When we started designing this Camiño dos Faros, the primordial characteristic was that this should go along the coastline if it were possible. And this is what we have done in this part of the route: open a route that connects ErmidaBeach with this small sandy area called Río Covo, as beautiful as unknown by most of us. We got there after a kind of technical descent.
From that point we went up walking along all the vegetation till we reached the road that goes along the mount Facha.
Ermida beach is the biggest beach in Corme. It is placed at 1km far from the village taking the road that leads to Gondomil. It provides the visitors with a parking area and with lifeguard services.
We can see on this beach, apart from its complex dune area the small island Estrela, which is the set of an endless number of legends where we can see the remains of a small “castro” and an old chapel dedicated to the Virgin Estrela.
We walk along the beach and go on along the coast towards the beach Río Covo, another amazing discovery along Os Camiños dos Faros.
This is the beach that is usually used by the so-called family tourism that looks for calm and good baths in these waters that are actually cool as the rest belonging to the estuary. This beach provides the visitors with showers, and a lifeguard service. At the end of the beach, there is a “furna” that is used for the young people in the village to celebrate one of the most unique festivals in the area, “A noite dos encantos da furna do Osmo” (the night of the enchantments of the Furna in Osmo)
We arrive at the fishing port in Corme. Its current calm atmosphere highly contrasts with the buzzing atmosphere back to the beginning of the 20th century, when Corme was acknowledged as the first port exporting wood.
Corme is a land of fishermen, who sailed along all the seas and oceans around the world. Corme may be the village, taking into account its population, that has provided the history of navigation with more ship´s masters.
Apart from the exportation of timber, the fleet was also composed by merchants, “tarrafa” (a type of fishing), and some inshore fishing boats. At that time, there were also some canneries and the increase of the population was really significant, with 2978 inhabitants according to the population census in 1920. However, the civil war and some other factors were the trigger which brought about a crisis in the fishing economy and consequently a decrease in the number of its inhabitants.
Los habitantes de Corme saben muy bien los que es la mar: en la Mercante, en el Gran Sol, en todos los mares del mundo conocen a estos esforzados marineros.
The inhabitants from Corme know very well what the sea means: in the Merchant, in the Gran Sol grounds, these hard-working fishermen are known all over the world.
We said goodbye to Suso saying thank you to him for his companion and all the stories he had told us about Corme. We did, of course, invite him to come with us to enjoy any of the stages of O Camiño dos Faros. Before leaving, Suso suggested us where to have lunch. It was late and high time to taste those gooseneck barnacles from O Roncudo…
There was a couple eating half of a kilo of barnacles. We rushed to get some. Luckily, the couple didn´t realize about it. They were delicious.
At this point of the stage, it can be said that the hardest part has been left behind. From Niñóns to Barda, going up to the Windmill farm and down till the CapeRoncudo had left our legs really sore all over. But after eating the gooseneck barnacles and a 30-minute rest, we were ready to go on.
From this point on, the route is kind of smoother. On the way to Ponteceso, we will see the beaches of Corme, Valarés and its pine tree forest, the mountBlanco and all the estuary of Anllóns. The views of the estuary Corme-Laxe will amaze you for sure.
We leave Corme by taking the path that goes across the beach of Arnela and we will get to the one in Osmo.
Without any doubt, the best gooseneck barnacle is the one from O Roncudo. In the latest years, a plan that has controlled the gooseneck barnacle hunting has caused that the amount of gooseneck barnacle has really increased as in the past.
Our friend Suso Lista explains us all the secrets and all the hardship to hunt what he considers to be the “king” of the sea.
“The good gooseneck barnacle is as high as wide, the one that is similar to the biggest toe. Eating a gooseneck barnacle is as if you were eating part of the ocean. You close your eyes and in the ocean you can find everything: seaweeds, fish, dolphins, lobsters, air…the gooseneck barnacle has all these flavors altogether. It´s a sip of ocean 100%”
Barnacle, the king of sea (by Suso Lista, percebeiro in Corme) – Os Camiños do Mar
Since 1992, on Saturday 1ST, July, “the exaltation of the gooseneck barnacle” (a kind of festival) takes place, which has transformed Corme into a place known around the world.
The name “Roncudo” has its origin because “ronco” in Spanish means hoarse that seems to imitate the noise the sea produces when it hits these cliffs. The simplicity of this lighthouse built in 1920, with its 11-meter height and the fact that it is surrounded by granite rocks and a wild landscape wraps the area with an aura of mystery. The breathtaking viewsof the estuary of Corme and Laxe completes the whole vision.
The strength the sea hits these rocks with and the characteristics of its water makes this area be an ideal place to hunt the famous gooseneck barnacle of O Roncudo, which is acknowledged as the most delicious one in Galicia and that is hunt by the brave fishermen that fight in these extreme conditions that have provoked some casualties so far as the 2 crosses we can see next to the Faro reminds us.
It is here in O Roncudo where lots of ships wrecked as they were not able to survive to the conditions of A Costa da Morte.
O Camiño dos Faros leads to the Lighthouse O Roncudo in different way if we compare it with the rest of the routes. From the village we walk along the windmill farm till the penultimate lines of windmills from where we start descending by taking a kind of complicate path that has been opened by the Trasnos towards the lighthouse.
In some parts of the route there are some steep slopes and it´s kind of difficult to keep balance. However, it is worth to do it just because of the amazing views we can enjoy.
Just looking towards our right, we can see the “Baixos das Abruillas” and along the small path among gorse we walk some of the coastal projections that get into the sea of O Roncudo, till we get to “A Furna da Fuxisaca” (a furna is a kind of maritime cave typical in the Galician coast). There is a moment where we can see the 3 lighthouses we have stopped by in the first stages. Behind, Punta Nariga and the Sisargas Islands.
Huge cliffs have been the witness of the stories of some shipwrecks and enormous caves that will lead us to O Roncudo.
The small village O Roncudo shows us an architecture based on the use of the same stone and perfectly adapted to the wind and to the rough weather. There are big walls made of stone that shelter its inhabitants from the rough winter. In Touriñán we will see the same kind of structures.
These small groups of houses that are scattered along this area, isolated from the rest of villages can help us to imagine the kind of life its inhabitants underwent decades ago without electricity, without being able to move from one place to another when the rough weather hit them. Can you imagine that?
We were walking along O Roncudo passing by a young man who jumped surprisingly when he saw us. There are not many people who are able to “see” us, but he definitely did.
-“What are you doing here, Trasniños?” – he asked with the typical accent of the area.
-“We are doing O Camiño dos Faros, 200 kilometers along the coastline from Malpica to Finisterre. We are walking and let´s see when we get there”
-“O.K., it sounds amazing. My name is Suso. What´s yours?”
-“We are Xiña, Nemiño e Traski”- we answered.
“O.K. So, if you wait for a second, I will leave the barnacles in one of my friend´s house and I will walk with you till the lighthouse”
Suso is a barnacle fisher and one of the people that know the area the best. He was going to tell us the History of O Roncudo as nobody could have ever told us.
http://susolista.blogspot.com.es/2006/08/ronca-o-mar-en-roncudo.html
We walked along the village and we left it taking the paths where the windmills are towards the lighthouse. We were listening to all the stories, Suso was telling us about the rough sea that hits the best rocks where to fish the best barnacles. Time with him, literally, flew away.
From the MountFaro, O Camiño dos Faros takes us to walk along a path and an old road with a view to Punta Nariga, first and later to the Bay of A Barda.
In Spring, the yellow of the “xesta” (the French broom plant) covers everything.
The Barda beach is at the end of the small bay. It is a place of great charm because it is isolated, just few people usually visit it and it is surrounded by the mount as if it were a natural amphitheatre. Although, with moderate swell, it is on the open sea without lifeguard service, so if one decides to take a bath, one should take all necessary precautions.
