Day: April 17, 2023

Post by Wynette: We have decided to take the little Feve train to get to O Barqueiro. So, we’ll get there tomorrow in about an hour instead of after two days of walking. We decided to do this because those days’ walks were each 15 miles or so with NO services where they’d be needed (places to use the bathroom and rest the feet and have a coffee or lunch). Some would say we are cheating a bit, but we feel good about our decision. We did do much of these walks in 2019 with the help of some taxiing. This time, we are Feveing the whole way. We’ll write more about the Feve later. It’s a wonderful little train that follows the northern coast of Spain. It is dear to the hearts of many.

Post by Wynette: We are in the tiny town of San Cibrao. We ate lunch at A Bodega, the only place open serving a full lunch. The other restaurant is closed on Mondays.

For first course, we chose the xudias (green beans flavored with ham), and ensalada de pasta (pasta salad). For second course we had costilla (pork ribs) and pechuga de pollo (chicken breast). For desert we had tarta de abuela (grandma cake — a chocolate cream cake) and whiskey cake (turned out to be ice cream!).

We shared everything, as always. The ribs were tender and flavorful and had some yummy carrots and caramelized onions (not nearly enough) plus French fries (way too many and we tried to ignore them).

The green beans and chicken were quite good, too. We weren’t too crazy about the pasta salad.

Bread and bottled water and coffee also came with the 12 euro meal. The coffee was not good. Very watery.

Post by Wynette: I posted a few days ago about the ice plant which we’ve encountered a lot of along the coast here. It’s pretty but invasive and crowds out native plants. We didn’t see a lot of ice plant today and I’ve been looking at what is native here. There is quite a bit of gorse, which I associate with the moors from reading British fiction: “heather and gorse.” I just looked up and gorse is a native of Western Europe with a majority of species in Iberian peninsula. So, it does seem to be a native here. It’s in bloom now. Pretty yellow flowers. When you see gorse, you see it among lots of other plants and sometimes you see heather as well.

It seems most of the forests we see are filled with eucalyptus trees. Of course, those are not native. I just read that they were introduced here in the 1800s and now comprise 30% of all trees in Galicia. Charlie and I noticed some were being forested and wondered what they are used for. We eventually learned they are used to make paper. There is a ban on planting new “plantations” of them. You can plant in areas already containing eucalyptus but not in new areas. I’ve heard local people here call them a scourge. They are pretty and smell good, but I always feel relief to see a pine tree instead of a eucalyptus tree.

We have actually seen a few tamarisk trees here. Those are highly invasive in the United States Southwest. We try to eradicate them along the Grand Canyon, along the Rio Grande, etc. I don’t think they are invasive here. We’ve only seen some that look like they might have been planted on purpose in someone’s yard or a public park.

Post by Wynette: Most of the Ruta Cantabrica is on paved path. However, once in a while it changes to something more natural. This photo was taken today as we were getting close to San Cibrao. Yes, this is the Ruta. AND, this is showing on Google maps (right where Charlie is standing knee deep in grass) as a normal sized road. It was pretty hard to believe that we weren’t lost. But by then, as you can see, we were nearing the end of it.

Note the Easter lilies next to Charlie. We see those quite a bit growing in the wild.