Raid Gallacecia Expedition Race
With the Pilgrims to Kilometre Zero
Rob Howard / 14.05.2015
On the third morning of Raid Gallaecia the leaders continue to power through the course, making their way along the coasteeering course on the ‘Way of the Lighthouses’, while the majority of the teams are cycling towards the coast. The riders are aiming for the transition point at the port of Fisterre, from where they trek out to the Fisterre lighthouse at the start of the coasteering stage.
After some overnight rain in places the weather is still cool, but a pleasant temperature for racing and there are no gales to contend with, which would have made the coasteering a very different and much harder prospect.
The teams are more closely grouped now after the short courses came into play yesterday evening and this morning we waited on a hilltop above the town of Cee for them to pass through. Some took a longer way around on the road to get to the CP, while others opted for the direct route and a hike-a-bike up the forested hillside.
Among the teams passing through were the unranked Colombian team who were cheerful but complaining they couldn’t understand the Spanish in the route book. The Spanish they speak in Colombia if very different and they said, “I think next time we will get the route book in English!”
Later on they rode into Fisterre after a long detour to avoid roads which are out of bounds and many teams stopped here to eat. The line of cafes on the sea front was too tempting and convenient! (The cafe we went into said they had run out of hot food – the teams had eaten it all by 10.00am in the morning – and there are many more to come!)
The transition here is in the open but sheltered by the harbour wall, though there is a strong smell of fish, which even managed to mask the smell of ‘day 3 racer’.
On the ride into town and along the coastal peninsula from here to the lighthouse the teams had plenty of company as there were groups of walkers all along the road. They are pilgrims on the Camino de Fisterra, and they too are walking to the lighthouse, which was the original finish of the pilgrimage of St. James, though the cathedral in Santiago is now more popular as a finishing point. (There is a final waymark by the lighthouse reading KM 0.)
The checkpoint on the rocks beyond the lighthouse is attached to a statue of a boot fixed to a boulder and in the rocks all around there are piles of ashes as it is traditional for pilgrims to burn their boots on arrival. While we were there we met two Dutch walkers who had come all the way from Seville, and another group were gathered around a fire – each stepping forward in turn to say something and put a momento on the fire (rather than burn their footware).
The teams may feel like burning their trainers, but they still need them – their trek for the day has only just begun and from the Fisterre lighthouse they will follow the coast northward all the way to the Muxia lighthouse.
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