Day 50: Nakoso Beach to Juo
Hours walked: 6:30-2:30
Distance walked: 28 km
Cumulative: 1,057 km
Our stealth camping was disturbed by the noisy highway and the people setting off fireworks until midnight, though they left us alone. The locals seem to go to bed at midnight and get up before 5 - when do they sleep?
After a short stint of highway-walking, we got onto smaller roads. The sky was dotted with fleecy white clouds. We had lots of sun, but with more breezes and less humidity than yesterday. We passed a workshop where an artisan was weaving tatami mats from grass on a big board.
We reached our Airbnb after just 15 km, and convinced the 7-11 to store our backpacks for a few hours - but then took them right back 10 minutes later when our host messaged to let us in. He’s a nice British guy who moved to Japan as a troubled 17-year old, and ran a hotel in Bangkok before Covid.
Anyway, we squeezed in a few hours more slackpacking, trained back, then Tamar took kids to the beach (pretty, but the waves were too big to swim in) while Jakob made fried rice for dinner.
| 6am explorations |
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| Happy in the stroller! |
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| Zadie and Tova deep in conversation |
Day 51: Juo to Tokai
Hours walked: 7:30-4:00
Distance walked: 29 km
Cumulative: 1,086 km
We got to slackpack all day, since we’d booked two nights at our guesthouse. So instead of packing up tents we scrambled eggs and showered this morning.
Today was super-sunny and very hot. The convenience stores were mostly sold out of frozen drinks. A couple of hours into our hike we walked by the Kamine Zoo; Sophia, Tova and Zadie were keen, so Jakob took them while Tamar, Aurora and Levi relaxed at City Hall. The Zoo was a winner: the girls saw giraffes, monkeys; snakes, etc. We talked about the hippo, lion, tiger, all morning. It only cost eighty cents per kid which is literally 1% of a Norwegian park, although some of the enclosures were pretty sad.
It took hours to escape the sprawl of Hitachi, but eventually we found ourselves among wide rice fields, and crossing broad green rivers dotted with small islands. We stopped several times to beat the heat, but still made our return train with time to spare. An evening of udon stirfry, Netflix and of course laundry, made for a mellow ending to a good day.
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| Making new friends |
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| What the sun has been feeling like lately |
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| Flatter landscapes are still pretty |
Day 52: Tokai to Lake Hinuma
Hours walked: 7:45-4:00
Distance walked: 25 km
Cumulative: 1,111 km
Wow, our two nights at the Airbnb, combined with generous, hen-owning hosts, resulted in eating 38 eggs over two days!
We took a long, student-flooded train back to Tokai, then set out for Lake Hinuma. We’d found a campsite there with one last spot available - campsites are more common now, but actually more expensive and unavailable now that we’re within striking distance of Tokyo.
In the hottest part of the day, we came across Saza. It was an ultra-premium cafe ($10+ drinks) and Jakob splurged on an absolutely phenomenal coffee which lifted his mood for the rest of the day.
Tova and Zadie draped their foreheads with cooling pads to beat the heat, and philosophized as we walked:“It’s weird that people have to pollute so much just so they can try to kill each other.” Our campsite was open for its very first night. The friendly owners gave us a big handful of glow sticks when the sun set, and the girls all had fun along with two other camping kids.
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| Cooling off at Saza |
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| Uh oh :) |
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| We all wanted to jump in |
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| Not so sure about the cooling pad… |
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