Day 18 - From Foz to the Bares lighthouse


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 on the cliff edge. There’s already a vw down there and it’s sheltered and sunny with the sounds of linnets and larks and a zittings cisticola perched beside us.


After a top ‘pizza’ lunch eaten sat on deckchairs for the first time, we walk down to the cliff edge and have a long chat with the owners of the other van who are on their first trip out from the Netherlands. Then to the coastal path which is still paved , running for miles from Foz. There are really beautiful coves all along its length and with the tide high now there are some spectacular waves crashing into them. 

We really are making the most of the sun today but when we get back on the road I notice there’s another Roman castle less than ten minutes away . Google has no idea how to find it leading us down a dead end in an attempt to rejoin the main road, but after a quick check on foot we head under a tiny runnel below the railway line to rejoin the n road as it crosses the Rio do Oro, then two mins later an implausible google turn again but we ignore it and take the next (more sensible!) turning and get down to the Os Castros a ruined Roman castle not unlike the ones at Coana but without Celtic origins. 

It’s late afternoon and we’ve moved no distance at all so we pick a headland an hour away and hit the road. We are getting used to the Galician landscape now. Tamer than the astorias and with less ornate housing in the main but lots of seemingly grand grain stores that wouldn’t look out of place in a stately home as mausoleums or follys, very different from those in The Picos and Astorias. 

After a bit it starts turning a bit more green and hilly with forested slopes of pine and eucalyptus. With the windows down the smell of eucalyptus in the sunshine is unmistakeable. We pass through a number of villages and a couple of attractive looking towns as we wind along the coast but they will have to wait for another time. 


We turn off at Bares and head out to the lighthouse. There’s a lovely big flat carpark but even though there was little wind elsewhere it’s pretty breezy here and we sit in the van looking out over the setting sun whilst we have a cuppa. 



 We take the path out to the lighthouse and beyond and see the sunset whilst standing on the most northly tip of Spain. Windy and exposed but beautiful. 




Back at the van we decide that maybe our park-up will be too exposed tonight so we drive just along the road to an abandoned US air station where we tuck in amongst graffitied derelict buildings. A really unique spot, there are even buildings big enough to park in if we’d wanted too! Slightly eerie but easy enough to settle down listening to the wind… 


Cumulative Mileage: 859

Overnight: Military base at Bares peninsula, free (P4N 15337)

Spending: 4 Coffees, €6.40


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