The Via Lemovicensis at Eighty Days Out

It’s been almost four months since I last posted my initial planning for the Via Lemovicensis. An update is probably in order. Let’s talk about transportation, route, and bookings. Along the way, we’ll touch on a new writing project coming out of this planning.

Transportation

The first thing about any Camino is, of course, getting to the starting point and then getting home from Santiago at the end. When we’ve walked exclusively in Spain, we’ve generally flown in and out of Madrid – or at least through Madrid – even when we were starting in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port.

When you’re starting deeper in France, it probably makes more sense to fly into Paris. In 2023, I actually flew into Lyon (via Heathrow – never again), and then out of Santiago with a stop in Dublin. This time, my plan was to fly into Paris and then out of Santiago.

The issue is that these types of flights are typically much more expensive than a simple round-trip. I was looking at prices between $1600 and $1800. By way of comparison, I can usually get a round-trip to Madrid for half that¹. It was not looking good, and then – Lufthansa! A thousand bucks for the tickets. I booked them before they changed their minds.

I was able to find a direct train ticket from Paris to Vézelay² for the morning after I arrived, giving me most of a day in Paris.

A Digression on Guidebooks

There are no English-language guidebooks for this route in print. This posed a particular challenge in working out my daily stages. When I walked the Via Podiensis in 2023, I had the advantage of having Dave Whitson‘s fantastic book on the route. I didn’t always follow his recommended stages, but it was a solid resource on the route and on the cultural and religious sites along the way. He also heroically maintains a spreadsheet of every single gîte and hostel along the route.

For the Vézelay route, I have none of this.

The most indispensable guides for any of the French routes are the Miam-Miam Dodo guides. The title Miam-Miam Dodo means something like “Yum-Yum Snooze”, and they really only tell you where the places are for eating and sleeping (and some of the other amenities a pilgrim might need). And the maps are extremely accurate and useful.

They’re written in French, but you don’t really need to read French to use them. They’re great!

While they’re very good at what they do, there are some things they don’t cover. This includes stage planning and any useful information on cultural and religious places, or, of course, the background or importance of these places. And I like to know what I’m looking at and walking through.

There is a Dutch-language guide, for which I was able to obtain an English translation, but it’s not as useful as I’d hoped. Of the approximately 675 villages, towns, cities, and other sites along the route, the Dutch guide provided information on only about 100. Granted, a sizeable percentage of the villages are farming hamlets with nothing much going on, but even a quick perusal proved that some fairly important places had been reduced to a sentence or two or were missing entirely.

So I must put together my own guidebook.

This is very much still a work in progress, but the first draft is complete. When it’s done, I plan to print it out and carry it with me. Yes, I could do this electronically, but given the reception and battery issues I had in rural France in 2023, I’m not taking any chances. I’ll take notes and make corrections as I walk.

I’ll end up with a pretty peculiar and targeted guidebook for the route. I’ll probably publish it when I get home, on the theory that it might be useful to somebody else planning this route. It won’t be as useful as a proper guidebook – that would require a lot more research and walking of the route – but something, as they say, is better than nothing.

Route

Right out of the gate, the route splits into two variants, which don’t reunite for almost two weeks. When Francine and I walked our “virtual Camino” together on this route, we took the northern variant. For my own virtual Camino, and for my actual pilgrimage in France, I’m taking the southern variant.

This is largely because the southern route passes through the city of Nevers, where Saint Bernadette is entombed. She was Francine’s Confirmation saint.

There’s also a small variant near the end that passes through the city of Bergerac. I’m planning this variant, mostly for Cyrano reasons, but I’m flexible on this. A lot will depend on how close I am to my expected timetable, as the Bergerac variant adds about a day.

I worked out an itinerary of 41 stages between Vézelay and Saint-Jean. Most of the stages are pretty moderate, but the geography forced me to make some difficult choices, leading to some very short and some very long stages.

(Places with CAPITALIZED NAMES are large towns or small cities. Those with an asterisk after them are major cities.)

Stage	Date	Start	End	KM
1	Thu, Apr 09, 2026	Vézelay	Le Chemin	25.0
2	Fri, Apr 10, 2026	Le Chemin	Saint-Révérien	28.2
3	Sat, Apr 11, 2026	Saint-Révérien	Prémery	16.1
4	Sun, Apr 12, 2026	Prémery	GUÉRIGNY	17.6
5	Mon, Apr 13, 2026	GUÉRIGNY	NEVERS*	11.9
6	Tue, Apr 14, 2026	NEVERS*	Saint-Pierre-le-Moûtier	29.3
7	Wed, Apr 15, 2026	Saint-Pierre-le-Moûtier	Lurcy-Lévis	22.2
8	Thu, Apr 16, 2026	Lurcy-Lévis	Ainay-le-Château	22.0
9	Fri, Apr 17, 2026	Ainay-le-Château	Saint-Armand- Montrond	19.3
10	Sat, Apr 18, 2026	Saint-Armand- Montrond	Le Châtelet	26.2
11	Sun, Apr 19, 2026	Le Châtelet	LA CHÂTRE	29.9
12	Mon, Apr 20, 2026	LA CHÂTRE	Neuvy-Saint-Sépulchre	18.0
13	Tue, Apr 21, 2026	Neuvy-Saint-Sépulchre	Gargilesse	23.6
14	Wed, Apr 22, 2026	Gargilesse	Crozant	18.6
15	Thu, Apr 23, 2026	Crozant	LA SOUTERRAINE	24.3
16	Fri, Apr 24, 2026	LA SOUTERRAINE	Marsac	25.7
17	Sat, Apr 25, 2026	Marsac	Les Billanges	22.9
18	Sun, Apr 26, 2026	Les Billanges	SAINT-LÉONARD-DE- NOBLAT	19.8
19	Mon, Apr 27, 2026	SAINT-LÉONARD-DE- NOBLAT	LIMOGES**	22.6
20	Tue, Apr 28, 2026	LIMOGES**	Les Cars	30.6
21	Wed, Apr 29, 2026	Les Cars	La Coquille	25.8
22	Thu, Apr 30, 2026	La Coquille	THIVIERS	18.2
23	Fri, May 01, 2026	THIVIERS	Sorges	18.6
24	Sat, May 02, 2026	Sorges	PÉRIGUEUX*	22.3
25	Sun, May 03, 2026	PÉRIGUEUX*	Grange Neuve	21.9
26	Mon, May 04, 2026	Grange Neuve	Queyssac	23.4
27	Tue, May 05, 2026	Queyssac	BERGERAC*	11.2
28	Wed, May 06, 2026	BERGERAC*	SAINTE-FOY-LA-GRANDE	31.1
29	Thu, May 07, 2026	SAINTE-FOY-LA-GRANDE	Pellegrue	22.4
30	Fri, May 08, 2026	Pellegrue	LA RÉOLE	27.2
31	Sat, May 09, 2026	LA RÉOLE	Auros	21.6
32	Sun, May 10, 2026	Auros	BAZAS	16.7
33	Mon, May 11, 2026	BAZAS	Captieux	18.3
34	Tue, May 12, 2026	Captieux	ROQUEFORT (Landes)	35.6
35	Wed, May 13, 2026	ROQUEFORT (Landas)	MONT-DE-MARSAN*	28.7
36	Thu, May 14, 2026	MONT-DE-MARSAN*	SAINT-SEVER	19.8
37	Fri, May 15, 2026	SAINT-SEVER	HAGETMAU	16.2
38	Sat, May 16, 2026	HAGETMAU	ORTHEZ*	28.1
39	Sun, May 17, 2026	ORTHEZ*	Sauveterre-de-Béarn	22.0
40	Mon, May 18, 2026	Sauveterre-de-Béarn	Ostabat-Asme	25.6
41	Tue, May 19, 2026	Ostabat-Asme	Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port	22.4

I’ll rest a day in Saint-Jean, and from there I’ll walk the Camino Francés to Santiago.

The itinerary is kind of loose, in that for about a half-dozen of these stages, I have identified alternate ending points, which in some cases cascade to changes on subsequent days. Indeed, days 2 and 3 are the start of this, as I may very well stop at Guipy on day 2 instead of Saint-Révérien, moving about 6.6 km from day 2 to day 3, giving me two reasonable days (21.6 km and 22.7 km) instead of a long and then a short day (28.2 km and 16.1 km). A lot depends on who gets back to me about my reservation requests.

I would be very surprised indeed if my final stages are exactly the same as the plan listed here. But as Eisenhower said, “the plan is nothing; planning is everything”.

I am also planning alternate stages on the main route between Périgueux and Sainte-Foy-la-Grande, just in case I decide to skip Bergerac.

Booking

On the Camino in Spain, I normally only book in two places: Roncesvalles (a choke-point on the route over the Pyrenees) and in Santiago itself. I will also book a hotel or pension if I take a rest day, since albergues usually won’t let you stay two nights in a row.

France, though, is different. When I walked from Le Puy in 2023, I pre-booked eight of my first ten days, and I’m very glad I did. My plan is to do much the same this time, though it’s sometimes difficult to get a response from gîtes and chambre d’hôtes this far ahead.

Obviously, I’ve already booked my hotel for my night in Paris. I’m arriving on a national holiday, so I’m taking no chances.

I’ve also booked two nights in Saint-Jean and my final few days in Santiago. I can’t imagine the difficulty of finding anything in either place during peak season, any closer to the date.

I’ve reserved at Vézelay for two nights. Once I start walking, I have reservations for days 1, 5, 6, 7, 9, and 10. I’ve got emails or WhatsApps out to several other places (days 2, 3, 4). For day 8, I’m planning to stay at a municipal that doesn’t take reservations.

Once I’m in France, I have been advised to reserve two or three days ahead. On the Podiensis, it was sufficient to do so the night before, so this is definitely different!

Meanwhile, on my virtual Camino, yesterday I arrived in Les Cars, the end of day 20 – halfway through. Will I finish my virtual Camino before I start my actual one? Stay tuned to find out!

1. For our 2018 Camino, I scored round-trip tickets to Madrid for $400, but this is definitely not a normal thing.
2. The train station nearest to Vézelay is actually about 10 km away, but from what I’ve read, it’s an easy walk. There’s also a bus, if I wanted to spring for that.