Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela

[howardd5]

i have walked and enjoyed the Santiago trail and am hoping to expand to France north of the Pyrennes, any comments or ideas about the feeder trails to Spain that passes thru Le Puys-Darrell

[brendan nolan]

Hi Darrell,
You could start at Geneva which, I believe, is the actual start of the GR65 which goes through Le Puy and on to Spain.
Cheers,
Brendan

[sillydoll]

The CSJ has a paper on the Via Gebennensis - Geneva to Le Puy. There is also a small guide in French and German with maps and lists of available accommodation. Here is what the CSJ has to say:

Unlike the other pilgrim roads through France which have followed more or less fixed itineraries for several hundreds of years, the Via Gebennensis is a "designer route," set up in the mid 1990s by the Association Rhône-Alpes des Amis de Saint-Jacques as a continuation of the GR 65 to enable pilgrims coming from Switzerland, Germany and Central Europe to walk to Le Puy in order to continue on to Santiago from there. It is therefore not a historic route but a bridging service between two points, a means of walking from Geneva to Le Puy-en-Velay on quiet, waymarked forest tracks, old lanes, footpaths and minor roads.
The Route. 350 km long. Starts in Geneva and passes through innumerable very small hamlets, some villages large enough to have banks, post offices, restaurants and shops, but no place of any size between its starting and finishing points. A link part-way along to the Arles route is also in preparation.

The Guide:
Chemin de St-Jacques-de-Compostelle de Genève au Puy-en-Velay
L'Association Rhône-Alpes des Amis de St-Jacques. Special number 19 of their journal "Chemins de Compostelle en Rhône-Alpes". Feb 2006. 64 pp.
Guide in French and German to the route from Geneva to le Puy, with maps and lists of available accommodation.


Price: £6.50

[brendan nolan]

Hi Darrell,
I've now found the map I was looking for the other night.
When planning route through Europe in 2005 I wanted, at first, to walk the GR routes through France but abandoned that idea because the GR routes wander, and as a pilgrim I wanted a route from Amsterdam to Le Puy as direct as possible. But what I bought was the IGN map 903 'France - Grande Randonnee'. It has the GR's for the whole of France so, depending how far you want to walk before geting to Le Puy you can plan a route.
I also have another map showing routes from all over Europe and beyond. It shows the main gathering centres in France, Le Puy, Paris, etc but also shows the routes that fed into those centres. The map might be good for general planning but would be no good for a pilgrim planing a detailed route today. However it's produced again by IGN - Les Chemins De Saint Jacques de Compostelle.
Hope this is helpful.
Brendan

[Gabi]

I used this guide and thought it was very useful:
Miam-miam-dodo : Chemin de Compostelle (GR 65) du Puy-en-Velay à Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port (Broché)
de Lauriane Clouteau (Auteur), Jacques Clouteau (Auteur)

It contains basic maps and good list of accomodation and grocery stores.

[sukinseoul]

Dear Gabi,

Here are the attached files that show the relavant information on Le Puy from France to St. Jean.
Hope this is useful to you.

sukinseoul
Korea
I will do walk the route in summer this year.

[sukinseoul]

Gabi,

Here are the rest..

sukinseoul
Korea

http://www.godesalco.com/
see the site for more info.