A Modern Pilgrim's Progress

Cruz de Ferro (the Iron Cross) – The Day in Pictures

Things we leave at the cross.

5/1: Rabinal del Camino to Ponferrada

Distance: 20.2 miles.

Hiked: 15.45 miles.

Taxi: 4.75 miles.

Leaving Rabinal del Camino in morning fog.
Pilgrim friends, Patti and Jim, from Maine.
Tough trails today: long inclines, gravel, rivulets, and mud.
Ghostly oak forest.
I reached the summit of Cruz de Ferro. The most iconic place on the Camino before Santiago de Compostela.
A rock I brought from Richmond, symbolizing a burden I wanted to lay at the foot of the cross. God knows.
Thousands of pilgrim stones and mementos laid at the foot of the cross.
Their meaning only fully understood by their givers and by God.
My stone laid down.
Yours truly at a place of significant spiritual gravity.
Hiker dude enjoys a break in the glorious mountain sunshine.
Camino whimsy.
Pilgrim friend, Hai Yung, from South Korea.
Stunning views.
The flowers are better in the mountains.
Templar castle in Ponferrada.

Pilgrim Lesson: I observed pilgrims at Cruz de Ferro and what many left there.

Some walked on by without stopping – for these pilgrims, it’s just another Camino curiosity.

Some paused for a quick photo opportunity.

Some placed an object of remembrance – stones, pictures, trinkets, for a lost love or a lost loved one.

Some placed a stone or object representing some inner burden, regret, or hope.

Pilgrim Wisdom: In real life, we are all pilgrims just passing through. When we encounter the cross, we have various responses. It is a gifted opportunity to do real business and to leave with a lighter burden and with more than a picture. Buen Camino, pilgrims.

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Carl Schlaudt
A modern day pilgrim on the Camino de Santiago.
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