Quo vadis?

Yesterday before dinner we wandered around the town and found some interesting scenes.

This church at the top of the hill was now open, earlier there had been a funeral here, so we did not go in!

Now we had it to ourselves so we sat and prayed and then stood in front of the altar and sang! There were two women we discovered at the back, who when we turned to leave, hurriedly disappeared!

This morning our kind hostilier had left us a breakfast package at the reception. We packed the things and filled our water bottle, then unlocked the door and after leaving locking it again and depositing the key as directed! 

It was a cool grey start to the day, but the views we had of the sea gave us hope, as always. 

Leaving the town behind us we followed a nice coastal path for at least 2.3 kilometres!

This was clearly a place from where you could if you were brave enough, jump into the sea! Providing the tide was in, of course! 

The walk along this path was a lovely start to the day. 

We had it all to ourselves and was surprised when we came across a large man made structure amongst the rocks with a built path leading to it, so naturally we had to have a look see!

The tide was clearly not completely in yet as it had not reached the holes in the wall to fill the inner pool. It contained these holding type pens and we thought perhaps it was an early attempt at farming lobster?!

We, needless to say, couldn’t read what the sign, but deduced our ideas from it. 

We found it interesting how the fire had split and stripped the bark off this tree. 

We then had to walk some way along the road, but at least there was a cycle track to use before we again took to a more natural pilgrim friendly path.

The landscape we passed through was dotted with, what we presumed were summer residences. Some with swimming pools. 

This was the smallest Galician grain store we had ever come across. Built as a toy for decoration we felt.

Was this a retired fisherman’s cottage we asked, made of concrete it was a folley of some kind and not the only one we would come across today.

This gate in a wall looked almost as if it was a safe door!

One small residence even had its own statue of a fisherman looking out to sea!

At times the path was nice and wide.

This plant is called “Broom” in English and we found sprigs of it attached to doors and letter boxes in Portugal and even once in Spain once we had crossed over. If anyone could tell us the significance of this custom we would be grateful?!

Sometimes we had to climb a little and our BBF’s left knee didn’t like it so we took it slowly and had great views of the sea for our troubles! Here you can see a small sail boat and beyond it a cruise liner.

Quo vadis, we thought! Whither goest thou? 

After a couple of hours walking we emerged on a hill top by the main road, but it had a lovely wall to sit on at the top of the cliff. 

So we climbed over the fence and made ourselves comfortable looking out over the sea.

Our BBF now had a moment of utter contentment and was reminded of a similar lookout he had so many years ago at a place in England called Birling Gap. It is next door to Beachy Head, if you know where that is.

It was while staying there looking out over the sea and seeing small sail boats going by, that he had the desire to sail around the world. Since he knew nothing of sailing he devised a plan how to learn and how to become an RYA Yachtmaster. At that time in his life he was a qualified Training Manager. At the first opportunity he discussed it with his boss, who encouraged him to go ahead and train himself. That man is now one of his best friends. 

So we sat there looking at the sea and the odd sail boat going by, thankful for the opportunities life had given us.

We left the day dreaming behind and continued on our way being passed by a couple of pilgrims traveling light and going fast! 

A nice café and hostel was found in this village of Oia and we stopped and now had caught up with the two pilgrims of earlier! They were from Sydney and English by birth had moved to New Zealand, but now lived in Australia. They were making for Baiona today!

Sadly the Monastery church was not open and the Way went along the front below it. The sun was trying to come out now, but the sea breeze had also kicked in which had a cooling effect. 

Yet another folley this one not quite finished, but it faced the wrong way we thought it should have its bows to the sea!

And what sort of function had this Klu Klux Clan hat on the shore line, we wondered!

Now we had our final ship folley this time clearly the real bridge stripped from its boat and in a field looking out to sea. This one was well looked after too!

After a distance of only 14 kilometres we had arrived at our destination for the day!

Showers were in order, laundry given up for washing and then an isotonic drink was sought!

With a tortilla for lunch too! It has been a lovely day and we are at peace and thankful that we have not had to walk so far. Tomorrow promises to be similar. Buen Camino 🐻🍺