Contingency Plan - Skippable sections on the Le Puy Route???

[irishgurrrl]

Hey folks - less than 7 weeks to my Le Puy adventure (woop woop!) where I hope to walk most if not all of the Le Puy route from Le Puy-en-Velay to St Jean Pied de Port. A camino buddy of mine will join me for part of the trip and the rest I will walk myself (hopefully in the company of some new found camino buddies!)

We are taking a relatively leisurely approach to this walk..... with (ideally) several rest/sight-seeing days over the few weeks we have to travel.

As a contingency plan (and in case we get slightly carried away with the sight-seeing days!) I was wondering (from those of you who have walked the full Le Puy Route) if there are any sections of the route you would consider miss-able? Ideally it won't happen, but in the off-chance I end up short on time then I can at least consider missing out on a section or two to make up some time and not worry about missing a potential highlight scenery wise

Eilish

 

[bokormen91]

Different people like different things... I enjoyed all of my Le Puy-SJPP route. I also think it depends on season, how far you walk each day etc etc.

I actually think you're better off asking yourself which parts do you really want to walk and where do you think you can "skip" easily with public transport.

Also - walking does strange things to you. I sort of always promise myself X amount of zero day/rest day. Never really do it - I get restless and then decide to go for 5-10km. Then the walking feels good, or I find a glorious piece of land to lie down where I can eat a bit, read a bit.

I like views, big views... Aubrac totally did it for me. Forests - can easily skip them. Then again, I'm a sucker for any place with old stone buildings - sometimes these are in the middle of a forested valley. Pick what you do not want to miss... I find it easier to pick my 3 "unmissable's", than picking 3 "skipping sections". Once you've decided on what you definitively want to do, the "skipping" sections might become easier

 

[newfydog]

The town of Nogaro would be worth skipping.

 

[Kanga]

I would not miss any but instead do it in 2 or 3 years. That way you can do all the options; Cele Valley route as well as the limestone plateaux, detour to Rocamadour, see some more of the beautiful towns on the Lot.

 

[irishgurrrl]

Different people like different things... I enjoyed all of my Le Puy-SJPP route. I also think it depends on season, how far you walk each day etc etc.

I actually think you're better off asking yourself which parts do you really want to walk and where do you think you can "skip" easily with public transport.

Also - walking does strange things to you. I sort of always promise myself X amount of zero day/rest day. Never really do it - I get restless and then decide to go for 5-10km. Then the walking feels good, or I find a glorious piece of land to lie down where I can eat a bit, read a bit.

I like views, big views... Aubrac totally did it for me. Forests - can easily skip them. Then again, I'm a sucker for any place with old stone buildings - sometimes these are in the middle of a forested valley. Pick what you do not want to miss... I find it easier to pick my 3 "unmissable's", than picking 3 "skipping sections". Once you've decided on what you definitively want to do, the "skipping" sections might become easier

As for unmissable stretches I am thinking from Le Puy en Velay to Conques... I also would like to visit Figeac, side trip (possibly by train) to Rocamadour (spelling?) and possibly walking the Cele route... I definitely want to stay in St Jean Pied de Port as I didn't get time to look around and fully appreciate the first time around I absolutely love nature so beautiful mountain scenery gets me every time... ancient woodland (deciduous trees rather than alpine) always appeals as well as old charming villages.... Still reading up on the other stretches..... but open to suggestions on what you would consider "not to miss" places/hostels/gites/views/stretches of the camino and conversely places I won't regret missing if I for some reason have to skip a stage or two

 

[irishgurrrl]

I would not miss any but instead do it in 2 or 3 years. That way you can do all the options; Cele Valley route as well as the limestone plateaux, detour to Rocamadour, see some more of the beautiful towns on the Lot.

Thanks Kanga - I should have plenty of time to walk it all... we are just considering spending a day here and there in a few places along the way that we want to explore further This is more of a 'just in case' than a likely to happen

 

[Kanga]

Decazeville was my least favourite place but it's just after Conques, one of my most favourite! So no useful advice from me I'm afraid.

 

[Sraaen]

75km from Condom to Aire sur L'Adour is pretty much big Agro. It was my least favorite part.

 

[Kanga]

That would mean missing Larrasingle, Mondreal-Sur-Gers and that amazing Roman villa (can't remember the name, but astounding mosaic floors) - I would not want to miss any of that.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

The gite at Seviac, the old Roman baths found in a farmer's field, has closed. It is still open for tourist visits.

 

[Kitsambler]

Be sure not to miss the section from Le Puy to Conques, the old town of Cahors, the town of Moissac (abbey and river walk), the the Basque section from Navvarenx through to SJPP (route agnostic). There are missable sections from Figeac to Moissac, as one crosses the Karst limestone section. Later on there is the Big Agriculture section as someone else has mentioned.
It's not that these sections are difficult, or ugly, or unsafe, as are some other route sections in other places. It's just that they weren't much worth the effort. Dull, no views, very long stages, poorly marked route (or intentionally mis-marked, thanks to local teen-agers, the year I passed through), limited availability of grocery resupply (either because stores were distant from the route, or inopportune closing days).

(I realize that we each have different travel experiences, and many thoroughly enjoyed the entire Le Puy route. Plus, there are the other aspects of a pilgrimage walk, such as pilgrim friendships, meditations and prayer retreats. But the OP did ask the question, and I have tried to respond.)

 

[backpack45scb]

Hey folks - less than 7 weeks to my Le Puy adventure (woop woop!) where I hope to walk most if not all of the Le Puy route from Le Puy-en-Velay to St Jean Pied de Port. A camino buddy of mine will join me for part of the trip and the rest I will walk myself (hopefully in the company of some new found camino buddies!)

We are taking a relatively leisurely approach to this walk..... with (ideally) several rest/sight-seeing days over the few weeks we have to travel.

As a contingency plan (and in case we get slightly carried away with the sight-seeing days!) I was wondering (from those of you who have walked the full Le Puy Route) if there are any sections of the route you would consider miss-able? Ideally it won't happen, but in the off-chance I end up short on time then I can at least consider missing out on a section or two to make up some time and not worry about missing a potential highlight scenery wise

Eilish

I would take the three Topo Guides for the GR653, just take the map pages. Often the GR653 will make a detour off to the side to get to a mountain top, or to avoid a village. With the TopoGuide map, you can decide to cut off some of these detours if you wish.

 

[irishgurrrl]

Be sure not to miss the section from Le Puy to Conques, the old town of Cahors, the town of Moissac (abbey and river walk), the the Basque section from Navvarenx through to SJPP (route agnostic). There are missable sections from Figeac to Moissac, as one crosses the Karst limestone section. Later on there is the Big Agriculture section as someone else has mentioned.
It's not that these sections are difficult, or ugly, or unsafe, as are some other route sections in other places. It's just that they weren't much worth the effort. Dull, no views, very long stages, poorly marked route (or intentionally mis-marked, thanks to local teen-agers, the year I passed through), limited availability of grocery resupply (either because stores were distant from the route, or inopportune closing days).

(I realize that we each have different travel experiences, and many thoroughly enjoyed the entire Le Puy route. Plus, there are the other aspects of a pilgrimage walk, such as pilgrim friendships, meditations and prayer retreats. But the OP did ask the question, and I have tried to respond.)

Hi Kitsambler - thanks so much for the detailed response - this is the kind of info I was looking for. I agree everyone has their own camino experience -what is wonderful for one may be less so for another. As I am hoping to stay away from the internet etc as much as possible I thought it no harm to ask the question now rather than be worrying about it later. Hopefully it won't come to it though and I can walk the entire route - I think I have 43 days in all - most may be spent on the first half of this camino though if our ideal number of sightseeing days are anything to go by! lol

 

[irishgurrrl]

Thanks everyone - food for thought!