Ready, set, paint

We're now ready to start painting. Three bedrooms, three ensuite bathrooms, one lounge/breakfast room and a long hallway. Plus all the doors and windows. All the tools which might be required are neatly laid out - let's see how long that lasts.

Snowshoeing in the Pyrenees

Taking Mountains and Maps clients snowshoeing for a few days in the Pyrenees. It's nice to have a short break from the renovations. There's less snow than when we were here at the same time last year but enough for some good trails. Yesterday did over 13kms and 633m of ascent, which on snowshoes is pretty good going. Today was a beautiful route via three lakes, through woodland and in sunshine. Not another soul to be seen and surrounded by spectacular mountain views, every direction you look.

Clearing up

The cave is now back to normal. After a massive cleanup - two full days - we have some semblance of normality. 

Meanwhile upstairs, the rooms have been cleaned of as much dust as possible, lights and sockets in place in preparation for being connected after the painting. The big paint job starts on our return from snowshoeing in the Pyrenees next week. 

A bit of kit

Apparently all this will be gone tomorrow. Kev the Builder has almost finished but, while here over the past month, has managed to spread an awful lot of equipment throughout the cave. There's going to be a big packing up and cleaning day tomorrow. New cumulus for the chambre d'hôte is in the backgound.

Moving mountains - or the equivalent of ...

The huge concrete sink has now been moved out of the house and onto the outside landing. That in itself was quite a feat. Another trolley broken in the process. It seems an impossibility to get it downstairs and into the garden so we'll have to cut it up - keeping the shell part for a garden feature.

Tiles started on another bathroom:

 Ready now for decorating followed by putting in the light fittings:

Before and after ...

The original kitchen walls - burnt, smokey and dark. You can see where pots had originally been placed on the wall. Goodness knows how long it had been like this. 

Now it looks like this:

Soon to have a colour added, though not sure exactly what hue. Anything but white. Observant people may notice a slight rise on the floor into the ensuite. As well as no straight walls we have very few straight floors too...

New wardrobe

On one of our many, many visits to the brico (DIY) stores for building, electrical, plumbing materials, we popped into a nearby Trocante and found a lovely wardrobe. It's ideal for our bedroom but think it may well end up in one of the guest rooms. The search for more wardrobes is still on.

Spring walk

Lovely afternoon walk from the village through the vineyards, garrigue and by the 'lake' (a man-made reservoir). All the signs of spring are out. The vines are ready to burst into leaf, almond and fig trees are starting to fruit, blossom and wild flowers to be seen everywhere.