Camino a Santiago - caminoasantiago.com

4 hours earlier was pouring.

The Maritime Way is probably the least known of all the pilgrimages to Santiago, although in recent years it has become more popular because of famous pilgrims like Prince Felipe, the Spanish King’s son (maybe he asked the Apostle to find him a girlfriend).

It commemorates the 1st century journey that, according to tradition, the disciples of Santiago made with the Apostle’s beheaded body: they started out in Jaffa (Palestine), came to the Galician coast, went up the ria of Arousa and the rivers Ulla and Sar, finally landing in Padrón, which was then the river port of the Roman city Iría Flavia.

The boat and its captain, Antonio Pesado

The Codex Calixtinus or Liber Sancti Iacobi, written in 1139 by a French priest, recounts in detail this traslatio or moving of the Apostle’s body to the place where he had preached the Gospel.

From Padrón, the body was transported in a cart pulled by bulls to the Libredón forest, where it was buried. Santiago’s resting place was forgotten until the 9th century, when a monk called Paio and the bishop of Iria, Teodomiro, found the tomb. They informed Alfonso II the Chaste, who traveled along what has come to be called the Primitive Way, in order to verify that the bones were really those of Saint James. The first basilica was founded in the Libredón forest, and the city of Santiago de Compostela developed around it.

One of the lighthouses in the ria of Arousa

This was our sixth Camino so far, and as has been the case in all of them, the weather was very bad on the first day and we arrived in Riveira under pouring rain.

For the next day, during which we had to travel 40 nautical miles by boat, the forecast was even worse – rough seas and more rain. Indeed, at 4:30 am, there was a great hailstorm, but miraculously by 8 o’clock a glorious sun shone on the horizon.

A cormorant keeping vigil

Since at this time of year no-one travels the Maritime Way, we easily found a boat with the help of Rafael, president of the association Ruta Marítima del Apóstol. The owner of the boat is Antonio Pesado; he comes from several generations of fishermen who are expert in catching lamprey among other things. They are known as "Os Valeiros"; they know all the channels and sandbanks of the area, which is very important because the sandbanks are “alive” and they can move in a few days.

There are several lighthouses, on islands and on the coast (e.g. Sálvora, O Grove, Arousa island and Cortegada) to help with the navigation.
Our boat had the advantage of being able to navigate in shallow water, but it had the disadvantage of providing no shelter at all in case of rain or rough seas; when we went on board I crossed my fingers, hoping that at least the digital cameras wouldn’t get wet so I could take pictures.

The mussels enclosures, a fountain of life in Arousa

Coming out of Ribeira and heading towards Corrubedo, we had an idea of how choppy it must be in the open sea; it’s a good thing that Sálvora Island protects the ria. When we turned towards the interior, the sea became calm and we had the opportunity to enjoy this unique ecosystem, which, thanks to the tenacious efforts of the sailors, didn’t suffer from the tragedy of the Prestige. All the sailors went out on their boats, ready to scoop the fuel up with their hands if necessary.

3 crosses of the “via crucis”

All along the jagged coastline are countless fishing villages, beaches, capes and coves; the Maritime Way allows us to see more fauna than all the other Caminos taken together – ducks, cormorants, herons and several types of gulls – not to mention the enormous riches in marine fauna, which we can’t see. The Island of Arousa, which is now connected to the continent by a bridge, has lost a great part of its charm since it’s been invaded by cars.

The West towers

Navigating between the hundreds of mussels enclosures was like negotiating a labyrinth. We also approached the clam farms, perfectly delimited by stakes, where at low tide fishermen and fisherwomen rake the sea hunting for their precious product. On the Island of Cortegada, which is now part of the national park of the Cíes Islands, the beach is divided into parcels of land. At least it has avoided the fate of being asphalted like the Cíes Islands.

From Cortegada and Carril (famous for its clams) onwards, the ria narrows until it reaches the mouth of the river Ulla. One can see the first of 17 crosses which dot the coast, forming an impressive “via crucis”. A few of the crosses fell to the sea, pulled uncontrollably by the shifting sands of the river. They were found by fishermen and some are now in locations other than their original one, a few even on private lands.

The Viking ship of Catoira

We went up the river accompanied by flocks of birds lifting off laboriously, skimming the water with their wingtips – a very beautiful image. Cormorants sit on posts and crosses, like vigils, looking for bewildered fish swimming near the surface; the transparent waters help them out in their task and they are obviously well-fed. As soon as the sun shoots a few timid rays, they open up their wings to dry.

A bird taking off

Arriving in Catoira, we see the ruins of two defensive towers that were built in the 9th century to defend the inhabitants from frequent attacks by Vikings. These are remembered in a famous celebration where people follow the ritual of “drinking like Vikings”, and which features two drakkars similar to the original ones. The towers, called the “Torres del Oeste”, were the key to Galicia, according to the "Historia Compostelana" (the “History of Compostela”), and there Archbishop Gelmírez, founder of the first naval fleet against the Moorish pirates, took refuge.

The route is extremely beautiful, but arriving in Pontecesures is like a slap in the face, because the area is defaced by Finsa, a very ugly factory located between the rivers Sar and Ulla. A little further along there is a Roman bridge from the 1st century, one of the longest in Galicia, although it is now covered in large part by asphalt. We passed underneath its arches and continued up the river until we came across reservoirs created for lamprey fishing, which also date from the Roman period, and which close off the road.

Roman bridge of Pontecesures

Confluence of the rivers Sar and Ulla

We turned and started to go up the Sar; it was almost high tide and although the water was less than half a metre deep, we cautiously went on until a blow on the hull told us that we couldn’t go any further. We were about 100 metres from the bridge of Padrón, and we decided that our pilgrimage by sea was over. The river Sar was canalized a few years back to avoid the wintertime floods that Padrón had to endure. We went back and disembarked at the wharf in Pontecesures.

The bridge in Padrón seen from the river Sar

Before starting to walk the 26 kilometres between Pontecesures and Santiago, we stopped at Cerámica Celta, a ceramics factory which specializes in Jacobean themes, with beautiful figures illustrating the traslatio and the “Pórtico de la Gloria”. It’s at 29 Rúa do Ensanche and it’s worth the visit.

Less artistic but just as important were the gastronomic stops, one of them on a plaza which features one of the crosses that disappeared in the river.

Ceramic figure commemorating the traslatio

We ate in the bar Gómez, which has a long Jacobean tradition; it even boasts a stable for people doing the pilgrimage on horseback. We tasted all sorts of products of the ria, both from the sea (a fish called lubina) and from the land (an Albariño wine which didn’t help us on our walk to Santiago, especially when the sky, which had threatened to open up all day, finally did so and left us completely soaked).
The last part of our Camino coincides with the Portuguese Way; for more information on this part of the pilgrimage,
click here.

At the Santiago Pilgrims’ Office, we were greatly surprised when we presented our “credenciales” complete with stamps, even the one given by harbour master’s office in Ribeira, and we were denied the Compostela. I asked why this was so, saying that I was sure the Maritime Way was recognized by the Church as a Jacobean Way, since I have it in a letter written by the person in charge of the Pilgrim’s Office, Don Jaime García himself. The attendant went to consult Don Jaime, who didn’t even deign to come out of his office, and told me that “they stopped giving it out a year ago”, because it was a “tourist route”.

One of the crosses that have been “moved”

The Maritime Way commemorates the traslatio of the Apostle, without which there would be no Camino de Santiago; I believe it is disrespectful on the part of the Church to deny the Compostela with no plausible explanation, when hundreds of pilgrims, many of them famous (like Prince Felipe), who have done this route and obtained the certificate.

As Don Quijote, would say, "We have collided with the Church, Sancho". 2004 is a Holy Year and I think that many pilgrims will be taking this route, so the Church had better explain why it doesn’t give out the Compostela any more.

To see photographs of the Maritime Way, click here.

¡¡ Ultreia !!

Carlos

Santiago, November 9th, 2003

Translated by Johanne Dufour (jdufour@versacom.ca) on January the 3rd, 2004