Le Puy Route in France

So, you’ve walked the Camino Francés. You’ve done the Meseta, squeezed into busy albergues, and scarfed down lots of “good value” pilgrim menus. But are you ready for something different? A 750-kilometer Camino of uninterrupted rural tranquility, verdant landscapes punctuated by rugged climbs, home-cooked communal meals night after night after night, gites with few bunk beds, and one perfect medieval village after another? (Not to mention churches that are actually open and toilets in the middle of nowhere?) If you answered “yes” then learn about the Le Puy route (the Via Podiensis) in France, the route followed by northern Europeans up to St. Jean Pied de Port, the start of the Camino Francés. Beyond offering a travelogue, Andy Cohn and Kate Stewart cover the nitty gritty logistics: How to do the route and what you’ll need to know before starting out. Andy and Kate have walked the major Caminos in northern Spain and Portugal — the Norte, Francés, Portugués, Primitivo and Inglés. In the year before Covid hit, they took a break from Spain to explore other European pilgrimage and long-distance trails, including the Coast to Coast in England, a chunk of the Via Francigena in Italy, and latterly, the Le Puy route in September – October, 2019.