Month: April 2019

Day 11, April 15: Ribadeo and Playa de las Catedrales

At the beach in the rain

Post by Wynette: We are staying in Ribadeo two nights. One reason is that we wanted to visit the famous Beach of the Cathedrals which is about 10 miles from Ribadeo. We will be walking right by it on Wednesday but you can only walk on the beach itself at low tide and timing was good to go today. So that it doesn’t get too crowded, reservations are required to go on the beach during the summer and during Holy Week. We made reservations before we left. Today was the day. Low tide a little before 8 am. Got up, ate hotel breakfast at 7:30. Taxi picked us up at 8:00. Got to beach around 8:15. Pouring rain. The most rain we’ve had all trip. We were prepared with our trusty rain gear, but, I think the taxi driver felt sorry for us because he asked us if we wanted his umbrella. He said we could leave it at the hotel and he’d pick it up later. We gladly accepted his offer. Another Camino angel. The beach really was beautiful. We walked around a bit and then got a coffee at the beach bar and then caught a bus back to town. (We had to take taxi to the beach because earliest bus was after 9, too late for the low tide.) There are more photos of the beach in slideshow Charlie just published.

The sun did come out after a while

The Regions of Spain

The 17 autonomous regions of Spain

Post by Wynette: Spain has 17 autonomous regions. These are much like states in the US. Here’s where I got the above map. On our Camino last year we started in Basque Country, then went through Cantabria, then went about half way through Asturias. This year we just went through the rest of Asturias and are now in Galicia. On our first Camino in 2013 we went through Navarra, La Rioja, huge Castillo y León, and then finished in Galicia where Santiago is located. They all have their own character, slightly different foods, and each is responsible for taking care of their part of the Camino and doing the waymarks.

First waymark post on the Norte in Galicia. Looks pretty new. No graffiti yet.

Day 10, April 14: Tapia to Ribadeo, New Spanish Region, New Camino

Amazing coffee in bar overlooking beautiful beach

Post by Wynette: We walked about 8 miles today. No drama, but we saw a gorgeous beach. The Camino took us over a little sand and a little boardwalk, over a very long highway bridge, and lots of quiet roads. It was sunny and we were really hot when we got to our hotel in Ribadeo. Before we left our little apartment this morning, we ate fruit and cereal and then around noon found a rickety bench in the shade in a tiny rural village and ate a picnic lunch. Four friendly pilgrims and about six friendly locals passed us while we were eating and just about every one wished us bon apetit or buen provecho.

We have left the Spanish region of Asturias and have entered the region of Galicia. We have left the Camino del Norte and are about to begin the Camino del Mar.

Pretty hotel we passed
600 meter bridge we walked over to cross the estuary that separates Asturias and Galicia.

Natural Salt Water Swimming Pool

Post by Wynette: We saw this on our stroll around Tapia today. It’s situated so it’s protected from the waves but fresh sea water comes into it. We speculated it might be for swimming and would be less cold than the direct ocean, which is very cold here. A man and woman walked by so I decided to ask “is this a pool for swimming?” He said yes. It used to be a place where they farmed shellfish but they stopped doing that and then eventually decided to make a swimming pool out of it. He said (if I understood him correctly) this is very rare in Spain. Maybe one or two others except maybe more in the islands. I asked if very many people swim in it. He said yes but not till the summer.