Pilgrim Route information in SW France

[rayjohnstone]

Bonjour,
The Pilgrim Route in SW France (Lot-et-Garonne, GR 654) comes right past our front door in Mezin where we live. Over the past few years we've walked the Sentier from Conque to Agen, as well as various other short walks all over France. We've also walked quite a lot on the nearby GR 65 as it passes through the Gers from Moissac, to Condom (don't forget to have your souvenir photo taken at a Condom road sign), and on through Montreal, (don't miss the tiny fortified village of Larressingle which is just a kilometre or so off the route), on to Eause and eventually down to St-Jean-pied-a-Port at the foot of the Pyrenees.
The point is that we know the nearby day walks very well, and we plan to do this latter Montreal to St-Jean-Pied-a-Port section (a week to ten days) in France in March or April 2009. Most of the information on the Route in the area is in French, and quite often it is difficult to find. Rest assured, however, once you're here it is very well signposted, and there are lots of places to stay on the way.
If you think we might be able to help with advice, I'm going to try adding my email below. If this is deleted for whatever reason, you may be able to get our address from the site administrator.
Bien amicalement, bon voyage et bonne route.
Ray and Lynne.

 

[Canuck]

Bonjour,
The Pilgrim Route in SW France (Lot-et-Garonne, GR 654) comes right past our front door in Mezin

Hi Ray and Lynne,

You won't see too many pilgrims going past your house.

The Voie de Vézelay has been changed for a while now and does not follow the GR654 anymore. Rather than join the Route du Puy in Montreal-du-Gers from Port-Ste-Marie, it now links up at Ostabat from La Reole.

Although, I realize that the FFRP still refers to the GR654 as the Sentier vers St-Jacques on the cover of their guide book.

Cheers
Jean-Marc

 

[Bridget and Peter]

The Voie de Vézelay has been changed for a while now and does not follow the GR654 anymore.

From our experience cycling the Voie de Vezelay, I would be reluctant to be too definite about any exact route. Although certain guides insist that only their way is the historically accurate route, and we should shun any advice given by people who say they know better, when we, as cyclists, diverted from it for one reason or another (usually to do with hills, but sometimes because a chance reading of a tourist leaflet sent us off to a particularly interesting sounding place, or just the need to stock up on oats for our sustaining porridge breakfasts) we would discover that plenty of other places have evidence that pilgrims passed their way too. I'm sure that over the years the pilgrims found various ways to travel - perhaps at one time there was a nice warm pilgrim hopital in one town, which was famed for its cassoulet or something. Fifty years later it has closed, and another village 20 miles to the south drew the pilgrims to its church because it had a priest with a thrilling sermon style!

So may be we'll be passing through Mezin some timer later this year or next. I've already got the maps (bought in France when the Euro still knew it's proper place!)and have found it!

 

[Canuck]

I passed through Mezin on foot last spring on my way to Mtl-du-Gers.
I'm not saying the route doesn't exist anymore.
My point is that officially pilgrims are sent on a different route now, making traffic very light on the Mezin way.
One can choose any which way and that's fine by me!

 

[jl]

From my reading it is pick and choose your route. I have three different guide books on the voie de Vezelay, La via Lemovicensis - and each one will send me on a different path - apart from the recognized north / south alternatives out of Vezelay itslef! Janet