I ended last week’s blog saying the forecast was looking great and was expecting to be dry and mild. It was certainly the latter but, sadly, not always the former! Thankfully, while not as pleasant as forecast, Friday night marked one year since storm Ciáran blew through Finistère causing an immense amount of damage so we were grateful simply for a calm, if dampish, week.
Despite the mixed conditions we, and our charpentier, had a fairly productive week although on numerous small tasks rather than any major ‘wins’. Also, being a public holiday on Friday, Toussaint, we were delighted to welcome guests for the long weekend.
With the maçon returning to build the third gable, our charpentier managed to complete everything he was able before the maçon has to come back again to finish some concreting. This next stage isn’t something he has overlooked (this time!) but just the next stage before the roof can be progressed.
We really like the work the charpentier has done so far and can now visualise to how the interior will look when complete. Progress.
My last blog said the weather should allow me to continue the hedging and I did make a start on the privet hedge that borders our drive along the Granary garden. I have mentioned in previous blogs that privet is very susceptible to honey fungus and that we had honey fungus in Granary’s garden.
The fungus has started to kill the privet that we had previously been trying to grow into an arch over the gate into the garden. It looked great 4 years ago but sadly, one side of the arch died soon after. The second side dies last summer so I have cut it out. There is a plan to replace the privet with a hedge which can cope with honey fungus and provide more soil for the roots but that is another project which is probably some way off.
I had every good intention to continue but other tasks took my time – I will come back to this next week.
Those other tasks included beginning to clear the debris around Hayloft created when the roof was replaced. As part of that I tamed the cotoneaster which we had planted along the south wall which has become established and started to grow well. We chose cotoneaster as it looks good year round, and now is covered in berries which the birds love. Sadly, it took a bit of a battering during the work but now I have trimmed and trained it so, next spring it should recover and look great.
I also continued to clear the bed along our drive that I started last month. We have big plans for this area that I have wanted to complete almost since we moved here but it has never made it to the top of the ‘to-do’ list. Hopefully the time is getting closer – and even if I can’t do it we will have a clearer drive and the preparation will make the area look a lot better as there are various stages required to complete this particular project.
When clearing the area I have used more of the slate on a second gabion to continue another job I also began last month. It’s not quite full and finished but will be done next week – I will complete at least one task!!
For today’s Sunday stroll we ventured into an area we haven’t walked before. When David’s Dad was with us we visited the Vallee des Saints about 45 minutes from us in Côte D’Armor and drove through a very pretty little village, Locmaria Berrien, just south east of Huelgoat.
Our walking books have 2 circuits that pass through Locmaria Berrien and, as we knew that we could get post-walk refreshment in Huelgoat, we chose to do one of these.
The walk was very pretty, partly following the old track bed of the Morlaix to Carhaix railway which operated between 1891 and 1967, partly tracking the river Aulne and partly walking through the a part of the Huelgoat forest that we hadn’t visited before.
The old railway has been preserved as a cycle route and many of the old stations still exist. We discovered that the building which used to be the Locmaria Berrien station is now a Thai restaurant. We didn’t eat there today but it looks really good – rustic but genuine – and we have added it to our list of places to eat soon.
The part of the forest we walked through had some better autumn colour than we found last week on the canal, but it was even more vibrant as we drove into Huelgoat after the walk. It would have been much more colourful to walk through the part of the forest closest to the town centre but, looking at how many cars where parked in and around the town we would have been part of large crowds. We saw no one, and only 1 car on our walk so was far more pleasant.
Last Thursday being Halloween, allowed us to get out our ceramic pumpkins and decorate the drive and occupied gîtes to welcome the Trick-or-Treaters who visited.
Friday, All Saints’ Day, Toussaint in French, is a public holiday in France and the day when, traditionally, the French visit their family graves and lay new flowers, generally chrysanthemums. The cemetery in Locmaria Berrien looked exceptionally colourful on our walk today.
The forecast for the week ahead looks much as it did last Sunday. If the forecast is more accurate this time(!) I will be able to progress many of the projects we have and perhaps even complete some!
Kenavo.