ROUTE 11

From Asalo to Faro Nariga ( Nariga Lighthouse )

Asalo, O Minhon, O Barreiro, A Costa, Fuso da Moura, Campo da Costa, O Salgueiral, Campo das Lamas, A Matanza, A Barreira, As Portelas, Punta Nariga.

Length of route: 5 Kms ( one way )
Time needed: 3 Hrs ( Return )
Recommended: On foot, by bycicle, by car. Any time of year

Os verdes anos primeiros
foxen como o vento soán,
do esquivo cabo Nariga
antre o espeso matorral.

(Eduardo Pondal)

Mens's valley / X.M. Varela

Asalo is arranged is small areas, in which the houses of the richest and most powerful houses are enclosed within high stone walls. We can still see the elegance of old architectural design reflected in some of the houses in the galleries which they posses on the front part of the house. The Asalo river, which flows through the south-side of the area and ends in the Vaa river, near the towers of Mens, flows among 'horreos' ( structures made of stone used for keeping crops in ) and stone walls. The water it carries adds melody to and guides our way to O Minhon, while in the small meadows the bees enrich the honeycombs kept in the hives.

O Minhón, situated half-way between agricultural valleys and the forest, is another group of houses which shares the sunrise with the houses of Asalo. Beyond the forest, made up mainly of pine trees, a fertile and agricultural valley stretches beneath the slopes of the coastline, in the words of Luis Rei Nunhez 'the track which must be followed bears resembance to the skin of an old elephant, chapped by the climate, and along the edges of the path grows the estalote (a medicinal plant). A 'caseta de agra' is proof enough of the ardous agricultural tasks carried out as in it was kept the farming equipment which each new day would be used to work the valley surface. Where the valley ends, we find O Barreiro, with its foxes dens. This area has on permanent show its walls from where the clay used to build each and every house in the parish was extracted.

The coast, open and communal land, where the new cemetary was set up, reaches a height of 159m. From this point we can see that almost all the lowlands of Bergantiños are in hidden valleys among forests. At our feet, the parish of Mens in which the outline of the towers of Mens stands out. Towards the left we have Monte Beo; Sisargas; the village of Malpica. Between the hills of Atalaia and Pedra Queimada; villages and hamlets like Seaia, Pontella, Beo, Barinho, Seixas, Cerqueda. Towards the right, on the other side of the pine forests and the cornfields, the lands of Ponteceso and Carballo.

'Cabeza de Can' / X.M. Varela

We are now on Monte Nariga, once grazing land, a place full of bee-hives, a game reserve, an area of rye fields and with abundant of gorse. According to Fernando Cabeza, a especialist in place-names, 'Nariaga' means 'a nose-shaped place'. Nowadays, its agricultural use having been set aside, it collects the north-east winds used to produce electricity and, if we travel along its paths which have age old tracks as foundations, we´ll arrive at a mythical place: Fuso da Moura ('The spindle of the moorish woman').

The Fuso da Moura is situated at the foot of a geodesic place which is found on Monte de Asalo ( 222 m) and which marks the border between Malpica and Ponteceso. It´s a place full of legends that tell of treasure coves, but above all its the place where our predecesors were buried. This place is registered as one of the four archeological remains found on Monte Nariga. According to the legend, the prehistoric stone marker is the spindle with which the Moorish woman would spin.

Leaving this border point behind, we walk along a path through Campo da Costa. We can observe the embeded tracks of the cart wheels in the stone floor. The typical characteristics of the Costa da Morte stretch all the way to Cabo Nariga; the low gorse; the wind-battered pine trees; the omnipresent encalyptus trees; ferns; the heather; and the old willow which drinks from the small streams.

Snakes and lizards, crows and magpies, kestrels and small game (ie. partridges, rabbits, herons, and foxes) breed in these areas. The hare became extinct here a long time ago. Nowadays, this area is a reserved game preserve in which the 'Sociedad de Caza y Tiro de San Miro' (San Miro Hunt Society) restock the partridge and rabbits communities, these latter animals easily seen at dusk with their long, alert ears.

Beyond O Salgueiral and O Campo das Lamas, we come to O Campo da Ermida or Campo de Matanza. In the area of O Campo da Matanza, there is a 'castro' (prehistoric fortress), and several spearheads were discovered there recently. There´s also a fountain which, surrounded by plant-life, spirngs from wet land. If we were to walk along the water´s edge we would arrive at the remains of the unpretentions chapel of San Nicolas, mentioned in the 'Memorias del Arzobispado de Santiago' by Jeronimo del Hoyo.

Nariga Lighthouse / X.M. Varela

After having descended, observed by large boulders, we can seen how the violent encounter between the north-east wind and gales, together with the destructive lashing rain, have carved unusual stone shapes, mainly along the shore, with the passing time. We invite the traveller to discover a long-trunked elephant, a dog wearing a beret, the outline of a bear or even a turtle. Nearer the lighthouse, the figure of a witch with an old woman´s face shouts out. The stone basins and fonts become drinking fountains for seagulls and crows.

At the end of the journey, we have a spninx of stone and light which represented the completion of the modernization of maritime signalling in Galicia. From late 1997, sailors from the Costa da Morte have had Nariga Ligthhouse as a point of reference, which they can see at a distance of over 11 miles, between Corme and Malpica. Faro Nariga, made of granite which Cesar Portela worked and shaped so as to integrate the lighthouse into its surrounding natural environment. Like a figurehead,an atlas by Manolo Coia raises us toward the vast horizon.

On the left of the lighthouse, we have Brantuas and Roncudo. On the other side, the rocky slope of the Sisargas islands. Beyond the maritime horizon, the inhabitants of Boston await our gaze. From this point, one can watch the sunset while the wind blows gently through our hair.

Nariga Lighthouse / X.M. Varela

non preguntés por qué causa o fero mar desfigura, co eterno e duro combate, de Nariga a ruda punta. (Eduardo Pondal) (Translation: Don´t ask why / The savage sea disfigures / With its incesant attack / The rough point of Nariga ).