Monday 31st October 2022

 It was wet overnight at Couso. We travelled south today. At times the rain was very heavy indeed. We stopped for the day at the town of Arcade. We parked here to begin with.

We were parked just downwind of this sewerage treatment plant and it was all very smelly.

There's a small harbour nearby.

And a beach.

Ann saw this Egret.

And this fishing person.

Fishing boats were coming and going. Apparently Arcade is known for its oysters.

There is a kids climbing wall.

I walked into town and bought a few groceries.

The smell downwind of the sewage works proved too much for me and we moved a couple of hundred metres to another car park upwind. Here's our new view.

We're right next to the harbour now.

There's a children's play area just towards town from here.

There are two German registered vans here tonight.  I had a chat with the man from the van on the right. He is from the Black Forest area of Germany and like us is heading south.

Today we travelled 40 miles (64 kilometres). We are at: N42.3388 W8.6132

Arcade  Street View

Sunday 30th October 2022

It was a beautiful morning at Cabo Fisterra. We travelled south east to the Aire at Couso which is very close to the river Ulla.

The river flows over a weir nearby.

There are some big old cedar trees by the river.

Also close by a pedestrian suspension bridge crosses the river. If you jump up and down on the bridge it starts to bounce!

This place is quite remote but very popular with locals on Sunday afternoon.

We took a walk along the river going downstream but soon had to turn back as the path was flooded.

We walked upstream to the weir where there is this fish pass.

The river is very high at present following the recent heavy rain.

The Ulla is much calmer above the weir.

We passed this old tree stump.

The stump has some interesting fungi growing on it.

The woods here are mainly chestnut and oak.

It looks like it has been a very good year for chestnuts.

This old VW van is parked at the Aire. I don't think it's capable of going anywhere but I might be wrong. Later on an orange coloured hire van which had stayed overnight at Fisterra arrived and stayed the night here. Amazing coincidence or what?

Today we travelled 62 miles (100 kilometres). We are at: N42.7475 W8.5558

Couso    Street View

Saturday 29th October 2022

You see loads of these in Galicia. Grain Stores? The legs are specially designed to stop rats getting up into the store.

It was very wet and windy in the night at Caion. In the morning there had been a small landslip into the car park we were staying in.

From Caion we travelled south west to Cabo Fisterra (Cape Finisterre) - the end of the earth!

We can see the lighthouse which is on the very tip of the cape from our parking place. This coast is known as the Costa da Morte - the Coast of Death - because of the number of shipwrecks which have occurred here.

It certainly is a wild and rocky coast.

It is also a place of pilgrimage. After completing the journey to the grave of St James in the Cathedral in Santiago de Compostela many pilgrims continue to Cabo Fisterra as a final flourish and then burn their boots in a ceremonial fire just beyond the lighthouse - a practice discouraged by the authorities!

We took a walk up towards the light house. Here's looking back to our parking place.

These signs mark the route of the Camino - the pilgrimage route. The Scallop Shell is the symbol of St James.

Cabo Fisterra is a  tourist trap with a big souvenir shop and a restaurant as well as a hotel. 

There are however great views in all directions.

There is some nice public art here. This mosaic represents one of the giant barnacles so highly prized by Galician Gourmets.

We came upon this minstrel collecting money. Galician Pipes perhaps?

This is the very tip of the cape - beyond the lighthouse - where the boot burning goes on - much to the annoyance of the authorities.

Here's the lighthouse.

I'm not sure what this is about.

There are lots of plaques on the rocks.

And a stone dolphin.

Everyone seems keen to leave their mark.

Back at our van we noticed we had two little rabbits for company.

This German registered van turned up later with a lone woman traveller.

Tonight there was a just about okay sunset.

Nice clouds as it got dark.

Two more vans turned up making it four in all here tonight. We saw some lightning but it didn't rain.

Today we travelled 64 miles (103 kilometres). We are at:  N42.8872 W9.2729

Fisterra      Street View   

Friday 28th October 2022

This morning a man turned up at our parking place and went off searching for sea creatures but not before he had his fishing licence checked by officials of the Galician Regional Authority who turned up from nowhere!

I think he was probably searching for Percebes - a giant barnacle highly prized as a delicacy in Galicia.

We reluctantly left our beautiful overnight stopping place. We serviced the van at the nearby Aire and then unsuccessfully tried to access a supermarket. We stopped to take on diesel and bought a few groceries at the fuel station shop before making the shortish journey south west to Caion where we stopped for the day at a car park overlooking a surfing beach. Here's the view from our van.

We stayed overnight at this very spot in early November 2015.

The town of Caion is close by.

We walked into town. Here's the town square.

Ann went into the church while I had a wander around town.

In the church there is this striking effigy.

I found a restaurant which was open down by the port. We went in for lunch.

The restaurant cat was hanging around under the table.

Ann had pork and chips which she thought was very nice. I had octopus which was incredibly rubbery. It was absolutely vile. For some unknown reason I ate it all. Thinking back I just can't think why I didn't feed it to the cat! I had some salad too which I couldn't finish after having exhausted myself eating the octopus.

Back at the van we amused ourselves watching the surfers.

Once again the sunset was obscured by clouds.

Just as it was getting dark this enormous cruise ship went by.

Today we travelled 22 miles (35 kilometres). We are at: N43.3147 W8.6090

Caion   Street View