What type of accommodation?
Breakfast in our chambre d'hôte, Lectoure
This is an important question, as the answer will have a direct effect on most other decisions you make about your trip to France.
The choice of accommodation is very wide, encompassing hotels, chambres d’hôte (bed and breakfast), gîtes d’etape (dormitories for walkers, usually with dinner provided) and camping. It is not usually necessary to make advance bookings for any of these, although we have been caught out once or twice. Many towns and villages have an Office of Tourism that can help you find accommodation. They have lists with all the details and will even ring up for you if you are lucky.
Camping beside the Dordogne
As we are from tough peasant stock, we normally camp while in France. The grass in French camping grounds is generally luxurious, and the ablutions blocks improve every year. There seems to be a government drive to modernise the facilities at French camping grounds. Obviously there is a weight penalty for carrying a tent, but this has to be balanced against the low cost, the coolness on hot nights and the flexibility it gives you (on the few occasions when we have found ourselves with absolutely nowhere to stay, there has always been a farmer’s field to pitch our tent in).
Our hotel room in Montpazier
Hotels and chambres d’hôte are occasional treats for us, which we use when the camping is non-existent or too far out of town, or when the weather is too wet. We never book ahead.
Gîte at Noailhac
French walkers normally stay in gîtes. These are gîtes d’étape, not to be confused with gîtes ruraux, which are holiday houses rented by the week. Gîtes d’étape are more common on the main pilgrim routes, and provide a dormitory, a bathroom and a living room, in which you can either cook your own meal or, if there is a resident guardian, have it cooked for you.
Gîte breakfast with fellow walkers and the resident guardians, Sorges
On the whole, gîtes are our last choice, as we find them a bit squalid. We feel we are past the age for sharing other people’s snoring, not to mention the aroma of their wet socks drying on the bedpost. Also gîte food is of the boarding-house variety. But for the lone walker, they are a good option because of the company around the dinner table. Everybody compares notes about the route they are going to take, and we look at each other’s maps and guides, which can be very useful (see Maps and Guides).
We go to France with a list of camping grounds, arranged by department. We have found that the ABC Camping website is the easiest one to use for this purpose. However, each year it seems to get more out of date. Long defunct camping grounds are still listed in it, as we have discovered to our cost. It is a good idea to check with the local Office of Tourism, but even so you can be caught out.
Not all French camping grounds are lush and green
Camping grounds in the larger cities and popular tourist areas usually have a long opening season, but in small, out-of-the-way villages, the sort that walkers go to, they have a much shorter season. They typically open on the 15 June and close on the 15 September. Some do not open until the first of July.
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