On the Trail -- Days One and Two

After a light dinner at the Parador and a good night’s sleep, we were up and ready to begin our walk of the Camino Ingles. Or so we thought.

The first task on Monday (September 19th) was to get a “pilgrim’s passport” – a document to collect sellos (stamps) along your route to record where you’ve walked (to receive your compostela). We were told there was an Office of Tourism on the Plaza de España so we set off on the 15-minute walk with enthusiasm and excitement. After cruising the square once and not seeing the office we wanted, we went into a typical Spanish café, ordered a café con leche, and proceed to ask where the Oficina was. That question set off much discussion, and several answers to the question were provided. We finally decided who to believe and again set off to find our destination. No luck...and this was only a square we were looking around.

A homeless lady on the street heard us ask again and, even given her plight and apparent lack of mental acumen, she – and only she – directed us accurately to the proper place. We got the pilgrim’s passport, maps, directions, etc. and we headed out of the city at 10:30 a.m., not exactly a good time to start a full day’s walk.

Pictured here is the more decorous passport we obtained at the English Church in town the next day.

Because Ferrol is on a river and the river runs into many bays, the entire area is picturesque with estuaries and waterways all over the place. This offers great visual images, but also increases the distance to walk because the trail was developed well before there were bridges. So we walked around the waterways through what now are light industrial areas – much of which was pleasant, but not really what you might image ancient pilgrims encountered. (And we did wonder why, given that Santiago is almost due south, the pilgrims didn’t ride the boats they came in on just a bit further south – thus shortening their journey – and ours – by many kilometers. But, you know, who are we to ask such a question?)




The major “modern monument” we saw was a very sleek McDonald’s.





It seems that the Camino Ingles is not nearly as well known as the Camino Frances so people along the way did not really know where to direct us when we got lost. Our major guide book (Pilgrim Guides to Spain: The Camino Ingles), we have discovered, is much better in the countryside than in cities. So by 12:00 noon we were finally headed out of central Ferrol, but not out to the countryside, for of course we became lost again – you know, lost in the suburbs. (We didn't mind -- it's part of the adventure.)

“Estamos perdidos” (we are lost), we said fairly often. Asking lots of folks – getting lots of advice – and even a map! Really, leaving town, even when you want to, is harder than you think!





A sidebar here about the people we’ve met on the trail. Everyone we’ve talked to has been very friendly and eager to help – really, they go the extra mile. And we are not afraid to ask – we have done it frequently. But, most people here do NOT speak English. Without some Spanish, this trek would be really hard to do.


Once out of greater Ferrol,
we had some pleasant walking through lightly forested areasand then to Naron and Neda – twin small suburbs that almost qualify as “one street towns.” Our guide book suggested the Hotel Kensington in Naron was a good spot to have lunch so we stopped there, ate, relaxed, and rested at around 2:00 p.m. All along the way, we stopped frequently at cafes to collect our sellos, and our more glamorous passport began to take on the character of our walk because each establishment has its own distinctive stamp.

Now we headed out from civilization toward Fene, our destination for the first day. The walk was beautiful through the forest with rolling hills and gentle slopes. Once in Fene, we found the bus stop where we caught the 4:30 p.m. bus back to Ferrol. We smiled as we settled into the first two seats of the bus – despite the delays in leaving Ferrol and the long day of walking, we had successfully completed the first day of our walk of the Camino Ingles.

All along the way there are "waymarks" -- mounted on stone markers (some unfortunately defaced), on building tiles, painted as yellow arrows on the ground or walls, or more creatively on someone's propane tank -- all these pointing peregrinos in the rght direction. We'll show you more along the way. No matter how they look, we are always delighted and reassured to see them.

Wednesday morning, September 21st (our plan being to walk 10 miles/day on alternating days), we were off again, back to Fene, to resume our adventure, first to Cabanas and Pontedeume. The trail was initially uphill and then we headed down into the two resort cities.




The panoramas were quite beautiful with broad streets and tall trees in Cabanas leading down to the bay, and white buildings scaling the mountainside in Pontedeume overlooking the water.

There used to be 116 arches on this bridge, along with a chapel.



After a quick “Coca Cola lite y cana” we were off again – this time to meet our first real climbing challenge. The lovely mountainside city of Pontedeume was indeed picturesque, but it also was on the side of a pretty big hill.


To leave Pontedeume, we went up steeply for about 2 miles, and we felt it. The higher we got, the better the view as we looked back down on Pontedeume. Trust us, we had plenty of time to look at the view!

We finally reached the summit and then headed through the trees to Mino, our destination for the second day. Along the way we stopped for a refreshing drink at one of the fuentes the guidebook recommended as safe for drinking.


At this one, the spigot was stuck, so Dale needed to use his foot to open it. Well worth the effort!

Day Two is done. Hard climbing -- sore feet -- tired backs -- but a good day.