Trier – Le Puy (Mâcon)

At a Glance

• Start / Finish: Mâcon-Ville station (182 m) → Cenves (578 m), junction with the Trier – Le Puy route
• Length: 21.3 km
• Duration: 1 day, about six to seven hours including breaks
• Elevation: ↗ 725 m / ↘ 328 m
• Highest point: 704 m at km 16.3, between La Grange du Bois and Prémecin
• Landscape: the Saône valley, the vineyards of Pouilly-Fuissé and Saint-Véran, dry-stone walls, forest and pasture in the hills of the Mâconnais
• Waymarking: yellow arrow on a blue background, in places together with the GR 76D
• Connecting routes: in Cenves the Trier – Le Puy route to Le Puy-en-Velay, and from there the Via Podiensis
• Associations along the way: whole route: Association Rhône-Alpes des Amis de Saint-Jacques

Overview

The route from Trier to Le Puy makes its turn south in Cluny, and Cluny has no train station. Mâcon has two: Mâcon-Ville in the center and, since 1981, the TGV station Mâcon-Loché on the Paris–Lyon high-speed line. This feeder route turns that into a launch pad. You step off the train in the morning, start walking, and by evening you're standing on the Way of St. James in Cenves, a good 400 meters higher up.

In between lies a day other people book a wine tour for. Past Loché you walk through the vineyards of Pouilly-Fuissé and Saint-Véran, Chardonnay as far as the eye can see, with the two limestone crags of Solutré and Vergisson rising ahead of you like the bows of two ships. Only from La Grange du Bois does it go quiet: forest, pasture, a ridge above 700 meters. A feeder route that begins on a station platform and teaches you to climb in a vineyard.

Other Names

Trier – Le Puy (Mâcon) is a working name used by Camino Ninja: we name feeder routes after the route they lead to, with the starting point in parentheses. The Association Rhône-Alpes des Amis de Saint-Jacques (ARA) describes it as a bretelle, a feeder route, under the title "Partir de Mâcon pour Saint-Jacques de Compostelle". The ARA calls the section from Cluny to Le Puy that it joins the Via Cluniacensis.

Route & Landscape

From Mâcon-Ville station you head west out of town to Loché (km 6.4), a wine village with a Romanesque bell tower. If you arrive by TGV, you can also start at Mâcon-Loché station; the ARA describes both options. Then the path winds through hamlets and vine-covered slopes, past dry-stone walls that a local association is rebuilding, with views back over Mâcon and the Saône, to Chasselas (km 10.5) below Mont Saint-Pierre.

Up to La Grange du Bois (km 14.4) you climb to about 550 meters, and the vineyards fall behind. Up top you cross the highest point (km 16.3, 704 m) and walk through forest to Prémecin (km 17.7), then down to Rousset (km 19.8) on the Petite Grosne and back up to Cenves (km 21.3). Distances come from the Camino Ninja map, calibrated to exactly 21.3 km.

1. Mâcon → Cenves (21.3 km) — through the Mâconnais vineyards into the hills, with no technical difficulties; the longest climb is between Chasselas and the highest point.

Highlights Along the Way

• Loché (km 6.4) — a wine village with a Romanesque bell tower and a white wine of its own, Pouilly-Loché.
• Roche de Solutré and Roche de Vergisson — the two limestone crags stay in view from the path for a long time. At the foot of Solutré, 493 meters high, lies one of the most important prehistoric sites in Europe; it gave its name to the Solutrean culture. Since 2013 the landscape has held the Grand Site de France label.
• Vineyards of Pouilly-Fuissé and Saint-Véran — Chardonnay on limestone, with dry-stone walls and vineyard huts in between.
• Ridge above La Grange du Bois (km 16.3) — the highest point, with wide views; according to the ARA, the ruins of an old watchman's house and an optical telegraph stand here.
• Cenves (km 21.3) — a quiet hill village and the junction with the Trier – Le Puy route.

Continue the pilgrimage?

In Cenves you're standing on the Trier – Le Puy route, at its km 621.2. From here it's about 265 more kilometers to Le Puy-en-Velay, through the Beaujolais, the Forez and the Velay. Less than six kilometers past Cenves you pass through Saint-Jacques-des-Arrêts, a village that carries the apostle right in its name. In Le Puy the Via Podiensis begins, heading to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port.

Preparation & Practical Information

Waymarking and route description. Follow the yellow arrow on a blue background, partly together with the red-and-white marks of the GR 76D. In Cenves you pick up the waymarks of the main route. The ARA provides the description as a PDF, available via chemins.compostelleenrhonealpes.fr.

Accommodation. Mâcon has hotels in every category. Along the way there are beds in La Grange du Bois and in Prémecin, a farm with a gîte; Cenves has a few gîtes. The choice is limited. The easiest way is directly in the Camino Ninja App, where you put your stages together and plan suitable accommodation right along with them.

Credential. As on all French routes, you need a pilgrim passport (credencial) to stay in pilgrim accommodation and to receive the Compostela at the end. It's best to order it online in advance so it reaches you in time for the start of your trip.

Supplies. Stock up in Mâcon; after that there are hardly any shops along the way, so carry water for the whole day.

Getting Here

• Getting to the start: Mâcon-Ville is on the Dijon–Lyon rail line, with TER trains from Lyon, Dijon and Chalon-sur-Saône. The TGV station Mâcon-Loché has direct connections from Paris and Lyon.
• Getting home from the finish: Cenves has no train station and practically no bus service. If you're not continuing on, plan on a taxi back to Mâcon or keep walking along the main route to a larger town.
• Timetables: sncf-connect.com