Trip report from Ingles August 2019

Three of us walked the Ingles this summer: 2 parents in the 55-60 year old age range, and college student daughter on summer break who hadn't trained. We arranged our days for 10-15 km of walking on average, and this is where we stayed:

Day 1: flew to Santiago and took the train to A Caruna, staying at Pension Santa Clara in a 4th floor walk-up. We started our training for the hills! Their restaurant was one of the best of our trip as was the breakfast.

Day 2: spent the morning getting Sim cards for phones, buying food for Sunday, finding the Coreos to ship a bag to Santiago, took the train to Ferrol (very pretty ride). Stayed at Hostal La Fronterra, walking distance from train station, and next to a beautifu city park, and the Camino goes right past. Great location, clean and friendly. Found the tourist office downtown for our first stamp, explored downtown (there was a Renaissance Fair going on that weekend!), and discovered that on Saturday nights Spaniards like to stay up and party out on the streets. Our daughter's window-less room was quiet, but we were overlooking the streets so had a very noisy night. (We have found this to be the case anywhere in Spain on Sat night, on past trips).

Day 3: 14.2 km to Neda where we stayed at the Xunta (28 beds, although there were 32 that night, 2 in a tent outide and 2 more on couches). Full well-equipped kitchen. They had a washing machine that was set up only to spin dry. 24 beds in 1 room, and 4 beds in a handicap access room (with a handicap bathroom)

Day 4: 16.2 km to Pontedueme (actually 1.2 km past, to Pension Meson Paz at Campolong, most of the way up the infamous hill!). We took a taxi back into town for dinner. I had booked this night ahead, worried about the bottleneck in Pontedueme, and didn't realize the Pension was up the hill...not sure I would do that again, although was a very nice place to stay.

Day 5: 10 km to Mino, the beach town, staying at the very nice Xunta. 22 beds split between 2 rooms, and the albergue is a short walk from beach access. Nicely equipped kitchen.

Day 6: 10.2 m to Betanzos where we stayed at the Xunta, Casa de Pescaderia, 32 beds. Beautifully refurbished. Beds split between 2 floors; on the top floor, half of the beds are single beds not bunk beds because of the slanted ceilings, so the top floor ends up being less crowded. The kitchen only had a microwave for cooking.

Day 7: We took the "old route" at Cos (see multiple threads concerning how to find the start of it); towards the end of the old section the way isn't as well signed, and some of the signs on the route were wooden staves leaning on trees or fences; I would keep a lookout on the forum for the most up-to-date trip report on following the alternate path. We intended to stay at the new Xunta in Presedo, but a large group got there first and there wasn't room for all 3 of us (the new albergue is very cramped with little space between bunks). Presedo would have been 12 km walking. Instead, we ate at Restaurante Museu Xente (highly recommend! Good food, great decorations) and taxi'ed to Meson do Vento at Hotel Caniama. It was fine, clean, but a big multi-story hotel with an elevator, but a good restaurant downstairs. I heard very good things about Meson Novo Pension, but they were booked.

Day 8: We walked to A Rua to stay at Casa Rural Dona Marie: I had booked this ahead based on others' trip reports about their wonderful stays, and it was truly wonderful (but a bit pricey; I though it worth the splurge), with gorgeous gardens, nicely equipped suites, and dinner made to order. It was a short 7 km day, but would have been a nice 12 km from Presedo.

Day 9: 14.5 km to Siguero where we stayed at O Fogar de Chisca. Private albergue with a great kitchen, nice patio out back. They supplied fresh cotton sheets and duvet covers for the comforters, which felt heavenly.

Day 10: 16 km to Santiago. We had reserved a room in Pension Encantato St Matin Pinerio, run by a couple in their 70's. The top floor was a 2 room suite, for the 3 of us, under the eaves. Nice location and very clean. We got in line at 7 am the next morning at the Pilgrim office, and were the 4th 5th and 6th persons in line for free breakfast at the Parador, and free tickets for that night for the Portico of Glory exhibition. What a great end to our trip.

Yes these were shorter walking days than many people do, but we found it a nice relaxing pace, allowing us time to explore the beach, the old towns, and for our college daughter to catch up on sleep. And only 1 blister among the 3 of us.

I

LorneB said:

@Becky 59 This was really helpful to see. I'm thinking of walking the Ingles, and based on my previous experience on the Portugues, I found myself thinking I'd like to walk shorter stages so as to be more present to my surroundings and get to know the communities through which I'm walking better. My only concern about breaking it up this way is that I would be less likely to be part of the floating community that the Camino can create, but then, predicting community can be a difficult thing to do.

Click to expand...

I was worried about the same thing, but there were three different groups that we crossed paths with multiple times. I think there is are a certain number of perigrinos who prefer walking 10-15 km in a day rather than 25-35. Buen Camino!