installing a woodburning stove in the gîte

Why is Pete busy cutting holes in the lovely smooth floor of the gîte upstairs?

He is searching for a section of underlying wall, upon which we will build a chimney, to work with the new woodburning stove. At last an effective way of heating the gîte, though the cost of the chimney will be almost double that of the stove - ho hum...

Watch this space for updates, and I hope the chimney blocks are delivered in time for us to find a window of fine enough weather to finish the whole of the chimney, exterior as well as interior!

désarmement du grand léjon 7th Nov 2009

 

 

Went up to St Brieuc to help with the désarmement of le Grand Léjon. Everything movable was taken off the boat and stored in a lock-up just off the quayside. Then out comes the paper tablecloth, the aperitifs and the nuts & crisps!  We all went off for lunch afterwards, which gave my hands a chance to thaw out, having washed down the bunk mattresses in cold water (the water actually felt warmer than my hands). 

porch door, sloe gin & Stumpy the cat.

Porch door (nearly finished) 23rd October 2009. Top half not yet oiled, and no lock fitted yet. But it keeps out the wind.

Sloe gin on the go. Started 3rd Nov 2009. Should be ready by Christmas!

plus lots of empty bottles to be refilled when the gin has sufficiently steeped.

 

 

Meet Stumpy the cat, the only one of Ma's latest litter who is brave enough to venture into the house. Stumpy because he only has half a tail, but very beautiful for all that! Most of Ma's kittens have a genetic problem with their tails - usually a kink, but Stumpy missed out on a few extra bones.

18th Oct. Pete's first Grand Léjon Trip

It was freezing early on, couldn't get warm even with many layers. Thierry steering.

Warmed up eventually - piles of coats on the hatch-cover!

Once again, no wind to speak of. Nice day, though.

Pete enjoying the day.

on the way back into port in the evening. Another great day out.

friend's sheep coming to stay here to be 'tupped' 13th oct 2009

Said sheep not too keen on being caught.   Lambs due mid-March 2010 if Shaun does his job promptly.

Jane's first trip out on Le Grand Léjon. 4 Oct 2009

My first trip on Le Grand Léjon - Pete was in the UK visiting his mum.  We set off at 8 am - still dark!

Leaving the Port de Légué, the motorway viaduct visible behind us.

 

approaching the lock

& the lock gates closing behind us.

 

Oce out of the harbour, starting to hoist sail. This is the 'taillevent' or mainsail. The hunier is on the deck to the right - this goes above the mainsail.

Not much wind for sailing!

hoisting the 'foc', or jib.

The view to stern.

This is the small foc. There is a bigger one, but not used today.

The bay where we stopped for lunch.

Then a post-lunch snooze

Before hoisting sail and setting off home. This is the 'Misaine' or mizzen.

Just messing about in boats....

Bit of deck-washing. I took refuge up front, as there was lots of cold water being splashed about.

 

We got back about 7.30 pm, having spent all day cruising - I really don't know where the time went, and we really did nothing! What a lovely way to spend a day.

27t Sept. Grand Léjon Pique-nique at Port Morvan

Some brave souls went for a swim - the usual suspects who regularly swim in the sea all year round.

Somewhat competitive barbecue-ing - 'try some of this',  'no, try this!'

Loads more food than was possible to eat. Then a doze in the sun, a bit of singing and music.

Than Pete & I set off to walk off some calories. This is the view back down to the beach.

and looking north at the headlands on the east coast of the bay of St Brieuc.

Isle de Bréhat. 6th Sept 2009

Took a quick day trip to the Isle de Bréhat.Tide was well in when we arrived, on a sweltering hot day in September, so had a long walk up to the 'town'. There are (virtually) no cars on Bréhat, and hardly any roads - just paths that wind around, between houses and gardens.

There is a tide mill which is 370 years old on the island. It used to be used to grind grain, by the power of the water collected in its tidal basin. There is a huge tide range on the north coast of Brittany, so it made sense to use it.

The gardens on the island were really lovely, with some rather impressive trees...

Paimpol Festival of Chants de Maris 7 - 9 August 2009

 We went to Pampol fête de chants de marins in early August. Le Grand Léjon is the green boat in the centre of the picture. The event was very crowded, so it was great to be able to retreat to the boat when things got too exhausting.  Had a smashing weekend, weather was wonderful, music great, boats beautiful and people (as always) superb.

 

The Oufs (Les Oufs de Dyjau, or sort-of 'fous de jaudy') were also there, in Fred's boat. We had just had an apero with them when they decided to have another sing...

 Pete in contemplative mood on the Grand Léjon.

 

While the boat was being hauled towards the 'capestan' (capstan) on the harbour side. This gave people a chance to try out the capstan for real.

This is the doris (pronounced exactly like the name Doris) that was made over the three days of the festival. Les Doris de la Baie is an association that makes these small boats at festivals (originally bigger and used for fishing on the Grand Banks, off of a larger ship). They are raffled off over the course of the festival. Haven't managed to win one yet...

Finally got the back porch roof finished!

It took an afternoon to slate each side of the 'join' between the house and the new porch roof.

And it has rained every day for the last week or two.

Note how the window drains onto zinc, which will drain directly into the gutter. Cunning, eh? Lets us slate over the bottom of the window without getting a build-up of water in the window frame.

Hugh tries out the wheelbarrow, and a cinnabar moth tries out the porch.

View from on high, of Pete cutting slates.

Roof nearing completion, and the final ridge tile put in place. Now we could do with some rain to wash off the bits of mortar.

 

The finished roof, phew!!

progress with roof

Things are progressing, between downpours, on the porch roof.

Fitted the voliges (planking) and got the slates re-hung on the roof sides of the zinc on thursday. We did the shaped slates on the porch-side of the roof yesterday, but haven't had a chance to take photos yet - pouring all today.

Have started to block in over the back door, and got he light re-fitted

Gertie is closely supervising all work - here Pete is fitting the zinc strip under one of  the rooflights -

Gertie checks out the rest of the work...

"of course, it never rains in Brittany"

From the sublime (weather, that is) on tuesday afternoon

 to torrential rain on wednesday, despite the forecast promising two days of decent weather.

the satellite image shows how nearly we missed the rain - just a wee tail of it crossed over us this afternoon - should be OK tomorrow!

back porch continuing...

 

Finally got all the A frames put up last week. Then we decided to use up a couple of spare (new, but unused) windows we have had around the place for a while to make roof lights. We took them out from their outer frame, and removed the bottom strip of wood to allow them to drain off properly.They fit pretty much exactly between two of the A frames.

Need to use zinc sheets now to seal round top & sides, and to drain them off the bottom. Will do this next, as we fit more woodwork to hold the slates. Very pleased with these, as it will give lots more light than we had originally planned.

So its beginning to take shape well now. Once we have bought the zinc to make the gutters and the weather stays dry for a few days we can take off the slates from the roof behind and tie-in the new roof gable. The front gable end is also going to be glazed - we discovered that it was possible to get triangular DGUs, so thats why the front gable doesn't have an A frame. We have put in the inside walls, using mainly beton cellulaire blocks. The front two gaps will have terracotta blocks, as they ran out of the others, and we had these spare in the hangar. The outside will be a skin of stone to match the house.

 

The floor will be slated with what is left of the  slate slabs we have found all over the garden, and which we believe were the original floor of the house. This is a preliminary layout...  Gertie obviously approves.