Day 9: Sun on the mountains, rain on the sea

For the first time since we started our trip we wake up with the mind free from the worry of "we have to reach our next goal". We open our eyes seeing the sun rays entering through the shutters, and when we look out we see the glorious scenery of Susaki bay in the clear light of the morning.

We get downstairs to have breakfast and then, when getting ready to depart, we meet again Truus and Suzanne. We probably won't meet again along this trip, but we thank each other for the nice time we have spent together.

We start riding along the coast, enjoying the magnificent view of the sea into which the hills seems to dive. The coastal road is protected almost every where with concrete walls, which sometimes are also decorated with, well, what I think is a nice way to exorcise the fear of the monster sleeping in the depth.

 We feel really energized while we cycle on the coastal road, and meeting practically no cars make us feel privileged for having such a show entirely for us. When we start climbing  on road 56 we still have the ocean on our left for a good length of the road. We keep climbing with a fairly good pace, and when we reach the pass after cycling through a 1 km long tunnel we celebrate taking some drink from the omnipresent vending machine. 

 From now on our path will follow a large inland road which, though being packed with wood carrying trucks, is enjoyable in its up and downs. We cross small villages here and there, and in one we also find an open post office where we can solve our little monetary issue.
Next to the post office there is also a small train station where we stop to use the toilets: the station is left to its own, no staff attending it, and I am fairly sure it doesn't see that many passengers everyday.

It has a peculiar vibe, a mix of desolation and reminiscences from a glorious past, nevertheless we are glad we stopped there during a sunny day. In a gloomy evening or night it would have been surely a different story.

 When we finally reach temple 37, Iwamotoji, we are welcomed by the display of the koinobori next to the main gate. Chanting the Heart Sutra is refreshing, and we spend some time chatting with a French henro, who has taken some day of rest to recover from a small illness.

On the way out from the temple we stop by a small shop selling local fruit, and we buy some mikan, a japanese orange. We then proceed further on road 56, with the intention to stop for lunch as soon as we find a rest hut.

 

 The hut we find is next to a restaurant, but the hut itself is nice and comfortable. We sit there having our usual onigiri and sandwiches, when we see a face poking from the fences surrounding the hut. It's a Taiwanese henro, Min, who accepts our invitation to sit with us and with whom we share our lunch.

While he tells us about his trip we eat together the mikan and then he leaves shortly before us. When we are back on the road we hear somebody shouting from within the woods, and we notice a red bandana among the greenery: it's Min greetings us as we pass by.

 When we get back on the ocean the sky starts cluttering with clouds and the signs we read tell us that rain is coming. We hasten our pace but the rain catch us on the road, so we have to seek shelter under a bike parking shed.

For a while the sound of raindrops hitting the shed make it feels like the bus stop scene in Totoro, and the close-by train station where once in a while a train passes by makes this sensation even stronger.
Once the rain pauses we get back on the road, heading to the hotel where we will spend the night.

The hotel is built on the coast in a pine park and when we arrive, dripping water and mud, we don't feel at ease in walking on the carpeted floor. When the kind staff offer us to park our bikes inside we ask them if we can at least put some protection on the floor, as we don't want to leave stains and dirt as souvenir after our departure.

After getting a shower we get out for dinner, and far on the horizon we see the purple lights of lightning drawing closer. We quickly walk through rice fields to a convenience store where we buy our food and the we get as fast as possible into the hotel, with large drops of water already hitting the road.

From our room we see a dark wall of clouds, broken here and there by lights on the road and from more frequent lightning followed by the rumble of thunders. Being so close to the sea we also hear the loud sound of the waves hitting the shore.

Before falling asleep our thoughts go to all the fellow henroes we have met and we hope they have a good shelter from the falling rain.

Where we slept:
Kuroshio town, hotel Nest West Garden Tosa, 0880 43 0101