An ideal route for water sports, with scenery featuring oak groves and meadows. Rowing and catamaran trips are particular highlights. The waters are teeming ...

This circular route begins and ends in the town itself. We will see a wide variety of landscapes. Most of the route runs along high riverbanks. However, the river, kept calm by the cane growers, flows slowly and deeply, with a very high flow rate at all times. This route is ideal for sports; canoeists train here. In Lugo, rowing is a long-standing pastime, and the city has produced some great Olympic athletes. As far back as the 19th and early 20th centuries, there was great interest amongst the bourgeoisie and artisans of Lugo in river travel; they used boats with a bow and rudder, fitted with three or four pairs of oars. But the oldest and most characteristic are the ‘batuxos’, small flat-bottomed boats used by sugarcane farmers, mills and fisheries, in which enormous quantities of eels were once caught by taking advantage of their seasonal return to the sea. These eels were cured and eaten throughout the year, particularly at the San Froilán fairs. Due to the hydroelectric dams that prevent them from migrating upstream, there are now very few eels, and octopus has completely taken their place as the fair’s delicacy. Flora and fauna Dense oak forests predominate, exhibiting a wide variety of textures depending on the area. We shall see numerous aquatic animals, such as the lavancos, which prefer large bodies of calm water. The river is rich in trout. Itinerary We cross the Roman bridge and turn right onto the Primitive Way of St James, passing through the neighbourhood known as Barrio da Ponte. Immediately we come across the Club Fluvial and a magnificent canoe centre, the Caneiro da Praia; on the other side lies the city, dominated by the towers of the Cathedral. Next, we come to a small village on both sides of the road, with houses dating from the 18th and 19th centuries, including a former leper colony. We continue along the road, which is still tarmacked. We reach the piers of the Ponte Nova over the Miño and set off along the road towards Santiago. Shortly afterwards, we cross a small bridge over the River Mera, which flows through this area. On the left we see a mill, and on the right another, both with their waterwheels. The River Mera is a sight of great beauty, and there is a route along its banks that begins very close by, at Monte Segade. After crossing the Mera, we turn right, and a good while further on we leave the tarmac behind and enter another world. The road remains fairly flat and easy to walk on, but the terrain is rugged, and the river flows with little water to our right; to our left, the houses of Orbazai are left behind, though we can barely see them. We walk surrounded by vast holm oak woodlands. In the distance, beside the Miño, we can see some riverside meadows; the rest is a landscape in which few traces of human settlements remain. Finally, we reach another tarmac track, which continues through holm oak groves. Then there is a bridge over a stream, and the contrast is sudden: we enter a landscape of intense agricultural activity, with excellent cultivated meadows on both sides of the path. But on the other side of the Miño, we are treated to the magnificent sight of a vast, fairly high mountain, hump-shaped and densely covered by a glorious oak forest. Heading downhill, we reach another bridge crossing the Miño; there stands an old stone mill and the city’s water pumping station. After this bridge, we find ourselves on the so-called Camino del Ombreiro, one of the favourite walks for the people of Lugo. As we walk back downstream, we are flanked by oak groves on our left and right, with the splendid River Miño between us. The path, which has very little traffic, has a very safe pavement, clearly marked out and protected by bollards. Here we come across another stone-quarry mill with a large millstone, now converted into an almost idyllic holiday home, complete with a small Neo-Romanesque chapel and large oak trees. It is called Acea do Rei Chiquito. In this area, the banks of the Miño rise quite high above the water; this is why oak trees predominate, many of them of considerable size. There are also chestnut trees, hazel trees, elder trees, willows and, of course, alders, particularly at points where their roots reach the water. We continue for a while along the roadside until we come across a sign pointing the way to a beautiful gorge, which draws ever closer to the river, passing through oak groves, riverside meadows and some farmland. It is a lovely path that eventually runs right along the bank of the river – calm and deep – amongst splendid oak trees covering the slope, their branches stretching down to the water. It is easy to spot canoes, and there are plenty of ‘lavancos’ (traditional wooden rafts). We then enter an area with a much greater human presence and more landscaped surroundings. Before and after the enormous piers of the Ponte Nova are the canoeing schools. Next, still alongside the river, we come to the public area known as Los Robles, where there is a hotel with a large leisure area featuring a swimming pool, and where the jetty for a catamaran offering river excursions is situated. After that, we come to a park crossed by a cobbled path running alongside the river. The city looms large on our left. We come across a huge weir; the Miño widens considerably. We reach the old Fábrica da Luz, which was powered by this weir, and enter via a beautiful park: the Paseo do Miño. On the river stands the Caneiro da Praia, which we have already seen from the opposite bank. Here we can take a stroll through the park. At the end of the park is the car park where we began our walk and the Roman bridge.