Xubia

Xubia is the riverside district of Narón where the Camino Inglés meets its first great monument. The monastery of San Martiño de Xubia, also called O Couto, appears in a document dated 977 that already describes it as long established, and it may be older still. In the 12th century the powerful Traba family handed it to the Burgundian abbey of Cluny, and it flourished as one of the most important religious houses in the region.

What survives is its Romanesque church, built in the early 12th century with three semicircular apses, later given a Baroque facade and declared a national monument in 1972. The monastery was dissolved in 1836 and now serves as a parish church. Opening hours are very limited, but its garden makes a peaceful place to rest your legs, and visits can sometimes be arranged in advance with the parish.

Keep an eye out for a second set of waymarks here: a red fish on wooden or stone posts, the symbol of the pilgrimage to San Andrés de Teixido, which shares this stretch. Nearby stands the 18th-century Muíño das Aceñas, one of the few tide mills left in Galicia. After the monastery the route follows a wooded track beside the motorway before dropping to the Paseo da Ribeira, and there is also a shortcut over a footbridge beside the railway that crosses straight toward Neda.