maps from Le Puy to St Jean-Pied-de-Port

It’s true it’s difficult to find on websites maps from Le Puy to St-Jean-Pied-de-Port....

... so if you like to walk with maps the only thing you have to do is to buy the 3 “topoguides” of the” Sentier vers Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle” published by the FF Randonnée ...

http://www.ffrandonnee.fr/topos/topoGuidesCatalResult.aspx?t=gr&v=65

... where you’ll find French IGN maps, at the scale of 1:50,000, of the way from Le Puy to St-Jean.

I did Le Puy – Conques last June with only the maps photocopied of the first guide (Le Puy – Figeac). The description is not necessary.

 

Nearly everyone who walks the Le Puy route carries the Miam Miam Dodo guide with them, and this has route maps. (It is available from CSJ.) MMD have a website that includes maps and some gite listings. http://www.chemindecompostelle.com/Selection/CarteFrance.html If you click on a rectangle, it brings up more detail for that area. It is much harder to get internet access in France than in Spain though, so you wouldn't be able to rely on regular access to this site en route.

The MMD book also has listings of pilgrim accommodation, including gites, chambre d'hotes (like bed and breakfast) and a few hotels. In France, unlike Spain, it is usually preferable to reserve a place a day or two ahead, or you might miss out on a bed in the gites and have to pay more for a chambre d'hote.
Margaret

 

I used the Alison Raju Cicerone press book-it's compact and has all the info needed-although some is wrong or out of date. Its not as good as the French books mentioned but it is much lighter

 

As a non french speaker, I found the Cicerone guide useful for the added historical info and also for suggestiong the odd detour too. Janet

 

How man days would it take to walk from le Puy to ST. Jean Pied du Port?

 

Hi Nathanael,

Stating the obvious here but it depends on how fit you are, the distances you want to do (or are capable of sustaining over several weeks) and how many rest/sightseeing days you will need. The French "Chemin de Compostelle" map set/booklet (recommended!) by Michelin breaks the route into 32 stages but I feel its a bit ambitous given the distances /elevation gains for some of the stages. Bearing in mind the 32 days does not not allow for rest days averaging 23km per day or about 26km/day if you take 3 rest/tourist days.

The Le Puy Route is beautiful but a number of stages (particularly during the first two weeks) are surprisingly challenging (doable but easy to overestimate how far you can walk). For that reason I feel a realistic minimum timeframe is no less than 36 days (including 3 or 4 rest days) but you unless you are very fit and not prone to fatigue you may find you are pushing yourself too much particularly the first two weeks. Personally I would recommend extending it about a week i.e. allowing about 6 weeks (about 42 days including about 4 rest days) to complete the full chemin from Le Puy to SJPdeP and allow additional time if you need to allow for travel days either side of your trip. 42 days (including 4 rest/touristy days) means you would need to average about 20km/day. Can't remember how long I took exactly but I think it was about 42 days and within that I had all the rest days I needed and was able to ease into it at the start.

By the way this is a brilliant planner for the route: http://www.godesalco.com/plan/podense - you can break the route down into stages and produce elevation maps from it. It shows which villages/towns have accommodation (not completely up to date but its generally accurate). At any rate its really useful for getting an idea of how many days it would take you or for just getting an idea of the type of terrain you will be coming across day by day.

Hope that helps!