CSJ Guides to the Routes through France #3:
le Puy to the Pyrenees, 2006.
Updates received June 2006 and later

New gite d'étape betwen Figeac and Cajarc scheduled to open in April 2011 (rec'd May 2010):

ECOASIS is located at 20km after Figeac, right on the Saint James Trail GR65, in a place called « Puy Clavel » in the village of Gréalou, also located in the Natural Regional Parc of “les Causses du Quercy”.

ECOASIS has an ecological engagement: from its architectural conception to the « cuisine de marché » offered to our guests.

Few words to describe ECOASIS:

Other available services :

After 13 years of professional experience throughout the world, we fell in love with the Lot and decided to settle down here to welcome the pilgrims at home –we are hikers and have been walking on the GR65 too… - We are trilingual: English, Spanish and French spoken.

Audrey and Emmanuel Sailly
ECOASIS
Tel : +33 6 71 00 48 30 from abroad or: 06 71 00 48 30 from France

audrey_waltzer@yahoo.com

St Privat d'Allier (rec'd March 2010):

The village of St Privatd'Allier has set up (March 2010) a website full of useful information for pilgrims.

For the 2009 list of the places linked to the Association les Haltes vers Compostelle, click here.

Figeac - rec'd September 2008:

"Having just returned from walking the Via Podiensis from Conques to Moissac, I'd like to recommend the baggage transfer service run by Taxi Bernard, based in Figeac, who were very efficient

Details are: Taxi Bernard: 0033 (0)5 65 50 00 20; Mobile: 0033 (0)6 07 19 02 41"

News of a new gíte d'étape at Moissac:

Gîte d'étape Ultreia

Rom & Aideen Bates, 45 avenue Pierre Chabrié, 82200 Moissac. Tél 05-63-05-15-06, mobile 06-71-74-03-14, web www.ultreiamoissac.com, email info*ultreiamoissac.com [To reduce the risk of spam, we're removing direct e-mail links from this site. To use this address, copy it into your normal e-mail program, but replace the '*' with the conventional '@', before sending your message.]

Open March 2007, on the GR65 beside the train station.

14 places, per night €11.50, breakfast  €4.50, demi-pension €27.50.

Internet, Washing Machine/Dryer with participation.

Gite (separate)  also available , 2 - 3 people, €25 per person (with all facilities).

Open all year

News of a new gíte d'étape at Lectoure :

Gîte d'étape L'Etoile Occitane

"I ‘m writing to you from the Camino in France and more exactly from Lectoure, Gers, where I opened a gite two years ago. I would like to know if it is possible to be refered in your site and I would like to give you my new web site: www.gite-etoileoccitane.fr

Thank you very much !"

Isabel Fournier
L’Etoile Occitane
140 rue Nationale
32700 Lectoure
Tél : 00 33 (0)5 62 68 82 93 / 00 33(0)6 74 45 11 17

Another new gíte d'étape at LECTOURE:

"Gîte d'étape LE PELERIN d’OCCIDENT

I ‘m writing to you from the Camino in France and more exactly from Lectoure, Gers, where VERO & I Patrick we opened a gîte this year. I would like to know if it is possible to be referred in your site; pls our web site: www.lepelerindoccident.com

Thanks a lot

VERO & PATRICK
LE PELERIN d’OCCIDENT
28 rue STE CLAIRE

Angle du Bd. du Nord sur remparts.
32700 Lectoure
Tél. : 00 33 (0)5 62 285 035 / 00 33(0)6 25 794 061

contact@lepelerindoccident.com

patrick@lepelerindoccident.com"

New gite d'étape at Lamothe, 26km after Condom on the GR

Gite d'etape "Le Repos des Pelerins", Lamothe, 32800 Cazeneuve. 

Tel 05 62 09 40 65 (between 15h and 19h). email gite.lamothe@gmail.com

Owned and run by a German former pilgrim Fritz.

Open from 15h between Easter and end October. Sleeps 12 in rooms for 2, 4 and 6 ("new accommodation of high quality"). Large lounge, dining table for 16, internet access. Fully-equipped kitchen. Two showers and three WC. Group preparation of dinner (E5) if at least 5 people, served at 7.30.

New refuge at Aire-sur-l'Adour

«Gîte d’étape HOSPITALET SAINT JACQUES ® »
21 rue Félix Despagnet
40800 Aire sur Adour.
Tel : 05 58 03 26 22.    
Web site : http://www.saintjacques-hospitalet.fr
e-mail: hospitalet.saintjacques@hotmail.fr

Run by two experienced pilgrims. On the route, 100m from the centre of the city and shops. 14 beds (not bunks) in 5 bedrooms. . Fully equiped k itchen, central heating, veranda, garden, driers for clothes and shoes. €12/person, breakfast €3, camping place €7/person. reservation by phone or e-mail.

Only for walking pilgrims (and those with companies which carry rucksacks), and those with a donkey, but not for people with a support vehicle.

A pilgrim reports:

1. There is still a small (4 bed) municipal gîte at Maslacq.

2. There is currently no gîte in Uzan (the existing one may be closed for renovations).

The refuge at St Palais (formerly run by the Franciscans)

Word is that the refuge is open again (July 2007): more information welcome!

Walking the Valcarlos route:

We have had a report that pilgrims are discouraged from walking the Varlos route by the pilgrim office in St Jean-Pied de-Port, and this account of a pilgrim's recent experience explains why!

Changes between Cahors and Aire-sur-l'Adour, reported by returning pilgrims, September 2008

Cahors – L Marnhac. The waymarked route now goes via the gîte at Le Mathieux.  At the gîte, it turns sharply left and goes steeply downhill to cross the valley, rejoining the former route between La Rozière (which is thus by-passed) and Labastide-Marnhac.  This new route is shown in the latest Miam Miam Dodo (MMDD).

Dufort-Lacapelette – Espis. Shortly after Dufort, the waymarked route now turns left off the D16 down a track into the valley and then right at the bottom, climbing up to the minor road which returns to the D16 opposite the turning to St Martin.  This adds at least a km unnecessarily (apparently to take the GR close to a gîte owned by the local mayor).  It is not (yet) in MMDD.

Moissac – Pommeric.  Both the canal and the higher alternative route are waymarked with red and white balises – there is no signpost at Ecluse where they divide.  No-one we met had taken the higher route.      The waymarked canal route stays on the south side almost the entire way.  It doesn’t cross to the north side until the first bridge after the third lock, the last bridge before the one at Pommeric.  It is important to cross at this point as there is no access from the South side to the bridge at Pommeric.  It equally important not to cross as early as stated in Alison Raju’s book (2003 edition) as there is a large factory interrupting the path on the north side: beware – there are waymarks crossing this bridge which we assume belong to the returning ‘high’ route.  (It doesn’t look right in MMDD either.)

Miradoux – Lectoure. The Confraternity’s guide (2006) incorrectly shows this distance as 15km (even though it is correctly shown as 10km in Alison Raju’s book (2003 edition).

Chapelle Sainte Germaine – Condom. There is a typo in the last paragraph of this section in Alison Raju’s book (2003 edition) – p120.  On the outskirts of Condom it should read: “Turn Right (not left) over the river Baïse …”

Condom – Le Carbon. After Condom there looks to have been new development and the railway bridge seems to have disappeared.

Lamothe – Eauze.  About 3km before Eauze, the GR is temporarily diverted off the old railway for about a km, onto the road through the hamlet of Broustet.  It is not clear why or how temporary this is (unsafe bridge, perhaps).

Eglise-hôpital Sainte-Christie. The waymarked route now passes this church: it is no longer a deviation.

Nogaro. Likewise, the GR now passes through the centre of Nogaro – up the main street and forking R just after the church.  It rejoins the former route somewhere on the far side of the town.  The new route is in MMDD.

Lanne-Soubiran – Aire sur l’Adour.  There have been changes (not in MMDD) to the route after Lanne-Soubiran, which now passes through the village of Lelin.  It rejoins the former route near Manet and then continues beside the railway and crosses the D935 as before.  But … The bridge at Pont sur l’Adour is currently being repaired.  Hence, after crossing the D935, the GR now turns R almost immediately and follows a track parallel to it, past Barcelonne-du-Gers and into Aire to cross the Adour there.  This deviation is shown in MMDD.  We were told that this change is likely to become permanent.

St-Jean-Pied-de-Port

We have been invited to let you know that the Bar-Restaurant "Chez Edouard", 10 Place Charles de Gaulle, 64220 St-Jean-Pied-de-Port (05 59 37 13 11), offers a pilgrim menu at €12. Try it and let us know if it's worth a permanent recommendation in our guide!