Hello, Deborah,
Walking from Le Puy to Santiago took us 68 days. We left Le Puy on April 13 and reached SJPP on May 19, I believe. It was a glorious experience, while the Le Puy-SJPP section was quite different from the
Camino Frances.
The section in France is well marked but it's much more like a hiking footpath. The red and white blaise shows the way well. The GR65 booklets are very good. A larger map can help get a sense of where you're going. The Miam-Miam Dodo book is good for finding a place to sleep.
You won't really find 'albergues' on the French side, but 'gites' who are very much like the 'casa rurales' in Spain. You're often expected to take the evening meal, while some gites also have a kitchen corner for the pilgrims. Taking the evening meal means you get to know the other pilgrims. And there are fewer pilgrims in France than in Spain (even though that may depend when you're going).
The section between Le Puy and Conques is said to be the most beautiful but also the most difficult (walking up and down hundreds of meters over a few kms). If you do start in Le Puy the climb over the Pyrenees will feel quite easy on your legs and breathing.
I would recommend you get in shape and don't start too fast. We have seen quite a few young pilgrims having to stop within two-three days from Le Puy because they started walking 30 to 35 kms. As a barber told
my husband some weeks ago in Santo Domingo de la Calzada, 'If you want to reach Santiago like a young man, start like an old man.' In our case, it would mean starting like an older woman
In France, you will have to reserve your 'gite' two-three days in advance. As you can also do it by e-mail, you can do it quite a while ahead. Just make sure you confirm your arrival, a day before, or that same day. Many pilgrims reserve in two or three places for the same night and then forget to cancel. So if you don't confirm and arrive late, you may find you don't have the place you expected.
Because we had a flight back to PR to catch, we walked Le Puy-Santiago in 68 days, which in retrospect was too fast. So fast my husband and I felt we had to do it again, more slowly, which we just did in April-May, this time just from SJPP-Santiago.
The highlights: the Cathedral in Le Puy (don't miss the 'fever stone'), Conques (we love the place so much we'll be hospitaleros there this October), the beauty of nature (but this goes for the whole Camino), and some gites, particularly those called 'Les Haltes de Compostelle', that follow a very precise charter of hospitality (my words). A couple of 'bio-farms' as well.
I hope you find this of help. If you have any more questions, please don't hesitate.
claire
PS: Make sure you spend a night at Le Sauvage, a 12th c Templar hospice now a farm
[five or six days out of Le Puy]
