English Way

The English Way, or Camino Inglés, runs south from the port of Ferrol on Galicia’s northern coast to Santiago de Compostela, a distance of about 118 km. It takes its name from the pilgrims who arrived by ship from England, Ireland, Scandinavia and the Low Countries, disembarking at Ferrol or nearby A Coruña and completing the journey on foot rather than crossing the Pyrenees overland.

Maritime pilgrimage to Galicia was substantial from the twelfth century onward and peaked in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, when English vessels licensed to carry pilgrims made the passage in numbers. Traffic collapsed after the Reformation and the naval conflicts of the sixteenth century, and the route lay largely dormant until its revival in the late twentieth century.

The early stages follow the Ría de Ferrol through Neda and Pontedeume, crossing the medieval bridge over the Eume, then Betanzos, a walled town with the Gothic churches of Santiago and San Francisco, the latter holding the carved tomb of Fernán Pérez de Andrade. Beyond Bruma the path leaves the coast for rolling farmland and eucalyptus woodland, passing Sigüeiro before the final approach to the city.

Its length is the route’s practical defining feature. The Ferrol start exceeds the 100 km minimum required for the Compostela, while the shorter branch from A Coruña does not, which historically limited its use. The Cathedral now recognises the A Coruña start where pilgrims document an additional 25 km walked in their country of origin. Numbers remain modest compared with the French or Portuguese routes, and several stages pass through sparsely served countryside.