Nice Day for Walking but the Blisters are Back - 2nd May 2015

I got the fright of my life last night. I woke up around 3am to go to the toilet, walked across the road I was camped next to and began to relieve myself. I was on the top of an embankment and there were a whole bunch of bushes just below me, and although I was half asleep I thought I could see a pair of eyes in the moon light staring up at me. I wasn't sure though, and when they didn't move I dismissed them as a figment of my imagination. But when I finished and went to turn around, whatever it was got spooked by my movement and took off, crashing through bushes and trees and scaring me half to death. I'm not sure if it was the creature itself or it disturbed something else, but there were then all these strange shrieks coming from the direction it headed in. It took me a little while to get back to sleep after that one.

Oh what a glorious day! I was packed up and on the road by 7:30am, the sun was shining and there was not a cloud in the sky.

It was 26c by 10am

As I was walking down the mountain road I saw an old lady having trouble pushing a wheelbarrow so I offered to help. I think she was a bit taken aback that this Australian had come out of no where and offered her a hand, but she accepted and so I pushed it down the road a few hundred metres for her while she chatted my ear off about the local area and warned me about snakes:

Here are some photos of the morning:

Tea fields wherever I go

Typical sights on the Tokai

I followed this river for a while

Just outside the town of Inui

I came to the small town of Inui around 11am and my GPS indicated there was a local shop I could resupply at. The GPS can be hit and miss, sometimes there is a shop where it says there will be, and other times there it’s either closed up or there is nothing at all, so I don’t rely on it too much. In this case I found this little market with some very nice people who worked there:

Very nice people

My food oasis

I bought supplies and lunch, and they let me sit on a comfy chair in their storeroom so I could eat, even brining me a saucer of soy sauce I could dip my sashimi in. Let me show you a typical meal I have after a stint in the mountains:

It started with salmon. The owner pointed out it was Tasmanian.

Next sardines. Not the first thing I would pick if I had the choice but it was all they had and I needed protein

Potato salad

A big tomato. I need fresh vegetables once in a while.

Pikelets with cream

Half a litre of milk

Processed cheese. Again calories.

Vegetable juice for vitamins

Lately, when I get into a situation where there is an abundance of food, I eat as much as I possibly can. It often feels like I’m shovelling coal into and engine; I eat then burn it all off within a few hours hiking.

The rest of the day was as follows:

Just outside Inui, it looked perfect for swimming but I had to be on my way

A guy I met at the bottom of a small mountain that we climbed together

Entrance to Mt Akiha. It turned out to be a pretty hard climb.

Extremely steep road at the bottom of Mt Akiha

Mountain shrine on Mt Akiha

The golden tori at the top of Mt Akiha

Temple at the top of Mt Akiha

View from the top. You could see the ocean if you looked hard enough

Wooden carvings on the temple entrance

Wooden carvings on the temple entrance

Wooden carvings on the temple entrance

Huge tori at the entrance

Down the other side of Mt Akiha

Another river I would have loved to swim in

And the road kept going...

and provided fruit along the way

A bit bitter, buts still good to have some fruit for once

Once again another dumped van

The "Red Bridge" at the town of Tatsuyama

Third suspension bridge of the trip

Akiba dam. Let's hope in an earthquake prone country like Japan that it never bursts

I finally found this secluded shrine to sleep at, up some steep, overgrown stairs on the side of the road.

It even had (constantly) running water, more luxury than I am used to!

I just noticed my feet are not in the best shape; I have blisters all over the toes on my left foot. The end of my little toe is just one huge blister. I thought I was over all this but I think the trekking poles have changed my walking style and so there is now pressure on areas of my foot there weren't before.

Can't really be helped, just a part of the experience I guess. I'm tired, time to cook some dinner and get my tent set up.

Distance: 29.7km