Autumn Equinox 2013

Ribadumia, Pontevedra

Having stayed at home for the summer solstice (see St John's Day the year before for an idea of what we did!), we decided to make a day of it for the equinox.

We headed out to Ribadumia and had a walk through a forest to have a picnic. After walking along a river to a natural pool and dipping our toes, we headed back to the car and out to a castro nearby.

Despite the amazing weather and thousands of people around the picnic area, the castro was completely deserted. 

Parking, we could see that some building works were under way for a visitors centre. We headed up the hill and had to sneak through some fencing to get a look at the castro. It's all sectioned off at the moment because they are painstakingly piecing it back together and laying down a bed of white stone to keep it from overgrowing again. Looking at the work already completed (see picture), we could tell that once completed, this is going to be one of the biggest castros in the area (if not anywhere). A vast complex of honeycomb circular houses, with rectangular ones thrown in too for good measure (must be a later castro, because the rectangular design arrived with the Romans).

Suspected Chestnut!

At the top of the hill, an enormous chestnut tree (I think!) stood proudly, bearing fruit for the autumn fall. It made me think of how we often see pines near Celtic sites, and if there is any spiritual significance to the chestnut as well, or if it grew later, once the site was overrun by nature (chestnuts were the most common trees in Galicia until the invasion of the eucalyptus).

An excellent site, and one we will revisit in a couple of years to see it in its full glory.

Vic