25 September
2022 – Muxia and the “End of the World”
Miles
driven today = 35
Total Miles
to date = 1,564
We’ve been so lucky with the weather since we have been in
Spain.
We have had rain but it’s
generally been during the night or at times when we aren’t out and about.
It was the same this morning.
We had a couple of sharp showers while we
were preparing to leave our overnight spot and a fantastic double rainbow
as a result but otherwise it’s been another predominantly sunny day.
We started out by doing the 30 minute drive around the bay to
Muxia. It’s another Galician fishing
port but attracts tourists who take the short walk up to the point where there
are a number of things to see. We joined
them.
Firstly, in order to avoid the busload of daytrippers who had arrived at the
same time as us, we went and had a quick look at the lighthouse.
I managed to get it into the same shot as
another one which was across on the next headland and just up the coast from
where we stayed last night in Camarinas.
A short distance away is the Santuario da Virxe da
Barca.
We had a poke around inside and
noticed lots of model ships.
Some were
even suspended by chains which were in turn held by angels.
I have no idea whether or not the models
represented ships which had been lost on the rocks of the Costa de Morte but it
made an interesting change from the usual religious iconography.
The Church was built just above the rocky shoreline in the
18
th Century.
It is built on what was an important site for the region’s
pre-Christian animist cult.
A lot of the
animists’ beliefs centred around several “oscilating stones” which are to be
found on the shoreline.
This is the
Pedra dos Cadris, which, despite its size can be moved very easily.
It is thought that it was possibly used as a
means of proving somebody’s innocence or guilt depending which way it toppled
in what outwardly appears to be an early Galacian equivalent to the ducking stool
trialling of accused witches.
We moved on up the hill to this memorial which commemorates
the sinking of the oil tanker "Prestige" in 2002. As a result 77,000 tons of crude oil were spilt onto the local shoreline.
After that we completed the path around the headland,
leading us back into the town and to the van parked at the port.
We moved on to Fisterra (or Finisterre as you will probably
know it if you ever listen to the shipping forecast on Radio 4). The peninsula on which the town stands is the
most Westerly point in mainland Spain and was therefore considered to be the
end of the World before Christopher Columbus proved that not to be the
case.
The lighthouse here is a much more impressive affair.
There is also a hotel, a bar and a gift shop
and Spaniards come here in their droves as it’s effectively their Lands End.
The lighthouse also marks the end of the Camino de Santiago
long distance pilgrimage trail and we saw a number of weary hikers having a
moment as they reached their final destination.
Legend has it that pilgrims would burn their clothes when
they reached here.
I dare say that with
12
th Century sanitation most of them would have been a bit ripe
having walked all the way here from France but one does wonder what they wore
to walk all the way back home again.
Nowadays
many pilgrims seem content with just hanging their trainers up on a mast at the
point.
There are numerous plaques and statues celebrating famous
people who have visited the lighthouse over the years.
We spotted this one dedicated to Prof Stephen
Hawking who came here in 2008.
There was also this guy playing a didj for coppers, which
seemed a little weird, but reminds me how we had noticed that a lot of the
forestry plantations in Galicia are eucalyptus.
Apparently a 19
th Century monk brought a few seeds home from
a trip to Australia. The resulting saplings enjoyed the climate so much that they have
proliferated ever since.
We were planning to drive back into the town of Fisterra
this afternoon and stay at an aire in the town, but it did look fairly full
when we drove past and we have such an uncredible spot here on the clifftops
that we decided to stay for the night.
I’ve always reckoned that the night we spent at the Butt of Lewis
lighthouse at the northern most tip of the Outer Hebrides is probably the most
spectacular place we have ever spent a night in our van but this may well have
pipped it.
This is the view taken standing directly in front of the
van.
I've had Blur's "Parklife" as an earworm all afternoon. While we were sitting admiring the
vista we were inundated by a flock of sparrows.
I counted 25 at one stage.
We fed
them the remains of yesterday’s stale bread.
It gave me an enormous sense of wellbeing.
We went for a walk a little further up the hill and
struggled over loose rocks and through prickly gorse.
Several times we stopped and wondered if we
should push on.
We were really pleased
with our progress and the stunning views we were getting until we stumbled
across a road and realised that we could have achieved exactly the same with
minimal effort.
The walk back downhill
was certainly a lot easier.
And then we took in what is reckoned to be the most famous sunset in all of Spain.
Unfortunately a bank of clouds got in the way just before the sun hit
the water but I managed to get this photo just before it did so.
I guess I could have just as easily entitled
this page “Rainbows & Sunsets”.
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