Spanish Tour – Beaches Galore!
El Pito to Puerto de Vega
My last write up of this grand tour left us near Cudillero on the North Coast in fact at a hamlet called El Pito which translates as The Whistle – I couldn’t find any explanation for that name.
Having checked into our little holiday chalet for the night, we wandered around looking for food and places of interest.
Some of the Spanish returned from the Americas with fabulous wealth. Building outsized mansions around Asturias was their thing. However, this palace was built by the philanthropic Selgas brothers, styled on 19th century Italian designs. They also built the church and a school open to boys and girls of the area.
Dinner was our priority though and we celebrated the end of a fairly stressful day with a massive meal at the local Sidreria. The region of Asturias is famous for it’s very tasty cider, and even more famous for the skill of the cider waiters. They pour it, holding the bottle overhead and without looking at the glass, never spill a drop!
The morning ride started with the steep descent into the middle of Cudillero for the standard spanish breakfast of a cafe con leche grande and a bocadillo. Cheap really at a couple of euros.
The road out of Cudillero is quite steep but quiet, in fact we followed part of the Camino del Norte route up and out.
There are long climbs in Asturias but the reward is almost always a fabulous view of the sea.
We spent the night in another fishing village Puerto de Vega where I had managed to book an apartment for us with a washing machine! It was a real treat to wash and dry our clothes properly.
Puerto de Vega to Foz
We had a wet start the next morning.
Things cheered up when we crossed the river at Navia. This looked quite pretty when we arrived but the climb out revealed the industrial nature of this area.
As lunchtime approached we reached our half way point at Tapia de Casariego. I remembered staying here with Des, Ricky and my son Christopher in 2012 and it had a hostel overlooking a small cliff. Picnic tables with sunshine and a view all beckoned so we hastily bought ourselves a picnic lunch and feasted.
Further along the coast there were more beaches and cliff views. We simply could not resist trying to take it all in!
We arrived at Foz, and headed towards the restaurant which hopefully held the key to our apartment. After much faffing, we were in and had access to another washing machine! Foz is a touristy, seaside town with links to the arrival of Briton immigrants during the Dark Ages (5th and 6th centuries) fleeing by sea from the British Isles. We decided to eat in rather than splashing out on another heavy dinner. A post dinner walk along to the lighthouse allowed us to look back on another great day.
Foz to xxx
We had time to kill before the train so we chose to do a shortish ride to Cangas de Foz, another 7 miles up the coast. Just for fun, I dragged Peter and TomTom up a couple of steep hills! They managed but the cursing was definitely getting worse…
The train to O Vicedo was fairly quick and from here we got great views across the bay and estuary as we descended through the picturesque village.
The target though was to get to Estaca de Bares Lighthouse which marked the northernmost point in Spain. Lying ahead of us was another great climb.
Having been to the lighthouse there were still several peaks and troughs to manage before we got to our destination across the headland at Ortiguera.
Ortiguera to Cedeira
This was a relatively short ride although far from easy. Initially we went to Cariño to see another seaside town with a beach.
The climb up was pretty brutal but we managed it regardless. Eventually we reached the line of windmills and unusually, they were all rotating!
On the far side, wild horses took precedence over people and we enjoyed watching the horses wandering along the road oblivious to the traffic chaos they were creating.
Our overnight stop at Cedeira is one of the prettiest, most laid back, seaside towns I have ever been to. Pretty riverside to the east and to the west, a sandy beach on the Targus estuary.
