From the road station called Toma at Pippu I walked 12 hours north to one near the town of Nayoro. I saw four small shrines, notable because Hokkaido doesn’t have as many as the other islands since it only became part of Japan relatively recently.
I think someone offered me a lift today, or they […]

[Read more →]

I’ve spotted a few things that are different on this most northernly island and I thought I’d share them with you. The convenience stores all have Snickers. Since the only other energy-bar type thing I’ve found is SoyJoy (very tasty but not enough in it) the presence of Snickers is a great thing. Some of […]

[Read more →]

The storm hit early this morning and when two pegs got blown out at 6am my tent collapsed and I figured it was time to leave. The weather improved enough to stow the umbrella and a few hours later I was at Osorezan. On the way I’d been offered a lift by a friendly Japanese […]

[Read more →]

I didn’t sleep well at all. Solid wooden benches and bright lights tend to have that effect on me. The sky was cloudy and it looked like it was still raining further down the valley. I only felt a few drops all day but it felt like it could arrive at any time.
 
My thighs were […]

[Read more →]

Tonight I sleep about 997km (in a straight line) from Cape Soya, and I’m very pleased about that. Passing the half-time mark a few days ago has given me another reason to evaluate my progress thus far. Tania said of her big walk for Oxfam last year that halfway was really hard. Already in pain, […]

[Read more →]

I left my solitary confinement and was glad to remove the ear plugs I had worn all night. Recently I’ve been feeling a continuous low frequency hum and stuffing things in my ear canal is unlikely to help. As predicted it had started raining over night and continued all the way to Nagano. By then […]

[Read more →]

I made three very good decisions today. First I went to the point in the river that Charles had told me about. I never actually decided to get in but I kept getting closer, took off (most of) my clothes and got wet (and very cold), all the while composing an apology to Charles saying […]

[Read more →]

I left my Japanese base camp full of chocolate & banana milkshake and promises to return when I’m done with my current task. It was raining so I borrowed an umbrella and thus regained much of the pack weight I had sent up to Sapporo. Thanks to nearly three days of gorging and resting I […]

[Read more →]

I cannot stress enough the importance of a good night’s sleep. I was so comfortable last night I missed my alarm, but not by much. Ohashi-san took me to his restaurant and I ate the best breakfast so far. With that in my belly I went wandering around Nara and found a lot more than […]

[Read more →]

I spent the day as a pilgrim on the henro trail. It was a rewarding mix of roads, steep trails and fascinating temples. My first human interaction came from the little old shop lady who brought me a cup of tea. The second from a car-pilgrim who, dressed in white and with his kasa (straw […]

[Read more →]