Tonight I am about 42km from where I stayed last night, in a quiet mountain town on the shore of Lake Towada. After more emails and more food I set off from Kazuno at quite a pace. 7:30am is pretty late for me so I was trying to make up for it and trying to take it easy at the same time.

  
The road to the rim of the crater that formed Lake Towada is narrow in parts and I was not fond of the number of tour buses going to and from my destination. Not only because of the immediate danger of them veering into the other lane to avoid me, but because it indicated there would be crowds of people milling around at the lake. As I was evaluating one break point a bus pulled in and the guide stepped off. Dressed like Peggy from Edward Scissorhands with a pink air-stewardess’ hat and checked jacket with massive padded shoulders, she ordered everyone off and into the gleeful arms of the proprietor who had come out to welcome the next batch. I kept moving.
 
Arriving here after 5pm was a good idea. No more busses were arriving and lots were leaving. I meandered through town stopping in an o-ma-san (grandma) shop to buy tomorrow’s snack and find a restaurant. All I’d passed so far had been shut but just around the corner the town was still open. At the Towada Shrine I spoke to a Japanese couple who had lived in Yorkshire for 5 years. The wife said she’d forgotten most of her English but she spoke it as well as any I’ve heard.
 
Dinner of ramen in a restaurant which was having its carpets redecorated by the vomiting toddler in the corner. The lady in charge said she didn’t mind, and I would have too but I wasn’t spoken too. I guess my smell was worse than the child’s. My clothes still look bright and clean but I’ve done a marathon in them and the sweat my bag has absorbed can’t be washed out.
 
Word of the day: byo-ki no = sick

Distance today: 45.5 km