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Leaving Belorado was a joy, it was a place we hadn’t enjoyed as we stopped at the Albergue on the edge of town on the hillside and were too lazy to walk on into the town. The afternoon sun had hit us and the last hour walking alongside the road in the open sun proved the Spanish heatwave was for real. 32 degrees is too hot for the Scots. Belorado is when your body is fighting with your mind. You’ve been two weeks on the camino and you want to see a psychiatrist. You’re miles from the start and still even further from the end and your body starts asking you why you’re walking. We responded with our accepted wisdom and got a beer and a wash. We had a washing machine and there was a menu so we ate, but it was perhaps the worst meal on the camino. As we walked through town in the morning we saw loads of places including the hotel at the far end of town. The walk out takes you over a bridge, passes a petrol station – your last place for ablutions before a gentle stroll along the side of the motorway then cross country to Montes de Oca, the town at the bottom of the hill that you climb over to get to St Juan de Ortega. There are two cafes at the bottom of the hill and we chose the one on the left – the one on the right was busier and we figured faster ablutions going to the other. After a light lunch we filled our bottles for 4 hours, then climbed the hill. Its a long way up and best you keep your head down for 15 minutes. Even the cyclists give up on this stretch. You pass loads of them as you meander up the shady hillside. Once at the top you get a great view of many of the surrounding peaks. 3 hours later having walked through the forest, past the 1936-39 war monument you reach St Juan de Ortega. The best place to stay is on the edge of town but the Albergue in the centre or the pub in the centre also have rooms. We filled our bottles and walked on to Ages, it was a superb idea. The sun was hot but the walk offered enough shade and we were rewarded with 4 albergues to choose from and enough nightlife and WiFi to keep us happy. Some days walking 3km further gives you a feeling of getting ahead of the game and instead of being knackered you have a new lease of life. I stayed in the 8euro Albergue and Harry got a single room in another place for 30euro.
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