Podcast Via Podensis

[Annette london]

For anyone interested, on November 9th
just received this from Cicerone
A beautiful route

 

[Former member 104756]

Thank you Annette. Merci. I look forward to listening. We will be living on the Chemin du Puy next year - in Lectoure - and plan to walk both the Cele and Rocamadour variants at some stage - if not the whole Le Puy again. It is a beautiful route

 

[Former member 104756]

Bonjour @Camino Chrissy - as I've already mentioned to AJ - please be in touch if you happen to be in the area next year. I'm hoping I may be able to volunteer in one of the gites in Lectoure or nearby.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

A beautiful route

Yes it is, indeed! Dave Whitson's podcast is sure to trigger some great memories for those of us who walked it, and whet the appetite for others.

We will be living on the Chemin du Puy next year - in Lectoure - and plan to walk both the Cele and Rocamadour variants at some stage -

Pelerina, I know you spend a lot of time in France (can't imagine why that is). I only had time to take a train from Figeac to visit Rocamadour, but did walk the entire Cele variant. If you've not walked it before, it will be a treat, and if you have, you will love it as much the 2nd time...either way, lucky you to be going back.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Bonjour @Camino Chrissy - as I've already mentioned to AJ - please be in touch if you happen to be in the area next year. I'm hoping I may be able to volunteer in one of the gites in Lectoure or nearby.

Ohhh, very tempting! It would be so nice to meet you! I can't say "yes", but I won't say "no" either.

 

[Former member 104756]

@Camino Chrissy We are looking forward to walking and living in France again - and so close to Spain. With apologies @Annette london - for hijacking this thread with my comment about Lectoure.

 

[Annette london]

@Camino Chrissy We are looking forward to walking and living in France again - and so close to Spain. With apologies @Annette london - for hijacking this thread with my comment about Lectoure.

Not at all Pelerina,
we walked it in May/June 2006
Walked in snow on the elevated areas in France
A beautiful route which reminded me very much of the west coast of Ireland
We met a lot of French walkers doing the GR 65 but no other “pilgrims” as such
Never saw a yellow arrow, just followed the red and white marks of the GR routes, so familiar in France
I would imagine the infrastructure has changed a lot in 16 years, plus a lot more written information in books and on the internet

and silly me…I only realised last year that this route was called The Podiensis!….back then, it was The Chemin de St Jacque/GR65.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Never saw a yellow arrow, just followed the red and white marks of the GR routes, so familiar in France
I would imagine the infrastructure has changed

I walked it with two friends in June 2018...my how the years go by. There were many yellow arrows by then, along with the GR65 blazes, but the GR's are often on both sides of trees. We got accidently "turned around" once because of that and started walking in the opposite direction. Thankfully the sunny day helped us realize we were going wrong after about a half hour!

 

[Sandrapf99]

For anyone interested, on November 9th
just received this from Cicerone
A beautiful route View attachment 137815

OMG this sounds awesome!!!! Thank you

 

[Former member 104756]

silly me…I only realised last year that this route was called The Podiensis!….back then, it was The Chemin de St Jacque/GR65.

Not silly at all Annette. I walked in 2014 - and the path was variously called Via Podiensis, GR 65, Chemin de Saint Jacque de Compostelle, Chemin du Puy, Camino Le Puy. A rose by any other name ...

 

[Anthony Rocco]

For anyone interested, on November 9th
just received this from Cicerone
A beautiful route View attachment 137815

My wife and I have put off walking this route, just as we put off walking the Portugues, which we finally did three months ago. Next September we start in Le Puy. Thanks for making us aware of this. We just received the Cicerone guidebook.

 

[Kev&Kath]

My wife and I have put off walking this route, just as we put off walking the Portugues, which we finally did three months ago. Next September we start in Le Puy. Thanks for making us aware of this. We just received the Cicerone guidebook.

Anthony...did you find the Cicerone publication useful? I'd be particularly interested in how it covers accommodation. Cheers!

 

[Anthony Rocco]

It's superb. Kudos to those who did the work. The list of accommodations is fine, but not enough. I like to check Gronze where there are reviews by those who stayed in these places. When we walked the Portugues starting in Porto last September, we did a lot of zigzagging to catch as much as we could of both the central and coastal. Gronze was THE best source for accommodations in my view. Gronze also notes those places that take reservations via Booking.com which was useful for us. I suspect I'm not alone in bowing to the hard work Gronze contributors do to make our caminos much easier when it comes to accommodations and even nearby eateries....or not.

 

[Kev&Kath]

It's superb. Kudos to those who did the work. The list of accommodations is fine, but not enough. I like to check Gronze where there are reviews by those who stayed in these places. When we walked the Portugues starting in Porto last September, we did a lot of zigzagging to catch as much as we could of both the central and coastal. Gronze was THE best source for accommodations in my view. Gronze also notes those places that take reservations via Booking.com which was useful for us. I suspect I'm not alone in bowing to the hard work Gronze contributors do to make our caminos much easier when it comes to accommodations and even nearby eateries....or not.

Thanks Anthony. Really appreciate the good advice. Cheers.

 

[Dave]

For anyone interested, on November 9th
just received this from Cicerone

Thanks for sharing that one, Annette. I forgot I did it! If you're interested in more, I did a whole ten-part series of episodes on the Via Podiensis for the Camino Podcast (and also on Apple, Google, Spotify).

It starts on Episode 60, and then carries forward from there. One of my favorite things I've done.

And Anthony, I agree--I wish we could have crammed more accommodations in there. That was the cost of doing in one book what Miam Miam Dodo does in three. It's also why we made the accommodation spreadsheet. I also agree that Gronze is the gold standard for up-to-date info for Camino routes in Spain, but in my experience the French routes are a bit more uneven. Understandably so.

Dave