Wandering with Wilf

  Proper blue skies and warm temperatures!! Great nights sleep and when Graham pops out to take some photos we are joined by three Spanish Mastiffs who have abandoned their goat flock and have decided to watch over us instead!  In daylight the location is a quirky one… little sign of its original use but lots of empty buildings and graffiti, would make a great Dr Who set!  We start the day with s return to the lighthouse, having realised that’s it’s Spain's most northerly point Graham can’t resist going down to scramble the last few rocks to get as north as possible. We are going to continue the coastal road around the next headland until we reach the next lighthouse.  The next headland has some of the highest cliffs in Spain and sound worth a look and it looks like a rugged road to get there. Before we get far we realise we really we should pop down and visit the village of Bares itself.  It’s a steep drive and a one-way street through the town that gets us to ...

Woke to full on sunshine , unbroken blue skies and a falling tide with exposed sand flats all along the estuary. Absolutely beautiful! Some vans have already moved off so there’s a bit more space around us and it’s a really lovely place to be. We decide to go ‘out’ for our morning coffee as there are a number of bars nearby. The harbour is literally bubbling with fish, almost cut off from the sea now by the low tide there’s nowhere for them to go and there are hundreds breaking the water as they swim around. We sit in an enclosed gazebo opposite the harbour and have a Mother’s Day FaceTime with home. It’s warm sheltered from the breeze and very lovely!     We walk a little further out on the headland to look at the sea before getting back on the road. There’s a stunning coastal road running out of Foz with a paved coastal path along side it and we don’t go far when we decide to stop for brunch. In fact only about 5km when we see a grass track leading to a small car park o...

 The move to the beach was the right one, we are up and out early (for us!) and on the beach an hour before low tide just as recommended. There’s s a party of geologists ahead of us but few others. The slate stacks are spectacular! With the tide still retreating we do have to paddle a fair bit but worth it for the occasional solitude. It’s a slippery scramble over a rock pile to reach the ‘cathedral’ itself, three lined up arches in the cliff face.    As we start to wander back it’s properly low tide and less paddling is involved but the area near the beach steps is full of people queing to take shots for the ‘gram at each of the main features. Well worth the wading! Hate to think what this place is like in high season! So pleased we made the move to get down as early as possible.  The numbers do help give us the will to leave though and after a cooked brunch in the van we retrace our journey of last night back towards Ribadeo.  I noticed an out of town decathlo...

 Well as lay-bys go this one was 10/10! No more than half a dozen cars passed all night and spring was springing when we woke with birdsong accompanied by the drumming of woodpeckers that we could watch from the van window.  On to the coast! First we have another mountain road to climb, whilst the mountains may be gentler now they are no less steep and our road still involves plenty of precipitous drops and tight turns.  There are a number of spots signposted for tourists on the way, too many to stop at all of them but certainly the Mirador de Los Buitres was worth our time, a scramble up a marble outcrop that gave an incredible panorama of the Doiras reservoir and valley in the sunshine.  Onwards and the sun is still shining. There is more pasture now between forested areas and lots more wild flowers in bloom.  When it starts to feel like lunchtime I have a quick look at the map and notice there may be parking if we turn down to the dam at the end of the reserv...

The cloud takes no time to lift this morning and there are the bluest spring skies. The birds are singing, the sheep are bleating and there are cow bells everywhere! It’s like something from an alpine story book. No one around still, the hotel is closed up and there are no shops but we have enough bread for toast and jam with our coffee.  A quick shower (€3 extra but steaming hot and well worth it!) and we head off once more. This is another place that it’s hard to leave and we hope to return here one day, though I doubt we’d ever have it so quiet again.  We are going to make our way back towards the coast now. There are a number of ‘slow road’ choices but following a suggestion in Martin Dorey’s book we are going for the slowest of all heading up and over the mountains on our way.  A quick stop in Cangas del Narcea first as our cupboards are very depleted and the supermarket there is likely to be the only one we pass today. It seems to be a bit of a scruffy town beside t...