Drink Up- TP217

Carmi's theme for photos this week is "drink up".  Once more for this theme I am turning to photos from my recent walk in France and Spain.

I walked in springtime in rural France, when it was reasonably common to see baby animals with their mothers.

One thing I loved seeing was how the breeds of cows changed in different regions. This photo of a charolais cow and calf 'drinking up' was taken as I was nearing the town of Charlieu in the southernmost part of the Burgundy region.

This foal certainly seemed to be thirsty. Notice the dandelion flowers that were quite common in parts of the Haute-Loire region, and someone told me they made for a certain taste in the local cheese.

And now for a doggy story. This beautiful animal followed me when I left the village of La-Chapelle-en-Lafaye. I knew it was getting more and more lost but I couldn't make it go back. (And in fact I think it had probably followed a group of horsewomen the day before so was already lost.) Eventually I passed a house where the house-owners, who had a beautiful dog of their own, managed to get it in their backyard with a drink of water. They were going to ring around and try to track down the dog's owners. I hope they were reunited. (More here)

I can't really toss the word 'Burgundy' in here without some evidence of local wine.
The window frontage is from Cluny in Burgundy- and I saw the vineyard signs when I was heading down towards the Loire River, en route for a fascinating village, Saint-Jean-Saint-Maurice.

Of course walking means water is needed along the way. The Le Puy route in France had many drinking taps/fountains- this one was in Monistrol-d'Allier, not far before a grand ascent. And the statue comes from Logrono in Spain, a city with many and varied sculptures.

 This is quite a famous fountain not far from Estella, at Bodegas de Irache where you can get either water or wine. Some tourists in a van were aghast I was only taking water- they took this photo for me- but then along came two cyclists who also filled up with only water. It was far too hot already to be trying out wine during the walking day...

 And to finish- some places you remember very well because of the kindness you experienced there. I arrived in Lorca on the Camino Frances in northern Spain on a very warm day (34C or so) with sweat pouring off me. The hospitalero there was the kindest man. In the evening he prepared an evening meal for those who wanted it- and of course, we needed lots of water on such a day.