Laxe is easy to like because it does not try very hard. A fishing town of a few thousand people tucked into a curved bay on the Costa da Morte, it has a harbour where boats unload the day's catch, a long sandy beach that curves round the bay, and a low white skyline of houses. In summer, Galician families spread out on the sand, and in winter the Atlantic throws huge swells against the headland, so that the town feels like the last outpost before the open sea.
The coast around Laxe is the heart of the Costa da Morte, a name that refers to its long record of shipwrecks. Granite reefs, thick fog and powerful currents have made this one of the most dangerous stretches of coast in Europe, and local folklore is full of stories of lost ships and wreckers. The lighthouses along the coast, built in the nineteenth century, were a response to this, and they still stand on the headlands. Inland a short distance, the Dolmen of Dombate, a megalithic burial chamber several thousand years old, survives under a protective roof in a field, and is a reminder that people have lived and buried their dead here since long before the Romans arrived.
The riding along the coast is excellent. The roads link small fishing villages and headlands through a landscape of pines, gorse and granite outcrops, with big sea views opening and closing. Corners are fairly gentle but regular, and the surface varies from smooth to patched, particularly where the sea air has done its work. Traffic is light outside August, and the pace of life is slow. From Laxe, the coast road runs west toward Camariñas and the cape, through some of the most beautiful and empty stretches of Galicia, with long beaches and wind-bent trees.
Laxe has shops, a few cafés and bars, and a fuel station should be available in town, but in this sparsely populated area it is wise to fill up whenever you see a pump. Camariñas, about seventeen kilometres away, is the larger option. The bars by the harbour serve fresh seafood, octopus Galician style with paprika and olive oil, and cold white wine.
Walk to the end of the breakwater at dusk to watch the boats come in, and see how the light turns the bay silver.