GR653 VS Via Carcassone

[AntoDiPla]

Good morning Pilgrims!

In June I will leave Italy to try to get to Santiago. Around August I will be walking the part of the camino in France, and as I read through the various threads, I had a doubt regarding which route to take after Montpellier:

A) GR653: I have read that it is very beautiful but difficult, with little possibility of finding lodging and food;
B) Follow the Canal du Midi via Carcassone: from there then, possibly, would it be better to continue towards Toulouse or follow the GR78? I need to get to SJpdP to start the Camino Frances with a friend.

I will have a small tent, so I don't really need to find lodging every night. However, I am looking for a route that, done in August, is not too physically demanding, given the long road I will have to travel.

Thank you all in advance for suggestions

 

[Jarrad]

I walked and visited the area last year, but did not walk both routes. I am unfamiliar with the GR-653. The area around Carcassone has some gently rolling hills, nothing too steep, but I would recommend looking for an elevation profile.

Lodging in the area is easy to find and it's the largest town in the area at about 65 square km. You will not have a problem finding a good meal. The walk into the Carcassonne fortifications is uphill, but not difficult. As an American who goes into full tourist mode whenever he gets around a castle, it was worth it to me to spend a day there.

In fact, there are a range of lodging options within the Carcassonne fortifications. Considering it's a touristy area, I was happy to get a reasonably priced room at a hotel run by Best Western. There is also the Auberge de Jeunnesse HI Carcassonne, which has great views and good reviews. My understanding is they have lockers and are noted for being exceptionally clean.

 

[naplesdon]

I have done portions of the Canal Midi, there is camping but it is limited. I would suggest getting guides for the GR's you plan to walk.

 

[Former member 104756]

hi there @AntoDiPla I've walked both the Arles Way (Arles to Puenta la Reina) and the Piemont (Carcassonne to SJPP) - which are the same paths for the most part as the GR653 and GR78.

Accommodation and food: We walked the Arles Way in 2016 and the Piemont in 2022. There are gites and other accommodation along both paths, with more accommodation available on the Arles Way. I can't comment on availability of camping. In both cases, we started on 1 April. So, it was early in 'the season' but we didn't have much difficulty finding food or accommodation, other than two nights on the Piemont when we ended up in Airbnbs which we were able to find online the day before. We always carried snacks or lunch on the Piemont and sometimes on the Arles Way depending on what lay ahead.

Difficulty: There are some hills on both paths, but it's difficult to comment on 'difficulty' because that depends on the individual. I managed both paths well and I'm no athlete. I recall we typically walked around 25 kms per day. By the time you get there you will have been walking for some time and probably in good walking condition.

Gronze has good information on the Arles Way - with distances between towns and villages, accommodation options, and elevation maps. It doesn't have much information on the Piemont. There are a few guidebooks and web sites available for both paths, if you do a bit of research.

Whichever you choose, the GR653 and the GR78 meet in Oloron Saint Marie. From OsM, you can take the GR 78 to SJPP which took us 4 days. Alternatively, if you have more time available (say an extra week), you could take the GR653 over the Col du Somport, then along the Aragones. It joins the Frances in Obanos or Puenta La Reina. The Aragones is a wonderful path in my view. From there you could make your way back to Pamplona and then the bus to SJPP to meet your friend - or meet your friend in Pamplona.

Personally, I preferred the Arles Way so I would take that once you get to Toulouse and then decide which path to take from OsM depending how much time you have available before meeting your friend.

All the best with your planning and your long journey!

 

[ginniek]

I've walked the Canal du Midi from Toulouse to Carcassonne, and loved it, and will finish it next year. Since it follows the canal it is relatively flat, with lots of small towns and interesting buildings to look at, and some historical engineering marvels, too. And different, delicious versions of cassoulet every evening. One of my favorite features was the historic canal structures, now operated exclusively by technology. Opening and closing times throughout the day are absolutely fixed, to the chagrin of tourists and their dogs operating rented house boats.

 

[JabbaPapa]

Good morning Pilgrims!

In June I will leave Italy to try to get to Santiago. Around August I will be walking the part of the camino in France, and as I read through the various threads, I had a doubt regarding which route to take after Montpellier:

A) GR653: I have read that it is very beautiful but difficult, with little possibility of finding lodging and food;
B) Follow the Canal du Midi via Carcassone: from there then, possibly, would it be better to continue towards Toulouse or follow the GR78? I need to get to SJpdP to start the Camino Frances with a friend.

I will have a small tent, so I don't really need to find lodging every night. However, I am looking for a route that, done in August, is not too physically demanding, given the long road I will have to travel.

Sounds like you're contemplating the variant of the Arles route that goes via Carcassonne towards Toulouse.

As far as I can tell, that route only follows the Canal du Midi on a few sections, whereas the Canal was built more or less parallel to that old travel route.

And BTW for reasons very similar to yours, I will be going down there in the opposite direction this summer/early autumn, probably not by the same exact route as yourself. Never know though, we could bump into each other.

There's a great Albergue in Béziers BTW.

Here :

https://en.mapy.cz/turisticka?l=0&x=3.0473464&y=43.3278480&z=13

... you can see anyway what the waymarked hiking route looks like between Béziers and Carcassonne, as well as the multiple small tarmac road variants you can follow if preferred.

Things look messy between Carcassonne and the Lauragais area, though it looks likely to me that the historic route went via Castelnaudary, and there's what looks like small enough tarmac and/or the Canal and/or agricultural roads to go via Villesèqualande > Sainte-Eulalie > Alzonne (and/or > Bram) then > Villepinte > Lasbordes > Saint-Martin-Lalande > Castelnaudary. Support infrastructure anyway would be a lot better that way than just following the Canal.

From Castelnaudary there's a choice between tarmac to Labastide d'Anjou (quickest) ; or the Canal to Le Ségala ; or the cycling route via Mas Saintes-Puelles, also towards Le Ségala. And from those points you're back on the Arles Way proper.

As to getting to SJPP from the Arles Way, for the avoidance of the more difficult sections, from Oloron-Sainte-Marie I'd start out on the Piémont, but at around Geüs-d'Oloron leave it and continue down the Gave d'Oloron valley until Navarrenx and get onto the last few Ks of the Le Puy Way (and even there, from Aroue I'd personally follow tarmac until Saint-Palais, which is not as bad as it looks on the map BTW ; and the country roads towards Navarrenx are lovely).

Otherwise, the Montpellier > Béziers section is still not on mapy.cz, and I found I had to do a bit of DIY ; though it goes roughly > Fabrègues > Gigean > Balaruc-le-Vieux > Mèze > Agde > Béziers --- with a variant via Sète then along the coast (youth hostel at Sète and many campsites along that coast).

 

[Richard P]

Hello AntoDiPla
In 2018 I set off from Arles intending to walk the Chemin de Arles but in Montpellier a fellow convinced me it was a much nicer walk to go south to Sete walk to Agde and then follow the Canal du Midi to Carcassonne which is what I did.
This was in the first week of September and it was hot! 35 to 40 degrees but with a gentle breeze coming off the turquoise waters of the Med, it was quite pleasant and there are public eau potable stations every 1/2 km or so along the waterfront.
Big difference is that as a municipal worker said to me "last week there were a million people on the beach and today you are the only one!"
As Pelerina states above about hills, there are lots but nothing too strenuous. There is accommodation and cafes/restaurants all along and I met two young fellows who were camping rough most nights who announced one morning after I met them in a cafe that they were now heading into the Pyrenees to climb a few mountains.
Whichever route you follow it is through gorgeous countryside and you will enjoy many "le vrai cassoulets".
bon chemin

 

[jouffroy47]

Good morning Pilgrims!

In June I will leave Italy to try to get to Santiago. Around August I will be walking the part of the camino in France, and as I read through the various threads, I had a doubt regarding which route to take after Montpellier:

A) GR653: I have read that it is very beautiful but difficult, with little possibility of finding lodging and food;
B) Follow the Canal du Midi via Carcassone: from there then, possibly, would it be better to continue towards Toulouse or follow the GR78? I need to get to SJpdP to start the Camino Frances with a friend.

I will have a small tent, so I don't really need to find lodging every night. However, I am looking for a route that, done in August, is not too physically demanding, given the long road I will have to travel.

Thank you all in advance for suggestions

I've walked the GR653 from Arles and had no problem with lodging (with a little planning across the Parc naturel régional du Haut Languedoc) to keep my distances short. Food could be a bit challenging without planning and I always took the demi-pension whenever it was offered becauses of this. I took the variant out of Arles by the Petit Rhone and the variant by the Canal du Midi into Toulouse. I also took a bus/tram into and out of Montpellier to avoid a day's worth of road walking in the suburbs, and a train to Toulouse to Pibrac four the dame reason. It is my favorite route so far.

 

[Former member 104756]

I also took a bus/tram into and out of Montpellier to avoid a day's worth of road walking in the suburbs, and a train to Toulouse to Pibrac four the dame reason.

I did the same

 

[Kitsambler]

One point for Canal walking: you can't cross the canal whenever you please, and it is possible to get stuck on the wrong side. (Don't ask me how I learned this.) And in France, the cross-over bridge -- southbound, say -- is sometime only accessible from the other side -- north, say -- of the canal. (Don't ask me how that day went, either.) So it does well to pay attention to the details in your guidebook or map app.

Bon Chemin!

 

[AntoDiPla]

Thank you all so much for the insights!
I think I'll stick with the idea of walking the Vie d'Arles at this point (an Italian friend who walked it in 2016 told me it's not as bad as it seems)