Le Puy Camino – via Podiensis: Final Days in Le Puy-en-Velay, Part One

March 27 – 28

Over the next 4 days, I spent time continuing our preparations for the chemin interspersed with sightseeing, shopping, eating (delicious French food!) and getting some hiking time in on the GR 65.

On Monday, we visited the pilgrim office to pick up a hiking guide and our pilgrim credentials. There are numerous walking guides for both the Chemin de Saint-Jacques du-Puy that follows the GR 65 walking path in France and the more popular section – the Camino Francis – that takes pilgrims through Spain. Before leaving the U.S., I had ordered one recommended guide published by the Fédération Française de la Randonnée Pédestre, an organization that oversees maintaining all the walking paths in France. Their guides are called TopoGuides and include topographic maps for each section of the walking path along with historical and geographical information, accommodations, restaurants and services available in each town and walking notes with distances and time approximations. The section we were hiking was divided up into 3 separate guides.

While in Le Puy-en-Velay, I bought another guide at the pilgrim office called the Miam Miam Dodo. It contains approximately the same information as the TopoGuide but is less cluttered and the map was easier to read. Accommodations were listed with much more information than the TopoGuide that included price with or without demi-pension, # of beds, street address, phone # and email address as well as check-in time. I found this useful. If you are interested in more extensive historical and landscape information, you will not find that in the Miam Miam Dodo. This guide is obtained via the publishers website or in pilgrim offices and tourist centers in each major town.

Both guides above are written in French and there is no English translation. I did not find this to be a problem with the Miam Miam Dodo as there was less text and I quickly became accustomed to the French words. I ended up using the Miam Miam Dodo almost exclusively. The TopoGuide was relegated to a place in the extra luggage bag so I could access it if I wanted in the evening. But, I rarely did.

The other print guide we had along with us is a book written by Dave Whitson called Walking the Camino de Santiago – Via Podiensis, Le Puy to the Pyrenees on the GR65. He is a high school teacher from Oregon and has walked numerous Camino routes over the years. He publishes his guides through the Cicerone Press in the UK. The nice thing about this guide is that it is written in English. The guide contains much the same information as the above books. We did not carry this with us during the day but delegated this book to the extra luggage bag as well. Occasionally, I did pull it out at night to read some descriptions of upcoming trail sections in English. I also had a downloaded excel file on my phone that Dave Whitson produces with a comprehensive list of accommodations. Unfortunately, since we were limited to the accommodations listed in the Miam Miam (due to the baggage company requirements), I did not end up using this along the way. But, if not using luggage transport, it would have been invaluable.

The other resource I had at my disposal was digital. I purchased PDF files from a woman who maintains a website called I Love Walking in France. I had these files downloaded to my phone and could access them along the trail. She has numerous digital guidebooks for many established walking routes in France. I find them to be full of useful information.

The guidebook that you choose to use along the chemin is a personal choice based on your specific needs. Planning Tip: No matter what guide you decide on, make sure that it is the updated version. They are all updated annually during the off-season months of January and February. Many things change from year to year – accommodations come and go – and at times, the actual walking path changes course. It is important to have the most up-to-date information.

After choosing the Miam Miam Dodo for the first half of the walk, we also purchased our pilgrim credentials from the pilgrim office located in the cathedral. The pilgrim credential is a small booklet used to collect “stamps” along the chemin – mostly from accommodations where you stay but also from some churches and historical landmarks and places. In order to receive an official certificate of completion for the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, you must present this credential as proof that you walked the distance required. It also makes a pretty cool souvenir! Along with the credential, I bought a scallop shell to carry on my backpack. It is the symbol of the Camino and identifies one as a pilgrim. Again, a great souvenir! Below is a peek at part of my pilgrim credential marked with some of the colorful stamps I collected along the way and my seashell that I attached to the outside of my pack. Hopefully, I will be able to return to Europe and walk one of the Spanish Camino routes that lead to Santiago de Compostela and receive the coveted certificate.

After the pilgrim office, we stopped in at La Malle Postale transportation office and arranged our first few days of luggage transport. They agreed to accommodate us on March 31st so that would be our official start day for the chemin! We found the post office so that I could purchase some international stamps for sending postcards back home and ate lunch at Gabriel’s restaurant where they served up some outstanding pizza!

My sister-in-law and I parted ways for the afternoon and I decided I needed to go for a short walk. I followed the Chemin du Saint-Jacques (GR65) out of town and into the countryside. It is the route we will take on Friday and I wanted to get a feel for what to expect. It’s a steep climb up out of Le Puy-en-Velay and levels off after about a mile.

It was a good trial run and I got my first introduction into the way markers that I would be focusing on for the next 6 weeks. The Way of St. James (Chemin du Saint-Jacques) follows a pathway called the GR65 in France. It is marked with two painted lines – a white stripe and a red stripe. The mark is found on sign posts, trees, stones, fence posts, walls and even buildings along the trail. Below is an example of a sign post that is common where the trail meets local paths and other trail junctions.

I turned around at the 2-mile mark and headed back to town. As I approached the descent into town, I encountered Michael, who was a German guy also staying at our accommodation La Maison du Loup. Funny – I’m in a town in France taking a walk and actually run into someone I know! He was a very interesting fellow.

He’s a long-distance runner and has traveled all over the world running marathons. He had just completed one and was heading to Italy from Le Puy to compete in another one. Along the way, he was visiting many Catholic religious sights – Le Puy being one of them. We had breakfast with him two mornings at La Maison du Loup and his knowledge of the Catholic faith and, in particular, of a renowned female German philosopher named Edith Stein was notable. She was from Germany and converted from Judaism to Catholicism in 1922. In 1935, she joined the Discalced Carmelite monastery in Cologne and took the name “Teresia Benedicta a Cruce” – receiving her perpetual vows in 1938. Due to her Jewish heritage, she got caught up in the Nazi invasion when she was located at the Carmelite monastery in the Netherlands. She was sent to Auschwitz along with other baptized Catholics of Jewish origin where she died in the gas chamber. She was beatified as a martyr by Pope John Paul II in 1987 and later canonized by him in 1998.

My sister-in-law, who is a member of a secular Carmelite order, is well-versed in regards to Edith Stein so it was quite a coincidence and thrill for her to meet someone who is also an admirer of Edith Stein. As a non-Catholic, I was fascinated with their conversation at the breakfast table and learned a great deal about this remarkable woman.

The next day (Tuesday March 28) I spent some time exploring a city park in Le Puy-en-Velay called the Jardin Henri Vinay. It is located between the Prefecture de la Haute-Loire government building and the Musee Crozatier. It was a beautiful day to explore this green space!

While wandering around town after the park, I stopped into an outdoor store and purchased an extra layer of clothing for the walk. The weather in Le Puy was cool and I was just not sure I had enough layers. I found a great 40% off deal on a Mammut zip-up hooded light jacket. Of course, I had buyer’s remorse later on that day but in hindsight it was a good move! The jacket ended up being my go-to layer once we started the walk!

Lunch that day was an economical meal consisting of a tart embellished with green lentils. Le Puy and the surrounding area is known for its production of a particular variety of green lentils. It is a staple in this area and was presented to us on numerous occasions as part of the evening meal in the gites. The Le Puy green lentils are special due to the fact they are grown in the rich volcanic soil predominant in this region of France. The lentils were served to us in many different ways over the next couple of weeks and, while I enjoyed them immensely, I admit I did get a tad weary of them after awhile!

Tomorrow (Wednesday) we will make one more accommodation changed before leaving Le Puy. I’ll cover our last two days in the next post! 🙂