The most interesting part of today was not that I’ve been rained on for the seventh day running. It’s not that I considered this a ’short’ day at only 38km nor that I’ve got shin-splints and the other shoulder of my favourite hiking shirt is starting to rip. Staying at Nayoro road station was interesting, [...]

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For a town day I was pretty slow at breaking camp, but once I was moving I moved fast, pausing only to check emails and buy more food as I went. I skirted around Sapporo itself and eventually came to the house of Richard and Masako Hopkins. Many years ago Richard lived across the road [...]

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I dislike damp mornings like today’s, especially when camping on well turned soil that sticks on everything like, well like mud. But it was a blessing in disguise.
After I cleared the town of Nakatsugawa I climbed the hill and reached the paved road of Ochiai which was my start of the true Nakasendo. It lead [...]

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(There’s a surprise ending. Skip down if you don’t have time to read it all)
I spent a while this morning hiding in the disabled toilets outside the monastery charging my internet tablet. Other owners should be aware that alert boxes keep the screen powered on, and that sort of behavior drains a battery overnight.
Once I [...]

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Mr Iizuka was friends with the owner of Nagoya’s most famous eel restaurant. That fact secured us a table while others waited two hours in the lobby. As far as I know this was the first time I’d eaten eel but I’m continuing to discover new things about my time here as a baby thanks [...]

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Sleeping at the road station was better than I thought, though the sky was getting light and the traffic picking up much earlier than I wanted. There then followed a day of occasionally getting lost and increasing leg pain. Some times I walked with Nohashi-san, sometimes I walked alone, sometimes I got shouted at for [...]

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I got out of Utsubo Park as early as I could. The roses looked much duller in the early light, if that hostel had been open I’d not have seen the flowers under electric light. The sun had risen above the eastern buildings but the haze was thick enough that I could stare straight at [...]

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A got a ticket from a police man today, he thought I deserved it so I took is as graciously as I could. But that’s skipping the morning.
It doesn’t take much explaining that the thin inflatable mat I carry is not the most comfortable sleeping surface. I wake every few hours wishing it was morning [...]

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I left the thin cotton kimono of the Plaza hotel on the bed and my crumpled “waterproof” clothing in the bin and started the 33km, dead flat, almost straight, walk to Gillian’s place. By the time I saw her apartment block I was limping on each leg. My right knee and left ankle are both [...]

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If I wasn’t already awake the dawn chorus would have done it. I could pick out six separate songs above the general chatter of the other birds. The sky was pale grey but held no imminent threat of rain so I set off up the trail. And when I say up I mean the most [...]

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