I started writing this blog post on 21st March, but what with lack of internet at the property, intermittent phone signal and the inability to travel for non-essential reasons, I wasn’t able to upload! I have now updated it today, Sunday 19th April. Photos will be posted later!!
It seems a long time ago now but is in fact only a month since Alex arrived. We drove to Saint Malo the day before so that we would be able to pick him up from his 8.30am ferry arrival. We managed to find a beautiful parking area overlooking the sea near Rotheneuf. Steve had used his homing pigeon instincts and we found our way although we were the wrong side of the road closure, so after a slight detour we were able to park up. There were no restrictions on camping (that we could see) and any doubts we had were quashed when another three vans showed up for the night – our second night of wild camping in France. Winse did have her limitations as our only toilet facilities were a bucket, however the close proximity to the ferry terminal was ideal! Alex arrived looking very much the bag man – I do wish I had taken a photo but basically he had a large rucksack with two small backpacks and his Doc Martins attached and two waterproof bags on our folding trolley!
We arrived back at the property and proudly showed him his living accommodation. His face was a picture when I opened the tent door and showed him the composting toilet – at least I thought I was showing him the toilet when in fact all he had seen was the collapsible silicon bucket containing the sawdust! He spent one night in his Bedouin bedroom and then it was decided that the first job would be to remove the galvanised sheets on the roof and he would have to decamp to the tent – he didn’t fancy trying to squeeze into Winse with us, which was just as well as, even though the bed is very long, it is certainly not wide enough for the three of us!!!
The time had come to get some rubbish bins after a couple of animal attacks on our stored rubbish bags – it would also less trips to the tip! Still not quite trusting myself on the phone I went into the mairie and asked how we went about it. The young lady in there was very helpful and gave me a sheet with all the relevant information and told me I needed to ring a number at LeffArmor (the council) and then travel to Lantic to pick up the bins. However I didn’t fancy phoning so thought we would drop in to LeffArmor at Lanvollon and speak direct! The receptionist was very helpful but said, that as the office was not in Lanvollon, I needed to call the number. I explained that I was better at face to face conversation so she very kindly picked up the phone and called the number for me! She then proceeded to give me directions, which I was pretty sure I understood, take the St Brieuc road, past the wood, you would see a bridge, signposted Plelo, turn before it and go over it and then follow the signs. This was great but having travelled along the St Brieuc road a few times I could not picture a bridge until just before the main, main road – perhaps I had actually misunderstood. Amazingly my understanding of the directions was spot on and both Steve and I commented that we had forgotten the bridge! We made it to the depot and after showing proof of our address we became the proud owners of two wheely bins. Thank goodness for Winse, there was enough space in front of my seat to accommodate both of them, but a bit of pushing and shoving to get the door closed!
Steve and Alex worked incredibly hard removing the galvanised sheets a section at a time and fitting the new timber. I decided that I didn’t want to be a spare part and started removing ivy from the trees – I think this will be a never-ending job, quite difficult at times but hugely rewarding!
Unfortunately on 27th February Steve’s dad was taken back into hospital and we made the decision to return to the UK the next day. We had a few things to tidy up before leaving but managed to leave the property in plenty of time to travel to Roscoff for the 1.30pm crossing to Plymouth. Steve decided that, as we had a ‘lazy’ tyre, the ideal time and place to pump it up with his little compressor was in the ferry queue waiting to board. I was sitting in the back of the van with Alex up front, Steve passed his compressor to Alex to plug into the cigarette lighter and nothing happened. Steve suggested that maybe the ignition had to be on for it to work but again nothing. Perhaps we need to actually start the engine? However, the engine would not now start – what the hell had happened? I just sat quietly in the back with my head in my hands as the pair of them tried to figure it out. Alex found a fuse diagram online and they methodically went through them all. The only blown fuse was for the cigarette lighter (as it was a 10 amp fuse and the compressor needed a 15 amp one). With that changed they tried to start the vehicle again – still no joy. By this time I was getting a little bit anxious, port staff were starting to circulate and I had visions of being called forward to board but not actually being able to move! Steve had an epiphany – where perhaps he needed to close the driver’s door to start the engine?!?!?! Of course not! Next, up goes the bonnet and he starts poking around – no, nothing obvious there. All I can think about now is that we are not going to be able to get on the ferry; other lanes were being called forward. Alex leans across from the passenger seat and turns the ignition on and wondered why it was showing that the vehicle was in gear position 3. Could it really be that simple – Steve had left the van in gear when he stopped? Van in neutral and vehicle starts – what a b***** numpty, but just in time as our lane was called forward! My panic abated and I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry!! The ferry crossing itself was fine, I managed to find a nice settee to lay down on – I didn’t sleep a great deal but laying down with my eyes closed makes the trip much more manageable! The benefit of a short drive from the mud hut to Roscoff was negated by the rainy and foggy trip up to Hampshire from Plymouth. We had hoped to stop for food but never quite managed to find somewhere, so in the end a petrol station sandwich had to suffice. We finally arrived at Steve’s parents’ house at around midnight to find his mum still up, rearranging furniture to accommodate her guests. We managed to convince her that as we had been sleeping in Winse for the last two weeks another night wouldn’t be a problem especially as she was nice and warm from the drive. Alex managed to sleep inside though!
We spent about ten days with Steve’s parents, most of which were spent discussing the merits of swapping Winse for their Hymer motorhome (in which they had spent twenty years enjoying life, travelling around Europe). The real concern about the larger van was access at the property, but having Alex with us meant we should be able to enlarge the driveway in a reasonable timeframe and only have to spend a few nights parking and sleeping elsewhere. In the end the decision was made and I said a teary farewell to Winse and hello to Cock! (numberplate name again – CCK!!) As the weather was not that good – quite windy, we decided that we would drive to Dover and take the short (hour and a half) crossing to Calais and take our time (now we had a bigger van) to drive back home. We managed to find seafront parking in Dover, a few minutes from the ferry terminal and spent our first night as a family in Cock! She has a double bed above the driving position and a single and double in the main living area. Steve and I took the high bed and Alex the single. Quite a bit more comfortable than Winse! Again a non-descript crossing, once more I found a settee and managed it with no ill-effects. We had a good drive back with just one supermarket/lunch stop and then had to decide where we would spend the night. We knew there was parking in Pleguien, but were not sure if there were any restrictions. However, on arrival there were no notices, just a Parking sign, so we thought we would spent the night there – the benefit of this was the ‘boulangerie’ (bakery) across the road for fresh croissants and pain au chocolat for breakfast the next day!
The next morning (after breakfast, of course) we drove to the property where Alex and I got into our work gear and Steve man-handled his electric bike onto the bike rack on the van – I think he needs bigger muscles! Oh all right, he was having to reach up quite high!! He then returned to the parking place and cycled back to the property. We worked really hard and managed to break the back of the job on that first day and decided that we would go to Saint Quay, take advantage of a shower at the marina and spend the night there. Steve dropped the two of us off again the following morning, parked up and cycled back and we managed to create a useable driveway. Back-breaking work but with the three of us we achieved! Steve cycled back to the van, struggled again to put the bike on (two days hard, hard work after nearly two weeks off!!) and brought the van back to test the driveway – success he managed to get Cock on the drive and it was relatively level! The weather was pretty cold so we decided that Alex would still sleep in the van with us. He felt that the tables had really turned when we went to bed and started giggling. In a very stern voice he said, “Children be quiet and go to sleep”, this created another set of giggles which gained the reprimand of “If you don’t shut up and go to sleep, you will be grounded”. Who knew he could be so authoritarian!! But I am not surprised that he has now decided to go back to sleeping in the tent!!
Marina Trevor paid us a visit! He had been promising for some time to come and see us and donate an old ladder and a few roof tiles – kind donation, very gratefully received! We also had another visitor – a young art student who asked if he could take a photo of the ambience of the area with his camera obscura, it wouldn’t take that long only about 15-20 minutes. He was here long enough for a coffee and also for quite a nice chat – anything to improve my French!! I also had a conversation with one of the locals, her sitting in her car and me leaning out of the driver’s window of the van on our driveway (and that was even before social distancing became the norm!)
Parking the van was no longer an issue so it was time to return to the roofing – the final section to be planked then cutting it to length. Once again I was surplus to requirements so it was decided that I should start my veggie patch. I had some rhubarb to plant and also some seeds that had been waiting from last year. It was agreed that I should dig a small area down in the paddock and I must admit that seems to have been a good idea – I think I may have found one stone, but can’t be sure as I only heard it on the fork once! I now have a small and no so perfectly formed veggie patch with rhubarb, broccoli, carrots and onions. I will sow some more seeds once these have come up! I have also now planted some tomato and chilli seeds in small pots, let’s hope some of them grow!!
The roof on the garage building is now fully timbered, my two men do seem to work quite well together, although Alex has admitted that he has the hand/eye coordination of a seal and doesn’t always manage to throw things exactly where Steve needs them! Steve’s ‘comfort seat’ (just an old curtain folded neatly – to protect his delicate undercarriage whilst sitting on the roof) did end up in the water butt!! I did have my input on the roof, as our roofline on our out of square building is proving to be challenging. This is where aesthetics and squareness do not come together. To overcome what would have been a desperate eyesore, I suggested a slight change of roofline design in keeping with many local properties. Amazingly this doesn’t look anywhere near as bad as our original plan.
Now with the travel restrictions in place, that part of the building has to wait for us to source and purchase tiles – we are hoping to buy second-hand or surplus stock so we will be keeping an eye on Le Bon Coin (a website similar to Gumtree).
Having heard that France was effectively going into lockdown on Tuesday 17th March at 12 o’clock we decided that we should go and get our essential shopping and go for a shower. Driving past Carrefour we noticed that people were queuing out the door so decided that we would go to Lidl first. Steve went in on his own and returned with tales of how empty the meat counters were and how busy the store was. We needed petrol for the generator so Alex and I queued for Carrefour while Steve filled the van and got the petrol. They had set up a system where they were letting about a dozen shoppers in through one door, asking everyone to keep at least a metre away from everyone else, marked lines on the floor by the checkout to keep you back until the previous customer had cleared and then sent you out the other door. As Steve had had a successful shopping trip in Lidl we were only after a couple of items – unfortunately they didn’t have any bread flour left so our only ‘essential’ purchase was two 10 litre boxes of wine (special offer!!) – the cashier (one I often see) had a little smile as she scanned our purchases. Due to the time taken in the supermarket I was starting to worry about the cut-off time and we still wanted to go to the marina for a shower. Our last comfy shower for a while I expect (we can shower in the van if we have water but it is quite a small cubicle!) and then time to head home. It was gone 12 now so I was panicking, what if we were stopped by the gendarmes? Fortunately we made it and I could calm down! So now we are pretty much under house arrest – we need paperwork to permit movement and not having any printer paper (we do have the printer!!) I have had to write out the Attestation, the form required to allow us to leave the property to go shopping.
Having cut back some of the bank to accommodate the van we decided that we should tidy it up. Steve has always been very keen on gabions and having plenty of stones around we thought we could do that. Having searched on line for the cages, we decided that we were too tight to pay the prices so, once again, recycle and repurpose came to the fore. There were several wire panels that had been attached to the old lean-tos, which were now not doing anything. We had thought we might use them for the chicken area but decided that this would probably make better use of them. Steve cut some cherry stakes and hammered them into the ground, attached the wire and then we started filling with stone. I think it looks really good and finishes off the driveway nicely. Where we had taken out some trees the bank itself was looking quite bare so I decided to dig up some plants from around the property (forget-me-nots, primroses and some fern things) and planted them. It should soon look pretty again!
Our major issue now is water for the van. Bottled water from the supermarkets is relatively cheap but they don’t sell anything bigger than 5 litres. We knew that you can get water at a majority of aires (a place for camping cars to overnight with usually a water tap, grey water disposal and chemical toilet disposal facilities). Our nearest aire at Tremuson is approximately 10-15 kilometres away so in this time of lock-down we assumed this was too far for us to travel. I know, I thought one Saturday morning, I’ll email the mairie (mayor’s office) and see if they can suggest something for us. I didn’t really expect a reply on a Saturday but amazingly within about half an hour a reply came through – due to the exceptional circumstances Monsieur Le Maire had given us permission to use the tap at the cemetery, they had even been kind enough to attach photos of the building and tap that we should use. So with our Attestations filled out we set off and filled up – great, at least we would be able to have a couple of showers!!
Another priority, now we have a bigger camping car, was gas. Steve’s dad had very kindly donated his full gas bottle, however, using the fridge and heating system meant this lasted just over two weeks. The morning after the gas ran out we filled in our forms and the three of us set out in the van to get gas and some shopping. It was only just after nine when we got to Super U supermarket where there was a queue of people waiting when I spotted a sign that said their hours had changed and the store would open at 10am. Rather than sit around waiting for it to open we decided to go to the garden centre over the road to get the gas and then do the shopping in Lidl (next door to the garden centre). Only one person was allowed into the garden centre at a time and as it is my job to set up these contracts in I went. I successfully organised two contracts, although now looking back they did overcharge me and we collected two full bottles. Right, next stop Lidl. As we pulled into the parking space we noticed a Gendarme car with the driver and passenger taking quite a bit of interest in us. They pulled into the car park, alongside us and demanded to know what we thought we were doing. We duly handed over our attestations and our proof of id and explained that one of us was going to be going in to do our shopping. However, this is when we realised that we should have been checking the news more frequently as unbeknownst to us the rules had changed, they had updated the forms (but fortunately were still accepting the old ones) and only one person per vehicle was allowed to go out. The gendarme did ask us whether we watched television and I replied that we didn’t have electricity. He explained that we had to go home straightaway and Steve could return to do the shopping. None of us were brave enough to say that, technically, we were in our home as gendarmes are not necessarily known for their sense of humour. He then said something about the fine which I didn’t quite get but assumed that as he didn’t hand anything over we were going to get away with it this time. I did start to worry about this later when I read an article where fake gendarmes were handing out on the spot fines and normal fines would come by post – nervous wait time!! Of course, ignorance is no excuse and finally nearly three weeks later three letters arrived – one for each of us! One hundred and thirty five euros each – expensive bottles of gas! We live and learn and before every trip out that Steve or Alex makes I double check all the available websites to make sure there are no more rule changes. I don’t go out at all anymore, too scared of the gendarmes!!
We have decided that we need to spend a bit of time doing work other than on the buildings so Steve thought he would make an enclosure for the chicken shed. We think they will probably be free-range (once we get them) but an enclosure might be worth having, which might make it easier to ‘round them up’ at the end of the day. We do have quite a few hazel trees so we decided to have a go at a ‘hurdle’ style enclosure. He banged a few posts in and we chopped down some hazel and set to weaving. It isn’t going to keep the chickens in but it does look quite pretty!! Due to the success of this venture, we thought it would be a good idea to make my compost bin with the same materials. My first attempt was to push some stakes in to the ground in a circle and try to weave around them – I didn’t get them in deep enough so everything kept falling over, Steve then suggested making it flat on the ground and then pulling it into a round shape. Working on the ground was relatively successful, but unfortunately none of us was strong enough to be able to bend it round into a circle. Finally I decided that I would have a square bin as I was pretty sure we could make a successful one! It doesn’t look too bad and the lid looks very much like a hurdle!! I am determined to have a go at making a gardening trug but so far all my attempts have been major failings – I think I need to do a bit of research first!
Alex was looking for a solo project so Steve suggested that he build us a wood store. Steve had seen a lovely round one on a television programme and explained it to Alex who thought that a square one would be much more suitable (and easier to build!) However to keep the client happy he set to work on a round one. After a couple of days of not really getting very far he decided to shelve that idea and he would make a start on the hole for the fosse septique (septic tank). After consulting the plans he marked out his ground and started digging. This area had obviously been used as a rubbish heap at some time in the past – he found numerous glass bottles, broken china and almost a car’s worth of rusty car parts – we did suggest that if he got fed up with digging he could have a go at rebuilding a car! The only issue with digging the hole was what to do with the spoil. We didn’t just want to pile it up and create a job for a different day so it was agreed that it would be spread out amongst the trees. As his job in Greece had now been put on hold due to Coronavirus, thoughts turned to making a barn/spare bedroom away from the main house and the spoil could be used to create a base. This now also meant that Alex could join the lumberjack community. His first attempt at cutting a tree down was very disappointing (for those watching!) After telling his dad to clear off and let him get on with it he managed to fell the tree at the first attempt with no hands on hips moments, or standing back and wondering why it won’t fall. However he did redeem himself three trees later when he managed to trap the chainsaw blade!! He has watched a few YouTube videos on planking and using a style copied from a Russian made excellent work of splitting his trunks. Obviously the next step was bark removal. He initially gave me that pleasure (it is something I enjoy doing) but as the sooner it was done the sooner he could cut another tree, he joined me in the removal. His technique was quite a bit quicker than mine so I decided to leave him to it!! He was certainly a happy chap when he walked up with a four and a half metre long section of bark (removed in one piece) and even happier when he appeared with the second! It is funny how competitive children get with their parents! Oh, and by the way, hole digging has stopped for the moment!!
As Alex gave up on the wood store, Steve decided to make a start on a temporary wood shed – square!! He had been trying to get us to do things in circles but when he starts a project he does it the easy way!! He claims it will be temporary but things can stay temporary for a long time! Using old timbers and recovered galvanised sheeting taken from the garage end we now have a relatively large and quite full wood store! Really feel as though we are making good progress!
One thing we are still missing is an oven – Winse didn’t have one although she did have a grill and Cock doesn’t have one either. We had always planned to build ourselves a cob oven but could never agree on where we would place it. We had moved the donated tool store (folding caravan) which gave an ideal location – slightly away from the property underneath the trees next to the newly created bench. We built the initial base using fibre-cement roofing tiles which had been stored in one of the lean-tos which we had moved a year ago. The base is approximately three foot high using four piles of tiles and to make it look pretty we then built a drystone wall around the tiles (at least three or four times – I gave up on this as each time I touched a stone I knocked something down). The septic tank hole, two foot under the surface, is predominantly sand, so I dug some out as it was needed to create the mould for the oven. We had been umming and ahhing as to whether we needed a chimney or not but decided to go for a simple dome design. Having completed the drystone wall we made a couple of batches of cob to be the base of the oven. I did start off helping Steve put the cob on but with my first handful I managed to knock some of the drystone wall down so once again I backed off and left him to it! He put six donated roof slates on top of the cob to act as a sliding surface and then built a sand dome. We then wetted some old papers and in true papier-mache style placed them on the sand. Three batches of cob later the oven had taken shape. Now the worst part – leave it for a few days to dry out enough to remove the sand. I think my impatient husband managed two days. This became a spectator sport as Alex and I watched Steve removing the sand in anticipation of structural failure – however, it was incredibly boring and no failure at all. (We didn’t really want it to fail but it would have been very funny!) Next it was time to light a gentle fire to help further drying. Now as most of you know Steve and gentle fires very rarely go hand in hand. He likes to get big roaring fires going, using white spirit or meths and even sometimes a combination of both! However on this piece of equipment we have vowed not to use chemical means to get the fire going. A combination of paper, cardboard, twigs, dried bark, dead grass, straw eventually created a small, smouldering fire. We even had to resort to a small piece of hosepipe to act as bellows so it was agreed a slight modification was required and a 25mm diameter hole was drilled into the rear of the oven to aid airflow. This was successful! The next day was trial day. We were going to be having a chilli and Steve decided he wanted nachos. Alex managed to get the fire going quite well, Steve almost managed to put it out but not quite! We found out our meat temperature probe and placed it in the oven to see what sort of temperature we would be working with and it quite quickly rose to 250 degrees plus – excellent! A layer of tortilla chips was covered with grated cheese and placed in. Within a few minutes it was done and due to the vegetarian nature of the test subject we were all able to tuck in! Success!!!! Steve’s chilli nachos were very tasty as well apparently! But approximately five days’ work for two plates of nachos isn’t really a very good return is it!! We have subsequently managed to cook the following very successfully – homemade margherita pizzas (the crusts were to die for!), homemade bread rolls, sausages, flapjack (note to self: cover with foil to prevent sugar burning on the top within two minutes!) and ciabatta pizzas. My friendly French lady has been past a few times and complimented us on the oven and took photos to show her husband and to send to her daughter – she was well impressed but admittedly has only seen it from a distance! She has suggested that we should try cooking some potatoes in it.
After having so much fun the time had come to return to proper work! The main house roof. Our original plan was to remove the galvanised sheets on the west side of the roof and attempt to reclaim the tiles on the east side. As the roof structure was unsafe, we shored the roof in strategic places with old bits of timber to allow access for the removal of the galvanised sheeting and tiles. Upon removal of the galvanised sheets it was evident that 50% of the timbers on the west side would need to be replaced. This set our thoughts that we would remove all the timber and replace with new, keeping as many of the internal structural wood as possible, as this gives the building so much of its character. Steve and Alex worked together again to remove the sheets and it only took them two days to get rid of all the galvanised sheets – however they did decide to work on the really hot sunny days so both have managed to top up their tans!! We then moved on to the tile side. Having removed the first few it became evident that this was the second use for the tiles and many were too thin to reuse. This did change our plan for removal as it was no longer a reclaim job just removal. Up the ladder, using the spade (recently re-handled by Alex due to the fact he broke it!!) Steve slid it with some force to break the crochets (clips) holding the tiles in place. Occasionally he managed to throw some at Alex, who was footing the ladder! The garden rake then came into its own, scraping the tile remnants from the roof to the ground. It was time for me to start work. With my trusting tipper truck it was my job to pick up the broken slate which we then subsequently used to create a slate path at the south end of the building and a nice place to store my bins! As the van is close to the end of the property it was agreed that while Steve went shopping Alex and I would continue to remove the tiles – this time Alex got to go up the ladder and even onto the roof with me footing the ladder and performing my safety officer duties!! I tend to take my safety officer duties far more seriously with Alex than I ever do with Steve – must be a parent thing!! Three days later and the tiles had all been removed and we had gained a new path. Steve has now even removed the timber cladding from the east side of the building.
I have managed to write this today as it was pointed out last night that we haven’t had a day off in at least three weeks so it was agreed that today would be that day off. So Steve spent the morning remodelling and cleaning his outdoor/indoor kitchen. Alex has set up his TV and Playstation in the tent, running off the small generator, this has given him some sanity time away from the children!! I cleaned the van, planted out some tomato plants and then did a spot of grass cutting with a pair of secateurs, after a failed attempt with the scythe (it must be a right-handed one as I couldn’t get on with it!) Talking of grass cutting, just a little snippet for you – this is not my first foray into this activity. A few days ago I thought it would be a good idea to cut some of the grass away from the front of the tent, paying close attention to the guy ropes. Alex came by and stopped to watch me happily snipping when he says, “did you just cut that guy rope?”, “No, of course not, I’ve stayed well away from it” I replied. “Well, I just saw it drop down on to the tent mum”. Ahh, it appears he was right and I was wrong, after several moments of laughter Steve managed to tie it together so Alex’s tent is currently safe and I have promised not to go anywhere near it with my shears again!!
On reflection we consider ourselves very lucky at this time. We are self-isolating (but it’s really our choice) enjoying the opportunity to play at our new hobby and getting very fit. If we were still with the boat we would be climbing the walls as we would not have been able to leave the marina. The cost of this has been less than 2k over the year (we have just had our one year anniversary of starting work!) and we get to return an old ruin of a building back to life for the next generation – money well spent!
Fate Or Folly 