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I have completed the lepuy to saint jean today.
Physically it was easy for me.
The hardest part for me was the french people trying to sell me dinner and breakfast.
They try and sell you these things for an extra 30 euro on top of the 15 too 18 dormitory.
They never tell you what is on the menu.
It has ranged from runny boiled egg and boiled vegetable too mash potato mixed with a canned tuna.
The 6 euro breakfast most often is half a baguette, condiment, cheap perculated coffee - maybe a yoghurt if they feel generous.
Luckily for me I have avoided these rip offs and have cooked with my mountain stove.
I found dehydrated mash potato, salad bags, charal vaccum sealed steaks among other stuff and baguettesand cakes.
There isno need to get riped off, you just need to carry some extra weight.
Budget 25 euro a day and eat like a king.
To those pilgrims that blindly agree to hand over your money to a gite without asking what you get for your dinner you are creating and encouraging the rip offs.
Remember to work your schedule into the opening times of the supermarchets and you will save allot of money.
The gite people will repeatedly hassle you to buy petit dejourner as they dtamp your frendencile. The third time they ask just ignore them.
There is freshly roasted coffee beans in two towns which you can grind to your specification in the shop.
Sauges is the first, this coffee is the best.
The accomodation is classy dorm style, just add the quality to the experience by doing your own cooking.
Remember sunday monday the shops are closed. The shops close during mid day as well. Time supermarkets for after 3pm.
Kind regard
Oz
I have completed the lepuy to saint jean today.
Physically it was easy for me.
The hardest part for me was the french people trying to sell me dinner and breakfast.
They try and sell you these things for an extra 30 euro on top of the 15 too 18 dormitory.
They never tell you what is on the menu.
It has ranged from runny boiled egg and boiled vegetable too mash potato mixed with a canned tuna.
The 6 euro breakfast most often is half a baguette, condiment, cheap perculated coffee - maybe a yoghurt if they feel generous.
Luckily for me I have avoided these rip offs and have cooked with my mountain stove.
I found dehydrated mash potato, salad bags, charal vaccum sealed steaks among other stuff and baguettesand cakes.
There isno need to get riped off, you just need to carry some extra weight.
Budget 25 euro a day and eat like a king.
To those pilgrims that blindly agree to hand over your money to a gite without asking what you get for your dinner you are creating and encouraging the rip offs.
Remember to work your schedule into the opening times of the supermarchets and you will save allot of money.
The gite people will repeatedly hassle you to buy petit dejourner as they dtamp your frendencile. The third time they ask just ignore them.
There is freshly roasted coffee beans in two towns which you can grind to your specification in the shop.
Sauges is the first, this coffee is the best.
The accomodation is classy dorm style, just add the quality to the experience by doing your own cooking.
Remember sunday monday the shops are closed. The shops close during mid day as well. Time supermarkets for after 3pm.
Kind regard
Oz
There is freshly roasted coffee beans in two towns which you can grind to your specification in the shop.
Sauges is the first, this coffee is the best.
The accomodation is classy dorm style, just add the quality to the experience by doing your own cooking.
Remember sunday monday the shops are closed. The shops close during mid day as well. Time supermarkets for after 3pm.
Kind regard
Oz
There are givers and takers Oz ..........always be on the right side of this ledger
Moi aussi!Totally understand and appreciate where you are coming from and your posts in general, Thornley, but that line made me cringe.
To those pilgrims that blindly agree to hand over your money to a gite without asking what you get for your dinner you are creating and encouraging the rip offs.
But I don't feel Oztrekker is showing ingratitude to share negative feelings
Oh Thornley- give my love and regards to [A&R] in MoissacOne day I hope I will get back to see them. And Bon Chemin- Bon Courage to you as you start afresh.
Margaret
Several times they asked me what I would like, and prepared it!They never tell you what is on the menu.
Don't take this the wrong way Hal but i would comment after i have walked.
You will be in a better position to judge.
I'm judging him Hal because he made a statement which i think is wrong.
I judge neither the walk nor the people there - and I accept the tales of travel on this forum as true to the writers' own feelings.My comment to you was that unless you have walked it don't judge it.
As per your previous comments, you implied his travel attitude is poor and even lecture him about it:I don't think i mentioned he had a bad travel attitude as you did , i think he is just wrong on these people.
On a separate topic you thought you got ripped off in Nepal and Thailand...
There are givers and takers Oz ..........always be on the right side of this ledger
You indicate that his experiences were negative in part because of his values and attitudes towards travel and customer service, which do not align with your own.She smiled and said ...............How you are treated is a mirror of yourself."
Why should we inflict our ideas of personal growth on anyone?I think he is very negative but i hope by the time he returns home the camino might have changes a few attitudes.
Only in part. He did not like high prices or demipension -- that is his experience. He felt that he was being ripped off -- his opinion, but not an actual experience, just his interpretation of the high prices.His statement reflects his experience, not yours.
First to help, how many of them will willingly pick up the phone to organise a bag taxi or phone around for a gite during a public holiday?
I was only ever offered demi pension no menu! I purchased a demi pension dinner twice, i didnt know what it is- and both times it was cheap and nasty. Would you pay for a car unseen and unknown thornley?
The bibulmun track 1000km is cheaper and in western australia, and the owners of accomodation stay out your face and hair allowing you to relax.
!
Me neither. This thread has plunged down the rabbit hole. But perhaps because Thornley continually demands where Oz could receive similar service hiking from Sydney to Melbourne (which has nothing to do with anything. Sydney is one of the most expensive cities in the world.) and the Bibulmum resides on the same continent?I've done the Bibulmum, and The Chemin du Puy, and I can't for life of me see what an Australian hiking trail has to do with a 1000 year old religious route in France.
Its not your country mate and its not their customor the owner to be invisible.
A kitchen and for the owner manager to get out of there hair and not stalk them while cookin
The low budget pilgrim does not need to be harrased for money
just take 25 euros per day and leave your atm card at home.
Also thornley i have not had a drink since the begining of lent.
he bibulmun track 1000km is cheaper and in western australia, and the owners of accomodation stay out your face and hair allowing you to relax.
Me neither. This thread has plunged down the rabbit hole. But perhaps because Thornley continually demands where Oz could receive similar service hiking from Sydney to Melbourne (which has nothing to do with anything. Sydney is one of the most expensive cities in the world.) and the Bibulmum resides on the same continent?
Many villages in France are dying commercially. Where once there were three bakeries, now there are none. Even villages on a camino may not have enough customer traffic to keep a bar open. Blame Carrefour and the automobile!No cafés, no bars to be found, they were either non-existing or closed.
I don't think you have identified the business model on the camino. In Spain, and to a lesser extent in France, the business owner's attitude is "This is my living. This is my offering. If you don't like it, go somewhere else." It normally includes a lot of hospitality, but it is centered on the owner, not the customer. In France, when they invite a pilgrim into their home, it is still their home. The pilgrim is expected to respect the rights of the owner, not the other way around. Put your dirty boots in the room when there is a place provided outside the door may incur extreme displeasure. Use a private kitchen to prepare your own food, and you may incur extreme displeasure. There are municipally operated gites d'etape on the Chemin du Puy, but most accommodations are privately operated.Privacy and respect of paying customers personal boundaries is the cornerstone of conventional good service.
Wow. WOW. This is nasty and, frankly, bizarre. I have no idea what your problem is with me nor why you deem I deserve that sort of treatment by other members of the forum.Follow him Hal , unless you are cousins and i don't think many will answer your questions on assistance on Gites and other places of interest....
You are on the wrong horse ....get off.
And now nationalistic insults and further coercive taunts! "Me and the rest of the site against you" - really?As you can see i'm calling you Trekker, i left out the other part of your forum name. By your language , the way you describe people , the way you feel about others i really think others on this site think as i do................Not much Oz in you mate.
But i like what MY mate did @ the wedding .......he turned water into wine , God bless him. My dad always said......Its all right listening , but can you "hear" me. Now Hal , i was cheeky saying you could be his cousin but i want you to do this in 2016. Hal ,
The best Uni in the world is travel .......... the hardest subject......common sense
I myself have never been on the Le Puy route itself. Nowadays it is heavily marketed as one of the chemins de Saint Jacques (St James ways). It is a GR, i.e. one of the long distance walking paths, ...Like in neighbouring countries, St James ways are now being created (or supposedly recreated) more or less everywhere. ).
Many a member has dreamed of limiting debate in the Forum!But I think we are getting a bit off topic now with this excursion into the past and suggest that we leave it at that.
. But I think we are getting a bit off topic now with this excursion into the past and suggest that we leave it at that.
(. I've talked to the owner. He told me that business was down by almost a third and that several good restaurants had closed. He also mentioned tourist traps. .
That was also my experience on the Vezelay route. I'm one of those pilgrims who sees it as my responsibility to frequent every restaurant I pass, in a selfless and heroic attempt to keep these businesses running...On the Vezelay route I was trying to book ahead to small town and found every place I called was disconnected. I talked to the owner to see if there was a regional phone change or something and was told , "no since the financial crisis in 2008, one little place after an other has gone out of business." I guess they are running on about as low a budget as is possible.
I have completed the lepuy to saint jean today.
Physically it was easy for me.
The hardest part for me was the french people trying to sell me dinner and breakfast.
They try and sell you these things for an extra 30 euro on top of the 15 too 18 dormitory.
They never tell you what is on the menu.
It has ranged from runny boiled egg and boiled vegetable too mash potato mixed with a canned tuna.
The 6 euro breakfast most often is half a baguette, condiment, cheap perculated coffee - maybe a yoghurt if they feel generous.
Luckily for me I have avoided these rip offs and have cooked with my mountain stove.
I found dehydrated mash potato, salad bags, charal vaccum sealed steaks among other stuff and baguettesand cakes.
There isno need to get riped off, you just need to carry some extra weight.
Budget 25 euro a day and eat like a king.
To those pilgrims that blindly agree to hand over your money to a gite without asking what you get for your dinner you are creating and encouraging the rip offs.
Remember to work your schedule into the opening times of the supermarchets and you will save allot of money.
The gite people will repeatedly hassle you to buy petit dejourner as they dtamp your frendencile. The third time they ask just ignore them.
There is freshly roasted coffee beans in two towns which you can grind to your specification in the shop.
Sauges is the first, this coffee is the best.
The accomodation is classy dorm style, just add the quality to the experience by doing your own cooking.
Remember sunday monday the shops are closed. The shops close during mid day as well. Time supermarkets for after 3pm.
Kind regard
Oz
I intend on doing it next May. I do not speak a word of French will this be a problem from walking day one leaving Le Puy? .
I'm not sure I understand why the 25/30 figure has shocked you, if you expect to spend 60 euro a day anyway? 30 euro will usually get you a bed in a dorm, breakfast and dinner including wine. Sometimes it's more, or sometimes you might find a bed but need to eat elsewhere, which could cost a bit more. But your 60 euro a day budget is plenty, don't worry. You might even be able to splash out on a few treats along the way. If you pass a bar/restaurant at about midday and they advertise a Menu for 12euro, I'd strongly advise you to take them up on it. For that you usually get three courses and wine, sometimes even coffee, and often more delicious than anything on offer in some fancier restaurantsHonestly what is the average daily budget from LP to SJPDP? I thought that the daily budget from LP to SJPDP would be 60 euro. Your 25/30 figure has shocked me. I must save all my spare money for next year.
The tourism offices are useless,.
It was an english born restaraunt owner who saved my arse. I baught a meal from his restaraunt, he booked all my acdcomodatiom for a week.
So i went back to his place for a breakfast.,.
I walked from Oloron to Puente la Reina the last few weeks on the Aragones and demi-pension seems to be rule not the exception. One public albergue in Borce with a kitchen but there was only one small over priced food shop in town. It is hard to get by on a day under 40 euros if you want to enjoy a beer, bottle of wine or breakfast if you can find someplace open before 9am.I left on ascension day in lepuy. So the priced may have jumped up. There was over a 100 who left that day.
Accomodation was scarce the food shops were shut. My french was not adequate. I had purchased an orange sim card from orange.
The french gite places just hung the phone up on me.
The french people booked out entire communal gites way in advance. You would walk into the gite praying for a cheap bed, only to find a single french mame on the front of every dorm.
So essentially we were all in trouble. For me it was a very long walk i found a single bed and paid 38 euro for a cheap nasty meal that made us feel off color and one pilgrim ill.
With pentecost holiday coming up we had more problems and it was raining.
The gite owners refused to help in anyway finding future accomodation. Thet new that there was lack of places and the gite owners only answer phones at specific times.
The tourism offices are useless, you all walk into town and they are closed. I bolted fast so i would be there 15 mins before mid day closing only to find they closed a half hour early. When you go there for assistance, they refuse or are incredibly reluctant to pick up a telephone to find you a bed.
One place had three staff and none spoke english. 2 sat out the back surfing the net while 8 desperate pilgrims wanted accomodation support.
I was shocked at this, my french friend said "this is france we are socialist they get paid from govt they dont give a f..."
There are great restaraunts in towns but if your pressured into demi pension they cannot survive.
It was an english born restaraunt owner who saved my arse. I baught a meal from his restaraunt, he booked all my acdcomodatiom for a week.
So i went back to his place for a breakfast.
I tried to do it on 25 a day during a peak holiday time it was traumatic.
I would say 50 will be an easy budget.
I got served canned tuna in mash potato in conques abbey. No hungry pilgrim wanted seconds or could finish the meal. Wether they were profiting from a full house i dont know. It would have been better to support a conques redtaraunt this night. You do want atmosphere if other diners though.
From figeac onwards there is no problems, better accomodations big supermarkets, the demi pension price drops because the pilgrims begin refusing it. Some like me got burned out of lepuy. So those further up have to deliver service. The pilgrims become a bit more track wise and street smart. The petit dejaneur drops from 6 to 4 euro.
I prefer supermarkets because i can see the price. I did shop at butchers directly, i really liked this shopping, then one cheated me on the scales. After that i stuck with supermarkets easier and less stressfull.
So if you leave ascension day holiday you are up for some shenanigans.
25 euro a day is doable, but not comfortable travel.
You could just eat baguettes with condiment for a month.
Oztrekker left Le Puy on the busiest day of the year, in the busiest week, in the busiest month, on the busiest section of the route. Everything would have been booked up weeks in advance. .
Do you think so, really?any of those measures would have improved his experience.
I'm not sure I understand why the 25/30 figure has shocked you, if you expect to spend 60 euro a day anyway? 30 euro will usually get you a bed in a dorm, breakfast and dinner including wine. Sometimes it's more, or sometimes you might find a bed but need to eat elsewhere, which could cost a bit more. But your 60 euro a day budget is plenty, don't worry. You might even be able to splash out on a few treats along the way. If you pass a bar/restaurant at about midday and they advertise a Menu for 12euro, I'd strongly advise you to take them up on it. For that you usually get three courses and wine, sometimes even coffee, and often more delicious than anything on offer in some fancier restaurants
In my experience, demipension averages 33E. Just a bed averages 14E, less in gites d'etape when they exist. Add something for lunch, beverage, and laundry.If you say their are dorms that provide evening meal and breakfeast in their overall cost of between 25-30 euro then that pleases me no end.
In my experience, demipension averages 33E. Just a bed averages 14E, less in gites d'etape when they exist. Add something for lunch, beverage, and laundry.
A gite d'etape is. There are many other types of gites, and they can be pricey.I take it that a gite is like a municipal albergue in Spain?
A gite d'etape is. There are many other types of gites, and they can be pricey.
I really would like to have the guts to do it camping out and using a stove but I would get frustrated not being able to shower everyday
That is good to know as I am vegetarian so will surely need to ask what is on the menu. I guess I will be so somewhat dependent on how flexible my hosts are. I loved the shared meals on the Camino Frances and found that the hospitaleros and bar owners were very flexible and would always find something to offer me.Several times they asked me what I would like, and prepared it!
I wouldn't ask the demipension gite owners what is on the menu. But do let them know you are a vegetarian when you call a day or two in advance to make reservation, and you will be properly looked after at dinner.... I am vegetarian ...
Yes, you are right. As we would be booking advance I would always mention it at that time and then again when I arrive just as I do in the UK. It is good to know that they would cater for me on the Puy way. It was not a problem on th Camino Frances. I ate very well there with a mixture of veggie Albergues, veggie restaurants in cities and by asking other albergues doing shared meals and cafes with pilgrims menus if I could have two first plates or if they might have something for me.I wouldn't ask the demipension gite owners what is on the menu. But do let them know you are a vegetarian when you call a day or two in advance to make reservation, and you will be properly looked after at dinner.
This thread has been astonishing, really, but I think we've all had a chance to exchange viewpoints. For me, the highlight has been 25 Characters' forum name - makes me smile every time I see it!
You're referring to the Camino Frances, which is in Spain. The Chemin Le Puy is the route in France; sometimes called the Via Podiensis."...the french camino ...
He described the troubles on his journey. You are grateful for the joys on yours. You had two different experiences. His statement reflects his experience, not yours. I really do not understand why everyones' experiences cannot be accepted by you as distinct and that they co-exist in reality.
I judge neither the walk nor the people there - and I accept the tales of travel on this forum as true to the writers' own feelings.
As per your previous comments, you implied his travel attitude is poor and even lecture him about it:
You indicate that his experiences were negative in part because of his values and attitudes towards travel and customer service, which do not align with your own.
Why should we inflict our ideas of personal growth on anyone?
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