The Roads to Santiago - Routes from Channel ports

The Roads to Santiago - From Channel Ports

Every year the British Confraternity of St James runs Practical Pilgrim sessions, where experienced pilgrims answer questions from those thinking of setting off for the first time. 'Where should I start?' is a common question at these sessions. This is not a question that would ever have arisen in medieval times, as it went more or less without saying that one obtained a letter of credencials and a blessing from one's local priest, and then set off from one's home village or town. Where else would one start?
In the modern revival of the pilgrimage, it's become quite common for Dutch, Belgian, German or Swiss to do likewise and start from their front door, but has hitherto been less common for British pilgrims. One reason for this has undoubtedly been the lack of established routes through either Britain or western France, leading people to start either in Spain or at some point along the well-established GR65 from Le Puy. This has however now all changed, with the creation firstly of a waymarked version of the Paris/Tours route, and secondly of routes from most of the Channel ports to this route. This page details the new developments in France; the Britain section suggests places to take in on routes through Britain. This all means there is now no excuse for British pilgrims not starting their pilgrimage from their front door. Happy planning!

Paris/Tours route

Some sections of this have been waymarked for quite some time, notably the stretch through Charente-Maritime, where the département put up scallop-shell plinths similar to those in Galicia and also produce a good 1:30,000 (free!) map. Now, following on from the GR653 (Arles route) and GR654 (Namur/Vézelay route), the French walkers association, the FFRP, has created the GR655, waymarked for the most part with red and white stripes, from the historical gathering point for pilgrims from NW Europe: the Tour St Jacques in the centre of Paris. No doubt in time the FFRP will produce a topoguide, and it will be shown on new versions of IGN maps as they are published (see summary on FFRP site); it's also shown on the overview map in the FFRP catalogue. 2 guides to routes from Tours are also available: by Georges Veron (Rando Edns), and by François Lepère (Lepère Edns; Paris-Chartres-Tours also available); these broadly correspond to the new route. Dominique Fourgeaud is in the process of creating a site specifically on the Tours route.

Paris-Tours, via Chartres

This is dubbed the GR655ouest; at least 70% follows existing GR routes (which were of course already marked on IGN maps). There are no topoguides to these GRs, but the section through Eure-et-Loir is shown on the Carte et Guide touristique available free from local tourist offices.; here's the route:

starts off along the traditional rue St-Jacques line, but heads west before the Porte d'Orléans, following close to the former railway, and leaves Paris by the Porte de Vanves
from Malakoff follows the new Coulée Verte du Sud Parisien - a largely offroad cyclepath through the suburbs (no GR markings - see map here) to the Parc de Sceaux
GR11 to Igny
GRP Ceinture Verte de l'Ile de France past the Benedictine community of St Louis du Temple (may well be pilgrim accommodation here) at Vauhallan (Romanesque church in the village) to Lozére RER
from here new markings lead down to a little river called the Yvette which is followed W via Gif (Romanesque church) to the end of the RER line at St-Rémy-les-Chevreuse (the other end of the line from Roissy CDG, so this bit is very accessible)
All things considered, this is an attractive way of getting out of the built-up area
GR11d to Rochefort-en-Yvelines
new route to St-Arnoult-en-Yvelines, Rambouillet, Gazéran and Epernon
GRP Vallée de l'Eure to Maintenon and Chartres
new route between Fontenay-sur-Eure and Illiers-Combray
GR35/335 to Châteaudun, Vendôme, Château-Renault and Vouvray
GR3 to Tours

Paris-Tours, via Orléans

The Codex Calixtinus, of course, does not mention Paris or Chartres, but a route from Paris to Tours via Orléans, the GR655est, has also been created, largely along existing GRs and PRs

leave Paris as with Chartres route above
in Essonne, a new route was completed in 2005: from the Coulée Verte at Verrières-le-Buisson to Longpont and along the Orge valley to Arpajon, then via St Sulpice de Favières and Chamarande to Etampes (the map summary on main FFRP site gives a different route, leaving the Chartres route at La Bâte near Rochefort-en-Yvelines, then GR11d/111/11 to Etampes)
GR111/1 to Malesherbes
GR32 to Orléans
new route, partially utilising the GR3, via Blois to Tours

The route from Malesherbes is also shown on the overview map in the FFRP catalogue.

Tours-Mirambeau

From Tours, the new route is shown on IGN maps and the FFRP has published a topoguide: via Poitiers, St-Jean-d'Angély and Saintes to the Charente-Maritime/Gironde border beyond Mirambeau

Gironde

There is still a gap in marking from here to Bordeaux, due to be filled during 2007 by the Aquitaine Amis together with the département. The guidebooks and the VTT Compostelle site suggest filling in the Gironde gap by crossing the river at Blaye to the Médoc side, far less built-up than the historical route on the north bank. In Bordeaux itself, the city council have marked a route through the city centre with the scallop shell motif on street signs, and brass information plaques set into the pavement.

South of Bordeaux

The various Amis de St-Jacques have marked the route with yellow arrows and the stylised scallop motif from the former priory at Cayac on the southern edge of Bordeaux (where there is a small pilgrim refuge) to the meeting with the Le Puy and Vézelay routes at Gibraltar/Ostabat.

Links from Channel ports

The map on the homepage and the details on the route pages show the developed routes and those under development. Some of these are from Channel ports; the other ports can also be connected using GRs. Both Brittany and Normandy have strong historic links with Britain of course, the Bretons with the original British population, the Normans through the Norman Conquest. Calais too was in English hands for 200 years (1347-1558). Here are the ports, from the W:

Roscoff
take coast path GR34 south to St-Pol-de-Léon (founded by a C6 Welshman, Paul Aurelian) where a spur links with the Locquirec Breton route
St Malo (where was the shrine of another C6 Welsh saint, Maclou/Maclovius)
2 possibilities: follow the coast path GR34 via Dol-de-Bretagne (founded by yet another C6 Welsh saint, Samson) to Mt-St-Michel (see below), or cross to Dinard and use the GR34C/37 to link with the Locquirec/Beauport Abbey route at Josselin
Cherbourg
waymarked route to Mt-St-Michel (sometimes called the Voie aux Anglais). Two routes run S from here: the first, via Rennes to the Breton route at Nantes, is now complete; the second, via Angers, should be complete shortly
Ouistreham
waymarked route via Caen and Le Mans to Tours
Le Havre (C16 replacement for Honfleur/Harfleur)
can be linked with Dieppe route at Rouen using the Seine path GR2
Dieppe
waymarked route via Rouen and Evreux to Chartres (Dieppe-Rouen uses the existing GR)
Boulogne (shrine of Notre-Dame)/Calais
the Via Francigena Canterbury-Rome runs from Wissant midway between Boulogne and Calais (again, connected via coast path) to the south of St Quentin, where it meets the northern section of the GR655 linking St Quentin with Noyon, Compiègne, Senlis and Paris. This section of the VF is currently unwaymarked, but map cards showing the route are available from the VF Association

Peter Robins, his website