Days 20-23: Walking thru Tours to Fierbois on the Old Pilgrim’s Trail (GR655) from Paris to Bordeaux
Hi it’s John in my previous video I explained how my walk from Paris to Bordeaux changed when I passed through tour in this video I’m going to cover the 30 km I walked along the Sher River into tour and the 40 km that I walked back out of tour towards the little
Village of Feb this map shows how the two variants of the gr 655 one from Von doome the other from BL came together at tour because of my detour to Cho so my own walk into tour was south of the lir along the Sher River it was a beautiful walk along a fantastic Trail What T was the biggest city on my route between Paris and Bordeaux with a population of about 365,000 and this is the center of the historic core in the background is the city’s cathedral which During the Revolution was temporarily transformed from a church to an atheist Temple of
Reason the chatau Nu area area of the city was the most atmospheric with timbered houses squares setting up for business and little corners and pretty Alleyways with Gardens Oh the Basilica to St Martin is also located here and St Martin’s tomb was one of the greatest medieval pilgrimage sites of France St Martin was a Roman soldier who divided his cloak for a beggar and became the bishop of T in the fourth Century of our
ERA this is all that’s left of the enormous medieval church that was built on this site During the Revolution they tore the church down and built roads over the foundations to make sure it was never rebuilt in the 19th century a smaller church was built on the site of his tomb
And St Martin enjoyed a second life as the patron saint of the French third Republic T remembers its pilgrimage past and the signage for the vat is very well done as you leave to head south Feb was 40 km away so I spent the night in viget to break the journey
Up and the next morning when I packed up I forgot one of my Chargers and my prized long cable well no matter after a night’s rain the countryside was bursting into bloom and it was a joy to be on foot in France My destination at the end of day 22 was starine De Fe but the statue of the lady is not St Catherine it’s St Joan fear Bob remembers Joan of Arc and my next video will explain why thanks for watching and bye-bye from Fear Bo
On Days 20 to 23 I left Chateau Chenonceaux to walk 30 kilometres along the beautiful Cher River to Tours. After visiting the old town and St Martin’s tomb, I turned south and walked 40 kilometres to the little village of Ste. Catherine de Fierbois. This is a very beautiful part of France.
Tours is where my walk changed. I had really enjoyed the first 300 kilometres that I’d walked from Paris, visiting monuments in the Ile de France, the gothic cathedral at Chartres, and the chateaux of the Loire valley. These were places that I already knew about.
In the second part of my journey, the 450 kilometres from Tours to Bordeaux, I would see more Renaissance chateau and beautiful churches but they would be in places I didn’t know. In this part of my journey I enjoyed the thrill of discovery, the wonderful people that crossed my path, and above all else the pull of the open road.
This video is part of a series covering my post COVID project to walk the medieval pilgrim’s trail from Paris to Bordeaux. I did it in the Spring of 2023. I have a playlist (introductory video below) which gives the full sequential list of videos for my walk. There are also other, shorter, playlists covering different aspects of the walk such as the best Chateaux, the best churches and the best gardens.
The whole walk took 47 days and my route was the GR 655 which recreates the medieval Via Turonensis or Voie de Tours. Today not many pilgrims take this trail and one can walk stretches of it in perfect solitude. However, you do meet other pilgrims, especially in the portion of the walk from Tours to Bordeaux and can experience wonderful fellowship too.
The full route takes you to the Spanish border, crosses the Pyrenees and joins the famous el Camino to Santiago. Ambitious walkers go all the way, a journey of 1800 kms.
I am posting videos explaining, day by day with images, what the walk meant to me and could mean to others who might give it a try.
Here’s the link to the introductory video of the series.
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