Camino Options

[hfox]

Hi all,

I just bought my ticket for my next Camino this summer (yay!).

I wanted to walk in France—I loved the Norte and primitivo last year, and I thought it would be cool to explore another country.

I’m flying into Geneva in mid July because I found a cheap flight.

I think I’ve got just enough time to walk either:
Camino Gebennensis to le puy and then le puy to cahors OR the entire le puy Camino to SJPP.

Advantages of the first option: saves me a bus trip, might be cooler, get to see a bit of Switzerland.

Advantages of the second: gets to the start of frances, might be more people (and thus, safer for a solo female pilgrim).

Any thoughts or recommendations?

 

[Peterexpatkiwi]

@hfox , I'm hoping to do option 1, the walk from Geneva next year (as part of a larger Project) so hope you will take time to either post from the trail or at least do a summary at the end. @sunflowerfunk wrote a highly entertaining thread on this last year, sadly we haven't seen Max for a long time now. He walked August/ September from memory, perhaps not as hot as July but probably not far off. I think the thread was called 'On my way to the end of the world'.
Bon Chemin!

 

[BillW]

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 as sensitive to some risks as women hikers surely are.
I think both of the options you are considering will be are great. If you end up starting in Le Puy, look into the Cele Valley or Racamadour variants. Both offer some wonderful sites.

 

[Lexicos]

I can highly recommend the Le Puy to SJPP, it's a superb route with lots of variety in landscapes, beautiful towns and villages and a good number of pilgrims. Safety wise, you'll nearly always have pilgrims close ahead of you or behind you and it's no problem to walk with or close to others. Plenty of accommodation along the way too.

 

[Charles13]

Hi , I did last April Camino from Le Puy to SJPP in about 30 days , I took Célé valley option from Figeac to Cahors it takes same days as GR 65 normal camino, very beautiful.

 

[Tandem Graham]

If you do decide to take public transport from Geneva to Le Puy, I think you'll find that trains are quicker and more frequent than buses (though also somewhat more expensive). Geneva to Lyon then Lyon to Le Puy.
If you need an overnight to adjust your bodyclock after the flight, Geneva is beautifully situated but very expensive. Lyon has much more affordable accomodation options (until the Olympic football (soccer) tournament begins) and has plenty of heritage to explore.
I have walked Le Puy to SJPdP and encountered a roughly equal split M/F of pilgrims, including some women walking solo. A big advantage is the reliably excellent food, particularly dinners available in the Gites d'Etapes. It is more expensive than the Spanish Caminos, but for better accommodation and meals.

I plan to walk either Cluny or Geneva to Le Puy this year, starting in mid August, so can't compare yet!

Enjoy your French adventure!

 

[Former member 104756]

As others have mentioned the Cele Valley Variant (fabulous) ... if you decide to take the variant, I can highly recommend a visit to the La Grotte du Pech Merle. It's on the chemin, just outside Cabrerets. You can only visit the caves on the guided tour. It's open from 30 March to 3 Nov 2024. Reservations highly recommended.

Pech Merle prehistory centre and cave

Visit of the prehistory centre and painted cave of Pech Merle in Cabrerets in the Lot Valley in the Causses de Quercy Regional Natural Park surrounded by Midi Pyrénées Grands Sites.

en.pechmerle.com

When we went there, we stayed overnight in Cabrerets, and were at Pech Merle for the first tour at 9.30am.

Most of the tours are in French but there are some English speaking tours. When you book tickets you can see which tours are in English. As we wanted to go on the first tour of the day and then keep walking, we went to the 9.30 tour which, on that day, was in French. My French wasn't up to the task in terms of the commentary but it didn't matter. They gave me an English language brochure to take with me into the caves. The tour was finished by about 11am and then we continued on to Saint Cirq la Popie.

In hindsight, as we'd arrived in Cabrerets by lunchtime, we could have reserved for an afternoon tour but, when we were booking the tickets, we didn't know when we would arrive in Cabrerets.

 

[Pafayac]

I cannot give you advice about Gebennensis because I do not walk on it. I met a number of people who walked on it: it seems to offer nice sceneries but is demanding and quite lonely.
However, I walk Podiensis. Some people think Le Puy-Cahors is the best part of this route, but I do not share this advice: I think there are different parts on Podienis, but all of them is worth walking it:
- Le Puy-Conques offer marvellous sceneries, among which the Aubrac, and invigorating food (saucisses-lentilles, aligot, truffade...)
- Conques-Cahors is very nice, especially if you choose the Célé Valley, as some members advice. You can even rent a canoe to go down a part of the river (for instance from Marcilhac to Cabrerets).
- Cahors-Navarrenx is not bad, even if you will see lot of corn fields. Food is also worth mentionning it: duck under all its form, armagnac or floch de Gascogne as aperitive.
- From Navarrenx to SJPP, Bearn and Pays Basque will offer you nice landscapes and friendly welcome.
Furthermore, as you wrote, doing the whole Podiensis make sense.

Anyway, do not miss the early mass in Le Puy: even if you are not a catholic, even if you do not understand a bloody word of french, this mass is made for any pilgrim, and at its end you will actually see the way, nearly until Santiago !

 

[patriciafross]

As a single female pilgrim, I walked Le Puy to Pamplona and had the most wonderful Camino walking through France. This year I will finish the CF starting in Pamplona. If you do Le Puy to SJPP, I highly suggest making a reservation at La Chappele des Ursulines in Aire sur L’Adour. It was a magical stay. The whole route, I felt safe and so content.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

I ended my Camino in Auvillar, but had many wonderful stays on the Via Podiensis. Probably the most magical and interesting was staying at the Abbey Church of St.Foy in the incredible village of Conques. A unique and surprising highlight was the evening performance in its Sanctuary with the lights timed on and off flickering in tune with the organist playing "The House of the Rising Sun". It was a very unusual "one of a kind" experience in a church setting.

 

[Pilgrim 122]

I walked the route from Le Puy to SJPdP in 2013. As a woman walking alone i felt quite safe and there were always others pilgrims ( mostly French) to chat to . I had walked the CF the year before from St Jean and so arriving there at the end of my camino it didn't matter which I had walked first I had now walked all the way from Le Puy to Santiago. If you do go, I also recommend the pilgrim Mass and blessing at Le Puy Cathedral which is an amazing start to your pilgrimage. It will be useful if you can speak a bit of French especially if you want to chat to the other pilgrims.

 

[Suzanne H]

I have not yet walked from Geneva.
I LOVE the LePuy route.

Some of my favorite things are starting my journey at the cathedral in Le Puy after the morning mass, and walking into SJPdP, ending with mass in the cathedral. Those beginning and end points were very special and memorable for me, and I do not speak French or attend church on a regular basis.

Although I note Le Puy as a fantastic starting point, Le Puy is actually quite beautiful in its own right, so walking into it would likely be awe-inspiring. ~buen camino

 

[Leila99]

Hi @hfox I walked the Via Podensies (le Puy-Pamplona) in August 2022. It was my second camino experience, after 2 weeks in the Via Francigena. I absolutely loved it. It turned me into a hard-core camino addict. Next month I am going to take up from Pamplona and finish it. It was so good that I am afraid that the Camino Franes could be a disappointed. Well, we'll see. I loved the lovely small quaint French towns that are not big touristic names and still surprise you with their charms. I loved the scenary, sort of Mesata in Aubrauc in August (dry, scorching hot, brown all around), the woods after Espignac, the way to the Pyreneis that pulled me in (in the end I did not stop in SJPD) but got over to Pamplona. I enjoyed the easiness of booking a gite. My French is very rusty and i invent most of the words but with google translate, my script of (je suis en pelerin, je voudrais reserve en lit.. avec demi pension...) I managed to book a bed easily. Having demi pension meant I did not need to cater for breakfast (was that good!!) and evening dinner. We had fantastic food and lovely chats. Most pilgrims were French but with some English and my pidgin French we managed to talk about anything. There were also a couple of Swiss, German where I could speak in English. I don't know the Gebeniensis but from my research (I was considering as an option too) it appeared more expensive and possible due to fewer pilgrims would have less of a camino vibe. Don't miss the Pilgrim mess in LePuy at the start and in Conque in between. A top gite is Peace & Love with Michele before Conque. I have yet to meet someone who did not experience the camino magic there.
I wish you a great Camino wherever you decide to go.