Camino de Santiago part 12

September 15, 2024 marked day 13 on the Camino. The day started bright and early, as usual, in Rabanal del Camino. When I started my day, I was still in the Meseta section of the Camino, which is known for being flat and sunny. I don’t know exactly where the borders are, but I feel as if I gradually left it as the day went on.

The first point of interest was passing the Cruz de Ferro (Iron Cross). It was marked prominently on my map. I had heard other pilgrims mention it, explaining locations of places relative to it. There is a scene that takes place there in the movie The Way. The Iron Cross would be easy to not even stop at if you didn’t do any research. It’s a small cross on top of a pole. Surrounding it are a lot of rocks. I didn’t realize until I got home that pilgrims are supposed to leave a rock here, preferably from where you are from. It is supposed to be symbolic of leaving your past burdens behind.

Halfway through my ride for the day I passed through fairly large city of Ponferrada. While there I enjoyed a nice lunch and a visit to the Templarios Castle, which was formerly a castle/fortress of the Knights Templar. As I understand it, a major reason for this castle was to protect the Camino. It also houses the Knights Templar book collection.

If you ever find yourself in Ponferrada, I insist on a visit to the castle, although that seems to be the biggest tourist attraction in the city by far. There is also a nice walking area of shops and restaurants nearby nicely lacking in cars. I can’t say how much I appreciate the various historic cities I in visited in France and Spain that had few to zero car traffic in the central touristy section.

By the time I reached the town of Trabalo around 3:00, I was ready to call it a day. The first Albergue I tried was the Parroquial Albergue, which had room for me. This was a small Albergue with about 12 beds. The proprietors were a very friendly couple. They genuinely seemed happy to have me and spent a lot of time chatting on their porch over beers. It was my second favorite Albergue experience. My favorite, if you were wondering, was on day 5 in Beduer, France.

My Albergue was apparently too small to offer meals, so I found another one that did, which let me dine with them. Some of the other pilgrims at dinner spoke English so I enjoyed sharing stories with them. The dinner was delicious and very reasonably priced. I think about 10 Euros.

After dinner, I made the short walk back to my Albergue where I relaxed on the porch some more until I was tired enough to go to sleep. At least twice in my chats with the proprietor he warned me that I would face a steep uphill section the next day. I could see on my map he was right.

 

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Last week’s puzzle was “How many X's or "crosses" can be placed on a standard tic-tac-toe grid without winning?”

The answer is 6. This can be achieved by putting O’s along either diagonal, such as:

The puzzle for Jan 23, 2024 is:

The king wants to marry off his daughter. Three suitors apply -- a logician, politician and an attorney. The king may ask each one a yes/no question, for which the suitor must know the answer. The logician always tells the truth. The politician always lies. The attorney says either yes or no randomly. The three men do not know each other. The king seeks only to avoid choosing the attorney for his daughter. What question should he ask of the three suitors?