Which way is it?

Introduction

For centuries religious pilgrims walked west from all over Europe to Santiago Spain - the place to go in medieval times.
 Churches and taverns sprung up along the way to provide nourishment for both mind and body.  Some say more than 100,000 made the trip each year.

Trains and automobiles replaced walking as the preferred way of getting from one place to another, so the old ways and paths were largely forgotten.

As interest in “pilgrimage” has grown in the past few decades: where were the pilgrims to go?  Old paths were paved over as highways, broken up by subdivisions, or swallowed up by forests.

France, being particularly pragmatic, came up with a brilliant solution. They already had loads of walking trails throughout the country (called “GR”s or Grand Randonnees). With some minor fudging they declared GR65 to be the “Way to Santiago”.  Like all good hiking trails (but unlike any direct route you’d ever consider), the GR65 makes sure to pass by every possible vista, scenic overlook, village, and everything that is (or was) really old.  

Technology

Before we left the states, I downloaded the “official” GR65 gpx track onto my favorite navigation app, OSMAND.  After exploring the route a bit in Google Earth, I noticed the points were fairly far apart and didn't keep up with all the twists and turns I could see from the satellite view.

I then proceeded to find, download, and compare other GPX tracks that had been uploaded from people's Garmins that had accompanied them on their GR65 walk. I chose the one which followed the path best - uploaded by “Guy”.

The Thin Red Line

So I began the walk with Mary and “Guy”, who appears as a red line on the map, beside me.  Any time I was confused or forgot to look for the trail blazes, Guy would happily show me which way he went, and we'd be reassured.  Guy was great!  Until we got to the outskirts of Figeac that is.

Which Way?

Guy went left along the road into town but the pilgrims in front of us went right, following the freshly painted trail markers that were insistent that we should follow them instead.  Confused and mad at Guy, I got lost.  Mary and I and found ourselves on an old path with neither Guy nor any trail markers in sight.

So I finally looked at the map that was there all along: the path we were on was perfect - taking us, through farmland, between the two main roads toward a dramatic descent into the old city.  And then I saw them: old faded trail markers barely but definitely visible on the biggest trees.  This used to be the GR65!

My way or the highway

It's easy to imagine, as we are plodding along on old trails that have burrowed themselves deep into the earth from centuries of use, that we are literally following in the footsteps of the medieval pilgrims.  In reality portions of the GR65 get rerouted all the time.

The GR65 gets rerouted for safety, to keep walkers off busy roads.  It gets rerouted onto busy roads to avoid passing too close to the neighbors.  It gets rerouted, sometimes by many kilometers, to pass by a newly refurbished Gite.  Our host in Mosiac mused that he got lots more walk in traffic before the GR65 was moved to the next street, passing by the “other” Gite instead.

The only thing one can count on when the GR65 gets rerouted: the new route is required to be longer than the one it replaced.

Making Tracks*

D23 is a little country road.
Guy walked straight across.  By the time we got there, the GR65 had been rerouted a km north so we could cross on an underpath.

 



Guy went North; we were rerouted through Lelin-Lapujolle, a tiny village.  We'd been looking for a lunch spot, hoping to find one before the rain that was now threatening, caught us.  When we got there, the village had a big "welcome pilgrims" sign, a lovely picnic table, and a new WC.  We felt quite welcome, and had a lovely lunch with fellow walkers we met there.

 

Guy was focussed. He stayed on the path and got out of town.  We usually explored the villages we walked through.  In Marsolan they still had the old waterworks, built in ancient times.  It was a nice diversion.

 

Guy didn't always stay on the path.
In Cahors, he checked out the bar.

 

Unlike Guy, we took a detour to check out Larressingle, and (literally) walked around town.  Built in the 13th century with a theme copied right out of Disneyland, it has high walls, a moat surrounding it, and even a drawbridge.

 

* The red lines represent the GPX tracks, one for us, one for Guy.  The trek was from NE to SW, or from right/top to left/bottom on the maps.  These are "screenshots" from OSMAND