Buying and renovating a rural property on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees

Saw 39 on my Garmin on Saturday, thankfully it was a lot cooler today!

I was in Biarritz on Saturday, car was showing 44C. We headed to the woods, had a picnic in (literally in) the river and a sea fog blew in dropping temps by 20C in an instant, as is fairly usual here – hot winds from the south always lose to the Atlantic after a couple of days!

Sailed home from Roscoff on Sunday morning and was 13C and pouring down, felt sorry for the cyclists coming off the ferry

Last weekend was the annual Farmers Market in Aisa, this weekend is a big Fiesta. This evening there will be a show on in the plaza and tomorrow night music and dancing. I’ve spent quite a bit of time in the UK this summer – so missed the Guaso village and Boltana town Fiestas – so this weekend will be nice 🙂

I’m looking forward to chocolate coated Churros!!

After a nice week of R&R back in Spain – hiking, swimming, riding and picnicing – we’re heading off tonight to Barcelona for an early morning flight to the States in the morning.

Our first trip back in 2017 was to NYC – amazing. Last year we were in Denver/Boulder/The Rockies – equally amazing. This trip is to North Carolina. If our daughter and her husband keep moving like this we’re going to get to see all the states! They spoil us rotten when we’re there 🙂

When I get back in a couple of weeks time I’ll be on my own for a month until Mrs Spekkie comes back. A good chance to do some nice long rides and make some progress with our Project. It’ll just be tidying up and maintenance to start with but it always feels so good spending time up there in Guaso.

Finally finding time to post a quick update!

Since my last post, long story short….

My supposed two weeks in the US turned into me staying the full 6 weeks with Mrs Spekkie. Had a great time, did some work, did some riding and spent some quality time with the kids and the 18 month old grandson. Then back to Spain for Christmas and the New Year. Spent the first three months of 2023 in Spain riding/hiking/walking on every available dry/sunny day either by ourselves or with friends and now I’m in the UK for a little while.

We don’t post on here as much as we do on other Social Media – simply because the “Insta and copy to FB” exercise is so easy to do. Here are a couple of pics from February via Tumblr though . . .

Good work, appreciate the update keep them coming, hope the house build is on plan, appreciate plans change, we’ve all seen grand designs;) Aim to get around there some day.

I’ve just read this whole thread from beginning to end! Thank you for posting updates, spekkie, and for showing so many photos of this amazing part of the world. Like many others, I’m now considering a visit..!

Glad you enjoyed it PCA! I’ll try and keep it a bit more up-to-date from now on . . . .

I was missing the updates too!

Missing ZZ as well, I usually get up there at Easter for a couple of days trail running but ended up on the wrong side of the country this time. Will be there in early summer before it gets too hot, although who knows anymore – I was running at 2500m at new year in a t-shirt…

I’m finally back in Spain after several months working away – and I’m just in time for tomorrows “Copa de España de Pumptrack” competition! 🙂

As soon as I get time I’ll post some updates – this year has been crazy busy

Jogged past your house last month Spekkie, stayed at the campsite in Ainsa for a mini break before school started.
Ran up to Morcats and back – stunning as always but very overgrown compared to a couple of years ago. Seems to be a new (?) veggie restaurant in Guaso too, didn’t get chance to try it.

Hey Bob!

Yeah the bar in the Guaso Plaza now serves vegetarian food. They’ve gone for the concise “fixed menu” idea – a choice of a couple of options for each course, to cater for differing tastes – rather than a full menu. They are big on sustainability and the idea is to optimise using local seasonal ingredients and to reduce wastage. They say it allows them to cook a few things efficiently rather than lots of things inefficiently. It’s run by a nice lady who speaks several languages. The lady that had it before took over the lease just before Covid hit and it was only the construction workers working on the new road between Guaso and  Latorrecilla that kept her afloat. Sadly in the end she gave up. ….

I was in Morcat not too long ago when we went over that way to find the sculptures dotted around in the fields.

Generally, some of the trails are becoming a bit overgrown. There is a view held by some here that Zona Zero has just become too big to manage it the way it was conceived and managed in the past – a small group of friends with a chainsaw and a pick….. I guess we will see 🙂

Nice to see the thread back – I saw Zona Zero got a mention in Bike magazine this month, and I was wondering how it was going up there!

How is Spring shaping up on the South side of the Pyrenees, Spekkie ?
We’re hoping to have a long weekend somewhere around Ainsa in a fortnight in the moho after 4 nights on the French side. Recommendations?

Hi Dave – it’s been a bit of an odd year this year so far….. there was a bit more rain than we’re used to in early spring – but it was needed because winter was unusually dry! For the last 6 weeks or so I’ve noticed that the wind seems to have been blowing from the cold side (West of us) much more than usual, which of course has been bringing the rain etc.

Our big local dam is now currently fuller than I’ve ever seen it. The top windows of the church tower in the dam,  which we have previously kayaked through, are currently 6 feet under water! So we’re certainly back on track now water wise and there’s still snow up on the high peaks of the mountains to melt.

I’m about to go out for an evening ride – its currently 21 degrees and sunny with no wind 🙂

We popped over to France on Monday for lunch with visiting family. This side was nice and sunny, the French side, when we exited the tunnel, was in thick cloud which lasted almost all the way down to Saint Lary. Down in the French villages it was 11 degrees and cloudy – a good 8 degrees colder than this side at the same time.

I’ll keep you posted over the next week – but I have to say the best description at the moment is probably “nice, but a bit changeable!”

Currently experiencing a bit of a heatwave here – 28 degrees at 8pm this eve – I’m just in from a lovely evening ride 🙂

Trails are dry and dusty where I am but I see rain over towards the west. An afternoon of rain wouldn’t hurt the ground or the temp to be honest!

Currently experiencing a bit of a heatwave here – 28 degrees at 8pm this eve – I’m

Think yourself lucky……!

That’s nothing… 34°C here in Tuscany. Nearing 40°C for the next few days.

I’m going to be well and truly ****. No amount of beer is going to help.

We’ve just had a deluge to end the (modest 31°) heat of the last few days on this side of the hill. Rumble, flash, bang and a wall of water. It’s the first coolish Spring in a few years and a pleasant change.

@alpin – we’ve been getting mid 30’s during the day – too hot to do much unfortunately! 40’s…. forget it LOL

@edukator – we’ve been seeing heavy weather other your side, not sure if that’s what’s on its way here or not, but a damping down will be welcome 🙂

Massive storm last night – today is cooler and the dust has been laid to rest, for now anyway!

We had 3 nights at Gavarnie (stunning location for a campsite), 1 full day of decent weather…then it changed at about 6pm….and rained for 24 hrs. We drove over and thru the Bielsa tunnel yesterday before setting up camp at Ainsa for 4 nights. Had a great road ride today (should have brought an MTB as well) south alongside the dam, then turned east at Meson de Liguerre and climbed about 1000 feet up and over towards Tierrenton and back to Ainsa. Only ever ridden thru the area on a motorbike before. Great to be based here and to be able to pick and choose a couple of rides. (Need to come back with an MTB though….wow, there really are loads of great looking trails and the Zona Zero girl in the Tourist Info was very helpful)

Hire an MTB from the bike shop in town, Dave.

I had thought of that….but am happy on the road for the next couple of days…knowing we’ll definitely come back, either later in the year or next Spring. Thanks for the suggestion

@Dave – That’s a nice loop.

The Zona Zero team put in some work a couple of years ago to catalogue a collection of road-rides.

I can recommend riding up the valley to the Bielsa tunnel and then blasting back to Ainsa – pretty much 45km of downhill road!

I remember when you started this thread @spekkie. Love it when updates appear 🙂

I see there’s a Welsh number plate Black fiat van parked up in Boltaña with a bike rack on the back ……