The parish and the urban centre of Ponte do Porto run along the banks of the Grande river. The river mouth flows into the Camariñas ria, creating a landscape of extraordinary beauty suitable for canoeing and sea kayaking. The 22-km long river is an important marine protected area.

The Mills Route is a circular, 5.3 km route (1:30 h, difficulty: easy) around the river mouth, beginning and ending in Ponte do Porto. Part of it runs along the Camiño Real, an old per loca maritima Roman road, connecting both Cereixo's Romanic church and the Towers of Cereixo (15th century) –which can be seen on the other side, in Vimianzo– to Santiago de Compostela.

The route runs along the riverbank and has a rich diversity of native flora such as holly and royal fern, and fauna such as mallards and herons, as well as granite mills that stayed active until 1960, protected trout habitats, fishermen's shelters and picnic areas. The Grande river was the only one to not dry up in the summer.

The mills along the route are Muíño de Sofía, once an electric mill with three grinding wheels and Muíño de Cota, with 4 grinding wheels and 2 storage rooms. It is understood this was a muíño de maquía, a mill whose owners, in return for allowing others to use it, collected a tax called "maquía".

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VIDEO: Ecotourism in Camariñas "Natural Sea"

  • Source: Concello de Camariñas