Unlike the other pilgrim roads through France which have followed more or less fixed itineraries for several hundreds of years, the Via Gebennensis is a "designer route," set up in the mid 1990s by the Association Rhône-Alpes des Amis de Saint-Jacques as a continuation of the GR 65 to enable pilgrims coming from Switzerland, Germany and Central Europe to walk to Le Puy in order to continue on to Santiago from there. It is therefore not a historic route but a bridging service between two points, a means of walking from Geneva to Le Puy-en-Velay on quiet, waymarked forest tracks, old lanes, footpaths and minor roads.
The Route. 350 km long. Starts in Geneva and passes through innumerable very small hamlets, some villages large enough to have banks, post offices, restaurants and shops, but no place of any size between its starting and finishing points. A link part-way along to the Arles route is also in preparation.