Le Chemin du Vezelay 2

Le Chemin du Vézelay or La Voie de Vézelay is the first part of a very long pilgrimage route starting at Vézelay in France and finishing at Santiago in North West Spain. Pilgrims have walked this route for many years to the place where they believed St James was buried. Lucy and Martyn walked approximately 968 kilometres or 600 miles in two stages during spring 2018 and spring 2019. Lucy provides some practical information about what to pack for this type of long distance walk. She writes about walking Le Chemin du Vézelay both in general terms and in more detail on a day to day basis. She describes the places they stayed in and the type of arrangements that existed for making or obtaining meals especially vegetarian food. Some comparisons are drawn between Le Chemin du Vézelay, Le Chemin du Puy and the Camino Frances in Spain. They had walked on these camino routes previously in 2015 and 2016. The early part of this route was not heavily populated with other pilgrims (unlike the Camino Frances in Spain). They met more other pilgrims in the second stage of the walk but never very many until they reached Ostabat where several camino routes join just before reaching the Pyrenees. There was nothing to think about except where to stay, what to eat, keeping their clothes and themselves clean and finding the way each day. Reducing life's requirements to this more minimalist level and having very few possessions was all part of the camino experience. Lucy and Martyn enjoyed this relaxed and relatively simple lifestyle for a few weeks. Then they had to come home and resume their normal life.