Vezelay route as a family

[chez]

Hi there, this is my first forum post. Pre-children, my husband and I spent quite a bit of time knocking around France, camping and walking. Since then, I have wanted to walk the Camino from Vezelay - we visited years ago and I was very drawn to both the abbey and the area. We now have two children, currently age five and six. The younger has an undiagnosed but almost certainly life limiting neuromuscular condition. It appears that parents in our situation develop a Plan A and a Plan B - Plan A is what you do if your child dies before you and Plan B is what happens to them if they outlive you.

My Plan A has always included the Camino, but for various reasons I am now wondering whether it would be possible to walk the Vezelay route as a family. I need something to focus on and my plan is to research the route we would take as a family of three in the future, with a sort of side-order of working out whether it would be possible to do it as a family of four in the next couple of years. This would involve a powered wheelchair and various medical equipment and therefore poses all sorts of interesting issues. I understand from friends that there are currently some wheelchair users en route, so I know it's not impossible; but it may be more a mental exercise than practical for us, depending on how our daughter's condition progresses.

I anticipate lurking a lot, but it seemed polite to say hello.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

All things are possible! Many of the support accommodations are in the homes of volunteers, which may not be able to accept groups of four. That could make for some long stages. However, with some planning you probably can find places to stay everywhere. Unfortunately, the best guide for the route is no longer being published. There are several on-line sites to help with the planning.

Bon chemin!