This morning, Eric and I drove to the Plaine de Caussols above Gourdon, parked the car, and climbed the Aven from where one has a spectacular view of the plain below. This is by no means a demanding hike: the plain below is at an altitude of some 1100 meters (3600 feet) while this photo was taken at 1340 meters (4400 feet), the highest point we reached on this particular hike. We continued our journey following the mountain westwards to the Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur of which one can barely see the white dome in the upper right corner of the photo. From there, we started climbing down again towards the plain. All in all, it was a walk of just over three hours during which we were involved in a rescue mission, but more about that tomorrow.