Tuesday 20th April 2010 (Belorado to Ages - total walked to date 198.25km)
It is 6.55pm, we are in the bar/restaurant of our albergue for the night waiting for 7.00pm - that´s when they will serve dinner.  We are in Ages (pronounced as "Ah Hays").  Small village, seems rather deserted.  And what are we doing here?  Well, it either stay here for the night or walk another 7km to the next village.  We have already done 29.13km today - I think that is enough punishment to lash out to our feet and legs!  Anyway, the bartender cum front desk manager cum concierge etc etc is a very nice guy.  He and his sister own the albergue.  We are trying to get Joy to marry a Spaniard and sell Chicken Rice here (or Laksa or Char Kway Teow).  And ... the bartender Carlos is single!!  Gen´s sat by the bar right now trying to play cupid.  We did very well in today´s walk, made really good time and arrived in Ages at 6.00pm (with stops in between, including drinks at a very nice hotel at Villafranca del Rio - a place that all three of us do not mind returning for a holiday).  I must tell you that when in Spain, one must always remember their siesta time.  So, you must plan meal times carefully otherwise you will go hungry.  Today we had no lunch because we could not find a restaurant that was open enroute.  Fortunately we had one french loaf with ham left over from breakfast that we "tar powed" and had the foresight to cut it into three pieces.  We sat on the ground at the edge of the forest and had our lunch there.  Today we had a 3km hike uphill that was very steep followed by equally steep but shorter ascents and descents.  Considering this tough stretch, coupled with a very long stretch through the forest (seemed to have been never ending), I must say we did very well.  The weather was rather kind to us today but we are heading for hotter climes.  Not good news because the sun gets very hot and we will surely suffer sun burns.  I have been applying sun block but it does not seem to help much.  Oh well, don´t be surprised when you see me after my return all tanned.  Dinner is served so I must go.  Watch out for more news tomorrow.  Goodnight