I have also asked the CPR if they know of any "X-keys" I could buy in London/Canterbury before I set out on the VF (Phase 1 to Besancon this year)
BTW, I have both Alison Raju's Cicerone guide & Paul Chinn/Babette Gallard's Lightfoot guide. They are both complementary.
I prefer the Lightfoot guide for navigational ease and field-friendly layout, but the Cicerone guide is better for little historical/factual snippets and other useful info - eg where shade/seats and bus stops are available. Alison also makes useful comments on where lack of shops means extra food/water should be carried.
Bus stops, you say? Yes! - they often have seats and shelter. I have often used a bus stop to shelter from rain and eat my sumptious mid-day repast. I wish all guides would mention them, just as they do water points.
I won't carry the Cicerone guide, but I have written notes from it into my Lightfoot guide.
I have managed to optimise my stages to about 25km/day except for 2 places where I plan to arrange taxi pickups. Here are my route notes for those stages:
1. Walk to Grenant (26.1km), call taxi to Champlitte, return next day & walk to Champlitte 13.3km
2. Stop Corbeil 19km & call taxi to accom eg Hanourt, Taxi back to Corbeil, then walk 26.6km to Brienne.
I built 3 spare/rest days into my plan to cater for the unexpected.
I will carry a set of the IGN 1:100k maps and also a Garmin Dakota 20 GPS unit.
I have given up the towed cart idea. Too complicated to get it to/from the UK. The airline calls it a bike and insists on special packaging. If I lived in Europe, no problems (at least not with the cart!).
There is a very comprehensive account of a pilgrimage in 2010 by Cristina (an Italian lady) at:
http://www.globetrotter-life.com/1Luglio2010.htm The text is all in Italian, but there are a huge number of wonderful photos, all geo-tagged to Cristina’s route, which you can see on her maps. I found it very useful in getting a pictorial overview of the route to Besancon. Much of it is very open and probably very hot in July/August.
Rgds
Bob M