Day 103-105: Hyuga to Miyazaki

 Day 103: Hyuga to Ikurahama

Hours walked: 7:15-3:00

Distance walked: 25 km

Cumulative: 2,283 km

Today was a lot harder than usual. Five throats were very sore indeed this morning: some sort of head cold has barged through our family like a bowling ball. We hoarsely sniffled while Tamar and Levi, who just recovered from the same thing, bounced around like bushy-tailed deer. 

We don’t love walking when sick, but we didn’t have a ton of choice today - we’re kind of in the middle of nowhere, and Miyazaki (the nearest city) is booked absolutely solid for weeks on end. So we reluctantly got going under a clear blue sky in fairly cool weather. 

Spirits were not that high. Tova was pale and very low-energy, mostly slouching along 50 meters behind the rest of us. Levi wreaked havoc in her stroller, at one point sneakily nabbing a clementine from underneath and peeling it - the first we knew was a shower of orange debris falling out of the stroller. She also tossed a shoe early on; Aurora ran back and searched to no avail, so now our naughty baby only has one shoe. 

We got throat lozenges, ice cream, a sweet potato tart and Aquarius drinks to console ourselves. Jakob distracted Tova and Zadie using a very old-school adventure, The Forest Of Doom (1983). We saw many pristine beaches, a dead bat, manured fields. Tamar got stuck on the wrong side of a barrier with the stroller, and had to hustle unhappily across while cars sped by. We crossed a bridge and saw a wild boar charge through the undergrowth beneath us. 

At last we reached Ikurahama Beach, but right away the wizened caretaker came over and said, “Camp? Camp??”, pointed at the ground and made a huge X with his thin arms. We were crushed: so much for stealth camping! The girls sat quietly while we frantically googled guesthouses. Eventually, the caretaker returned and explained that camping on his well-tended plots was emphatically banned, but that we were welcome to set up in the overgrown patch full of anthills. 

Elated, we pitched our tents and made pasta. A surfer chatted with Tamar and gave us a bowl of pickled bamboo. The caretaker returned three more times and beamed approvingly at our setup. Tova lolled illy in the tent most of the evening, and by about 6pm (maybe a new record?) we were all tucking ourselves in for the night as darkness fell. 

A successful stealth camp 

Soon we will leave the ocean views for a few days - we’ll miss them!

The beach at night is otherworldly 

Day 104: Ikurahama to Hyuga-Sumiyoshi

Hours walked: 7:00-3:00

Distance walked: 29 km

Cumulative: 2,312 km

Quote of the day: “That was the most mangoey bath I’ve had in my whole life!” - Tova

After 12 hours of darkness, we arose. Some were much better (Tova frisked like a puppy), others not (Sophia was pale as a ghost and felt nauseous). But we have less than two weeks to go, and everyone was game to walk today. 

So off we went, eating chestnut pancakes and nutty bread. After a couple of hours we met “the cutest and cuddliest little puppy ever, Levi played with it and had an amazing time,” says Tova. 

The girls’ mini-D&D campaigns continue. Sophia got eaten by a wyvern, Tova fell to her death in a deep chasm, Zadie played it safe and is still going. Levi threw more things out of the bottom of her stroller, including half a package of wet wipes - the terrible twos are looming… 

Zadie found a brass button, a stone figurine of a tiger, and 101 yen. Tova found a medal that says “Elegance is not about being noticed, it’s about being remembered” and 100 yen. Levi napped for two hours, then we had a light, somber lunch. 

When we finally reached our destination, we discovered the next train into Miyazaki was in 50 minutes; so the sicker contingent took a bus while Tamar, Aurora and Levi waited with the stroller. We snuck into our Mango Hotel, where we scored mango juice, ice cream and bath salts, and passed a quiet evening eating pasta and feeling kinda sick. 

Land of the Rising Sun is right

An unfortunate bat we came across 

The weather behaved itself today!

Day 105: Hyuga-Sumiyoshi to Miyazaki

Hours walked: 9:30-12:00

Distance walked: 12 km

Cumulative: 2,324 km

Our family is still full of flailing white blood cells and snot. Aurora, Sophia and Jakob were rather the worse for wear but didn’t want to miss out on the relatively short walk today. 

We took the train back to Hyuga and rambled through the outskirts of Miyazaki at a slower pace than usual. It was a gray, drizzly day and our moods were muted to match. We talked a bit about pachinko, haters on the internet, foods we will make when the hike ends, gender in the workplace. Pit stops at a bakery and cafe helped tide us over, and by noon we had made it back to our hotel. 

 

Our afternoon was quiet and unambitious. Those of us with appetites got onigiri for lunch. The girls played cards, Levana played in a warm bath, Tamar took a nap. Then we bought new shoes for Levi, booked some lodgings for the coming week’s push to Sata, and had soba with vegetables for dinner before turning in at 8.

We took 0 photos today - here’s yesterday’s flowers :)

Levi was happy to roam