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The Via Podiensis or the Le Puy Route is one of the four routes through France on the pilgrimage to the tomb of St. James the Great in Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwest Spain. It leaves from Puy-en-Velay and crosses the countryside in stages to the basque village of Ostabat. Near there it merges with two of the other routes, the via Turonensis and the via Lemovicensis which merge a little earlier. The three then become the Navarre Route, passing via the French town of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port and crossing the Pyrenees and the Spanish border by one path or another to Roncesvalles in the Spanish province of Basse-Navarre. Together they serve as the principal pilgrimage route across Spain, known as the Camino frances. The fourth French route, the via Tolosane, crosses the Pyrenees at a different point (Somport), becomes the Aragonese Way when it enters Spain, and joins the Camino frances further to the west. Before le Puy, the via Gebennensis leaves from Geneva, gathering Swiss and German pilgrims and feeding into the via Podiensis. Though it bears a Latin name, the via Gebennensis is a modern route laid out in 1980-90, though the numerous ''hospitals'' it passes testify to the passage of pilgrims along this route in earlier ages. From Geneva to the Pyrenees, the two routes (''via Gebennensis'' and ''via Podiensis'') are waymarked as one of the French major hiking routes, the ''GR 65'', with a few local variations or detours, including ''GR 651'' through the valley of Célé and ''GR 652'' via Rocamadour. == History == According to the A Guide for the Traveller compiled by Aymeric Picaud in the 12th century, four routes lead to Santiago de Compostella:〔J. van Herwaarden and Wendie Shaffer, ''Between Saint James and Erasmus'' (Gunter Narr Verlag, 2003), ISBN 90-04-12984-7, 356-9〕 * the via Turonensis, leaving from Paris, passing through Tours * the via Lemovicensis, leaving from Vézelay, passing through Limoges * the via Podiensis, leaving from Puy-en-Velay, passing through Cahors and Moissac * the via Tolosane, leaving from Arles, passing through Toulouse In 950 or 951, Godescalc, bishop of Le Puy-en-Velay, set off on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella. He was the first non-Hispanic to undertake the pilgrimage, leading a large caravan that included members of the clergy, their staff and servants, various nobles and gentlemen, their retainers and men at arms.
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