Trip to Finisterre

The day after arriving in Santiago de Compostela we went on a coach trip to Finisterre. The place the Romans called 'Earth's End'. The guide gave a running commentary in both Spanish and English, all the way there. How relaxing it was for us not to be walking. We stopped at a couple of places enroute.

Our first stop was in the village of Pontemaceira with a medieval bridge, stone mills and graneries.

It was a very picturesque village. One of the houses had this old grain store, an horreo as well as a cross within its grounds.

Our next stop was the harbour village of Muros

Looking out from the harbour we could see the mussel beds. These platforms produce about 300,000 tons of mussels each year.

We drove on along the coast. The views were stunning with the white sandy beaches and turquoise blue waters. We were heading for the other side of the bay. There was no time for us to get out and walk along the beach so these photos were taken through the coach window as we drove past.

Our next stop was at the Ezaro Waterfall. This is the only river in Europe that reaches the sea as a waterfall.

Then we arrived at Finisterre. The name is so familiar to those of us who listen to the shipping forecast on the BBC. It was part of the forecast from 1949 to 2002. The loss of this area as part of the forecast was mourned by many as it was mentioned in every one of the Met Office's four daily weather forecasts. It was taken out of the forecast by international agreement, since one of Spain's meteorlogical areas bears the same name but doesn't cover the same area. The name of this sea area for shipping has now been change to Fitzroy. But many of us still think of it as Finisterre when we we hear the familiar recital of the 31 sea areas during the shipping forecast.

Some pilgrims continue their walk from the Cathedral in santiago to Finisterre and here is the final waymarker showing 0.00km. We had taken our pilgrims passports with us so we get the final stamp in them.

There were a few boots cast aside, left by weary travellers. This one had the best view point though .with a great view looking out. It really does feel like the end of the earth from here.

On our return to Santiago we made one more stop at the Virxe da barca Sanctuary. If you have seen the film 'The Way' with Michael Sheen. It is here that his pilgrimage ends when he scatters his son's ashes out to sea.

There is the church of 'Our Lady' here which has a sloping floor to allow the sea to flow back out, as it is often flooded by the enormous Atlantic waves.

We returned to Santiago for our final night in the city before flying back in the morning.

Here we all are. The end of another great trip. All being well we will meet up in a year's time for our next adventure. We have already decided our next one will be back in the UK.