My wife and I arrived in Ferrol via Madrid and La Coruna on Sunday 9-26-10 and completed our Camino to Santiago 10-4-10.
We had planned on hiking for 5 days but that pace was not us we quickly found out. We did do Ferrol to Pontedeume in the first day - which almost killed us! We left the waterfront steps of Ferrol where the Camino begins (great directions from this site BTW) and arrived in Pontedeume at 6:30 pm - moving slow and hurting -- poor knees for my wife and blisters on both feet for me -- we really thought the pilgrimage was over at that point - we had had it. After a fabulous evening in Pontedeume we crawled into bed at a wonderful pension ( this was recommended by Sergio from Madrid, whom we met on the Camino - a heck of a guy. The pension was really helpful - Pension Allegue). In the morning we left - 8:30 and somehow kept moving uphill - only we knew we would not do 30 km. We were more like the 15 km couple. We got into Mino at 1:00 and met a great guy in a volvo who drove us from the junction of Mino and the albergue. We stayed in great hotel near the beach and had a tremendous lunch at 3:00. We hiked from the hotel back to the Camino and left at 8:00 Betanzos - a truly wondrous place (as was Pontedeume). We stayed at the Hotel San Roque after first checking in with the city tourism information center for our sello. The hotel is family operated and super friendly and helpful to people on the Camino. As you enter through the town gate and enter the square, the church is opposite. Walk up the street by the church 3 or 4 blocks to the hotel - I cannot recommend the hotel and hotel restaurant enough! We needed a hiking staff - Alvara went out and bought one for use that was perfect (and we managed to get this back to California). We explained to Stephanie, Sandra, Cesar, and Alvara that we needed to go only 15 km per day - they arranged to pick us up at a prearranged spot on the Camino, drive us back to the hotel and drive us back to that spot in the morning to continue! Fabulous.
From Betanzos (via Presido) we went to Bruma and stayed in a nearby village on the highway after first checking in with the albergue and having a good talk with the proprietors - We stayed at Meson do Vento where we went to Mass. The Pension, O Mason Novo - the owners were wonderful beyond belief-- the tapas were out of this world. We felt that the directions to Bruma onward were written by someone else and were a bit confusing - but we made it
From Bruma to Bar O Crucerio we fell in with two more pilgrims from Spain - Santi and Othi - At the Bar O Crucerio, with owner Carolina - who was beautiful and totally helpful we went into Ordes and stayed at the Hotel Nagalles.
From Bar O Crucerio to Sigueiro - in 50 kt wind with drenching rain, we made it. We we soaked and wore out. The Hotel Miras was closed! We didn't have reservations for the Hotel Vincente which turned us away - this was located a few km out of town - we were drenched and felt the operator didn't want us there! We stayed at a Motel - Not Recommended
As we were soaked and weather was still threatening, we took a cab a couple of km to the industrial outskirts of Santiago.
Entering the old city was awesome and humbling -- I felt like I was in the movie "Kingdom of Heaven" with pilgrims entering from every language group! For the first time we saw souveniers, and some pretty down and out folk.
We stayed in a pension, got our credentials verified, obtained the certificate, and went to Mass - The Cathedral was inspiring, and seeing St. James image and remains was an emotional experience. God is good to his people.
I had downloaded a copy of the Camino Ingles and kept that in booklet form close to my chest for the whole journey - THANK YOU for this forum - we had forum patches on our backpacks too. Thanks for the directions especially!!!
Note-- we did bring too much stuff with us - on the second day I dumped books and clothes like crazy to lighten out load - so pack light! If in doubt, go the lesser km per day! We found the Spanish people extremely friendly and helpful. We had farmers bring us apples in the rain, we had farmers bring us various fruit, bar owners bending over backwards to help us, hotel operators helping in every way. God Bless Spain.
We will do this again.
Thomas and Stephanie
We had planned on hiking for 5 days but that pace was not us we quickly found out. We did do Ferrol to Pontedeume in the first day - which almost killed us! We left the waterfront steps of Ferrol where the Camino begins (great directions from this site BTW) and arrived in Pontedeume at 6:30 pm - moving slow and hurting -- poor knees for my wife and blisters on both feet for me -- we really thought the pilgrimage was over at that point - we had had it. After a fabulous evening in Pontedeume we crawled into bed at a wonderful pension ( this was recommended by Sergio from Madrid, whom we met on the Camino - a heck of a guy. The pension was really helpful - Pension Allegue). In the morning we left - 8:30 and somehow kept moving uphill - only we knew we would not do 30 km. We were more like the 15 km couple. We got into Mino at 1:00 and met a great guy in a volvo who drove us from the junction of Mino and the albergue. We stayed in great hotel near the beach and had a tremendous lunch at 3:00. We hiked from the hotel back to the Camino and left at 8:00 Betanzos - a truly wondrous place (as was Pontedeume). We stayed at the Hotel San Roque after first checking in with the city tourism information center for our sello. The hotel is family operated and super friendly and helpful to people on the Camino. As you enter through the town gate and enter the square, the church is opposite. Walk up the street by the church 3 or 4 blocks to the hotel - I cannot recommend the hotel and hotel restaurant enough! We needed a hiking staff - Alvara went out and bought one for use that was perfect (and we managed to get this back to California). We explained to Stephanie, Sandra, Cesar, and Alvara that we needed to go only 15 km per day - they arranged to pick us up at a prearranged spot on the Camino, drive us back to the hotel and drive us back to that spot in the morning to continue! Fabulous.
From Betanzos (via Presido) we went to Bruma and stayed in a nearby village on the highway after first checking in with the albergue and having a good talk with the proprietors - We stayed at Meson do Vento where we went to Mass. The Pension, O Mason Novo - the owners were wonderful beyond belief-- the tapas were out of this world. We felt that the directions to Bruma onward were written by someone else and were a bit confusing - but we made it
From Bruma to Bar O Crucerio we fell in with two more pilgrims from Spain - Santi and Othi - At the Bar O Crucerio, with owner Carolina - who was beautiful and totally helpful we went into Ordes and stayed at the Hotel Nagalles.
From Bar O Crucerio to Sigueiro - in 50 kt wind with drenching rain, we made it. We we soaked and wore out. The Hotel Miras was closed! We didn't have reservations for the Hotel Vincente which turned us away - this was located a few km out of town - we were drenched and felt the operator didn't want us there! We stayed at a Motel - Not Recommended
As we were soaked and weather was still threatening, we took a cab a couple of km to the industrial outskirts of Santiago.
Entering the old city was awesome and humbling -- I felt like I was in the movie "Kingdom of Heaven" with pilgrims entering from every language group! For the first time we saw souveniers, and some pretty down and out folk.
We stayed in a pension, got our credentials verified, obtained the certificate, and went to Mass - The Cathedral was inspiring, and seeing St. James image and remains was an emotional experience. God is good to his people.
I had downloaded a copy of the Camino Ingles and kept that in booklet form close to my chest for the whole journey - THANK YOU for this forum - we had forum patches on our backpacks too. Thanks for the directions especially!!!
Note-- we did bring too much stuff with us - on the second day I dumped books and clothes like crazy to lighten out load - so pack light! If in doubt, go the lesser km per day! We found the Spanish people extremely friendly and helpful. We had farmers bring us apples in the rain, we had farmers bring us various fruit, bar owners bending over backwards to help us, hotel operators helping in every way. God Bless Spain.
We will do this again.
Thomas and Stephanie
