It took ages to get to Ages.

So today me and Nadia decided to walk further than the 15.1miles from Belorado to St. Juan de Ortega and add a further 3.6KM to Ages. This place has a little more to do and is less dead than the previous place. The albergue is very nice, they are burning incense which smells great. I started off in quite a negative mood, this is almost beginning to feel too easy now, the challenge is no longer there. Maybe once I come to the two massive mountains that await me I will wish I hadn´t said anything. The part I hate most is the routine after the walk and then the waiting for tea so I can sleep, I would love to just walk all day if I could take it. The Albergue we were staying in put on a lovely breakfast which gave me lots of energy and my mood lifted after 11.9km. I had so much energy today I was in a very silly mood, I felt like I could have walked on to Burgos! 22km away now. I am craving chinese food so tomorrow in Burgos we are going to go to the information point and ask where there is one. Not much to report on todays walk really. My guide said that it consisted of 3 peaks and 3 descents, it was in reality 1 peak, 1 descent and miles of flat through gorgeous trees. After Burgos I am going back to walking on my own until a longer day comes up and we need each others company. I wanted this trip to give me a lot of thinking time but walking in company makes it difficult, though we walked the 11.9km this morning in silence and I felt a lot happier. I think it lifted my mood to be able to think again, the purpose of my camino. So across the terrible Meseta I will wander through the flat desert, deep in thought. We shall still meet in the evening though. Nadia said to say any time I want to walk alone and she wont be offended but it still seems harsh. I shall tell her though that after Burgos I will be walking alone.

I spent some time thinking about an interesting quote from an albergue I stayed in a few days ago "Let the inner joy you feel act as the compass for your direction in life", this is what I have said I wanted to do. I spent the time trying to think what is my inner joy, what truly makes me happy. I think it needs a bit more thought as what I have so far is beer drinking and sleeping.

Last night´s food was really nice and we ate with a spanish man and a woman from Chile who were walking together. They walk 2 days every now and again and have been walking the camino for 2 years. We were then joined by a late comer who although only spoke Spanish he was the most interesting person I have met so far. Shame it was only for 45 minutes. His name was Felix and this was his 10th Camino (someone was translating) and he walks 60km a day! With only a half hour rest. He was built like bruce lee, only built up of lean muscle. He looked like crocodile dundee and had the bluest eyes that I had ever seen, I couldn´t take my eyes off this guy he just looked so interesting and not spanish at all. He was a vegetarian and only drank a thimble full of wine, he also skipped pudding and just asked for a lemon to have for his breakfast. Apparently he squeezes it into a cup of water and drinks it, that is his breakfast. They didn´t explain everything but they then were talking about how he does these certain things to keep his body balanced by clensing his liver etc and you could tell he took real pride in himself. There was me the complete opposite sat next to him; him lean and eating well and me squidgy round the edges and throw anything into my mouth. He talked more about this neclace he was wearing which was made from a meteorite, he was just interesting. We saw him the next morning (today) and he sped past us, not wearing any socks in his boots. We laughed because he had said he can go so far as he takes it slow, this guy was virtually running. He is probably already in Santiago.

So tomorrow should be a relatively easy walk into Burgos, another big city. I hope I find my chinese!

I also want to say happy belated birthday to my sister. I meant to say it yesterday but it completely slipped my mind once I was on here. Sorry! Hope you had a great day.