The path of the english

A Community Initiative

The initiative, led by the Association normande des amis de Saint-Jacques, has enabled the realization and waymarking of this route.

This new itinerary, which traverses the metropolis from North to South, passes through towns such as Anneville-sur-Scie, Auffay, and Mont-Cauvaire. Now that the path between Dieppe and Chartres is fully waymarked, pilgrims can reach Évreux, Dreux, and finally Chartres, where they connect with the Paris-Tours route.

The waymarking is executed in white and red where the path coincides with a GR (long-distance footpath), and in yellow and blue for sections outside the GR network. The specific signage of the Camino de Santiago—the famous scallop shell—complements these markers.

The Norman route, sometimes referred to as the "English Way" because pilgrims crossing the Channel would arrive via Dieppe and its Church of Saint-Jacques, crosses the Pays de Caux. Notably, it follows the so-called "chasse-marée" path between Dieppe and Rouen, which was the preferred route for fishmongers' horse-drawn teams before the arrival of the railway in the mid-19th century.

On its journey through the Pays de Caux, the Jacquaire pilgrimage is marked by significant localities:

• • It travels through Auffay and its Jacquemarts (automaton clock-strikers).

  • It then heads towards Mont-Cauvaire, passing by the traditional bread oven.

For the "jacquets"—those spiritual hikers on the move—the journey is a personal quest, a time to take stock while opening up to others through encounters. Passing through places like Mont-Cauvaire serves as a reminder that every stage is a precious thread weaving the rich history of this thousand-year-old pilgrimage.

This path, uniting the Norman coast to the road to Compostela, thus ensures the permanence of an itinerary that has seen pilgrims walking for centuries.