chez Arran blog

TICKING THE BOXES: A FAMILY CLIMBING HOLIDAY IN THE ARIEGE BY HELENA TILLEY

2010-10-22T20:42:00.006+02:00

TICKING THE BOXES
A FAMILY CLIMBING HOLIDAY IN THE ARIEGE,
FRANCE.

It’s almost six years since I suggested we climb as a family. Little did I know then what that would mean. Six years on and climbing has taken over our lives with all three kids training/ climbing three to four sessions a week at least as well as the numerous competition and climbing events - especially for my son Luke of course. This summer it was a challenge to find a whole week together with Luke’s climbing schedule and guess what – climbing had to figure high on the holiday menu!

A week at Chez Arran turned out to be the perfect holiday destination for us. The house is in the Ariege region of France is nestled in the lower hills of the Pyrenees. Owned by Anne and John Arran it ticked every box. The house its self was lovely. Waking up on the first morning and opening the shutters to a breathtaking view of the sun coming round the mountain side was worth going to bed for, especially when Luke brought up a cup of tea for me to enjoy.

The house was cool and shady and very comfortable and well stocked with climbing mags. in French and English, the topos for local climbs and a selection of DVDs to watch over a glass of wine in the evening. We also put the garden to good use with a blast of sunbathing and quick dip in the pool between morning and evening climbing sessions.

What about the climbing? Well I guess it was awesome! I certainly had a very happy bunch of climbers along side. Chez Arran is within 15minutes of several amazing crags offering everything from some easier routs (5b to 7a) for the girls and plenty of challenges for Luke in the 8a range, with no queues! At one point Luke had just red pointed Amalthée at Genat while beside him Romain Pagnoux red-pointed an 8c. Later we had Luke photographing from a hanging belay while Naomi and Flo climbed and Simon and I belayed – that’s three on the crag at once!

Anne was very energetic in helping to facilitate our climbing experience and arranged for us to meet with the local team at Solo Escalade in Toulouse. We were joined in Genat the following day by Fabrice Landry (4th in the junior worlds last year) and now aiming for the senior team, Chloe a girl of Naomi’s age with similar skill. We hope to establish some stronger links so that we can combine a climbing and language exchange.

Chez Arran is surrounded by opportunity! We managed an excellent canoe trip and took in some amazing cave paintings. We of course sampled the Region’s wine and cheese as well as Anne’s easy company when we were at home.

It is difficult to think of a better climbing holiday. Even I got off the ground a couple of times but mostly it was a joy to see the enthusiasm of all of the family to climb every day. We will certainly be back.
Helena Tilley 14th September 2010

Tour de France Vruuuuuuuuummmmmm or whoooosh! ! !

2010-07-19T09:28:00.006+02:00

It took 24 seconds of the leading group of tour de France athletes to pass our guests the Scott/Sharples family. Down the road the sounds of the crowd gradually became louder as the cyclists approached. Despite the N20 to Ax being closed from 14hrs - 19hrs it seemed very easy for spectators to come and watch. Some even camped by the road side to secure thier place. It is possible to catch the train from Tarascon sur Ariege to Ax for next time....

I've always thought that the Tour de France athletes are some of the fittest around. To check out more on the final stages see: http://www.letour.fr/2010/TDF/LIVE/us/1500/etape_par_etape.html

Christophe Riblon – Stage winners comment - “Last night I would not have bet a euro on me…”A year ago he helped a team-mate race into the yellow jersey on the first mountain stage of the Tour de France, today Christophe Riblon found a few answers to questions he was asking himself in Andorra after stage seven 12 months ago.

“I was really disappointed with my start of the Tour, because I wanted to do something overall, and it did not work. Especially the last two days were very difficult, and I was almost depressed. Then [AG2R La Mondiale’s directeurs sportif] Vincent Lavenu and Julien Jurdi talk to me at length, explaining that I’m usually in good shape by the third week of a Tour, so I had to take my chances and go in a breakaway. They gave me morale, but last night I would still not bet a euro on me.
“In the final I did not want to say ,‘I won’. I constantly repeated to myself, ‘I’m going to win’, but I did not want to be sure, not until the last kilometer. I remembered last year when I wondered how Brice Feillu had done what he did to win the stage to Andorra Arcalis. We were behind, and I do not understand how we failed to reel him in – how could he have stayed ahead when there were riders chasing him down. Now I realize why he could do it. When you’re alone in front, with a few kilometers to the finish, the support of the public helps to carry you and it encourage you, it transforms you and gives you strength. I gave everything and I felt I could not lose.”

Top Five Of General Classification Remains The Same
With his fourth place in the stage, Schleck has maintained his lead in the general classification. There are no changes to the top five.
Big thanks to Alistair for the images and video clip!

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Guests climbing pics - A great day out on Sinsat with a Genat shot thrown in!

2010-07-07T19:21:00.009+02:00

Here are some pics from guest Graham Iles who was a victim of the Ash cloud and had to try hard to get back to the UK, he said, 'We had an epic two day journey back to the UK; we ended up having to drive from Barcelona (how did we end up there???) to Paris and then picked up a lift to Kent from some friends of friends, followed by trains and more cars! Phew! We had a great trip thanks and hope to return next year, subject to volcanic eruptions of course! '

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Cliffhanger 2010

2010-07-07T18:56:00.007+02:00

Back in the UK right now on assignment for Climber magazine and just seen the most Brits ever qualify for an IFSC Bouldering World Cup semi at Cliffhanger in Millhouses park, Sheffield. Gaz Parry and Stu Watson qualified in first place - an incredibly good effort. Also for the first time we saw 3 British women go through Mina Leslie Wujastyk, Diane Merrick and Leah Crane. Unfortunately none made it through to the final. It was a great day though for Adam Ondra (CZE) who clinched the men's and Cloe Graftiaux (BEL) who won the women's. It was also a great opportunity to catch up with some friends. Back to chez Arran site

Ice thrills at first European youth ice climbing championship in Saas Grund

2010-02-17T18:29:00.009+01:00

Ok so I was away again.. This time on assignment with the UIAA doing some interviews and images in Switzerland. Here is a copy of part of the article:

President of the UIAA Youth Commission, Anne Arran, interviewed three key people involved with the first ever UIAA European Youth Ice Climbing Championship which took place from January 16 to 17 in Saas Grund, Switzerland.

Liubov Mikryukova Age 16 – Ice climber – winner of the first UIAA European youth Ice climbing Cup
Liubov, aged 16, grew up in chilly Kirov and started rock climbing six years ago when she was just ten. It wasn’t until the age of fourteen she started ice climbing, ‘ Ice is my favourite. I was inspired by seeing an ice world cup and thought I’d like to try it. It’s incredible, it’s mine, I have unusual feelings for it!’ I asked Luibov a few questions about how she is able to thrive in this harsher sporting environment and about the first European Youth Ice climbing cup in Saas Grund on 16th – 17th January.
What about the competition here – how was it?
‘Here in Saas Grund I like all the routes, rock and Ice but my hands are like ice when I clip so it’s hard. But the comp is amazing, very exciting good routes on ice and the rocks.’
Have you led any ice falls outside?
So far I have only done routes with bolts or preplaced ice screws. We only do ice in the winter, at home there is a wall where we can climb all year and it has holds for climbing with ice tools. I have only done one route outside, I don’t think it was very hard. In the finals of the competition it was my second mixed M route on rock ever! I have only a small experience of it.
What do your friends think of it?
I have many climbing friends in Russia but many don’t like ice climbing because it’s dangerous and cold. But I like it, it’s my addiction!
What advice would you give to other young climbers if they wanted to try ice climbing?
This is not just a hobby, it’s a way of life. It’s risky but an amazing feeling after you climb – must be tried! It is hard to express how it is. Our youngest team member is 15 years old.
What are your future ambitions
I want to visit Italy, France and Romania. I want to see different types of ice – I want to learn all about it - I am a very curious person. Oh and I want to become a famous sports person and get the gold!

Urs Odermatt – 35 years old, former World Cup winner in Norway –UIAA Youth “Coaching with the Stars”
Urs started climbing in 1990 so there was only primitive coaching then, ‘You just had to survive!. ‘But then we had some serious training in the gym. I won a world cup in Norway but think my best achievement was coming second in the Russian speed climbing championships’.
Top tips from Urs
‘Beginners should climb as much ice as possible. If you have a good axe it knows what to do. Hold it in a relaxed way and give a swing with the hand, almost as if you were throwing it. When it bites into the ice grip it and lock. Hang on a straight arm’. Making it only a short time that you are gripping the axe hard uses less energy. ‘These days you need to be a world class an climbing competition to be top class in ice climbing, to have the repertoire of moves’.
‘On rock, mixed climbing, if you have a hook, don’t replace the axe once it’s in. On rock you can really feel the hold so its possible to move your hand, but with the ice axe you only have visual control of seeing where the axe should go’.
‘Climbing on ice is similar to rock but it’s less dynamic and you use the figure of 4 move a lot more. There are many lock in moves so you need to be strong at this, but training on the campus board can ruin the elbows!’
‘It’s necessary to be able to cope with very cold temperatures, down to - 30 degrees in Kirov. Those who weren’t used to it didn’t do so well’.
Future ambitions? ‘At the moment I like very long ice lines with as many pitches as possible! You can have nightmares before them but when you survive you think it’s OK. I never talk about planned trips. My next target is about 1 hour from Zurich. It is the biggest waterfall in Europe – 1800m of ice fall. It has no name – I’m not going to tell you where it is’, he laughs. ‘We have tried it before but the conditions on the top are either too cold or avalanching so it’s difficult’.
More information on Urs and some amazing images of and his outdoor climbing can be found on http://www.eisklettern.ch

powder galore at Ax

2010-02-02T13:03:00.006+01:00

Just had a great day at Ax....

Deep powder and loads of off piste fun. Only extreme moment was when I had to throw my board down and hand over hand down steep ground between trees. Lots of swoosh, swoosh - got to get better at this - so check the pics

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2010-01-11T00:24:00.000+01:00

I now know what snowshoeing is all about.

When I was a kid it was walking with tennis rackets on your feet! Then more recently it seemed like a good way to get in to snowy crags. But it snowed here a lot this weekend, dumping a foot of snow even down at Chez Arran, at 550m altitude near the base of the main Ariège valley. I took the opportunity to try out my new snowshoes and found out why the activity (the French call it 'Raquettes') is so popular - so much so that there are numerous guidebooks, marked snowshoe trails and professional guided snowshoe walks seemingly everywhere you look around here.

The freedom it gives you to have fun in the snow is brilliant. I checked out a new path from the house up to the ruined church in the remote abandoned village of Lujat, only about 2 hours away even in deep snow. Keeping to the path was tricky at times, but ducking and diving through tunnels of trees and bushes definitely brought out the explorer instinct. Much more fun than following someone else's tracks on a popular trail.

Then today I tried driving up to the wonderfully named village of Appy, up a little valley just behind the house, but the road was too deep with uncleared snow so our poor car couldn't make it. I got as far as the village of Cazenave and walked up a path from there. The snow was up to 2 feet deep but with snowshoes it was about as hard to walk on as a typical sandy beach. Amazing really. Covered in animal tracks too but I could only guess at what kind of animals they were; some tracks were big enough to be deer, but I didn't see any bear prints - that would have been nice!
Forgive the slightly 'Blair Witch' video clip - not sure how else I could film it by myself ;-)

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Christmas Eve - chez Arran's first birthday!

2009-12-24T21:08:00.001+01:00

This day last year we were driving down from Calais in an overloaded estate car, heading for hard work and adventure. This time we went climbing!
It's been a tough year getting plenty of accommodation ready, but very satisfying seeing people really enjoy themselves. It's a great buzz to read the complimentary things people have posted on various websites, and we're keener than ever to make as much progress this year as we can, so that even more of you can enjoy this wonderful place.
For my part I still can't quite believe how good it is here virtually every month of the year. I have to keep pinching myself to make sure I'm not just dreaming it all!
Today's climbing was at Calamès, one of the best crags for midwinter as it gets any sun that's going. There wasn't much sun today but it did show its face occasionally and because the day was quite warm it was a great temperature for climbing. The photo is of me on Homo Plombus, probably the best 7b on the crag, even though it's given 7a+!
Back out on Boxing day for more (possibly hungover by then) climbing fun. Have a great Christmas everyone.

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Merry X mas and happy 2010

2009-12-23T18:57:00.004+01:00

This year has involved lots of changes since first turning up on my friend Ruth's doorstep in France on Christmas eve last year. The alternative was a warm house with many clashing brown patterned wall paper and no friends. We opted for the basement party in Loubiere :)

This year it will be much the same really except we have the house upstairs and will take along some tasty fish for Christmas dinner. Now sitting in the apartment it feels like a million miles away from the corridor it was last year. Luca, Ruth's son taught me the perfect pronnunciation of 'pere noel' - which was much better than any of the rest of us could muster!

Both of the major ski resorts are now open and our guests are having a great time on the slopes. Here is a Christmas dog present from the Plateau de Beille. Wishing you wonderful x mas and a fun New Year, Anne x

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2009-12-20T20:56:00.000+01:00

A little later than usual the winter finally arrived last week ... and did so in spectacular fashion, with plenty of snow and temperatures down to -12.

We took advantage by heading up to the Plateau de Beille, one of France's premier Nordic Skiing resorts and only 20 minutes away by car, for a bit of much needed practice. There was a festival atmosphere there as it was the resort's 20-year anniversary, so access to all the pistes was free for the day, which we weren't about to argue with! There were plenty of other fun things laid on for the day too, like live music and magic shows, excursions on the piste-basher and a huge floating inflatable dragon which was determined to eat the candles from the 4m-wide snow-cake built specially for the resort's birthday.

The husky dogs were out too, seemingly raring to go for another season of haring across the snow-covered plateau with gleeful people in tow.

Then today the sun came out again and with perfect blue skies and dead calm it would have been a great day for climbing, but we missed out this time. Never mind, the forecast for tomorrow is quite good too.

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Genat - winter sun crag focus

2009-12-20T20:53:00.006+01:00

One of the finest crags in the area for people climbing grades 7a and 8, although there are some very good easier routes too. The main crag is extremely overhanging in its central section, generally on good but sometimes improved holds and stunning tufas. Notably there are some slab routes which stay dry even after long periods of rain, including routes of 6a-6c. Rock, orange and grey limestone.

Leave the main Tarascon to Vicdessos road (D8) at Niaux. Cross the river, pass through Alliat village and continue a further 5 minutes up zigzags before taking a turnoff to the left shortly before reaching Génat village. 400m later the road ends at a gate where there is parking space for about 6 cars. To the right of the main gate is a footpath; follow this through a smaller gate and up right to the crag. 5 minutes walk.

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Gaz Parry and Kate Mills visit the Grotte de Sabart

2009-12-06T19:00:00.005+01:00

We had the pleasure of entertaining Gaz, Kate & Pebbles the horse on their way from their house in Costa Blanca see http://epic-adventures.eu/default.aspx adventures.eu/default.aspx After some warm up cranking or 'that's enough' cranking at Genat we headed to Grotte de Sabart. Kate and I were in the 'that's enough' team & Gaz found la Dame de Sabart not a walk in the park, but polished it off nevertheless the following day. Hat's off to Stevie Haston for his routes there - you certainly need top sequences and a stong core to survive ... Pebbles seemed to enjoy the stay and was intrigued to meet Geri and Panache our neighbours horses. I'm looking forward to having more stamina on 30m roofs and an improved core so that more than 1 or 2 attempts are more worthwhile!

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2010 Tour de France - Pyrenees stage near us!

2009-11-11T22:07:00.004+01:00

The 2010 Tour de France route through the Pyrenees has now been announced and there's a stage right next Chez Arran, finishing at our local ski resort Ax Les Thermes.

Stage 14 Revel to Ax les Thermes i 184km long - Date: Sunday 18th July
The comment of Christian Prudhomme - Director of Tour de France
"1910-2010. The celebrations in honour of the hundredth anniversary of the Tour’s first foray into the Pyrenees will be the highlight of this 97th edition of the race. A novelty in the first of the four Pyrenean stages: two “modern” as an alternative to “historical” climbs will be tackled as the gruelling Port de Pailhères and Plateau de Bonascre in Ax-3 Domaines were not included on the race itinerary before the 21st century".

If Ax-les Thermes is a regular point of call on the Tour since 1933, its ski resort, Ax-3 Domaines, hosts the race since 2001. Stage finishes are held at the Plateau de Bonascre, one of the three skiing areas that make up the resort. In 2003, an impressive little Spanish climber here abandoned his usual reserve to claim the first of his three Tour stage victories: five years later, Carlos Sastre won the Tour.

It then starts again at Pamier which is also only a few km away. Let us know if you want to stay to see the Tour!

The event will be broadcast live on: http://www.letour.fr/

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Out and about in Russia and South Africa

2009-11-06T16:15:00.006+01:00

It wasn't all climbing in France over the summer. I went to climb Elbrus with the UIAA Global Youth Summit and had a great time, although getting up at 2am and ploughing up the first slopes in the strong cross wind wasn't the most fun. Dawn came though and it was magnificent as sun rise brought light to the many high peaks around. The train of climbers plodded higher and it wasn't until 5000m that I felt it was tough for a while. Every step was an effort. At the col at 5,300m we hit sunshine and having a sandwich helped no end. With a new lease of life I went on to the summit. It was too misty to see much but never mind - the highest peak in Europe was climbed :)

Last week we got back from South Africa where we had the UIAA Youth Commission mtg in Capetown. The hospitality was excellent and after the meeting it was possible to visit Rocklands and Cederberg to snatch some climbing - and later some animals in Pilanesberg game reserve. Thanks to Mark Johnston for the images!

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2009-10-05T22:47:00.001+02:00

With the House and the Apartment both rented out, we're relegated to less luxurious accommodation in the next-in-line place to live. Not sure what to call it yet, maybe the Gîte? Or maybe we'll think of a naming system that doesn't seem to confuse people so easily - answers on an email please ;-)
The good part about living in unfinished digs is that you want to get out a lot, so we've been doing a lot more climbing and other stuff lately than we've had time for ever since we moved in last winter. Anne's quickly back to climbing 7c and I'm up to 8a+ again so things are starting to pick up nicely, just in time for a trip to South Africa in a couple of weeks time, which we're really looking forward to.

I also grabbed an opportunity while Anne was back in Blighty to check out some higher mountain crags. My plan was to reduce the approach time to the Pic Rouge de Belcaire - one of the Bassiès crags - by running much of it, but the plan was soon thwarted once I realised that much of the approach was up a 1:1 hill! Still, the crag was definitely worth the effort as the rock there is amazing - even though I completely failed to find the route I was trying to climb!

I was looking for a route called Friscounette - 7 pitches up to 6a and mostly trad - and I climbed about 7 pitches or so up to about 6a, but I was a bit puzzled by the lack of equipped belays, even though I did pass the occasional peg or two.

When I got home I did a bit of googling and found out it started somewhere completely different, so I ended up braving the 2+ hour approach again. Heaven knows what I may have been on the first time but the real route itself was probably even better, with one particularly memorable pitch (see picture) up nothing but granite chickenheads. Amazing! Very much recommended for anyone after a long route of about E2 5b and who doesn't mind a bit of a steep hike-in in return for great climbing and a 360 degree panorama of awesome peaks from the 2, 650m summit.

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It's not just us who think so!

2009-10-05T22:02:00.002+02:00

Every morning (well almost) we wake up, look out the window at another gorgeous day in the making, and say to ourselves: 'It's another sunny day in paradise!' It really is going to take a very long time to get bored of being around here.
So it's good to know that it isn't just us who seem to have been smitten. Matt Heason and his family are good friends and were staying here for most of August, helping us with some of the chez Arran redevelopment work while climbing with us and trying to wear out our pool - on this latter objective they tried hard but I'm pleased to report they didn't succeed as it's still operational even into October, although it's getting to the point where you have to be REALLY hot before you want to brave it now. Having said that it was 28 degrees here today!

Anyway, Matt said some very nice things about his time here on his blog at http://www.heason.net/News_&_Blog/Blog/2009/09/01/Chez_Arran/, and compiled this great photomontage:

Thanks Matt, and look forward to your next visit.

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The Apartment is born

2009-09-20T22:07:00.001+02:00

Late in August the Apartment was nearing completion. There was no particular hurry because the first booking wasn't until mid-September. But then we received an email: was it available for booking the first week of September?

Let's go for it, we decided, and worked flat out for four days to get it ready, finishing literally five minutes before our first Apartment guests arrived! Their verdict was hugely positive, which was quite a relief given how tired we were by then.

Since then we've made it even nicer, adding all the little details we didn't have time to finish the first time!

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The pool's the best

2009-09-20T21:46:00.002+02:00

It's been a long time since the last blog entry, partly because we've had such a busy summer but mainly because we had problems with adding photos to the blog while it was hosted on the chezArran.com site, so now it's on blogspot like all of the others.

Many things of note have evolved this summer, and hopefully we'll be able to blog about many of them very soon, but pride of place must surely go to the pool, which proved an unmitigated success among guests and us alike!

Typically reaching 28 degrees on August afternoons it was even warm enough for me to hop in without fear of hyperventilating - and I'm the world's biggest wuss when it comes to getting in cold water. Almost like being in Thailand.

Matt and Sophie Heason were staying here for most of August, and Matt at least made a point of plunging every single day of their visit.

But even into September when we were concerned the water temperature may start to plummet, the pool was put to extensive use by Sophie and Holly (left, thanks to Al Murray for the great photo), who seemed to think it weird that their parents preferred to go climbing!

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Finally we have a kitchen...

2009-05-22T09:14:00.001+02:00

It was a very exciting moment at the end of last week when we succeeded in tiling the kitchen floor and aquiring a an ikea kitchen, all in 5 days! After a while moving around a half rennovated house feels tedious, but now I really feel I'm sitting in a real live kitchen for the first time. The circle of spots looks cool on the ceiling and our origional wooden table that was left in the house fits in well. Must admit I'm not a big fan of grouting floor tiles though, must buy knee pads.

So what about the climbing? Well I have a little project on our village crag which is 5-10 mins walk from the house. It's around 7c+ we think but haven't been able to track down a topo to the place as yet. It's around 25m and overhangs by about 4-5m. It's great when in the shade, just have to balance the diy with the climbing time in the right conditions. John onsighted a more overhanging one, not far from a bees nest - they seem tame though. Yesterday at Genat crag a French climber gave me a lizard, which was pretty tame and by far the best climber there. There is a fantastic 7b+ called Crossroads which is highly recommended if you go there. Now John is back it's much easier to get out climbing. I met a local, Patrick, at the crag the other day so he could be someone else to climb with. We have been resisting the temptations of 'the cave' (Sabart) - the very long 30+ metre roof - in the hope that we can get fitter first. 'Ganage' is core body strengh, so I discovered from Laurance G Haston. Actually I think it would be best to just get on it because the moves are so wierd and funky and the strengths needed more akin to repeatedly doing front levers.

And would you believe it - in Ikea in Toulouse we met Paul Reilly and his wife Lisa. Hadn't seen him for years, he was from Bristol and now has a house in St Antonin Noble Val. An incredible coincidence. Robyn Erbesfield also has a place there and can be seen teaching large hoards of American kiddies there from time to time. Well that's it for now. Back off to England for a couple of days - will post some pics of the climbing around here soon.

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Comes the grim reaper!

2009-05-11T18:22:00.001+02:00

With all this work on the house, interspersed of course with plenty of cragging action, we returned one day to realise that the garden out the back had been having a bit of a grow. Quite a lot of one really, the grass was above our knees and some of the weeds were nearly head height.
Off to buy a petrol strimmer (it's a big garden!), which promptly broke within five minutes use. But wait! What's this lurking beneath the ivy in one of the outbuildings? It was a scythe, and a big and very sharp one at that.
Now my only experience of scythes came from pictures of the grim reaper and from a classic line in Blackadder, but I couldn't help getting excited at the idea of going all agricultural, so out I went one fine morning.
Three hours later I had aches in places I didn't know I had muscles and I had sunstroke. But I'd scythed my way through what seemed like acres of rampant undergrowth and I could collapse in an armchair knowing that a)I could feel smug about goung all manual and traditional, and b) it would be much easier next time when I'd been back to the shop and replaced the strimmer!

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Getting there slowly

2009-03-13T17:08:00.001+01:00

Anne's leading the development charge to good effect while I'm out here enjoying myself - not! - in Congo. She's recruited people to help, and between them it sounds like things are coming along nicely with the electric rewiring, and things are starting to happen with the decor too. Not before time either!

The kitchen of the house now has walls that don't make your head spin with competing patterns and innumerable shades of brown. Only the floor, the ceiling, the beams, the lighting and the fittings to go ...

Great to see the fine sturdy beams are in good nick. They were all panelled in with hardboard and wallpapered over so it was quite a relief to find out that the ceiling wasn't about to fall down!

Thankfully the bedrooms won't take as much work. We've already stripped and refinished the furniture, but we really will have to find time very soon to banish the evil wallpaper.

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The adventure begins!

2008-12-28T17:30:00.001+01:00

Finally we did it. After years spent looking for the best place in Europe to live, and many months not quite believing how French estate agents work (or don't!), at last we'd signed on dotted lines and handed over a sum of money that seemed to grow by the hour as the exchange rate sunk ever deeper into the mire.

Driving the car down seemed like a critical step in our migration from Sheffield, as it would now be much easier to get around the Ariège than it would be to get around the Peak District. We'd already hired a Sprinter van and brought it down full of stuff - and I mean FULL - packed to the rafters with tetris-like precision, but still we hadn't had room for everything.

The trusty Toyota estate usually feels quite big and is great for moving loads around, but this time we were really pushing it. I'd fashioned a sturdy roof-rack from plywood and even I was amazed at just how much we managed to load onto it, needing two old climbing ropes to keep it all securely (we hoped) in place. Every last inch of the interior was crammed and I dread to think how much the whole must have weighed. I was worried it may not even make it up the incline right at the start, but I needn't have been concerned. It was magnificent. Maybe not at its most fuel-efficient but made it through England and France without a murmer.

We arrived on Christmas Eve, excited to spend our first Christmas in our new home. And it was great right from the start, waking up on Christmas morning to magnificent sunshine. Although we did spend much of the festive day with our friends near Foix because the shops were already shut when we arrived and all we had to eat was the six cases of curry we'd brought in the van, knowing it would be the first thing we would start to miss!

We've taken stock of how much there is to be done to rid the house of its brown-ness and hideous clash of wallpaper and tile patterns. A little daunted maybe, but keen to get started on making it look as good in reality as it already does in our mind's eye.

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