Rellrog
Active Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- Frances: March 2013
Le Puy: July 2015
Portugues: April 2018
La Plata: March 2020-to be continued
I hesitated writing this thread since I will be focusing on some negatives about walking the Le Puy Camino. It is very difficult to discuss negatives without misunderstandings and misinterpretations. I will comment more on the Le Puy in subsequent postings. All clearly was not negative. Well, here it goes.
My wife and I walked the Frances in 2013 and had a wonderful time and experience. In 2015, six months ago, we walked the Le Puy and our experience was quite different. First, let me say that walking was not the problem. We enjoyed the scenery, the landscape, the solitude, the adventure, the exercise and the food. Here is a short comparison between the Frances and the Le Puy that explains why we much preferred the Frances.
First, the atmosphere was very different. On the Frances, everything was the pilgrimage. On the Le Puy very little was the pilgrimage. Most of the people we met were French and walking the Grand Randonee, not the Camino de Santiago. Many French families walk this route for a few days or a week during their vacations. For this reason, I missed the “Buen Camino” or “Bon Chemin” salutation and the camaraderie that the Frances had.
Second, unlike the Camino Frances, most of the people walking the Camino were French. We did meet some Germans and a scattering of other nationalities, but the overwhelming majority were French. I truly missed the international atmosphere of the Camino Frances.
Third, since I spoke little French and my wife spoke only some French, conversations on the Chemin and at the gites were very limited for us. I spent many a day listening to French spoken at the dinner table with limited understanding and even more limited conversation. I especially spent many meals struggling with my loneliness. This was very different from the Frances where I was able to communicate in Spanish and mostly, in English. Due to the international environment of the Frances, English was generally spoken by almost everyone. It was our experience that very many French people on the Le Puy either didn’t speak English or chose not to speak English. Quite honestly, I don’t know which it is. There were some notable exceptions and we quickly befriended them. We were also invited to Paris from two Parisian couples. Don’t misunderstand me I am not an arrogant American that expects everyone to speak English. This observation only suggests how much easier the Frances was for someone with very limited knowledge of French. If I was fluent in French, I obviously would have had a very different experience.
Fourth and related to the above, calling ahead to book reservations was very difficult and time consuming for us. My wife attempted to speak French during these times and often ran into difficulty. Even the places where Miam Miam DoDo indicated English was spoken, we found otherwise. Going through this process 30 to 35 times during the pilgrimage and several times a day (trying to locate availability) was very stressful for us (especially after a 15-17 mile walk). We also had mixed experiences at the Information Offices. Many of them were helpful, but we often ran into people there that resented our lack of fluency. Some said, "No, I don't speak English." Afterall, this is an Information Office.
Let me throw these criticism out as an introduction to more discussion.
My wife and I walked the Frances in 2013 and had a wonderful time and experience. In 2015, six months ago, we walked the Le Puy and our experience was quite different. First, let me say that walking was not the problem. We enjoyed the scenery, the landscape, the solitude, the adventure, the exercise and the food. Here is a short comparison between the Frances and the Le Puy that explains why we much preferred the Frances.
First, the atmosphere was very different. On the Frances, everything was the pilgrimage. On the Le Puy very little was the pilgrimage. Most of the people we met were French and walking the Grand Randonee, not the Camino de Santiago. Many French families walk this route for a few days or a week during their vacations. For this reason, I missed the “Buen Camino” or “Bon Chemin” salutation and the camaraderie that the Frances had.
Second, unlike the Camino Frances, most of the people walking the Camino were French. We did meet some Germans and a scattering of other nationalities, but the overwhelming majority were French. I truly missed the international atmosphere of the Camino Frances.
Third, since I spoke little French and my wife spoke only some French, conversations on the Chemin and at the gites were very limited for us. I spent many a day listening to French spoken at the dinner table with limited understanding and even more limited conversation. I especially spent many meals struggling with my loneliness. This was very different from the Frances where I was able to communicate in Spanish and mostly, in English. Due to the international environment of the Frances, English was generally spoken by almost everyone. It was our experience that very many French people on the Le Puy either didn’t speak English or chose not to speak English. Quite honestly, I don’t know which it is. There were some notable exceptions and we quickly befriended them. We were also invited to Paris from two Parisian couples. Don’t misunderstand me I am not an arrogant American that expects everyone to speak English. This observation only suggests how much easier the Frances was for someone with very limited knowledge of French. If I was fluent in French, I obviously would have had a very different experience.
Fourth and related to the above, calling ahead to book reservations was very difficult and time consuming for us. My wife attempted to speak French during these times and often ran into difficulty. Even the places where Miam Miam DoDo indicated English was spoken, we found otherwise. Going through this process 30 to 35 times during the pilgrimage and several times a day (trying to locate availability) was very stressful for us (especially after a 15-17 mile walk). We also had mixed experiences at the Information Offices. Many of them were helpful, but we often ran into people there that resented our lack of fluency. Some said, "No, I don't speak English." Afterall, this is an Information Office.
Let me throw these criticism out as an introduction to more discussion.