One of the most enjoyable ways to see a country is on foot. Walking through small villages, attempting some fractured French (or other language), looking in the little shops and stopping whenever you want to explore really adds to the experience. I have been eyeing “The Way of St. James” (also referred to as the Chemin de Saint-Jacques de Compostelle) pilgrimage long-distance walk for years. The main walk begins in Le Puy en Velay, France and ends in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. The typical first half of this pilgrimage from Le Puy to the French Pyrenees is 740 kms or 460 miles. The second section from the foothills of the French Pyrenees to Santiago de Compostela (Finisterre) is an additional 778 kms or 483 miles. A long way to go.

James was one of Christ’s disciples and after his beheading by Herod in the Holy Land, followers took his body back to Spain and supposedly buried him not far from what is now Santiago de Compostela. In the 9th century, a hermit had a vision showing where St. James was buried and King Alfonso II declared St. James the Patron Saint of Spain. They built a small church and monastery over the tomb, now the present day Cathedral of Santiago, with St. James remains still there, attracting pilgrims.

France map with main cities
Various tour operators run different portions of this walk and I was interested in the section passing through part of France. We certainly didn’t have the time or inclination to do the entire walk. Most travelers typically walk sections each year until completion.

Planning the logistics for any trip is the most difficult part for me because I work on an extremely limited budget. It’s only easy if you are affluent enough to tell a Travel Agent:

- I want to go here;

- These are the dates; and

- I don’t care what it costs.

If you can do that, good for you. Unfortunately, this is not us. My agonized, planning process starts something like this…

- What time of the year do we want to travel?

- Where should we go? (and once that is decided….)

- What dates and tour organizer do we want to use?…

…and then, after weeks of saying…”what do you think of this…what do you think of that’…and changing my mind umpteen times, I contacted the tour organizer of choice – Sherpa Expeditions – and received an e-mail message… “Most of May is completely sold out, can you change your dates?”…. It was time for the annual “Fete de la Transhumance” in the Aubrac area (more about that later). Rats! It’s always something…

So… I…changed the dates, started looking at plane fares and almost passed out! With oil prices and demand, it was much more expensive to buy an airplane ticket than the same time last year! Double Rats! But a ray of sunshine, Air France, Lufthansa, United and American lowered the fares with different sales…(United’s – “Spring Over the Pond”)…but, you had to leave by May 17. Worked around that and scheduled “The Way of St. James,” an independent but supported inn-to-inn walking trip with Sherpa Expeditions, UK. But changing the dates to get the less expensive plane fare meant doing some extra planning for a week before our 12 days on pilgrimage route began…