Voie des Piémonts, GR78!

Time For Those Spring Flowers!🌞🏞️🥾🌻

Early on it wasn’t quite clear that I’d have the opportunity for an offshore walk this year. However, by the time we returned from SE Asia about three months ago, things had pretty much fallen into place.

Following the very recent joyful arrival of our fourth grandchild Theo, AM agreed to stay on for 6 weeks to support our daughter Erin as she recovered. Please understand that with the exceptions of reduced walking and missed pickle ball, in some ways this is not a significant sacrifice for AM. A newborn baby + Annemarie = Total Happiness!❤️ For sure much better than hanging out with me!😅

After a brief visit this weekend to celebrate AM’s birthday, see my grandchildren and say a few family goodbyes, I’ll return home Monday for a couple of nights before departing for Toulouse, France late afternoon on May 21st.

I plan to remain in the beautiful city of Toulouse for just a day before catching an early morning train south to the medieval double walled city of Carcassonne on May 24th where I’ll walk across the city and straight onto the GR78, aka Voie des Piémonts. I’ve visited Carcassonne a couple of times, as recently as 2018 during our Camino For Alzheimer Awareness, so there’s no need to spend too much time seeing this lovely medieval city. I’m sure that I’ll snap a few photos as I walk by though.😉

The GR78 route follows a less travelled path for about 600 km along the north slopes of the Pyrenees Mountains eventually passing through the holy city of Lourdes. During last year’s walk south along the Voie de Vézelay I was encouraged by a number of French hikers to walk the GR78. I listened and decided to give it a go this season. My Parisian friend Patricia👋 who walked part of the route last fall shared some information which aided my planning. The rest I managed to source online.

I’ve taken a good look at the route and formulated a rough plan which will no doubt change as I walk. I have about 6 weeks available, and if all goes well I figure that 18-19 stages should again find me in St. Jean Pied de Port. From there my desire is to cross the Pyrenees via the Napoleon Route and walk along the Camino Frances to Pamplona, Spain where I anticipate taking my first break. In 2013 on our first Camino we stayed in the outskirts of town and saw very little of this beautiful city. Time to return, if only briefly.

From there I plan to catch a bus to Oviedo and then walk along the much older Camino Primativo pilgrimage route which passes through some 300+ kms of the northern Spanish ‘hills’ arriving in Santiago about 12 days later. This is a much more travelled route than the GR78 so I expect to meet many pilgrims along the way. On-line reports suggest that the Primativo is much busier this year than it’s ever been, resulting in some bed availability challenges at a few key locations. I guess I’ll eventually find out what this looks like when I arrive there in mid-June.

The catalyst for this walk began last year when I developed a strong desire to walk onwards to Santiago while walking the Vézelay. This was probably because a few others I’d met and had come to know were continuing on along the coastal Camino Del Norte which we had walked in 2019. Over the winter my interest in returning to Santiago didn’t quite go away. I did briefly give some thought to returning to Rome to walk the Via Francigena Sud to the south east tip of Italy in that lovely Italian sunshine before finally committing to Santiago. I hope the typically unsettled spring weather along the Pyrenees won’t make me regret my decision! I honestly had more than adequate rain and mud last year!!

I’m dedicating this walk to our newest grandson Theo, perhaps hoping that one day my efforts might inspire him to tackle something challenging that calls to him like these walks have called to his PaG (that’s me). As always I’ll be happily bringing along my other three lovely grandchildren, as usual sharing videos and photos of the many interesting animals and sites I find along the path. They are all growing up so quickly! Saiorse is almost 5, Avery almost 4 and wee Ciara just weeks away from 3. Time passes relentlessly as I suppose it’s intended to do.

In an effort to include my grandkids more in this walk I asked each to tell me their favourite animal. Together we picked them out; Saoirse the purple unicorn, Avery the colourful Toucan, Ciara of course picked a pink piggy😂 and I was told by his mother that wee Theo should be represented by a tiger. Given the four lovely little people that these animal totems represent, I’m delighted to carry the additional weight on my pack for almost 1000 km.😬

Those who wish to are as always welcome to come along to see this walk through my eyes, and of course there’s always my ramblings which are provided at no additional cost😅. I always appreciate your company, personal messages, blog comments/likes and support.

Just 5 days until I depart and still much to do, though all the gardens are finally planted and my endurance training has thankfully ended.😮‍💨 Now it will be what it will be. Time to recharge a bit before I depart and spend some nice time with family.

Bon Chemin! Buen Camino!

Geoff🍻