How to ship a bag within France?

[Canucks]

We will be bringing an extra bag with "normal" clothes etc for the additional 7-10 days of decompression time in France after we finish the Le Puy route in October 2014. We will arrive in Paris and either send from Paris to St Jean Pied de Port (our end point) or to Beaune where we will spend our additional rest time at the end.
Any suggestions as to the best and most economical way to send a bag with son extra clothes, shoes, etc.?
Alternatively, we could ship from Le Puy instead of Paris to either of these destinations.

I'm not sure if the postal system is the best way or some sort of courier or bus service.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[scruffy1]

An intriquing question, postal services worldwide have become, well, snail mail is the best description without becoming profane, and is often slower or worse. French Poste restante will keep a letter for 15 days before returning - concerning parcels I have no idea but doubt if at all possible. There is also the Chemin to confront - 560+ kilometers as the crow flies-not including diversions and while not especially arduous the first half will have some strenuous surprises if you have not walked there before and who knows, there is always unexpected to encounter on any Camino, those for good and those for less then good which may include, GF, injury, sickness, or ennui. I would consider buying there - France is by all accounts now a civilized country, much less hassle, no worry, nothing lost, probably cheaper then a parcel service, and should your purchases not be particularly appreciated, there is always a nearby albergue which will be happy to take your discards.

 

[TMcA]

At the suggestion of a poster on this forum, we used Blue Marble in Paris in the following way: we flew into Lyon, took a train down to Le Puy, then had our large "wheelie" picked up at our hotel in Le Puy, transported back to Paris by Blue Marble, and then warehoused at the Blue Marble office. I then picked up the bag at the office. This went without a hitch except that the Blue Marble office is a bit hard to find...even for the young French guy whose assistance I enlisted after arriving at the closest Metro station.

If you are flying into Paris, you could bring your bag to their office and probably reverse some the steps we took. They will furnish a price quote promptly. Their email is: paris@bluemarble.org

Bon chemin.

Tom

 

[Kitsambler]

I used Blue Marble, shipping a suitcase from Prague to Paris by DHL ground, and having Blue Marble hold the piece for a month until I could get there. The Blue Marble website has directions on how to find the office, and your iPhone can navigate you into the right block. You'll be fine. What I suggest is: drop your bag at Blue Marble, have them hold it xx days, then ship by (means they recommend) to your booked lodging in SJPP, planning for the bag's arrival 2 days before your anticipated arrival. The BLue Marble folks are Brits/Commonwealth, so you could just lay out your objectives in plain English and see what they recommend as a way to achieve it. Granted there may be less expensive ways over the finish line, but I think they all involve substantial uncertainty and increased blood pressure. I would use Blue Marble again without hesitation.

 

[Canucks]

Thank you for the replies. I feel confident that either destination will allow me to ask the person owning the accomodations to hold the bag for us for the month. So, I was thinking either courier or postal system.
Kitsambler (and great blog btw), you used DHL? We won't have the time in Paris to necessarily find the Blue Marble site so I am thinking we might have to ship from Le Puy.
Last fall we just bought all new stuff in Madrid after the camino frances, but won't be going to a larger city this time.