Ferrol Archives - Sandals N Socks

Cabo Prior

willis — Sun, 15 Oct 2017 12:07:54 +0000

Cabo Prior

Looking towards the headland at the Northern end of the beach there appeared to be a path or road going around, and a quick look on the map showed there was a lighthouse; well that seemed like a good point to aim for.

There was little of particular interest, other than the outstanding views and theses precarious looking rocks, until we were getting closer to the ‘ligthouse’. I’d not looked up any details so didn’t really know what to expect, but the collection of derelict building ahead was a bit surprising.

As we started to look around we saw more ‘ruins’ higher up the hill and when we got to them it seemed more like some kind of fort rather than a lighthouse. After some more exploring we found tunnels, underground rooms and the remnants of what must have been the mountings for some huge guns. There were rails and lifts to move munitions, the remnants of ventilation systems and ‘spooky’ tunnels and rooms. Dom was in his element exploring, but he did mention more than once that loads of horror films start with a group of people exploring spooky ruins!

When we reached the top of one of the gun emplacements we saw that this wasn’t the lighthouse complex at all, that was just down the hill. I’ve not been able to find much information about the fortifications, but it was certainly a substantial site, with more batteries around the lighthouse. I did find some info here which is worth a quick read.

I thought that once we’d got down to the lighthouse the the scary bit of the day was over, but for some reason we decided to follow the narrow steps out to some kind of look-out point, going was not a problem, but turning around and realising the steps, which were only about 3 feet wide with no railings, were built onto the cliff with a sheer 60 foot drop to the rocks below put a different perspective things, how we didn’t notice walking out I’m not sure but the getting back was a bit nerve wracking, especially as the wind was getting up!

The rest of the walk back to the van was fairly uneventful, but after all the excitement we thought we deserved a little entertainment so a little rest and we popped on the bikes for a couple of k to a nice little bar and had a bar football tournament, luckily it was a draw so no gloating from either of us.

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Praia de San Xurxo

willis — Tue, 10 Oct 2017 08:38:31 +0000

Praia de San Xurxo

Just a short drive from Ferrol we came across this fantastic beach, Praia de San Xurxo Those of you who know me will be aware of my liking for beaches, and it has always been said that if we had the weather in Wales we’d have no need to go on holiday because we have some on the best beaches: well this place is just like being back home, just on the sunniest day of the year!

The sand is powder soft and golden, and the dunes are filled with the usual grass’ and plants, and you get that unmistakable smell you only get exploring sand dunes on a sunny day.

The beach had around 10 kite boarders and a couple of surfers but the wind wasn’t very strong and the surf too small, so everyone was just chilling in the sun.

I was first down to the sand this morning, not even the sun had started warming the sand: I wonder what today will bring

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Ferrol: Spain

willis — Tue, 10 Oct 2017 07:46:36 +0000

Ferrol

Well we’ve had some brilliant weather, it is Spain after all, and our journey has brought us to Ferrol, a city on the North-West tip of Spain. It’s a great place, full of life, open squares to sit and relax and of course more than one bar to spend the siesta in!

The city has a large port that seems to have been the home of the Spanish naval dockyards for some years, with loads of ships being worked on and plenty of naval history all around the city.

Castello de San Felipe

Around 6k from the city is the Castello de San Felipe, a large fort protecting the harbour entrance, we thought it’d make a nice stroll so off we set. I wouldn’t say the walk was easy, in fact there was a 1:10 hill that lasted for at least a mile, well it certainly felt like a mile.

Rounding a bend you get your first sight of the fort and quickly realise it’s been worth the effort, it just has that look you expect from a Spanish fort.

5 more minutes and we were there. Entrance was free so happy days.

Once inside you really think it’s something Hollywood might have built for a pirate film, you can just imagine Jack Sparrow, or Errol Flynn (if you’re a bit older) running around, sword in hand doing battle: but this place is real. It was first built in 1598 and has been under development since and you can really see the different parts.

Just off a small dock on the North side of the fort are three huge anchors, apparently chains were once attached that stretched across the bay to stop ships passing.

After a good bit of exploring we decided to walk a bit further along the coast to see the fort from the other angle: well one ‘just around that bend’ and a ‘let’s see what over that hill’ and we’d done about 10k, it seemed pointless retracing our steps so carried on to the circular route, just under 20k.

We were rewarded with some great scenery, some very challenging hills all topped off with a nice cold one after about 15k.

All in all a cracking day followed up by a cracking night exploring Ferrol city, but not sure Dom was so convinced by the way they do Kebabs though!

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