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Just a further note: France is 30 or 40% more expensive for accommodation and food than Portugal or Spain. However, some pilgrims get around this by camping - there are quite a few campsites on or within a couple of kms from the GR65/Voie du Puy. Of course that means carrying camping gear .....
Hi, quite a journey you are planning!
There is no one information source for that whole route.
However, the German Jakobsweg associations and the Belgian and French regional Compostelle associations all have websites which include lists of pilgrim-specific or pilgrim-budget accomodation for you...
If you can, I would book a bed/room at the old Seminary, just a block from Le Puy Cathedral, in light of the bank holiday.
There is (or was in 2019) a soiree each afternoon, in the local pilgrim association room - again very near the cathedral - for pilgrims to meet each other and take advice...
We took our tandem over the Napoleon route in 2017, carrying it where necessary once we left the asphalt. You need a sturdy frame, chunky tyres and a willingness to give way to walkers and push/carry the bike over boulders and between rocks close to the border.
Walkers will likely not be...
Another option to those above may be to store it at a Campsite somewhere near Bayonne or Cambo les Bains (both a short hop by train to SJPdP). If you end up walking during the camping season, many caravans and motorhomes will have vacated their seasonal storage, so there ought to be a deal to be...
In rural Spain and much of Europe, the availability and choice of vegetables in restaurants and shops is more seasonal than in a UK (and I suspect US) supermarket. In spring, my experience in Navarra and the Basque country has been a great choice of fabulous fresh salad vegetables, whereas in...
Bayonne is a lovely small city. Try lunch near the riverside market hall and do visit the cathedral. Oh, Bayonne's chocolate makers have a deserved strong reputation too! There's an Albergue/Gite d'Etape and a decent range of other afforadble accomodation.
You're feeling nervous just before you go, but if you've already got your pack down to 7kg, you're doing better than many of us.
The 10% guidance is unfair on smaller, lighter people! Nevertheless, whatever "the rules" may or may not say, lighter is always more comfortable.
As others have...
As a fellow UK national, actually the systems aren't that different. Many of the costs of rescue and treatment which would be met by taxpayers (ie NHS services) for a UK citizen are now supposed to be billed to foreign nationals, presumably to be covered by travel or medical insurance, if it...
I carry a 660ml bottle (about a pint). I get into the habit of taking a good swig as I enter each hamlet or village, and refill it every time there is a source.
At Carrion los Condes (or similar places on other Caminos where there is a known gap between fountains) I buy an extra small bottle to...
My first Camino was by tandem bike with Carol, my wife. I didn't worry or obsess about it, because by then we had made several long journeys in Europe that way.
When I decided to walk on my own from Le Puy, it wasn't just my first walking Camino but my first solo multi day hike. I was most...
No direct shuttle bus, but (as the Rome2Rio link shows) options of buses or RER (commuter train)/ Metro. There will be a change involved.
I know it's not what you asked, but if you're travelling through Paris, perhaps consider a night *in* Paris, to help see off your jetlag and sample a little...
You might find it easier to navigate the Spanish rail system through trainline.com, in English. That won't help if the tickets haven't been released yet, but it is less confusing!
I love the freedom to make impetuous decisions. I much prefer not to book ahead. However, what others might call planning, I call *information gathering*!
I research my route via online guides, this forum and the internet more broadly. I note where I might wish to stay, make a note of albergues...
Bear in mind that we were cycling, so not all of the paths were suitable for us. But the Lightfoot Guide maps include surrounding terrain, including road and trail alternatives, so we were able to plot a route for us.
I really liked the route, with variety between open countryside and small...
It's not the GR36, but there is a route with a guidebook, The Plantagenets Way, which goes from Mont St Michel to intercept the Voie de Tours near St Jean d'Angely.
This is a recognized pilgrimage route, with pilgrimages in both directions.
We followed it - approximately, by tandem - in 2017...
Guide book author and VDP expert Gerald Kelly runs a VDP Facebook group which shares up to date info like this. Worth following if you're planning to walk soon.
The title (and Bradypus's authorship) made me expect a joke:"have you heard the one about two pilgrims stuck in a tree..? .."!
But actually, I have seen the horns on some Spanish cows, and I can imagine this being a scary ordeal.
I have read both @Shalaw and @It56ny posts again, and I think you both acknowledged that there were different points of view on whether cycling the Meseta is the best way to shorten the time needed for a Camino.
I don't think it is judgmental to disagree.
I have cycled the Camino Frances (or...
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