Best apps for the Via Francigena

[jruberto]

Hi,
We made a video about the best apps for the Via Francigena, based on our experience. What would you add?

Thanks,

John

 

[Rex]

Thanks. I'm just about to start the second leg of my VF (from Martigny to Lucca) and this is a useful overview. Last year, I walked from Canterbury to Martigny and the route was not clearly marked in several places and my offline maps often suggested a different route than the official route. My route covered 561 miles in about 40 days.
I did encounter two places in the French Jura Range where the hosts warned me to beware the wild pigs that might be in the area of the trail. Fortunately, I never actually encountered any of them. I did see a lot of deer up in the higher reaches of the Jura in Switzerland.

I use the All Trails app, which lets me easily download VF stages that are taken from the official VF site (which is also useful as you noted) and All Trails works well offline.
The Confraternity of Pilgrims to Rome has a wealth of information and were very helpful in my planning for the English and French stages, particularly as they have a list of accommodations that might not be on Booking.com, as well as certain individual homes that may host pilgrims in some of the more remote parts of the French section.
Your video is a great addition to my library of information I can peruse for the next five weeks.

 

[jruberto]

Thanks. I'm just about to start the second leg of my VF (from Martigny to Lucca) and this is a useful overview. Last year, I walked from Canterbury to Martigny and the route was not clearly marked in several places and my offline maps often suggested a different route than the official route. My route covered 561 miles in about 40 days.
I did encounter two places in the French Jura Range where the hosts warned me to beware the wild pigs that might be in the area of the trail. Fortunately, I never actually encountered any of them. I did see a lot of deer up in the higher reaches of the Jura in Switzerland.

I use the All Trails app, which lets me easily download VF stages that are taken from the official VF site (which is also useful as you noted) and All Trails works well offline.
The Confraternity of Pilgrims to Rome has a wealth of information and were very helpful in my planning for the English and French stages, particularly as they have a list of accommodations that might not be on Booking.com, as well as certain individual homes that may host pilgrims in some of the more remote parts of the French section.
Your video is a great addition to my library of information I can peruse for the next five weeks.

All Trails is great too. I did use it to record the walks then play back in the 3d flyover animation, that was a fun to recap the day.

I saw some wild pigs in the distance, as we approached Formello, but I most enjoyed them on the plate (Chingale ragu is one of the pleasures of life).

Good luck on your walk.

 

[ksam]

Thanks for posting! I'm in the initial planning stages of the Via. Aiming towards July/august of next year. Looking to get a visa for Spain to allow for extended time in Europe/Schengen zone. I'll use a lot of time in Spain to volunteer as an hospitalera and then also do some Caminos as practice walks...then on to the Via. At least that's as far as my thoughts have gotten at this point!