Camino del Norte part 9

Logic Puzzle

Moving one coin to one square at a time, move all the red coins to the right side and the blue coins to the left side. No square may occupy two coins at once. You must stay within the field shown by the heavy lines.

Camino del Norte part 9

Day 9 on the Camino del Norte was March 26, 2026. The day began at the Triskel Albergue in La Franca. As mentioned in part 8, the only pilgrims in the Albergue were Steph, Rahel and me. There was some discussion in the morning about how far to get. It seemed Poó, 24.9 kilometers away, was the best option. There would not be another Albergue until Piñeres de Pría, 44.6 kilometers from La Franca. This was a rather long gap between Albergues, although there were some small hotels between them.

Steph was the first one to leave with pleasant words about hoping to run into us later. However, I think she wanted to go fast to rejoin the younger pilgrims, Torben and Lena, from day 6, who were probably ahead of us.

Rahel and I left at the same time. She was in a better mood than the previous day and full of enthusiasm to see bufones, which are caves in which sea water pushes through and sprays into the air with large waves. There is a famous one called La Bufadora near Ensenada, Mexico. There were a few of them along the coast that day. However, only one was directly on the Camino and the others required some side trails to get to. It was very important to Rahel to see as many as possible while I was content with just the “Bufones de Arenillas,” the only one mentioned in my guidebook.

Rahel and I walked in on-and-off rain until we got to a point where a side trail went off to a bufone not on the Camino. Here we parted company with words about hoping to reunite later. However, truthfully, I think we were both becoming tired of each other and wanted to walk alone for the day. We never saw each other after this separation and nobody else from the Triskel Albergue on day 6 would see her again either. I truly wonder what happened to her after that.

A bit later, I came upon the Bufones de Arenillas by myself. It was spectacular! Every minute or so ocean spray shot out of a hole in the rocks. Much like a wave, every spray was different in sound, direction and intensity. Pictures do not do it justice.

Later that day, I walked through Llanes and Poó, both of which had an Albergue. However, it was still early in the afternoon and I had the energy to keep going. Lately my milage had not been very impressive and I wanted to get close to 30 kilometers (19 miles) per day going forward.

Later I arrived at the small beach town of Celorio. The only open businesses seemed to be a small convenience store and a restaurant/hotel open only for dinner. I’ve mentioned before it is common in Europe to see restaurants with rooms for rent on the second and maybe a third floor. This particular restaurant did indeed have rooms for rent. Once again, I believe I was the only guest.

The restaurant didn’t open for food until 8PM, which is not unusual in Spain. I did enjoy a beer where I amazed the waiter with my magic tricks. However, I didn’t want to stay up late to eat, so got some wine, bread and cheese at the convenience store and ate on my balcony as I watched a kid doing laps in roller skates around a basketball court across the street.

All things considered, day 9 was a quiet day.

Logic Puzzle Answer

Number the spaces as follows.

Letter the coins as follows.

1. Move coin B to space 5
2. Move coin E to space 2.
3. Move coin D to space 4.
4. Move coin B to space 8.
5. Move coin D to space 9.
6. Move coin E to space 7.
7. Move coin 1 to space 5.
8. Move coin E to space 1.
9. Move coin D to space 2.
10. Move coin F to space 4.
11. Move coin 1 to space 10.
12. Move coin F to space 9.
13. Move coin D to space 7.
14. Move coin C to space 5.
15. Move coin D to space 3.
16. Move coin F to space 2.
17. Move coin C to space 9.