Pete and Rob’s reconstructed wall, two years later
Holiday in mid-March, luckily before the Covid-19 lock-down stopped flights going out. Portugal started the lock-down while we were there, with limited shops opening and queuing to get into supermarkets, though it didn’t affect us unduly.
What did cause us to revise our activities was having to hire a car, because the red rover (with towing hitch for the trailer) was still in the garage. So we couldn’t do projects that required lengths of wood to be bought, and once the sand ran out (after a couple of days), no construction. Our hire car only had 15km on the clock so we were terrified every time we drove it, particularly after picking up a leaking bag of lime mortar! No permanent harm done luckily. We had friends staying with us for a working holiday, so there was plenty of time for laughter, gin-drinking and walking.
Mark had just finished a Health and Safety course!
Rob’s first project was to continue the rendering of the front wall, replacing the clay tiles on the top with some from the bone-yard and rebuilding the characteristic pillars. It is nearly completed but it would have been handy if the sand supply had lasted a bit longer.
Meanwhile Mark fixed solar lighting in the compost toilet house and cleared more space for washing up and cooking in the bread oven.
Work then moved onto deconstruction of a redundant wall on the north side (no longer a space for washing up), taking the rocks uphill in the barrow to a new site…
Note the neighbours electricity extension lead running into our house, bless them.
Gone is the wall supporting the sink unit so a re-think is needed here.
Meanwhile, the girls built a retaining wall below the track, using some of the rocks removed from the boys wall.
And we celebrated by lighting the forno for pizza! A smaller fire, dry wood and rather more successful than the grand firing a year ago.
Hovel in the sun 