Rocamadour variant

[jouffroy47]

Has anyone walked the Rocamadour variant? Having already walking from Conques, I was thinking I might re-start from Rocamadour. I could go directly to Cahors, or I could go (counter-direction) to Figeac and then on to Cahors via the GR65. Thoughts?

 

[SYates]

Yes, I did in 2014 and loved it. I got all necessary information from the tourist office in Figeac and it was well worth, for me, the so-called detour. Buen Chemin, SY

 

[NavyBlue]

Hello,

For information, the Miam-miam-dodo sheets for the Rocamadour variant can be downloaded for free at this address :
http://chemindecompostelle.com/varianterocamadour/index.html
(click on "Téléchargement de la variante de Rocamadour au format miam-miam-dodo")

Edited 6 April 2016 : no longer available. Now sold as a separate MMDD guide.

 

[julie]

Has anyone walked the Rocamadour variant? Having already walking from Conques, I was thinking I might re-start from Rocamadour. I could go directly to Cahors, or I could go (counter-direction) to Figeac and then on to Cahors via the GR65. Thoughts?

Rocamadour to Figeac and then to Cahors through the Valley of the Cele and St Cirq-Lapopie would be my pick.

 

[TMcA]

My wife and I also walked from Figeac to Rocamadour and I posted a short thread on the subject with info about how NOT to get lost at one puzzling intersection along the way. Here's a link: https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/figeac-to-gramat-september-2014.29349/

St. Cirq is lovely but crowded on weekends.

Bon Chemin!

 

[SusanReneGr65]

We just walked it this past October. We noticed that there are fewer services and rest stops along the way. Also way fewer pilgrims/hikers. We blogged about it here:
http://renesusan2015.blogspot.ca/2015/10/oct-18-day-12-figeac-to-lacapelle.html
Begin here and click through to get to all the way through to Cahors.
Rocamadour was well worth it, beautiful to walk into and out of.
Susan.

 

[Keith Hearn]

My wife and I walked Le-Puy to Conques last year, and will be continuing from Conques this year. We're planning on going via Rocamadour. We visited it a few years ago while driving in the area, and I prayed to the Virgin for help with a problem we were having. I'm a converted Catholic and have never prayed to the Virgin before, but seeing all of the ex-votos there inspired me to try it, and while I was on my knees praying, I really felt something special. Things did get better after that. I can't say for sure if it was her or if it was just they way things would have gone anyways, but there is no way I'm going to pass that close to Rocamadour without making a trip back there to offer my thanks. Making it part of our pilgrimage was never a question.

Miam Miam Dodo is publishing a separate book this year (2016) with the Rocamadour and Cele variants. I just received it yesterday. It's about a quarter the size of the Le-Puy MMD and about half the price, 8 euros vs. 19 euros. The PDF version that NavyBlue linked to earlier in this thread isn't available, probably because they are now printing the current version.

If you've never seen Rocamadour and you're walking the Le-Puy route, it's probably worth the detour. I haven't walked the route yet yet, but I can say that Rocamadour is a pretty special place. According to MMD, the variant is 122km (Figeac->Rocamadour->Cahors), and if I just added it up right, the normal route is 87.2km from Figeac to Cahors. So it's only an extra 35km.