Miam Miam dodo maps

[KiwiNomad06]

I have just discovered that Miam Miam Dodo have a website covering the le Puy route.
The site is in French, but there are a lot of symbols, so you can work out quite a lot about accommodation etc without knowing much French.
I like the map page in particular, http://www.chemindecompostelle.com/Selection/CarteFrance.html,and you can click on an oblong to get that section enlarged. I think my family might like to follow my progress on this map.

Another good site is one that Janet, a forum member from Australia who has walked this route, drew my attention to: Les Haltes vers Compostelle. http://www.compostelle.net/
She recommended the accommodation on this website, but pointed out that you need to click on each link to see what is provided there.

Margaret

 

[NaKwendaSafari]

Kia Ora Margaret,

Great to see from your other postings that you have begun contacting places to stay on you April Camino. The pilgrimage-to-santiago.com website is often dominated by those who have slept on the floor and taken cold showers, not because they could not afford another place but they make one feel that it is not a Camino if you do not have the taste of a cold floor and a cold or no shower. To each their own.

You may like to see the following website:
http://www.espritduchemin.org/engels_index_main.htm. It is the website of a small albergue in SJJP opposite the Pilgrim office. I am impressed with the information in the website, it gives the upfront cost 8E, conditions of stay, photos of the establishment, maps, phone and fax, email, information on how to get there and what to do if the place is full, where to eat if you do not wish to eat there, importantly it has a side bar with other useful information. Run by people who have done the Camino, they readily moved to private accommodation when they encountered full albergues during their walk.

How I wish the other albergues had the same information. Have a good trip and we will be looking at your blogs with keen interest.

 

[KiwiNomad06]

Kia ora, and thanks for your good wishes NaKwenda. Time really is marching on. I have been doing quite a lot of walking etc locally over the summer. I was feeling quite confident about my fitness, but I ended up with a very sore ankle after walking with a full pack yesterday - a promise of some of the realities to come no doubt!

I will take the Camino as it comes I hope. I have travelled quite a lot by various means, and have stayed in varied accommodation. It sounds like there are some very pleasant and attractive gites in France, with warm welcomes, and I look forward to experiencing more of the French countryside.
I really enjoyed cycling in the Loire for five weeks in 2006, and as a cyclist I loved being able to 'pick and choose' what I did each day. There are probably more expectations that people have about what you 'should' do on a Camino.... but as some of my friends might tell you, I can 'go my own way' when it suits me!
Margaret

 

[sillydoll]

The pilgrimage-to-santiago.com website is often dominated by those who have slept on the floor and taken cold showers, not because they could not afford another place but they make one feel that it is not a Camino if you do not have the taste of a cold floor and a cold or no shower. To each their own

.

Hi NaKwendaSafari, I don't think that this forum is dominated by those who have slept on the floor or taken cold showers. I am a 'basic refuge' convert and think that we are still in the minority! Nobody should make you feel that your choice in how you do your camino is any less worthy than their way. el camino caters for all different kinds of pilgrims and always has done.

When I travel, I like to stay in 'nice' places, 'up-market' places. Places with all the mod-cons. I like home-from-home comforts with en suite bathroom, hot water, clean sheets and, perhaps, room service.
There are some journeys, however, that are and should be different. Teahouse trekking in Tibet, on safari in Africa, or the camino - where one has an opportunity to leave 'self' behind (take a leap of faith out of the comfort zone) and experience the rare offerings of that journey.
In Tibet one can stay at the best lodges (built for the Western tourist) or sleep on the floor in the humble homes of the mountain people.
On safari in Africa, you can stay in 5 star tented camps with servants, generators and porta-toilets -or camp wild in small groups (no toilet, no running water, no electricty). The choice is yours.

On el camino you can stay in hotels, paradors, inns and smart albergues or in the most basic refuges on the floor in the bell tower of a church or a 400 year-old converted barn. (By the way, these places always offer mattresses - you don't have to sleep on the cold floor!)

I don't know of any other trail in the world where the local people provide free or donativo accommodation, spiritual and pysical care and cook a dinner for pilgrims as they do on el camino. And, their service is unconditional. They practise the words of the 12th c Latin hymn, the La Pretiosa: Its doors are open to the sick and well; to Catholics as well as to pagans; Jews, Heretics, beggars and the indigent, and it embraces all like brothers.
If we can't open ourselves to this very unique kind of hospitality here, on el camino (even in one or two places) where and when will we ever be able to experience it?
bendigáis,

 

[Yvan2008]

Hello,

I leave April 25 from Canada, April 28 from Conques. I walked last year for two weeks, back for 2 months this year! In many of my preparation meetings, I also have felt that if one is not totally roughing it, then it's not a genuine pilgrimage. I heard several accounts of individuals running from hostel to hostel, particularly in Spain where reservations are not taken, in order to arrive first and get a bed, or the best location. Or of eating pasta at 6:00 every night in order to get to bed by 9:00, to be up by 5:30 the next day... not my style.

Another aspect that is not well seen or publicized is the option of having your bags transported. Factage (http://factage.free.fr/) offers transport of bags to and from every facility listed in Miam Miam Dodo, from Le Puy through to Leon. For me, it's worth every penny.

Consequently, it is my choice to stay in places where I can reserve in advance, and to have my bags carried. I will walk with a 25-litre pack, leave later (after breakfast), travel at a more leisurely pace, arrive a bit later with less worry. This combination may also allow me to appreciate the local customs of eating later in the evening. It also allows me to pack one or more guide books without worrying about its weight all day (I met a lady who photographed every page of the Miam Miam Dodo to save weight so she wouldn't have to carry its 200 grams).

NaKwendaSafari :Thank you for the referral to the small inn in SJPP: http://www.espritduchemin.org/engels_index_main.htm. It looks very hospitable, and takes reservations!

To each his own... Bonne route à tous.

 

[JohnnieWalker]

Yes - to each their own. The debate as to what makes the most "authentic" pilgrimage has been debated here and every other forum - and perhaps wherever pilgrims have talked throughout the ages.

As for me "pilgrimage" is the spiritual process that goes on in my mind while I am on a pilgrimage route - but sometimes the body has to be taken so the mind can follow! And for me that's why the simpler way of life en Camino is the vehicle for that.

 

[brendan nolan]

Yes - to each their own. The debate as to what makes the most "authentic" pilgrimage has been debated here and every other forum - and perhaps wherever pilgrims have talked throughout the ages.

As for me "pilgrimage" is the spiritual process

that goes on in my mind while I am on a pilgrimage route - but sometimes the body has to be taken so the mind can follow! And for me that's why the simpler way of life en Camino is the vehicle for that.

I would like to endorse Johnnie's view that pilgrimage is a spiritual process. Many people in the world are pilgrims but are not able to make a physical pilgrimage such as walking to Santiago. however in their everyday lives they have the pilgrim spirit of openess to others and to circumstances. It would be possible to go on forever but as Johnnie says, the debate has gone on for centuries. In the end, it is not really for us to judge who is an 'authentic' pilgrim.
Buen Caminos to all, :arrow:
Brendan

 

[windeatt]

We did Le Puy-Pamplona last year (2007) and stayed in a mixture of accommodation from basic to luxurious. I found the Miam-miam Dodo indispensable and also the maps were very good - sometimes the distances were more accurate than the guidebook. I also found the website of the Haltes vers Compostelle very helpful. I have a page of reviews here:

http://www.windeatt.f2s.com/walks/camino.htm

and there are loads of photos here:

http://www.suzielda.com/camino/