[Gocamino] Starting just on the French side?

[Tim]

Hi Richard,
    Just a word of introduction.  I am Tim Proctor, I run a Bed and 
Breakfast operation in St Jean Pied de Port.  I am British by origin but 
live in SJPdP.  Why are you looking at flying into Madrid if you want to 
start from France?  I know that flights into Paris tend to be expensive 
but you can route yourself through London, Amsterdam or Frankfurt to 
name but three.  From London you have the two biggest low cost airlines 
in Europe, RyanAir and Easyjet operating out of Stansted, and in the 
case of Easyjet Gatwick.  There is a link bus that connects the three 
London Airports.  You could also look at flying into Bordeaux from 
London, Frankfurt, or Amsterdam or flying into Pau from all three as 
well.  The Spanish option is not good in many ways, for historic reasons 
the rail links between the two countries are poor (different gauges of 
track) and Madrid is a long way South of where you want to be, it's not 
even very good for getting to SJPdP.
    I hope that helps.
Regards
Tim
Richard Ferguson wrote:

>I continue to try to figure out what I want to do.  I want to walk in 
>France, but it is expensive.  My spouse had a practical suggestion, 
>which was to walk a few days in France, cross the border, and 
>continue walking in Spain.   That way I would spend some time in 
>France without blowing my budget. This would also have me in shape 
>before I cross the Pyrenees.  I have not seen that area.  It all 
>sounds good. So I am trying to figure out how I might do this.
>
>My initial take is that I could start 115 km north of Roncesvalles, 
>on the Le Puy route, around Maslacq.  For me, that would be 6 days 
>walk to Roncesvalles.  Amazingly, the SNCF (French rail) web site 
>says that I can get there from Madrid in 8 hours!  The first train 
>would get me from Madrid (Atocha) to the border near Irun, from 
>whence I could take a local train and then a bus to Argagnon, a few 
>km from Maslacq.
>
>Not sure how far I would walk.  I would probably figure to spend two 
>or three weeks walking, perhaps as far as Burgos, and then head back 
>to Madrid and then home.
>
>Does this plan make any sense?  Is that area particularly attractive 
>or unattractive?  What do I need to know?  I might be doing this in 
>October or early November, so I know that I could see snow, or even 
>have to wait out some weather.   Will the gites be open?  I speak 
>enough French to ask directions and understand the answers.
>
>I think that I read that someone had done something similar to this, 
>just so that they would not have the cross the mountains on the first 
>day.
>
>Richard
>
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