The route : Planned vs actual

The route we chose is almost entirely made up of France's GR (Grand Randonnée) network.

It is almost all on the Chemin de Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle ways, both the major routes and their variants:

• Le Puy-en-Velay to Figeac: GR65 (Via Podiensis path of the Chemin de Compostelle)
• Figeac to Rocamadour: GR6 (a variant of the Compostelle to Cahors via Rocamadour)
• Rocamadour to Cahors: GR46 (a variant of the Compostelle to Cahors via Rocamadour)
• Cahors to Limogne GR65 (the Compostelle in reverse)
• Villefranche to Cordes: GR36 (the Compostelle variant which links the Via Podiensis to the Via Tolosano from Conques to Toulouse)

The first map shows our planned route, with rest days in Figeac (after 11 days hiking) and Cahors (after an additional 6 days of hiking), followed by 8 final days of hiking.

The planned route.

We stuck to the plan through the first 20 days of hiking, but shortened or eliminated our last 5 hiking days (dashed red represents bus or trains instead of walking).

A few compromises after 22 days of  hiking and stops

The gpx/kmz files for our route are available on the navigation page.

Preparation - Packing

Packing

We bought our backpacks almost 18 months before our trip, when we saw some on sale (the Osprey Stratus 34 and Sirrus 36).  We went with the idea that getting a backpack that's a little smaller forces you to bring less, rather than more (you'll be happy you did). Given the variability of the season (October), we had to bring short and long pants. We opted for 3 sock and underwear pairs, with those worn that day cleaned. The long lead time allowed us to take advantage of good deals on clothes as well.

Although we didn't have the final weight right from the beginning, we used other clothes to give us an idea of just how heavy the pack might be. I don't think its worth buying ultralight (and ultra expensive) clothes.

We used everything in our packs except the chamois cloth. We elected to pay for sheet and towel rentals for the few places we were staying where these were extra, rather than to carry them with us the whole time. What we didn't bring which we should have was moisturizing cream (for the feet), but this was easy to find in any grocery store (but added a little weight). One of the best items packed: 3 Ziploc containers to keep food (cheese and sausage especially, but leftovers as well) for another day.

This was our packing list with all items weighed. 

We got well acquainted with our packs and the weight we would be carrying (in the form of books) long in advance. Of course, 5-10 km walks once or twice a week (usually on flat paths) don't replicate the daily walking on the trip, but it's a start.

Contents

Osprey water bladders (tubes forced us to drink more)

Chaco hiking shoes (happy feet)

Merrell post hiking shoes (super light)

Hats: good for sun, rain, wind, not looking at dogs.

Ponchos which Susan learned to love.

Windbreakers for wind, light rain, cold.

Two Icebreaker merino wool shirts each (worth the money!)

Post hike shirts (Susan needed a long sleeve shirt).

Fleece.

Shorts: we wore them everyday in October!

Light long pants.

Susan: long underwear and light running pants, René: extra light pants.

Three underwear each

Wright socks double layer running socks.

Toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss, nail clipper, tweezers, Purel, deodorant, shampoo,
conditioner, hair gel, clothes soap, chamois cloth, eye shades, ear plugs.

First aid: band-aids, Polysporin, Tylenol, sewing kit, safety pins,
alcohol wipes, duct tape.

Sunscreen and lip balm sunscreen. Even for October.

Toilet paper, tissues, razors, tampons and daily pads.

Pink shopping bag, extra resealable bags and light backpack.

Kitchen: 3 resealable Ziploc containers, forks, spoons, knife,
wine bottle opener (of course!), and Swiss army knife.

Prescription sunglasses and extra glasses.

ASUS tablets (~300g each): GPS, IGN maps, documents, magazines, books, internet with free hotel WiFi.

Clockwise from top left: USB cables (for tablets and camera), compact camera (Sony RX100 IV), 2 extra 
camera batteries (charged inside camera), Anker external battery (almost never used!), 
extra SD card and micro B to micro C adaptor, OTG cable (to backup pics from
camera to tablet), Europe plug and Anker dual USB charger. All this for 780g!

Credencials, notebooks and pens.

Missing from these pictures was, of course, cash, bank and credit cards, passports, an extra t-shirt and boxers for sleeping (Rene) and a light night gown (Susan).

 Before we began we realized we needed moisturiser which we bought en route.

Daily additions included lunch supplies, our "in case of" supply of nuts and raisins, and water in the water bladders.

Preparation - Food

Walking through France means access to very good food.  Walking in France also means that you have to plan for Sunday afternoon through Tuesday morning as few grocery stores and boulangeries are open.  Also, grocery stores often close between noon and 16h00.

Breakfast
Our preference was to get coffee at a bar, croissants at the boulangerie and yogurt at the grocery store and eat on the way.  When there was nowhere in town (or there was no town!) to get breakfast items, we ate at the hotel or gîte where we had stayed.  Breakfast in France is usually continental with a hot beverage (coffee, tea or hot chocolate), baguette with butter and jam and croissants.  Sometimes there is yogurt or cheese.

Lunch
With only a few exceptions (and when it was Monday), we purchased lunch from the grocery store and the boulangerie in the morning (bread, cheese, fruit, cookies, chocolate, etc).  As you have to carry everything with you - including the garbage - we stayed away from jars of food and anything heavy.

I hope you like cheese and bread!

Dinner
Our first choice was always dinner out (in October, outdoor picnics are not a viable option...); an opportunity to celebrate the day's walk. If the accommodation was in the middle of nowhere, we would have to go for the demi-pension. Occasionally, tired of restaurants, we had picnics inside our room (that works for hotel rooms, not really for the sparse rooms in gîtes.

Pigging out, literally.

Backup food.
We always had some backup food that would fill us up if we just couldn't get to food for a meal. Nuts, raisins, and cookies or chocolate. We did get tired of the nuts and raisins, and they are heavy.

Ziplocs
Ziploc containers are great for leftover cheese or meats, and, when we had an apartment twice, leftover pasta.

I prepared this Food planning document to help us in making choices as we went along, but even some of the places I was assured by the tourist office would be open (the grocery store in St. Chely d'Aubrac, for example) were not. In those cases, we loaded up on breakfast (buffet, if possible), and snacked on leftover nut/raisin mix and cookies and leftover cheese we had planned for when we were made aware of the closure.

Preparation - Navigation

The GRs in France - and perhaps especially the GR65 - are extremely well signposted:

The GR65 has all sorts of other (fun) signs.

Each region/department may have its own style for distances to towns, but they are more an indication than accurate.

Still, I like to have topographical maps, and though I do prefer the paper variety, the number of different ones required to cover the various regions traversed at useful scale make them cots- and weight-prohibitive. A small tablet (300g) loaded with electronic topo maps is a lot lighter and more versatile than many maps. Far cheaper too, if you exclude the cost of the tablet itself. The main downside is battery recharging, which shouldn't be an issue unless you're camping.

I used Openrunner to create the gpx route (tracing the GR), giving me distance, elevation profile, and the ability to export the gpx route file. I used the IGN topo layer.

I loaded the gpx files into the Viewranger app on my tablet, and got a one year subscription to IGN maps (~30$, again, far cheaper than many maps). Viewranger recorded the track using my tablet's GPS to create the .gpx track files.

You can see where we walked by downloading the entire gpx track.  (or in .kmz format)

Note the following track gaps:

1. GPS issues: between Massip and Espeyrac (not on), and between Gramat and Rocamadour (bad signal)
2. Not walking: we took the bus from Limogne-en-Quercy and Villefranche-de-Rouergue, and the train between the Najac train station, and the train station 6 km outside of Cordes-sur-Ciel.

Preparation - Accommodation

Where to stay ?
Our criteria was having a room to ourselves. We had both done the dormitory/hostel thing in the past, so didn't feel it a necessary part of the experience to do so this time.

We also wanted variety, so we stayed in gites, bed and breakfast, apartments, hotels, and alternative accommodation. An apartment is a nice way to be able to cook in and have leftovers the next day.

Hôtels, Auberges, and B & Bs

Ibis Budget (Le Puy-en-Velay)

Auberge de la Halle (Cordes-sur-Ciel)

Apartments

Rando-Aubrac (Aumont-Aubrac)

Gîte d'Etapes

Lo d'Ici (Nasbinals)

L'Orée du Chemin (Massip)

 Alternative accommodation

Les chambres de la Croze (Gramat)

Gariottes de l'Ermitage (Lalbenque)

To book, or not to book, that is the question.
The answer to this question depends on:

• your tolerance for risk (do you want to arrive in a town only to find out you need to walk back to the previous town ? This happened to some walkers) 
• The season in which you're travelling (by mid-October, the vast majority of gîtes have closed)
• your desire to have a certain room or accommodation type (a room for two; a stay in a yurt, etc)
• the time you want to spend while you're walking phoning ahead for the night

We wanted our day to be focussed on walking, not on worrying where we might stay that night. The downside, of course is that you can't really cut short your walk if you're tired. We booked our accommodation starting almost a year in advance, though only one or two places thought that that was too early.

Incoveniences
The biggest inconvenience we had is that several places requested a deposit for reservation, and these places don't yet accept PayPal (or obviously credit cards). Unless you want to send cash, or have a bank to write Euro cheques (which I had access to), then you may have to send a money order, which gets expensive.