Why Chemin du Puy most popular...?

[gypsy9]

I have been mulling over the fact that Chemin du Puy is the most popular of all the French routes.
Why is this so?
Is it simply because the scenery/UNESCO World Heritage towns are so stunning? (especially the first ten days to Conques).
I am very much looking forward to taking the Vezelay route this year and the quietude (by comparison) this way offers
but just wondering...thoughts anybody?

 

[Kanga]

I love the whole of the Le Puy route, not just the first ten days. Walking through beautiful varied countryside, lovely towns and villages, history, and the right balance between people and solitude.

 

[newfydog]

I have been to Vezelay and drooled at the route, but I don't know much about it. LePuy is where it all started, an I think it is the best of all the routes we have done.

 

[gypsy9]

Nicely expressed, Kanga. Have you walked any other French routes?
Your drooling at Vezelay route very appropriate for your avatar, Newfy. Did you walk this chemin or only Chemin du Puy?
My understanding is that Tours, Vezelay, Arles, Le Puy all traditional starting places f?or medieval christians...

 

[Kanga]

Nicely expressed, Kanga. Have you walked any other French routes?
..

Yes. A modified version of the Arles route (Canal du Midi from Sett to Toulouse where we rejoined the Arles), and Turonensis via Orléans. Le Puy via limestone plateau one year and Cele Valley the next.

 

[newfydog]

Your drooling at Vezelay route very appropriate for your avatar, Newfy. Did you walk this chemin or only Chemin du Puy?
My understanding is that Tours, Vezelay, Arles, Le Puy all traditional starting places f?or medieval christians...

We stayed the night in Vezelay, on the way to LePuy. We visited the cathedral, and gazed out over the beautiful countryside before moving on.

The Bishop of Le Puy was the first recognized pilgrim to Santiago. Godescalc, in 951 kicked off the whole thing, when he returned, publicized his trip and built a chapel on top of a volcanic neck to commemorate his pilgrimage.

 

[gypsy9]

Thanks Newfy. Godesalco is one of my favourite "planning" sites. That chapel on that volcanic mound seems surreal in a photo, but is normal in the pointy mounded town of Le Puy.
I am looking forward to Vezelay and spending some time here (well a day or two).
Did you walk from Vezelay to Le Puy as part of your pilgrimage?
I hope to learn of all the options when I am actually in this part of the world.
Which is like...um...soon....

 

[newfydog]

Nope, we drove down to Le Puy. There are indeed many options, but it is hard to go wrong starting off with the pilgrim's mass in LePuy.

 

[mspath]

...
I am looking forward to Vezelay and spending some time here (well a day or two).
Did you walk from Vezelay to Le Puy as part of your pilgrimage?
I hope to learn of all the options when I am actually in this part of the world.
Which is like...um...soon....

gypsy,

Vezelay, the magnificent hill top monastery village in Burgundy, is a wonderful place from which to begin your Camino! How lucky you are!!

Here is a Vezelay tourism web site in French to help you find a room either in a pilgrim albergue or public accommodations.

In Vezelay the Association des Amis et Pélerins de Saint-Jacques de la voie de Vézelay
is located at 24 Rue Saint-Pierre, Phone .03 86 32 38 11. This is their most useful site for pilgrims in Vezelay .

Do savor the special spirit of "la colline éternelle".

Bon chemin and Buen camino,

Margaret Meredith

 

[gittiharre]

The Vezelay route attracts me too, I am told it is solitary, unfortunately rather a lot of concrete under foot, small roads, rather than paths and lots of small towns and villages that are a bit desolate, no shops, bars, but beautiful towns in between also....the infra structure for pilgrims is developing...whereas the Le Puy route is extremely well developed with ranges of accommodations and one meets others without overcrowding. The Le Puy route is stunning, there is only one little 20 km or so bit, I did not enjoy and that was the bit before Livinhac Le Haut, lots of boring bits through suburban developments, literally all the other days were highlights either due to scenery, villages, small towns, people, food or all of the above.

 

[amourier]

I'm seriously considering Le Chemin Le Puy to Santiago as my Camino for next year. This is an excellent thread to familiarize myself with the route!

Right now I've just returned from walking the Portugués and am now preparing for the Inglés combined with Finisterre and Muxia which I begin on August 3rd this year.

 

[scruffy1]

1st eyewitness report from Paris concerning Vezelay-Condom 2014!! The Vezelay route is marvelous demanding little physically but you will often be absolutely alone with your own thoughts memories and reflections most of the time. Bourges cathedral is marvelous but cannot compare with Conques or Moissac. I used the Randonnee GR654 book AND Madame Chassin - her edition is sadly growing very outdated the maps are very good however many places recommended to stay to eat to consider visiting are long gone closed or vanished. Places mentioned as open all year round were found to be before during and after Easter closed due to annual vacation or for rennovations-her route is well marked but often when overlapping exploits the GR654. The Randomee book has excellant maps the route is so well marked the map is un-necessarly except for distances. However! The authors have absolutely no hesitations to send the would be pilgrim down another country lane through another forest path up to another shrine chapel or croix anciene - warnings such as trei humiditee appear often and do not refer to water but shin+ deep mud - these added attractions can add another 5-8 km a day in order to arrive at the same gite found with Chassin - another 150km a month at least. The authors can be lazy recommending accomodation and often simply send one off to the Mairie closed half Saturdays and Sundays or tourist info closed the same and often open only certain days or only mornings. I often combined routes and learned that in early Spring one should absolutely reserve the next night's lodging since some gites are tiny or as mentioned despite the guides not open yet. The Vezelay route then is not as developed or as commercial as other rouytes to SdC, pilgrims always welcomed and even admired; somehow I developed a feeling that the Camino Frances was probably something like this in the 60's an adventure which required a flexibility and initiative now not really demanded. Quite huge glowing fields of rapeweed cream colored cows wisteria by the ton and yes light rain almost every day. Chemin Vezelay in the early Spring is marvelous but not suited for everyone.

 

[scruffy1]

PS my credencial was sealed with the sello from Tour Sant Jacques there is a guy in a kiosk on the other side of the park happy to greet pilgrims - it opens with an embossed stamp from Notre Dame Cathedral where they were very happy to receive me six weeks ago. Bon Route! Bon Journee!! Bon Camino!!!

 

[gypsy9]

In Vezelay the Association des Amis et Pélerins de Saint-Jacques de la voie de Vézelay
is located at 24 Rue Saint-Pierre, Phone .03 86 32 38 11. This is their most useful site for pilgrims in Vezelay .

Do savor the special spirit of "la colline éternelle".

Oui Oui, for sure, MM.

Thanks for your post, Scruffy. Good to hear your musings, reflections and endurance regarding shonky directions and out dated information. Must say I had a smile reading of shin-deep mud described as an "added attraction".
I do like the sound of merging the two routes.
Walking Vezelay to Le Puy is not out of the realm of possibility, as I understand.
But seems you walked to Bourges onward and joined up with Chemin du Puy another way? As you did (somehow) make it to Condom.

Bon Route. Wishing you fabulous walking

 

[Kanga]

1st eyewitness report from Paris concerning Vezelay-Condom 2014!!

Great post Scruffy. Thanks for useful info.

 

[scruffy1]

After Perigueux one re-enters a gently rolling countryside of wheatfields cows and first sown crs - I needed a final destination with a train to get back to Paris so a bit of the Chemin a bit of several GR's a wine route and local scenic walks and the rest was easy - flexibility and imaginative inititive will get you anywhere.
PS and a big one the French are super kind polite and always generous their only failing concerns the clock - true from just before Limoges the churches all chime the hour twice as in all of southern France - the people are also flexible and imaginitive concerning opening times of gites - if you have a reservation wait and someone will eventually appear!

 

[Metropolly]

1st eyewitness report from Paris concerning Vezelay-Condom 2014!! The Vezelay route is marvelous demanding little physically but you will often be absolutely alone with your own thoughts memories and reflections most of the time. Bourges cathedral is marvelous but cannot compare with Conques or Moissac. I used the Randonnee GR654 book AND Madame Chassin - her edition is sadly growing very outdated the maps are very good however many places recommended to stay to eat to consider visiting are long gone closed or vanished. Places mentioned as open all year round were found to be before during and after Easter closed due to annual vacation or for rennovations-her route is well marked but often when overlapping exploits the GR654. The Randomee book has excellant maps the route is so well marked the map is un-necessarly except for distances. However! The authors have absolutely no hesitations to send the would be pilgrim down another country lane through another forest path up to another shrine chapel or croix anciene - warnings such as trei humiditee appear often and do not refer to water but shin+ deep mud - these added attractions can add another 5-8 km a day in order to arrive at the same gite found with Chassin - another 150km a month at least. The authors can be lazy recommending accomodation and often simply send one off to the Mairie closed half Saturdays and Sundays or tourist info closed the same and often open only certain days or only mornings. I often combined routes and learned that in early Spring one should absolutely reserve the next night's lodging since some gites are tiny or as mentioned despite the guides not open yet. The Vezelay route then is not as developed or as commercial as other rouytes to SdC, pilgrims always welcomed and even admired; somehow I developed a feeling that the Camino Frances was probably something like this in the 60's an adventure which required a flexibility and initiative now not really demanded. Quite huge glowing fields of rapeweed cream colored cows wisteria by the ton and yes light rain almost every day. Chemin Vezelay in the early Spring is marvelous but not suited for everyone.

You absolutly encapsulate the Vezelay experience, Scruffy! Glad you arrived safely and had a good time

 

[gypsy9]

hola all from the stately town of Santiago!!
i wanted to reconnect with a thread i began some months ago.

in a nutshell: i walked from auxerre to vezelay (two days via canal road) then vezelay to never.
train to le puy en velay.
train from moissac to oloron st marie...onward....onward...camino aragones (estupenda!) to Santiago de Compostela.
all amazing, truly.
and yes, there are many varying experiences on the camino, of course;
weather, people, accommodation, landscape.
and yes there is a LOT of road walking on the vezelay route. there is also traffic that made me nervous ...no so peaceful and conducive to meditation...so as you can see, i changed my camino!

the way was well way marked. i followed the GR red and white. enjoyed the villages and quiet albergues on the vezelay way...chemin du puy also...not so busy

the sun shines here in santiago. so beautiful!
bon chemin and buen camino peregrinos

 

[Cejanus]

Congratulations on your special journey and than you for keeping us posted. What was your favourite section of the Le Puy and one that is not to be missed? What maps or apps or guides did you use for this special Camino?

 

[gypsy9]

no apps!
no mobile!
a simple sheet of paper with kms and towns from the tourist info (most helpful)
the GR is super well marked on chemin du puy.

as most people relate, the walking from le puy en velay to conque is super duper. and also onward also to figeac.
in fact, i enjoyed all the route to moissac.

from figeac, i made the camino to roccamadour which i highly recommend. it is three days walk from figeac and there is plenty of information on this forum. sure, Roc. is touristy (like any place of pilgrimage that has gone ¨´commercial¨´), yet the walk into the village is ancient and atmospheric. as i said, it is possible to reconnected with the chemin du puy via an alternate route. albergues in all the towns. i have camino amnesia at present and so do not recall the names of all the towns that lead back to chemin du puy from roc. i believe there is info here....when i write again, i will have my compostella passport to check...
bon chemin!

 

[jdpiguet]

I walked Vézelay to St-Jean-Pied-de-Port via Bourges in 2007.

As Margaret says, starting from "la colline éternelle" is really special.
I met only few pilgrims and mostly only in the evening, but most of my nights were by private people.

It's something magic to call a phone number, to thear that you have to be in the front of the church at 5pm and wait.
And somebody you never heard about pick you up, bring you at home, show you a room and share the meal.

Yes, it's demanding, yes you need to plan 1 or 2 days in advance, but it's very rewarding.

The "Guide jaune" of Mme Chassin is not any more maintained, but it's possible to get almost all the necessary information from the internet, starting at:
http://www.vezelay-compostelle.eu/
You need to dig a little, but you can collect maps and list of albergue and places to stay.

Bon chemin!

 

[Magnara]

I'm seriously considering Le Chemin Le Puy to Santiago as my Camino for next year. This is an excellent thread to familiarize myself with the route!

Right now I've just returned from walking the Portugués and am now preparing for the Inglés combined with Finisterre and Muxia which I begin on August 3rd this year.

The Le Puy route is wonderful partly because of all the "Most Beautiful Villages In France" strung along it - exquisite! We walked it starting in April this year. We did the Cele Valley variant because we had heard it is particularly lovely and it didn't disappoint .
Maggie Ramsay
(The Italian Camino - Amazon)

 

[Moominmamma]

I walked the Inglés last July and enjoyed it very much. We met some extremely friendly people who invited us into their homes for a shower, coffee, fruit from their trees etc. It was humbling and uplifting to receive such a welcome wherever we went. I hear the Portugués is very friendly too. We're now walking (in stages) from Switzerland to SDC and are trying to decide between Vezelay and Chemin Le Puy when we get to that section, so this thread is very useful; thank you all.

I'm seriously considering Le Chemin Le Puy to Santiago as my Camino for next year. This is an excellent thread to familiarize myself with the route!

Right now I've just returned from walking the Portugués and am now preparing for the Inglés combined with Finisterre and Muxia which I begin on August 3rd this year.

 

[LesBrass]

After Perigueux one re-enters a gently rolling countryside of wheatfields cows and first sown crs - I needed a final destination with a train to get back to Paris so a bit of the Chemin a bit of several GR's a wine route and local scenic walks and the rest was easy - flexibility and imaginative inititive will get you anywhere.
PS and a big one the French are super kind polite and always generous their only failing concerns the clock - true from just before Limoges the churches all chime the hour twice as in all of southern France - the people are also flexible and imaginitive concerning opening times of gites - if you have a reservation wait and someone will eventually appear!

I live just off the Vezelay route... I drive along part of it every day on the school run, in and out of Perigueux twice a day! I'm biased of course but this really is a beautiful part of the world!

(p.s. I even thought about offering my spare room up to pilgrims... but I'm away a lot so I wouldnt be a very reliable host!)

 

[pudgypilgrim]

p.s. I even thought about offering my spare room up to pilgrims... but I'm away a lot so I wouldnt be a very reliable host!)

Well, FWIW, on the Voie de Tours that didn't seem to stop anyone. Most of the places I tried I was told, "But of course not. It's September, so of course they're all out walking." So if you want to do it, go ahead.