Norman's Blog: Neda

Neda

I walked out of the hotel and joined El Camino to follow the signs through the town. Down near the waterfront I passed a bandstand and next to it was...

...another local chartacter, this time a gentleman made of bronze standing on the pavement. There was a theme here but without any guide or information board, I was still none the wiser.

I walked on past the main entrance to the shipyards, now operated by Navantia.

There was a lot walking past shipyards, docks, military areas and restricted areas. The rising sun lit up many of the buildings as I made my way around the estuary following the yellow arrows and the granite pylon waymarkers. Ny guide suggested that the distance was 119 kilometres but the pylons were counting down from 113 kilometres from the passenger terminal in Ferrol.

Eventually, the route leaves all the industrial areas and follows the waterfront alongside sandy beaches. Despite being a major industrial area and a major port, the beaches are clean and surprisingly empty except for some joggers and dog walkers.

Near Narón. there is a short diversion from El Camino to view the former Aceas flour mill. It was a mill powered by the tide to drive the machinery. It was part of King Charles IV's Royal Factories in the 18th century.

It was just a short walk to start El Camino Ingles at just 16 kilometres long from Ferrol to Neda but the route went along the estuary, across a bridge at Xubia before following the far side of the estuary. I could see my hotel on the foreshore across the water, but it would be another hour of walking reaching it.

There is some scrambling through thick undergrowth after Gandara, and had I known, I would have taken the road option. I had checked the map and it was clear that the route followed the foreshore. It didn't look right after a lot of waymarker and wide paths but there was a yellow arrow pointing this direction and I didn't see any alternative options.

It was overgrown and had it rained recently, it would have been slippery and dangerous and it reminded me of my experiences near Playa Berria. There were also stretches alongside an unfenced railway although judging by the rust on the rails, no train had come this way for a while.

The route comes past the Monastery of San Martino de Xuvia, a Benedictine monastery, built in the 9th century in a Romanesque style with some interesting stone carvings and corbels.

For those that want to take a short cut, there is a pedestrain footbridge and path alongside the railway crossing across the estuary but the official route continues up the estuary to cross the river before going through Xubia and down the far side.

In Neda, I left El Camino to follow the AC115 to my hotel.

It was an old stone building right on the seashore with a few steps down to the beach.

The view down the estuary wasn't great as there was a massive shipyard there with tall cranes and lots of warehouses and fabrication workshops.

The view up the estuary wasn't much better with a tall viaduct taking the motorway across teh estuary and in front of it, the railway bridge and a long embankment cutting across the slatflats.

The building was an eclectic mix of styles with some of the original stone ranges carefully restored...

...hilst teh original main structure had been restored but had had an extension added on the landward side and another storey added. Inside, there waas still a wealth of detail and bare stone walls but the refurbichment had required some structural reinforcement and where the roof would have been supported by thick wooden beams, there were steel girders. Normally I would hate this mix of styles but somehow, it had been sensitively completed and it didn't jarr on my nerves and eyes.