The Camino Ingles

The Camino Ingles is the shortest of the Caminos at 120km from Ferrol on the Coast (where ships of Pilgrims mainly from England, hence this Way's name, but also from Scandinavia would land).

Image taken from http://www.pilgrimagetraveler.com/camino-ingles.html

The route heads essentially South around the Ferrol bay before heading to Pontedeume, Betanzos, Bruma and Segueiro passing through some beautiful countryside on the way - a lot of the eucalyptus forests that walkers of the Frances route from Sarria will be familiar with but this way is more difficult with longer stages (due to little choice with accommodation) and a lot of hills.

The starting point's Waymarker in Ferrol

Guidebooks:

The CSJ has a guidebook on the Camino Ingles for £5 (see http://www.csj.org.uk/product/the-camino-ingles/) or the 2014 edition is available as a free download (although consider giving them a donation on their website) at http://www.csj.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Camino-Ingles-Master-PDF-Sept-2014.pdf
Cicerone guides publish a book on the Northern Caminos which includes the Ingles for £16.95 (http://www.cicerone.co.uk/9781852847944.cfm#.VrSTVWfcuUk) - I used this guide and just scanned in the relevant pages before printing them out and taking them otherwise the book is rather heavy for only a few pages of information or you can just download the Ingles section of the guide for £3.56 (look on the 'buy individual routes' section of the page).

Whilst looking to see if anyone else produced a guidebook I came across this information on the American Pilgrims on the Camino's website (http://americanpilgrims.com/camino/route_descriptions/route_ingles.html):

'In December 1779, the leaking ship carrying John Adams and his companions to Paris was forced to put in at Ferrol from where they eventually made their way by land. Adams wrote about the Camino in his journal and he remarked there that he "…always regretted that We could not find time to make a Pilgrimage to Saint Iago de Compostella."'

Comments

The Camino Primitivo

The Camino Primitivo (or the Original Way) is reportedly the very first Camino Way to Santiago in the 9 th century when most of Spain was under the control of the Moors and it runs from near the city of Ovideo in Asturias as it starts in Villavicosa (which also lies on the Camino Norte so many people follow this Way from Basque city of San Sebastian (Donosti in Basque) or in from the French border at Irun ( this route then hugs the Bay of Biscay passing through Guernica, Bilbao, Santander, Llanes before going under the Picos de Europa and then heads along the coast to Ovideo) before branching off onto the Primitivo which goes across the mountains and through the city of Lugo before joining the Frances at Melide. The route is 320km long. Image taken from https://viaalpina2013.wordpress.com/2013/04/14/camino-del-norte-camino-primitivo/

Symbols of the three main Christian Pilgrimages

The symbol of the Pilgrim to Santiago is the Scallop shell of which many can be found on the coast of Galicia and it is actually a symbol of the Pilgrimage (and has become a symbol of other Christian Pilgrimages too) partly because you could find the shell easily there and so could go back home and show it off as proof that you had done the Pilgrimage. It has also been included in carvings in some Churches.

Pilgrims' Trail to Saint Michels Mont, France

I have only walked two of the Camino routes (the Frances and Portuguese) and still want to try many of the others and yet I am also finding other Pilgrimage routes that I want to walk - I did the Pilgrims' Way in the summer which starts from Winchester which is also the starting point for the Pilgrims' Trail a 155 mile route that finishes at Mont St Michel in Normandy, France. The cult of saint Michel was popular in Britain from the 9th century and the Pilgrims walking this way were called Miquelots and many Pilgrims on their way to Santiago. The route is marked by green way markers in Hampshire taking walkers from Winchester to Bishop's Waltham to Southwick and then to Portsmouth where ferries are caught to France and Way markers become blue. Tradition says that, in 709 Saint Michael the Archangel appeared to the bishop of Avranches, Saint Aubert, and told him to build a chapel in his honour on the island. The bishop obeyed and soon sent a group of monks over t

On the Camino

Search This Blog