Roving Japan

Photoset, Day 29

We went north along the coast about 12 miles to a small rest area/campground sandwiched between the highway and the ocean. The walk was really pretty, as we spent most of the day along the ocean side. The only mishap was when Risa stepped on a dead fish that had somehow managed to get on the sidewalk. We don’t know how the fish got on the sidewalk considering the sidewalk was about 20ft above sea level, but there it was. And Risa stepped on it. About an hour later we noticed that my pants had fish guts all over around my ankle. Gross!

We met another Ohenro on the road this afternoon. We didn’t catch his name, but his story was very touching. He is doing the pilgrimage on a bicycle this summer. The bicycle belonged to his wife who past away last year. He wanted to do the pilgrimage on her bike so that she could be with him during his journey. We met him at a small rest area where someone had made little frog statues for travels to use as protection. You could either take a single frog, or a 2-pack for couples. He took the couple set.

He was very helpful, as it was obvious he had done the pilgrimage before. He told us that we needed to buy food in the next town because there wouldn’t be another store before the camp. Just to make sure we found the right store, he rode on ahead to the town and waited for us so he could show us the way.

We made camp at a rest area just off the highway. The owner of the little store at the rest area told us we should set up our tent on the wooden deck near the bathrooms by his store. The spot was perfect until about 9pm when the motorcycle gangs started showing up and revving their engines right next to our camp. Then we also had to deal with them going to the bathroom and walking past our tent. So we packed our bags and picked up the tent and moved farther away and closer to the beach. This spot seems much quieter.