Get rowing! Damn it!
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This stage will pass through
We’ll start the first kayaking part in Ribadumia. It will be a spectacular kayaking stage that will start in the final part of the river Umia, going out to the sea between spectacular places such as the Illa da Toxa and the village of Cambados, going north through the whole Arousa ría and going inside again the river Ulla towards Pontecesures.
The teams will sail constantly surrounded by “bateas” (floating structures made of a top structure formed by a wooden framework, huge floats and perpendicular ropes where molluscs like mussels or oysters are raised for food production) and they will make several stops along the route in spectacular places of this Rías Baixas area:
Trekking in Illa de Arousa:
The teams will have to make two landings in this island to perform two trekkings, one south and one north.
The Arousa island is placed in the heart of the homonymous ría, and is connected with the continent by a bridge almost two kilometres long (one of the longest in Spain). The European Union declared this area Natural Reserve thanks to its 36 kilometres of coast, of which 11are beach with thin and white sand. The island’s economy is based especially on the fishing, the mussel culture on “bateas” and the shellfish-gathering, but also the tourism is important for the island.
Trekking in Vilagarcia:
After the two trekkings in the island the teams will continue rowing North-East up to Vilagarcía de Arousa, the capital of the ría and the eighth most important village of Galicia after seven big cities.
Vilagarcía is a very busy, lively city with an intense day and night social life, which multiplies its population in summer. It possesses an interesting historical city center with good buildings made of stone and beautiful balconies.
The teams will land in the city and will have to reach several checkpoints placed in hot spots.
Illa de Cortegada:
After crossing Vilagarcía the teams will return to the kayak to visit the Illa de Cortegada, a peculiar island where it is possible to find one of the biggest and majestic forests of laurels in Europe. The island is separated from the village of Carril by a sand reef of 300m, where the famous Clam of Carill is collected.
The racers will pick two checkpoints in the island and will head northeast through the river Ulla, until they get to the village of Pontecesures. This final part of the stage will be accomplished during the night by a lot of teams.