Time for a break....: Day 56 - Day 57 – 03/06/13 - 05/06/13

Isla Cies / Vigo

In the morning I had to quickly cycle 14km round trip to a Decathlon store to get new gas for the camping stove so we would have enough for the two days on the tiny island. The store was right at the top of a hill, which itself was behind another hill I had to get over first. The whole town is on a big hill. From up there I could see the islands though and in the sun the huge white beach was obvious. We knew the weather was going to be good as well so I was pretty excited to get there. Fishing was not permitted on the island though. Damn.

We were allowed to leave the bikes in the Pension as we were coming back for another night when we got back (26 Euro per night).

We meant to get a load of tinned food for the two days as there is only an expensive supermarket on the island, but as we had to waddle 3km through the hot city to get to the Port whilst carrying all of our gear (two panniers each, front bag, tent bag, Johanna's rear bags), we couldn’t be bothered to stop, no could we carry any more stuff. We should have made the effort though.

The short ferry ride was a mixed bag of tourists, some Germans, couple of other Brits and a bingo-halls' worth of OAP Spanish wearing their Sunday bests.

On the other side it was clear how nice the beaches were. The Praias das Rodas (?) connects the north and south islands with a brilliantly white crescent of sand forming a lagoon (which is closed off and protected in the middle). We got to the campsite and set up amongst all the other tents before donning the swimwear and heading to the beach at the far end. The sand was very deep and extremely soft. It squeaks when you walk on it which I think is your foot-finger-prints rubbing on the top of the little sand peaks. Sounds weird though. It was still windy but the beach was busy already. The sea looked inviting, very clear and when we got hot we went for a dip. Bloody freezing. Its a nice feeling, certainly wakes you up but you need to keep moving to enjoy it really.

We were at the mercy of the little supermarket and the little restaurant on the island for dinner options. We decided to try the restaurant tonight. What a rip-off. 30 Euros for two courses and a drink each. We planned to cook something from the little shop tomorrow. Even that was expensive though, one can of Estrella was 1.30 Euro, they are 60 Cents in the normal shops. Other grocery prices were similarly inflated. Still we couldn’t afford another 30 Euros dinner bill.

The next morning we chose a different beach (the 'German Beach'), and did much the same as the day before. Swam, a bit, got loads of sun and generally revelled in the change of pace. We cooked pasta and had a walk around the island later on, climbing up to the top to have a look around. There are almost as many Seagulls as Lizards on this island. Two types of lizard, the little common ones we get in the South UK, and larger ones (see photo) which are predatory. They are not shy though and you can get pretty close but I didn't catch one. There were also some rabbits which also didn’t mind you getting close at all – a sign of a lack of natural predators. I bet they spend a lot of time trapping and shooting the rabbits otherwise they would overrun the place. The lagoon itself is teeming with huge Grey Mullet. Some must be 70cm long and a hefty 4kg. No fishing is allowed otherwise they would all be gone in an afternoon. There are hundreds of them cruising about in the warm, shallow and sheltered lagoon. You would only need a net to catch them all.

We ended up chatting to a Kiwi bloke called Matt in the evening who is on an extended European tour, he was interesting and was himself a conservationist back home so really liked the place.

There are a lot of young Spaniards who come over to the island, and they came back to their tents at about 4am from the beach (where we still heard them anyway) and continued partying loudly which was a bit of a pain. They were too drunk to care.

Next morning we slept in after they finally went to bed, getting up after 9am to thick fog. Couldn’t even see the lagoon from the tent any more. We cancelled the plan of another walk up to the lighthouse on the other end of the island and decided to pack up slowly after breakfast and a lie-in, then had a sit down and a drink whilst we waited for the ferry to arrive at 13.00 (5 Euro for 2 cans of Pepsi!)

We dragged our bags back up into the steep streets of Vigo and checked back in to the Pension, a bit more relaxed and bit browner (redder?) than when we left. We had most of the day left so did a bad thing and went shopping whilst we were hungry. We had skipped breakfast on the island to save some money. When we got back I had a better look at Johanna's bike and managed to free the chain using some tools. No damage was done to the chain or sprockets. Then, after at least a couple thousand calories each for lunch we forced ourselves out into the town to have a look around and a couple of coffees here and there. It's actually a very nice town. Good for shopping. Nice promenade area with lots of bars. J bought some casual trousers, I bought a t-shirt with a collar so we can make ourselves a bit more presentable and less cycling-machine.