Cycling B&B in the foothills of the Pyrenees

[Bonus]

Today we visited the council offices to chase up our outstanding planning permission application . . . . and we were given a letter of "points that need addressing before the application can be passed" . . . . dated 16th APRIL!

We should have been given it 7 weeks ago!

We've passed it on to our architect, who promptly rang the council office and demanded to know "what they were playing at". So, now the architect can modify the drawings to suit the local area guidelines and then they can be re-submitted.

Finally some progress, but not impressed with a council office where everyone thought that "someone else had done it"

:-)

 

[Bonus]

One of the things I'm really enjoying here, and missed badly when I was in South Africa for the last 8 years or so . . . . riding in daylight late on a warm summer evening! :-)

In SA in summer we were getting up and out on the bikes by 6am. Much after 9 or 10am it was just too hot to still be out riding. It was a way of life I got used to and enjoyed . . . but I always missed going out for a ride at 7 or 8pm at night and getting home 2 hours later and it was still light.

The middle of the day here can be very hot - hence the idea of a post lunch "Siesta", which is a tradition we've adopted with much enthusiasm! But the evenings are fantastic. Hit the roads or the trails any time after 7pm at this time of year and you can enjoy a lovely warm ride, the evening views across the mountains & valleys etc and still get home in daylight. No lights, no arm warmers, and riding until 10pm! What more could I ask for . .. ?

:-)

 

[Bonus]

An old school friend of mine from my days as a kid in South Africa has come to visit :-)

He and his wife, who live in the UK now and tour around France for two weeks every year, have stopped by at a local campsite with their Camper Van (a mode of transport we will be discouraging once our B&B is up and running!!) so today we will take them out and show them some sights.

Will be nice to catch up :-)

 

[Shut Up Legs]

Keep up the reports, @Bonus . I've been following this thread with great interest. In September, I'll be doing a week-long cycling tour of the Pyrenees (French side) followed by the French Alps, and I'm looking forward to it.

Regards,

--- Victor.

 

[Bonus]

Sounds like most council offices in the UK...

Was the same in South Africa. The saying there was that your letter/file/info had been filed in "File 13" . . . Which meant the bin. Standard practice was for someone to be given say 10 letters to deal with for the day and they'd shred 3 of them so they could go and sleep in a cupboard or on the roof. We've seen it all, so this is actually quite easy for us :-)

 

[Bonus]

Keep up the reports, @Bonus . I've been following this thread with great interest. In September, I'll be doing a week-long cycling tour of the Pyrenees (French side) followed by the French Alps, and I'm looking forward to it.

Regards,

--- Victor.

Nice. I keep meaning to go and visit the Tourmalet, it's only a couple of hours from here.

 

[Shut Up Legs]

Nice. I keep meaning to go and visit the Tourmalet, it's only a couple of hours from here.

That one's early on the list. I can't wait.

 

[Bonus]

We have a few little jobs to do today - talking to the architect and chasing our planning permission application etc (man, I'm getting bored to death of repeating this line!) before coming home and packing for our drive up through France to the UK where we will be visiting some family and friends for a fortnight.

Then it will be back here for the summer and hopefully to start getting on properly with our building!

:-)

 

[Bonus]

Today I've been chopping and stacking firewood . . . now it's time to wash my bike.

There's nothing to look at around here . . just the same old mountains and scenery . . . . ;-)

 

[Bonus]

We are currently in the UK on a quick catch-up trip, visiting friends & family. Great to see some of our old school friends again :-)

Challenging and confusing times for the Brits at the moment, but it looks like as far as we are concerned, living & working in Spain isn't going to change for us in any way any time soon :-)

Hopefully by the time we get back to Ainsa in a week or two's time our planning permission will have been granted and we can start building!

:-)

 

[Bonus]

My new passport came today - I discovered it was out of date at border control in Calais when we came over here. Luckily they still let me in.

The car is going in for it's MOT on Friday and then we can start make plans for our drive back to Spain and to hopefully more sunshine than we are currently getting in Surrey!

:-)

 

[Bonus]

We are back in Spain now, safe & sound after a few weeks in the UK with friends & family.

It was a long drive through France but the countryside and villages are beautiful and once we get down to the Spanish border we're only 45 mins from Home :-)

Yesterday first thing we met with our architect at his offices to discuss the last of the obstacles holding up our planning application and today we met with him again (acting as our interpreter) and with our neighbours at our property to discuss the issues further. It looks like everything is going to work out ok. There are just some concerns regarding where exactly the boundaries of our respective properties lay. One of the little oddities you get when buying a rural property surrounded by fields :-)


Let's hope we're nearly there now - all the cycling and sight-seeing we're doing to keep ourselves busy is exhausting!

 

[Bonus]

Temperatures in our part of Spain last week peaked at 38 degrees!
Riding first thing in the morning and in the evening is fine - midday is a no-no.
Luckily the Spanish enjoy a midday "Siesta" in their culture which takes care of just such a situation

:-)

 

[Bonus]

We want to get some additional building quotes - so just spoke to 2 different builders on the phone, neither of whom spoke any English.

Mrs Bonus and I between us seem to have successfully arranged meetings for Monday morning and afternoon. Funny how the words go out of your head as soon as the person answers the phone and you break out into a sweat! ‪

#Livinontheedge‬

 

[Bonus]

Last night and continuing over this weekend in Ainsa is the annual "Fiesta of the Meteor Shower" . . .

The meteor shower, which occurs every August and falls on August 11th & 12th this year - comes as a result of the Earth moving through the trail of debris called the "Perseid cloud" which stretches along the orbit of the Swift-Tuttle Comet.

Here in Spain any excuse to "socialise, dance, drink alcohol and eat rich food" will do apparently.

It's a tough life ;-)



:-)