Guidebook to the Camino Ingles and Ruta do Mar camino routes through north-west Spain to Santiago de Compostela. The 116km Camino Ingles begins in Ferrol in Galicia and takes around a week to complete. It offers reliable waymarking, pilgrim facilities, and the opportunity to earn the Compostela certificate on completion. An alternative start in A Coruna gives a walk of 73km. The Ruta do Mar from Ribadeo provides a 190km coastal link between the Camino del Norte and the Camino Ingles. A newly recovered camino, its pilgrim infrastructure and waymarking is less well developed, but for those seeking solitude it offers striking scenery along a wild coastline. The book also includes an overview of a continuation route from Santiago to 'the end of the world' at Finisterre on the Atlantic coast.
The guidebook presents the route in stages of a day's walking. In addition to the route description, there is full information on facilities, food and lodging, 1:1000 scale maps of the route and town maps for key locations. With notes on preparation and planning, travel and equipment, a list of useful sources of information, and a glossary, the book is an indispensable companion for any one walking these caminos.
Santiago de Compostela, whose cathedral houses the relics of St James, was one of three major centres of Catholic pilgrimage in the Middle Ages. In modern times the Caminos de Santiago have seen a resurgence in popularity, drawing large numbers of walkers, some for religious pilgrimage, others for the challenge and opportunity for self-reflection, and the unique experience of walking a camino.