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No question but you should focus on the route that starts in Le Puy en Velay and leads to the Spanish border at Saint Jean Pied de Port. You’ll find lots of discussions by searching on this site about places to start and stop where there are train stations, difficulty of terrain, weather to...
From Figeac, which is worth exploring a bit itself, you can hop a train and easily visit Rocamadour. A great day at a great monument!
I wouldn’t spend extra time in Conque, which has a great church but it’s really a three-hour town. Perhaps Cahor, just because it’s big enough to have different...
I gave up on this route quickly. Met no other hikers. I’m happy to walk solo but not to dine solo. And the waymarking left much to be desired. Try Le Puy or a segment of that route.
I really don’t know what bushwalking means after reading this thread. You’re never off trail on this route.
I’ve done the Le Puy route twice for sport. Many French are just on vacation, but you may be surprised to find some of them emerging from Mass as I was one day.
One of the things I most...
Book your first night out of Le Puy, maybe two. That won’t lock you in very much but it will take some stress out of your first days. Looking at my diary that means St. Privat and Saugres.
I made it to Figeac in 13 days, and your experience relative to mine suggests you can do that. Just think...
Thanks for this brilliant writeup! Laughed out loud a few times.
Notes:
I found the Miam Miam Dodo app easier to work with than you. Definitely found the way to get a list of accommodations in just one town or section of the route.
Never had a problem finding a store open when I needed it...
If you’d like to break your trip in London or get a good fare there, you can also use Ryan Air to reach Biarritz/Bayonne, though that service doesn’t exist all year round.
Update: Stolen items include chalices, crosses, monstrances, and at least one 16th-century cope, a gift to the local bishop from François 1er.
There are security cameras at either end of the town, which may provide info. The thieves abandoned one of their two vehicles at the scene.
Thieves used a car with a tree trunk strapped to it to smash down the door of a historic cathedral in south west France to steal several items of high value.
https://www.thelocal.fr/20191104/thieves-ram-raid-historic-french-cathedral-to-steal-treasures/amp...
If ease of getting to and from the end points is important, where you are spending the rest of your trip makes a big difference. Do you have a plan for that yet? (I’m thinking why not the Le Puy route in France?)
You’ll want to get to San Sebastián. From there it’s an easy bus ride across the border to Biarritz.
When I did it I met a quartet of Americans en route to Lourdes who had dropped off their Spanish rental car and were busing to France to pick up another car. They were four and, I’m pretty...
For a rest day, Conques is far too small IMHO.
Definitely consider Figeac. I spent 2 hrs on. sunday morning doing laundry, then caught a train north to Rocamadour for a few hours of superb tourism at a spectacular site. It’s like a vacation from your vacation.
A half day, even if tired from travel or jet-lagged, is more than enough time to explore every nook and cranny of SJPP. To relax before starting your camino, Biarritz/Bayonne is far more entertaining and equally stress-free.
If you’re in Bayonne at lunchtime, the scene at the restaurants around the university is a delightful madhouse.
I’ve yet to explore Biarritz but have found Bayonne just right for decompression. Riverside walks and quite a variety of streetscapes. I did a daytrip to the resort town of St Jean de...
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