The coastal route

After the rigours of yesterday, our aim was for an uneventful day. Marjan had recovered her ability to look at me without sneering sometime during our final Galician dinner.  We enjoyed sharing a couple of vegetable type entrees, but Marjan would not taste my baby squid in its own ink. After three meals, admittedly in a small part of the interior of Galicia, we did not agree that their food was the best. Not bad, just not better than the rest.

After a solid sleep we took stock over breakfast. We agreed that between us we had two healthy joints after yesterday's exertions, hence the aim of an uneventful day. 

We drove out with fog similar to yesterday. For slightly above an hour we wound our way around the Ribiera Sacra. We both agreed it was one of the more beautiful drives we have had. It would have been better if our hearts had not been in our mouths the whole time. The road out is what is called a Regional road, that means driving around hairpin bends on a road barely wide enough for two cars, with no road markings or verges, definitely nothing as fancy as barriers on the edges of cliffs. As we drove in and out of fog, in and out of heavily frosted areas, we were constantly impressed by the sheer beauty of the area. At one point we were climbing 10% grade. Fairly steep....think Mt Buffalo. And above and below us we could see steps going into the almost vertical vineyards. You can see a vineyard here on the right.

Luckily we only met one car coming the other way. I went as wide as I could slowed from 30kmh to zero and let him drive past me. Obviously a local as he was driving one-handed with a ciggie between his fingers and still manged to give me a finger wave.

When we finally got out of the valley and onto the high plain, the blood was able to flow back into my hand as I relaxed my grip on the wheel. We drove uneventfully along the higher ground of Galicia, had lunch at a roadside cafe/restaurant, before descending into a river valley for the run to the coast. The river valley was quite pretty and reminded us in part of some areas around South Gippsland. Might have something to do with the eucalyptus plantations along the whole length of the valley.

We made coast as it was hit by a few Atlantic squalls. After a little drive a long it we managed to find the town of Luarca. The hotel though eluded our attempts to locate it by car, so we got out and hunted it down on foot. We quickly settled into a nice little hotel. Half the hotel is right on the harbour. Our half, has the sailor's mission between us and the water. We can see the harbour at an angle. Ah well. 

We managed to get a bit of a walk around town in between showers. Unfortunately the giant squid museum was closed. Perhaps tomorrow!

Lovely little place. Our aim is to relax, walk on relatively flat land and eat. I am determined to have an Asturian fabada, a specialty of the region, and of course we will have to have seafood in a fishing village. So apart from the first hour, we have managed an uneventful day; our joints are recovering; Marjan has not signed the divorce papers and all is well with the world.