Camiño dos Faros: The Lighthouse way

Today you arrive in  Carballo. This small town is genuinely Galician in style and atmosphere, including the mismatched architectural styles in buildings. Proximity to the port of A Coruña and the availability of fresh fish allows for a wide choice of good restaurants.

Morning transfer from Carballo to Malpica. During the first walk, you get directly into the mood of the Camiño dos Faros. Walking from your hotel door, you follow gravel roads and small, sometimes uneven and exposed foot paths along the coast, passing a beach, a chapel and the Sisargas islands. The route ends at the doorstep of your rural and seaside hotel near Barizo. Dinner is not included because the hotel only services 'a la carte' menus. And you might want to try next door’s restaurant “As Garzas” awarded with 1 Michelin star since 2010 (but remember to book in advance) 

Challenge: 13 km / 8 mi, 5 hrs, 400 ascent and descent.

Today you walk first to the Faro Nariga, one of the most famous lighthouses of the Costa da Morte although, or maybe because, it is a modern building. After the lighthouse you continue to the beautiful beach of Niñons, where you order a taxi or start the return route along gravel roads that give access to a modern windmill park. 

Challenge: 17 km / 10,5 mi, 6.5 - 7 hrs, 720 ascent and descent

                      Shortcut: 13 km / 8 mi, 5 hrs, 620 m ascent and descent

To avoid a long stretch of steep coastal footpath through a vast empty area, a taxi will take you in the morning to the tiny hamlet of Roncudo. From there you either follow the Camiño along winding footpaths to the cape O Roncudo after which there is no alternative for a 3 km / 2 mi tarmac lane until you reach the fishermen’s village of O Corme or you take a shortcut to O Corme. 

After coffee break at O Corme you have to choose again: between the long spectacular Camiño along the coast with some exposed parts, or a shorter, higher route through shady woods before you reach the extensive sand plateau that separates the river mouth of Ponteceso from the Atlantic Ocean. Finally, a long stretch of sandy trail before you reach Ponteceso and a taxi will take you to your modern beach hotel in Laxe.

Challenge: LOW route: 18 km / 11 mi,  6.5 hrs, 525 m ascent, 650 m descent

                      HIGH route: 14.5 km / 9 mi,  4.5 - 5 hrs, 325 m ascent, 450 m descent

A beautiful stretch of coastline and one steep hill separates Laxe from the large sandy beach of Traba. The rows of dunes on this beach have been formed by strong ocean winds and have given rise to a lagoon that is home to a great diversity of birds.

After a swim or a meal at the only bar-restaurant along the route today, you follow an old coastal ox-trail, that has been literally carved into the granite rock or winds around strange wind-sculptured rock formations. In the harbour of Camelle a taxi picks you up for a transfer back to Laxe because there is no hotel nearby. 

Challenge: 15 km / 9,5 mi, 5.5 hrs, 485 m ascent and descent

                     Less exposed option (for rainy or very windy days): 12 km / 7,5 mi, 4 hrs, 275 m ascent and descent

Our preferred but almost mountainous route for today starts at the village of Arou and takes you first along 2 tiny harbours that look more like smugglers bays, before you climb up to the back of Europe’s highest dune. Then a truly wild scenery awaits, as you descend and cross a chain of small beaches called Praias deTrece. You finally reach the Cemetry of the English; a symbolic burial place to honour the lives of sailors and passengers that died in three ship wrecks happened in this coast between 1883 and 1893. The last kilometres are easy as you hike along a gravel road for a while (taking some shortcuts close to the coast at times) to the hamlet of Tourin before you descent along a quit tarmac lane into Camariñas.

NOTE: For those who are afraid of heights or on days with strong winds, there is an alternative high route starting near Sta Mariña, that offers the view across the Praia do Trece before you reach the cemetery.

(If your accommodation tonight is in Tourin, the walk will be 2 km / 1 mi shorter)

Challenge: 16 km / 10 mi, 5.5 hrs, 420 m ascent and descent

                      Santa Mariña Variant (less exposed option): 14 km / 8,5 mi, 4 - 4.5 h, 270 m ascent, 390 m descent

As you walk back to the coast via Mourin, you will be surprised by the dramatic location of the most imposing lighthouse on the route: the Cabo Vilán, also the first electrified lighthouse of Spain. You can visit the house (now it holds a visitors’ centre and café) before you continue along the coast, past a modern fish factory and a chapel located on a hilltop above Camariñas. Today's route is relatively short, which allows you to have a longer lunch at Restaurant Puerto Arnela. The traditional village architecture has suffered from modernity, but it houses a small museum  dedicated to the typical handcrafted lace of Camariñas.

Challenge: 13.5 km / 8,5 mi, 5 hrs, 400 m ascent and descent 

Those who want to continue another 4 days on the Camiño dos Faros, will be transferred to Ponte do Cereixo, to the start of today's walk to Muxia.

After 2 days of wild coastal landscapes, today you follow the river mouth, Ria do Porto where large groups of marisqueiras can be seen (and heard) in the morning as they collect mussels and shellfish. The mini lighthouse of Lago tells you that you’re back to the Atlantic coast and close to the beach of Lago (with several bars and restaurants). This is a good place to stop for a break before the 2nd part of the route, which starts with a steep uphill section to the village of Mereixo. Here you join in for the first time on the Camino de Santiago trail to Fisterra but soon take a beautiful path through lush riverside vegetation back to the coast before you finally enter Muxia via the beach.

Challenge: 14.5 km / 9 mi, 5.5 hrs, 570 m ascent, 600 m descent.

                      With walk to the Sanctuary Virgen de la Barca: 17 km / 10,5 mi, 6.5 hrs, 620 m ascent, 660 m descent

To avoid 3 km of tarmac road and the crossing of 3 small ‘fjords’ with very steep ascents and descents, you ride partway with the taxi that transports your luggage. From Moreira - a small hamlet with no services- you walk to the beach and join a section of the Camiño dos Faros along a barren coastline with similarities to Scottish or Nordic landscapes. Today’s lighthouse is again small but located at the Westmost edge of Europe: Cabo Touriñan. Form there you turn south to the surfers’ beach of Nemiña and enjoy lunch before you walk the last 2 km to a Rural Hotel run by an excellent local cook. Dinner tonight is included.

Challenge: 13 km / 8 mi, 4.5 hrs, 375 m ascent, 485 m descent

                      With extension to hotel: 15 km / 9,5, 5.5 hrs, 520 m ascent, 500 m descent

The last stage is again a very interesting one, especially between Praia Arnela and Fisterra when you walk very close to the cliffs and appreciate once more the skill and bravery of fishermen that stand on exposed corners to get the best catch. The section between Castrexe and Praia Arnela can be skipped, but then you will miss the last 1.5 km of sandy and desolate beach before Fisterra.

Challenge: 20 km / 12,5 mi, 8 hrs, 820 m ascent, 780 m descent

                     Shorter route (Starting at Playa Arnela): 14 km / 8,5 mi, 6 hrs, 625 m ascent, 665 m descent.

Don’t let the total distanced discourage you. Even the maximum stage of 20 km becomes doable if you walk first to your hotel in Fisterra, check in, take a shower and postpone the last and the most symbolic part of the Camiño (approx.  7.5 km, 330 ascent and descent) to later that night or very early next morning: the loop-walk to the Cape Fisterra which is a magic place to be around at sunset or dawn. Although the walk afterwards, back to the town of Fisterra along the road is a bit of an anti-climax, you share that with pilgrim’s who’ve often come a very, very, long way and who’s faces glow with satisfaction and emotion as they have finally reached  ‘the end of the world’: Finis-terrae.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: you can upgrade to the tiny design and delicatessen hotel at the Cape Hotel Semaforo de Fisterra, which also means that you'll shorten the walk to 7 hrs (16.3 km / 10 mi, 745 m ascent, 640 m descent).

Today your programme ends after breakfast. You can take a bus to Santiago.