Hand Cart Lyon to Cahors

[vicrev]

Hi All.......I am starting from Lyon in May & at this stage intend using a 2 wheel pull along cart (homemade) Is the track/road/path surface suitable for this sort of thing ? Would appreciate any info on this. .......Thanks to all.

 

[KiwiNomad06]

Are you planning to walk from Lyon, along the route that joins the Cluny route before getting to Le Puy? There are some steep rocky sections uphill where you join the Cluny route, from St-Georges-Haute-Ville to La-Chapelle-en-Lafaye, where the altitude change is about 400m to just over 1000m that might be difficult. There are also some steep descents early on the route from Le Puy that could be tricky in the wet, eg down to St Privat d'Allier, and downhill from the chapel at Rochegude (which I found hard enough over big rocks with short legs!) There are other flatter sections, eg over part of the Aubrac Plateau, where the chemin is quite rocky/stony that I imagine could be uncomfortable with a cart. But otherwise, I imagine it would be perfectly possible.
Margaret

 

[Kitsambler]

I have to echo Margaret's thoughts here. There are a few sections where the thought of this - tantamount to walking alongside a loaded bicycle - gives me real pause. However, there is an actual bike route mapped out; you can take the bike routing on the several rocky stretches, while staying on the main foot route the remainder of the time. Your plan is doable, but will require a bit more research on your part. The German-language route guides (the little yellow pocket guides) do give bike and foot routings in this fashion, describing deviations for the bikes as necessary, with the accompanying sketch maps. I don't know if the French language guides do also. As far as I recall, MMD and Alison Raus do not give bike routings.

 

[Stephen Nicholls]

I followed a couple using a hand-cart on the Porto to SdC camino in 2011. I last saw them with a major problem - one of the wheels had shattered on a stony section, and the cart couldn't be pulled.
So I would suggest making sure you can still carry your luggage somehow, in the event of such an incident.

Buen camino!

Stephen
http://www.calig.co.uk/camino_de_santiago.htm

 

[vicrev]

Thank you all for your advice ! My cart only weighs 1.6 k & only takes minutes to pull apart,all up I would be carrying about 8.3k if need be,I havent got a problem with that pack weight short term.I certainly need to do a lot more research!.....Must cross the ditch soon &do some tramping in your BEAUTIFUL country kiwinomad..........Thanks to all Vicr

 

[steve]

I would add that the path into and out of Conques is steep and tricky. But Conques is one of the highlights of the Le Puy route.