Discover the Underwater world – Incredible As Catedrais Beach in Ribadeo, Galicia | Camino del Norte – Day 29

On the Day 29 of our Camino de Santiago del Norte we passed through Ribadeo and Las Catedrales Beach in Galicia.

In the morning we were still broken apart from the last day and it was the day when we had to make an important decision whether to continue on with the Camino or stop it at this point.

We were already seeing that we are moving way more slower that we thought and so don’t have enough time to get to Santiago de Compostela by foot whatever way we choose. Also we got kind of burn out of the Camino having to always search for an alternative – that’s a hard job. If we knew that we would plan it at least a bit ahead of time before starting the Camino but doing it everyday non stop is quite tiring. Normally we like to plan our own routes and follow them and this time we had to do the same we just didn’t realize it at first.

So we made a decision to use the several days that we have left till our train back home to stay at the coast and to explore a bit more of the area. We did know that we won’t do it all by foot and will use some public transport to get to one point to the other but it was the only good option – so we went with.

We packed everything up and were on the trail only at 12.00 a.m. The camping was fine now with almost no people in it, so it was very quiet. There was a special destined place for tents with trees but of course it was located in the field not in the forest so it was quite desert like. And too many parked caravans kind of ate the space. But it was clean and for one night it was everything we needed.

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So we left it and hiked several kms along the coast, explored several amazing beaches with white sand and finally got to Ribadeo. We were there at a lunch break so we couldn’t really put our last stamp anywhere. But it was ok, because it wasn’t the most important thing for us.

We continued to hear the unusual Galician language around and were wandering the last days about how it formed and what is it similar to. And it stroke us that we’re close to Portugal and it sounds much like Portuguese language. It is not quite the same but some sounds and accents are very similar.

So we had a small walk in Ribadeo and then hoped on the train to move 3 stops further to get to the Praia As Catedrais which was known as a popular tourist attraction. The train stop was very close to it so after walking 2 kms along the coastal path we were at the place.

There we saw a green natural coastal route indicator and learnt that its 150 kms trail that start from Ribadeo and ends in Coruña. It looked like an ideal trail to take for our next time here.

Right from the start we saw the crowds of people when we got closer to the beach Las Caredrales. We didn’t like it at all and started to get kind of skeptical about it. From above you couldn’t see anything really so we had to come down to the beach. We were very lucky to visit it in a falling tide otherwise we would see absolutely nothing. And later we found out that in the high season you have to order your visit to limit the number of people. So it was our chance and great opportunity that we didn’t want to waste.

From the first steps we saw a beautiful beach with huge rocks all over the place. But when we proceeded further to our eyes opened a magical picture of the different caves and arches in the stones that was absolutely surreal – like to visit the other planet and completely different world. Especially due to the fact that it was only available on the falling tide. And during that time nature allowed to peek in the hidden corners of it that are normally available only to divers.

So in spite of the crowds of people we were able to capture some shots and get some great footage because the place itself was helping and it was hard not to take great pictures. So it was definetely an unexpected outstanding discovery for us that we absolutely recommend everybody to visit.

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So we spend good couple of hours there and then it was time to catch the train to our camping site. We took the train at quite a late hour so by the time we did the groceries it was already dusk. Happy with our day we checked in the camping and in a complete dark we were setting up a tent and having dinner. We did realize that we don’t want to explore the area by taking the transport Because it absolutely made no sense to us doing it this way, it even felt weird after been walking for so long. Especially when it’s more than adapted to do so and there are lots of local great trails to follow. So with the thoughts of coming back and continue hiking along the coast we went to sleep.

Here is the link to Google map to follow the hike: