was apparently the scenic route. We climbed up pretty high and then hit a plateau, which was stunning to say the least. It was a sort of continuation of the Plateau de Sault, but with slightly different vegetation – you could say a little more Mediterranean at a high level, but still alpine.

At Formiguères you can see Pic de Pam (yes, it’s true, they have a mountain named after me!) Opposite Pic de Pam (2411m) is a mountain called Pic du Bastard – you may draw your own conclusions on that one. Pic de Pam is the mountain on the right, just above the pier in the picture.

We then drove further to Lac de Matemale, and stopped for a bite of lunch on the side of the lake opposite Les Angles. This town is amazing – it’s a total winter chalet for skiers anonymous. There are literally hundreds of chalets dotted all over the countryside and I guess they are all full over the winter as people make their way down for a spot of skiing on the nearest piste. Of course, the day would not be complete for Cassy without a dip in the Lake, which was pretty deep, cool, and worth every ball thrown to retrieve.

Les Angles:

After lunch we continued on to Mont Louis with its star shaped fortified walls. The next bigger town was Villefranche de Conflent, which we plan to revisit after the mad tourist season. It was absolutely amazing – a completely fortified town with all walls still intact and there was some sort of market going on so we couldn’t find a parking space until well out of the town area. There was also an abbey up the hill behind the town which looked interesting. This will be a day trip in the early autumn. Pic Carlit (with still a few patches of snow):


The long and winding road:


After this point, we travelled a little faster when the road straightened out and to the south you could still see some pretty high mountains – Pic de Canigou (below) is one of the highest in the area and I must say is very impressive indeed. There were lots of villages, some hilltop, others half way up the hills, but all huddled together for protection against the elements and historical intruders. Wouter plans to make a woodcut of the village of Eus (below Canigou pic) at some stage.


After Millas, we headed north again to join the main road from Perpignan to Quillan. A fast trip home again with only a quick stop to drink some nice cold water from the chilly bin (ahhh, lovely!) and then close all doors and windows and enjoy the air con out of the heat of +36 degrees... Envying the canoeists and water rafters going down the Aude some kilometres and getting splashed with cold water.

The grapes and olives growing in the area look pretty hard done by due to the lack of rain, and it looks like they are not watered regularly. The earth looks parched beyond anything I’ve seen in NZ. Wouter said the olives looked like they were hanging on by the skin of their teeth – I wondered who has ever counted the teeth of an olive?

All in all an absolutely mind-blowing day – I just can’t tell you how stunning the views were and I doubt our pictures do justice to the real thing, but hope they give you a bit of an idea. We plan to revisit during autumn and winter to see how it all looks then.