243 km to Santiago de Compostela
Exhilarating. That is the only word I can think for today. It included everything el Camino his supposed to be: physically demanding, emotionally exciting and spiritually uplifting.
We started walking at dawn, the rain had stopped, after several days it really finally stopped. There were some grey clouds but the sun was peeking here and there. It was cold, around 0 C, we had all our clothes on. The mountain wind can be very mean. The trail was steep and with a lot of water, mostly a little creek running against us. Huff and puff, two hours later we arrived to Foncebadon. A little village that looks almost like a ghost town but they did have a warm albergue. We stopped there for about 20 minutes, we talked to other pilgrims from Ireland and Spain and we had a hot drink. That would be the last toilet for another 6 hours.
We came out of the albergue to find it was snowing, where did the sun go? The climb was steeper and the path still flooded. It would take us almost an hour for the next two kilometres to Cruz de Ferro. It was pretty tough going. The backpack which we have managed to keep under 10 kg felt like a ton.
Cruz de Ferro, the Iron Cross is a simple cross on top of a 6 or 7 metre pole. (See the picture in the other post for today). It is surrounded by a pile of pebbles that measures around 30 metres in diameter and two or three metres high. The original iron cross is from the XI century and is now in a museum in Astorga.
It is said that 2000 years ago people travelling west and crossing at this mountain pass, el paso Irago, would leave a pebble for good luck. A custom probably adopted by the Celts that inhabited this region. The custom changed when it became Christianised. So pebbles from all over have been collecting there for centuries.
For us, modern Christian pilgrims the iron cross is a place where we bring a pebble from home - imagine, there are pebbles there from every corner of this world - and place it at the foot of the cross. The pebble represents all the things that we want to leave behind, a cleansing. At the same time we deposit the pebble we pray to God asking for forgiveness for all the sins we have committed through our life. After all, the pilgrimage is done for penance. A pilgrim who participates in the sacrament of reconciliation, attends mass and performs an act of charity, on arrival to Santiago gets plenary indulgence.
For me, praying at the foot of the iron cross and depositing my pebble from the Credit River, was very touching. I cannot believe that this pilgrimage has had such an impact on my spiritual life.
The next stop was at Manjarin, still way up there. It is an abandoned village with permanent population of one. This man, Tomas, maintains a very basic albergue. He does not ask for anything but accepts donations. He follows the tradition of the Templar Knights by protecting and assisting pilgrims. Unfortunately Tomas is in hospital in Ponferrada but a volunteer, Jose, has taken his place. We went in to warm up and rest a few minutes. Our Irish friend arrived soon after and three Italian pilgrims. When I say basic, I mean basic, the water comes from a well and the toilet is an outhouse. Quite a place. No question everyone is welcome there.
We walked down a bit and a last hill to climb and then down the hill. A trail wet, flooded, rocky and very steep. We tried to skip some parts by walking on a not very busy highway. Suddenly it was 2 pm and we had not eaten since 7:30 am. We decided to eat sitting in a rock. The menu: a can of sardines each with melba toast and for dessert chocolate. Still, it took us 2 more hours to get to Acebo our goal for the day. The map says we walked 16 km, the pedometer says 20 km. I believe the pedometer. It was so nice when around 4 pm saw the little village down below in the distance.
Acebo is a pretty nice little village, we found a casa rural with a really great room. We even have a big double bed (most double rooms have 2 beds), they are washing our clothes (you would not believe how muddy my pants were) and now we are showered and resting. They will be serving supper in 15 minutes. What a luxury.
All in all a fantastic day on el Camino de Santiago.
Our Lady of Guadalupe, you are always around when I need you. I was so happy when I saw you image at the albergue templario. Holy Mary mother of God pray for our family, our friends and for us sinners.
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