![\"Entering](\"http:\/\/www.the-raft-of-corks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Entering-El-Ganso-with-the-mountains-ahead..jpg\")
<\/a>Entering El Ganso with the mountains ahead.<\/p><\/div>\n
I begin this first post on the Camino Franc\u00e9s with the stage which passes by the Iron Cross, El Cruz de Heirro. \u00a0It is a part of the Camino which deeply moves many people. \u00a0When I arrived on the Camino Franc\u00e9s this year, I joined it in Burgos after walking from Alicante on the Ruta de la Lana<\/a>. The Ruta de la Lana is very quiet, I did not meet a single other pilgrim and, on some days, nobody at all. \u00a0The Camino from Burgos was very busy, so I enjoyed my mornings walking with other pilgrims and then, in the afternoons, I walked alone. \u00a0This is possible since nearly everyone stops for the day at lunch-time. \u00a0These afternoon hours were silent and felt much less rushed. \u00a0Most pilgrims walk a lot faster than me and there appears to be a type of collective motorway consciousness about the mornings on this Camino.<\/p>\n [mapsmarker layer=”2″]<\/p>\n When I arrived in Rabanal del Camino, all beds were taken. \u00a0This little village is a comfortable distance from Astorga and hundreds of pilrims often stay the night there. \u00a0One of the hostals is run by the Confraternity of St.James<\/a>, who have several albergues on the Camino. \u00a0The Confraternity is very English, super-polite and takes its mission to serve pilgrims very seriously indeed. \u00a0So, in spite of there being no beds, I was offered a balcony to sleep on which delighted me most since I was in the fresh air with the snorer’s incarcerated inside.<\/p>\n Confraternity of St James, Rabanal del Camino<\/p><\/div>\n The hostal is beside a monastery with sung evening prayers which is a soothing way to end the day sending me off to sleep in the pew. \u00a0After that I moved on to the balcony for a good night’s sleep in a thunderstorm. \u00a0I was protected by a roof, yet outside and I felt ready to tackle the ascent to the famous iron cross. \u00a0The path rises gently in a climb which feels easier than anticipated to Foncebad\u00f3n (which on Google Earth is under cloud).<\/p>\n Foncebad\u00f3n, Google Earth, 2013<\/p><\/div>\n On the approach to this little village where many stop for breakfast, the pilgrims, over the years, have stuck sticks in the fence in the form of crosses. \u00a0What do they think of when they do this? \u00a0It is a deliberate act and I imagine, for many, there is a prayer, an intention or maybe a hope in the selection of the bits of wood and the weaving into the fence. \u00a0A little gesture and each gesture a bit different from the others. \u00a0Collectively, for me, the impression is of unity, collaboration and solidarity. I felt happy to be a part of this common declaration that sticking bits of wood in a fence in the form of a cross is significant: undefined significance. \u00a0“Undefined but felt” is better and stronger than “defined and understood” in preparing us to change.<\/p>\n Entering Foncebad\u00f3n, Many small acts create a great impression.<\/p><\/div>\n There are thousands of these crosses and, the Christian symbolism is underlined its simplicity and lack of commentary. \u00a0This is a prelude to the Iron Cross where the symbolic act is more defined. \u00a0Here each pilgrim is invited by tradition to choose a stone, carry it up to the cross and leave it there. \u00a0Those who arrive in Foncebad\u00f3n without knowing about the Iron Cross usually learn about it before they leave, since it is a common topic of conversation over refreshments before the climb to the summit.<\/p>\n Pilgrims leaving Foncebad\u00f3n.<\/p><\/div>\n Many of those who walk the Camino have already decided that they want to make a significant change to their lives, or to learn to live with a loss, to unburden themselves of injustices or violence, or to repent. The Iron Cross can be a very emotional experience and often there are people seated an the pile of stones, facing the cross, in tears.<\/p>\n Pilgrims at the foot of the Iron Cross.<\/p><\/div>\n The cross is posted on top of a wooden pole on which pilgrims have pinned prayers, promises. photos, cigarette packets half-full and other objects of personal significance.\u00a0Each one of these seems intensely private, made public here and in this manner transformed.<\/p>\n Petitions and promises on the Iron Cross post.<\/p><\/div>\n The resolution becomes a vow, the cutting blade of sorrow is blunted and the grief acknowledged begins to emerge into a brighter world: we share our humanity, our weaknesses before this unsophisticated pole with a little cross on top and we gain strength in our unity. \u00a0In reality we are one body, one spirit. \u00a0we pray, we cry, we leave something behind as individuals and we pick up our rucksacks and walk on together. We change.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n For some reason I chose a large stone this year. \u00a0I liked its markings of pencil-thin coloured lines. \u00a0The condemnation of the Pharisees, making public their penances and prayers was on my mind as I approached the cross with the hefty rock but I needed a big enough stone for my purpose and I still expect it was far too small. \u00a0Nothing of this matters, though, since the objects we choose as symbols work by linking realities within our psyche with the external world, making visible all those inner turmoils, conflicts, losses, frustrations, angers and obsessions, addictions and every variety of wounds which take possession of us and torment us.<\/p>\n A stone for the Iron cross, rather beautiful<\/p><\/div>\n So I put my boulder on the pile with all the other smaller stones. \u00a0The pilgrims walk on for a while in silence. \u00a0This solemnity is broken within a few kilometres when Manjar\u00edn comes into view. \u00a0Another place where symbols abound, although to me it seems more like a scrap-yard for decommissioned relics. This abondoned village has been rescued by Tom\u00e1s and his small retinue. \u00a0These are Templars who follow the code and rite of the Ancient Order of Templars, dedicated to protecting pilgrims on the Camino. Their reception, on the road-side gives little hint of any coherent ethos, being a mixture of new-age, hippy, traditional Catholic, Templar and eccentric. \u00a0They ring a bell whenever a group of pilgrims approaches welcoming them and inviting them to a coffee or tea in a very run-down hut. \u00a0I had the privilege to stay overnight in this community on my first Camino. I relished its unique atmosphere, communality and strange rules. \u00a0The facilities now are very basic; I am assured that they have much improved in the last few years. I hear that there is now a toilet. (The Pharisee in me again! \u00a0My own piece of land in Spain to which I welcome visitors is without a toilet to this day).<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>