Camino del Norte part 6

Logic Puzzle

You have two empty jugs of sizes 5 liters and 7 liters. You also have a 100-liter barrel full of beer. How can you fill both jugs with one liter of beer each? You may dump out as much beer as you like, but not back into the barrel. You also may not mark the jugs.

Camino del Norte part 6

Day 6 on the Camino del Norte, March 23, 2026, began at the Hotel Bahia in Santander. The previous day I didn't have much time to look around the city. So, when I woke up early, I took a few hours to look around the city. Not much was open, but I enjoyed the tranquility. Spain is a quiet sleepy place in the mornings, but they make up for it by staying up late.

Based on my experience in Bilbao, as well as eight previous trips to Europe, I find many European cities to have a charming historical city center that is surrounded by a large boring industrial area. This tends to be truer in the poorer countries and I believe Spain to be the second poorest country (behind Portugal) in western Europe. That said, I decided to cheat a bit and skip the outskirts of Santander by taking a local train 21 kilometers west to the small town of Barreda. I could see from the train one factory, warehouse or low-income housing project after another. This would be the first of four times I would cheat, by the way. In my defense, doing the Camino is not about getting from point A to point B. It is about the experience between points A and B.

Barreda, where I got off the train, was still in a very industrial area. However, the Camino took a turn north into the hills, escaping the noise and traffic and back into a quiet wooded area. That part of the Camino was along roads and not especially interesting.

13.6 kilometers later, I passed through the very small village of Caborredondo. Although I hadn't walked far that day, between dinking around Santander and taking the train, it was already about 3PM. I decided if I could find an open Albergue, I would stay there. Otherwise, I would go another four kilometers to Cóbreces.

As the Camino made its way through the main street, I passed the Izarra Albergue. When I knocked on the door, I was pleasantly surprised to find it open. The hosts were very welcoming. They offered me a drink of water, invited me to put my dirty laundry in a bin for a communal wash and to relax in either the common room or in the sunny backyard.

As I relaxed in the backyard, I met a German pilgrim named Torben. He seemed to be in his mid-twenties and very upbeat and talkative. For about two hours he was almost always smiling and laughing. He was also a good subject for my European geography trivia challenge. Maybe it's that I am half German by race, but I have always found it easy to make German friends on the Camino.

As the afternoon wore on, more pilgrims arrived. One was Estefania (Steph), a young American lawyer from New York. Another was Lena, a young German woman. Finally, Rahel, a strong woman of about 50 from Switzerland. I would see them off and on for about five days and was surprised to see Lena again towards the end of the Camino. In total, there were nine pilgrims, counting me, which was quite surprising given how few I had met up to this point. Many pilgrims evidently started in Santander.

This was a true communal Albergue. Guests were encouraged to help in one way or another. Personally, I helped put the laundry on the clothesline to dry and set the table for dinner. The dinner was a wonderful fresh homecooked meal by the hosts. The best meal I had on the Camino. Afterward, I did a magic show for the group, which went very well. It was entirely done with one deck of cards I took along.

The following morning, we had a nice buffet breakfast. All things considered, this was my favorite Albergue of the trip. It was a donotivo, which means you pay according to what you feel was the value you received and your means. A locked box was there for such donations.

All things considered, day 6 did not score well in terms of scenery but scored very high in terms of social interaction. It was one of my favorite and most memorable days of the trip.

Logic Puzzle Answer

I'm sure there are multiple solutions. The following is just one. At the end of each step, I show how much is in each vessel.

• Fill and dump the 5-liter jug three times. J = 85, 7L = 0, 5L = 0
• Fill and dump the 7-liter jug nine times. J = 22, 7L = 0, 5L = 0
• Fill 7-liter jug. J=15, 7L = 7, 5L = 0
• Transfer 5 liters from 7-liter jug to 5-liter jug. J=15, 7L = 2, 5L = 5
• Dump out 5-liter jug. J=15, 7L = 2, 5L = 0
• Transfer 2 liters from 7-liter jug to 5-liter jug. J=15, 7L = 0, 5L = 2
• Fill 7-liter jug. J=8, 7L = 7, 5L = 2
• Transfer 3 liters from 7-liter jug to 5-liter jug. J=8, 7L = 4, 5L = 5
• Dump out 5-liter jug. J=8, 7L = 4, 5L = 0
• Transfer 4 liters from 7-liter jug to 5-liter jug. J=8, 7L = 0, 5L = 4
• Fill 7-liter jug. J=1, 7L = 7, 5L = 4
• Transfer 1 liter from 7-liter jug to 5-liter jug. J=1, 7L = 6, 5L = 5
• Dump out 5-liter jug. J=1, 7L = 6, 5L = 0
• Transfer 1 liter from 7-liter jug to 5-liter jug. J=1, 7L = 1, 5L = 5
• Dump out 5-liter jug. J=1, 7L = 1, 5L = 0
• Transfer one liter from the barrel to 5-liter jug. J=0, 7L=1, 5L = 1

Counting a pouring or dumping as a step, this took 37 total steps.

Can you do it in less?