My friend and I walked the Camino Ingles in mid-Sept. We flew from Madrid to A Coruna, then took a bus to Ferrol, spending the night there before starting our long walk towards Santiago the next morning. I absolutely loved it. The weather was perfect every day: mild temperatures and lots of blue skies almost everyday. It was only during the afternoon of our arrival in Santiago that it finally clouded over and we had some light rain. Ferrol, Pontedeume, and Betanzos were all lovely charming towns. Bruma was tiny (like, really tiny) and Sigueiro was very modern in a workmanlike way. The walk itself was just captivating: forest paths, quiet rural roads, villages and farms here and there. It was hypnotically mesmerizing in a way. Slow travel like this really lets you just exist in a zen-like state where you absorb everything around you and just "be". There was an elevated point on the walk to Bruma where I could see my starting point of Ferrol far in the distance, which was genuinely very moving to see how far I had walked. The arrival into Santiago itself was somewhat jarring as the forests and farms were left behind and replaced by a modern industrial belt and then by the hustle and bustle of a large city. Arriving into Praza de Obradoiro around noon was really something though!
My friend and I decided that we really wanted optimal sleeping conditions for our Camino, so we pre-booked hotels and apartments for every step: Parador de Ferrol, Hotel Camino de Eume (Pontedeume), Hostal Portico (Betanzos), A Casina de Bruma and an apartment in Sigueiro. We had Correos transfer our bags from point to point as well, so we only had to carry small day packs. This would have been cost prohibitive for a long Camino but for one as short as the Ingles, it wasn't much at all. All of the accommodations were excellent and the Correos transfer was perfect with zero issues.
Food was pretty good overall. Octopus, raxo and the famous tortilla/omelette in Betanzos were among the highlights. Those humble little shwarma restaurants in these towns also make some damn tasty chicken wings too. The absolute gem of a pit stop on the whole Camino was Casa Avelina, about half an hour before Bruma. Those lovely ladies who run that establishment are true Camino Angels: so genuine, so nice, so humble. It's amazing that such incredible people exist in this world. If you walk the Ingles, you MUST stop at this bar.
Socially, it was a bit interesting. It wasn't particularly busy and we didn't see many pilgrims during the day. We typically left in darkness around 7am with the sun not rising until well after 8am. Faster pilgrims would pass us every now and then. We're from Canada and we only met one other Canadian couple on the walk from Bruma to Siguiero, which was also the leg where we saw the most pilgrims. Without exception, everyone else we met was Spanish. My Spanish is limited, so we couldn't have real conversations with anyone, other than a nice Spanish couple who spoke English staying at our little hostal in Bruma. It's a good thing my friend was with me, because otherwise I would have basically have been a mute on the Camino, other than saying "Buen Camino!" every now and then lol.
In terms of difficulty, I didn't find the Ingles that hard. Yes, there are some challenges. The Pontedeume-Betanzos stage is a seemingly never-ending series of inclines and declines, including a very steep climb out of Pontedeume first thing and a very steep decline into Betanzos at the end of your day. Looking at the elevation profile, the Betanzos-Bruma stage looks imposing with that long uphill, but in reality it's much more gradual and less difficult than the Pontedeume-Betanzos leg in my opinion. And if you've made it to Bruma, the rest is a cakewalk. Bruma-Sigueiro is long from a distance perspective, but the ups and downs are negligible. Siguiero-Santiago is downright easy. The hardest part is the sudden adjustment to a modern, industrial city. My friend had more difficulty, especially on the first two days due to her hip/knee issues, but she finished the Camino as well and I was very proud of her for doing it.
So I absolutely loved my first Camino. I can see why so many others walk it more than once! Good luck to all of you who will be walking your own Camino.
P.S. if you will be travelling to other parts of Spain after you've finished your Camino, I strongly recommend Caceres, in the Extremadura region of Spain. The medieval centre is astonishingly beautiful and well maintained. You feel like you've time travelled back to the Middle Ages while you're there. The food scene is terrific there as well as it is the heart of Spain's renowned pork country. It is also a stop on the Via de la Plata, another Camino route. It can be reached from Santiago by taking a train to Zamora (~2 hours), then taking an Alsa bus to Caceres (~4 hours).
My friend and I decided that we really wanted optimal sleeping conditions for our Camino, so we pre-booked hotels and apartments for every step: Parador de Ferrol, Hotel Camino de Eume (Pontedeume), Hostal Portico (Betanzos), A Casina de Bruma and an apartment in Sigueiro. We had Correos transfer our bags from point to point as well, so we only had to carry small day packs. This would have been cost prohibitive for a long Camino but for one as short as the Ingles, it wasn't much at all. All of the accommodations were excellent and the Correos transfer was perfect with zero issues.
Food was pretty good overall. Octopus, raxo and the famous tortilla/omelette in Betanzos were among the highlights. Those humble little shwarma restaurants in these towns also make some damn tasty chicken wings too. The absolute gem of a pit stop on the whole Camino was Casa Avelina, about half an hour before Bruma. Those lovely ladies who run that establishment are true Camino Angels: so genuine, so nice, so humble. It's amazing that such incredible people exist in this world. If you walk the Ingles, you MUST stop at this bar.
Socially, it was a bit interesting. It wasn't particularly busy and we didn't see many pilgrims during the day. We typically left in darkness around 7am with the sun not rising until well after 8am. Faster pilgrims would pass us every now and then. We're from Canada and we only met one other Canadian couple on the walk from Bruma to Siguiero, which was also the leg where we saw the most pilgrims. Without exception, everyone else we met was Spanish. My Spanish is limited, so we couldn't have real conversations with anyone, other than a nice Spanish couple who spoke English staying at our little hostal in Bruma. It's a good thing my friend was with me, because otherwise I would have basically have been a mute on the Camino, other than saying "Buen Camino!" every now and then lol.
In terms of difficulty, I didn't find the Ingles that hard. Yes, there are some challenges. The Pontedeume-Betanzos stage is a seemingly never-ending series of inclines and declines, including a very steep climb out of Pontedeume first thing and a very steep decline into Betanzos at the end of your day. Looking at the elevation profile, the Betanzos-Bruma stage looks imposing with that long uphill, but in reality it's much more gradual and less difficult than the Pontedeume-Betanzos leg in my opinion. And if you've made it to Bruma, the rest is a cakewalk. Bruma-Sigueiro is long from a distance perspective, but the ups and downs are negligible. Siguiero-Santiago is downright easy. The hardest part is the sudden adjustment to a modern, industrial city. My friend had more difficulty, especially on the first two days due to her hip/knee issues, but she finished the Camino as well and I was very proud of her for doing it.
So I absolutely loved my first Camino. I can see why so many others walk it more than once! Good luck to all of you who will be walking your own Camino.
P.S. if you will be travelling to other parts of Spain after you've finished your Camino, I strongly recommend Caceres, in the Extremadura region of Spain. The medieval centre is astonishingly beautiful and well maintained. You feel like you've time travelled back to the Middle Ages while you're there. The food scene is terrific there as well as it is the heart of Spain's renowned pork country. It is also a stop on the Via de la Plata, another Camino route. It can be reached from Santiago by taking a train to Zamora (~2 hours), then taking an Alsa bus to Caceres (~4 hours).
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