Monte Pindo, known locally as O Pedregal (the stony ground), is such a striking geographical accident that it cannot be ignored by the locals or travellers. It is the most spectacular mountain massif on the coast of Galicia. It is a granite pluton formed in the Hercynian orogeny some 300 million years ago, moulded by subsequent erosive action. It reaches its highest point on Alto da Moa, the Moa heights. (629 m).
The Dumbría topographer Modesto García Quintáns, who knew this mountain well, defined it as “a rocky greyish mass that changes its colour according to the time of day and is oriented north-south. It consists of small indentations, shady valleys and aggressive peaks.” The geographer and writer Otero Pedrayo considered Pindo to be “The mountain, formed of enormous granite masses, that adopts the shape of a great Jupiter’s head.” He gave it the name of the Celtic Olympus.
On this very fractured massif the existence of caverns, caves and ravines is so frequent that, together with steep slopes and closed valleys, they led to a complicated orography that makes it very difficult to move around. It is easy to get lost because of the labyrinthine paths that run over this mountain, especially when fog envelops the high ground and lowers visibility.
Because of its varied and singular morphology, Pindo is a mountain that has lent itself to the creation of legends and tales of all kinds. On his travels through Galicia, Father Sarmiento wrote that “the grass grows considerably overnight, there are infinite medicinal herbs and many unknown ones, that some doctors go there to find; on it, the animals are very fertile and sometimes sterile and infertile couples used to go to Pindo in order to have children”.
There is talk of the existence of several fortresses. According to some scholars, one was on the Penafiel peak, where a mediaeval inscription was discovered: “Kings bishops priests all through powers received from God excommunicated here this castle.” Another was the fortress of San Xurxo, on the Pedrullo heights, further south, built in the 10th century at the time of the Bishop of Santiago Sisnando II, of which part of the walls remained until the second half of the 20th century.
In Chan das Lamas (literally, the plain of mud), to the south of the mountain, Barreiro Barral noted that witches congregated here after leaving the Casa de Xoana (Joanna’s House) cave to go their separate ways and cast a spell on a chosen human. Stories are also told about Alto da Moa. According to these tales, it was surrounded by four concentric walls and here Queen Lupa was buried with 7 million in gold at her feet and another seven at her head.
There are various ways to go up Monte Pindo. The main route starts at the parish church of San Clemente do Pindo. The other goes from the hamlet of Fieiro (Arcos, Mazaricos) and is easier because it starts at an altitude of over 200 m.
