Possible Le Puy Pilgrim on a Budget

[dawn.amanecer]

I've been discussing this topic with a couple of pilgrims and I would like to open the discussion up to more. Last year when I did the Camino frances from SJPP-Stgo. I spent around e10-12/day. I believe that it is considerably less than the average pilgrim. I only ate the menu de peregrinos once a week and basically ate sandwiches, nuts and fruits the other days. I always stayed in the municipal albergues or albergues donativos.

I would really like to do the Le Puy route. I'm taking into account that France is more expensive than Spain. I have been searching around on different sites and I have found that there are communal hostels that are around e12 (without meals of course!). My plan would then be to buy sandwiches and snacks along the way. Are there enough of these cheaper hostels along this route to get by? Will it be possible to buy sandwiches, nuts and fruits along the way? If I can scrape by on e20 a day I could definitely do the Le Puy route. I am absolutely fine eating sandwiches, nuts, fruit and sleeping on a floor somewhere.

Thanks!
8) Kelly

 

[KiwiNomad06]

Kelly, I am sure you could do it more cheaply than most, but to be honest, some of the best evenings I had were in some of the private gites where we ate a meal together in the evening. And one of those private gites tends to cost about 25-30 Euro a day, including bed, dinner and breakfast.

Another issue you might face is that parts of the Le Puy route are more isolated than what you pass through in Spain, and there are not necessarily places to buy food each day, especially on a Sunday or a Monday. (I used to carry a few emergency items like a tin of sardines for some of those times when I would otherwise be caught out.)
Margaret

 

[dawn.amanecer]

I do remember reading somewhere that pilgrims would have to buy food for 3 days in some cases on the Le Puy route. I will definitely always have emergency food on me. I think I'm going to give the Le Puy route a shot, keeping in mind that some nights I might have to go ahead and eat at the gite. Do you remember there being many pilgrim albergues that were inexpensive? Did you always call and reserve ahead of time?
:roll: Kelly

 

[KiwiNomad06]

Hi Kelly,
The cheapest gites - albergue is a Spanish word- on the Le Puy route are generally municipal ones, and a lot of the towns and some of the villages along the route will have one of these. In 2008 they generally cost between 8 and 10 Euro a night for a bed. Places the size of Saugues, Nasbinals, St Chely d'Aubrac, Estaing, Conques and Cajarc had municipal gites. There are also some parish or other Christian lodgings in a few places.

I did book ahead pretty much every night on the Le Puy route. At the beginning I did this mainly just the day before, but later in May (a popular walking month for the French), and near public holiday weekends, I tended to book 3-4 days out, as many places filled up with pre-booked walkers well ahead of time. The problem you might face on a budget if you haven't booked ahead is that the cheapest accommodation might already be filled up.

Nearly everyone on the Le Puy route carries a copy of the Miam Miam Dodo guide, which lists all pilgrim accommodation along the route, together with prices, number of beds, and a telephone number for bookings. Using that you can work out what places suit your budget best and try and book there. The Miam Miam Dodo guide is in French, but has plenty of symbols so you can understand what is available where. It also has symbols that show which towns have food shops, ATMs etc.
Margaret

 

[dawn.amanecer]

Thanks for all the info, Margaret. Under another heading I had asked pilgrims about buying a cell phone. Did you take your own, buy one at a supermarket or just make calls from tourist offices?
Thanks!
Kelly

 

[KiwiNomad06]

I didn't actually take a cell phone. (Though in France, I think I might buy one there next time.) I used a phone card that could be used in phone boxes...except it didn't work in all the phone boxes! Sometimes people running a gite made an onward booking for me, and occasionally I used a tourist office, but mostly I used phone boxes in the towns I was in. I could speak enough French to manage this mostly .... though I had one muck-up as the way I said "dimanche" (Sunday) sounded like "demain" (tomorrow) to those in the south of France.....
Margaret

 

[jl]

On food for the Le Puy route, I found that, although I always carried emergency rations (a few muesli bars etc) and generally lunch for the day, it was not necessary to carry food for days on end. Yes, we were out in the bush quite often, but at some stage during the day - even if it was only at the end, we came across somewhere where food could be purchased and so there is no need to be thinking that you will have to carry food for days on end. Sometimes, like Margaret said, dinner may have been included in the price of the gite. Cheers, Janet

 

[Anonymous]

I'm with you on the budgety way to go Kelly - it is how I travel - and not just for the reason that I am poor (though I am) but because I don't treat myself to expensive meals, ever .. seems immoral somehow (for me folks, for me). That said, I have had the most wonderful communal meals in refuges where everyone puts in just a few euros and a giant meal is made for all.

This is only my opinion of course, but, for me - I have never had a problem with food when travelling (except one day when I gave mine away) as I always carry cheese, bread, and water (wholemeal bread to carry for four reasons - it is more nutritious and filling, delicious, and it doesn't go dry and stale quickly). I also carry a pack of wholemeal dried pasta. Any refuge with a cooker and water and it is an instant meal (I also carry my own salt and pepper).

As well as those basics - and cheaper than made sandwiches - I also buy perishables as I go ... fruit, salad stuff, yoghurts - and you will know what is ahead so you will know how much to carry.

I also carry a good sharp knife and a spoon and a large napkin - there is nothing like sitting 'out there' with a napkin spread over the knees and a simple feast on it - the world in and around you - perfect!

The trick is to stay away from anything that has the slightest amount of sugar in it, especially those sugary sticky cereal bars called 'trekking snacks' or 'energy bars' (better to carry sausage, even if usually vegetarian - doesn't go off and is compact true nutrition - and the cats and dogs that you meet like it too).
The thing is, when you eat things with sugar in them your energy level rises but only for twenty minutes or so, then the sugar level in the blood drops to below where it was in the first place, leading to cravings and tiredeness and feelings of hunger - then you are in a cycle - and it is one you cannot win.

Some years later, of course, that cycle ends up in type 2 diabetes (and no teeth) :lol: .

What you spend and how you 'do' the Camino is a tricky subject on here - some people can be very abrupt and tell you to stay at home until you have saved enough to spend all the way! :shock: how supportive :? - but the trickiness about budgets is to do with 'what is a real pilgrimage' ... can you be on a pilgrimage if you have someone drive your bags to the next stop and you stay in hotels and eat restaurant food and drink fine wines, whilst the world starves? Or is the only 'real' pilgrimage one of penance and poverty .. ragged clothes, mendicant, and with bare feet? - is it somewhere between the two? or is it all of them?

I met a French woman on the Camino who had no money. No money at all, not a penny. She had made a poncho herself and a shoulder bag - from colourful cloths ... she looked quite medieval and she had a presence - you noticed her, she stood out. Mind you, one of the reasons that she stood out was that she was also carrying a piano accordian. She played this to 'pay her way' - she was a delight. And yes, she had been hungry a few times, and, yes, she had slept in church porches a few times, but she was having quite a wonderful time, and giving so much pleasure and strength to others ... yes, budgeting ... you will find many out there who are on very low budgets, don't be afraid, all is well ...

well, ... and sorry to have gone on . but, for me - it is the budget way at all times. - :wink:

 

[Deleted member 397]

The Le Puy is a little bit more expensive than Spain but the gites were generally still very resonable-and you generally got slightly better accom than in Spain.Many offered the option of dinner,bed and breakfast which pushed up the price to mid 20 euros but that's still very good value.I never carried food-it's France not the outback!

 

[Anonymous]

Good points - and you are right about France and shops of course .. just that, in the evenings along lanes with no villages, during the long lunchtime closures, traditional all-day Sunday closing, early mornings out on gentle rolling hills, it can be a little difficult to buy .. so for me (just my opinion) I like to carry basic supplies with me ...

this talk of being out there, walking in France .. making me rather jealous!

 

[McAleerSherry]

Having walked this portion 25 April-25 May 2008, the only thing that we might add is that the French really do close up on long holidays, including May 1st, VE Day and Pentecost, making the search for food difficult.

But several gites that we stayed at welcomed pelerins to the the table even if they had not purchased the demi pension option, but were eating food that they hade purchased earlier that day. At least one fellow pelerin was walking only as far as St. Jean Pied de Port. She was a laid off social worker who was doing the route on unemployment compensation, and tended to buy what she could from markets. She made a delightful dinner conversationalist, and we were grateful that the host/hostess went out of their way to make her feel welcome.

 

[dawn.amanecer]

Sorry to not have been keeping up! Thank you all for the wonderful advice. I will definitely check out the Miam Miam Dodo to get an idea of where the municipal gites are. I also feel better knowing that it will be possible to buy some food along the way. Hey...if that French lady could sleep on church porches, then so can I! I hope to meet other pilgrims on a budget too.
:lol: Kelly