Finistere to Lire

Those who decide to join the Camino's two endings — Cape Fisterra and the sanctuary of Muxía — have 27.6 kilometres ahead of them, around seven hours of walking. Splitting them in half at Lires is the most widespread option, and this first day covers the 13.3 kilometres between Finisterre and that hamlet. It is an inland route with no technical difficulty, but with a succession of short climbs that should not be underestimated: the stage as a whole accumulates more than five hundred metres of ascent.

Leaving Finisterre, the path soon abandons the seafront and turns north along tracks and country lanes. The route says goodbye to the sea within the first few kilometres and works its way into a landscape of pine and eucalyptus woodland, with stretches of unbroken shade and soft ground, very welcome after the tarmac of the climb to the cape.

The middle section crosses the hamlets of As Escaselas and Buxán, small rural settlements of stone houses and hórreos where there are barely any services. It is a solitary area, very lightly travelled compared with the Camino Francés, and that solitude is precisely what many of the pilgrims who come this far are looking for. The arrows are painted in both directions, since the route is walked equally from Finisterre or from Muxía.

The descent towards A Canosa signals that the estuary is near. The path crosses the river Castro and enters Lires, a hamlet of barely a handful of houses set on the smallest estuary in Galicia. The arrival feels like a reward out of all proportion to the modesty of the place: the estuary, separated from the ocean by Nemiña beach, forms a wetland of great ecological value and a regular stopover for migratory birds.

Lires offers little beyond its lodgings and a couple of eating houses, but it is exactly what the pilgrim needs who has chosen to take the crossing to Muxía at an unhurried pace. Its establishments are used to receiving walkers and will usually prepare food to take away for the following day, which covers the remaining 14.3 kilometres to the sanctuary of A Virxe da Barca.