LePuy to Conques

[Judith Nollar]

Hi Laurie,
I will write at greater length about the questions you asked in your
personal message to me, but for the moment I can say in response toyour
message to the List:

how many days of walking do you think I will need?

My husband and I walked for 13 days from LePuy to Conques - ca. 120 miles.
One day, in pouring rain, we had a ride for about 13 miles - the equivalent,
for us, of another day.  You would need to adjust for your own capabilities
and pace, but ten to 14 days seems to be what most people spend on this
walk. It is the hardest walking of the whole route except for the Pyrenees
crossing from St. Jean to Roncesvalles - lots of pulling up hill and
plunging down into river valleys - usually at the end of the day!  The
walking is much rougher underfoot than in Spain.  Be sure you have real
hiking boots.

how I can find out about public transportation from Conques to
Aix-en-Provence, which is where I have to go when I stop walking?

Public transportation out of Conques (we have done this twice) consists of
either riding the local school bus down to Rodez at ca. 7:30 in the morning
or taking the town taxi. You can get the precise time in Conques.  We did
the bus (it runs only on week days of course).  At Rodez you can catch a
train that goes to Toulouse.  From there, trains and buses run all over
southern France.  It's so hard to find this all out, but easy to do.

Trains schedules are at: www.sncf.com <http://www.sncf.com/indexe.htm>
Get your tickets from them, not from RailEurope where they are much more
expensive.

It's such a glorious walk - our favorite of the entire pilgrimage.
More later,
Judy

Judith Nollar
Humanities and Social Sciences Librarian
Millikan Library 1-32
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, CA 91125
626-793-2320  email: jnollaralibrary.caltech.edu