Today I officially started the highly anticipated Camino dos Faros (Lighthouse Way), following yesterday’s warm-up from Cee. I was up to see the sun rise, before an excellent breakfast (first served at 9am), so I wasn’t on my way until 9.45. It was only going to be 24km, so I would have plenty of time – how wrong I was!
I quickly found the first “Camino dos Faros” marker with 200km as the amount left to walk or you had walked depending on which way you were walking. As most people end in Fisterra, they had walked 200km. I still had 200 km to go.
There weren’t many signs, or perhaps I just missed them as I was walking in the opposite direction. I hadn’t walked 1km before I was lost, not once, but twice. One is spoilt on the Camino’s as far as signs go, and on this trip I will have to rely on directions from my app and check my phone at every turn – a bit of a pain! I missed a couple more turns during the day, but luckily the app warns me when I’m 100m off track, so it isn’t too big a pain. At one point I passed through some dunes for a couple of kilometers. Dunes move, trails on the app evidently don’t, so the app had me walking up and down dunes, instead of next to them!
The signs, or lack of, was frustrating, at least initially.
The trail winds along the coast, and the vistas are extremely beautiful, with many coves and a rough and rugged coastline, as you can see on the pictures. One can understand why it is called the Coast of Death with all the peninsulas, the rough coastline, the rocks sticking up out of the water and worse, those you can’t see under the water.
The trail went as close to the coastline as possible with lots of ascents and descents (819m ascent). Often it was more “half-climbing” or scrambling than walking, often with a path that wasn’t wide enough to place both feet next to each other, or for two people to pass each other. I met ca. 30 people during the day, all walking towards me. It was amazing how often we met in places where it was difficult to pass each other.
There were no services on the way, so no coffee and cola after 10kms. Despite bringing 2 liters of water, I ran out, which wasn’t too smart given that it was fairly warm. I took a few breaks and many photo stops. I was extremely tired when I finally reached somewhere I could stop and get a coffee, cola and water. It was only 2kms from my end destination, Lires, but it was an extremely welcome break.
I got to the hotel around 6pm, after a long and hard day. It was only 24kms, but far harder than I had expected. In many places it wasn’t really walking, and progress was slow, made worse by the fact that I am extremely bad at walking downhill. Having to be careful with every step, took some of the glance away from the otherwise beautiful coastline.
After resting, showering and gathering strength, I walked 100m to the local bar and had a beer, before walking another 50m for a burger and cheesecake.
Tomorrow I have 15 or 30kms to Muxia – 15kms if I follow the Camino between Fisterra and Muxia, which many walk, and 30kms if I follow the Camino dos Faros. Tomorrow, rain is scheduled all day, and I would definitely not have wanted to walk today’s stage in rain – I’d still be out there!
Despite the challenges, a great day!