Truehiker and wildcamping via francigena

[Apicula]

If you got any questions about via francigena, wild camping it and what gear I brought, though I have no clue about accommodations^^ did the VF the fall of 2014 18 August to 28 November with my friend.

Cheers!

 

[SYates]

There is a new forum dedicated solely to the VF by @ivar (who runs also this helpful community) here: https://www.viafrancigena.me/ Perhaps you want to join us also there? SY

 

[Kiwi-family]

If you got any questions about via francigena, wild camping it and what gear I brought, though I have no clue about accommodations^^ did the VF the fall of 2014 18 August to 28 November with my friend.

Cheers!

My request: please tell me everything you can about wild camping! Apart from that....Did you ever request permission to camp in someone's yard? If so, what was the response? Did you use campgrounds? If so, what do they cost?
Oh, and all about your gear, too! Tent, stove....

 

[Apicula]

My request: please tell me everything you can about wild camping! Apart from that....Did you ever request permission to camp in someone's yard? If so, what was the response? Did you use campgrounds? If so, what do they cost?
Oh, and all about your gear, too! Tent, stove....

Haha tell u everything ! we planed so we always ended our nights between villages and cities, but we never walked more then a 200 m from the "trail" and we used a basha (in France) and used the tent more in Italy and Switzerland but we put up the basha as camouflage ^^ it's always nice that people don't know u r there, for me it's easier to relax ^^
Btw allot of boar in France and they are not that afraid of u -.- and we also had a rule that if we found a place that was awesome to camp and it was like 1h before we would break, then we would stop u never know if u would find a good place further on ^^
Worst place we slept where in under a tree on rocks, best place : after Calais overlooking the channel

No we did not people's language skills r quite bad and we only knew Swedish and English so communicating was very difficult ^^

We only used a camping 1 time and that was after Lausanne, but the best is when u find donation rooms,
We tried to live in a room every 9 days to take a shower and wash clothes

Gear:
Tent 2ppl-awesome when cold or rain
Basha/tarp- first time I used it, and now it will always be in my backpack ^^
Stove- used it 2 times, wouldn't bring it again
Camping mat in foam- very happy I didn't bring my inflated on ALLOT OF THORNS and barbedwire
Knife
Vaseline
First aid kit
Needle and fishing wire ( rat ate half my strap on backpack, so I would be screwed if I didn't have it)
Sleeping bag 3 seasons
2 flece
1 pair of pants
3 socks
3 underwear
Waterproof gloves
Rain jacket ultralight north face , great stuff
Bungee cord
Walking stick ,feels nice if dogs are scary
1spoon
3 freezedryed emergency rations
Solar panel charger

My friend had also a iPad with him, that one was priceless

Regretted not bringing a waterproof bag ( instead of plastic bag ^^) and also instead of hiking shoes I would have taken boots only because it's way way more waterproof instead of gortex^^
And u can save maps on Google and still use gap even though u r phone is in flight mode

 

[Kiwi-family]

Thanks - invaluable information.
Could you tell me more about the solar charger? My main concern about bringing an Ipad-Mini or Phone is that I would not be able to charge it if I was not staying in a hostel (although I suppose I could have a long lunch in a bar with an electricity outlet!)
Could you expand on your eating habits too. If you only used the stove twice, does that mean you ate a cooked meal at a bar/restaurant most days or did you just stick with bread, cheese and salami three times a day? I like to start a walking day with cooked porridge and imagine heating up some tomato and pasta for an evening meal would keep costs down - I was thinking I would use a stove a lot. WOuld be interested to hear your experience. If finding a cooked lunch is easy and not too pricey, I like that idea even better!
Is your tent bright pink? If you had a camouflage coloured tent you would not need the basha - yes?

 

[Apicula]

A bar is always good and also bring like 2 rechargeable batteries with USB connection so while u charge iPad u also charge the batteries, then I think it would be np solar power is nice a complimentary, but don't a too small one ^^ we put ours on the backpack and move dit with the sun.

I had a multifuel stove but we felt that it took a little to long to heat the food so we only went with like u said bread, cheese, fueta, nuts, chocolate and conservs

No not pink, but bright orange x) I would still the basha, used for our backpacks and also as a emergency roof or as a wind proof blanket

 

[Kiwi-family]

Really useful feedback thanks. This is helping me make some decisions. Might be back with more route specific questions later.

 

[Starseeker54]

Hi fellow pilgrims,
Does anyone have a link to loading gps waypoints for the via francigena and how to load them.ease

 

[NavyBlue]

Hi,

I have used this site :
http://www.viefrancigene.org/fr/map/wrap/?layer=statictrack&close=operations

On the map, click on a stage, then on "details" and finally on "piste gpx". To be done stage by stage...
(the above link is in French, but I am sure there is an english equivalent).

I have then loaded these tracks to my (Android) tablet, installed LocusFree software and loaded open map tiles around the tracks. Might not be the easiest or fastest solution, but looks to be working. More when on the field...