I hope you are all enjoying a nice Easter break, we are trying to use it as an excuse to do less than normal but I am not sure it is working out that well.
I have normally got all of my pre-season jobs done by now and waiting for our first guests to arrive but the weather has been so bad this year that we are behind schedule. The weather for the last 3 months has varied between showers and torrential downpours, I can count the number of dry days so far in 2024 on one hand and still get change from 5 fingers, we are saturated !!!!
This shot of one of my tracks gives you an idea of the state we are in :
I would prefer not to have to take my quad down to the lake but there are still jobs that need to be done so I have little choice. There are always trees and bushes to cut back and move and there are plenty of jobs around the swims to finish, I have repaired the concrete floor in cabin 6, completely refurbished swim 5, and hung another couple of sets of new doors :
That is cabin numbers 2, 3 and 5 complete and although these doors on swim 3 look very pretty the state of the swim shows you what we are up against:
The only bonus from the bad weather is that it is forcing me to stay indoors so what better excuse than to get on with some of my indoor tasks. I have slapped a coat of paint on most of our upstairs accommodation and as well as repainting the usual parts of the Gite such as around the hob, the kitchen sink, the toilet, etc, the main bedroom has also had a refresh. That has gone from this:
To this:
And looks all the better for it, I must say.
Unfortunately I have not been able to paint the outside of the windows nor the shutters, that will have to wait until we dry out a bit.
My latest project. Next door to the shower block is a very unusual door, it opens in to a small room which is used for absolutely nothing and still contains some of the junk that was in it when we moved in over 12 years ago so I have decided to convert it in to a wine cellar, or La Cave a Vin as they are called locally. I will let you know how that progresses, but at least I have made a start. The old door must be hundreds of years old and is mostly rotten so I have just submitted my drawings for its replacement. You can’t buy one of these from a shelf in B&Q:
On a positive note Simon is over from the UK for a couple of days, he does like to keep up to speed with the place so that he has the correct information to pass on to people when they phone him up with their inquiries. On this trip he has brought his friend Jamie along for his first ever visit. And Jamie is having a blast as he has pushed his PB to over 50lb.
They have found some very nice fish between them but they are having to work very hard for the privilege, due to all of the very cold rain the water temperature in the lake is still quite low which has the affect of keeping the fish shoaled up quite tightly and when they move around they are doing so en-mass, keeping in contact with them is proving to be a challenge, but the rewards are worth the effort:
Simon’s smile says it all !!
That is about all for this month’s SITREP, the first group of the Season arrive on Saturday so I will be back to my weekly catch reports from the 14th.
Between now and then I will be posting an update to recycling in France, we do have some new and very strict rules that we have to conform to regarding recycling so you will need to be aware of them.
I might even post a catch report to let you know how Simon and Jamie have performed, that should provide a bit of an indicator as to how the official season is going to start.
If I have one word of warning for the first few groups of the season that would be; Bring Your Wellies !!
Till then, take care.
Le Moulin de Graffeuil 