Voie de vezelay

[mal kiwi]

Started walking from vezelay on the 14th august, day before met the people in charge of the office for Amis de Saint Jacques. Very helpful and assisted with accomodation decisions.
Stayed first night at the Sainte Marie Madeleine. Using mai mai dodo but still quite difficult to arrange accomodation, in this period, I understand it's school holidays now till the end of august. But I am very lucky to have with me one fluent french speaker in our group. They are my son and his wife and oscar, oscar is 2.5 yrs old, his French and English is still developing. Today we are in Varzy, had cooler temperatures and overcast sky's during the first two days, so pleasant walking. I will add posts as I am able.
Mal

 

[gittiharre]

Started walking from vezelay on the 14th august, day before met the people in charge of the office for Amis de Saint Jacques. Very helpful and assisted with accomodation decisions.
Stayed first night at the Sainte Marie Madeleine. Using mai mai dodo but still quite difficult to arrange accomodation, in this period, I understand it's school holidays now till the end of august. But I am very lucky to have with me one fluent french speaker in our group. They are my son and his wife and oscar, oscar is 2.5 yrs old, his French and English is still developing. Today we are in Varzy, had cooler temperatures and overcast sky's during the first two days, so pleasant walking. I will add posts as I am able.
Mal

How wonderful to walk with family.
Looking forward to more of your adventures.

 

[Harington]

Started walking from vezelay on the 14th august, day before met the people in charge of the office for Amis de Saint Jacques. Very helpful and assisted with accomodation decisions.
Stayed first night at the Sainte Marie Madeleine. Using mai mai dodo but still quite difficult to arrange accomodation, in this period, I understand it's school holidays now till the end of august. But I am very lucky to have with me one fluent french speaker in our group. They are my son and his wife and oscar, oscar is 2.5 yrs old, his French and English is still developing. Today we are in Varzy, had cooler temperatures and overcast sky's during the first two days, so pleasant walking. I will add posts as I am able.
Mal

Miam Miam Dodo (as in French toddler speak. Miam miam = yum yum, and dodo = dormir, to sleep)

 

[StephenT]

hi mal
you are a long way from home....!
Congratulations on the start you have made
i'm in the waikato, and i'm just home from finishing the section of chemin d'arles from arles to toulouse - the first half or so was pretty tough, especially in the heat that france has been experiencing (- over 30C every day...!)
I hope the weather is due to moderate for you

Bonne route on the journey
Ultreia to you and family

Amities
Stephen in NZ

 

[mal kiwi]

Nearly two weeks on from start at vezelay, here are some of my impressions so far.
It's a walk in rural France, at its best, with very generous and welcoming people. It's quiet in terms of other persons walking, so far only two french medical students walking over one week. The holiday period(august) has, I think made acomodation options more in demand. I read that some hostels and refuges were closed as they were being used by Ukrainian refugees. I haven't experienced this, but then I am staying in a range of accommodations. Accueil pelerin a domicile, in municipal refuges, chambre d'hote, hotels, chalets at camping grounds and gite d'etape's. Many require booking the day before or arranging to pick up the key from the Mairie, if you have limited french language like me, using the phone can be problematic. But I manage and with help from the person I am calling, I am often successful and at the same time improving my language skills. Because of the high daytime temperatures I try and start walking early. But nothing over 35 degrees so far and is likely to be less as I progress. As I said this walk is thru rural France, forests, rivers, lakes small villages and incredible churches. There has been some road walking, that I could have avoided if I had known about before hand. I am using the voie de vezelay download plus a paper guide. Finally, no dog problems, great regional foods and wines, generous people, beautiful days and more to come.
From Gargilesse

 

[gittiharre]

Nearly two weeks on from start at vezelay, here are some of my impressions so far.
It's a walk in rural France, at its best, with very generous and welcoming people. It's quiet in terms of other persons walking, so far only two french medical students walking over one week. The holiday period(august) has, I think made acomodation options more in demand. I read that some hostels and refuges were closed as they were being used by Ukrainian refugees. I haven't experienced this, but then I am staying in a range of accommodations. Accueil pelerin a domicile, in municipal refuges, chambre d'hote, hotels, chalets at camping grounds and gite d'etape's. Many require booking the day before or arranging to pick up the key from the Mairie, if you have limited french language like me, using the phone can be problematic. But I manage and with help from the person I am calling, I am often successful and at the same time improving my language skills. Because of the high daytime temperatures I try and start walking early. But nothing over 35 degrees so far and is likely to be less as I progress. As I said this walk is thru rural France, forests, rivers, lakes small villages and incredible churches. There has been some road walking, that I could have avoided if I had known about before hand. I am using the voie de vezelay download plus a paper guide. Finally, no dog problems, great regional foods and wines, generous people, beautiful days and more to come.
From Gargilesse

Brilliant. Thank you very much for the update.

 

[mspath]

mal kiwi,

Thanks for your update re the Vezelay route. Glad that all is going well despite the recent great heat here in France.

Your mix of accommodations is definitely the way to go. Here on the Marne River in champagne my husbant and I during earlier, easier times always enjoyed receiving pilgrims via the Accueil pelerin a domicile program. Have you taken photos of your favorite spots?

Looking forward to reading/seeing? more about your journey as you continue going south.

Carpe diem and Bon chemin!

 

[Suzanne A]

Putting that on my list. Looking forward to more posts!