{"id":3223,"date":"2014-06-30T18:42:31","date_gmt":"2014-06-30T17:42:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/?p=3223"},"modified":"2026-05-23T08:32:53","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T07:32:53","slug":"two-remarkable-cathedrals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/2014\/06\/30\/two-remarkable-cathedrals\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Remarkable Cathedrals"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"
Camino completed….not by us!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

And the sun did come out on Friday.\u00a0 We got up early, set off early and were on the road by 8:40am, which was a bit of a shock for us.\u00a0 Every village we drove through still seemed fast asleep, which made it feel more like 6am.\u00a0 We followed the Ria de Arosa and with the sun glinting on the water and the mist still hanging on the hills, it looked lovely and as we crossed the Rio Tambre the water below looked like glass.<\/p>\n

The campervan car park for Santiago de Compostela wasn\u2019t too hard to find and the No.1 bus stopped right beside the parking toll booth.\u00a0 We perambulated around the narrow streets of the old town; I can\u2019t say walked, because we were surrounded by dedicated walkers carrying poles, staffs, heavy rucksacks and a cockle shell.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"
Santiago de Compostela old town<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"
Hikers queuing for the certificate of completion of the Camino trek<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Driving in to and out of the city we passed many more pilgrims walking the last leg and some of them looked so very tired.\u00a0 We\u2019ve always been in awe of our friends, Ken and Willie who completed two of the 800km Camino trails to Santiago, but now having seen some of the areas they walked through en route, we are super impressed.\u00a0 When we entered the cathedral, we kept trying to imagine how they felt when they finally stepped through the door of the second most important place of pilgrimage in Europe.\u00a0 Half a million pilgrims per year flocked to Santiago de Compostela in the Middle Ages and it\u2019s estimated that about 100,000 per year still do El Camino.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Praza
Plaza da Quintana<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Inside
Inside the cathedral<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Praza
Plaza das Praterias<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

After a good roam around and lunch in a small restaurant near the cathedral, we caught the bus back to Eileen and set off north to the coast.\u00a0 We stopped on route for diesel, some food and yet more cherries and with the aid of really good roads and freeways managed to get to Camping Gaivota at Benquerencia around 5:30pm.\u00a0 We chatted to some English neighbours who were travelling the north coast of Spain in their campervans for 3 weeks; I think they were a little jealous of how long and how far we were travelling.\u00a0 We gave them some tips and maps and they recommended another good campsite further along the coast, which turned out to be the next one we were already aiming for.\u00a0 Then we went for a stroll over the road to the beaches.\u00a0 It\u2019s another lovely coastline and completely unspoilt.\u00a0 It was a shame that the weather forecast was bad.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Campsite
Campsite beach at Benquerencia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Praia
Praia del Castro<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

When we woke up, the weather was more than bad, it was atrocious.\u00a0 We starting planning a day holed up in Eileen, but then decided there seemed no point in staying, despite it being a very nice campsite.\u00a0 So at 10am with the rain still pouring down outside, we made the late decision to make it another driving day, packed up and set off.\u00a0\u00a0 We stayed on the Ruta de Praias (the beach road) for a bit, thinking we might glimpse some nice views and with the windscreen wipers on high speed, I only just noticed the sign and car park for As Catedrais (The Cathedrals).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"As
As Catedrais<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Even with the wind pulling at our raincoats, it was a stunning place. We later discovered it had been voted the most beautiful beach in Europe in 2008.\u00a0 Steps lead down to a smooth sandy beach covered in impressive rock formations: stacks, rocks, narrow grottoes, arches and caves. \u00a0\u00a0The sea and the wind have sculpted arches over thirty metres high, some of which really do look like the flying buttresses of cathedrals. Tiny mussels and barnacles cling to the lower levels that are obviously washed every day at high tide.\u00a0 Luckily for us it was low tide and we could roam around amongst the most amazing architecture sculpted by nature. Despite the rain there were many other tourists there, all with their cameras out trying to get the perfect shot of every cave, arch and wave.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"As
As Catedrais<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"As
As Catedrais buttresses<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"
Rodney at As Catedrais<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

It was so nice to get back to Eileen, climb back in, shut the doors and feel warm and dry again.\u00a0 We drove along to Ribadeo and managed to buy our fourth footstool; we\u2019ve already destroyed three of them.\u00a0 The label on it says it is \u2018Top Quality\u2019 and \u2018Sturdy\u2019.\u00a0 It\u2019s also white, so even if this one survives our heavy feet, it\u2019s going to get very grubby, very quickly\u2026… I would also like it noted that hardware stores really are the equivalent of discos…. for old people like us. \u00a0 The freeway took us a fair way further east, along a great stretch of road full of huge viaducts with views of the ocean on our left and the hills and valleys on our right.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Brilliant
Brilliant roads and oh so empty…..<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

We turned off the freeway at Cudillero and parked by the harbour, as no campervans are allowed in through the town.\u00a0 As it turned out, no vehicles of any sort were allowed in town, as they were enjoying a two-day festival for another saint and the fun-fair, market stalls and bunting were all set up for the weekend.\u00a0 The bars looked quite full inside, but we felt sorry for the live band playing on a temporary stage halfway up the steep main street.\u00a0 The singer was scantily dressed and they were belting out more oompah music, with absolutely no-one watching them, or dancing, in the drizzling rain.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Cudillero\"
Cudillero<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t rain in the night, nor the whole of the next day, so we washed, mended, hemmed trousers, read, pedicured (is that a verb?, it is now) and in the afternoon we slothed by the pool.\u00a0 At Camping Cudillero, we met David and Shirley from Banbury, who have already camped next to David and Nicky when they were all in Salamanca.\u00a0 The next day, with the sun shining again (yippee!) we met the couple from Northampton who had been parked next to David and Nicky back at San Francisco.\u00a0 \u00a0The Dutch couple who were parked next to us at San Francisco, have also turned up, as have the French couple who were parked next to the Northampton couple.\u00a0 The only ones not here are David and Nicky.\u00a0 Come on over guys, we miss you and this is a very nice campsite.\u00a0 The swimming pool surrounded by flowers is very nice, there\u2019s even flowers and music in the bathrooms.\u00a0\u00a0 The only disappointment of the day was when Rodney went over to the bar to watch the soccer, the TV is apparently \u2018broken\u2019, so we\u2019ll watch a DVD this evening instead. \u00a0At the end of the day, we both thought we fancied another day of not moving anywhere, so we might just do that tomorrow.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Pilgrim
Pilgrim necessities<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Monday was thankfully another dry day, so we stayed on at Cudillero and walked one kilometre down to Playa de Aguilar.\u00a0 Actually no, we didn\u2019t walk; Rodney decided to take an overgrown track through the bush.\u00a0 And yes, I will call it bush, because we were picking our way through ferns and brambles all under the canopy of tall blue gums; the smell of the eucalyptus oil had us thinking we were hiking in Australia!\u00a0 When we reached the beach, it was yet another beautiful one; smooth, spotless sand dotted with big and small rocks.\u00a0 We sat at a caf\u00e9 for a while and we also sat on the edge of the beach leaning on the warm wall and reading our books.\u00a0 Then, despite it being a very steep winding road back to the campsite, the uphill stroll was much quicker than the downhill bush scramble.\u00a0 Perhaps tomorrow we\u2019ll head further east and inland to the mountains.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Playa
Playa de Aguilar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

And as a postscript, they\u2019re in need of a good interpreter at this campsite and yet strangely you still know what they’re trying to say\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Swimming
Swimming pool rules at Camping Cudillero<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  And the sun did come out on Friday.\u00a0 We got up early, set off early and were on the road by 8:40am, which was a bit of a shock for us.\u00a0 Every village we drove through still seemed fast asleep, which made it feel more like 6am.\u00a0 We followed the Ria de Arosa and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3234,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3223"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8317,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3223\/revisions\/8317"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}