In the first hour of the day I came to Cruz de Ferro. As I wrote last time, this is an important stop along the way, where pilgrims bring a stone from their hometown and place it on the pile as a symbolic gesture that we are leaving our burdens behind and continuing on the journey. I brought my stone and found enough quiet time between the endless stream of other pilgrims to get some meaningful time here at this mystical place. I left my stone. I felt the magic. Thank you, universe.
Cruz de Ferro:
The rest of the day was a long and tiring one but I made it to Ponferrada. Here there is a very interesting castle built partly by the Knights Templar and I got to visit for free because it was Wednesday. Perhaps that makes up for my missing out on the museum/palace I wanted to visit on Monday but could not because it was closed? I treated myself to a room in a hotel, had a bath and an early night. I slept in until 8:00am and had a nice breakfast buffet before starting my next day. It was a well deserved rest.
Day 27: Ponferrada --> Cacabelos (16.9 km)...
I had a much shorter walking day today as I encountered Emily again after about a week without having seen her. She seemed a little blue (or more likely she was just tired!) and so I asked her if she wished to walk together which she did. [Note: Emily later confirmed that she was just tired at that moment.] This was the first day that I really sought to walk with anyone else and it was good for me too. When we got to Cacabelos, where she planned to stay, she asked if I was going to continue on as planned or if I would stay there with her. I decided to act on the feeling and stayed in this town, and we had a nice day together. We ate paella, drank some of the local wine and walked about town a bit. We walked back to the albergue where she wanted to lie down a little, but then I went to the grocery store and bought another bottle of wine and knocked on her cubicle. She was up for it and we drank that before heading out to dinner with some other pilgims we had arranged earlier to meet. I have had a lot of alone time and I think it was a good to break out of that routine.
Day 28: Cacabelos --> Ruitelán (30.2 km)...
Today will be my last day in the province of Castilla y León. It is a very big province, but fairly sparsely populated. Tomorrow I will enter into the next and last province of the camino: Galicia. The vegetation is changing yet again and it is much more green, the trees are bigger and I think this was the first time I noticed ferns along the way. In many ways it reminds me of Canada. The day´s walking today was very difficult for the spirit as the last, several long kilometres were along the bust highway. At more than one time I thought "are they kidding me, am I still on the right road?" but I was, fortunately!
Here in Ruitelán I am staying at an albergue that I had read about previously to good report. So far all the recommendations have been spot on. This is a lovely place, run by a delightful man named Carlos. He made a meal for all of us: carrot soup, salad, spaghetti carbonara and pudding for dessert...with the usual wine, water and bread of course. Tomorrow, he told us, the music will start at 6:00 am (I already know it will be Ave Maria, but I am not sure which version) and we have strict instructions that nobody is to get up before then. I wish more places had rules like that because I sure had had more than a few mornings´sleep disturbed by early risers. We are all starting to feel a little tired of walking. Go figure! This time next week I will be in Santiago and I will have completed my pilgrimage. Looking back at the places I have been... Roncesvalles, Pamplona, Logoño, Burgos, León, Ponferrada (to name only the largest)...well it just seems like lifetimes ago. I feel like I have lived a thousand lives these last four weeks and I am starting to look forward to coming back to the one I know and love the best.
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