The English Way was one of the most frequently used pilgrimage routes in medieval Europe to reach Compostela along the coast. Pilgrims from Scandinavia, the Netherlands, the north of France and mainly England, Ireland and Scotland reached the north of Spain by ship, entering Galicia via the ports of Ribadeo, Viveiro, Ferrol or A Coruña. These latter two ports, situated on a a wide gulf the Romans called Portus Magnum Artabrorum, became traditionally consolidated as the starting points of the two alternatives of the English Way. Seafarers reached the port guided by the light beam from the Torre de Hércules, a Roman lighthouse that was declared a World Heritage Site in 2009.
Once on land, both alternative routes converge in the parish of Bruma, in the municipal district of Mesía, and they go all the way to Compostela crossing the lands of Cambre, Carral, Mesón do Vento, Ordes and Oroso, to name but a few.