Day 12: Agés

Mileage

We walked 17.2 miles from Belorado to Agés

ighlights

Breakfast was cancelled at our hostel because not enough people signed up and I was devastated. I was really looking forward to he extensive buffet the hostel boasted. Fortunately, only three miles into our hike we came across a lovely cafe and we had a tortilla (potato omelette) and coffee. It was a great start to our day and just the boost we needed. In the next town we bought more fresh fruit to snack on later.

There was a sign for an "Oasis" in the 9 mile stretch without food or water. I was giddy. My trail magic senses were tingling. Two hippi goddesses ran a cafe from their van in the middle of the woods. They had an impressive spread of pastries, fruit, drinks, boiled eggs, sandwiches and more. All they asked in return for snacks was a donation we felt was appropriate. The couple was really lovely- what an epic job, right? They have three cute dogs and apparently do this donation-only-market-type thing in many different locations.

Our hostel in Agés was amazing (I noticed I've been saying this a lot lately, which is a blessing). It was super comfortable and homey, but most importantly, the dinner was the best pilgrim meal I've eaten thus far on the camino. We ran into two girls from New Jersey we hadn't seen since before Logroño and it was the best to catch up with them! The group at dinner was fabulous. The food was amazing and super filling. We had pumpkin soup, paella, salad and vanilla pudding for dessert. The food, hosts and company were priceless.

Bummers

Mountains came out of nowhere. Definitely a disadvantage of not having out guidebook. It was actually a pretty tough mountain- it took me by surprise. At the same time, I was so thankful to be back up in the mountains. I love being up high. I love walking anywhere, but there's something special about working hard, walking up, and turning around to see where your legs took you.

We got to San Juan de Ortega, our intended destination for the evening, and it was a very strange village. The monastery that we planned to stay at was very unwelcoming. Ironically we didn't have enough cash to stay even there, so we decided to split a sandwich to hold us over another hour as we hiked to the next village, which accepted credit cards. This bummer turned out to be the best part of our day.

A coupl nervously crossing a pasture just before Agés

A Trace of Grace​

​Notes from a trekking Mama​

Just when you least expect it, a van with lovely people selling fresh fruit, drinks, and hard boiled eggs appears in the woods. We were hot and feeling hungry and knew there were miles to go, but being able to have melon, an egg and a Snickers on a log was a blessing!