The Camino de Santiago pilgrimage was once considered one of the three most important pilgrimages in Christianity, alongside Rome and Jerusalem. Pilgrims walked this route to reach the tomb of the apostle St James at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. Following the discovery of his remains in the early 9th century, the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela became one of the great journeys of the medieval world by the 11th century.
The Camino de Santiago refers to a network of routes across France and Spain. Four main routes through France were mapped from the 1970s onwards, under the guidance of the French Hiking Federation and the Society of Friends of St James. The Via Turonensis (also known as EuroVelo 3) covers 1,460 km, passing through Paris and Tours. The Via Lemovicensis covers 1,750 km through Limoges, starting from the pilgrimage town of Vézelay. The Via Tolosana passes through Arles, Lodève, Castres and Toulouse, crossing into Spain at the Col du Somport. This route is now commonly known as the Arles Way. Finally, the Via Podiensis, or Le Puy Way, covers 1,530 km along the GR 65. It takes its name from Le Puy-en-Velay, a place of Marian pilgrimage and now considered the European capital of the Camino de Santiago. Le Puy-en-Velay is without doubt the most popular starting point for the pilgrimage in France, a crossroads where the Geneva Way, the Lyon Way and the Cluny Way all converge.
The Le Puy Way links Le Puy-en-Velay to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port over 760 kilometres. From the Haute-Loire to the Basque Country, the route takes you through the Margeride, the Aubrac plateau, the Lot valley, the Quercy and the agricultural hills of Gascony before reaching the foothills of the Pyrenees. Along the way, you pass remarkable heritage sites: the cathedral at Le Puy, the abbey church at Conques, the Pont Valentré at Cahors, the cloister at Moissac, the collegiate church at La Romieu, and countless chapels and villages along the way.
To continue to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, you join the Camino Francés, a route of around 770 kilometres. The Camino Francés traditionally starts from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, crosses the Pyrenees and continues through northern Spain, with stops at Pamplona, Burgos, León and Astorga before ending at Santiago de Compostela. The Camino Francés is the most popular and the most cosmopolitan of all the Camino de Santiago routes. Walking from Le Puy-en-Velay to Santiago de Compostela takes around 75 stages, covering approximately 1,530 kilometres in total.
