And so we came to San Francisco Bay on the west coast of Galicia. The nearest town of any size is Muros but we were parked a few kilometres further west, just outside of Louro, at Camping a Vouga. It is rare that I make comment about any of the campsites we stay at but both Vanya and I were really impressed by just about everything at Camp a Vouga – in no particular order: it’s location on the beach, it’s views, the cleanliness of the site and facilities, the warm and friendly staff and, let’s not forget, the food and wine in the restaurant – all were superb.
After that first afternoon and evening in Camping a Vouga, during which we took the dogs down to the beach and then enjoyed an absolutely great evening in the campsite restaurant, we decided to stay on for a while and use it as a base to explore the surrounding area.
The next day I went walkabouts. I had no plans to go anywhere in particular. I simply started walking along the road to the west through the nearby village of Louro and then, seeing a fair sized stretch of water to my south (a lake), I beat a path through a thick mess of green scrub to get to it. The stretch of water was as much a marsh as a lake but it proved to be a wetland for birds and it had a great many residents of all shapes and sizes. I sat for ages just watching them.
Eventually I moved on. I found a walkers trail by the side of the wetland which led me over some sand dunes to a long wide empty beach that was the other side of the headland I had seen from our campsite. The setting was beautiful – a bright blue sea, fine white sand and a thick dark green background that was the scrub around the lake. But then, horror of horrors, I noticed I was not alone. There were only three of them but they were all nude and they were all men. I had stumbled upon a naturist beach! Call me a prude if you like but I couldn’t handle it and promptly set off towards that headland which would take me back to Camping a Vouga. There will have been easier paths back but none as quick as the direct course I followed.
So, having decided to stay on at Camping a Vouga and use it as a base to explore further afield, the next day we took a day out to visit Finisterre and Muxia.