It was quiet, warm and comfortable but unaccountably, I slept badly. We left at 08:45 on a cool, grey, still morning. There was no alternative to the N634, which was busy with big trucks and slightly narrower than yesterday’s roads, so it was not so pleasant and my thoughts again turned to the airport we’d cycled past on the way out of Santiago. We made good progress and reached the small city of Montenedo by lunchtime, where we were hit by a gusty swirling crosswind. We pressed on, the old road through Vilanova providing some respite from the freight wagons.
We ran out of water so stopped at a bar for fresh supplies. A hundred metres further on, we saw our first drinking fountain of the day. At Villamar we took the LU133 which was lovely and peaceful, climbing up and then plunging down through eucalyptus woods. We turned off to Ribadeo and rode through town in search of the refugio. We hunted around the N634 bridge in vain, then gave up and went to see the lighthouse. On the way back, we tried a road which hugged the coastline and this fortuitously brought us right to it. It was empty apart from a woman cyclist from Munich who was staying a second night after having to abandon her trip for dental reasons. Opened in 1998, it was well appointed, with a kitchen, fridge and hot showers, and a view of the sea.