The Way of Saint James from Le Puy: A Pilgrim’s Guide
The Via Podiensis from Le Puy-en-Velay across the Aubrac to Conques, Figeac, Cahors and Moissac, with its UNESCO sites, lodging and seasons, and how to walk part of it.
The road from Le Puy
The Via Podiensis, the Chemin du Puy in French, is one of the historic roads to Santiago de Compostela that cross France. It starts at the cathedral of Le Puy-en-Velay and runs about 465 miles to the Spanish border at the foot of the Pyrenees. The whole route from Le Puy to Compostela is about 950 miles, a walk of about two months.
The Pilgrim’s Guide of the twelfth century, the last book of the Codex Calixtinus, attributed to Aimery Picaud, names three churches on this road: Notre-Dame du Puy, Sainte-Foy at Conques and Saint-Pierre at Moissac. Pilgrims still stop at all three.
The road is marked as the GR 65, a long-distance footpath laid out from 1970 by the committees of the Grande Randonnée trails. The marked path is a compromise between the medieval road and the paths that exist today. In the Lot it has two variants, the GR 651 through the valley of the Célé and the GR 652 by way of Rocamadour.
Godescalc and the UNESCO listing
The first recorded pilgrim to Santiago from beyond the Pyrenees was Godescalc, bishop of Le Puy, who made the pilgrimage in 950 and 951. On the road he turned aside to the abbey of San Martín de Albelda, south of Logroño, for a copy of Saint Ildefonsus of Toledo’s treatise on the perpetual virginity of Mary, made for him by a monk named Gomez. The manuscript is now in the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris. Godescalc is also credited with laying the first stone of the chapel of Saint Michael at Le Puy in the summer of 962; he died that December.
In December 1998 UNESCO inscribed the Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France on the World Heritage List: 71 buildings and seven sections of the path. All seven sections lie on the road from Le Puy: Nasbinals to Saint-Chély-d’Aubrac (about 10.5 miles), Saint-Côme-d’Olt to Estaing (10.5 miles), Montredon to Figeac (11 miles), Faycelles to Cajarc (14 miles), Bach to Cahors (16 miles), Lectoure to Condom (22 miles) and Aroue to Ostabat (14 miles).
Between Le Puy and Moissac the listed buildings include the cathedral and the Hôtel-Dieu Saint-Jacques at Le Puy, the pilgrims’ bridge over the Boralde at Saint-Chély-d’Aubrac, the old bridge at Espalion, the bridge over the Lot at Estaing, the abbey church of Sainte-Foy and the bridge over the Dourdou at Conques, the hospital of Saint-Jacques at Figeac, the dolmen of Pech-Laglaire at Gréalou, the cathedral of Saint-Étienne and the Pont Valentré at Cahors, and the abbey church and cloister of Moissac.
Le Puy, the credential and the blessing
Le Puy-en-Velay stands at about 2,070 feet, and its cathedral rises at the foot of the Rocher Corneille. A stairway of sixty steps climbs from the street to the west porch, and sixty more lead up into the nave. The Black Virgin on the altar replaced the original statue, destroyed in 1794 during the Revolution. The Hôtel-Dieu Saint-Jacques beside the cathedral, where pilgrims were lodged and cared for, is also on the UNESCO list.
The credential, credencial in Spanish, is the pilgrim’s booklet, stamped at churches and lodgings along the road as a record of the pilgrimage. At Le Puy the cathedral hands it out at the Espace Notre-Dame, the cathedral shop, which is open every day from April to September, and its website explains how to obtain one.
Each morning, pilgrims gather in the cathedral to be blessed before they set out. The cathedral publishes the time of the Mass and of the blessing on its website, with its other times of Masses and Offices. Le Puy has trains to Saint-Étienne and Clermont-Ferrand.
Across the Aubrac to Conques
Several days west of Le Puy, the path crosses the Aubrac, a high plateau of open pasture where a medieval hospital, the dômerie of Aubrac, sheltered pilgrims. The first UNESCO section runs from Nasbinals to Saint-Chély-d’Aubrac, where the old pilgrims’ bridge crosses the Boralde. The path then comes down to the valley of the Lot, to Saint-Côme-d’Olt, the old bridge at Espalion and the bridge at Estaing.
Conques sits on a hillside at the confluence of the Dourdou and the Ouche, with narrow medieval streets closed to large vehicles. The village had 237 inhabitants in 2021 and has been part of the commune of Conques-en-Rouergue since 2016. It grew around the abbey church of Sainte-Foy and the relics of Saint Faith, a martyr of the fourth century, which drew pilgrims on their way to Santiago. Walkers leave Conques by the old bridge over the Dourdou, also listed by UNESCO.
Figeac, Cahors and Moissac
Figeac, on the Célé, is the birthplace of Jean-François Champollion, who deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphs. Its church of Notre-Dame-du-Puy was the seat of a confraternity of Saint James, and its hospital of Saint-Jacques is on the UNESCO list. Figeac station is a junction with trains to Brive-la-Gaillarde, Toulouse, Aurillac and Rodez, which makes the town a convenient place to begin or end a walk.
Beyond Figeac the section from Faycelles to Cajarc passes the dolmen of Pech-Laglaire at Gréalou, and the variant GR 651 follows the valley of the Célé. The last listed section in the Lot ends at Cahors, where the road crosses the Lot on the Pont Valentré, a fortified bridge begun in 1308 and finished in 1378. The small devil carved near the top of one of its towers was added during the restoration of 1879.
Moissac keeps the abbey church of Saint-Pierre and its cloister, listed together by UNESCO and named in the twelfth-century guide. From Moissac the road goes on through Gascony, by Lectoure and Condom, to the Basque country and the Pyrenees.
Lodging, seasons and walking part of the way
Walkers on the Via Podiensis sleep in gîtes d’étape (hostels for walkers, usually with dormitories), in guest rooms and small hotels, and in religious houses that receive pilgrims. In the busiest months it is wise to book a night or two ahead, and to carry the credential, which lodgings stamp on arrival.
Because of its altitude, Le Puy has a climate close to humid continental, with cold winters, and the Aubrac beyond it is higher and more exposed. Most walkers go between spring and fall. Before planning a walk in winter, check that the gîtes on your stages are open.
The road can be walked in sections, a week or two at a time, with the credential carried forward to the next year. Day walkers can choose one of the seven UNESCO sections, each between about 10 and 22 miles long. Le Puy and Figeac have train stations; Conques has none.
The Via Conchae pilgrimage
Our Via Conchae, the Way of the Shell, follows this road over eight days from Le Puy-en-Velay across the Aubrac to Conques, Figeac, Cahors and Moissac. The group walks a stage of the old path on six of the eight days, between 9 and 15 miles, and the minibus links the stages and carries the luggage.
Pilgrims on Via Conchae can receive the blessing at Le Puy and carry a credential to be stamped at each stop. For the length of the daily walks and the pace of the days, see the page on pilgrimages at a gentle pace, and send questions about dates through the inquiries page.
Our ways that go there
Holy places: Le Puy-en-Velay, Aubrac, Conques, Figeac, Cahors, Moissac. Saints: Saint Faith.