Day 5 – to Ermita de Santa Hadriano del Mar, Malpica

I had an appointment at Volkswagen in Carballo this morning at 8:30 am. I’ve a couple of jobs I need done, and having used Volkswagen in Teruel a couple of years ago, it’s cheaper over here, and the service is very good. Carlisle is less attractive.

I finished a book, Roja dozed, and soon the manager emerged to tell me what was needed and a price. I have arranged to have these done in a week in Santiago de Compostela, as a part needs to be ordered, which I expected. It fits in well with my departure from the coast for the mountains. Hopefully it will be spring then..

We had taken a half an hour walk before first light. Though the sun sets about 7:20 here at the moment, it doesn’t rise until about 8:00 am. This far west Spain would be more suited to GMT, as Portugal is.

Late last night the cloud of the day cleared, making for a wonderful night sky.

I filled up with fuel. Spain is much cheaper than France at the moment, cheaper again than the UK. Today the diesel had dropped to €1.40 a litre…

From Carballo I drove back to the coast, and the town at the northern terminus of the Camino dos Faros, Malpica. It’s a funny old place; in its February siesta, the Spanish really do off-season very well. It will get a warm summer here, but also the Atlantic weather systems. There’s a strange mix of old and new, the old looking very much past its date. Basically, it’s a surf town, though the beaches themselves will get busy, but mainly with relatively local people.

I had researched a place to stay a few kilometres out of town, on the cliffs, at an old chapel, completely quiet. It’s also near to a 4G mast, as there’s rugby and cricket tonight, and the Six Nations tomorrow. I’ll stay here for a couple of nights.

We walked into Malpica on the Camino, which here is a well used path above the ocean waves and via a smaller beach into the town.

There was a campervan at the smaller beach. I’ve hardly seen any so far. This was a German surfing guy, his partner and their badly behaved dog, at his own admission. They were in an old Sprinter with 320,000 km on the clock, and a fair bit of rust, but all the work inside sparkling, and done by themselves. They had been four months away, and both work from the van. Though they were about to take a two month rental on a local flat they have got at a good price.

We got back just as the rain set in. It had been falling lightly for a while. The Sprinter guy told me that where I was two days ago, Bares, gets considerably more rainfall than here.