So I stayed in a dorm room last night. It was all females, and the room was nice enough, but the lady next to me started snoring about 5:00 am and once she started I was awake. By 6:15 am the first of us made their way to the bathroom so I took that as my cue it was okay to gather up my stuff and exit the room. In order not to be too obnoxiously noisy I brought everything to the front reception/living room to organize, stretch, prepare my feet, do my ablutions, etc. so didn’t actually leave the hostel until 6:50 am. I traveled exactly .3 kms where I found an open bar so had my first coffee with the fishermen.

I’m on the coast heading towards the ferry and in the outskirts of Caminha a car stopped to tell me the ship wasn’t going and that I’d have to go west to the marina and take the “small boat”. I’d half been expecting this and was pleased when my revised route took me through a wonderful pine forest.

The marina was just to my left as I exited the forest and Mario the boatman was just pulling up to the dock. Mario is an entrepreneur with a small runabout he’s transformed into a pilgrim taxi to take us across the water to A Guarda, an otherwise multi-mile trip. At the same time arrived a car (taxi?) disgorged 4 Swedish women so we all hopped into the boat for the quick, and slightly salty, trip across the Rio Minho.

España! By crossing the river I’m now in Spain and it’s an hour later here so I stopped at the big hotel just after our landing for a proper breakfast. It’s 10:30 am new time but I’ve only 6 more kilometers to go so plenty of time to enjoy the day.

At only 13 kms I entered A Guarda, greeted by seaside restaurants already tempting passerbys with the delicious aroma of sautéing garlic. It has a very pretty approach from along the coast with multicolored buildings sitting pertly across the inner harbor. It was too early to have my room at my hotel but I was able to leave my bags there and change. I then followed the concierge ‘s advice and took a zillion stairs up a steep slope right behind the hotel to Monte Santa Trega, reputedly the 2nd most visited site in Galicia.

Turns out there’s a huge archeological site of an ancient village near the top, I think 1st-2nd C. A.D. It’s unique location allowed them to defend from both the river and the sea as it’s set high on a peninsula with views to all sides. Above that are two higher mounts, one with a radio tower and crosses; the other with museum, gift shop, hotel and crosses. Lots of crosses. Not sure why. Oh, and tremendous views.

By that time it was 2pm and I felt I’d earned my lunch. Back down the zillion stairs and around to the harbor to the restaurant my hotelier recommended. Although there was English translations on the menu I attempted my rusty Spanish. Curious what I’ll be eating!

And my day is done. Well fed, well exercised, and soon to be well washed & laundered. Time to put the feet up!