A funny old day

It has been a funny old day. We both woke up knackered despite not having done anything that could possibly warrant such a state. Could it be because we had been awoken by dogs barking plus a team of builders arriving next door at silly o'clock this morning? Ah yes, that could have something to do with it! We soon learnt that they were here to knock off the old render and apply good old 'crépi' to the exterior of our neighbour's property over the coming days. What a noise, what a mess, what a load of inconsiderate, thoughtless workers, mindlessly using the edge of our elevated rear terrasse decking to access our neighbour's wall with their hammers, drills and goodness knows what else. They were soon told to set up their own scaffolding or ladder and keep themselves off our property!

We had to get out and away from the noise and disruption. Fortunately it has been a wonderfully sunny, blue-skied day, so we headed up to the Col de Port where the autumn colours are coming into their ownWe took the path up in the direction of Pic d'Estibats but broke off left to the cabane d'EstibatsFrom there, we headed up in the direction of Sommet des Griets. I was taking it deliberately easy, very conscious of how my leg and bum muscles were operating, not wanting to end up in a crippled heap after spending some time on my feet. I have been doing the specific stretches that the osteo gave me the other day and my glutes do feel like they have been easing off but I wasn't going to do anything stupid to aggravate them so this was very much a walk rather than a run.

We proceeded on up to the Pic d'Estibats from where there are great views over towards Mont Valierand, on the descent, Mont Fourcat and Pic de Saint Barthelemy dominate the horizonWe were out for 2 hours and and the pooch was pooped after his first real 'outing' for quite some time. My legs, fortunately, feel great and with no adverse effects from the 560+m of ascent/descent and more stretching this evening will have also helped :-)

The workers were of course still at it when we got back, but we were in a better frame of mind having had some sun and exercise.

A little surprise this evening - I was getting the washing in from the airer on the terrasse when I felt a sting, a bite on my finger - a red ant possibly? No, there on the underside of the sheet was a small spider. I dashed indoors and grabbed a container and managed to trap it for later inspection, just in case it was poisonousInternet research has failed to identify it, but I am still alive and kicking with no funny symptoms, so it's bite must have been harmless, thank goodness.