Cluny blog

[KiwiNomad06]

This blog isn't quite on the Le Puy route, but this seems the best place to post about it. I am mid-way through creating a blog about my April-May walk from Cluny to Le-Puy-en-Velay. It contains quite a few photos and my retelling of the walk. It's still in the nature of a 'first draft' but I thought some of you might be interested to read it anyhow.
http://clunychemin.blogspot.co.nz/ Later I will re-do the order of the posts so they read in a chronological order.
Margaret

PS I also walked from Le Puy to Conques, and walked 3 weeks of the Camino Frances- but I'll just insert some new photos/info to my Il faut aller doucement blog at a later date...

 

[Tia Valeria]

We look forward to following this Margaret.
How do you manage to re-order your posts please? I have difficulty making the new blogger do anything how I would like it and don't like to fiddle too much in case I corrupt Terry's original blog

 

[KiwiNomad06]

Hi Valerie,
When you have the post open for editing there is a side section on the right that includes a clock. Click on the clock and that bit opens up so you can 'set date and time'. I will manipulate those so they read in order- and will make sure I have the actual date included on the text of each post.
Mzrgaret

 

[Tia Valeria]

Thanks Margaret, I'll try that next time I add something to our blog. Happy wanderings

 

[robertt]

Loving it, nomad. That cheese plate in Tramayes had me biting my computer screen. Keep publishing.

 

[Luka]

Thanks, I am sure going to read it! In September I hope to be on a part of that route as well! Starting in Auxerre (where I left off last year), going through Vézelay and the Morvan, I will join this route in La Bénisson-Dieu. I hope to walk to Montbrison, where I have to catch a train back home. Next year I hope to walk all the way to Santiago from that point!

 

[Luka]

Just read your blog. I am even more looking forward to my little camino now! Will be sleeping where you slept between Noailly and Montbrison in September I hope!

 

[KiwiNomad06]

I will pass through Montbrison when I write the next entry... nearly there!
Margaret

 

[robertt]

Wonderful pics of the priory and Montverdun. I want to be there.

 

[KiwiNomad06]

OK I have now mostly finished this blog, and it reads in chronological order...
http://clunychemin.blogspot.co.nz/
Margaret

 

[Tia Valeria]

Thank you Margaret, a lovely and interesting blog. I like the way you have made it read down the page instead of normal 'blogwise'.

 

[KiwiNomad06]

Tia Valeria,Thank you.
I did that for my blog from Le Puy as well. It just makes more 'sense' when you read it that way I think.
Margaret

 

[robertt]

For those who haven't seen it yet, Margaret's blog is full of luscious photos of a less familiar pilgrim route. You'll wish you were there.

 

[Joseph Chan]

Agree with robertt, Margaret included many photos of items many glossed over and is one of the few blogs which showed the interior of albergues and bedrooms where she stayed. The personal touches she put into the blog is very pleasing. Very worthwhile reading.

A Chinese saying is "You cannot see the scenery on a galloping horse"; how nice for her to take the time to "smell the roses" and to do a follow up on her previous blog which she did it on on the go when she could find wifi on the trail.

Grandpa Joe

 

[KiwiNomad06]

Thanks Joe and Robert. I hope people find the account informative. I did keep a blog while I was walking, but will incorporate bits of that into this Cluny blog and my 2008 blog, then will delete it.
I didn't find any wifi on the Cluny route until I was nearly in Le Puy- by which stage I think I had about 18 e-mail messages ready to send. "Next" time I will do more blog posts as I go, since I know now they will eventually be able to be posted!
Margaret

 

[KiwiNomad06]

I've just put a selection of photos from Cluny to Le Puy in a Youtube slideshow. http://youtu.be/A0DH3sxQTKo
Margaret

 

[Luka]

I have been wondering why you didn't walk the same route I did (I had the booklet Cluny - Le Puy). I heard before that there is a shorter route than the one in the book. Where did you find the description? And are there markers on the way too?

 

[KiwiNomad06]

I have been wondering why you didn't walk the same route I did (I had the booklet Cluny - Le Puy). I heard before that there is a shorter route than the one in the book. Where did you find the description? And are there markers on the way too?

Lua, I did walk the route that is in the orange Cluny-Le Puy booklet. But just after Montarcher there is a divergence in the possible routes. I took the shorter alternative outlined in the Orange Amis booklet, but there is a longer, much harder and more mountainous route that follows the GR3 from this point. It is outlined in the final stages of the Chamina guide, and it rejoins the Amis route near Polignac, just before you get to Le Puy.
Margaret

 

[sunsurf]

Hi Margaret
Thanks for sharing once again. I am planning to walk in October next year and cannot decide which route to take. It is either Cluny to Le Puy; Le Puy to Figeac (I walked during June) or from Figeac onwards (doing the Cele variante).
From your photo's it seems that Cluny to Le Puy is just as beautiful as Le Puy to Figeac and from your blog that I read during your walk this year it seems that Cluny to Le Puy was very very quiet (maybe the time of the year that you walked?).
Although I have still a year to decide which route to walk, I enjoy doing a bit comparisons between the routes. Le Puy to Figeac was awesome, but a little bit too busy at times.
Thanks again for all your sharing. Lovely!!!
Sunsurf

 

[KiwiNomad06]

Sunsurf, from what I gather the Cluny route is always very quiet- and the solitude of the route was in fact the aspect of it I found the hardest! Things like gites/shops etc are not as frequent either, though I did always find places to stay. A difficulty in summer- from an article I read before I went- can be that the gites are full- not with walking pilgrims- but with French families on holiday, who will have reserved well before they arrive.
I am sure that you will 'settle on' the right route for you in your mind....but don't discount the route south from Figeac - there are many interesting towns and villages to pass through.
Margaret

 

[sunsurf]

Thanks, Margaret. Is October still regarded as summer? Sunsurf

 

[KiwiNomad06]

Thanks, Margaret. Is October still regarded as summer? Sunsurf

No, October is definitely past summer - and could be getting a bit chilly especially on the high parts.
Margaret

 

[Kitsambler]

However, the temperatures can vary from one year to another. Given that in 2011 it was scorchingly hot (in the 30's C) the last week of September approaching SJPP, early October can be quite warm along the lower half of the Le Puy route.