Breakfast Timing

[GaryG]

My wife and I will be booking Gites soon for our walking from Le Puy to Moissac. Wondering about booking dinners and breakfasts. What time is breakfast available from, for the days we want to be up and away early?

 

[Camino Chrissy]

I haven't walked the Le Puy since June 2018, but all the gites we booked included dinner and breakfast. It was just the way they were offered because there were few options to purchase food between stages and we booked gites one day in advance day by day.
As I recall we were all eating breakfast at the same time. You will probably have to inquire with the owners the night before to see if they can accommodate early morning departures.

 

[Former member 104756]

Bonjour Gary. It’s not unusual for pilgrims to want to start early. Most gites I’ve stayed in on the Le Puy Way offered breakfast at least from 7am (some earlier) a few from 7.30 If you need it earlier, I’d ask at the time as @Camino Chrissy suggests. And have everything ready before you have breakfast so you’re good to go.

 

[Kitsambler]

My experience from several years ago was that 7:30 was the norm; occasionally 7:00 might be available on special request (when you make the reservation). Of course, you're free to depart earlier if you like, but it would be without breakfast. The coffee is the crux of the matter, as the bread, butter, and jam are all already set up (sometimes the night before). If you take sachets of instant coffee with you, and say you are happy with your bread untoasted, you might squeak out at 6:30 with breakfast.

 

[Former member 104756]

So they've never really understood silent, solo, early breakfasts.

I spend a lot of time in France, am married to s Frenchman, have walked various French caminos including as a solo walker and stayed at more than 100 gîtes- I find this an odd statement and at odds with my experience.

@GaryG - Your hosts will be used to welcoming pilgrims of all types including those who are solo, not talkative and like an early breakfast. I think they will do their best to accommodate you within reason

 

[Anthony Rocco]

My wife and I will be booking Gites soon for our walking from Le Puy to Moissac. Wondering about booking dinners and breakfasts. What time is breakfast available from, for the days we want to be up and away early?

We walked from Le Puy from mid-September to mid-October. Not a problem. If you plan to start early, they will have a grab and go ready for you. Dinner is not early, but it's worth waiting for. While we in the past were always early to bed, early to hit the road, generally skipping breakfast and having an orange and a cookie, stopping around 9am for a tortilla, you just can't do that in France. When in France, do what the French do. We decided to have a nice breakfast with other pellerin, starting later, a light lunch and a nice dinner. It was wonderful.

 

[Robert Long]

I agree with Anthony. We walked part of the LePuy last Sept 2022. It is not the CF or CP. Walkers are not out before first light. Gites are not often open at 2 or 3:00 pm. Dinner was at 7 or 7:30 and we all sat together. Dinner did not start until everyone was seated. One of our most memorable dinners lasted until 10:30. BFast was sometime grab and go, but often a sit down affair. The food was amazing.

My advice, Go with the flow. Coffee stops are not as frequent as in Spain. But watch for the occasional pastry shop, it will be worth the stop.

Enjoy Bob

 

[pelerine]

should point out that the French do not eat food for food's sake (although, given the state of their cookery, we might all believe differently); rather, a meal is for conversation, and the food is just an excuse. So they've never really understood silent, solo, early breakfasts.

On the contrary - is that French? Au contraire! Food is a main topic at the table and wherever they meet sooner or later the conversation comes to food. As to a silent breakfast, that depends on the person like everywhere….

 

[Anthony Rocco]

I agree with Anthony. We walked part of the LePuy last Sept 2022. It is not the CF or CP. Walkers are not out before first light. Gites are not often open at 2 or 3:00 pm. Dinner was at 7 or 7:30 and we all sat together. Dinner did not start until everyone was seated. One of our most memorable dinners lasted until 10:30. BFast was sometime grab and go, but often a sit down affair. The food was amazing.

My advice, Go with the flow. Coffee stops are not as frequent as in Spain. But watch for the occasional pastry shop, it will be worth the stop.

Enjoy Bob

Yep...and another piece of advice: If you don't speak French, learn as much as you can. Most of the pellerin are French and they make the experience so much more meaningful. One of our most unforgettable moments was when I reached the top after the climb out of Conques about a minute before my wife. There were 8 French taking a break there. I told them in my fractured French that it was my wife's birthday. As she approached us, they broke out into a rousing Happy Birthday...in English. Then I overheard one of them say in French what I understood as: We must sing it in French. English is so ugly! And they did. And it was indeed lovely. My wife filmed it. She said it was one of her best birthday presents ever.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

I loved the dinners at the gites because the food was outstanding and a big surprise to me was the large plate of various local cheeses brought out after dessert.

The breakfasts were not hot meals, but delicious toasted bread with many lovely jam choices that were usually home made and often OJ was included. The one thing I did not like was the coffee served. I am very particular and always compare European coffee to my fave "cafe con leche" in Spain. The coffee in the gites tasted flat and was usually lukewarm, probably because it was always served in what in America we call "cereal bowls" and they had no handles which were not needed anyway. It is probably just a cultural difference as the French didn't seem to mind.I would take a few sips and be done.

That said, the Via Podiensis was an absolutely wonderful experience and if I might say, one of mt top favorites.

 

[Former member 104756]

Ah oui @Camino Chrissy I too find thé coffee a challenge in France. I think black coffee drinkers - the majority in France - fare better. Those of us who like a milk coffee often face an uphill battle. Ah yes, and the big bowls.

In Australia, we are spoilt when it comes to coffee. I think it’s traced back to the Italian and Greek immigrants who arrived in the 50s and 60s. These days small local cafes are everywhere and thriving. Over thé years big chains like Starbucks and Gloria Jeans have struggled to survive in Australia. Many have opened only to close.

So the point …. I miss my coffee when in France. Spain is better but still not the same. Thankfully I’ve found two cafes here in Lectoure that make a milk coffee how I like it. It’s important. Non? ️ ️

 

[BlackRocker57]

Ah oui @Camino Chrissy I too find thé coffee a challenge in France. I think black coffee drinkers - the majority in France - fare better. Those of us who like a milk coffee often face an uphill battle. Ah yes, and the big bowls.

In Australia, we are spoilt when it comes to coffee. I think it’s traced back to the Italian and Greek immigrants who arrived in the 50s and 60s. These days small local cafes are everywhere and thriving. Over thé years big chains like Starbucks and Gloria Jeans have struggled to survive in Australia. Many have opened only to close.

So the point …. I miss my coffee when in France. Spain is better but still not the same. Thankfully I’ve found two cafes here in Lectoure that make a milk coffee how I like it. It’s important. Non? ️ ️

Absolutely agree 100 per cent @Pelerina ... having been so spoilt with excellent coffee I am now very fussy ... first coffee of the day coming up️️I’m happy to know that you’ve found a couple of cafés in Lectoure that will make you a milk coffee just how you like it Enjoy

 

[chinacat]

My favourite coffee is the one I make when I wake up:
Filter, Fairtrade, organic Machu Picchu … black, no sugar.

My memories of French breakfast coffee (in bowls, of course) are of milky coffee (or chocolate). If I ever fancy a milky coffee … a rare occurence … in the morning, I’ll serve it in a bowl … just for the memorises …

 

[Former member 104756]

My memories of French breakfast coffee (in bowls, of course) are of milky coffee (or chocolate). If I ever fancy a milky coffee … a rare occurence … in the morning, I’ll serve it in a bowl … just for the memorises …

You raise a good point @chinacat. When walking in France, if the coffee is not to your liking, you can always ask for un chocolat chaud - a hot chocolate - including at breakfast

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Rather than plain milk, my go-to is a heavy dose of "half and half cream", and a mere teaspoon of sugar to cut good, really strong coffee. I sometimes say as a joke, "I'll take some coffee with my cream".

 

[chinacat]

… and my ‘milk’ is almond milk …

Not sure I could manage your coffee, Chrissy, at any time of day …

And I’ve never had a café con lecche … it’s always espresso, with a little water, very little, if I’m not at home. I enjoyed many camino espressos

I was going to write ‘chocolat chaud‘ in French, @Pelerina, but it seemed out of place … I hadn’t thought of using italics ..

 

[Anthony Rocco]

… and my ‘milk’ is almond milk …

Not sure I could manage your coffee, Chrissy, at any time of day …

And I’ve never had a café con lecche … it’s always espresso, with a little water, very little, if I’m not at home. I enjoyed many camino espressos

I was going to write ‘chocolat chaud‘ in French, @Pelerina, but it seemed out of place … I hadn’t thought of using italics ..

We had walked in France before and knew about the coffee issue...and it was an issue for me. I simply cannot get going (or keep going) without coffee. On our first camino there (The Arle) the packets of instant coffee available at Carrefours were good enough, perhaps better than the coffee we got at bars as we could make the coffee strong enough for a caffeine deprived pilgrim. So much better in Spain, as we all know, and even better in Italy, where we lived for five years. Coffee lover unite! Let's march together on the Francigena!

 

[ElCee]

You raise a good point @chinacat. When walking in France, if the coffee is not to your liking, you can always ask for un chocolat chaud - a hot chocolate - including at breakfast

I actually fell in love with thé au lait while backpacking in France when I was 20. All the cheap hotels offered it as a breakfast option. There is nothing better than a steaming bowl of milky tea and fresh baguette and butter delivered to your room! Even in a one star hotel! I’ve been a tea drinker ever since. But now they don’t serve it any more in France. I get the dreaded: Quoi?!

 

[Pafayac]

But now they don’t serve it any more in France. I get the dreaded: Quoi?!

Probably because of Brexit...

 

[Footsore]

I walked Cahors - St Jean in May this year. I have been converted to black coffee but I'm not too sure about drinking coffee from a bowl! The bowl drinking started somewhere west of Condom and reached its height in Basque country with toast croutons. Breakfast was usually 07:30 but there were many folk up and gone by then. Evening meals were around 19:30 and thoroughly enjoyable.