Next steps

As I mentioned, I've joined Gerard Zeger's Via Tolosana, Chemin d'Arles, Way of St James starting in Arles, GR653 Facebook group, and have been collecting useful websites.  Some of the older ones looked good until, upon closer inspection, I've discovered that some of the routes have been altered slightly. This seems to be true of the Via Tolosana site, which shows a different route for what appears to be a difficult section after St. Guilhem le desert. The site was started, after all in 2005, and it seems like it was updated somewhat in January 2014, but not since then.  The last entry in the guest book was in December 2015. I guess with the publication of more and more guidebooks this site isn't needed as it once was.  I noticed that the former section devoted to places to stay simply recommends consulting the (then) current edition of the Miam Miam Dodo, which I mentioned in my previous post. I still like the photos and the advice, though.  Where else would I have learned of the possibility of not only taking a tram/bus out of Montpelier  to avoid the suburban sprawl (which I found out about doing some Internet research), but to also to take a bus into the city as well, even providing the bus numbers and where they stop?  I've confirmed the information and have found it to still be valid!

The Spanish site, Gronze, is quite good, too, especially for staging information with distance between stages, along with perceived difficulty of the terrain, laid out in an easy-to-read format. It also lists possible places to stay, but they tend to be on the higher end--small hotels and chambres d'hôtes, so less interesting from my perspective.  I'm really looking for more pilgrim-friendly places and not particularly interested in sharing my place with tourists and sightseers even though I am also curious about potential sights and local attractions to a lesser degree.

I found a GR653 Walking from Arles site with Google maps that allowed drilling down to very fine details but it didn't seem very useful without an Internet connection as you walked.

Here's a sample of a drilled down portion. If there is an icon like a supermarket, restaurant, town hall, etc. the icon can be clicked on for further information if available. This information may also be available for gîtes but I did not find any in the particular segment I was looking at. I can't imagine using this on my smartphone as it would likely be too small for me to see anything easily, certainly not at a glance. Maybe someone with a tablet would find it useful, though. And since it is taken from Google Maps, I might consider looking into that.

I did check out the variant route via the dikes of the Petit Rhône [river] from Arles to St. Gilles (which is longer than the regular route, but more shaded and not along the highway) and it seemed barren of places to stop and sit--I'm thinking about lunch and rest-stops... I will have to experiment with downloading a portion of Google Maps so I can use it off-line if my phone allows.  I think it is pretty low on space, though, so I probably will not be able to download much if I plan to use my phone as a camera... Maybe if I have a wifi connection at a gîte I can download a segment at a time of portions of some of the towns that might be problematic without a map... Another consideration is how much will it drain the battery as I barely have enough juice for photos as it is...

Many walkers of the more frequented pilgrimage routes in Spain, and the Via Podiensis in France prefer to keep planning to a minimum and to just wait and see what happens.  I don't think that is very wise for this route, especially in my case because of my own physical limitations.  Being a slow walker, unable to walk more than 20km is limiting.  I have twice passed that limit with disastrous consequences. On this route, places to stay the night are harder to come by, and, in some areas nonexistent so that walking long distances becomes necessary.  I think the hiking groups are partly to blame for this because the routes are tweaked over time to make the way more picturesque or challenging for hikers. It is only reasonable to assume that no pilgrim during the Middle Ages would go out of his (or her) way to walk a more difficult route unless there was a shrine or relic to be visited.

In addition to the problematic 23 km first day from Arles if I take the variant by the canal, I was particularly concerned about a portion of the route from Lodève to Lunas, which only provided a 23 km walk to Joncels (with challenging terrain) as the sole option to spend the night along the way.  Using the method I learned back in Pasturat from my companions one evening along the Via Podiensis, I pulled out a map and looked at the roads.  Sure enough a road, the D35, presented itself.  I then did a little more research and found it is even suggested to use it in The Lepère Guide during really inclement weather! The D35 intersects the GR 653 near the Col de la Baraque de Brat cutting out a few unnecessary kilometres. I also discovered a blog by someone who did this very thing in 2008. Problem solved.  I think the distance is reduced to 18 km which is doable. 

In all this planning, two other resources I have discovered include a 2017 list of places to stay, Webcompostella's Guide des haltes Saint-Jacques voie d'Arles vers le Col du Comport et Saint Jacques de Compostelle, and someone's planning sheet that I found on Backpack45.com which gives staging information for the route as far as Toulouse. The latter, dating from 2008, is quite interesting because I get to see how someone else plotted out his or her distances on a spreadsheet. That person was willing to walk a little further than I am, but seemed concerned with distances and elevation.  The Webcompostella Guide, on the other hand, gives me additional lodging possibilities which is always useful. Webcompostella is a web-based support community  of those interested in the Way of Saint James and provides many helpful guides and services to pilgrims. It may have Catholic roots as there are those of Catholic religious orders on the board as well as producing a few publications of particular interest to Christians.

Well time will tell how well I have done my research...