What a good night's sleep in comfy pine bunks. I am speaking for myself here as the Menopausals among us had a few overheating problems. I reached for my phone to see what the morning's breaking news was and saw that Roy Hodgson had resigned as England manager and the Tabloids had momentarily forgotten Brexit and immigration and all devoted their front pages to the shambles that was now the England team! Our political correspondent reporting from Brighton, Jenny Rowan, informed us that the Argus were calling for independence for Brighton and Hove and there had been a vote of 172 Labour MPs who had no confidence in Jeremy Corbyn as their leader. After some mix up over whether we were booked in for breakfast we sat down to eggs, bacon, granola, yoghurt, toast and jam. Thank god we were on an active holiday as our calorie consumption so far was through the roof! The morning's walking was more Downs like countryside, a lot of it hugging the road but it was quite easy. It wasn't long before the sun came out again and, although we had all had a hearty breakfast, after about 2 hours with not a cafe in sight and walking in the heat we all started to get a little tetchy. We were, after all, programmed for a stop after this amount of time and when we came across a cafe at Epinosa del Camino which was closed (on a Tuesday!!!!) our spirits dropped sharply like the pound was doing against the euro and the dollar! We sat on the chairs in the closed cafe and drew on our inner resources, put on more sun cream and got back onto the road. Not too much further along, at Villafranca Montes de Oca, about 10k after we had set off that morning there were 2 cafes ahead of us! Oh joy!!! The Nuevo Meson Alba was our choice - it was by a Lorry park but who cared! Tables arranged, parasols up, boots and packs off we went to place our order. It was really pretty inside with hanging Jamons and a display of colourful fruit and veg. Jacqui struggled to make the proprietor understand her Euro language of Spanifrenchenglish and so it took some time between us all to get a simple order of drinks. He seemed to only be able to cope with one word at a time. We were dreading ordering our bocadillos! And rightly so - it took forever and we almost had to act it out like a game of charades. This turned out to be a long stop but it was lovely sitting in the sun eating ice cream and Frutos secos. We got chatting to a German guy who was generous with his pity over Brexit and the football! Looking at the map (which I must admit we rarely did) we could see we had a long walk ahead. Anne had booked us into a hostel in Ages which was about 5 k on from the natural stop for this stage - San Juan de Ortega. A sensible move as it meant a shorter last day for us enabling more time in Burgos but, at that moment, we weren't too overjoyed by the prospect of a long afternoon's walking in the heat. Shortly after leaving Villafranca, the way started to climb quite steeply into the Montes de Orca. Very pretty with birds of prey hovering above but this was harder terrain than we were used to on this trip and what with Jenny's hip giving her Jip, Sue's ****** shins and Fiona's swollen knees we were starting to fray at the edges. But lo! Our guardian angel returned and we suddenly entered a shady wooded area where we came upon a little oasis of painted totem poles and colourful hammocks in the trees. A lady with a van had set up a wooden counter with all sorts of things to eat and drink for a donation! She was there with her little daughter, dog and cat. It was bizarre but wonderful and full of pilgrims. We ate our lunch and had cold drinks and coffee while chatting to some Americans and the German guy we had just met in Villafranca. He told us he was an industrial architect who was sick of working for large corporates and had decided to give it all up and work for Medecin sans Frontier. He was nice. Anne, Fiona and Sue had a session in the hammocks and also got chatting to some pilgrims. We all agreed that, although this year was nicer because it was quieter, we missed meeting more people as we had done last year. Certainly when everyone starts together there is a special bond and camaraderie which, I think, is more difficult to just pick up later along the way, especially if you are in a group of 6. This stop had lifted our flagging spirits no end and we soldiered on to San Juan de Ortega where there was a pretty little square in front of a rather beautiful and simple church. There was a hostel next to the church (run by nuns apparently) and a bar. We cooled down with iced drinks and Fiona added her dodgy toe to the list of communal ailments! It was hard to get up and carry on. Most of the pilgrims we had been walking alongside were staying there and had already started the cold beer drinking and raucous laughter ritual that marks the end of a long day on the Camino! Fortunately the stretch to Ages was quite wooded at first and relatively gentle and the thought that we had a shorter distance to walk the next day helped us along I think. After 40,645 steps according to Anne's fit bit and 142 steps according to my dodgy pedometer phone app we arrived in the very pretty village of Ages. Anne not only has a fit bit but she is the fit bit of our group so while the rest of us slumped in chairs outside a bar and drank 2 buckets of beer she took her tour guide responsibilities very seriously and checked us all in to the hostel and got our pilgrims' passports stamped. I bet she ran an ace school trip! Jacqui, who comes in a close second to our Anne on the fitness front, had enough energy to book us a table for dinner in the pretty little restaurant at the bottom of the road. After putting our stuff in our dorm - 8 beds so nearly a room of our own with 2 singles nabbed by those with hip and knee problems and the top bunks given to the only 2 who had the energy to climb the ladders - we showered, glammed up and hit the Ages nightlife. The common theme of the day - slow service - continued! The proprietors at the restaurant, a husband and wife team who clearly would benefit from a session or two with Anne and me on a Wednesday evening, judging by the shouting, could only cope with one order at a time and I waited 20 mins just to place our order. Then we had to wait for ages for a bloody glass of wine. Hold on a minute! Maybe the place is called Ages for a reason! But give them their due, the food when it eventually arrived was yummy, although the desert of 'handmade cake, looked suspiciously like Mr Kipling had had a hand in its making. We watched the locals filling up their watering cans from a communal water trough in the village and had to stop Fiona demonstrating her lifesaving skills when she thought a dog ,who was just cooling down in the water trough, was drowning! We were that tired we couldn't finish our wine and gave it to the Dutch pilgrim who did handstands. He did a handstand for us by way of a thank you but my photography skills are such that he couldn't stay up long enough for me to open my phone , find the camera and take a photo! Sue pointed out there was a quicker way! Being with Sue on the Camino doubles up as an iPhone training course for me! And so to bed! Our roomies were a couple from Alaska - a teacher and an engineer - and they didn't snore much! Things lost - at times our will to live and our sense of humour Times Jenny mentioned the Moonwalk - 0 - I think she was distracted by her dodgy hip!