The Camino Linkup - Stage 16

Day 2 on the linkup and it was a tale of two trails. The first trail was angry, the second one was happy. Let’s break it down…

We left Sada early because it was a reasonably long day, the forecast was for afternoon thunderstorms, and it was supposed to be hot. As we exited town, we stopped at a cafe for coffee before climbing out of town and joining the Roteiro Mariñán Costa Doce, which follows the coast. Pavement turned to a dirt two track and led into eucalyptus forest with peekaboo views to mussel beds and even some dolphins!

After a short deviation to a road, the trail became more fully overgrown, at times almost invisible due to the ferns. We made painfully slow progress as we bushwhacked through long sections of overgrown and sometimes prickly vegetation. The trail also seemed to drunkenly meander steeply up and down the hillside, in one spot losing about 40 feet of elevation only to make a hairpin turn and climb right back up. At long last we popped out to a road at Praia de San Pedro, thankful to be back on pavement.

Quick progress was made to Lorbé, along the way passing a large group of hikers and some mountain bikers. We could see rain was coming from the radar and ducked under cover when it caught us in Lorbé. 10 minutes later there was blue sky above us and we headed due north towards Punta Torrella then directly west along a road that merged with the Ruta do Porto de Dexo.

From here the views opened up providing great views of the ocean and cliffs. Truly some incredible walking all the way to Seixo Branco, with a particular callout to Praia de Dexo and its incredibly blue water nestled in a deep cove.

The final stretch to Porto de Santa Cruz was road walking through what feel like wealthy suburbs of A Coruña.

So there you have it, a tale of two trails.Read more