Day 4: Queyrieres to Brives-Charensac

A  proposed day of easy walking turned into an alcohol fueled deathmarch into the suburbs of Le Puy. Due to some horsing event nearby, all of the places to stay in our target area were taken, or people just didnt answer their phones. "Ah-hah!" I thought to myself. Maybe my tent Ive carried for 100km will now be useful! Alas, the path quickly turned to follow the busiest road possible. My potential tent areas were abandoned bus stops and backyards with electrified fences. I head on to join Romaric in a place in Brives.

Half way through the day, in scorching heat, my lack of shorts and water made me quite heat-strokey. Also the 2 liter beer for lunch was getting to my head. The ki was harnassed. To keep my spirits up, I started singing. My foul renditions of Bob Dylan songs kept the locals from coming out of their comfortable, cool homes. I ran out of water and the local public restroom had a garden hose tap that did not work. The sound of children playing at a nearby school reached me as I eyed the green tinted EAU NON POTABLE water nearby. I walked on to the suburbs, following the marked path onto a busy 2 lane road with no shoulder and a 30 foot drop into friendly blackberry bushes. I descended to the Loire river and met a nice dog. A child on a scooter was scolded for looking at me too long.

Tonight we dine on Chinese food. I can see a beautiful river out of one window and a Midas tire shop out of the other. Romaric's brother is joining us for dinner. Tomorrow the last 5km to Le Puy!

Day 3: Tence to Queyriers

21km today and we've stumbled upon a gem of place to stay overlooking the local volcanoes. The downside is we have to cook for ourselves, the upside is everything else. Great view, jacuzzi out back, nice owners.

The walk today was nice, though still had some snow/ice drifts to walk through at 1300m. There was a couple long stretches of asphalt to walk on, and the last few kms went up about 400m. The terrain here is very dry.

Tomorrow, might take it easy to arrive in Le Puy around noon friday.

Day 2: Setoux to Tence

Against all reason and logic, I decided to walk even farther today - 28km. In retrospect this was not the best idea. On the map, everything looked so flat. In reality, the road was quite pleasant, but there weren't many times when I wasn't either slowly ascending or descending. Nevertheless, the countryside was great, the paths often soft, and the people generally friendly.

I met two fellow pilgrims in Setoux last night, which is quite lucky since they said we are the first pilgrims of the year. They are a French father/daughter, the dad who started walking all the way from Switzerland. Nice to have some company for meals and we've booked the same place in Tence tonight.

Some bad news, got some serious blisters going on and a basketball injury thats been aggravated, might see a doc in the morning or just throw some duct tape on it.

Enjoy the pictures!

Day 1: Saint Julien Molin Molette to Les Setoux

So it's about 4pm and have a few more km to go, not sure where I will stop. The walk from St Julien to Bourg Argental was nice, since then its mostly paved roads. Back on a trail now and grabbing a snack at a nice scenic point.

Update: made it to Les Setoux ok, its one of those little towns you can barely find on the map. Lucky enough there is a gite here, so wont be braving the night wilderness yet. Dinner at the local auberge @ 7, everyone seems nice!

Day 0: Saint Paul-en-Jarez to Saint Julien Molin Molette

The stars have aligned, the weather is favorable, and I'm officially heading out tomorrow morning. I've decided to start at Saint Julien Molin Molette, a local town that's famous for having a funny name and also brewing some local beer. Here's  a shot of the church and belltower: 

The guidebook has it as 5 days from there to Le Puy, though I'm hopeful to make it in 3 or 4. Not that I'm in a hurry or anything, but we'll see how that goes! Will update from the road and give everyone a shot of my first night's sleeping arrangements which are shaping up to be either quaint and cozy or me in a tent, somewhere in rural France.

Preparation~!

The time has come to start getting everything together for my walk. I've read some first-hand accounts and tried to learn from people's mistakes, but I'm preparing myself to be ill-equiped for something, just not sure what yet. I'm in a unique category of pilgrim in that I'm taking my own tent and sleeping 'in the wild' for most of the part in France, then will be mailing my tent back home when I get to Spain. The reasoning behind this is that it's kinda fun sleeping outside (especially in the rain), lodging in France this time of year (early March) is hit-or-miss, and it also can be quite expensive. I've also watched a bit too much Man vs Wild so I'll be searching for waterfalls to climb down and eating snakes if the local breadshops aren't open.

Another hiker wrote a bit about it (link here) which had some very good tips. I guess the general rule is you'll probably pack too much, no matter what you think. Here's my list of what I'm bringing to start: 

Backpack: North Face Terra 65

Tent: Mountain Hardwear Drifter 2
Sleeping Bag: Alpkit Skyhigh 600
Sleep Mat: Alpkit Base
Bivvy Bag: Alpkit Hunka XL
Microfiber Towel
Opinel 10
LED Headlamp + Backup mini-lamp
Kindle + Case
Android Samsung Galaxy S
Micro-SD charger

Clothing:
2 pairs of pants
3 t-shirts
5 pairs of socks (3 wool, 1 cotton full-length, 1 cotton short)
3 pairs underwear
Columbia Titanium long-sleeve thermal shirt
Columbia Omni-heat wool shirt
Columbia rain jacket
Combat Boonie Hat
Shorts

Shoes: Keen GYPSUM M

Campingaz Micro propane cooker + 200g propane bottle
Metal cooking cup / tongs / 
Toothbrush, Baking Soda, Pharmac, misc crap like bags, TP, etc

It all tallies up to about 14kilos, including the pack, which is pretty heavy. Then again, almost half of that is my 'let's sleep outside' kit, so I have no one else to blame but myself.

The first stretch of the journey is a modest 350km, scheduled to take 15 days. Read about it at the CSJ site.  Due to weather issues, I've decided to start closer to Le Puy , but will be doing the last 5-6 days of the via Geneva route. Read about the Le Puy route here.

Intro: What's the Camino Santiago?

Hi everyone,

Doing a quick intro post to let some of my family and friends know what exactly the Camino de Santiago is. Here is the Wiki link to the Way of St. James.Quote from there on the summary:


The Way of St. James has existed for over a thousand years. It was one of the most important Christian pilgrimages during medieval times, together with Rome and Jerusalem, and a pilgrimage route on which a plenary indulgence could be earned;^[1] other major pilgrimage routes include the Via Francigena to Rome and the pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
Legend holds that St. James's remains were carried by boat from Jerusalem to northern Spain where he was buried on the site of what is now the city of Santiago de Compostela.
The Way can take one of any number of pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela. Traditionally, as with most pilgrimages, the Way of Saint James began at one's home and ended at the pilgrimage site. However a few of the routes are considered main ones. During the Middle Ages, the route was highly traveled. However, the Black Death, the Protestant Reformation and political unrest in 16th-century Europe led to its decline. By the 1980s, only a few pilgrims arrived in Santiago annually. Since then however the route has attracted a growing number of modern-day pilgrims from around the globe. The route was declared the first European Cultural Route by the Council of Europe in October 1987; it was also named one of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites.
Whenever St. James's day (25 July) falls on a Sunday, the cathedral declares a Holy or Jubilee Year. Depending on leap years, Holy Years occur in 5, 6 and 11 year intervals. The most recent were 1982, 1993, 1999, 2004, and 2010. The next will be 2021, 2027, and 2032.