The Road from Santiago

Sometimes we just need to walk away from those illusions which make the world a better place but we must be adults and face the truth. If you had thought I spent hours each day planning the route then, alas, I must disburse you. Usually I get one end of the direction strand, move it on 3.6km and plonk it down. Alright, sometimes I wiggle it a bit if something of interest is nearby, but often we go by serendipity - and sometimes by major roads. Today, however, chance has taken us down a curious back way which, I have to be honest, I wouldn’t want to drive. We are heading down into Puentedeume Being where it is, people has lingered about. There were six hillforts in the commune; the Romans built a road; the Swabians built churches. The French were beastly in the Napoleonic Wars, the Carlists and anti-Carlists were ghastly to each other and bandits were less than kind. Currently half the populace work in the service sector, a quarter in industry and one in twenty are fishers and farmers. ...

  We are heading out again up the road and towards Ferrol. Restaurante el Pinar looks the sort of place the odd lorry might stop, and so will we. 470 people give it 4,4 Star rating and a month ago Eri said Very good „Fabada“ and the cheesecake was wonderful tasty!!! We will look a fabada in much more detail on future months. The road rises up and we follow the ridge towards the next rias. We are entering Pontedeume,a stretched out sort of place which will plunge into the beating heart of the place. Currently the number of people here is in decline. The current 7600 is less than the 1991 peak of 8800. The demographics are mildly usually compared to where we have been. It was about 8600 in the 1880s and then crashed to 6000 in 1897. After that it was a steady climb for a century. Let us end with the visit to a marine broker. Nautica Noroeste - Concesionario Oficial Yamaha. They close at 2pm today. They have an average of 3.7 stars. A year ago Rober Rober wrote ‘offic...

  We are wandering above the Punta de Sumino and near the apartments on the edge of Mino. Once more the geography of Spain hems in the urban sprawl. We won’t be going to the Playa Grande, a kilometre of blue flag beach wonder since 1984. We will not be here for St Peter’s day. Wiki is a little pointed on this: ‘June 27 to 29: Festivities in honor of San Pedro . A huge percentage of the population of Miña mistakenly believes that Saint Peter is the patron saint. In Miño there is no patron, but rather the patron saint, the Virgen del Carmen. Therefore, the festivities of San Pedro, although very famous and important, are not patron saints.’ Very near to the road is the Guardia Civil post - which has one, five star, review. The sapphira Natural Beauty salon gets 4.7 stars from 47 reviews. A month ago Anna said 5 stars ‘Very satisfied with my facial treatment, products adapted to my skin type. I recommend.’ The owner of this LGBTQ+ place of commerce replied ‘Thank you very much for you...

  We are moving on and across. The Puente del Perrido is open, according to Google, 24 hours a day and has a 4.4 star rating, 555 people thought it worthy of review. 5 days ago, at the time of writing, Jorge wrote ‘The entrance to the Betanzos estuary Between sea and river At low tide you walk meters and meters close to the mountain. You see how the professionals fish for shellfish. Marsh with various bird species’ The bridge was begun in 1939 and opened in 1942. Across the river, we are up the cliffside and into Insua. It has a fruit and veg shop. Almacen de Frutas Ferreiro gets 4.4 stars from 66 ratings. They will deliver. Here is their phone number. You could ask. +34981782279 Six months ago Jacobo wrote ‘Magnificent quality. Excellence in products. And the charming owners.’ Across the headland we cross the Ponte Do Porco [282 reviews, if you needed to know, 4.4 stars] and so into the outskirts of Mino. In 1842 2600 live here. It peaked in 1960 with 6200 and they...

  We are out about the back lanes and the woodlands until we enter San Cidre It has about 450 people living it, a bit up from the 400 of the year 2000. It only has a wiki page in Galician It is a part of the Bergondo municipality The current mayor is Alejandra Perez Maquez. She was born in London. She has been mayor since 2008 and has been nominated as president of the Council of Mayor and Mayoresses. She belongs to the PSOE. We are very near the Restaurante San Isidore so lets pop in.  http://www.parrilladasanisidro.es/menus.html  I’ve included some shots of food cooked two days agp at the time of writing. Sonia said ‘Always spectacular food, quality and flavor, always attentive and super friendly staff, never disappoints. wishing to return’ As we descend towards the sea we will pass a bakery and who but a monster does not like a bakery. The Panaderia Fiobre gets 4.3 stars from 141 reviews.  https://www.panaderiafiobre.com/  Maria said ;Everything in general ve...

  In recovery so taking in another restaurant. Today we are going to the Restaurante Babio.  No website but lots of reviews.  Google suggests the most relevant review is from Ricardo - two months ago. ‘The waitress Sonia treated us terribly. Very rude. We had gone a couple of times and it was good, but this time, the treatment left a lot to be desired. Never to return.’  The more recent leave 5 stars and no comments.  Service seems to be the issue.  Two months ago Pilar noted The truth is that the service today is leaving a lot to be desired.’  As ever I suggest you visit yourselves and make up your own mind.

  I am poorly, so I am not going very far. Let us head down to the Restaurante As Rodas.  https://www.asrodas.es/  They do a 10 euro menu del dia and a weekend special menu of 20 euros. It averages 4,1 stars. Yesterday Jose gave it 5 stars. A week ago Cherma saids ‘The food is delicious, but they have some very old and small plates. They should renew the plating cutlery and put a little more food per plate, especially during the week for the daily menu.’

  It is another walk between the hamlets, sometimes of good roads, sometimes on rattling tracks. Very soon we will pass Pazo de Armuno. Manuel gives it five stars and declares it ‘It is a very nice mansion located in a beautiful environment’. Antonio only gives it one star because ‘How has no one made a boutique hotel yet!!!???’ I’m not really sure that is enough to so demean it. This is a walk for those of you who appreciate how there are different ways to adapt and renew old buildings or just build your commuter dream. Next feature is the church of Dt John of Lubre. It has a facebook page. I have liked it.  https://www.facebook.com/LUBRE.BERGONDO/  Patricicia says of it ‘Catholic temple built on top of an earlier temple from the 10th century, well preserved with a typical Galician cross’ Jose opines ‘From the 20th century, the sober and austere church was built on a previous temple. Well maintained.’ Just round the corner is O Regueiro. They make doors. They have a webs...

We begin in Ceramic Street [Rua Ceramica] which is rather pleasing. Wandering through the countryside - we are on a bus route. Apparently it is most used between 9pm and 12 midnight. There are about five buses in each direction a day. We will rise up about 60m today. Having wandered about a bit we end up at the back of a big industrial estate. Should we want to vault the fence we could visit Profand Cambre. This business is on the Rua Zeppelin.  https://profand.com/en/  Can I say I really go for the opening shot on the website - a glorious sea shape with the caption ‘Sea the difference.’ What do they do? I hear you ask. ‘We fish, cultivate, process, elaborate and commercialise seafood products with the highest quality, under an integrated and sustainable model.’ they reply. They have offices in the UK. Among the things they do is fish   Cuttlefish, Squid, Giant Squid, Illex Squid, Octopus, Shrimp, Hake, Butterfish, Shrimp and Lobster in the waters of Morocco, USA and Arge...

  After the first few hundreds of metres we are out of town and into that extended stretch of semi-subrural land which is Spain around cities. The casitas and cottages will slowly spread along a once more important road. We had better make the most of it while we are amid the houses. Carmela Peluqueria will open at 9am for our hair cutting needs. Anita said ‘Trusted hairdresser’ and to be honest, that should be enough but Lourdes added ‘Excellent!!, she knows her profession and it shows that she enjoys it... many years of work, a real pleasure to meet Carmela!!’ Given all things it may seem odd we have never done a fabric wholesaler so, just before we dip under the AP-9 and look at the fantastic muriel, we must visit SLX Sport Luxury. It has no reviews but it does have a website.  https://www.sportluxury.es/  Some of the tops seem fun, though having to play tennis seems a bit much to ask. We are now leaving Jan 24 and are into streetview Feb 24. The first house we reach o...