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Combine Ferrol & A Coruña Routes for Camino Ingles?

halfbask

New Member
Time of past OR future Camino
Frances: Sept 2-29, 2016
del Norte: Spring/Summer 2017
Please offer any + or - insight or suggestion on my planned June 1 "hybrid" Camino Ingles. I'll start in Ferrol but plan to divert at Pontedeume to Sada and then A Coruña. From there I plan on picking up the "old" route via Sergude, Bruma, etc. This gives me more sea, time in A Coruña and > 100km.

What'cha think?
 
3rd Edition. More content, training & pack guides avoid common mistakes, bed bugs etc
I do not think that this will qualify for a compostela, if this is important to you.

To qualify for a compostela, my understanding is that you need to walk the whole of the last 100km on a recognised Camino. In other words, for the Camino Ingles, walk the last 100km of the Camino Ingles, which you will not do, because you do not walk from Pontedeume to Hospital de Bruma where the La Coruna route of the Ingles joins the Ferrol route.

What you will do is walk the 76km or so from La Coruna to Santiago, which does not qualify for a compostela, unless you live on the La Coruna route, or you have walked 25km in your own country.

If you want to enjoy La Coruna, why don't you simply stay a night or two there before you take the train from La Coruna to Ferrol? The train journey from La Coruna to Ferrol is lovely, with about 75% of the journey being on the coast. It also passes by most of the walk you make from La Coruna until the sea disappears on the inland part of the La Coruna Ingles section, and in my view, viewing the sea from the train is probably more picturesque than walking uphill through the, not so picturesque, suburbs of La Coruna.

Final point. Almost half of the stage between Pontedeume and Betanzos is also by the sea, a wonderful walk round the estuary. And less than half the walk from La Coruna to Hospital de Bruma is by the sea. So what you are doing is substituting one walk by the sea for another, for a reason, I cannot understand?

If you are desperate for the walk from La Coruna, when you reach Hospital de Bruma, why not catch a taxi back to La Coruna, and then walk from there to Hospital de Bruma? The overlap will only be on the last 5km or so before Hospital de Bruma.
 
Since my proposed route
- is much longer than either the Ferrol or A Coruña Routes
- starts in Ferrol
- finishes in Santiago
I've assumed the Compostela would be awarded. But, maybe not? I appreciate your input. And, yes, my route harbors a secret ;-)

Thanks, David!
 
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
If you start in A Coruna and move from Pontedeume to Ferrol then walk to Santiago there should be no problem. Others have done it this way.
You could PM @t2andreo for further information or advice☺
 
Hi Halfbask!
I walked both routes to Santiago, and was given a Compostela without a murmur. Check out my web site for the diary - if it's of any interest.
Blessings from sunny England, and .....
Buen camino!
 
But the crucial thing, Stephen, if I am reading your diary correctly, is that you walked from La Coruna to Hospital de Bruma, then caught a bus to Ferrol, and then walked all the way from Ferrol to Santiago, and therefore you would have been able to present an uninterrupted Camino Ingles credencial from Ferrol to Santiago..

What you did, and what Tia Valeria suggests is different from what is being proposed here.
 
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
¡Parece que la ruta es como una marca y se necesita protegerla!
 
Sounds very... creative! There are no sea views on the classic Ferrol-SdC Ingles, unless you count the little river inlets of Betanzos and Pontedeume. That said, I would opt to do the last 100km of the Caminho Portugues if you want sea views, as the coast on the Ingles isn't all that pretty. But I still loved this Camino - after walking 30+ days on the Norte, we were quite tired of the sea!
 
As has been advised frequently on this forum the Compostella is awarded to those who walk, at least, 100 Km to Santiago with religious purpose or at least with spiritual intent. If you start in Ferrol and end in Santiago you will have walked more than 100 Km. Your intentions are your own affair.
 
A selection of Camino Jewellery
Just to add as @peb already mentioned you can also obtain Compostela if you walk 25km in your own country and then walk from A Coruna to SdC. It's the only exemption on the 100km rule for obtaining the Compostela as I know of.
 

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