It was now time to turn and head back for Belgentier, but I decided to take a detour north to visit something called the Chartreuse de Montrieux. To get to it I took another track that curved behind the ridge on the north side of Valbelle. After some time I came upon a group of hunters standing around beside their 4x4. I greeted them amiably and continued on. A hundred metres or so further on there was another one - and another a hundred metres beyond him. In fact, they were posted all along the track for several kilometres. I must have passed about 30 or 40 of them, mostly of them solitary often with a 4x4 parked off-road nearby, and each one I greeted amiably - though after a while it began to seem rather farcical. Somewhere along there I spotted the second boar I’ve ever seen during my wanderings in Provence, but this one was dead, a young one lying by the roadside. This at least showed that all these hunters had managed to achieve something, but the term “overkill” did spring to mind!

Another of the Aiguilles