Finisterre

[Robert Spenger]

I was told that there was a hotel in a village that was about 10 km off the
route. It was even suggested that one could take a cab or bus from some point
on the route to that town and then ride back the next day to the take off
point. It sounded much too iffy for me so I made an attempt to do the 50 km.
My left ankle went bad  and I was very lucky that an English speaking motorist
saw that I was in trouble, stopped, and gave me a ride for the last 12 km into
Cee. With my ankle wrapped up, I made it into Fisterra the next day with my
pack and got up to the lighthouse  - without the pack. Back in Santiago, the
x-rays showed that it was just plain old degenerative arthritis, but it took
several weeks for the swelling to go down.

Another pilgrim, a Frenchman that I met at Negreira and later at Fisterra,
said that he had found that off route hotel and that it had worked out all
right. Unfortunately I don't remember the name of that town - possibly Pino do
Val (which I see on the map), but I can't be sure. I got the information in
the first place at the tourist office in Santiago. If I had had a decent
command of Spanish, I might have given it a try, but the information was not
very definite.

regards,

Robert

P.S. That was in June of 2000. At that time there was no real refugio in
Negreira, only the polydeportivo which was rather grim - just the concrete
floor to sleep on with no pads. An Austrian pilgrim and I opted to share a
hotel room in town. Reports have it that the Negreira refugio has been rebuilt
since than. It seems that the old one had burned down.

Richard Ferguson wrote:

> I took a deep breath today and ordered my plane tickets, March 18 to
> April 18, walk from Leon to Finisterre.
>
> I looked again at the CSJ book on the route from Santiago to Finisterre,
> and it indicated that there was maybe 50 km between refugios!  Nothing
> official, no hostel, no hotel, no refugio, between the village Negreira
> and the town of Cee, but that one could ask around and maybe find a
> place to sleep in between.  A refugio in Olveiro was reported to be in
> construction.  My Spanish is good, but that does sound like a bit of a
> challenge.  Going off season might make it a bit more difficult, who knows.
>
> Any comments on the route to Finisterre, especially lodging?
>
> Gracias.
>
> Richard