Today marks the 10th day of my journey. I’m pretty much also right in the middle of the island after a relatively short 64Km ride to Kamikawa, totalling now 650 or so kilometres. The scenery keeps on changing and even though I often see Rice fields and villages and mountains, there’s always something new to discover. Today I left the “rider house” after a short breakfast of honey on toast and just after a a short but determined rain shower. That was ok, I left prepared with rain gear at hand when needed. Thankfully it all cleared up and I had sun on my back and later Tail Wind too.
Zooming past rice paddies and fields of vegetables, the scenery didn’t change much until the last 25Km, when I would see mountains again. My absolutely useless speedometer finally gave up its little life. It never worked properly despite being new. It was useful to a degree only but by now I know how long I take to get to places and can use google maps for distance and with an average of 19km/h I k ow how far I can get.
I had lunch at a little roadside restaurant, that was a special meat place...just that I don’t eat meat. After some discussion what I could have for Dinner, I settled on rice balls with some grilled veg and miso soup. It was delicious. Everything grows locally and people take pride in their produce. It got pretty chilly already and I left my long top on all the way. I was still in two minds whether to only do 64Km or do 140, over some of the steepest hills yet. The decision could wait till i got to Kamikawa.
The weather and wind kami (gods) were very friendly today and I had tail wind for the last 25km and full sun. Even though I got to Kamikawa at 1.30, the decision to stay wasn’t hard. I had an ice cream and found a nice motor home / camping ground. By 2.30 i was all set up with my tent and sitting on a chair in the sun. 4 or 5 dragonflies decides I make a perfect resting place for them and just sat in me. I didn’t mind. We all enjoined doing nothing
I enquiries about the local onsen/ ofuro, which proved hard to describe and find. It took me 3 more people to get to it. It was by far the most rural/ old school ofuro so far. The no-fuss bath had only one hot (really hot) tub and the rest was for washing. I did what had to be done, washed and soaked. My muscles were thanking me
After that i went shopping and got dinner: eggs, tomatoes (free from the campsite lady), potatoes and some leafy salad and avocado. That was gonna be it for dinner and breakfast. Back on the campsite I went exploring as i could hear a river nearby.. on my return I met two older fishermen (tourists) from Tokio, aged 79 and 82!! They looked like in their mid-60s. We talked about our whereabouts and plans (thanks google translate), which was really interesting. It seems there are those older people in Japan that have money and go hiking, fishing, travelling and then there are those who don’t, but who do it anyway (on the cheap). Later-on a couple joined us and we all talked about living in Japan, how things are changing and how people here only have 11 days of holiday (shock). With the paid public holidays this goes up to 20, but people don’t usually take it (it’s not seen as something good). After they all went to bed, I had another tea and put the gas stove on to warm myself. I should have take a long out of trousers...oh well. Too late now and I’m definitely not carrying more stuff with me.
This was a surprisingly social end of the day and by 10pm it was bedtime. Tomorrow is a big day with 100km all the way over the mountains. I’m not too sure yet where to continue as the opinions diverged from going down the coast for a bit and then cutting across again or whether to follow the coast all the way. Again, I’ll keep things open but I know I’ve got to be back in Tokyo at the latest on 01/10. And I want to spend at least a full day in Hakodate (South Hokkaido), before heading back down to the mainland. I may have to take the train for the final leg as I may run out of time, but let’s see.
Oyasumi nasai (good night)
