Ferrol 4 October

Today is the real rest day and I felt that I needed it after pushing several 20 mile plus days in the past week. After 10 hours of sleep, I took my time walking to the Estacion de Autobuses in Santiago and took the 11 am bus to Ferrol. It was an hour and a half ride, much of it a preview of where I will be walking for the next five days on the Camino Ingles.

Ferrol is straight north of Santiago on the north coast. It has been an important fishing and shipping port for centuries and also has a large base for the Spanish Navy. It is important in camino history because many ships carrying English, Norwegian, and other Northern European pilgrims docked here and those pilgrims then started their caminos from this city. It is a much more beautiful city than I thought it would be, with a compact old town close to the port. The old town has many plazas and parks some with panoramic views of the harbor and the sea. Ferrol is also famous (or maybe infamous) for being the birthplace of el Caudillo, otherwise known as Francisco Franco.

It was raining as I left Santiago this morning and there were still some showers and thunder here in Ferrol this afternoon, but it is supposed to be clearing up for the next few days, so hopefully, I will be able to walk without donning the rain gear. I can see that much of the first three days walk will be along portions of the coastline, so should be quite scenic. Like I said, I did take it easy today with a mid afternoon meal and a walk around the port and town, including the start of the camino. Tomorrow will be back to serious walking again.

Here is one of me in front of the cathedral in Santiago.

Here is a view in Ferrol of the Spanish Navy's shipyard.

And this is a view of the Port of Ferrol with both pleasure and fishing boats.

This is the marker at the start of the Camino Ingles at the port in Ferrol.