Bernie and Graham's big adventure: Cabo Finisterre

We woke up to the seagulls call - very evocative! The forecast for the week on the Galician Coast was not good but we have lucked out! Slightly cloudy skies first thing this morning but later a gorgeous day.

We joined the wave of peregrino's walking to Cabo Finisterre - the lighthouse and the traditional 0km marker for Camino Santiago - the end of the earth. On our way out of town we found the local fish market - so interesting to see the different varieties here.

Lots of peregrinos just walking from Finistere (Galician Fisterra) today.

Only a few with big packs and looking like they had completed their Camino in Santiago de Compostela and carried on to the end of the earth - approximately another 89 km from Santiago de Compostela. There is a lovely little chapel, Romanesque 12th century, Iglesia de Santa Maria das Areas on the hike out of town.

We walked 4ks from the port out to the light and it was a very pleasant journey.

The light was built in 1853. The tower is made of stonework, is 17 meters high and 143 meters above sea level, it reaches more than 23 nautical miles. The constant winter fog caused a siren to be added in 1888, the Fisterra Cow! - to warn sailors of the existing danger. It still sends two shrill sounds each minute, with a range of 25 miles (46 km) in foggy weather.

We wandered back into the port

and had a lovely lunch - menu del dia - with fresh local fish on the menu.

We enjoyed wondering the little lanes behind the port and just seeing how the locals live. Zoom in on the picture below and you will see a tile on the outside wall of the casa commemorating the sinking of the oil tanker Prestige.

This was a massive blow to the fishing industry at the time. At 15:15 on November 13th in 2002, the Bahamas registered vessel Prestige, a single-hull oil tanker, launched an S.O.S up to 20 miles (50 kilometers) off the coast of Finisterre. The nightmare started at that moment.One hour after the warning sign, twenty four crew members were rescued by two helicopters. Only three people remained on the vessel: the captain, the first officer and the chief engineer officer. At 5 o´clock in the afternoon, fuel and oil started contaminating the Atlantic.

Thousands of tons of thick fuel caused an ecological disaster. However, the tragedy brought about a tide of solidarity with the Galician people: thousands of people came from all over to help to clean the coast line. Government compensation wrangles took years to resolve. [thanks Wikipedia]

However today the southern Atlantic looked spectacular.

The Camino tourisim is incredibly important to the local economy. With Covid impacting incomes the last few years they have really been doing it tough. Lots of places still shut up and many for sale. Lots of do ups!