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Oh, and one more thing... Finishing in SJPDP is a lot different than finishing in Santiago. It's anti-climatic. No big Cathedral square to celebrate in. So keep your expectations a little lower for your finish. FWIW.... it is crazy to walk into SJPDP with is full of people (many talking...
Lots of good advice above. A few other hints...
When you get to Lyon airport, the "Rhônexpress" is a metro that will take you into town. There are tons of signs. You can't miss it. This will take you downtown where you can catch the train to Le Puy. There is one train switches in St-Étienne...
Seems early to tell the specifics about what this will mean, but I hope the result is that the fees they charge lodgings will be lowered. That would make it more workable for the smaller places on the Camino that can't really afford to give a percentage off the top to Booking.
I'll be doing the Portuguese route this fall. I'm trying to keep stages under 15 miles (25km).
A friend who has done the route before suggested taking the metro out to Matosinhos to shorten the walk to about 13.5 miles (22km). This skips by some of the urban walking in Porto.
Maybe that...
On #2: Many of us use Rome2Rio to plan out travel between cities. How complicated the travel may be will depend on which city you want to get to. Getting between some locations is possible, but may take several steps. For example, to get from Conques to Condom takes 8 hours by bus, and...
You're all my friends!!!
Funny... saw "I'm a friend of Bill W" bumper stickers for a long time before my alcoholic mother told me what they were about. :)
Great news. Enjoy your Camino. I hope it's everything you hope it will be. I know it was for so many of us. Buon Camino! (If you think about it, post after your Camino and let us know if the corns came back.)
I trained a lot for my hike (Le Puy to Sanitago) and got corns. Mine were on my second smallest toes on the inside facing the pinky toes. (My pinky toes are slightly tilted inward, causing rubbing.)
My main solution was corn pads. Sounds like that's not working or you. But just to make sure...
Great advice above. Here are a few of other thoughts...
Lots of things are closed on Mondays, especially in the smaller villages, so plan to carry food/supplies especially on Sunday and Monday.
The Cele Valley Variant is considered by some to be the prettiest section on just about any Camino...
I walked Le Puy starting August 2022, which had several very hot days. As people have said, starting early helps a lot. Usually, on hot days, I tried to be done walking by 1:00PM or so.
Generally, the heat didn't worry/bother me too much, but there was one day when I walking from...
I couldn't find any posts about this topic on the forum (first time that's ever happened) so I thought I'd ask...
It always seemed to me that wringing hand-washed clothes never works very well, and I wish I had a wringer available to squeeze out more water.
My question for all the wise...
On the Le Puy route, I think you'll find that Le Puy to Cahors has the most walkers (not the last stages near SJPDP). It's beautiful and quite popular with the French. But "busy" on Le Puy route is nothing compared to the Frances route. I found all the routes very safe, but I'm a man, so I'm not...
Looks like the Tour de France will not directly stop in any Spanish Camino towns this year, although it may cross over with some of the GR routes for the French routes.
La Vuelta (Spain's tour), on the other hand, does cross over in some traditional stops on some of the popular Camino routes...
Haven't done the trail, but have visited Matera. Absolutely loved it. Our plan was to make it a base for a few days while we explored the area, but we were enjoying ourselves so much, that we just stayed in town and explored. It's nothing like any place I've been before.
Also had an...
Yes, it looks like schedule has changed. You may want yo consider cab.
If you take train, be aware the station is several kilometers from the town so you would have to walk into town.
If you want to do some sight seeing on your rest day (and not just rest), then I'd suggest Figeac. A short bus ride will take you to Rocamadour which is a very cool place. Also Figeac itself has all the services you need like laundry, restaurants, etc.. Enjoy!
As you suggest, we're taking a train from Paris to Orthez, and a taxi from Orthez to Navarrenx. (I found a taxi in Orthez online, and the driver told me to contact him a day ahead of time to arrange the ride.)
@Shazenalan FWIW... Here are our specific walking plans...
19km - Navarrenx to...
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