The second part of our Gers or Occitanie album (Occitanie is the wider region, Gers is the old name of the smaller!) from our 6 months in South West France in 2018-2019.
The reason for being there for so long was to "dog-sit" for a wonderfully friendly couple. Their two black labs were either sleeping, guarding or playing and we had a much needed animal and country fix after so long travelling+laptops. We walked the dogs everyday 45 minutes minimum such as on particularly frigid or wet days, but more usually an hour or more - losing several kg of weight in the process! We are not sure if it was this exercise or the lack of delicious (and deliciously cheap) South East Asian restaurants that made the difference.
Amazingly, some ever-so-kind neighbours needed some help exercising their horses with their busy schedules. Elizabeth stepped up to "help" but really we were the ones benefitting! Elizabeth rode 2 to 3 times a week for a few months on Vanilla the sprightly Arab-cross and that was such an unexpected blessing. I unfortunately still was yet to fully understand my knee injury, which was misattributed to a strain but was we later learned was a torn meniscus due to another horse from several months earlier in the countryside of Kerala, India. In any case it was good I didn't get in the saddle more than once or surgery would have been required!
In terms of this gallery, Vanilla's friends, local chunky French horses, and a local Instagram-cat also make an appearance.
All in all, lungs were cleaner, scales were lighter, and dog and horse fur everywhere.
So please enjoy this collection by clicking on the image above or: https://500px.com/p/vientiene/galleries/occitanie-france-2019
Once on the first image, we recommend tapping the Full Screen icon top right.
Enjoy! :-)
~ Vientiene
P.S. Interested in seeing other galleries? https://www.travellingfortea.com/photography
Our IG travel photography feed: http://instagram.com/radiant_travel
Our US loose leaf tea shop: http://MatchaAlternatives.com
Our adventures in tea and travel: https://instagram.com/travellingfortea/
For any photography enthusiasts or professionals reading: I use a Panasonic G95 (micro four-thirds), a 20mm f1.7 pancake, 42.5mm f1.7 portrait lens. In terms of zooms I have a 12-60mm f3.5-5.6 standard zoom and a 45-200mm f4-5.6 telescopic. (For all figures double focal length to get a 35mm full-frame field of view equivalent.)
The best camera is the one you have with you!