RAW Travel Destination Guide – Le Puy Camino (France) �1

LE PUY CAMINO (FRANCE) FROM LE PUY EN VELAY TO CONQUES

DESTINATION GUIDE

Le Puy en Velay to Conques is one of the best loved walks in France, and less travelled than the Spanish Camino. The Le Puy Camino is 205km along the pilgrimage route known as Le Chemin de Saint Jacques (or the Via Podiensis). It is a quiet trail in the Massif Central that takes you over several ranges and valleys including the Auvergne plateau and the Lot River Valley.

On this adventure through the mountains, wooded river valleys and forests of rural south-central France you will step back in time. There are picturesque, fairytale villages, medieval abbeys, vineyards, and famous places. Your journey ends at atmospheric Conques, an old pilgrimage centre with the famous Sainte Foy Abbey.

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SELF-GUIDED WALKINGTravelling self-guided allows you to walk from place to place progressing from one comfortable accommodation to the next in your own time. You walk without a guide, following our walk notes and marked maps.

The Camino is a 1000-year-old trail so it is well marked and relatively easy to follow. No technical expertise is required other than the ability to use a map and compass, so anyone who is active and in good health can do it.

This is ideal for anyone who is hesitant about group travel or wants to travel with their own friends and set their own pace. It’s also great for those who are restricted to travelling at a certain time, as you can choose your own departure date (depending upon availability of accommodation).

Self-guided walks can be custom-made to suit the requirements of your group.

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ACCOMMODATIONWe have literally combed the trail and its surrounding villages to find the best accommodation that this route has to offer so that you enjoy the overnight stay as much as the hiking.

Our aim is to place you in fine guest houses or hotels. Bedrooms are all ensuite and comfort levels are high. The objective is to allow you to meet interesting travellers along the Way, who value the same comforts as you, and spend time with hosts who know the area and its history and enjoy sharing it with their guests.

The human factor and the personal touch are important to us. Your hosts are accustomed to welcoming Anglophones into their homes although, as with anything in life, your extra effort will be handsomely rewarded and so practicing some French (however rudimentary) is highly recommended.

We have chosen to place you in a 3-star hotel within walking distance of the railway station in Le Puy en Velay to give you maximum flexibility re your arrival time and excellent comfort from the start.

This is the most popular stretch of France’s Way of St James and so early booking is advised. Nevertheless,

availability is like a moving escalator and things can change from day to day. Our commitment is to bring you your preferred accommodation option, in its purest form. However, we cannot guarantee that corresponding accommodation will always be available at each stage and so this cannot be a precondition of your booking.

Where we are unable to accommodate you in the desired chambres d’hotes or hotel stay on a night, you will be placed in the equivalent hotel or guest house, respectively.

Rooms are ensuite and have the usual amenities you would expect of a hotel. Access to the internet is no problem in France if you are carrying a smart phone or something similar – almost every bar, hotel and camping ground has free Wifi. Otherwise, you can often get on the net at offices of tourism, public libraries (médiathèques) or cyber cafés.

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GETTING THERE & AWAYYou will need to make your way to the meeting point hotel in Le Puy en Velay, which will be given to you once your booking is confirmed. The details of this hotel and others on your trip may vary according to availability on your chosen dates. RAW Travel reserves the right to use alternative accommodation of a similar standard where needed.

How to get to Le Puy en Velay

By plane Lyon Airport is the nearest international airport to the start of the walk.www.lyonaeroports.com

Clermont-Ferrand Airport is the main airport of the Auvergne region.www.clermont-aeroport.com

Airport transfers from both these airports are available on request. Please contact us for a quote. If you fly into Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport you will need to transfer to Lyon by train (see following information).

By train From the UK, take the Eurostar to Lille and change for Lyon.

From Paris to Lyon by TGV is 3½ hours. From Lyon, change to the regional (TER) train to Le Puy via St Etienne (2½ hours).

For more information, see the SNCF (French train company) website: www.voyages.sncf.fr

By car See route planner: https://en.mappy.com If you travel by car to the meeting point, various parking options will be proposed.

Departing Conques For an additional cost we can transfer you back to either Aumont-Aubrac or Le Puy en Velay after breakfast, space permitting and subject to an advanced booking. Please ask us for details at the time of booking.

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MEAL INCLUSIONSOn this trip, daily breakfasts are included. Lunch and dinner can be enjoyed on your own schedule and budget.

We encourage you to make the most of the opportunity to sample the dishes and specialties of the regions that you walk through. Typically, the first coffee of the day must wait until reaching a bar, usually after 1 to 2 hours of walking. It is common to find a boulangerie beside the bar, so you may choose to buy croissants or other pastries there and step next door to eat them with a coffee at the bar. This is perfectly acceptable behaviour in France, whereas in Australia it would not be tolerated.A typical lunch is a fresh baguette with cheese, sausage, paté or a tin of mackerel, and a tomato or a few lettuce leaves for colour. When buying lunch supplies it is worth remembering that village shops nearly always close between 12.30pm and about 3pm on weekdays. Worse still, on Saturdays they close at 12.30pm and stay that way until Monday, or even Tuesday.

In the early evening, in the lead up to dinner, perhaps take an apéritif at a bar in a local restaurant, if not included at your hotel. There is nothing like a day’s walking to enhance one’s appreciation of a well-cooked meal, and it sets you up

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for the rigours of the next day ahead. 

TRANSPORTYour luggage will be transferred daily. It will be picked up each day at 8am, so you must have your main luggage packed and downstairs in time for this pick-up. After that, it is entirely up to you when you start walking.

Your luggage will be waiting for you at your accommodation each evening.

If you think you will be unable to walk your full kilometres each day then we are able to consult with you prior to departure and tailor an itinerary that suits your pace. If you are travelling on the Camino and you can no longer walk due to injury you can contact our local representative who will assist you in arranging transport.

For all emergency services, telephone 18 or 112.

IS THIS THE RIGHT TRIP FOR ME?When booking a trip it is important to look at the descriptions relating to accommodation, food and difficulty level to ensure that it matches your expectations. It is vital to select a trip that is realistic for your physical ability.

With physical gradings please understand that, for example, a label of ‘moderate’ can mean different things to different people, depending on their experience, fitness level and mental attitude. For our Australian-based walking trips, there is now a track grading scale that we refer to (developed as an industry standard). For overseas walking trips, you need to rely upon interpreting the information given and relate it to your own fitness levels and abilities.

If a trip requires 5 to 7 hours a day of walking then you need to be doing training walks of that distance on comparable terrain. While we often see amazing improvements in people’s fitness with a program of regular training before a trip, you should be realistic about whether you can commit to regular training. If you are unable to commit to doing the training to achieve the required level of fitness then you should consider another trip that is less demanding.

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WHAT’S IT LIKE UNDERFOOT? The terrain on the Le Puy route is varied, strenuous and rarely flat. It is more challenging that the Spanish Camino, and you are unlikely to see any cyclists.

Starting in the volcanic Velay region, there are constant ups and downs, passing through the mountainous Aubrac plateau (at 1300 metres) before descending to the abbey at Conques. At times, there are descents and ascents from river valleys. Some sections are on single-track paths that can often be rocky in places, sometimes with steps but mostly just bare earth. Tracks are also common: gravel forest roads, walking tracks and unsealed roads. There are some sections of country lanes, and coming into the towns and cities you follow regular footpaths.

The route is well-waymarked (in both directions) as the GR65, with the red and white balises of the French Grande Randonée network.

You will always be following the yellow arrows and other markers of the way, featuring the famous scallop shell of the Way of St James.

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PHYSICAL RATING: GRADE 4/5On most days, you will walk between 20km and 30km on hilly terrain. The time spent walking can vary between 5 and 8 hours depending on your walking speed. Allow 7 to 9 hours to complete an average day. There are some rugged short sections of path that can be strenuous. The highest altitude of the walk is just over 1400m. For most of the walk the gradient is quite gradual once you are into the mountains. Refer to the Australian walking track grading system for more details.

We expect people to have a good level of fitness and to be participating in regular physical exercise (eg, walking/cycling/gym) in the lead up to the trip.

You will also need to practise hiking in a mountain environment with the same equipment that you will take on the Le Puy route. Your training should prepare you to walk several hours (5 to 7) a day with ascents and descents. It is important to train on terrain that is similar to that which you will encounter on this route. You should be comfortable walking on rugged trails. Choose hills to train on and push yourself to do long days to adequately prepare yourself.

IMPORTANT NOTES Resources for your self-guided tripThis RAW Travel trip is a self-guided one. We will provide you with an excellent guidebook with maps and instructions on how to get to your first day, and maps showing the locations of your accommodation.

France is a paradise for walkers, with about 180,000 km of marked walking tracks. Long-distance walking tracks across France are called Grandes Randonnées (GRs), whereas tracks that loop around through a particular area are called Grandes Randonnées du Pays (GRPs), and shorter tracks are Promenades et Randonnées (PRs).

There are colour-coded markings for these – a red and white stripe for GRs, red and yellow for GRPs, and yellow for PRs. And there are three symbols: ‘straight ahead’, ‘turn’ and ‘go back’.

Various other colours are used for local walks.

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S

Overall, the tracks are well marked, but it takes practise to not miss some of the markings, which can be in obscure places, such as on tree trunks (often behind a clump of foliage), on fence posts or on the sides of barns. Some are even on the ground.

The association of French walking clubs, the Fédération Française de la Randonnée Pédestre (FFRP), publishes very useful guides (topo-guides) for many of the tracks. They all follow the same format – on the left page is a map and on the right page is a description of the track, with information about the services available in each of the villages that the track passes through. The scale of the maps is 1:50,000, i.e. 2cm = 1km. The guides are in French but are quite easy to follow, even for non-French speakers. However, they do go out of date rather quickly and some new editions of older guides don’t seem to have any fresh information in them.

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All topo-guides can be bought on the FFRP website, where you can also download a useful map of all the GRs and GRPs. A good site for general information about most GRs is GR-Infos.

InsurancePlease make sure your insurance covers you for emergency rescue. Phone your insurer directly if you are not certain.

Where to get a French pilgrim’s passportPassports are issued locally by the association that provides assistance to pilgrims starting their route to Compostela: Les Amis de Saint Jacques (1 April to 15 October every evening from 5.30pm to 7.30pm; Le Camino, 2 rue de la Manécanterie, 43 000 Puy en Velay).

The passport costs around €3. Afterwards you can have it stamped at each location you pass through, though this is not a requirement or legality, merely an affirmation of your pilgrimage for those who want it.

How much water to carryYou do not need to carry more than 2 litres of water as there are frequent waters stops along the way. We recommend carrying 1 half-litre and 2 one-litre water bottles. It is always tricky to decide how many bottles to fill up in the morning, It

is a matter of judging how long it will be before they can be replenished.

We recommend carrying at least 1 litre of water. While it is annoying to have water left over at the end of a walk, it is far worse  to have to trudge the last few kilometres with your tongue stuck to the roof of your mouth.

Any bar will happily refill your water bottles and will sometimes even offer to add ‘sirop’. The other reliable source of water is graveyards, which always have a tap for people to water their flowers with.

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WHAT TO PACK Your main luggage is transported for you on the trip, so you carry only a daypack. Generally speaking, pack as lightly as possible. Keep the weight of your luggage case under 15kg.

Your trip cost includes daily transfer of one piece of luggage per person. Because of limited space available in the vehicle please avoid taking hard, bulky suitcases.

You will also need a good daypack when out walking to carry a jacket and personal effects such as camera, sunscreen, water, snacks, blister kit.

Essential travel documents• Travel insurance, air ticket and your RAW Travel

documents pack• French Phrasebook (included) • Cicerone Camino Guidebook (included)• Credit card and spending money

Personal Items• Blister kit, rehydration salts and any personal medications• Alarm clock and LED head torch/flashlight• Water bottles or CamelBak system (2 litres

recommended)

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• Sunscreen, broad brimmed sunhat and high UV sunglasses

• Comfortable daypack• Waterproof bags for pack rain protection while walking

(garbage bags are fine)

Clothing• Well-worn-in walking shoes or boots with ankle support• 3 pairs of walking socks• 3 t-shirts (lightweight quick drying tech fabric) or long

sleeved trekking shirts• 1 pair of lightweight pants with detachable legs• 2 pairs of shorts • Warm fleece, sweater, hat, gloves (cold evenings)• Waterproof jacket and over-trousers• Handkerchief / buff• Swimming costume

Optional but highly recommended• Walking poles. Good for balance and taking weight off

your knees on descents.

Miscellaneous • Camera and spare batteries• Reading and writing material• Flip flops (thongs) / spare trainers for evenings• Knee brace - not essential but useful for injury• Hand sanitiser - optional• Miniatures of your usual toiletries• Snacks - though these can be purchased locally• Swiss army knife• Mobile phone and charger

ELECTRICAL PLUGSSpain and France generally use two-pin round plugs (230V).

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WHEN TO WALKThe best time to walk the Le Puy route is between April and October. Outside of these months a lot of amenities could be closed.

In the springtime from April to May you can expect beautiful green scenery and flowers, but this is also the wettest time to walk.

June and July are a great time to walk because you get the maximum amount of daylight: the sun rises at about 6am and sets about 10pm. Temperatures are usually pleasant (mid-20sºC), but be aware that it can get very hot if there is a heatwave. If it is particularly hot, it’s best to get up with the sun, have a quick bite to eat, pack up and be on your way before 7am. By the time the day heats up, you are approaching your destination, even after a stop for a second breakfast along the way. An early start also means the opportunity for photographing in a beautiful, even light.

In August, the French themselves traditionally take their holidays. In September and October temperatures start to cool down but generally this is a great time to walk. The weather is dry and stable in September and often cooler and wetter in October.

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HEALTHThere are no compulsory vaccinations. Tetanus is recommended. You need to be in good health to undertake this trip due to the sometimes-demanding days. Consult your doctor if you have any medical conditions to assess your suitability before departure.

We recommend that you carry first aid supplies for common ailments as well as any personal medical requirements.

Your first-aid supplies should include:• headache tablets• diarrhea treatment (both a blocker to bring relief from the

symptoms and an antibiotic)• band-aids• blister pads for your feet and zinc tape• antiseptic for cuts and scrapes• lip balm• high factor sunscreen.

We recommend using zinc oxide tape / moleskin to cover ‘hot spots’ on your feet to stop potential blisters developing.

SAFETYFire precautions Please be aware that local laws in France governing tourism facilities differ from those in Australia or your home country and not all the accommodation which we use may have a fire exit, fire extinguishers or smoke alarms.

Traffic and driving on the other side of the road Depending on where you come from please note that drivers in this part of the world may drive on the opposite side of the road from what you are used to. Make sure you look both ways before crossing any road. Be aware!

Petty theft and personal safetyWhile travelling there is always the risk of pick-pocketing and petty theft, particularly in bigger tourist cities. We recommend that you exercise caution when walking alone at night and stay on main, well-lit thoroughfares. Be particularly vigilant on public transport. Simple measures like carrying your daypack on your front, not hanging your bag over the back of your chair, and wearing a money belt will reduce the chances of your valuables going missing.

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VISASAustralian citizens visiting Schengen countries (including Spain, France, Switzerland and Italy) do not need to apply for visas if staying for no more than 90 out of 180 days.

TRAVEL INSURANCETravel insurance is compulsory for all our trips. We require that, at a minimum, you are covered for medical expenses including emergency repatriation. We strongly recommend that the policy also covers personal liability, cancellation, curtailment and loss of luggage and personal effects.

When travelling with RAW Travel you will not be permitted to join the trip until evidence of travel insurance and the insurance company’s 24-hour emergency contact number has been provided to us. If you have credit card insurance we will require proof of purchase of the trip (a receipt of credit card statement) with a credit card in your name. Contact your bank for details of their participating insurer, the level of coverage and emergency contact telephone number.

Our preferred insurance company is CoverMore as they provide an excellent service. Apply for insurance on line.

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FURTHER READINGSuggestions from RAW Travel destination experts for books to read before you travel.

• Le Chemin de St-Jacques du Velay aux Pyrénées by J-P Siréjol & Louis Laborde-Balen

• Miam-Miam-Dodo by Jacques Clouteau • Way of St. James: Le Puy to the Pyrenees – A Walkers’

Guide by Alison Raju, Cicerone Press (2013)• The Lightfoot Guide to the Via Podiensis: The Route to

Santiago de Compostela in France, Le Puy-en-Velay to Ronceveaux by Angelynn Maya, EURL Pilgrimage Publications (May 2016)

• Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes by Robert Louis Stevenson

• The Generous Earth by Philip Oyler• Three Rivers of France: Dordogne, Lot, Tarn by Freda

White• Clear Waters Rising: A Mountain Walk across Europe by

Nicholas Crane• La Belle France: A Short History by Alistair Horne• The Discovery of France by Graham Robb

USEFUL LINKSSNCFThe easiest way to book rail tickets is through the SNCF website. Buy your tickets and print them out at home so that you can get on the train without queuing at the counter.

Fédération Française de la Randonnée Pédestre (FFRP)A full list of available topo-guides can be viewed and bought on the FFRP website.

Institut Géographique National (IGN)All the TOP 100 and TOP 25 maps, and the topo-guides, can be bought on the IGN website.

GéoportailGéoportail is the French equivalent of Google Maps, but with far greater detail. Useful for designing your own route.

Map showing all GRs and GRPsIt is surprisingly difficult to find a map of all the GRs and GRPs. Check out this link to the FFRP website.

GR-InfosGR-Infos is a useful site for general information about GRs.

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RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL RAW Travel strongly believes in low impact or, rather, positive impact tourism. Broadly speaking this means that we try to minimise the negative aspects of tourism on the local cultures and environments that we visit and highlight the positive aspects.

RAW TRAVEL NEWSLETTER We have a free email newsletter full of traveller’s stories and experiences, as well as information about our new trips. Please send us an extract from your travel journal at the end of your trip.

If you have any suggestions about information we could add to this Destination Guide that you think other walkers would find useful please email: info@rawtravel.com. And of course, email us if you have any questions leading up to your trip.

We are sure you will love the Le Puy route as much as we do, and we look forward to you joining us on other RAW Travel experiences.

DISCLAIMERThe information in this Destination Guide has been compiled with care and is provided in good faith. However, it is subject to change, and does not form part of the contract between the client and RAW Travel.

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