Finisterra Twenty Years On

 Yesterday Graham walked up to the headland at Finisterra while I waited in the van. The reason I didn’t go with him? It was absolutely chucking it down and I preferred to stay warm and dry with just the quickest foray to the Chinese bazaar to see if I could purchase anything totally useless but mildly fun. I didn’t.

Graham's walk in the rain

A sunnier day to be there with Hugo

He returned in usual drowned rat style with a few pictures and lots of memories of when he walked there 20 years ago. It was a tradition for those who completed the pilgrimage to burn their shoes on the edge of the cliff. This has been stopped for hygiene reasons but there now sits a small statue of a boot at the very edge which was surrounded by several discarded (but unburnt) walking shoes.

Happy and haggard

There is a bird here - really

We returned this morning by van and the weather was glorious. A few small birds bobbed around between the worn out shoes and a couple of peregrinos (pilgrims) who looked happy but haggard sat by the crucifix at the end of the walk.

The soggy view

We’ve now moved on to Noia and consumed some rather gorgeous fish for lunch at Ferrador Restaurant. The van is, once again, parked by a body of water and we may have one more night in Spain before we head in to Portugal.

The End of the World - for the Romans Anyway

 Twenty years ago Graham walked the Camino de Santiago de Compostela. From St Jean Pied de Port to Santiago is about 780 km but this was not far enough for him. He continued on to Finisterra (named by the Romans as they thought it was the very end of the earth) and then to the village of Muxia where a large Sanctuary to the Virgin of the Barca sits on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. That’s around an extra 100 Kms.

Always likes to coordinate his clothes with his walking signs

The colour of the water cannot be captured well enough in these photos

Yesterday we drove to Muxia (pronounced Moo-SHE-a) to revisit where Graham had finally finished his walk. After an amazing lunch of arroz de mariscos (rice and seafood) at the restaurant Lonxa D’Alvaro (which we both agreed is probably the best meal we’ve had so far on this trip) we drove up to the sanctuary and spent the night overlooking the lighthouse and a very wild ocean. This coast is known as the ‘Costa del Morte’ or ‘Coast of Death’ as so many ships have gone down in this area. 

Looking at the steeple and some art

The Sanctuary of the Virgin

Cadris stone for healing the back

Local folklore states that the Virgin Mary sailed to this area in a stone boat to hang out with St James and parts of the boat are littered in front of the church. If one walks under the stone sail, known as the cadris stone, nine times then your back pain will be healed. I had a go as did Graham so we shall wait and see if it works.

The morning by lighthouse

We’re now in Finisterra but it has been very wet today so I’ll take some photos tomorrow.

Stunning sky at Muxia

Disco Fever?

 The colours of our last two days have been green, blue, and white. Green for the endless eucalypt forests that line the roads, blue for the ‘azul’ skies and the sea, and white for the mist over the water that we woke up to at last night’s location, Obrigueira. It is a town that hosts a world/folk music festival each year and sports a very attractive statue of a Galician piper in the town square carpark.

So far

Piper by sea

Obrigueira seemed like such a quiet, civilised town. Mountains reflected in the sea, lone seabirds wading along the waterfront, children clutching their lollipop gifts from the three kings on this their epiphany festival. However - at midnight last night I was wishing I had gone to bed in a lime Green Lycra body-hugging disco frock as my horizontal dance steps to the booming music that went on until 230am may have felt more authentic. If only we had had some soothing folk music instead of Elton John’s latest dance mix (which I now have as an ear worm, by the way) and other full on dance anthems.

A peaceful scene

This morning we couldn’t work out if it was a fiesta from the town centre or just a chap in a car with an extremely healthy sound system but we made it through the night and woke to a deceptively peaceful scene as though nothing had gone on. Maybe we’d been dreaming.

Morning view

All by myself

By the way, we did discover the world’s most - different -  Spar shop as we walked around town.

Unlike any other Spar shop I’ve seen

As we drove out of the town the mist cleared and we had bright blue skies all the way to Betanzos where we are currently parked. We had great hopes for a Sunday lunch of tapas and perhaps Mr Fluffy’s favourite, pulpo, but it was not to be. To use a cliche, ‘cafes, cafes everywhere and not a bite to eat’. The Epiphany holiday weekend strikes again. There were dozens of cafes in the square but,’Lo Siento’, they weren’t serving food today. Of course, after going back to the van for some cheese and biscuits, we returned to the town centre for a glass of wine in the sun to find many cafes in the back streets serving raciones and tapas. Sigh. We did find many Camino signs so Graham was happy as it’s 20 years this year since he walked the Camino de Santiago and we’ll be heading to Muxia tomorrow, the place where he actually finished the pilgrimage walk.

 

Parked by the river

Love laundry on a balcony

On the Camino Inglese

It seems unlikely that we’ll go hungry, however. Due to my poor translation skills we managed to order several thousand churros instead of the two we required and we’ve (by ‘we’ I mean Graham) have been working our way through them ever since.

Yes, I did have one too

A plethora of churros

Wet, Wet, Wet

 Today we’ve run the gamut of the weather from wet to wetter. I can almost hear my British friends playing their tiny violins as, I believe, the UK has been in a pretty bad state of flooding since we’ve been away. We’ve been lucky so far. The colour of our drive to our current location at San Cibrao in Galicia was grey with just a hint of more grey. There was rain, hail, then more rain.

Our location is lovely - by yet another beach.

Beach view from the window on arrival

We’ve decided the theme for our trip is the coastal route of the Camino de Santiago which we seem to have been following for some time. We haven’t seen many pilgrims so far but that may just be the time of year. It would be a stunning walk and Mr Fluffy is being sorely tempted. He’s just returned from getting drenched on a walk up to the light house which, hopefully, might put him off.

Mr Soggy returns

I wisely stayed in the van.

 But he did get some good shots.

All alone

Not sure what this is a ruin of…

Lighthouse reached and a hint of blue sky

Hoping for more blue skies tomorrow as we work our way along the Galician coast.

Lake to Sea

 Yesterday - a day of lake, ribs, and barking dogs. Overo has a perfectly functional Aire near a lake that’s surrounded by eucalypts. I was reminded of Australia with every nasal inspiration (aka sniff). The lake was large and sported the occasional canoeist but was strangely un photogenic - hence my lack of photos. And, by the way, if you like going to sleep to the constant sound of large dogs barking, then Overo is the place for you.

Aromatic eucalypts and outrageous ribs

What was photogenic was the size of the ribs Graham ordered for his lunch. I’ve never seen anything so huge. Today’s lunch of pimientos del padron , in the much more attractive town of Cudillero, was more to my taste. We’re parked in the harbour of this fishing village surrounded by boats and lobster pots. The houses are built high up into the hills that surrounds the town - the tourist info states that the houses hang from the clouds - very poetic. 

Close to the edge

I love a padron pepper

Our view with the village in the background

Sunny to Soggy

 As I sit here in my undies surrounded by the smell of wet dog and despair, I think back to better times of blue skies, sunshine and warmth - well, it was yesterday actually and I know, I’m being dramatic. My jeans are making an indigo pattern on the bathroom floor as the rain drips from the hem. Graham is worried the down on his expensive walking jacket will never be the same again.

This morning, after a quiet night by the beach, we arrived in the Aire at RibadeSella which can only be described as a glorified quarry complete with a 45 minute walk into town to get food. (The info said it was 15 minutes to walk so i don't know what they were on when they gave those instructions.) The walk, while excessively long, was attractive with yet another gorgeous beach and lovely houses to check out along the way.

Hugo enjoys the walk

Most restaurants were closed but we found one open by the harbour. When I ordered the ‘wok with gambas’ I expected something with a noodle involved. The noodle element in this case turned out to be baby eels with three prawns and a couple of fried eggs. Mr Fluffy was happier with his pulpo gallego (octopus) and ended up eating my left overs. Of course, after lunch, as we strolled around town, everything had just closed so we had to entertain ourselves with window shopping only.

Eel noodles

All was well weather wise on our walk in so we decided to have a wine on the beach front as we walked back, as one does. This is where it all went a tad wrong. As we sat sipping our vinos tintos the skies opened so we had to neck the wine and we got totalmente drenched on the remaining 30minute walk back to Dickie.

Just before the deluge 

Loving these railings 

And so now I sit, wearing only my jumper and socks (and undies, of course) waiting for the clothes to dry and tapping away at this blog as the rain pours on the roof. It does feel good to be safe in the van even if it is in a disused quarry. I would take a photo of the but it’s now raining too much to go out.

New Year, New Beach

 If we were in any doubt that midnight had arrived to herald in the start of 2024 we were soon assured of the fact by the constant (say, about an hour) sounding of a fog horn/truck horn and the endless fireworks seemingly surrounding our vehicle. Hugo was not impressed and even though we tried to ignore the fracas we could feel him trembling uncontrollably in the well of the cab. 

Luckily, we all survived the night unscathed and enjoyed another stroll on the beach. Hugo is happiest when he can pad along in the soft sand and sniff the odd bottom.

Trying out panorama mode on the camera

Not having enough of the surf and sand we took the long journey (about 11km) to yet another gorgeous beach, Playa de Canallave. This one has more rocks, more dogs, and more swimmers than the previous one but is equally as stunning. Not a bad way to start the New Year.

Hiding

Honeycomb rocks

A face in the clouds

We’ll try to get a bit further on tomorrow.