HEALTHY ROUTES   By MAYTE SUAREZ SANTOS Journalist specialized in Medicine and Thermalism Publisher of the electronic Magazine TermasWorld.com

Forests and vineyards in lands of Ourense, draw a dominant landscape of pines, chestnut trees, oaks and eucaliptus that grow for the hillsides and they settle in patches, showing the traveler a green Galicia in all their nuances. But the clearing of the tomorrow's fog, discovers us another softer landscape, that of the other bank, where the Río Miño becomes capricious and he goes for a walk with its tributaries through municipalities of Arnoia, Cortegada and Ribadavia. Thermal Villa and Routes of Spas, in the heart do Ribeiro.

The dam of Frieira, in the Miño River with a considerable navigable longitude; the leafy vegetation in their margins; their rich ornithological and piscícultural fauna; the thermal complexes of Arnoia and Cortegada make possible the creation of a service of fluvial sailing by means of catamarán, what allows to enjoy the beauty of an excellent ecological environment. The Route of the Spas is born this way" 

From Castrelos do Miño and Ribadavia and beyond Cortegada stroll the River Miño and its tributaries: the Avia, the Arnoia and the Deva. Although the dam of Frieira has enlarged the bed of the Miño considerably and she has removed his bravery, her dammed and calm waters they have greatness. 

To discover the remote places of this Route of Spas, the best thing is to catch the backpack, to load it of provisions without to forget the photographic camera and to navigate along the river in catamarán. But how to go?. The village with best communications is Ribadavia where there are stops for those trains and buses going to Pontevedra and Vigo. By car we can take the railcar A-52 and the N-540 and regional C-531 that are the main of the area. They advise us to travel for the net of secondary highways, in spite of being a quite variable layout, but with better landscapes.