We took our car up to look at some mountains. All across Haute Provence the land is astonishing, fractured and twisted into tiny valleys, cliffs too steep for anything but the thinnest grass and lichen, alternating between blasting heat and thick winter snow.
The perched villages of the region hang on to the outcrops. The residents get amazing views and probably develop very strong calf muscles. For centuries this has been marginal subsistence agriculture, based on goats, olives and nuts. Some still live like this, but many of these villages inevitably depend on second-homers and commuters, or people who can earn a living from a distance.