[Gocamino] Le Puy route questions

[Eldor Pederson]

In a limited response to your questions, my wife and I only walked the section of GR 65, Chemin de St.Jacques-de-Compostelle, from Le Puy to Conques, 10 days and about 200 km (sorry my notes and books are packed for a move, so I am doing this from memory). It was a glorious walk indeed, and while I am usually not one to make comparisons between apples and oranges, I would rank that stretch equal or superior to the best sections of the Camino in Spain. The Le Puy route passes through some magnificent countryside in the Massif Central, and it is far from the main tourist routes giving one a real experience of la France profonde. Away from larger cities, it illustrates rural France in all its glory but is still well provided with gites, chambres, small hotels, restaurants, and other necessary facilities. The route passes through a region with some of the best food in France (the world), including cheeses of an amazing variety and savor.

As for the best time to make the walk, I disagree with Kathy, for we walked in late Spring, before European school holidays began, and the weather was close to perfect. In addition the wild flowers were blooming, the lambs were romping in the fields and all that. Each spring since I have waxed nostalgic and wanted to return. Seeing the wild flowers in bloom alone was worth the walk. Crowding was not a problem, though we did make advance reservations for places to stay. The tourist office in Le Puy has an excellent website in French, German, and English--to locate it use Google or some other search engine with the terms "Le Puy en Velay tourism" or contact me directly for the address (every time I post a web address on GoCamino it gets garbled)--including detailed information on places to stay and eat along the route at least as far as Conques.

You are correct in assuming there are a variety of places to stay. In a few of the villages there is but a single choice, usually a gite d'etape similar to one of the more luxurious refugios along the Camino. There are a few auberges serving pilgrims directly comparable to the albergues on the Camino in Spain and requiring a credencial, for example in Nasbinals and in Estaing, but they are too few and far apart to use exclusively. In several of the larger towns one has a variety of choices ranging from several star hotels downward in rankings. The guide books published by the RFFP I cited in an earlier posting give information about places to stay and to eat, and new ones seem to appear each season. Distances can be a problem, for the route passes through a lightly populated region, and towns with services can be 20 or more kms apart. It is worthwhile verifying the availability of places to eat or buy food as well as places to stay prior to making a final plan. 

Fluent French is not a requirement, and indeed a friend who speaks almost no French beyond bon jour and merci had a marvelous time on the walk between Le Puy and St. Jean Pied-de-Port enroute to Santiago. Walking the whole way more-or-less doubles the distance from  St. Jean to Santiago alone, and it took him about twice as long as the 30-35 days most people require for the usual pilgrimage. Between Le Puy and Conques, the route is mostly at 500 meters or above and has mild summer weather but can get bitterly cold and snowbound in the winter. From Conques onward the Chemin in France is mostly in lowland areas, and the weather can get quite hot in midsummer through early autumn.

A service called Transbagage (information is available from the Le Puy tourist office) will carry your bags from hotel to hotel (gite to gite etc.), making it possible to walk with only a small pack for lunch and camera if you are so inclined. Use of the service does require advance reservations.

Hope this information is of some use in your planning. Perhaps next Spring I can walk the route again!