Ruta del Mar, in reverse!

[Gerry Callaghan]

Felicity and Gerry from Ireland are cycling the Frances and Finnistere in May/June. Rather then returning to Santiago de Compostello we plan on making our way from Muxia via La Coruna to Ferrol.

From Ferrol we will follow the Camino del Mar in an easterly direction and pick up the Del Norte at San Cosme de Barreiros, a bit to the west of Ribadeo. We will then do the Del Norte, in reverse, back to our starting point in Bayonne.

There is not a huge amount on information on this camino but I've been reading
Trepidatious traveller great blog on https://magwood.me/. Thanks!

Google maps has some lovely spikes in altitude on this route. However at that stage we will have over 1000 km in the legs and will be as fit as we are going to get!

156 km in the mountains on a loaded touring bike is a bit much for one day so we plan on staying somewhere about O Porto de Esparante for a night. Albergues are a bit scarce on the Ruta del Mar so it probably will be a choice between a hostal or a bivvy bag on the beach!

If anyone has anything to add I'd love to hear it. I promise to write up an account of this route and post it for the benefit of future perigrinos/perigrinas.

https://www.google.ie/maps/dir/Ferr...b4a70!2m2!1d-7.0403489!2d43.5336794!3e1?hl=en

 

[Tia Valeria]

This sounds really good. The first stage from Ferrol has 'fish' signs which start at the church of San Martin at Xubia (follow the Ingles signs out of Ferrol to the church). These will take you to San Andres de Teixido, then you will be backtracking any signs. However the coast path signs often go in both directions which will be of some help. We can recommend Cafe-Bar Moderno in San Cosme de Barreiros (and the owner is a cycling fan) We had a warm welcome as walking pilgrims, and great food. A good overnight stopping place too if needed.
You are right that there are no albergues, but there are hostales etc. check out our blog for Camino 2015 (link also below in my signature). Relevent posts are under June, although they relate to May when we actually walked.
Looking forward to reading about your reverse Ruta do Mar experience. So far those of us who have walked it have all found differing routes in places - due to the signing, or lack of it .

 

[Tia Valeria]

Some of the fish signs are pointing down tracks, rather than roads. Are you on touring or mountain bikes? Much of what we actually walked was on the side roads, but as you will see in the blog we did not walk into Ferrol from San Andres. If you take the roads and miss San Andres itself there was an ancient route that went from Ferrol to Viveiro. We were told that pilgrims landed there to avoid the dangers of the sea nearer to Ferrol, then walked to Ferrol and on to Santiago. So many choices of route!!
(Edit:- re-opening Google map link I see that you have road directions . Missed them first time.. However I'll leave the comments in case anyone decides to walk in reverse.)

 

[Gerry Callaghan]

Many thanks for this information, it's very helpful.

We are 'of mature years' but are both experienced touring cyclists. I've cycled Frances and Finnistere before and Felicity has cycled from Ukraine in the past.
The bikes are Koga randoneer touring bikes, the sort you meet coming off the Khunjerab pass in Pakistan. They are best on tarmac and dirt roads but will handle almost anything you can throw at them.

There are a multitude of routes from Ferrol. I'm trying to find a cycle route that minimises the descents. The inland route through Vilaba has the least amount of hills, but no sea views, and the coastal route through Cederia is the hilliest. Right now I'm looking at the AC-862 to O Porto de Espasante which seems to be somewhere between the two.
I've not started to research the sights along the way yet. My this route planning is real fun!

 

[Tia Valeria]

If you are looking to stay in Espasante we can recommend the Pension Las Palomas, where we stayed in 2015. Espasante is quite small so it might be worth booking, or else aiming for Viveiro for the night. We loved both places.

 

[Magwood]

Hi Gerry. I'm very pleased you found my blog useful. I can recommend the Hotel Orillamar in Espasante. I was given a lovely room for 30 euros.
I absolutely loved walking my version of the Ruta do Mar. Buen camino!