A cooler day today (it appears that the run of record breaking hot weather has broken for the moment); and a short one again, though with more climbing than yesterday. We started out after a great breakfast and send-off from our B&B hosts in Carpentras, and felt the first raindrops of the day. We had been listening to the thunder as we ate breakfast on our terrace, the forecast was for thunderstorms and increasing rain over the day. The sky was dark with clouds, and it really looked like it was going to be a wet day of riding. Penny prepared for this by getting out the rain jacket that has not been seen for a few weeks now. As it was still quite warm, I was going to tough it out. Luckily the rain didn’t really develop, the showers came and went for a few hours, though the clouds looked very threatening at times, and lightning flashes and thunder occurred regularly all day. On the outskirts of Carpentras is a magnificent structure, the aqueduct. It was built over a 14 year period, beginning in 1720. No longer carrying water, it is a listed heritage monument. Eventually we reached the start of the Gorges de la Nesque. Everyone has heard of, and heads for the Gorges de Verdon. The Gorges de la Nesque are much less well known and much shorter - but just as impressive. It is the second most important canyon in Provence, and very friendly to cyclists, as the climb averages 3%, and a couple of tunnels stop larger vehicles from using the road. We have been on the road through the gorge before, but heading downhill - this time we had all day to get to Sault, and going slow enough to stop when we wanted to. As we pretty much had the road to ourselves today, it was safe to stop just about anywhere, even when there were no verges. Interestingly, the road maintenance gangs had trimmed hedges along the way. Usually just squared off, there was one example of a topiary bus shelter. (or a sentry box?) Towards the end of the gorge we had great views of Mont Ventoux. One surprise at the top of the Gorges de la Nesque belvedere were a couple of very intimidating pigs that came across from a building to see what they could get from the few cars and bikes that had stopped. Quite fun to see the reactions of people when they spotted the pigs for the first time, but not so funny when they started to investigate and attempt to chew into Penny’s panniers to get the bread stowed there! When I attempted to shoo them away, I got a bite on my foot (not enough to break the skin - more of a ‘back off’ warning - which I heeded!) We were very glad we had not decided to have our picnic lunch at the table at the belvedere…. The fields around Sault are purple with lavender this time of year, and we could smell it on the air, especially when we passed two distillerys processing the crop. We enjoyed a late picnic lunch on the promenade at Sault overlooking the lavender filled valley with no competition for the food. This evening the heavens opened up and the rain pelted down, with accompanying lightning and thunder. With luck it will blow itself out overnight, clearing the skies and cooling the air!