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sillydoll said:I'm sure some things have changed in the last 4 years, although reading Gareth's blog it doesn't sound as though much has changed
26th May 2004:
The lady in the Tourist office told us not to walk on the N137 to Mirambeau as it was not safe. She said to rather take the Chemin St Jacques trail which is very well marked with scallop shells on concrete 'steles' along the way. 'It is only 25kms' she told us.
The first stele we came across after walking about 2km out of town said '31Kms' to Mirambeau and pointed straight onto a path between a wheat field and a vineyard. So we climbed through head high vegetation, grass so high that we had to frog march with high knees to get through, wobble along stony paths through vineyards and past farmer's barns and through a Stainbank-like forest.
Then we were sent through hard, lumpy recently ploughed ground, through field after field. Not one person, no villages, no signs, no shops, just ploughed fields. 33kms to Mirambeau. We were pooped when we finally arrived at about 3.30pm and for the first time were both GAT VOL of Chemin signs and fields!
sillydoll said:Blaye to Le Barp: It was 29kms to Le Barp walking on small suburban roads instead of following the district road.
28th May: There was thick mist when we left St Martin to walk back to Blaye so I hooked the little red flicker onto Joy’s sternum strap and she led the way. While we were waiting on the quay we took off our backpacks and rested our walking sticks against the railings. My precious ‘stokkie’ clattered under the railings and slipped through a mesh cover into the river. I was so shocked to see it fall that for an instant I was ready to jump in after it. We met three men from Belgium on bicycles who were riding to St Jean with backup before starting on the camino from St Jean-Pied-de-Port. We took the 7.30am ferry across the Garonne which took about half an hour to get to the other side and walked about 25kms to the outskirts of the city of Bordeaux.
It was 29kms to Le Barp and we didn’t have a room booked so we didn’t know if we would have to walk further or sleep in a bus shelter. The first hotel we came across was the Hotel Resnier. Luckily they had a room for us and we also had a very smart lunch in dining room served by young men in white jackets and black Basque berets.
Today we walked 28 kms to Poitier. We had to walk on the busy National road with heavy trucks rumbling down on us and when we reached the Futurescope I decided that we had to find a safer road to walk on instead. After walking over and under the national road we asked at an industrial park for directions and a very kind lady, Catherine Monet, got a map of the area and showed us how to follow the river all the way to Poitier. (I told her that I would remember her to the Saint in Compostela and wrote her name down in my book). After crossing a little railway bridge we stopped at a roadside restaurant for lunch and then continued to Poitier.
Where can I find information on the route from the Brierley map at the end of the Camino Frances guidebook that is called "Chemin de Paris". Is there another name for this route? I can't seem to find much information on it.
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