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Search 69,459 Camino Questions

Old guide or new?

judydaisy

Member
Time of past OR future Camino
Sarria - Santiago 2004
Roncesvalles - Estella 2009
Camino Ingles - 2012
Tui - Santiago - 2014
Hi All. I last did the English route in 2012. I am think of doing it again in Spring 2019 (with a couple new to the Camino. They want a taster and preferably want to end up in Santiago.)
Has the route changed significantly to warrant my buying a new guide? I understand it’s changed around/after Bar Júlia... how is the signage? Could I manage with my old guide plus updates given here on the forum.
Also does the “new” route after Bar Júlia go near Meson do Venta?
Many thanks
 
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Hi All. I last did the English route in 2012. I am think of doing it again in Spring 2019 (with a couple new to the Camino. They want a taster and preferably want to end up in Santiago.)
Has the route changed significantly to warrant my buying a new guide? I understand it’s changed around/after Bar Júlia... how is the signage? Could I manage with my old guide plus updates given here on the forum.
Also does the “new” route after Bar Júlia go near Meson do Venta?
Many thanks
I walked Ingles in 2016 but rerouting happened last year and as I understand it's rerouted before Bar Julia and is very well marked so you shouldn't have any problem finding a way. The route change is before Bruma and doesn't go through Meson do Vento.
 
Hi ,
Just completed the Camino ingles now.
Please note there has been a 2018 route change,..
I have followed the arrow. And got there no problem..from Sigueiro follow the new route past the bridge and follow the signs .in that way you bypass the walk by the church into the forest at barciela... New route very nice..
 
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But the new guide is totally inaccurate and a complete waste of money! I completed the Ingles last week - very disappointed with the guide and, to be honest, some later parts of the walk. I walked the old route two years ago and it was much more enjoyable.
 
But the new guide is totally inaccurate and a complete waste of money! I completed the Ingles last week - very disappointed with the guide and, to be honest, some later parts of the walk. I walked the old route two years ago and it was much more enjoyable.
What guide are you referring to? I wish to walk the Ingles late October from Ferrol and am not sure what guide to get. Thanks
 
But the new guide is totally inaccurate and a complete waste of money! I completed the Ingles last week - very disappointed with the guide and, to be honest, some later parts of the walk. I walked the old route two years ago and it was much more enjoyable.
Hi
Yes I agree the guides are not accurate as they have made changes in 2017 and also in 2018. I gave up on them early on. So following the arrow was ok... If you don't mind me asking, what made you walk it again??
Just curious I suppose..

Not sure what the old route was like, but it was quite ok for me..
 
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Well whatever you find that is 2018 could be a preferable choice. Definetley CSJ Jonny Walker was better but did not have the new change from Sigueiro.. still house or not guide you can easily follow the arrow all the way. It is very well signed
Buen camino
 
I walked from Ferrol too
 
Well whatever you find that is 2018 could be a preferable choice. Definetley CSJ Jonny Walker was better but did not have the new change from Sigueiro.. still house or not guide you can easily follow the arrow all the way. It is very well signed
Buen camino
So I just go to Ferrol and where do I start ?
 
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
Major changes to the CI this spring but it IS very well marked - almost overly so in some places - it would be hard to get lost!
 
So I just go to Ferrol and where do I start ?
Unless you want to walk through the dock area you can start on the north side of the bridge and walk to Fene - you still do 100km - 111 in fact ;)

It's a good walk, totally different from the CF, not as busy. I caught the train from SdC to Ferrol, lovely scenery!

1537197290899.png
 
What guide are you referring to? I wish to walk the Ingles late October from Ferrol and am not sure what guide to get. Thanks
I was referring to the Ingles from Ferrol. Quite honestly, you're better following the way marks...
 
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So I just go to Ferrol and where do I start ?
Official start of Ingles in Ferrol is in old port. You should find the Turist Office kiosk and across the street is this huge mojon. That's "the start":
2016-06-29 10.19.17.jpg
 
Go to the naval buildings at the harbour, you'll find steps where pilgrims may have landed centuries ago. The way is well signposted as long as you keep your eyes open!
 
Hi,
I got the bus from airport going to bus station,easy too pay on the bus.
Bus to Ferrol only 7.90 euro one way. Took around 1 hour and a half..pretty straightforward.(if you don't buy ticket before, go upstairs ticket office is two floor up Monbus counter.
Get sello at tourist office also I believe there is a church very close for a church one..
I got mine at the cathedral and another one from the concathedral further on..
On the route, you get to a point when you have a choice of 2 paths one the original the other is an alternativo which could be a longer one.
I stuck to the original. And not too long walked over a new footbridge and right in front there was Neda albergue. Hope it helps you.
Buen camino
 
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True it is called Albergue de Neda but it is actually located 2km before Neda in village of Xubia. If you don't take the footbridge you can see beautiful old watermill to the left when crossing the river. Worth walk few more meters.
 

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On the guides, I walked in March this year with a few. The CSJ guide was the most up to date, but did not have the new route by the motorway on the way to Sigueiro, the route after Siguiero, and the route along the road out of Cos on the way to Hospital de Bruma.

That said, I learned after the first day not to carry to guide in hand, as I was reading one sentence ahead and trying to find the landmark described. It is best just to follow the waymarks, which are good, apart from one or two points a day. Sometimes the waymarks are not as frequent as you may wish, but if you are going straight, you just need to trust yourself that if the waymarks had told you to go left or right, you would have done so. The one point that does not help is as the Ingles is not as popular as other routes (which is the one of the attractions), there is not a steady stream of peregrinos in front of you to follow. You may see a handful of other pilgrims each day.

So if you take one guide, the most up to date appears to be the CSJ guide. I also took the Cicerone guide, as I like the coloured maps and I could gauge how far along the route I was. It does not have the new route to Hospital de Bruma, but if you are clever, when you come out of the forest onto the main road by the electricity sub station, you are actually on the A Coruna to SdC Camino Ingles, and the map in the Cicerone guide is accurate from there to Hospital de Bruma. The Cicerone guide map, whilst not following the route was also useful as a double check that the new waymarked route out of Sigueiro was going the right way.

Other things I took. I printed out Google maps of Ferrol, Fene, Pontedeume, Betanzos and Sigueiro, so I could find my accommodation, but these were useful for getting me across these towns, especially if I veered off Camino in order to find a restaurant or other thing that interested me.

As noted above, in Ferrol, the Ingles starts at the harbour, and you have a sense of history starting at the stone there, just as the pilgrims of old would have started when they disembarked from their boats. There is a tourist office by the harbour (open till 6pm in the evening and from 10am in the morning), which can firstly issue credencials, stamp credencials, and also they have good free maps of Ferrol, almost out to the N-651 bridge, which have the Ingles route marked on it. There is also another tourist office in the big square by the station which is open till 7pm that does the same.

One tip if you arrive at Ferrol in the afternoon. The walk to Pontedueme is long for a first stage, if you are not stopping at Neda halfway. Going down to the harbour and walking from there to your hotel will save 45 minutes or so next morning, if you can do that bit 'in advance' and then in the morning, just walk out of your hotel, and using the tourist information map, join the Ingles route from whichever point is nearest.

Last thing about sellos. Your hotel in Ferrol should be able to give you a valid, initial, stamp for your credencial in the morning you leave (even if you have done the harbour to hotel preamble the evening before). You do not need to hunt around the town to the cathedral or tourist office for one. All you need is a stamp that shows you have started in Ferrol, somewhere.

Last point, as @jeffcrawley says, if you take the short cut across the N-651 bridge from Ferrol to Fene, as beautifully illustrated in the map provided by Jeff, even though you cut out the walk round the estuary, you still walk 100km from Ferrol to SdC, and you still qualify for a credencial. Nobody is going to ask why you did not have a stamp for Xubia or Neda and disqualify you for that. Yes, you take a short cut, but if walking all the way to Pontedeume on the first day, your legs may thank you for it on day 2. If I did my Ingles again, I would either cut the Ferrol to Pontedeume stage up into two and overnight at Xubia or Neda, take the N-651 bridge shortcut, or cut day 2 in half and overnight at the seaside town of Mino (which the Ingles skirts on the edge of, instead of going down by the beach at that point, instead of walking all the way to Betanzos on day 2. As a first stage, unless you are really fit and trained, the walk all around the estuary to Pontedeume is too long.
 
Here are links to GPS tracks of my short stages (busted little toe on Santiago curb big time) on Ingles. It was in 2016 and I slept in every albergue possible. I was walking strictly on the official Camino except maybe a few meters right at the beginning because there was construction work in the street in Ferrol.

Ferrol (old port, official start) - Xubia (albergue Neda):
https://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/spatialArtifacts.do?event=setCurrentSpatialArtifact&id=13837725

Xubia (albergue Neda) - Pontedeume (muni albergue):
https://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/spatialArtifacts.do?event=setCurrentSpatialArtifact&id=13846969
(again some construction works on the path just before Santa Maria, you can see I backtracked a little bit)

Pontedeume (muni albergue) - Mino (muni albergue):
https://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/spatialArtifacts.do?event=setCurrentSpatialArtifact&id=13855290
(the way to the albergue could be shortened though but I discovered that later)

Mino (muni albergue) - Betanzos (muni albergue):
https://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/spatialArtifacts.do?event=setCurrentSpatialArtifact&id=13863640

Betanzos (muni albergue) - Presedo (muni albergue):
https://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/spatialArtifacts.do?event=setCurrentSpatialArtifact&id=13874993
(if you want to stay on Camino and/or go to Meson-Museo Xente no Camino then DON'T veer to the right when coming into Presedo, just keep straight)

Presedo (muni albergue) - Hospital de Bruma (muni albergue):
https://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/spatialArtifacts.do?event=setCurrentSpatialArtifact&id=13889076
(I posted this link even if the Camino is now rerouted on this leg. But this GPS track is exactly where the old route was and goes past legendary Bar Julia.)

Hospital de Bruma (muni albergue) - Sigueiro (Town Hall):
https://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/spatialArtifacts.do?event=setCurrentSpatialArtifact&id=13900775

Sigueiro (Town Hall) - Santiago (Cathedral):
https://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/spatialArtifacts.do?event=setCurrentSpatialArtifact&id=13910415
(I don't know about this new detours along the motorway but I remember that soon after Hotel San Vicente I crossed the N-550 to the right and then at Mosquera Factory there was a little bit of a mess with arrows. Pointing right/straight and left back to the N-550. Local woman came by and told me that Camino goes right/straight and that the left option is because of a bar on the N-550.)
(Also I think that in last couple hundred meters I didn't really follow the Camino because I knew shorter way to Praza do Obradoiro)

Buen Camino!
 
The 2024 Camino guides will be coming out little by little. Here is a collection of the ones that are out so far.
Just to illustrate how much the Ingles has changed, in my opinion, some for the better, and some for the worse.

Xubia to Pontedeume - at Vilar do Colo where you go over the motorway, the new Ingles walks to the East of the N-651 road and comes into Cabanas down a steep hill from the countryside. The old route, more prettily, and as illustrated, comes down into Cabanas under the railway line and you have the opportunity to walk along the white sand beach at Magdalena until you come to the bridge to Pontedeume.

Betanzos to Presedo - when you come up to the CP-105 road out of Cos, the new route does not cross the road and go through fields to Monte de Covelo to the north, but is waymarked left along the CP-105 road and then follows the CP-105 road for a good 30 minutes until it turns off to Presedo. When the Camino follows the road, the 'straight on' waymarks only appear almost every kilometre, whilst there are footpaths going off to the right, so you just need to have faith in the waymarks, follow the road, including down a couple of bends through woods, until you see the Ingles waymarked left along a path for the short walk to Presedo.

Presedo to Hospital de Bruma - after Leiro, the new route missing out the hard climb past Bar Julia, runs West, roughly following the Rego de Routino, past the lake, and then through the forest to join the AC-542 road, where the route from A Coruna comes in. I remember passing under the motorway (and conveniently being able to shelter from the rain) far earlier than any of the guidebooks suggested. I wonder if Bar Julia is still open, being as this was quite a major place on the Ingles?

Hospital de Bruma to Sigueiro - when you cross the motorway, the new route walks alongside the motorway for almost an hour. The old route, which I would follow if I did the Ingles again, as walking the other side of a fence alongside a motorway is not much fun, as illustrated on the Wikiloc map, carries on along a country road, and down another (which the new route joins later) all the way into Sigueiro

Sigueiro to SdC - the key here is to stay on the footpath on the right hand side of the N-550 road as you go over the river bridge and out of Sigueiro. The new route then goes North of the N-550 road and alongside quiet country roads parallel to the N-550 road. This reworking is well done, because the new route is much quieter.
 
What I should have added, is that I do not think that any of the guidebooks currently adequately cover all of the above new re-routings (the new CSJ guide includes some).

My view is that, currently, you are therefore just as well relying on following the waymarks, instead of rigidly using a guidebook on the Ingles (apart from ignoring the waymark turning you right onto a grass path on the motorway embankment, so as to follow the motorway to Sigueiro once you come over the motorway between Hospital de Bruma and Sigueiro and instead carry on walking along the country road running about 1km parallel to the motorway.
 
Hi. I am currently on the ingles, at Bruma. I am using the buen Camino app which shows both the new and the old routes. I've taken the old route every time. It is longer but is away from the road. I do not understand why they have re-routed to make pilgrims walk on main roads. There are not any extra bars or services on the roads so I just don't get it. Also for info, it is busy. Maybe 40 or 50 pilgrims walking. Albergues are all full.
 
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Unless you want to walk through the dock area you can start on the north side of the bridge and walk to Fene - you still do 100km - 111 in fact ;)

It's a good walk, totally different from the CF, not as busy. I caught the train from SdC to Ferrol, lovely scenery!

View attachment 46353

Much appreciated.
 
Hi. I am currently on the ingles, at Bruma. I am using the buen Camino app which shows both the new and the old routes. I've taken the old route every time. It is longer but is away from the road. I do not understand why they have re-routed to make pilgrims walk on main roads. There are not any extra bars or services on the roads so I just don't get it. Also for info, it is busy. Maybe 40 or 50 pilgrims walking. Albergues are all full.[/QUOTE

I agree - no idea why they've changed it! Loved the Ingles 2 years ago, but this year not so much!
 
I did the CI this year in February (18) and enjoyed it. I didn't use the Buen Camino app as it wasn't released then. However, I do use this app as a reference on most routes and recommend it. I followed the new route and stopped at the only bar when you join the main road and come off again. I understand that's a poor substitute for Bar Julia. The bar at Bruma was excellent and I had a great time there. It closes on Monday's for rest. There was only one other Pilgrim when I did my trip, which is lucky, as A Coruna joins the route at Bruma as well.
 
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Brierly was fine in October 2017. I spent an extra day in both Pontedueme and Betanzos just to enjoy the food and conversation. No problem finding beds on the CI.
 
I have written extensively about the new route, having completed it in May this year. I also offer my personal guide, if you are interested. I did not prefer the new route. I also do not get it. The only thing I could suppose is they believe the pilgrim is safer on the long endless forest lanes, over the narrow paved roads? For lots of photos of the new way click here.
 

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