What drain at the bottom 
?? Iāll get hubby to do that when I put next months cleaner stuff through, hell be back from the UK then!
Och. I use ma crannie for ma snout.
Thank you, yes he had high hopes for it, a reunification of the family before the son goes off to uni, but a salutary lesson for those planning purely on the basis of a wish list.
The latest long message (I would prefer more frequent, shorter, ones, but thatās kids for you, even if they are 44 years old 
) is that his return and job in Thailand are confirmed and that his son is booked on a diving course in Malaysia (just round the corner) and even the daughter might be allowed to attend his school in Bangkok. I have no idea what his wife has to say about all this, now that her move to Spain has been frustrated and she can no longer rely on his residency.
Back in one piece after the camping trip, and some great hiking, but Sunday was certainly adenaline fuelled and very memorable 
I arrived at a village called Premian (34), parked the car in a little single row car park for about 8 spots opposite some very old typical terraced village houses. Opened the map onto the bonnet of the car in the glorious sun to study my route, at which point this old chap passed by and pleasantly said bonjour with a smile. I obviously bonjoured back which seemed to then be his cue to come over for a chat. I started to speak in my murderous French, at which point he raised his hand and scurried off into the little house opposite where I was parked. He emerged with a pen and paper, to which I thoughtā¦ strange 
Anyway, he then saw my car, French registered but no steering wheel on the left, to which he said āare you Englishā? I obviously said yes, British in fact 
He then said, in perfect English that he was 85 and Belgian but had lived in the village for 30 years, and ā¦ that he was totally deafā¦ah, the pen and paper! So I then proceeded to have a conversation with him, him speaking and me writing. It did all feel a little surreal, but the fellow was absolutely charming, and very interested to know what I was doing there. I told him I was hiking up to the lake, at which point his face looked quite horrified, to which I started to recount all those horror movies based on horrors at and around lakes 
But no, he said it was beautiful, but couldnāt understand me hiking there. When I looked at the map it seemed like some good climb but nothing too untoward, just a little strenuous possibly.
So I bid the chap farewell and started on my way. Started off on the asphalt road, but then rapidly entered the forest, and then the climb started. I climbed and climbed, but it wasnāt anything particularly unusual, except the track had been blocked in a few locations by fallen/felled tress which I had to clamber over and a couple of banks I had to scramble up on all fours!
So when I finally arrived at the top I was greeted by this - absolutely beautiful and so serene. I stopped, sitting by the lake on a rock, and ate a much needed packed lunch. I got so carried away with the complete relaxation of the moment that I lost track of the time, but thought, well at least going downhill through the woods will be quicker than the uphill to arrive here!
I started on my way back, and how wrong I was! As I started to take the route back it seemed to be leading me to what appeared to be a cliff edge - well in fact it pretty much was. I started to going down over these rocks, which then led to some very uneven steps that had been formed out of rocks. In fact calling them steps is extremely unfair to steps The route down traversed back and forth this pretty much vertical face. One slip or trip and Iād have been over the edge and plummeting a long way down, and onto some very unforgiving rock. I normally hike with my headphones on playing a podcast or chilled music - not here I wasnāt, I wanted complete silence, and needed to focus so hard. I did take some video on the phone, but wouldnāt want to be sharing my adrenaline fuelled voice , although the videos really do illustrate very well how absurd and brutal the descent was. Then part way down I was descending next to a waterfall, it was just incredible in so very many ways.
Up to this sign it had been very challenging, but not even this sign prepared me for what was next.
I had just come down next to this, and this was only a small part of the overall waterfall(s).
I had started from the top and this was probably about halfway.
This was probably once of the safer sections where they had at least installed a steel cable and there were steps
Then the last section of steel rope embedded into rock allowed a short absail down to the base of the gorge, then it was a case of scrambling over the rocks back and forth over the water.
Then, after an unreasonable amount of time, I finally got out of the gorge in one piece, but feeling somewhat hyper, as the sun was rapidly going down and I did not want to spend the night up there. So as soon as I hit the forest track, it was like an oasis, and I was full blast to get back down.
Then finally, I found the oasis and was utterly relieved to see this just before darkness!
So I arrived back at the car, buzzingā¦hit the remote and the car lights came on. And the old fellow emerged from his first floor window with his thumb thrust high into the air He came down, invited me into his house and we then continued the rather bizarre, but charming, spoken and written conversation. He said heād been worried when he still saw my car as it was getting dark, but was pleased Iād made it. He then went on to recount part of his life in Belgium, the difficulties after the war and talked me through his rather extensive wall of family photosā¦absolutely fascinating and so very interesting. He offered me a drink, but I needed to get back to the tent and try to wind down. I donāt drink much, but I was dying for a nice glass of wineā¦and sodās law, it was Sunday evening and not an open bar anywhere to be found
So I bid the old chap goodbye and said Iād pass by next time Iām up there. He said he wouldnāt hear me if I knocked on the door obviously, so just come on up to his sitting room as he always left his door open, as he had nothing to steal.
It did leave a mark on me that day!
14 Likes
Thank you for your lovely story; Glad you made it down safely. You should have had a glass with the old fella!
1 Like
Yes, I think that was the only regret of the day 
3 Likes
Yet again - rain promised. Rain arrives. Four drops. Rain departs. And the meteo now shows no more rain again for another week. 
So sorry Sue! It does seem to be avoiding you 
1 Like
Thatās because it is all down here. + Le Mistral. I had to tape up the north facing window.
1 Like
The wind wasnāt half howling through ourhouse last night - mind you, a huge hole in each of 3 walls gave it loads of opportunityā¦
1 Like
The last week or so weāve been getting dozy wasps in our bedroom and bathroom - I usually know what this means, and decided to take a look in one of the lofts. Now I should also mention that next door are in the middle of having their roof re-tiled, which joins ours.
So I tried to lift the loft hatch, but it felt heavy and didnāt want to slide. Lifted a little harder and a small pile of debris plus a dozen or so wasps and grubs fell to the floor. VERY quickly and carefully made sure the hatch was closed again! It looks like the roofing work has dislodged a nest from the joists right on top of the hatch, and I suspect it was a big one from the weight. I hope we have a good hard cold snap shortly, because all the Christmas decs are up there, and Iām not going up until Iām sure theyāre dead!
3 Likes
If youāre not squeamish about killing insects, get one of those big aerosol wasp killers, like the really good ones you get in France, drill a hole in the loft hatch, put the nozzle through the hole and let in rip till itās empty. Job done.
Edit: Unless itās hornets. Hornets are much harder to get rid of. Needs a professional in that circumstance.
2 Likes
Iām not at all squeamish, but would prefer to let them die as they normally do, rather than drill holes and poison them. However this isnāt the first time wasps have made our loft inaccessible, and I may have to find a way to treat the beams to prevent further nesting.
2 Likes
Perhaps you should have a word with your nieghbours roofers? If there is debris on the loft cover then what might the state of the loft be? Unless your loft is airtight to theirs me thinks your stored loft items might also have a coating of dust and debris.
The good news is that the Christmas decs might have suffered terminal damage!
1 Like
The roof space used to be open along its length, but a couple of years after moving in we had a blockwork partition built separating the 2 spaces (an insurance requirement). Thereās probably some of debris fallen, but unlikely thereās anything the roofers could do about it - not their problem. And the nest might have fallen anyway.
Iām happy to have Christmas decorations - at the right time - and look forward to getting them up again.
3 Likes
Wasps in the loft part deux.
Well, strictly speaking this is part 3, but I wrote words and added a picture through the phone, which would then not load to the site. However proving that nothing is ever lost over the internet (except what you want) on re-opening the thread a couple of weeks later, most of my earlier post including photo is here as a draft, waiting for me.
Part 2, I
After a couple of weeks from my previous post things have been quiet āupstairsā without stingy visitors coming down, and it therefore seemed sensible to investigate further. Unfortunately at the same time, this Saturday morning is warm and sunny, meaning the beasties arenāt so sleepy.
A plastic sheet was arranged on the floor to catch falling materials, my wife stood by with the vacuum in case there were a lot of active animals and I had a container of wasp powder ready along with plastic bags for debris. Lifting the hatch saw some debris fall, but less than before. There were still some active and flying animals, but only a few, the nest appearing mostly dead now. Looking back and up, I could see where the nest had fallen from, having been in the apex of the roof by the chimney, and it had fallen a long way, bouncing and scattering pieces as it went.
One thing I had not expected was the stink - like animal houses long long overdue a clean out. And every bit that was moved released more stink. It may be the smell of dead and rotting grubs, but whatever, it was quite unpleasant.
In the end I removed some pieces from on top of the hatch, then puffed powder over the rest because the few flyers were getting agitated. In another week Iāll clear the rest.
The hatch top.
And so part II of part 2 update. Two weeks after the above comments I ventured this afternoon again into the loft. This time everything was quite dead, and I worked steadily to clear away much of the debris. There was a lot of material, and I could see where the nest had bounced and shattered on its way down from the apex of the roof.
The nest itself must have been at least 18" inches in diameter, and the debris half-filled a large black plastic refuse bag. The whole lot stank just as before (as does our upstairs now :p) and the smell even seemed to permeate through the marigolds I wore, making my hands smell of dead wasps after several rounds of washing.
Anyway, thatās over now. Soon time to make stroganoff for dinner. 
2 Likes
Why, do you think that will be strogonoff to take the smell away. 
3 Likes
We had a large nest behind the placo in our upstairs toilet. Only realised because we hear munching every tine we went it. So man came with loongg wand and sprayed stuff into their entrance/exit hole in the outside wall. Which killed them. But it took a very long tine for the smell of dead wasps to wear off. So yes, a horrible smell. But serves us right for killing them I guess.
1 Like
Thereās a good chance that they would stink anyway, if the nest was not abandoned, and possibly even if it was.
I havenāt detected wasp nests in our roof space, but then it is very shallow pitched and so we never venture there, but I have had them in smaller spaces like the door jams on the cars. I usually leave them alone and they donāt bother me.