The Camiño dos Faros (Lighthouse Way) walk starts in Malpica’s port.
The official route for the first day goes to Niñons beach (Praia de Niñons) and is 21.3km in length.
Due to the lack of accommodation available for single travellers in Niñons I opted to do a shorter route of 13km and stay at Casa da Vasca in Barizo, which is a lovely small hotel that does meals. They can be found at www.casadavasca.com
Unfortunately, this makes for a much longer second day, which is very tiring.
Later in my trek a hostel landlady told me it is possible to rent an individual room at the holiday home (VUT) in Niñons village (around 1.5km from Niñons beach); the owner Marina Romero can be contacted on 620 607 998.
So it may be possible to break up this first part of the walk into shorter stages, with a stay in Barizo and Niñons; this would allow for a lunch in Malpica and/or some quality time on the wonderful white-sand beaches.
Starting off in Malpica, it is worth having a looking around the harbour, as there is usually activity going on; the mending of nets, the arrival of fishing boats, or the fish auction which used to take place around 5pm.
From the port, head up the ramp to reach Praza Cruceiro. Malpica is a very small town (long and thin), with a few streets and you may want to have an explore.
The quickest way over to the beach is up Rúa Ramona Criado and turn left.
Or bear left in the square, heading along Rúa Eduardo Vila Fano, then hang a right when you feel like it. There are plenty bars and restaurants for refreshment.
Once over at the Praia de Area Maior, you can either walk along this beach or the promenade that runs alongside it.
Towards the end of promenade the beach turns into Praia Canido for a small section, even though it’s all one long stretch of sand.
See the sign suggesting a right turn for Praia de Seaia, which is the next beach just over the headland, and follow it.
Our route passes next to Seaia beach and starts to bear right to San Adrián hermitage (Santo Hadrián in Galician).
The track runs up to the hermitage, where we turn right onto a path (follow green arrows and dots) along the coastline.
The path leads out to San Adrián cape, where there are great views to the nearby Sisargas islands.
Following the green dots which mark the footpath continue around the headland to walk towards the next beach, which is the most beautiful on this section, called Praia de Beo.
The ferns, greenery and wild Atlantic scenery are reminiscent of areas much further north such as Brittany and Wales.
The path drops down, almost to the edge of the beach, before climbing out of the cove.
Many people will want to stop for a sit down on the white sand, and take a paddle/swim.
Out of beautiful Beo, walk along the street keeping an eye out for a right turn along a surfaced track.
Our route turns into a path to follow the coastline, with great views back to Beo beach.
Look out for the green arrows and dots to make sure you are on track to round the next section of headland to get to the next beach, the Praia de Seiruga.
There is a shallow estuary to cross where the path enters the beach, so it’s shoes and socks off .
Cross around 20 metres of beach before bearing left to get to the boardwalk which heads off the beach.
Walk up the road and turn right immediately after the white Seiruga restaurant to get onto the track and then the path which runs alongside and above Praia de Seiruga.
And on to the last section of headland for this reduced first stage. Rounding the headlead, the path runs into a wide track which heads for Barizo, with the Casa da Vasca on the left around 700 metres before the Barizo beach.
Day 2 follows
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