Fernando explained the sad story of the invasive Eucalyptus. It was planted in Galicia 40 years ago to dry up swamps that were the source of malaria. It absorbs about 3 times more water than other trees. It also
grows 6' tall in two months. The full grown trees are over 100' tall and it only took a few years for those. It loves the climate here and has taken over almost all of the mountains. It's purposefully planted for harvest for paper, but now there is too much competition and so it's not being harvested as much. It has pushed out the local native chestnut and pine forests. :(. They are also very oily and there have been several wildfires that took off rapidly destroying several mountain areas in the past few months during a dry spell. Fernando said they go up in a flash because of their oil content.
Fernando also gave us a map in English and descriptions of local sites of interest. We took his recommendations and set off on a wonderful day-long local tour around an amazing headland. Unless we'd known a ' local' who could speak English we would not know about it.
Drove to Ortegueira Beach at low tide. A very long strand line where we picked up razor clam shells. The beach was a shell hunter's delight. Walk to island that is only possible during full low tide. About 40,000 people from Ireland, Scotland, Galicia etc camp on the beach in July during a Celtic music festival that draws 100,000 people! We have no idea where they put everything. Ortegueira is about the size of Northampton with a port and beach. The town name means land of stinging nettles. They make the nettles into quiche to get even. (True!)
Faro Cape de Ortegal Is the lighthouse at the end of the cape. 120 meters high (pix). Pretty scary outcroppings. But the wildflowers were spectacular. I'll make a different post with pix of the wildflowers. They are really varied with many different colors and forms and often growing together. Just spectacular! Wild horses browsing among the plentiful wind turbines on the ridge lines grasslands. Turns out the horses eat one of the shrubs that otherwise dominates the landscape and makes the grazing land suitable for cattle and sheep, so they preserve the wild horses. Once a year they have a roundup and mark the horses by cutting their manes but then let them go......sort of a cultural event; hard to understand.
The next stop was Herberia, an 18 th century watchtower located at the highest cliffs in all of Europe at over 600 meters tall. There is a very large wind farm also.
Next was San Andres de Teixido pilgrimage area. Galician legend says you must go there before you die or else you'll be turned into a reptile and wander the area forever. It's also got a history of witches. We stopped for a beer and walked past shops selling really tacky witch souvenirs, backscratchers (???), candles, etc.
Once again we are perplexed by the Spanish dinner schedule...happy hour does not exist. At 3:45 we started looking for a place to grab a beer and some snacks. One place rolled down their doors (closing) just as we were arriving. So we got back in the car and drove. We finally found a small bar-cafe and got some pulpo and gambas ( octopus and shrimp) and a couple beers. That will be our dinner for the night because we just can't stay up till 9:00 when the local places open for dinner. We're also in an area that is non-tourist right now, so many of the places are only open on weekends. Our whole sleep/eat schedule is still really messed up. Breakfast isn't served till 9 am.
Things I wish we'd brought: hot water heating coil, real ground coffee, ceramic mug. Hair mousse (the local pharmacies are about as big as an American bathroom so stock is really limited). Capris - commonly worn here.
Things we could have left home: dressy clothes. Our regular N'ton dressy casual is just fine. Haven't needed the raincoat yet. :)
Things I'm glad we didn't bring: hiking boots. (that's Jan speaking... Mine are muddy). Fall weight jacket.
Things I'm glad we (I) brought: 2 different weights of fleece jackets. Smartwool sox. Convertible pants. Corkscrew and lexan wine glasses-- a camping requirement. Kindles (goes without saying).
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