Englischer Jakobsweg (A Coruña)

This variant of the English Way begins at A Coruña and runs south for around 30 km to meet the main Ferrol line near As Travesas, close to Hospital de Bruma. From that junction the two share a single path for the remaining stages into Santiago de Compostela, making the total distance from the city about 75 km.

A Coruña was one of the principal landing points for medieval sea pilgrims, and in some periods handled more arrivals than Ferrol. English fleets sailing under royal licence discharged passengers here through the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and the city’s Igrexa de Santiago, begun in the twelfth century, served as their first stop. The harbour is guarded by the Tower of Hercules, a Roman lighthouse of the first or second century still in operation and listed by UNESCO in 2009.

Leaving the peninsula, the path crosses the industrial and residential belt around the Ría do Burgo before reaching Cambre, where the church of Santa María is among the more complete Romanesque buildings in the province. It then climbs gradually through Carral and open agricultural land towards the watershed at Bruma.

Because the distance falls short of the 100 km threshold, this start long carried a disadvantage for pilgrims seeking the Compostela. Since 2016 the Cathedral has accepted it where walkers can show a further 25 km completed on a recognised route in their own country, an arrangement aimed particularly at British and Irish pilgrims. The branch remains lightly walked, and its early sections are more urban than most Camino stages.