To the ‘End of the World’

The view from our anchorage in Finisterre was great; old rustic buildings and the small fort added to the character of the place.

We decided take the opportunity to get our bikes ashore and cycle out to the lighthouse; ‘the end of the world’ as the Romans named the point. One of the pilot book glibly talks about ‘walking the 1.5nm to the lighthouse’ from Finisterre town. In fact the route to the lighthouse is all along a surprisingly busy road, with no pavement or cycle track. Worse still, on a hot afternoon, the road is all uphill.

I suppose it should have been obvious that the road would be busy since, as we were reminded by the bronze statue of a pilgrim part way up, the Finisterre branch of the Camino de Santiago starts (or finishes) at Finisterre lighthouse. We had rather expected that the route would be busy with people walking not coming by car, taxi and coach excursion. Despite the traffic on the road there was still a goodly number of determined people walking to and back from the headland; one lady was even doing it on crutches.

Once at the top though, the spectacular views across the ría and the coast to the south made the ride well worthwhile. The freewheel back down the hill was great fun too!

Back onboard, confirmation that we had definitely chosen the better anchorage came later in the evening as we watched the rain fall and the rainbow over Corcobión on the eastern side of the ría, whilst we stayed dry.