Pilgrim Introduction

[mark connolly]

Mark starting in Lourdes on The Piémont Route.

 

[JohnnieWalker]

Hi Mark - welcome to the Forum. Keep us posted on your adventures! I'm very interested in this route.

 

[timr]

Welcome Mark. I walked from Lourdes 2008. I loved it. From your picture I guess it's not your first time! If it were, you would find the stages from Lourdes very quiet and then maybe get a shock when you reached SJPdP. But I guess you know what to expect! I met just 5 people in September and it was terrific.

 

[crackmrmac]

Mark starting in Lourdes on The Piémont Route.

Bon Chemin Mark, I hope to walk a few days from Carcassonne in September. Leave gentle footprints for all the Connollys.

 

[mark connolly]

Welcome Mark. I walked from Lourdes 2008. I loved it. From your picture I guess it's not your first time! If it were, you would find the stages from Lourdes very quiet and then maybe get a shock when you reached SJPdP. But I guess you know what to expect! I met just 5 people in September and it was terrific.

Thanks for reply/encouragement! It is the first time staring in Lourdes. Is the route from Lourdes to SJPDP waymarked well? From my understanding from reading blogs/forums etc., and watching videos, that may a problem (both big and small). Please advise and any other tips/recommendations would be great.

Bon Chemin
Buen Camino

Mark

 

[timr]

It is actually well waymarked, but in a much more subtle (and chic?) French way, with very small discrete yellow arrows, not splashes of paint! The way is the same as the French GR route, with small red and white markings.
If you read French, this site is (or was) good. vppyr.free.fr/vpp-index-etapes.php even if not the most slick of websites.
And there is the www.aucoeurduchemin.org/ website.
There is very good information in the discussions on this site in this subforum.
This book is new, and in English - I haven't seen it, but @Stacey Wittig is a forum member here.
The only problem I had was that it was exceptionally wet in September 2009, but not much you can do about that! If you have successfully navigated from SJPdP to SdC once, you should have no problem.