Wandering with Wilf

  Peaceful night and the rain kept away so we wake to another sunny morning, though there are more clouds today.  It’s an easy morning for me as I rest up whilst Graham walks back to the viewpoint . From here it’s about an 8km loop and will allow him access to that cave! The route out goes via the village and some stony steep paths. At the top access to the ‘gallery’ is via the original Roman tunnel (€3) and it involves a hard hat as it’s very low.    He’s early enough to beat the crowds so has the cave to himself when he reaches it. The view isn’t as spectacular as the one from the mirador but is a good experience. The route back down cuts through the mined land and resembles something from a western movie. It’s an easier path too and definitely one I would have enjoyed.  That said my time at the van has been lovely. The area is alive with birdsong and whilst I didn’t see them, I did hear wrynecks and a nightingale (annoyingly Graham did see the latter on his w...

 A bit overcast first thing but by 9 ish when we open the curtains it’s all blue skies…. The weather is due to break today but no sign of that so far. More bird watching from the van as a stork flies past and settles on his nest on a pole in the nearby settlement. Cuckoo calling, swallows skimming the water, black kites flying over, fish jumping, frogs peeping up in the shallows, storks fishing, there’s even a cockerel calling in the nearby farm. Lots to see and hear!  We have breakfast on one of the benches alongside the water very easy place to sit. Would definitely come here again and maybe spend more time just sitting, really, really lovely spot. We leave about midday. We’re going to head south and join a road that is promoted in a road trip book we have in the van. The minor road we take to join it is absolutely beautiful, really green and has mixed woodland all around. So pleased that we’ve headed inland. People talk about Galicia being a green region but on the coast it...

Nice to have a good hot shower today before we hit the road, the aire was a good choice and was surprisingly quiet overnight. The road out is a real suburban one with areas that look more like identical sets of estate houses than is usual in Spain. It then runs past the airport and it’s endless car parks, but all the time there are Camino walkers alongside, mostly on the road but occasionally they get a separate lush green path. Just a brief stop at a pharmacy for some paracetamol which come as a box of 40 , 1g pills that look like they are for horses!    We’ve come up with a bit of a plan based on some fb tips. Our chosen road varies in size, it start narrow through woodland then widens through countryside that almost looks English! Theres a lot of blossom covered trees in farmed rows as well as the ubiquitous eucalyptus forests.  When we go back onto a small road we stop at a lovely  picnic spot by a hermitage which gets favourited as a future overnight possibility...

  Beautiful morning! Expected dog walkers this morning but still all alone, so still today and peaceful. By far the warmest morning so far and incredibly still, so already getting very warm.  The tide is low and there are birds wading, it’s lovely to sit and watch from inside the van and even lovelier when I realise there’s a spoonbill near by filtering water on the shallows.  Tempting as it is to hang around, we are on the road not long after 11 after stopping in the nearby village to drop our litter pick from the shoreline into the recycling bins. Feels good to have left this one much cleaner than we found it.  It really does feel like spring now, there are locals planting veg in allotments , the trees are all green and there’s even blossom to be seen in fruit trees. It is still surprising when five minutes later we pass the eroski hypermarket , hard to believe that only a few minutes separate the chaos and the calm!  We are going to start with anther of Spain...

  As perfect as van mornings get! Bright sunshine, views of the sea, total peace but for birdsong! Warm but with a cool breeze, it’s what vans were made for!  We sit around til lunchtime enjoying the calm. A walk on the beautiful beaches, tea, toast, a chat with a visiting green frog… a couple of dog walkers pass but otherwise just us . The other van is still here but spends his time in the sea and aside from a brief chat about water feels like we are very much alone. Guarding this one, may return just like our neighbour on his third visit in 10 years! Eventually decide we should leave on a high and hit the road. A short failed attempt to see some nearby petroglyphs and we are back on the coast, taking a side road to Larino lighthouse … can’t have enough lighthouses it seems! Oh my goodness what a good call!! The lighthouse itself is a smart hotel and there’s a small paid aire beside it, but we definitely need to move a little further so not for us this time! We pull over into...

 What a morning to wake to , still gloriously sunny and we are beside a beautiful beach! Grahams found a bakery, we have fresh croissants and we can have the door open watching pilgrim after pilgrim cross the path in front of the van. We chat to one who started his journey in Lisbon and will be at Finisterre in under an hour. So much emotion on faces…the lone walkers make you well up every time you see them, they’ve spent much time with their own thoughts….but there are also groups where you can see they are not of equal fitness but are supporting each other throughout. I suspect they’ve shed tears too!  One other van joined us last night , possibly a full timer. But no noise at all, though the street lamp overhead definitely meant we weren’t in darkness! There was a mass influx of cars at around 9.30 and we did wonder was was going on for a bit then realised there was a community beach clean about to start  we hit the beach not long after them … it’s probably the cleanes...

 Well no more noise from the wild boar last night. This must be one of the quietest places we’ve stayed all the time we’ve been here. Literally nobody arrived between when we parked up and when we left today mid morning weather is very changeable today, but Graham got a chance to pop up the tower again before we left. Don’t think he could resist it! There’s a loose plan to head to Finisterre today but looking at the map there are a few other little things nearby that might be worth a small diversion. We set up a route that links some of these together and set off. First stop is only 10 minutes down the road and it is a site of some petroglyphs. Almost as soon as we set off we are on a ‘proper’ road , very different to the one we arrived on and it makes us realise that perhaps we weren’t so isolated yesterday as we thought. The road to the petroglyphs is very narrow and when we get to the bend where the footpath goes off there’s nowhere nearby to park. The weather is a bit drizzly a...