How busy?

[cotts]

Just wondered if there is anyone walking the le puy route at present. Is it as busy as people say it is? I am heading off on the 24th of Aug am hoping that things will be a little quieter. Also do you need to take your own sleeping bag or is a sheet enough, we are planning on using the gites. Any not to be missed cafe/restaurants ?

 

[Deleted member 3000]

There is a general requirement to have a sleeping bag/sack to use the gites/albergues. You probably would not want to sleep directly on the mattresses anyway! Some have seen quite a lot of use. Most places have pillows that also have seen a lot of use. My nylon sleep sack has a pouch for the pillow. The pillow shape in France often is a long tube, or sometimes a square. A queen-size pillow case would accommodate them.

This place was very accommodating the first night after Le Puy:

http://www.accueilstprivat.com/index.php

 

[grayland]

Falcon...
Was that the link you intended? Very interesting, I had thought to see the site of a Gite.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

It is the website for the gite in St. Privat. The owner is in the web business, so has much more than just an ad. No prices are listed because it is by donation. Navigate around the site, and you can see photos, newsletters, pilgrim comments, etc. The couple met on the Camino, married, and decided to open a Christian gite.

 

[grayland]

Wow..that is a really busy site. Didn't really actually find anything on the gite.

 

[Kitsambler]

Just wondered if there is anyone walking the le puy route at present. Is it as busy as people say it is? I am heading off on the 24th of Aug am hoping that things will be a little quieter. Any not to be missed cafe/restaurants ?

September is the month all the retirees in France go walking; you can expect most places to be mostly full for the first few weeks of September. After that it slacks off. There are pulses of people along the route - in pig through python fashion. More people will start from Le Puy on a Monday than later in any week, for example. So you may find yourself in a crowd, or not.

Do not miss the blueberry tart lady, in a little hamlet about an hour or two before reaching Sauges. She will have signs out, so watch for them.

 

[cotts]

Thanks to all for those posts. I gather it will be busy end of Aug start of Sept. Great don't have much french for pre booking. Also gather I need a sleeping bag and sleeping sheet. Will be looking out for the tart lady love a good berry tart. Anyone know of farms along the way selling cheese ?

 

[Kitsambler]

Anyone know of farms along the way selling cheese ?

Perhaps I was too tired to notice, but I don't recall seeing any signs for cheese at the farms, at least between Le Puy and Cahors. Granted, they might have needed to be 6 ft tall and in English to get my attention. Not to worry however, because every single town market had a terrific selection of fresh, mostly local, cheeses.

It might be worth learning the French for: Do any farms sell cheese near here?

 

[michaelwalker]

I know this is about how busy it is but I just found this list of places to stay with phone numbers, on the Le Puy route that you might find helpful.

There are maps ("cartes") and profiles (profils détaillés) as well on this excellent page.

http://www.xacobeo.fr/ZE1.03.Puy_c.htm

This list of gîtes
http://www.xacobeo.fr/ZE1.03.Puy_gites.htm

The list of auberge (refuges)
http://www.xacobeo.fr/ZE1.03.aub_ACSJ_1.htm


Kind Regards

Michael

 

[kaylfrazer]

I stayed at Le Falzet on my third day out from Le Puy in early June of this year. Mr and Mme Delcros have a small (only 7 places) gite http://www.chemindecompostelle.com/delcros/index.html only 11 k after Saugues which is located above their cheese factory and part of their farm. It was a great experience. Before dinner we were all invited downstairs for a tour of the cheese factory (looking through windows due to hygiene rules). Dinner (one of the best meals I had on the whole Chemin) was accompanied by a range of cheeses and breakfast came with individual pots of yogurt. I was very lucky that there was someone able to translate as the cheesemaker told us how she had fallen in love with the farmer and learnt to make cheese as a way of dealing with surplus milk before becoming passionate about the whole , very labour intensive, process. I can't remember if they sold their cheese directly from the shop below but do remember that they sell by mail order.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Le Falzet was complet on my arrival, but I got a tour of the cheese making and a respite from the rain in the barn. Continuing on to Chanaleilles, I stayed in a gite that proudly served the cheese from Le Falzet in an otherwise almost all-pork meal (except dessert). I don't think there was retail sales at Le Falzet, but I recall Hershey's kisses-shaped cheese that weighed a couple of kilograms, so I don't think I would have wanted one of those in my pack!

Charcuteries always have a large selection of local products, including cheese. The supermarches often have a section of produits de terroires that will include local cheese.

Bon appetit!