Our Spanish Road Trip – Part 7

We were not late back to the hotel from the Mexican Restaurant, around 10:30pm, but Shazza said she was tired and went straight to bed, I was still wide awake, as usual, so I decided to see what I could find out about the Island we were going to visit the following day. I have included some screenshots of the information that I discovered below, for a very good reason, which will become very obvious later in this ramble. But I was quite excited by what I had read, so I would certainly be packing the beach towel and swimwear in the rucksack the following morning, I still didn’t have any intentions of going for a swim, but a spot of sunbathing on a pristine white sand Island beach, well it would have to be done really and I certainly had to have some photo’s of that to include in the ramble 🤭 It also looked as if, finally, we may also just manage to get that nice spot for a lunch too 🤗

Whilst Shazza was drinking her coffee the following morning I let her read the information that I had found the previous evening. I suggested that if she wasn’t up for another walk we could always just drive there in the car, as their was free parking on the Island, however, she said that she still wanted to do the walk, I re-packed the rucksack, she suggested that we should still take some snacks, fruit and water as we could always bring them back, to have on another day, if we didn’t eat or drink them.

We looked at the map and agreed where we would park, which would entail starting on a part of the route that we had actually already walked the previous day, which would be at the start of the long promenade, although there were several car parks to choose from, but the one we selected looked easy enough to get to from the hotel, we would park directly at the beach in an official car park and not just on the side of the road and, the car parking was completely ‘free’, and you all know just how much I like that word 😂

The thing about Google, is that it does not account for gradients, or for what pace individuals may walk, so when I checked the actual route it showed that it would only be a little under an hour’s walk, from where we would park the car to our intended destination, but all in all it looked as though the actual route would be very easy, and quite effortless to the ‘Illa de Toralla’.

Shazza elected to do the driving, there are times when she does actually prefer me to be the passenger so that I can do the navigation through towns, although Google does the directions, I am pretty good at reading the on-screen mapping so that I am able to give her some advance notifications of which junction to take, or how far it is before a turn off, or which lane to be in, and it also helps being an extra pair of eyes watching other traffic and suicidal pedestrians 😳 However, it was quite easy as it was a Sunday morning and their was very little traffic on the roads, also, we didn’t have to go anywhere near the central part of the city which may have been a little busier. It was a beautiful sunny morning, already quite warm and we had our fingers crossed that yesterday’s weird band of mist would not be present again today.

We parked up, there were already quite a lot of other cars already there, but there was still plenty of space. As we commenced our walk we could already see quite a few people on the beach, the promenade itself was certainly a lot busier than it had been the previous day, but we also soon discovered the reason for that, and it had nothing to do with not having the previous day’s misty conditions. We just kept walking, although it was actually more of a leisurely stroll, and we were just enjoying the warmth and the views, then we came to the reason for the large number of people that early on a Sunday morning, the street market, which occupied the whole area of one of the seafront car parks, however we didn’t stop, one street market is much the same as any other. We had not walked down as far as this on the previous day and we were quite surprised at just how long this promenade actually was, we had seen one open air swimming pool and a basketball park, the previous day, but their were even more play areas, food and drink vendors and another, more impressive open air swimming pool, although nobody, as yet, at this time of the morning was taking advantage of it, we made the assumption that it wasn’t a heated one, although we didn’t know that for certain, but their was no way that we were going to prove, or disprove, our assumption 🥶

When we did finally reach the end of the long promenade we came to a bit of a dead end and the coastal path did not continue from that point 🤔 We did have a choice, Google maps was instructing us to cut across to the main road and continue to follow it, until it would eventually bring us back towards the seashore and another long stretch of beach, or, we could have chosen to divert off the route down on to the beach to see wether we could just walk along it, the mapping wasn’t very clear though, would we come to another river or estuary that we would be unable to cross and then have to walk all the way back 🤷‍♂️ We certainly didn’t want to risk having to do that, so we agreed to just keep following the Google directions.

Now you may recall me commenting about Google Maps, in fact several times over the course of these current travel rambles, particularly about it not showing gradients, and I continue to mention it for very good reason. In the main, there was a good flattish pavement that ran alongside the main road that we now found ourselves walking along, which took us through a couple of small villages, passed houses, shops that were closed, some because it was a Sunday but other’s that looked a bit more permanent, we walked past a large sporting arena, where lots of youngsters, aged we guessed between 6-7, who were spread across several tennis courts, were being coached by Adults, the next generation of Grand Slam Champions we mused, but it was good to see them doing something physically active over this lovely sunny weekend, and not just stuck with their heads looking down at screens on electronic devices, totally oblivious to everything else going on around them, an activity that has spread these days to all generations of folk, and yes that does include ourselves 😳 But we do sometimes laugh when we see quite elderly folk, seemingly tottering along the pavements talking to themselves, year’s ago that behaviour would have seen them taken away by men in white coats 😂, but when we get closer and pass them we see the tell tale signs of earphone cables, or wireless earbuds, in their ears, as they chatter away to someone on the other end, “Don’t laugh, that’ll be you in a couple of years time” Shazza says to me, “I doubt it, I don’t have any friends to talk to” I reply, anticipating a bit of sympathy, but I should have known better, “That’s true” she said, cruelly followed by a laugh 😲

We crossed a bridge across a wide river that ran down to the sea, wide enough at least to have prevented us from traversing it, had we have opted to have taken the beach route 😲 “We made the right choice there” Shazza commented, “We certainly did, especially when you think how far we have just walked since leaving the promenade, it would have been a pain to have had to backtrack” I said, in a thankful tone. Sometimes it pays to just follow directions, I thought to myself. However, once we had crossed that bridge, the road and pavement bent around to the right and proceeded to take us up a steep hill, “This has certainly got the heart pumping” I said to Shazza, unsurprisingly she gave no response but just kept trudging on. At, what we thought would be the top, the road bent around to the left and continued in an upward direction, but the pavement disappeared and we had to walk on an uneven and potholed hard shoulder, fortunately the road was not that busy. It felt a longer distance than it actually was and soon we started to descend back to beach and sea level, we cut across a small dirt car park that had a sign prominently stating that Caravans and Camper Vans were prohibited, I still tend to notice these sort of things as I can still imagine being in our own van and finding rare opportunities like this to park up for a night. However, although there were restrictions on this beach side of the road, we noted that directly across from it was another dirt car park which had several medium sized (7m) Motor Homes parked up, it looked a bit ‘lumpy’ but you could have made do for a night, or perhaps two 🤔 We re-joined the sandy coastal footpath through a lightly pine forested area which provided some welcome shade from the rapidly increasing heat and we could see our destination and the bridge that gave access to it. As we approached the bridge, to what we thought would be our final destination, on the beach, on the mainland side, there were proper small five-a-side goalposts set up with a game in progress, although this was no five-a-side match as there were at least twenty individuals having a kick-around. As we got closer we could see that these were not youths but mainly adult males, of an age group that the Spanish class as ‘Seniors’, but their game was being played at the normal speed and not at a walking pace, another reason perhaps that there is longevity in these parts which obviously isn’t just due to the healthy Mediterranean Diet, or maintaining a strict daily Anti-Covid Vaccine regime.

As we approached the other side of the bridge we could see a security barrier across the road and a man, in a uniform, in a security hut 🤷‍♂️ There was a sturdy metal barred security pedestrian gate but it was locked. I sauntered across to the security hut, the guard stood up and I could see he was wearing a gun 😲 “Buenas Dias” I said, in a cheerful manner with a smile on my face, “How can I help you ?” He said in perfect English, ‘Why do I even bother’ I thought to myself 🤷‍♂️ I explained that we had walked from Vigo to come and visit the Island for a couple of hours. He told us that it was not possible as the Island was Private and only for residents 🤔 I explained that on-line it said that it was open to visitor’s, but he just re-iterated, although not in an unfriendly manner, that it was a Privately owned Island. I was in no position to argue, after all he was the one with the gun 😲 We were both extremely disappointed, and a little irritated, I mean we had read up on the place before coming here, hence the reason I have included the screenshots at the beginning of this ramble, which you can see clearly indicated that it was open to visitor’s 🤷‍♂️

I said to Sharon that this looked suspicious, perhaps the Island had been taken over by a very wealthy individual, or a corporation, for unscrupulous reasons, like you see in the James Bond Movies 🤷‍♂️ In fact, as we were walking away a big expensive luxury looking car arrived, with blacked out windows, as the electric rear passenger window came partially down, so as the guard could identify the occupant, I am certain the old white-haired passenger looked a lot like ‘Blofeld’ and, he had a white fluffy Persian cat sat on his knee 😲 Or perhaps I was letting my imagination run away with me 🤭 As we returned across the bridge we looked down to see a person in a black wetsuit swimming under the bridge towards the beach, and no, I was certainly not imagining that. I told Shazza that we should hurry up and get back to the mainland side of the bridge before the explosions started and the gun battle commenced !!

As we disappointedly walked back across the bridge, we stopped to just admire the views, a little further away we could see what looked like a small village with a nice looking harbour so we decided we would continue a little further on our walk to see what was their, and wether we could still find a nice place for lunch.

As we got back onto the mainland from the bridge, the sandy coastal path and pine forest continued, from there, with us today having beautiful clear mist free views, we got a lovely view of the ‘Cies’ Islands and beyond them, and albeit in a bit of a heat haze, I could just about make out what looked like another, but not so tall, rocky outcrop. Just out of curiosity I used the zoom lens on my camera to take a look and, although not visible to the naked eye, well at least not in daylight, there was a small lighthouse.

We headed for the small harbour cove, their were quite a few people walking along the path so we were hopeful that there may have been things to see, and a few choices to select somewhere nice for a spot of lunch. It was not to be our day, albeit the weather was good, their was no mist so the views were spectacular and it was a very nice beach day, however, there was only one very small Cafe open, but their outside seating area was at the back of the property offering no views, so we gave that a miss. Shazza’s suggestion to pack our own snacks, fruit and drinks had been a good call and, unless we wanted the usual seaside food offerings, it looked like another opportunity for a nice lunch had been thwarted. We decided to just re-trace our steps and make our way back to the car, we would find somewhere to eat later that evening in Vigo.

When we came to the car park in the village, the one that didn’t permit Caravans or Camper Vans, in one corner there was a small refreshments hut with just a few plastic tables and chairs positioned nearby, we decided to stop for a cold beer, they offered one on tap that was mixed with Lemon, it tasted just like the ‘Lager & Lime’ that we used to drink in the pubs back in the UK in our much younger days, and very refreshing it was too.

Instead of walking across the car park to the main road and walking back through the village, as we had on our way up here, we continued to walk on a trail through a lightly forested area and by doing so ended up getting some nice views of some other coves. This was obviously not the shortest route , as Google wanted to send us back up the main village road. However, it wasn’t as if we were on a jungle trek in the wilderness now was it 🤷‍♂️ We wouldn’t actually end up getting lost, okay we may have had to double back on ourselves but we were willing to take that risk, this route was much more scenic.

We kept following the coastal trail until eventually we could go no further, except back up a road into the village where we re-joined the main road again. We recognised where we were, so it would be straightforward from here to get back to the car. As we descended the first part of the hill back to the bridge that crossed the river, there was an ambulance on the pavement, right on the bend of the road, blue lights flashing, rear doors open, blocking our footpath access, so we had to make our way around it on the narrow road, “Careful of the traffic” Shazza shouted out to me, I laughed to myself, sometimes she talks to me as if I am a little child, “It’s okay Mum, if I get run over there is an ambulance already here” I shouted back to her 😂

As we passed the sports-hall again, outside, the youngsters were still playing tennis, although wether it was a different group I don’t know, then we both sighed a bit of relief as we once again got back on to the promenade. We still had a fair way to walk to get back to the car but phsycologically we knew that we were on the home leg which always tends to put an extra spring in the step.

It hadn’t actually felt as though we were on an actual hike today, more of a nice gentle walk with just one short uphill ascent but nothing very strenuous, much the same as the previous days walk really but with some slightly different views. I don’t really mind where we walk, it’s more about being outdoors in the fresh air, but, if I were to be totally honest, I think that silently I was longing for a more rugged, and peaceful, coastal or mountain hike, with much less people and traffic.

Shazza I think could sense that I wasn’t totally enamoured with todays activity, but for completely the wrong reason, “I’m sorry we didn’t find anywhere nice again to stop and have lunch” she said, “Don’t be daft, I am not that bothered about not stopping for a lunch” I replied. “Well, I have got a suggestion” she continued. So she went on to tell me about a little Pizza restaurant she had seen one night as we were walking back from the Mexican place, although she hadn’t mentioned it at the time. “It looked really small inside, but very nice” she said, in quite an enthusiastic way. “Is that where you want to eat this evening ?” I asked her, but instead she suggested that we could get back to the hotel, drop off our stuff in the room and then walk to the Italian Pizza place and have what could be a very late lunch or early dinner.

I was very conscious that this was our last day in Vigo and we hadn’t even discussed where we would head off to next, my natural assumption had been I guess that we would just continue to travel a little further North up this Western coastline of Galicia, possibly with a stop at Santiago de Compostela, the official end of the Camino where all the Pilgrims assemble at the Cathedral, then we could turn East and head along the Northern coast, on into the ‘Asturias’ Region before dropping South and back through the Picos de Europas mountain range, where, subject of course to the weather, we may still get a chance for a day or two hiking. But of course, as we were just ‘Going with the flow’ on this particular road trip, I couldn’t let Shazza know that I may have had a cunning sort of plan 🤭 If we went out to eat early, then we could spend the evening looking at the ‘Works of Fiction’ forecasts, and our maps, and then plan a bit of a route.

Back at the hotel, suitably fed and watered, and yes there may have been a couple of Anti-Covid Vaccines included, I got Google maps up on my iPad, opened up the outdated, but still useful, road map of Portugal & Spain. Shazza handed me a cup of coffee that she had just made and then said, in a tone that immediately gave me cause for concern, “Before we plan a route I need to talk to you” 😳

To be continued………………………

Hasta Luego mi Amigos, La Vida Es Buena