As we have just said, we think that Arou is a magic place and very “trasno”. It is tucked among huge rocks and surrounded by the sea that seems to be furious. We like leaving the beach in Arou early in the morning walking along the small wooden walkway to the beach Lobeiras.
There, in the bay of Xan Ferreiro, the French steamboat Nil commanded by the captain Mr Huarsch run aground on October, 10th in 1927 because of the dense fog and a fault on the rudder. The damage on the hull was irreparable and the sea ended up destroying it little by little. All its 19 crew members fled for safety and the wealthy business men who were travelling on it were assisted by some people form Camelle.
The story of the Nil would be another one if it didn’t carry a very valuable load: cars, machinery, cloths, silks form Damascus, pharmaceutical products, animals, French champagne…a kind of floating supermarket in those years of hardship. The captain stayed on board till the Insurance company got the vessel, but the goods were scattering along the coast and the looting was immediate. From these days, many are the stories that were created that are still told among the people from this area. There is a story about a police officer that was taken inside of a sack when he was on duty or the one about the officers who used champagne to make coffee as they lacked water. The Nil also brought condensed milk and some neighbors painted their houses with it. Can you imagine what happened? Here you have the lyrics of the song that the “comparsa” (type of song created to celebrate the Carnival) Pyrates of Nil in Ponte do Porco created for carnival:
Aquí venimos señores,
This part of the route along the bay finishes in the viewpoint, from where we have a privileged view of all the bay of Arou from Point Percebeira.
