Caminha to Oia

After a good meal last night and a great sleep I made a leisurely start from Caminha across the Rio Minho in a rather fast water taxi with a basket of life jackets on the floor. It took less than 10 minutes which was probably just as well. And then we were in Spain and a short 6k walk around the headland to A Guarda where I stopped for coffee in the buzzy town square. Coffee just as good as in Portugal except in Galicia you get complementary cake, ginger this morning.

It looked like a straightforward trek along the coast to Oia where I’m staying tonight. The first few miles reminded me of the northwest coast at home, very green, white sand interspersed with a rocky shoreline. I stopped to look at the remnants of a fishing structure built into the rocks and spotted an otter emerging from the sea and running up to the smaller rocks and disappearing into its holt. I just managed to capture it on my camera before I lost sight of it. White storks were one of the highlights of the Camino Francés last year, I hadn’t expected otters to feature this year. Later I Googled otters Galicia coastline and discovered they have a healthy population here. I have included it as an extra for my own amusement.

Fortified by this experience I quickened my pace and arrived in Oia in good time, notwithstanding the time change, to explore the village and the monastery, the main blip, before a pilgrim meal, vino tinto replacing vino verde.

The extra which isn’t the otter is the territorially disputed island A Insua.