Rodez. St-Jacques will travel between Conques and Toulouse
An interdepartmental partnership has just been signed to promote an alternative to the GR65 which is based on Conques in Toulouse by setting up ten stages in the program of a new tourist path.
It is a vast structuring tourist project which animates four departments and which has just, at least in its phase of collective consultation, to be carried on the baptismal font. It is a question of making live on four departments an alternative to the GR 65, the way of Saint-Jacques, between Conques and Toulouse. A St. James route that will meander over some 250 kilometers and offers ten stages to hikers, i.e. as many days for the route.
“We carried out collective work over several months to ensure that each of the four departments made its wayexplains Jean-Luc Calmelly, vice-president of the departmental council of Aveyron and president of the departmental agency attractiveness tourism (Adat). For example, the Haute-Garonne has completely revised the route to improve the circuit and add tourist stages such as the castle of Bonrepos – Riquet, home of Pierre-Paul Riquet, creator of the Canal du Midi…”
Collective work
All the departmental structures concerned by the route, starting with the tourism committees, but also the regional tourism and hiking committees or the Agence française des Chemins de Compostelle have joined forces in a steering committee. which met a few days ago in Laguépie in Tarn-et-Garonne. And this, “to validate the terms of partnership via an agreement and set a budget and an action plan to launch this route in 2023”, assures Julien Andurand, of the Territories and Networks Pole of Adat. At the end of a day of consultation, this collective work was presented to the itinerary committee, bringing together elected officials and tourism professionals.
More than fifty people, clearly enthusiastic, have adopted this process of valorization “ and the objectives pursued by this agreement. That is to say guarantee a harmonized itinerary between the territories, strengthen the service offer linked to roaming, increase the notoriety of the Conques-Toulouse pedestrian itinerary, through communication and promotion adapted to its audiences “specifies Julien Andurand.
The associated track
Some innovations are also recorded in the project, in particular that of associating the train with the route. “Much of the way is followed by the railway. We rely on rail to develop important work around mobility, says Jean-Luc Calmelly. Thus, it is planned, during the inaugural day of this Saint James route, to connect Toulouse to Laguépie or Najac by train, then to offer a pedestrian connection before a return by train. “.
Presented at the Occ’Ygène show at the end of March in Toulouse
And if this inaugural day has not yet been fixed, the actions are already integrated by the territories concerned, in particular to affix the signage and to create a document of appeal and a topoguide. A presentation to the general public is planned during the Occ’Ygène show to be held in Toulouse from March 31 to April 2.
Four departments concerned by the route
The Conques-Toulouse route to Compostela concerns the department of Aveyron of course, but also Tarn-et-Garonne, Tarn and Haute-Garonne. Over 250 kilometres, it will cross Conques, Cransac, Peyrusse-le-Roc, Villeneuve-d’Aveyron, Villefranche-de-Rouergue, Najac, Cordes-sur-Ciel, Gaillac, Rabastens, Montastruc and Toulouse, among others.