Tuesday 16th September, and Camping Rinlo Costa was part of our original schedule; we arrived mid-afternoon, in the middle of the siesta which necessitated an hours wait before we could check-in. We had stocked up on supplies in Oleiros – at Mercadona, Decathlon and Leroy Merlin. Okay, so the Decathlon and Leroy Merlin purchases weren’t strictly necessary.

Our bungalow is luxurious (by mobile home standards) and the site is around 1km from the coast. But it is so peaceful here.

The little port and fishing village of Rinlo is just a 20 minute walk away and at a similar distance there is a narrow gauge railway station. This railway line runs all the way from Oviedo to Ferrol and it’s closer to a heritage railway than the latest Spanish high speed routes.

The Rinlo railway station looks all but abandoned, as do many of the small village request stops. Nevertheless, trains not much bigger than a bendy bus navigate along the coastal train up to four times a day, rarely on time and often not at all.

Our first trip out was to catch the train to Esteiros from Rinlo. One of four trains per day had us arriving some 5 miles away from Rinlo and our campsite. We then walked the coastal path back to Rinlo, enjoyed a swift beverage at Porto de Rinlo, arriving back at the site for a BBQ tea.

The terrain along the coastline is rugged but the paths are not as demanding as many parts of the UK’s South West coastal path. The landscape is not entirely dissimilar to the coastline of Devon and Cornwall and the Galicians do count themselves as a Celtic people. There is the odd cafe / snack bar on the route we took back to Rinlo.

The weather is still georgeous and as you can see below, the coastline just beautful. This region is called “Green Spain” for a reason but so far the weather has been fantastic and the scenary incredible.

The coastline heading east towards Rinlo.

And below are the views as we arrived in the pretty village of Rinlo.

On Thursday, we headed back to the not-so-pretty station of Rinlo and as seems fairly typical, our train showed a 30 minute delay. As it finally appeared in the distance, it was surrounded by smoke and whilst pulling into the station, it was quite the show as sparks and flames lapped up the sides of the train. This didn’t seem to concern the conductor too much as we boarded the train. Meanwhile, the driver was somewhat more interested in what was happening and we were subsequently all ushered off the train followed by the driver with his fire extinguisher.

It’s safe to say that Rinlo hasn’t seen so many passengers on the platform for many years and since this train (nor any others on this single-track section) wasn’t going anywhere, we abandoned our visit to Ribadeo and headed into Rinlo for lunch.

This region of Spain is renowned for the delicacy of barnacles and at 20+ Euros for a plate, it was a popular option. Not for Moe and I – we opted for something a little more familiar with garlic prawns and squid. We ate at Bar Portillo, opposite a far more ostentatious restaurant which serves another specialty dish of the region – a kind of lobster broth. Maybe next time?

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Even if you haven’t been to Galicia or the wider NW of Spain, you have probably heard of Cathedral Beach. And if you are visiting this coastline, you will most certainly want to book tickets and explore this natural wonder.

Praia das Catedrais or Beach of the Cathedrals (also Beach of the Holy Waters) is located in the Ribadeo municipality, on the Cantabric coast, and it lies about ten kilometres to the west of the town of Ribadeo, its name is derived from its cliff formations. For us it would be another short train journey from Rinlo and we would then walk back to our campsite.

The beach has been declared a Natural Monument by the regional Ministry for the Environment of the Xunta de Galicia.

The characteristic features of the beach are its natural arches and caves, which can be seen only at low tide. During high tide, the beach appears small, but still suitable for swimming. During low tide the size of its cliffs and sea caves is more apparent, ranging from small cracks in the rock to big caves whose roofs have collapsed due to the erosion of the waves.

At low tide, there is access to a sand deposit delimited by a rocky wall made from slate and schist forming 30m arches resembling cathedral flying buttresses, large caves, sand corridors between rocky blocks, and other geological features.

Particularly low tides create access to nearby beaches through the sand extension. As the coast stretch is almost horizontal, the water covers the beach again very quickly.

These are Gooseneckbarnacles that proved such a huge hit the previous day at Bar Portillo.

Some more pictures below. If you want to see any in more detail, just click on the individual image.

With Moe patched up and having enjoyed a pleasant evening in one of the bungalows, we headed North to Camping Los Manzanos, near Santa Cruz but on the opposite side of the estuary to A Coruna. We had managed to secure three nights in one of their stone bungalows. Fairly basic accomodation but we had comfortable beds, nice en-suite wetroom and most importantly, Moe didn’t have to try and clamber into bed in the pop-top with her swollen, but un-broken wrists!

A Coruna was added to our tour on the recommentdations of Ellie at Camping La Vouga. She described it as a far prettier place than Santiago and one we should visit. Camping Loz Manzanos was her personal recommendation.

After checking into the “stone bungalow”, we walked into the centre of Santa Cruz and explored the town’s castle. Although Santa Cruz is a town in its own right, its main claim to fame is a small fortified island some 50 metres or so off shore which you can reach by foot bridge. After exploring the castle grounds, we retired to a local hostelry for a drinks.

On our first full day here, we caught the bus from Santa Cruz to A Coruna which was fairly regular and the journey took just half an hour. Once in A Coruna, we caught another bus to the Torre de Hercules. This is probably the most famous monument in A Coruna and is the oldest known Roman lighthouse, constructed in the 1st century. The tower is located some 2.5km from the centre of A Coruna on a peninsular north of the city.

The lighthouse, standing atop a skull and crossbones representing the buried head of Hercules’ slain enemy, appears in the coat of arms of the city of A Coruna.

Throughout the Middle Ages, multiple naval crusading itineraries to the Holy Land mentioned the obligatory stopover at the Lighthouse. Usually, the crusader fleets would disembark there to reach the shrine of the Apostle James the Greater at Santiago de Compostela on foot.

After viewing the tower, we walked around the peninsular before eventually heading back to Santa Cruz. We were somewhat under-whelmed with A Coruna at this juncture.

Sunday evening we ate at the restuarant associated with the campsite and ordered steaks. Moe had the sirloin whilst I had Entrecote with a mushroom sauce. The Tiramasu we shared afterwards was equally as enjoyable as the steaks – all washed down with a couple of glasses of red wine from Galicia.

Monday we decided to head back to A Coruna for a stroll along the harbour and then lunch in the old town. This time we found a much prettier side to A Coruna and just off the tourist track, we found an amazing Spanish restaurant. We were of course early arrivals but within an hour or so every table was full both inside and outside and we enjoyed the menu of the day which was around 12 Euros each. They even gave us a bottle of white wine – total price for the three courses, 27 euros for the two of us! The restaurant was Meson La Rueda, on Rua Capitain Troncoso.

The other “odd” architectural side of A Coruna and the wider Galicia region is the glass balconies. Many buildings were built with balconies but due to the weather and atlantic storms these weren’t usable for much of the year. The solution was to encase the balconies in glass and many of these structures are quite remarkable.

After a hectic two days in Santiago, we headed further south to a Campsite on the coast about eight miles south of Baiona. It was an easy journey on the motorway with the only real surprise that the Autopistas in Galicia are still charging tolls.

Camping o Mouino is a short cycle ride from Baiona along a dedicated cycle track. I use the the word dedicated loosely, because for much of the route it is also shared by the modern day pilgrims heading to Santiago. And there are a lot of them.

The site is fantastic with a lovely views out across the Galician Atlantic coastline. The weather did not disppoint with an accurate forecast of warm, calm days if a little cool overnight. We had one of the nicest pitches so far with the grass in near perfect condition and with views across the sea.

We stayed on the site for a couple of relaxing days after the hectic tour of Santiago. The views from the campsite and the sunsets were awesome.

Thursday we set off to Baiona on our bikes and it took around an hour for us to cover the eight miles including several sight-seeing breaks. We had a lovely lunch overlooking the harbour at Baiona and then spent the afternoon exploring the historical Castle of Monterreal. Today it is a luxury hotel but the whole castle and its surroundings occupy some 18 hectares.

The castle was constructed in the 12th century and the kings used it to control the marritime territory of the Rias Baixas. Gradually its purpose as a military site diminished and it was turned into a luxury hotel. After paying a 1 Euro entrance fee, you can walk around the entire perimeter wall and experience the stunning views across Baiona bay and the atlantic ocean.

There’s also a replica of Christopher Columbus’ boat the “Pinta” in the harbour so we decided we would return the next day to have a look around.

The journey back wasn’t quite as uneventful as we were almost mown down by an out of control German cyclist, riding a monster of an electric bike. Too busy looking at the views to notice she was veering off piste, just missing me and clipping Moe’s handlebars.

Fortunately neither Moe nor the other cyclist crashed and we continued our journey home.

Friday the 13th was just a couple of hours away when Moe, returning to the Campervan, decided to take a trip and dive at the Campsite. Covered in blood, with one very odd-shaped wrist, cuts to her chin, hands and legs, Friday’s bike ride looked in some doubt…

We had been enjoying sleeping in the pop-top but there was no possibility Moe would be able to climb up. After cleaning and bandaging her wounds we called it a night and decided to assess things in the morning.

Friday the 13th arrived and the horror show of Moe appeared. Now with two black eyes and a very swollen nose, I wasn’t sure whether or not I might be greeted by security on arrival at the local hospital.

The local hospital turned out to be a massive new hospital in the town of Vigo. Everything was very modern, spacious and clean. Our GHIC card was processed by reception and Moe was treated to some first world healthcare. Everyone was kind, caring and compassionate. The language was a challenge as little English was spoken so I did my best to translate. Somewhat miraculously, X-Rays revealed no broken wrist or nose. A nurse cleaned all the wounds, steri-stripped them and we were heading back to the campervan in around 3 hours.

Once back at the site, we decided that staying in the campervan would be a little too challenging as one of Moe’s wrists is still very painful and non load bearing. We were able to rent a mobile home but only for the Friday night as they were fully booked later in the weekend.

We decided we would move on Saturday morning…

We have been in Galicia for around a week now and it’s some five days since I actually found the time to write up our diaries. We awoke this morning (Saturday) to a bright, cold and sunny day. The calm after the storm as we have just endured some horrendous rain over the previous 24 hours. We have now cleaned up and everything is drying out and hopefully it will stay that way until our departure tomorrow to the Capital of Galicia.

This is the first time we have visited Galicia and the Costa del morte – or the Coast of death. Renowned for it’s stunning scenary and cliffs, the Costa del morte runs for 10s of Kilometres along the North Western coast of Spain in the A Coruna region. It acquired it’s name due to the more than 600 shipwrecks which have occurred off the coast. The rugged costline and hidden rocks make this one of the most dangerous areas for shipping in Spain, if not the world.

We have been out on the bikes most days and our longest journey was to the town of Carnota.

Whilst it’s impossible not to notice all the similar built grain stores in Galicia, Carnota has the largest. These granaries, or “Horreos” in Spanish, created an elevated and ventilated storage system for grain but buiding the largest became somewhat of an obsession and various competitions were invented to see who could build the longest.

This one is the longest in Galicia and was completed in two stages in competition with the parish of Lira which has a similar building. It was built in 1760 and 1783.

It’s a very popular tourist destination in Galicia.

After the morning in Carnota, we cycled into Muros for lunch at A Darsena where we enjoyed some Pizza, later taking a stroll around the old town of Muros.

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Friday we drove to the end of the world – Fisterra. Also known as Cap Finistere which leant its name to one of the largest and former Brittany Ferries Spanish-route boats. This is the most westerly point in Spain and the next continent to the West is America.

Until the end of the Middle Ages, the  Costa del Morte was indeed the last known piece of land. The place where pre-Roman people believed that souls ascended to heaven. A mythical and symbolic space that would have left Roman conquerors speechless when they saw the sun disappear behind the immense ocean. Since then, as a result of it’s mystical powers, Fisterra has become one of the Santiago de Compostela pilgrim routes and it’s around a four or five day hike to / from Santiago.

After our visit to Fisterra, we headed to the Ezaro waterfalls. Above the waterfalls is a dam and reservoir – Encoro de Santa Uxia – and the waterfalls were only allowed to flow again since 2011. The site also houses 5 hydro-electric power turbines.

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We have had a fantastic week here at Camping A Vouga. The facilities might be a little tired but are kept very clean. We have eaten twice at the on-site bar / restaurant and the food is excellent and reasonably priced.

The view from our pitch is simply the best. Watching the pods of dolphins making their way around the bay is just fantastic.

We are sorry to be moving on but we have other parts of North West Spain to explore. Adios Camping A Vouga.

Our plan was to head slowly West along the northern coastline of Cantabria, Asturias and Galicia but we awoke to the sound of rain and the forecast is showing rather a wet week for the northern coastline of Spain.

The weather along the Western coast (south from A Coruna) looked warm sunny and dry so we made a snap decision to head west some 350 miles and hope the weather improves along the Northern coast later on. One section of our journey was quite remarkable. We had hit many foggy sections but this particular area west of Oviedo (I think) was just a blanket of fog the like of which I’ve never seen before. It must be a phenomenon of this region because in the worst section there were orange guide lights along the road surface and orange / red beacons every few metres. We didn’t quite work out why some of them had an additional red warning light illuminated but we think it was for added warning to the cars behind that someone was ahead.

Finally, we left the fog-bound coast and headed towards Santiago de Compostela and beyond to a small campsite between Muros and San Francisco. Camping A Vouga would be our home for the next few days. We chose a pitch outside of the main camspsite – one of around a dozen – which are right next to the beach. We have a stunning view.

Sunday we walked the full length of the beach from the campsite to San Francisco but otherwise enjoyed a relaxing day at the campsite, including a nice evening meal on the terrace at the campsite restaurant.

Monday and I cycled into Muros for provisions and then, complete with picnic, Moe and I headed West and North on our bicycles. Our first stop was the lighthouse of Monte Louro. Not a particularly salubrious place to enjoy our packed lunch.

There are a number of ship-wrecks off this rugged coastline and the one nearest to the lighthouse at Monte Louro is Capitana de la Saane – a French warship which sank here in 1543.

A little further along the coast, Cardenal Cisneros was lost in 1905 – a Spanish Navy cruiser. A bit further along, a Spanish steam freighter – Ter – sank in 1896 with the loss of 281 lives.

The seond lighthouse we would visit on our tour is the lighthouse of Larino – which now serves as a luxury hotel – we assume the lighthouse itself is still operational!

Our ride ended at the port of Lira, the town itself pretty much deserted.

Just as we left Lira, we saw this ancient food / grain store in someone’s garden. They are elevated to keep vermin at bay and the slots allow for airflow to keep stored food from rotting. These are very common in this region of spain…

We did find a bar in San Francisco for well deserved late afternoon refreshments before enjoying a pleasant BBQ back at the van.

Here we watched a couple of trawlers at work…

It’s been a monumental effort getting everything ready for our late summer break to Spain. Wisdom tooth surgery, an overgrown garden and allotment; familiy and friends to visit meant we had much to do in the days before our departure. We decided to leave the caravan behind and only take the campervan, Nellie. We would need good weather to expand on the tiny space of the campervan.

We managed to book ourselves a midweek crossing from Plymouth to Santander today (Wednesday) and arrived in Plymouth around 1:00pm for our crossing on Pont Aven. We were one of the last outfits to board the ferry and had already been warned that this was a very full crossing.

What we weren’t prepared for was just how close together vehicles were being parked. Literally just centimetres between as the crew attempted to create extra parking lanes. I’ve never see such a crowded car deck before.

Whist we were quite late departing, due to the crowded boat, we made good any lost time and enjoyed an exceedingly smooth crossing, arriving some 10 minutes ahead of schedule in Santander. For once, our late boarding paid dividends as we were in the first 10 or so vehicles to disembark. We were on the road to our first site within 15 minutes of docking.

Our first stop was Santillana del Mar, just a short journey from the port of Santander. Our chosen site was a very commercial operation – part of the Kampoah group – and the price was still peak summer rate. Fifty Euros per night! Still, this site is very close to the medieval town of Santillana del Mar being perhaps a 10 minute walk away.

The site itself has many glamping tents and this section of the campsite was still rather busy. At nightime, the glamping area is a sea of lights.

Our pitch at Camping Santillana del Mar wasn’t quite as spectacular as the glamping pods…

In 1889, Santillana del Mar was declared an historic-artistic site and nearby is the UNESCO World Heritage Site – Altamira Cave.

The town is one of the most touristic and most visited towns in Cantabria and is part of the network of Spain’s most beautiful villages. The town is also known as the town of three lies – Sant, there is no Saint here; llana, the town is not level and del Mar, it isn’t by the sea!

Later in the afternoon we walked around the old town, at the heart of which is the Santillana del Mar Collegiate Church. Alas the church was closed today.

Just as we were preparing for bed, the heavens opened and we endured a massive 4 hour storm with torrential rain, thunder and lightening. Quite an experience for our first attempt at sleeping upstairs in the pop-top.

Friday was a dry and relatively warm day and after faffing around with some campervan issues in the morning, we set off early afternoon on our bikes to Altamira Cave, just outside the old town of Santillana del mar.

This is a UNESCO world heritage site but the original caves are no longer accessible to the public in order that they may be preserved.

It is renowned for prehistoric cave art featuring charcoal drawings and polychrome paintings of contemporary local fauna and human hands. The earliest paintings were applied during the upper Paleolithic around 36,000 years ago. The site was discovered in 1868 by Modesto Cubillas and subsequently studied by Marcelino Sanz Sautuola. 

Because the caves are no longer accessible to the public (visiter numbers in the 1970s were approaching a quarter of a million each year), they built a fine replica of the main cavern. Just 3 Euros each to enter the Altamira site.

In the evening we walked back into Santillana del mar and ate at one of the restaurants overlooking the main square.