BLOG: Our daily adventures,
Week 33: Malpica to Praia da Barrosa
August 20th to 26th
- Day 225: August 20th: Malpica to Praia do Baldaio - 16 km
Carrying our backpacks with a very tight belt sometimes disturbed our digestive system...I've been experiencing a sensation of having needles poking my stomach...here is the method I found which helps to reestablish a pain-free belly....leaning flat face first on the ground...not always the most elegant sight ;)
This ever-flowing shower/fountain is generated by the little river making its way to the Ocean: perfect for us in need of a sweat-and-salt-free bodies.
16 km done for a total of 2804+16= 2820 km
- Day 226: August 21st: Praia do Baldaio to Praia de Barranan - 16 km
Scoring a goal!
16 km done for a total of 2820+16= 2836 km
- Day 227: August 22nd: Praia de Barranan to A Coruna - 17 km
17 km done for a total of 2836+17= 2853 km
- Day 228: August 23rd: A Coruna to Riovao - 16 km
This morning we experienced a very peculiar way of waking up. We had established our camp in a small field taken over by wild plants growing chaotically, so we thought nobody owned this abandonned piece of land. But it seemed toyally the opposite when an old man bended over the natural fence of the neighbouring vegetable garden started to yell at us "venga" "cabron" and throwing rocks in our direction...not the morning we had hoped for!
Here's a way to go to build a natural fence around your garden!
Santa's true origins
A local sport in Portugal and Spain: flattening the sand on the beaches with caterpillars....this practice apparently goes all year round...including during the tourism high season...strategically stupid since it destroys the peace and quiet of the vacationers with the constant beeping of the machines backing up...why??
The che is strangely commemorated here in the small city of Oleiros. We found all about this in an article written by Graham Keeley and published in the online newspaper "the guardian" , I quote:
"Che Guevara's face is one of the 20th century's most iconic images, adorning posters in student bedrooms and T-shirts across the world. But not content with this, the mayor of a small Spanish town decided the guerrilla fighter deserved to be commemorated in style.
Ángel Garcia Seoane, an independent who was governing Oleiros in Galicia, secretly used €179,000 of public money to build an eight-metre high statue of Guevara. Conscious, perhaps, that the town's residents might be concerned by this use of council money, Seoane arranged to have the works carried out at night. The figure was unveiled on June 27th 2008.
Seoane claimed to be a personal friend of Fidel Castro, whose family was Galician. He hoped the statue will not only be seen by locals, but by aeroplane passengers flying over Oleiros.
News of the statue, created by two Cuban artists, was revealed not in the local press but by the Cuban daily Granma.
Seoane said Guevara deserved such a monument because he was "a soldier of freedom, an international guerrilla aid worker, a dreamer of feasible utopias and a symbol of all the world's revolutionaries". But many of the town's 32,000 residents were less enthused. Pablo Cobin, leader of the conservative Popular party in Oleiros at the time, said: "This is a waste of money, a pet project of the mayor's and an act of arrogance."
The Popular party claimed Seoane may have breached legal rules because the contract for the statue was granted through a Cuban arts institute.
"Che Guevara's face is one of the 20th century's most iconic images, adorning posters in student bedrooms and T-shirts across the world. But not content with this, the mayor of a small Spanish town decided the guerrilla fighter deserved to be commemorated in style.
Ángel Garcia Seoane, an independent who was governing Oleiros in Galicia, secretly used €179,000 of public money to build an eight-metre high statue of Guevara. Conscious, perhaps, that the town's residents might be concerned by this use of council money, Seoane arranged to have the works carried out at night. The figure was unveiled on June 27th 2008.
Seoane claimed to be a personal friend of Fidel Castro, whose family was Galician. He hoped the statue will not only be seen by locals, but by aeroplane passengers flying over Oleiros.
News of the statue, created by two Cuban artists, was revealed not in the local press but by the Cuban daily Granma.
Seoane said Guevara deserved such a monument because he was "a soldier of freedom, an international guerrilla aid worker, a dreamer of feasible utopias and a symbol of all the world's revolutionaries". But many of the town's 32,000 residents were less enthused. Pablo Cobin, leader of the conservative Popular party in Oleiros at the time, said: "This is a waste of money, a pet project of the mayor's and an act of arrogance."
The Popular party claimed Seoane may have breached legal rules because the contract for the statue was granted through a Cuban arts institute.
My grand-mother Alice is definitely watching over us :)
Casey is dreaming of building Castels in Spain.
Our sky tonight: paved with tiles of clouds
16 km done for a total of 2853+16= 2869 km
- Day 229: August 24th: Riovao to Rio de Banobre - 16 km
A little house which has a lot of messages to transmit.
16 km done for a total of 2869+16= 2885 km
- Day 230: August 25th: Rio de Banobre to Cabanas (Pontedeume) - 11 km
Our path is crossing the camino again...our itinerary is sharing a few villages with the Camino Ingles.
Here is what you can expect on your way while hiking the Camino: little "depositos" where goods/water/food is put on display for the pilgrims passing by. We are happy to find drinking water and a few apples.
Here is what you can expect on your way while hiking the Camino: little "depositos" where goods/water/food is put on display for the pilgrims passing by. We are happy to find drinking water and a few apples.
The path down towards Pontedeume is lined up with strong and tall bamboos: first time seeing this on our trip
Sometimes the trails require a little crawling-on-your-knees fun time.
The imposant church of Pontedeume dating from the 17th century is filled with beautiful sculpture carved in wood.
In front of the church, we met Charlie from the Phillipines, pilgrim of the camino Ingles. He gives us a few advices on the places to see on our way to Ferrol and extend an invitation to come and meet him in the Phillipines when we'll be done with our hiking/fundraising project.
11 km done for a total of 2885+11= 2896 km
- Day 231: August 26th: Cabanas (Pontedeume) to Praia da Barrosa - 11 km
First stop of the day, the bar O Emigrante, we ran out of gaz a week ago, so we have to get our morning coffee in the closest bar or restaurant. At last I know how to order precisely what we love: "cafe solo pero doble y separado a poquito de leche"...we used to get very diluted coffee con leche ...now it's a whole new world!
The emigrante is a viking?
A beach with cristalline water, a river and showers..we had to jump in!
One of the most charming villages so far in Galicia: Redes...another "must stop walking and enjoy where we are" place today.
A little Venitian feel ...with these staircases leading to the sea.
11 km done for a total of 2896+11= 2907 km