Well we are on the move again this weekend from Limoux to Cambieure. We have collected a lot of things over the last 3 months, and it’s surprising how we got it all into the small flat in Limoux.
After doing some cleaning up in the house and tidying the garden a bit, Wouter has done some McGyver work on the bathroom and kitchen so we now have:
working shower with curtain, table (made from an old piece of hardboard and the legs are from the supports of the overhead kitchen cabinets).
A working kitchen – plugs, hotplate for cooking (we cannot use the current oven as the element is very loose and the cooktop is unusable as the gas hoses are condemned and we’ll replace them when we redo the kitchen). We removed the overhead kitchen cupboards to make a kind of sideboard (the legs went to the bathroom as above) – I now have a working bench top and the difference in light in the kitchen/dining area is amazing!
Wouter has also been doing a lot of work in the garden – I have a couple of raised beds to plant some winter crops – we just need to fence it off against beast (Cassy – as some of you may not know he loves radishes, beetroot and lots of other vegies straight from the garden!) and other possible wild critters.
There is so much to do, but it seems to be coming together. That is, we can see some sort of plan on how we can manage to do everything which needs to be done, but the tunnel is long and the light at the end is faint. But we’ll get there. It will all be much easier when our household goods arrive from NZ – they sailed Friday 26th and we should get them (all going well) at end October or beginning November.
After the first cleaning up, our work on the house starts with painting most of the woodwork (doors and windows), removing all sorts of wallpaper – a variety of colours and patterns which I will post later.... getting plumbing and electricity sorted, curtains and rods, repairing door locks and shutters, to name but a few. The outside work is a huge task but we feel we can get on top of it if we do a couple of hours a day.
For those of you who email us regularly, we have no internet connection until 8th October, but do keep in contact as we plan to check emails in the local cafe in between.
Sunday, 28 September 2008
Monday, 15 September 2008
Autumn Begins
A couple of days ago there was a sudden change in the weather. We’d been having up to 30 degrees during the day and high teens at night. Suddenly, a depression from the west rolled in bringing snow to the mountains (Pyrenees and Alps) meaning anyone in the line of wind direction would have colder temperatures. That was us – but we were not the worst hit by any means. There was flooding up north, high winds on the coast, and other extreme weather.
Today it’s back to sun and warmer (25). So it was time once again to go blackberry picking while taking Cassy for a walk and exploring the region of our new home. We found an old railway track which is still walkable, so headed there with dog, bags and containers.
Wouter captured a lovely blue butterfly:
And we collected enough blackberries for a couple of pots of jam – yum!
We are happy with our new neighbouring villages as we find them very picturesque. Meanwhile we are ticking off the days until we can really move into the house. The date of final signing has been brought forward to this Thursday (18th) which is quite exciting for us. It means we could move into our new home – however, there seems to be some sort of hold up with our belongings in NZ so we will have to make a decision when we can move in and “camp” until our things arrive.
We won’t be totally without possessions as we have arranged for electrical goods and a bed, which will be delivered on Friday this week. After that, we still need to buy a gas cylinder and some new hoses to be able to cook – then some crockery, cutlery and cooking utensils and we should be just about there.
During the last week or so we’ve seen leaves falling from trees – we think it’s mainly because of the very dry summer weather – but fall is fall, so it is the start of autumn whatever the cause. The leaves left on the trees which have not dried out are beginning to colour, so in a few weeks we will have a palette of autumn gold, red, yellow, bronze, brown – my favourite time of the year. Our next outing will be to collect some walnut husks for Wouter to make some dye for his printing.
Lastly, the vendage (equivalent of the Italian Vendemmia) is well and truly underway. Tractors of every description clog the roads at some of the most inconvenient times of the day to take their crops to the local cooperative. It’s quite a sight really. Amazing that some of them have a crop at all after such a dry summer – I would have thought some could go straight to the raisin factory!
Today it’s back to sun and warmer (25). So it was time once again to go blackberry picking while taking Cassy for a walk and exploring the region of our new home. We found an old railway track which is still walkable, so headed there with dog, bags and containers.
Wouter captured a lovely blue butterfly:
And we collected enough blackberries for a couple of pots of jam – yum!
We are happy with our new neighbouring villages as we find them very picturesque. Meanwhile we are ticking off the days until we can really move into the house. The date of final signing has been brought forward to this Thursday (18th) which is quite exciting for us. It means we could move into our new home – however, there seems to be some sort of hold up with our belongings in NZ so we will have to make a decision when we can move in and “camp” until our things arrive.We won’t be totally without possessions as we have arranged for electrical goods and a bed, which will be delivered on Friday this week. After that, we still need to buy a gas cylinder and some new hoses to be able to cook – then some crockery, cutlery and cooking utensils and we should be just about there.
During the last week or so we’ve seen leaves falling from trees – we think it’s mainly because of the very dry summer weather – but fall is fall, so it is the start of autumn whatever the cause. The leaves left on the trees which have not dried out are beginning to colour, so in a few weeks we will have a palette of autumn gold, red, yellow, bronze, brown – my favourite time of the year. Our next outing will be to collect some walnut husks for Wouter to make some dye for his printing.
Lastly, the vendage (equivalent of the Italian Vendemmia) is well and truly underway. Tractors of every description clog the roads at some of the most inconvenient times of the day to take their crops to the local cooperative. It’s quite a sight really. Amazing that some of them have a crop at all after such a dry summer – I would have thought some could go straight to the raisin factory!
Sunday, 7 September 2008
Side Shows
This morning Limoux was very quiet until late – the reason? Last night was a huge side show and other entertainment – so grand they closed all the major roads around the city so that everything could be set up in the streets.
In the main square you could do some old time dancing, which was very well attended by a variety of generations, on the main drag into town you could see performances of Beatles songs accompanied by stage dancers, alongside there were many food stalls where people could satisfy their hunger.
Further along and in front of the local college were lots of sideshows. The sideshows were frequented mainly by teenagers but not exclusively – the music was louder than loud with thumping beats, lots of laser lights, and plenty of other teenagers hanging out and enjoying the rides, shooting galleries, pick a prize, punch ball to test your strength, floating dicks and so on.
The 'Cake Walk':
The 'Dodgems':
Wouter heard people leaving about 4am this morning, hence the late public start. This afternoon after our little outing the roads were closed off once again for tonight’s events. Alors, some more pics of the things we saw during our walk around the shows, starting with the cups on a saucer:
Then by far the most popular attraction for the teens - 'Move It', for which there was a long queue - before 'take-off':
and you can see my legs on the left hand side, 3rd from the top:
NOT!!!!Upside down:
and spinning around (where'd I put my stomach?):
faster spinning then hanging while they pump up the smoke screen - here'e where the screaming starts!:
laser lights, spinning faster and faster, more screaming (especially the girls):
everyone watching then making a beeline for the queue to have a go - if there's any scaring going on, they want a part of it:
Friday, 5 September 2008
Hunter Gatherer
We had to collect some mail from the donkey farm today so decided to take advantage of being over that way and fulfill our hunter gatherer needs. Practicality told me we’d need some pine cones to start the fires we will have in our new home. So armed with some shopping bags, plastic rubbish bags and the song “here we go gathering nuts and May” – yes, Wouter thinks I’m mad - we found the place we’d already spotted a few weeks ago on one of our many walks.
As it’s still warm we were careful to make a lot of noise and stamp our feet to give any resident snakes time to disappear. We kept another eye and ear out for any possible forest beasts like pigs and deer as well – and next week we’ll have to watch out for chasseurs (hunters, the real ones!) as hunting season starts this coming weekend. Wouter went up a big hill and kicked a load of cones down, which was really helpful. In all we have a few weeks worth of fire starters which will be very handy.
On our way back to the car we found some blackberries – so with one of our plastic carrier bags I started to collect. Memories of my childhood came flooding back as I recall going out with my sister , the two of us with a bowl each from our mother’s kitchen, to the local railway bridge and the blackberry brambles you could find there. We used to go home with both bowls full, purple hands and a few scratches, and our mother would make blackberry and apple pie, which was delicious if you could eat it while it was still warm....
We didn’t realise how quickly time had passed and Wouter came up with a Dutch saying (of which he has many) – “gezelligheid kent geen tijd”, which is the equivalent of ‘time flies when you’re having fun’.
This evening we enjoyed a pudding (those of you who know Wouter will know that he ALWAYS enjoys pudding!) of blackberries, the fruit of the passion flower, gathered yesterday from our back garden and no one else seems to like, topped with yoghurt.
Last, but by no means least, here is the first batch of “Pam’s Jams” made by gathering the figs from the back garden where we are staying:
As it’s still warm we were careful to make a lot of noise and stamp our feet to give any resident snakes time to disappear. We kept another eye and ear out for any possible forest beasts like pigs and deer as well – and next week we’ll have to watch out for chasseurs (hunters, the real ones!) as hunting season starts this coming weekend. Wouter went up a big hill and kicked a load of cones down, which was really helpful. In all we have a few weeks worth of fire starters which will be very handy.
On our way back to the car we found some blackberries – so with one of our plastic carrier bags I started to collect. Memories of my childhood came flooding back as I recall going out with my sister , the two of us with a bowl each from our mother’s kitchen, to the local railway bridge and the blackberry brambles you could find there. We used to go home with both bowls full, purple hands and a few scratches, and our mother would make blackberry and apple pie, which was delicious if you could eat it while it was still warm....
We didn’t realise how quickly time had passed and Wouter came up with a Dutch saying (of which he has many) – “gezelligheid kent geen tijd”, which is the equivalent of ‘time flies when you’re having fun’.
This evening we enjoyed a pudding (those of you who know Wouter will know that he ALWAYS enjoys pudding!) of blackberries, the fruit of the passion flower, gathered yesterday from our back garden and no one else seems to like, topped with yoghurt.
Last, but by no means least, here is the first batch of “Pam’s Jams” made by gathering the figs from the back garden where we are staying:
Sunday, 31 August 2008
Chateau Puivert
Before we left Montjardin we visited the Castle of Puivert, which is in the village of the same name. Due to having no internet for many days and our move and subsequent house hunting, I omitted a blog which really should be here.
So, here it is. Let’s start with some history and technical facts. Chateau Puivert is found on a rock at 600m altitude. The date it was built I haven’t found, but it’s medieval in character. All sources refer to a three-day siege in 1210 when the castle was taken over by lieutenant Simon de Montfort. There are six towers incorporated into the castle walls, and has a keep of 35 meters high.
There are decorative sculptures in the Hall of the Musicians, which are quite amazing and prove the importance of music, poetry and entertainment of those ages. In this hall you will also find some replica instruments on display. One of the musician sculptures:
Where the ladies would have sat while stitching their embroidery:
More pictures and information on this page (in French).
So, here it is. Let’s start with some history and technical facts. Chateau Puivert is found on a rock at 600m altitude. The date it was built I haven’t found, but it’s medieval in character. All sources refer to a three-day siege in 1210 when the castle was taken over by lieutenant Simon de Montfort. There are six towers incorporated into the castle walls, and has a keep of 35 meters high.
A narrow slit to fire your arrow at approaching attackers:
There are decorative sculptures in the Hall of the Musicians, which are quite amazing and prove the importance of music, poetry and entertainment of those ages. In this hall you will also find some replica instruments on display. One of the musician sculptures:
Where the ladies would have sat while stitching their embroidery:
More pictures and information on this page (in French).
Thursday, 28 August 2008
Le Grotte de Mas d'Azil
Today we decided to do some more spelunking type of activity and headed for the grotte de Mas D’Azil. The town of Mas d’Azil is not far from where we are staying, and there you will find the grotte, which is partly exposed to the public as the road passes through the tremendous cavern.
Their official website as below has more details:
www.sesta.fr/?site=GrotteDuMasDAzil
The main cavern is we estimated 150 meters across from where the road is through to the other side. It was carved out centuries ago because an inland sea found its way through a crack in the wall and gushed and dissolved the limestone leaving the tremendous cavern.
The tour takes place behind all this so you can’t see the displays until you have paid.
This is a reconstruction of early cave dwellers performing various tasks:
They are still discovering treasures in the caverns, but they found one human skull of a young girl with deer horn in her eye sockets, and a bear skull, as well as lots of human tools of stone, deer bone, and other animal bones and teeth, and wood.
Your ticket also covers entry to the museum which is a few minutes away, where they have the original skull on display as well as other items found in the cavern and caves. Some of them are so finely decorated (but I guess they had no TV and plenty of time once they’d fought off the bears!) Apparently the bears are special cave bears which were missing their pre-molars and were mainly vegetarian and weighed about 500-600kg. They are now extinct.
There was also some crude jewellery, which is actually quite attractive due to its simplicity and lack of over embellishment. Needles made from bone and with an eye for threading – guess they used sinews for cotton. And of course some replica drawings of wall paintings found in the caves. All very interesting and a must if you are interested in geology, prehistoric or early man, caves, fossils, etc.
By the way, the town of Mas d’Azil has some very interesting buildings – many colombage houses in reasonable condition but still looking quite original. The museum has a magnificent stairway (I jokingly asked Wouter if we would have one like this at our place....), the ceiling on the ground floor is decorated with old hessian between the beams and the walls are now filled with brick between the wooden posts instead of peat and straw, but you can still feel the original character of the place.
Their official website as below has more details:
www.sesta.fr/?site=GrotteDuMasDAzil
The main cavern is we estimated 150 meters across from where the road is through to the other side. It was carved out centuries ago because an inland sea found its way through a crack in the wall and gushed and dissolved the limestone leaving the tremendous cavern.
The tour takes place behind all this so you can’t see the displays until you have paid. This is a reconstruction of early cave dwellers performing various tasks:
They are still discovering treasures in the caverns, but they found one human skull of a young girl with deer horn in her eye sockets, and a bear skull, as well as lots of human tools of stone, deer bone, and other animal bones and teeth, and wood.
Your ticket also covers entry to the museum which is a few minutes away, where they have the original skull on display as well as other items found in the cavern and caves. Some of them are so finely decorated (but I guess they had no TV and plenty of time once they’d fought off the bears!) Apparently the bears are special cave bears which were missing their pre-molars and were mainly vegetarian and weighed about 500-600kg. They are now extinct.
There was also some crude jewellery, which is actually quite attractive due to its simplicity and lack of over embellishment. Needles made from bone and with an eye for threading – guess they used sinews for cotton. And of course some replica drawings of wall paintings found in the caves. All very interesting and a must if you are interested in geology, prehistoric or early man, caves, fossils, etc.
By the way, the town of Mas d’Azil has some very interesting buildings – many colombage houses in reasonable condition but still looking quite original. The museum has a magnificent stairway (I jokingly asked Wouter if we would have one like this at our place....), the ceiling on the ground floor is decorated with old hessian between the beams and the walls are now filled with brick between the wooden posts instead of peat and straw, but you can still feel the original character of the place.
Riviere de Labouiche
Yesterday we visited the Riviere de Labouiche. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos, but there were pics on the brochure we picked up, which are intended for public distribution and on their website, which is also public. But just in case, I will cite the source to be professional and in case you want to read more (in French):
http://ariegeterrede.free.fr/grottes.htm
You go in a group of 10-16 people, in one boat under the ground with a “gondolier” guide. The first part is an explanation of how the grottos were formed hundreds of thousands of years ago, and how they were discovered, only recently in 1908 by Dr Dunac, as you slowly make your way along the first section of river.
The River itself is around 2km long and its source has not yet been located. It is officially the longest underground river in the world. Some information from the guide, who we can’t totally understand for a few reasons – he talks quickly, he looks away while talking, there is an echo in the caverns, he speaks in colloquial French. However we do pick up some basics when he is facing us and talking more slowly and from what we already read about the tour. Now and then the boat hits the side of the cavern walls, just to confirm the message that you have to keep your hands within the boat, and of course every once in a while you have to duck as you go through a narrow and low section.
Stage two finds us going further along the river with more intriguing formations of rock, caverns and some stalactites which hang from the ceiling and stalagmites which grow from the ground upwards (my old geography teacher would be proud as I really did remember these).
Some of the formations resemble animals, which is interesting for the imagination – elephant’s trunk, elephant’s rear end, fox head and so on. Some of the formations also need some imagination, so of course you get a plate of spaghetti, and maybe something that looks like giant octopus or squid, with their tentacles gracefully behind them almost touching as they propel themselves forward under the sea. They were also the right colour for this.
Up some steep steps and then arrive at another section of river where we glide through to the cascades, where the guide gently jokes to the children aboard – ok – up you go. Ha ha ha. On our return we find “JAWS” in the ceiling of a cavern above us, and then comes the music... Then we find a witch, a nativity scene, and many other resemblances to familiar objects. A really worthwhile trip and if you go/come to the Ariege, it would be my pick of things to do here.
http://ariegeterrede.free.fr/grottes.htm
You go in a group of 10-16 people, in one boat under the ground with a “gondolier” guide. The first part is an explanation of how the grottos were formed hundreds of thousands of years ago, and how they were discovered, only recently in 1908 by Dr Dunac, as you slowly make your way along the first section of river.
The River itself is around 2km long and its source has not yet been located. It is officially the longest underground river in the world. Some information from the guide, who we can’t totally understand for a few reasons – he talks quickly, he looks away while talking, there is an echo in the caverns, he speaks in colloquial French. However we do pick up some basics when he is facing us and talking more slowly and from what we already read about the tour. Now and then the boat hits the side of the cavern walls, just to confirm the message that you have to keep your hands within the boat, and of course every once in a while you have to duck as you go through a narrow and low section.
Stage two finds us going further along the river with more intriguing formations of rock, caverns and some stalactites which hang from the ceiling and stalagmites which grow from the ground upwards (my old geography teacher would be proud as I really did remember these).
Some of the formations resemble animals, which is interesting for the imagination – elephant’s trunk, elephant’s rear end, fox head and so on. Some of the formations also need some imagination, so of course you get a plate of spaghetti, and maybe something that looks like giant octopus or squid, with their tentacles gracefully behind them almost touching as they propel themselves forward under the sea. They were also the right colour for this.
Up some steep steps and then arrive at another section of river where we glide through to the cascades, where the guide gently jokes to the children aboard – ok – up you go. Ha ha ha. On our return we find “JAWS” in the ceiling of a cavern above us, and then comes the music... Then we find a witch, a nativity scene, and many other resemblances to familiar objects. A really worthwhile trip and if you go/come to the Ariege, it would be my pick of things to do here.
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