Peace and Quiet

First snow of the season up at Beille

It is now almost three weeks since we left the UK and relocated back to the Ariège - for the 3rd winter in a row. Although the area is pretty quiet (as ever) Chez Arran has been busy - full for the whole of the holiday season. Today (2nd January) the final guests left and peace return -  which is just how we like it.
We have done a bit of climbing, a bit of snow-shoeing and a lot of walking -which is  always a pleasant way of keeping fit as well as exploring and enjoying this superb area.

Mid-winter sun above Niaux

As has become the norm a trip to Andorra and a new camera were in order - this time I got hold of a Sony RX100 iii and it has turned out to be a rather impressive piece of kit - plus the saving over £170 compared to buying in the UK isn't to be sniffed at.
On the writing front, I have done a lot of work on Eastern Grit Version III and passed it all over to Alan for the final editing - it currently looks like we will be publishing in March - which really isn't very far away. We sold a magnificent total of 24,000 copies of the previous two versions, but this one is going to end up being a bit of a monster, currently at around 520 pages and not finished yet. It could be my swansong and my Magnum Opus perhaps - only time will tell.