Beautiful coastal route Ribadeo cathedral beach

[Antonius Vaessen]

Yesterday my wife and I took the train to the Catedral Beach, which was very beautiful. We planned to walk a few kilometers back along the coast and then take a taxi. It was so beautiful that we just kept walking all the 19 kometers back to Ribadeo. The trail follows the coast as close as possible, about 75 % of the time you have the sea at close range. There is not much walking on asphalt, except the last 4 km to Ribadeo (that are still beautiful if at the split you choose for the coastal version) There were very many flowers and birds. We agreed that this was the most beautiful walking trail since we started in Santillana. This is the first stage of the newly developed trek along the coast to Ferrol. Today we did not meet any backpackers going that way.
If you would do this as a side trip, a nice advantage is that you can walk a day without your backpack.
(At the beach we talked with 3 Americans who were staying in a hotel. The hotel lend them bikes. That is a lovely option I did not consider. For the trail we followed you would probably need a mountainbike though)

 

[amancio]

Wow, that sounds like a great plan!!! I took a taxi to the beach, then started walking from there. If I had known about this path, I think I would have definitely gone for it!

 

[jayree]

Thank you for this excellent idea. I found some more interesting info here

Playa de las Catedrales

Natural stone arches form a walkable "cathedral" at low tide, then disappear entirely when the water returns.

www.atlasobscura.com

 

[Caminogoat]

Yesterday my wife and I took the train to the Catedral Beach, which was very beautiful. We planned to walk a few kilometers back along the coast and then take a taxi. It was so beautiful that we just kept walking all the 19 kometers back to Ribadeo. The trail follows the coast as close as possible, about 75 % of the time you have the sea at close range. There is not much walking on asphalt, except the last 4 km to Ribadeo (that are still beautiful if at the split you choose for the coastal version) There were very many flowers and birds. We agreed that this was the most beautiful walking trail since we started in Santillana. This is the first stage of the newly developed trek along the coast to Ferrol. Today we did not meet any backpackers going that way.
If you would do this as a side trip, a nice advantage is that you can walk a day without your backpack.
(At the beach we talked with 3 Americans who were staying in a hotel. The hotel lend them bikes. That is a lovely option I did not consider. For the trail we followed you would probably need a mountainbike though)

Well then you might have seen me yesterday. I did the same and I agree with you.

 

[Caminogoat]

Yesterday my wife and I took the train to the Catedral Beach, which was very beautiful. We planned to walk a few kilometers back along the coast and then take a taxi. It was so beautiful that we just kept walking all the 19 kometers back to Ribadeo. The trail follows the coast as close as possible, about 75 % of the time you have the sea at close range. There is not much walking on asphalt, except the last 4 km to Ribadeo (that are still beautiful if at the split you choose for the coastal version) There were very many flowers and birds. We agreed that this was the most beautiful walking trail since we started in Santillana. This is the first stage of the newly developed trek along the coast to Ferrol. Today we did not meet any backpackers going that way.
If you would do this as a side trip, a nice advantage is that you can walk a day without your backpack.
(At the beach we talked with 3 Americans who were staying in a hotel. The hotel lend them bikes. That is a lovely option I did not consider. For the trail we followed you would probably need a mountainbike though)

Well then you might have seen me yesterday. I did the same and I agree with you.

 

[bernhugo]

I have a few photos of The beach of Cathedrals from 2011.
Unfortunately the tide was in so the effect is not shown.

 

[Phil71]

I walked there and back from the Norte last year. Really stunning path. Possibly my favourite 2 days on (Well, off) the Norte. Although I actually preferred playa de las islas just a little east.... glad you found it and enjoyed it!

 

[Antonius Vaessen]

I walked there and back from the Norte last year. Really stunning path. Possibly my favourite 2 days on (Well, off) the Norte. Although I actually preferred playa de las islas just a little east.... glad you found it and enjoyed it!

We liked the path near Isla also very much; before the Catedral Beach to Ribadeo walk it was our favorite path too. The path from Ribadeo to cathedral beach was a longer stretch of enjoying the sea and non-asphaltwalking (at least the way we walked the islastretch, it may well be there was an alternative coastal route that we did not walk)

 

[peregrina2000]

I didn't walk there, but from Ribadeo a taxi out is very reasonable. We had two cabs for 8 people and I think it was about five per person each way. You can find the low tide schedule easily on the internet. For us, it was around 8 pm, so we headed out at about 7 and had a lot of daylight and lots of opportunity to walk around and under and up and down. It is beautiful.

If you are a "high summer" pilgrim, you are likely to need to reserve a spot. Because of crushing crowds, the Xunta has imposed a daily limit. I don't think there is a charge, but you will need a ticket to get on the beach during the height of the tourist season.

Well worth it, and I am sure the walk was great.

 

[Caminogoat]

Here are a few photos I took.

 

[wynrich]

My husband and I just returned from walking the Ruta del Cantabrico from Ribadeo to Ladrido (all 7 stages of the Ruta). It was amazing. I agree that Cathedrals Beach was really special. It was a rainy day, but magical. You need to be there during low tide. We were there during Holy Week and had to have reservations to walk on the beach. Also you need reservations from July to September. https://ascatedrais.xunta.gal/monatr/inicio?lang=en

On the large Camino map that Ivar sells, there is indicated the "Camino del Mar" that follows the Ruta del Cantabrico pretty closely (see photo below, blue camino upper left). We saw a few camino arrows, but not very many. We first learned about this route from this very nice blog: https://magwood.me/my-caminos/el-norte-ingles/