Apt to Sault; snail spotting and serious mechanical concerns

Today was one of those days.  The kind that finds me pondering the substance of life on the road, and slipping into malaise.  We enjoyed a breakfast of melon, cheese and baguette while watching the rain.  Then headed into it.  Rain softened to drizzle pretty quick as we climbed out of Apt and to a lovely village.

 Rain brought out the snails.

 We headed up to explore a church perched on the hill above the ruins of a castle.  This is a view from the church courtyard.

 After thoroughly enjoying the baked goods the town had to offer (rosemary pizza, quiche, chocolate brownie, and almond pastry - that's what I ate anyway) we headed up and climbed the ridge that we had seen the previous day.  We were accompanied on the climb by this group of cyclists from Denmark.  The rain had stopped and we could enjoy the grade and view of the sky.  Nice climb.

Descent down to Sault was fine and scenic.  This is the view from town.  As we didn't go far today, we had time to kill before check- in.  It started to drizzle and we ate crepes in a cafe.  When we did mobilize to the hotel, Anna discovered that a spoke had broken on her rear wheel.  Shortly thereafter a second spoke broke.  We urged her to find the bike shop in the afternoon while Patrick and I went for a hike.

We christened our hike tour du poop after the trail let us first past the town's water treatment facility, where sewage had overflowed onto the path, then to a muddy trail, then to a place where a farmer had pitched a large amount of dog poop onto the trail.  Yuck!  It will be a while before I hike in France after that.

The spoke breaking was a real concern.

Top food of the day: sample of nougat from an artisan candymaker in town