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...Happy planning!
Thanks, Jill. You've made my day...
. . . unable to get my head around it all . . .
Hi, has anyone here done this?
I am pretty sure I can walk backwards along the Camino Francés with no directional problems, having walked it to Santiago several times.
And I am pretty sure I would be OK to Arles along the GR653, as the French GR routes are marked in both directions. (It would help if I can download the track onto MapsMe – does anyone know?)
Once on the Via Francigena there will be signposts to Rome.
But what about between Arles and joining up with the Via Francigena? Is there a GR route?
And what would be the best time of year?
Definitely not between Easter and All Saints on the Camino Francés; too many people looking for albergue beds, and those beds should probably go to the pilgrims walking to Santiago anyway. I do like to support the albergues that stay open all year round, so am happy to walk that section any time between November and March.
The hostels in France and Italy may not be open in the off season, and I can only afford pilgrim accommodation, so I will have to walk those sections sometime between Easter and All Saints, but definitely not during the heat of midsummer.
Would welcome any thoughts, or links to other posts or blogs. Many thanks!
By the way, I have a UK passport, so the 90-day Schengen issue is not a problem for me. I think this journey would take about 4 months. But I’m beginning to think that I may have to attempt this before Brexit, as who knows now what will happen then . . . .
Jill
France and Italy, they can be very expensive
I am thinking that once into France I could buy a good quality lightweight one-man tent, that I can erect with hiking poles, and then stay in campsites. There must be lots of those along the French and Italian Rivieras!
Many thanks for your input.
Jill
I am thinking that once into France I could buy a good quality lightweight one-man tent, that I can erect with hiking poles, and then stay in campsites. There must be lots of those along the French and Italian Rivieras!
There is a Chinese-made model which uses a single trekking pole for support and which has been very favourably reviewed. About 700g and available by mail-order direct from China for well under 100 euros - though I do not know what postage to South Africa might be
Oh my, Bradypus! I was so tempted to order that 3F UL tent . . . my finger hovered over the BUY button.
However, I have been informed that the Arles route also has plenty of pilgrim gites along it. I ordered the “Miam Miam Dodo” for the Arles route earlier this year, but in typical South African style it has never arrived, and I would really like a copy for planning purposes.
Once I get onto the Via Francigena, surely there will be pilgrims hostels to stay at?
I think the biggest expense will be between Arles and Lucca, so I really need to look at that section.
Hello Caminka,
I am planning to walk on the via de la Costa beginning January, towards Rome.
Do you know where I can get (or order) a credential for this route ?
(the ones sold on this site are only for Santiago)
Thanks so much
Barbara
Hello Jill,
Thanks so much !! That's really great and useful.
Have you found all you needed for your journey ?
pps I no longer carry a tent.On finding somewhere to sleep...
the French GR makes many detours that might be fun for a shorter distance hiker, but might unnecessarily lengthen the journey for a pilgrim.
Especially, I'd actually advise leaving the path just as you get near to the Var river at Nice, then get down to the bridge there and cross the city on foot
Actually, that very dodgy wine list from my POV would be an excellent reason to just go looking for a pizza and a beer instead ...
Hello Caminka,
I am planning to walk on the via de la Costa beginning January, towards Rome.
Do you know where I can get (or order) a credential for this route ?
(the ones sold on this site are only for Santiago)
Thanks so much
Barbara
t has crossed my mind to stay next to the coast from Cannes to Nice.
the GR from Cannes is mostly OK -- and it goes up to the beautiful Vence, which would be silly to avoid IMO
I gave in to temptation and ordered one for myself this afternoon. Went for green thoughWill be interesting to see it in the flesh. And trying it out is a good excuse for another walk...
Not used it yet but I have set it up to check it out. Looks good and quite well made. Very straightforward to pitch. So far it looks like a good deal.Hi Bradypus, how is the tent? Have you used it much yet? I am still trying to talk myself out of this mad adventure, but not succeeding. I will need a tent between Arles and Sarzana, where there is little chance of finding budget accommodation.
Jill
With having to carry a tent (and presumably mattress and maybe cooking gear) have you considered using a trailer?
@jsalt you're obviously not part of Laurie's electric coil club
In my research of lightweight tents I have seen lots of people recommend leaving your pack outside the tent overnight. To me (admittedly a novice) that seems like a dumb idea on many levels! @domigee that tent you linked to certainly looks big enough to have the pack inside - would that be right?
@jsalt you're obviously not part of Laurie's electric coil club, those who need caffeine every morning and random times through out the day! I could last on French bread and camembert for longer than should be possible!
Me too! But...if you are on the Via Francigena - the French part - there were many days (too many!) when not one shop was in sight. Nothing! Nada.I could last on French bread and camembert for longer than should be possible!
I don't know at all about the quality of the Italian waymarking, but OTOH the French GR makes many detours that might be fun for a shorter distance hiker, but might unnecessarily lengthen the journey for a pilgrim.
If you camp in campsites, there are power sockets....
there should be power sockets in french cemeteries as well
via aurelia in france stays enough away from the touristy coast
not a joke! I learnt that from dave of this forum who crossed the whole of france, often slept outdoors and was very grateful when he learnt this tidbit from a french pilgrim.I honestly can't decide whether you meant this as a joke or not ... While every electric coil known to man and woman needs a power socket to work, not all grass mowers do.
The waymarked southern Camino in South East France doesn't really follow the actual Via Aurelia or if you prefer the Via Julia Augusta.
Even just locally down here, between the Italian border and Vence, the Camino probably follows the Aurelia for probably no more than a few hundred metres.
Even so, the French Aurelia is a coastal road basically in Menton alone (remember, the local Roman city was Cimiez, not Nice, so the roads into and out of it are not coastal) ; and nor are any of the Camino variants you could follow or make up reasonably for yourself until after Cannes, if you decided to walk via Fréjus.
But as for touristy, well, the whole region is touristy, and there's no hope of avoiding after you begin to get close to Arles. Yes there are many small local areas along the Way afterward that are devoid of tourists, but really those are just the exceptions that prove the rule.
you could follow the sea as much as possible but that would involve a lot of asphalt and a big budget.
if you decide to head inwards after fréjus. but if you stay on the coast, you need to be crafty.
I once did a bit of research for a route that would follow the sea as much as possible and got almost to nice. there were lots of pedestrian/promenade lanes, but unfortunately almost all paved.
I didn't find via aurelia touristy at all (except maybe menton, aix and les baux) but I was there in june when the summer season hasn't started yet.
Hi Bradypus, how is the tent? Have you used it much yet?
The grey would have been a more subtle choice!
When are you intending to leave Jill?Hi, has anyone here done this?
I am pretty sure I can walk backwards along the Camino Francés with no directional problems, having walked it to Santiago several times.
And I am pretty sure I would be OK to Arles along the GR653, as the French GR routes are marked in both directions. (It would help if I can download the track onto MapsMe – does anyone know?)
Once on the Via Francigena there will be signposts to Rome.
But what about between Arles and joining up with the Via Francigena? Is there a GR route?
And what would be the best time of year?
Definitely not between Easter and All Saints on the Camino Francés; too many people looking for albergue beds, and those beds should probably go to the pilgrims walking to Santiago anyway. I do like to support the albergues that stay open all year round, so am happy to walk that section any time between November and March.
The hostels in France and Italy may not be open in the off season, and I can only afford pilgrim accommodation, so I will have to walk those sections sometime between Easter and All Saints, but definitely not during the heat of midsummer.
Would welcome any thoughts, or links to other posts or blogs. Many thanks!
By the way, I have a UK passport, so the 90-day Schengen issue is not a problem for me. I think this journey would take about 4 months. But I’m beginning to think that I may have to attempt this before Brexit, as who knows now what will happen then . . . .
Jill
Probably the end of February. Not written in stone yet!When are you intending to leave Jill?
Wonderful, I’m dreaming of a mid Feb start with my dog from Slovakia towards Santiago keeps as far south as possible to avoid mountain snow. Buen camino.OK I am going to do this.
Starting from Santiago in February 2019, so I have a year to talk myself out of it.
Santiago to Puente la Reina solo, but after that some company for a few days at a time along uncharted territory would be nice.
After the Camino Francés (in reverse), I’m thinking of the Camino Aragonés, the Arles Route, the Via Aurelia (GR653A), the Via Della Costa, and the Via Francigena.
My husband says if I do all that he’ll meet me in Rome.
Plan B is to buy a return ticket that is easily date-changeable, so if it doesn’t work out, for whatever reason, I can get a flight home at any time.
Jill
Wonderful, I’m dreaming of a mid Feb start with my dog from Slovakia towards Santiago keeps as far south as possible to avoid mountain snow. Buen camino.
Have been thinking about this trip a lot lately and have decided that it is doomed to failure if I try and do it all in one go.
After 6 or 7 weeks I usually feel as though I’ve had enough.
So I think I might split it into 3 trips of about 6 weeks each.
Hoping to start from Santiago mid-February 2019.
I should get as far as Pau (in France) after about 6 weeks.
Wow, a winter camino going backwards, can’t wait!
Then I’ll go back the next year, starting from where I left off, and at the same time of year as when I ended, so I’ll finally get to Rome about mid-June 2021.
That’s the current plan anyway!
Jill
Hi Jabba, What a very fascinating report of some aspects of your personal experiences on pilgrimage journeys! Lots of great information.Not sure why you'd want to go via Pau -- the proper Way out of Navarra towards Rome goes via Lourdes.
Indeed, the old parish church at Lourdes, before the town became a pilgrimage destination in its own right, was St Peter's, because of this ancient connection with the Way to Rome.
And I don't know about you, but I'd see Lourdes as a far more "natural" stop and start point than just some randomly-chosen location like Pau -- it's one of the few places after all where three major pilgrimages coexist, Rome, Santiago, and Lourdes itself.
As for not wanting to do the whole thing in one go, I can understand that, but you might find after you have finished your part one, some hidden reserves of extra mental and physical resilience could be discovered within you. This sort of deeply solo foot pilgrimage does take some serious getting used to, and it can be quite a challenge, but once you have gotten your head 'round it, your head can't really be un-gotten 'round of it any more.
So certainly choose a breakpoint, whether at Pau or Lourdes I dunno -- but you might find that doing the rest of the Way to Rome in just one go rather than splitting that up into two as well might somehow seem a lot less daunting to you after you've finished and recovered at home from the first part.
Also, the notion that someone might walk from Lourdes or Pau to the Italian border, say, and then stop there without strongly wanting to continue on into Italy towards Rome seems strange to me ... your first section at least would be within the familiarity of the Francès, which even in late Winter & early Spring will be reassuring -- but your proposed second section sounds to me like all work for little reward.
I'd seriously suggest that you consider instead a part one from Santiago to Lourdes ; then a much longer part two from Lourdes to Rome. And I'd suggest the Piémont & Coastal route. The more difficult sections of that route are between Lourdes and somewhere between Montpellier, Arles, and Aix. Difficult either for the hiking itself, or for the occasional solitary bleakness -- but after you get into Provence proper, and varying somewhat to personal taste, the joys of simply being in Mediterranean France will start to outweigh the hardships of the hiking. (I had that experience in reverse, which was considerably harder)
The Provençal Camino winds through olive groves, and vineyards, fields of lavender and slopes of pine, and oak, and cypress. It is warm and beautiful, and there is an abundance of touristy-like attractions to keep your mind at ease during a long Camino. It is very different in character to the Spanish or the more northerly French routes, which are all a lot more centrally focused around the hiking. Not the Provençal, where the hiking is just one of several elements in every day's journey.
My point being, that there is IMO a strong possibility that you may not hit that wall of boredom after the 6/7 weeks that you might be used to.
(ad partem, I know that wall of boredom well, it's an old enemy and was the core hardship of the third week of my first long Camino out of Paris in 94, though since then for me it's always been after about 11 to 13 weeks instead -- but it's possible, and sometimes necessary, to push past it ; I view it as one of the extra "stages" of the Camino, beyond the "three stages" that people often associate with it, and yes there are a lot more than just three BTW, including at least one solo "stage" at the start that nearly everyone misses from finding themselves on day zero within a crowd ; I don't think I'll even know all of them myself, until after I'll have returned home from my home-to-home Camino).
Then, Italy -- basically, it's Camino Paradise compared to the Francès these days, far too few pilgrims to be a crowd, but not so few that you'll meet nobody else from start to end ; much better food ; (do be very careful about thieves though) ; more beautiful scenery, especially that gorgeous walking through magnificent Tuscany ; better weather ; some occasional quite stunning welcome from the people ; and whilst most Italians will privately think you quite mad for doing such a foot pilgrimage, they'll be very nice in making sure never to say so openly to you.
Perhaps not much in the way of meseta-like mystical pathways, but there's a sense on the Italian Way of never really being far away from home, so that with the one exception of that trudge through the ghastly suburban & run-down post-industrial landscape of Genova (though much of central and eastern Genova is lovely, but completely avoid the port area), there's a feeling of constant welcome throughout that I've come across on no other route, and which significantly eases the difficulties of the hike.
And the food in Italy really is that good -- Rome is the only pilgrimage I've done so far where I've put on several extra kilos !!
Oh, Jabba! I have been to Menton, La Turbie, Eze and the Rothchild mansion/gardens in that area! They are some of my favorite vacation memories. You are so fortunate to live in such a picturesque area of France.
Awesome, didn't even know there was a Camino in that area. Does that section have a specific name or a map?... and just 1K or so downhill from the Camino ...
Awesome, didn't even know there was a Camino in that area. Does that section have a specific name or a map?
Hello Jill,
I live at Mandelieu, a little before Cannes, not far from the sea, the path is just a few meters from my home. If you pass by here try and contact me. If I am in (which is not always the case) you could stay for the night.
Albergue in Lavacolla is open all year. Never stayed there though.. Are there any albergues open between Santiago and O Pedrouzo?
Albergue in Lavacolla is open all year. Never stayed there though.
Ahh, we shall not pass, leaving from Santander 6th May to Santiago then following in your footsteps and onward to Jerusalem
Circumstances intervened and i have had to postpone for a year. Probably now starting from Rome. Intended route was del sud to Bari, ferry to Durres then via Egnatia and Sufi trail after which it was going to be made up as i wentHey i know its an older post but did you do this? If you did- could i hav your route & opinion on how it went? Im thinking of a similar trip but the route from italy to jerusalem isnt clear yet.
Thanks in advance
how was it around the middle east & how long did the whole trip take?Circumstances intervened and i have had to postpone for a year. Probably now starting from Rome. Intended route was del sud to Bari, ferry to Durres then via Egnatia and Sufi trail after which it was going to be made up as i went
Like I said, postponed. Haven't done it yethow was it around the middle east & how long did the whole trip take?
oh lol. i mis-read that.Like I said, postponed. Haven't done it yet
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