Overview: Geneva to Le Puy-en-Velay
Unlike the other pilgrim roads through France which have followed more or less fixed itineraries for several hundreds of years, the Via Gebennensis is a "designer route," set up in the mid 1990s by the Association Rhône-Alpes des Amis de Saint-Jacques as a continuation of the GR 65 to enable pilgrims coming from Switzerland, Germany and Central Europe to walk to Le Puy in order to continue on to Santiago from there. It is therefore not a historic route but a bridging service between two points, a means of walking from Geneva to Le Puy-en-Velay on quiet, waymarked forest tracks, old lanes, footpaths and minor roads.
The Route. 350 km long. Starts in Geneva and passes through innumerable very small hamlets, some villages large enough to have banks, post offices, restaurants and shops, but no place of any size between its starting and finishing points. A link part-way along to the Arles route is also in preparation. [Peter Robins reports in October 2007:
"The Rhone-Alpes Amis have now opened their new route down the Rhone, connecting the Geneva-Le Puy route with Arles. Route description at http://www.amis-st-jacques.org/pages/cheminVersArles.html
Enables people to (roughly) follow the Oberstrasse (and might reduce numbers on the GR65)."]
Waymarking. Extremely thorough throughout with small blue and yellow Council of Europe stylised scallop shells. The beginnings of a "branch line" to connect with the Arles route has now been waymarked as well [see report from Peter Robins, above].
Terrain. Very strenuous, crossing the grain of the land a lot of the time, with constant climbs and descents. A considerable part of the route passes through forest and woodland and much of it lies between 600 and 1000 m above sea level.
When to go. Any time between April and October
What to see. No major monuments apart from Geneva and Le Puy but some Jacobean iconography along the way.
Accommodation and facilities. Not normally a problem. Hotels, chambres d’hôte and some gites d’étape. Campsites in several places along the route, where it is also often possible to hire a caravan for the night. There is also a comprehensive network of accueils jacquaires set up by the Association Rhône-Alpes, individuals who, with 24 hours notice, will provide overnight accommodation, breakfast and an evening meal for pilgrims carrying a credencial (pilgrim record) and a sleeping bag.
Features of the route. Rather solitary route where you are not likely to meet many other pilgrims at present though people living along the way report seeing at least one every day in the period April-September.
Guide books and maps.
- Sentier vers Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle via le Puy-en-Velay, Paris: FFRP, 2004. ISBN: 2-7514-0029-9. A new title in the Topoguide series in their usual format with route descriptions and 1:50,000 IGN maps on facing pages. This is presented as a (backwards) extension of the GR65 and also contains information on accommodation and services, history, local architecture, flora and fauna etc
- Chemin de Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle de Genève au Puy-en-Velay/Jakobsweg Genf-Le Puy-en-Velay, A5-size bilingual (French and German) guide to accommodation and other services (shops, restaurants, tourist offices etc.), churches and places to visit. Published by the Association Rhône-Alpes (35 Rue Ste Hélène, 69002 Lyon) and revised annually, this guide includes additional information on accommodation available only to pilgrims with credenciales (as opposed to ordinary walkers). Available from the Confraternity office.
- No route-finding guide available at present but the recent editions of the French IGN Top 100 (Green) series maps have the route traced on them. Only 3 are needed: No.45 (Annecy-Lausanne), 51 (Lyon-Grenoble) and 50 (St-Etienne-Le Puy-en-Velay).
- Via Gebennensis: Geneva to Le Puy-en-Velay (Pilgrim Guides to the Roads through Europe to Santiago de Compostela #4), Confraternity of St James, 2005. A brief introduction to the route, without route-finding or accommodation information, intended to accompany the existing French-language guides.
Cyclists. Much of the walkers route is unsuitable for bikes (of any kind) though with the above maps it is easy enough to find alternative routes on minor roads.
French. Not impossible to follow this route if you speak no French at all but pilgrims with a level where they can use the telephone will find life much less complicated.
Thanks to Alison Raju, January 2005.