The Orpin Tour

Orps arrived in the rain having forgotten his waterproof jacket (in addition to his sleeping bag - "I knew you'd have one" he smiled), but the sun broke through by lunch and we ordered the set menu at a restaurant in Santiago. There were no vegetarian options, so we ordered a mixed salad and it arrived with tuna. Orps ended up eating bread and a yoghurt for lunch. In the evening, after a refreshing surf at Playa Louro near Muros, we cooked vegetables and rice washed down with beer. Funny how alcohol is a vegetarian product. Would there be less vegetarians if they weren't? Orps would certainly find it difficult.

The Coast of Death stretches from Noia (west of Santiago) to A Corunha and it is a little bit like Alaska with some eccentric characters eking out a living. We stopped at a potter's house in the shadow of O Pindo, the Celtic Mount Olympus, and considered his collection of weird creatures. Orps was particularly taken with a llama that had a pair of pert breasts on its back. The blurb, written by the potter, wondered "who wouldn't like to ride on her back?". We didn't buy, but left and pushed on to Playa Rostro where we had the beach and surf to ourselves. Orps showed me how he bodyboards.

The next morning, as we ate breakfast by the beach where we had camped, a Guardia Civil car pulled up and the officer asked who was camping in the tent. It was the Englishman. He was nowhere to be seen; crouching behind the van out of sight. We talked our way out of a fine and, when he had gone, told Orps he could come out of hiding.

After a day on the beach playing frisbee and surfing (well, I surfed at least....), we met Suso in A Corunha in the evening and went to a bar where we ate dried meat and Orps ate cheese (and drank wine). Back at Suso's, Orps was required to taste Suso's collection of flavoured firewaters - all of them vegetarian.

We had headaches the next morning, but mine cleared after a surf at Campelo where, according to my diary, I was "seriously scared". Orps wisely decided to stay on land (again). We went to the folk music festival in Ortigueira that night drinking calimoxto (50% coca cola; 50% red wine) and got to bed by half three. At six thirty, we were up and I was driving Orps to the airport. I bet he was glad to be going back to work.