The Way of St. James (France): Chemin De Saint -Jacques De Compostelle - Le Puy to the Pyrenees (Cicerone International Walking S.). This item is unavailable.The Way of St. James (France): Chemin De Saint -Jacques De Compostelle - Le Puy to the Pyrenees (Cicerone International Walking S.)

This is a walker's guide to the 740km Pilgrim Road from Le Puy-en-Velay in central France to the Pyrenees. It is the only original guide to this route in English. A companion volume by the same author, "The Way of St James" (Pyrenees-Santiago-Finisterre), continues the route through Spain from the Pyrenees to Santiago de Compostella (or Finisterre). As well as giving directions for walking the route the book also provides information on places to visit along the way, the history of the pilgrimage and the availability of practical facilities such as shops, bars, restaurants and accommodation. This guide contains an outline of the route along the Cele valley (53km) as one appendix and, unlike existing guides (in any language), a comprehensive listing of St. James and other pilgrim references along the way as another. There is a list of suggestions for further reading and a glossary of geographical and other useful terms. It also contains a series of sketch maps covering the entire route to aid the user in planning his or her journey.

Alison Raju is a former teacher of French, German and Spanish to adults and the author of four pilgrim guides for walkers published by Cicerone Press: Way of St. James: Le Puy to the Pyrenees, (2nd edition 2003) Way of St. James: Pyrenees-Santiago-Finisterre (3rd edition 2003), Via de la Plata: Seville/Granada-Santiago (2nd edition 2005) and the Pilgrim Road to Nidaros (Oslo-Trondheim, 2001.) A walker's guide to the Via Francigena, the classic pilgrim road from Canterbury to Rome, is in preparation. A chance viewing of a television programme in the early 1970's lead to Alison's interest in the Pilgrim Road to Santiago, at that time barely known in Britain. A walker most of her life she had the opportunity to walk the 1000 mile camino from Le Puy-en-Velay to Santiago all in one go in 1990, a time which coincided, fortuitously, with Cicerone Press seeking an author to write an original guide in English to the Spanish section of the route. Since then Alison has walked and explored many of the pilgrim roads through Europe (France, Germany, Switzerland, Portugal) as well as those she has written about.