A Camino Walk Along the Voie de Tours in France

by David Ryan | Albuquerque, NM

I had the good fortune in April 2026 to walk the Via Turonensis from Tours to Pons in France. I began in front of the Cathédrale Saint-Gatien de Tours and headed south on the GR655. The route, also known as the Voie de Tours, begins in Paris and joins the Camino Francés in St. Jean Pied de Port. (Read about my October 2024 walk on the section of this route from Paris to Chartres here.)

In 17 days of walking, I met only ten other pilgrims. With such few pilgrims and my limited French, I found my walk to be an isolating experience and I faced considerable uncertainty.

On Day 1, I hoped to stay at the halte pèlerin, or pilgrim stop, in Veigne as noted in my Miam Miam guidebook, only to find the door locked. I went to a bar across the street, and through the miracles of my limited French and Google Translate, the bar owner told me to go to the mairie, or town hall. When I reached the mairie, they told me that their halte pèlerin was not available and that I must walk another 3 kilometers to Montbazon.

I reached the mairie in Montbazon just as they were closing. They told me that their halte pèlerin was still closed for the winter and wouldn’t open until the following week. After some conferring, they decided to let me stay anyway.

I was frustrated initially by the uncertainty and thought about throwing in the towel, but as I connected with the wonderful surroundings and settled into being in the moment, I let every day take care of itself. And somehow it always did.  

When I reached the Chenay, a tiny rural community south of Poitiers, on a Saturday afternoon, I walked to the mairie and discovered that it was open only two days a week; my email requesting to stay at the town’s halte pèlerin was still waiting to be read. I walked to the halte pèlerin and found it locked tight. Just then, a woman parked her car in front of a house across the street. 

I went over and asked her, “Parle-vous anglais?” She immediately pointed to the house next door. I went over and knocked on the door. A couple minutes later, George came out the side door. He turned out to be an American who had moved with his wife Deanna to France only six months before.

Neither George nor Deanna spoke much French yet, but through a good relationship with their neighbor and Google Translate, they were able to get their neighbor to call the town’s mayor to get the code to open the halte pèlerin. Deanna then asked if I wanted something to eat. Since the only food I had eaten that day were two candy bars and part of a baguette, I readily accepted. We had a great conversation, and Deanna asked if I wanted to return for dinner. Again, I readily accepted.

After serving a nice dinner, Deanna insisted that I take a couple of apples and two cookies with me. It was a good thing that she did, because the next day those apples, cookies, and the stale baguette in my backpack would be all I had to eat until I reached the town of Melle in the afternoon. 

The population of rural France is quite low, and most of the towns along the way have few, if any, services. On some days, your only choice may be a couple of candy bars bought at a local Tabac shop. 

Another uncertainty is confirming whether you’re on the route. The GR655 is not always well marked. Fortunately, you can use your guidebook maps (or mobile phone) along with some intuition to figure out where you are.

Despite the isolation and uncertainties, the walking was fabulous. One of the few times that I had dinner with a fellow pilgrim, she said, “I knew I would like the walking, but I never knew that I would love it so much.” 

Imagine spending all day every day walking through beautiful countryside, listening to bird calls and being guided by church bells. As you connect more and more with everything around you, you’ll find yourself living only in the present.

On top of the fabulous walking, you are also walking through one of the most historic areas of France. There are dolmens from the neolithic, ruins from the Gallo-Roman era, and more Romanesque churches than you can count. This is the area where Eleanor of Aquitaine lived, where Joan of Arc inspired the French Army during the 100 Years War, and where the Wars of Religion were fought. 

Of all the Caminos I have walked, the walk from Tours to Pons was the most profound!

Editor’s note: For a more expansive piece on the Voie de Tours in France, check out the author’s blog.

If you are keen to learn more about pilgrim routes (even the lesser known, or non-Spanish ones), check out our routes page.