Way of St. James
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A MIÑA VIAXE
Laxe and Corme face each other from a distance, aware that they are two sides of the same coin.
This route joins places that are separated by the sea. With the Anllóns estuary as its mid-point and Monte Branco as a constant visual reference, the route between the Laxe and O Roncudo lighthouses provides many varied views of a small ría of exceptional beauty.
The Ría de Corme y Laxe is one of Galicia’s small central rías. It is located on the Costa da Morte, where the force of the sea marks life on the land, and the villages and people have an unmistakeable maritime character.
Laxe and its lighthouse mark the beginning of the route. Standing on A Insua hill behind the village, the lighthouse overlooks a wide area with the Laxe inlet on one side and the Baleeira inlet on the other. The latter is the location of the curious, delicate Os Cristais beach, covered in worn pieces of glass, whose origin is a mystery.
Laxe has a wide beach, a busy port and is home to various architectural jewels, including the fifteenth-century Santa María da Atalaia church and Casa do Arco, the latter famous for its appearance in the popular Galician television series Mareas Vivas, set in the imaginary town of Portozás.
Heading towards Ponteceso, the route passes wave-battered beaches until it reaches As Grelas, where the Lodeiro inlet provides the first views of Monte Branco.
The route reaches Ponteceso, overlooked by the bridge over the Anllóns and the birthplace of the Galician poet Eduardo Pondal. The wide estuary's dunes, mudflats and river mouth form a natural space of exceptional importance for marine fauna and birds. The route runs parallel to the rushes until a side turning up to Monte Branco, with views over a wide area.
Eduardo María González-Pondal Abente (Ponteceso, 1835 – A Coruña, 1917) is one of the major figures in Galician literature and one of the leading writers of the Rexurdimento, a movement promoting the artistic, historical and political recovery of Galicia and its culture.
Pondal was born in Ponteceso, beside the River Anllóns. His family home can be visited today as a museum-house. From this point a walking route, the Ruta Pondaliana, leads towards Monte Branco, touching on different aspects of his work, in which Bergantiños, Ponteceso and the Anllóns all feature. Influenced by the Romanticism of his era, he wrote about his homeland and the landscape.
Eduardo Pondal is the author of Os Pinos, a poetic text which was adopted as Galicia’s national anthem. In 1965 the Day of Galician Literature was dedicated to him.
On the main road once again, we go towards Corme Aldea, its name distinguishing it from Corme Porto, the two names highlighting the importance of both agriculture and seafaring in this area.
Corme is a village that looks to the sea. Beyond Corme, in the distance, on the shore of the Costa da Morte, there is only the O Roncudo point, and then the vast ocean.
The harbour is the epicentre of the village and from it a path leads to the lighthouse, with constant views of the sea. O Roncudo point is a mythical location on the Galician coast, famous for the quantity and quality of its tasty barnacles.
O Roncudo lighthouse marks the end of the route. Built in 1920, it is a simple construction standing on granite rocks in the middle of a rugged landscape shaped by wind and water, reflecting the essence of the Costa da Morte.
O Roncudo’s barnacles live attached to the rocks in an area of very rough seas, making harvesting them a highly dangerous activity. The numerous crosses on the way to the lighthouse commemorate shipwrecks and other misfortunes, reminding us that the sea is both beautiful and dangerous.
Monte Branco is a hill which is remarkable for the presence of a huge sand dune. This gives it a very characteristic texture and white colour, giving rise to its name. The strength of the tides in the mouth of the Anllóns generates a system which deposits and removes the sediment forming the Barra beach, a long strip of fine sand. The strong winds blow some of the sand onto the side of the hill, creating a dune which runs from the sea to a height of over 100 metres.
At the top of Monte Branco, on Alto das Travesas (182 metres) there are communications masts. A little below this a lookout point has been created, allowing visitors to enjoy the peaceful surroundings and the fine views. From Monte Branco one can see the mouth of the Anllóns and the wetlands to the east; a large part of Cabana de Bergantiños to the south-east; the Barra beach in the foreground to the south; the island of A Tiñosa with its crystal-clear waters to the south-west; and the wide Ría de Corme y Laxe to the west.
The beauty of the Costa da Morte can be fully appreciated from this vantage point, one of the finest for viewing the county’s landscape.
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