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Via Tolosana

Lizzy51

New Member
Time of past OR future Camino
2013 Aire-sur l'Adour to Pamplona, Saria to Santiago
2014 Le Puy to Espalion
2015 Espalion to Cah
Please does anyone know the first part of this route, from Arles? Looking at a map and Miam Dodo the route looks very quiet with little habitation. Is it very lonely, difficult to follow, and is accommodation very few and far between?
Thank you.
Lizzy51
 
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Please does anyone know the first part of this route, from Arles? Looking at a map and Miam Dodo the route looks very quiet with little habitation. Is it very lonely, difficult to follow, and is accommodation very few and far between?
Thank you.
Lizzy51
I knew I'd bookmarked some info regarding this route that I found interesting
Regards Gerard
 
Last edited:
I started in Toulouse, not Arles. This was about 5 years ago. I stayed in some albergues and in some small hotels. No problem in pre-COVID days. It was not populated or busy, but I like having few people around me.
In any case, I (and probably others) would be interested in hearing about your experiences when completed.
 
St James' Way - Self-guided 4-7 day Walking Packages, Reading to Southampton, 110 kms
It's a very quiet route. I walked in June last year, and even in major stops like Montpellier, I was usually the only person in the albergue. In the rural areas the albergues are run by the Mairie, so you need to get the key during office hours, which can be very random and often exclude weekends. Private accommodation (which is few and far between) is very expensive, and facilities in the village are often closed so you need to pack food in advance. I always managed to find a place to sleep - I used the list on Gronze - but many places are closed, and I met pilgrims who'd spent the odd night in a barn.

I suppose it depends on what sort of camino you're looking for. I thoroughly enjoyed the solitary walk through the beautiful countryside (especially the 10-odd days in the Haut-Languedoc nature reserve) but I did find myself missing creature comforts like café con leches, the security of knowing there was a bed and a meal waiting for me, and the company of other pilgrims. People often describe this as 'more of a GR route than a camino', but I have to say that I actually felt more like a 'pilgrim' on this route than I had in a long time, because even though it was tough and lonely at times, there was a sense of 'something' keeping me going. Overall, it can be a very rewarding walk, but it's definitely the route less travelled!
 
I walked Arles-Santiago in September-mid-November 2015. Yes, it was quiet. I walked with other people for about a week, but after Toulouse I walked entirely alone until I reached the Francés at Puente la Reina. I often had albergues to myself. The welcoming party sometimes outnumbered me 3 to 1. I was 61 at the time and was never without accommodation or had to walk further than I wanted to on account of accommodation. I stayed mainly in albergues, but also hotels, and casas rurales. I used Miam Miam Dodo for maps and accommodation.
When I think about it, I surmise that I was totally nuts, but really it was a great walk and so solitary. I started getting lonely at about Somport, the halfway mark. When I got to the Francés I was overwhelmed by the number of people, even at that time of year and booked into a hotel in order to mentally prepare myself.
Spend a couple of days in Arles, where they have belatedly started to celebrate Vincent van Gogh's relationship to it. Also, the Camargue, which you reach on Day 2, is massively infested with mosquitoes. You will need insect repellent on every exposed inch of you. Don't muck around with namby pamby repellents; you need the cavalry for these mosquitoes.

Once on the Aragones, you absolutely must stay at the albergue at Arres. My all time favourite albergue.
 

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