Le puy / routes in France in July

[NVicas]

Hello, I've just joined the forum & am planning to walk part of the route in France in July, possibly from Le Puy... I've seen some advice on these forums about booking ahead with accommodation as it's busy then.

Is there anyone here who's walked it in July before? & how busy is it - is it crowded ever!? Does accommodation get completely full?

I walked part of the "Primitivo" route in Spain last year and really loved it! But when we met up with the main route towards Santiago then I was a bit shocked at the numbers of people... the Primitivo route was quieter and it was easy to get to know the people walking at the same rate. I'm wondering how France compares to this?

Many thanks to anyone who can share their thoughts on this
Natasha

 

[NVicas]

Further note on my post above - I have seen some of the replies from Anja's post "I have a dream" ...and they cover this a bit: That it's busy enough to meet people, but quieter than "Camino Frances" in Spain...

But I still welcome more responses!

& it's wonderful to see what people have written about the route - I loved the mountainous sections in Asturias in Spain, sounds like Le Puy is beautiful too!

Natasha

 

[jl]

Hi, I have walked the Le Puy route in August and it was "quite crowded" - because so many of the French people were taking holidays at this time. I understand that this is as possible in July, as that is still holiday time for them. This path is also popular with "hikers" as opposed to pilgrims and so there are numerous people who drop onto this path for a week or two and then go home again.

Last year I walked the Vezelay path in July (started on July 5th) and, except for one night when for some reason the refuge was almost full with 8 people, I only met 7 other pilgrims the entire way until I got to St. Palais. As it took me nearly 7 weeks to get to Irun on the coast that meant that there were many, many nights when I had the refuge to myself, and many days when I saw no-one. As you can imagine, I thought that the 30 or so people that I then came in contact with for the del norte seemed like a veritable crowd! It is all relative.

cheers, Janet

 

[newfydog]

What is your budget and French like? If you have a little bit of both, staying at a Chambre d'Hote, a room in a local home, can be a great way to go.

The LePuy route was one of my favorites. We started the last few days in August, and never booked ahead. I just finished a piece of the Arles route and was told at one of the small mountain towns July-August is quite busy and full. Everything was pretty empty in May.

The French routes have nothing like the crowds found in Spain, but have fewer large cheap places to stay.

 

[gittiharre]

Hi Natasha, have a look at my blog, I started in August and I did find it useful to book a few days ahead to get into the best places. My budget was 37 Euo per day which included beds in Gite d' Etape accommodation, fantastic places for walkers. Usually small shared rooms of up to 8 people, 3 course dinner with wine and water, breakfast. The price for this was around 25 to 32 Euro and the rest I spent on bread cheese and fruit for lunch and a pre dinner drink. Regards, Gitti