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I'm A Lumberjack And I'm OK

8 days to go.

This is the start of the Voie Verte at what used to be Lavelanet railway station. On Monday I walked from the other end of the VV, at Mirepoix, to Rivel, then the quiet roads home. Today, for the last time before VBW, I walked from Lavelanet to Rivel, then the same way home. The Voie Verte is 37 kms in length.

We have noticed, while driving around in the past few days, the number of fallen trees by the roadside. Obviously many have been in the road, but have been cleared off. All this the result of the snow, the sodden ground, and the high winds this week.

As I walked along the old railway track, I met more people than usual. Most of them were gangs clearing fallen trees from the track. Little did I know that when I arrived home I would be doing the same thing. One of our reine claude (greengage) trees had fallen across a neighbour's fence. As the neighbour is over 80, and as in a few days we are going away for several months, the answer was obvious - never mind the 24 kms just walked, I'm a lumberjack and I'm OK.

Natural Disasters

9 days to go.

The rains continue (at least it is washing away the snow). The meteo gives us the same for at least the next 5 days, which is as far as they will forecast. The electricity was off again for hours yesterday. Walking is miserable and uncomfortable.

Of course everybody is complaining. But at least nobody is dying or losing their homes (unlike in the terrible storms in France earlier this year).

Look around the world. Natural disasters are so common we don't even hear about some of them. A couple of days ago Nashville, Tennessee, had the worst floods in its history. 13 inches of rain fell in two days. 17 people were drowned in Tennessee. The cigar store Indian above looks even sadder than usual.

That is thousands of miles to the west of us. But to the East? My daughter Karen is in Saudi Arabia. The desert, right? Desert means lack of rainfall. But this is a message she sent me the same day that Nashville was reeling from floods:

"We had terrible storms yesterday. Thunder and lightning and rain like I've never, ever seen. The streets were rivers, the gardens were flooded, our kitchen was flooded. It took Kenny 6 and a half hours to get home (it normally takes 30 minutes) and six people died in the floods. It's forecast again for this afternoon!!!" The other picture above is of the Saudi floods.

So, we are uncomfortable with our unseasonal weather here, and it will make the tracks a mess for VBW. It will probably slow me down. I shudder at the thought of walking 2,000 kms in this sort of weather. But is is a disaster?

Second Winter Of The Year

10 days to go.

I wasn't sure what sort of weather to expect in May - it can be pretty variable. As I mentioned before, we have seen 11 degrees and 36 degrees - on consecutive days! But I did not expect, as I did this morning while walking the 18 kms from Quillan to Puivert, to be wishing I had brought my gloves with me. It was 4 degrees, but with a very strong wind and its accompanying chill factor

It snowed heavily all day yesterday, and lay thick upon the ground. On the Sault Plateau, only a few kilometres away but much higher, the conditions must have been much worse, which is probably why our electricity was off for 7 hours. This morning in Quillan we saw snowploughs fuelling up to head that way again.

Here, fortunately, it rained during the night and washed much of the snow away. But my walk this morning, down familiar tracks, was a bit of an eye-opener. I have never seen the tracks so wet. They resembled what they call in New Zealand "braided rivers". At one ford I cross regularly, over an intermittent stream, where I have never seen more than a trickle, there was a raging torrent. I had to grit my teeth and wade across, knowing that my shoes and socks would be sodden for the rest of the walk.

The local papers this morning are full of stories about the weather and the "return to winter". Record low temperatures for May were recorded in Carcassonne. also in Carcassonne this is the first time in 50 years that there has been snow in May, although I suspect that here, much closer to the huge Pyrenees mountain chain, there has been May snow much more recently than that.

Snow in May

11 days to go, and this is the view from our window this morning. And although you can't see it in the picture, the snow is still falling heavily.

Not ideal. I don't fancy trudging north through snowdrifts. Even if, as I assume (why?) the snow has cleared away by 15th May, it will all add to the muddiness and sogginess of the tracks, making progress slower and more tiring.

But, as they used to say to us in Cyprus when we lived there, with a shrug of the shoulders - "What can you do?"

And Now, For Positively The Last Time ...

12 days to go, and today, for the last time before VBW - possibly for the last time ever - I walked the 34 kms from Mirepoix to home, mainly on the old railway track. This week, as for the last few, I will walk about 100 kms. Next week, apart from Saturday and Sunday, during which I will walk the first two stages of VBW, I will be ticking over at about 5 kms a day, gathering my resources.

The weather has turned a bit grim here. It has been raining all weekend and is set to do the same for several more days. Tomorrow the forecast is for 5 degrees maximum - I remind you that this is the South of France and it is May. In other years we have seen consecutive days of 36 degrees and then 11 - but 5!!!

V-Force One

14 days to go.

By popular demand, here are the first pictures of the Battlebus, now redesignated V-Force One. The special "Vic's Big Walk" decoration will be added soon.

Starting two weeks today, this will be our home for 3 months or so. Commander Gay will fly V-Force One on 70 consecutive 30-kms missions while I clear the ground on foot. Then we shall faff around in UK for a while before meandering our way homewards.

We spent our first night in the module last night, having driven over to St Girons, approximately 100 kms from here and one of our favourite places. Pity about the weather, but it seems we are stuck with it for the next few day. Wet is the word, but at least we have heard no more about the threatened snow.