Far Lands

Following a tricky snowy col descent (see photo) we joined the GR10 and began to walk down through thick forest. We thought it was all over - it was our penultimate day and we were already dreaming about a proper bed, beers and ice-cream. One more night. But after a very wet and late Spring the rivers were surging and the bridges in the forest were washed away. Off-path I exited through the forest just above this meeting of the two rivers. We appeared to be stuck. There was one possible exit which was to climb onto the snow / ice that covered the river (the right hand one in the above photo) about a 100 metres upstream from this video above. It sounds very straight-forward but the snow and ice across the river that formed a bridge was melting and there was a gaping hole in it. Our tactics were (i) grin and hope and walk quickly across, and (ii) send James first. We managed it (photos taken from this side looking back over what we had crossed). Quite scary, and we th...

Just back from a couple of weeks in The Pyrenees - mixture of wild-camping ( trowel-camping as one of our friends refers to it), and a week in a Cottage. Our garden is a jungle of growth. It was supposed to be our Summer holiday but we were glad we had packed ice-axes, crampons, rope and harnesses. Sarah was glad that I was carrying them. We stayed a night in this hut. Sarah negotiating tricky melting snowy slabs on the mountain-sides.

Although we have almost no blossom in our new orchard, our established fruit trees are looking good with plenty of blossom on the plum (now over) and the three apples. There are six stages of apple blossom:- 1. bud burst 2. mouse-ear (how fantastic is that!) 3. green cluster 4. pink bud 5. full bloom 6. fruitlet Our apple trees (pictured) are currently moving developing from stage 4 to stage 5.

Summer is kind of coming, and the grass at least is starting to grow. So, I have had the scythe out and started with the orchard. Sarah is very worried that I might decapitate a chicken but hey ho we could always pop it in the pot. No great warmth yet so not much growth outside the greenhouse. But the hot box (see blog 105) is working well - our radishes are the size of golf-balls. Elsewhere we are eating lovage (well, I am), rhubarb and spinach. And most excitingly the St George's mushrooms which appeared in a huge fairy ring last year have re-appeared. I am drying them on top of our boiler.

Compost heaps are, as I tend to tell most people, the engines of the garden. So my thinking is that the more engines, the more productive the garden will be. I have recently built my 5th! I make them out of old pallets, and have become a regular skip-surfer in the locality. With my background I always knock on the door and ask - legally, even rubbish has an owner. I have space and plans for seven. And who knows, maybe my 50th will see double figures.

No such thing as a normal Monday. Today it was a runaway trailer. One of the local farmers was towing a heavy water tank and it unhitched itself and took out our gate and wall. Could have been a lot worse, and taken out people, cars or ended up in the river. Been promised a shiny new gate. Less of the shiny, I hope.

Still writing my book, ' From Cop to Coppicer '. A week or two ago I went on a Guardian masterclass with Danuta Kean to learn how to pitch it - how to contact and hopefully hook an agent or a publisher. I now have my two line elevator pitch (so-called because you can relay it during an elevator ride). So here it is:- It is a book about a Cop who has a breakdown and attempts to recover by developing a smallholding. I came back from the course furiously motivated, and have now written in the region of 60 000 words although it will need a serious edit. If I do suffer from any writer's block I could copy James Patterson (just about the UK's most successful-selling author at the moment) - he was on Radio 4 on Monday and said that he hangs in his gravity boots for inspiration.