• Shikoku 88 Day 6
• Temple 23
• 77.34km with 551m of elevation gain

I woke up to the weather looking ok, albeit a bit moody and had a nice breakfast of fried egg roll and rice balls with a little salad. I’ve tried to order as many meals with accommodation providers as possible to save time and make life easy. It’s often rice with some flavorings and toppings, a fried egg roll, and maybe pickles or a salad or miso soup.

I popped over to temple 23 Yakuoji 薬王寺 – the final one before leaving Tokushima and crossing into Kōchi prefecture! Plenty of stairs but a view over the little town of Hiwasa.

Cycling a couple of minutes to see the beach where turtles occasionally come to lay their eggs seemed worth it. The most eye catching feature was the  tsunami tower though. There are signs everywhere noting your height above sea level, whether you’re in an inundation zone, and pointing to escape routes and towers like this one. It was the first of many I’d see, built after the 2011 disaster.

I made good time through to the small town of Mugi, had a second breakfast, and got snacks and cash out in preparation for heading into the wopwops.

I’d found an indigo dyeing gallery, cafe and shop with all things blue on Google maps and was excited to head there for lunch. Sadly it was closed but the surf shop next door recommended nearby cafe Hikousen.

As soon as I walked in they greeted me cheerfully and announced to the regulars at the counter “Japanese language O K—! I ordered a lunch set with salad, bread, and Napolitan spaghetti. Apparently a New Zealander lived somewhere in this small town the staff said, thinking that she’d have loved to meet me. Tsutomu Tanaka was a gentle, polite and kind semi-retired Japanese man sitting next to me having a coffee. He was keen to know if I liked Vegemite after his son had been on a short study trip to Australia. We chatted away about the usual things as well as what NZ exports, his hobby of driving his sports car around a racing track sometimes, kanji characters, his grandchildren, and the declining population. Mugi where I’d stopped earlier now has about 3000 residents – a quarter of what it used to be. I’d already noticed empty and abandoned schools on my journey, and Tsutomu wouldn’t be the first person to tell me the local high school had closed in recent years leaving students with a long commute.

I’d realised that spaghetti wasn’t the easiest dish to eat politely while chatting, aware I still had 35km to go on the bike. Suddenly the resident New Zealander popped up. I couldn’t tell if it was by chance or the staff had given her a head’s up. She worked for the Board of Education and was lovely but from Rotorua so we were unsuccessful at the traditional kiwi hobby of finding mutual acquaintances.

The regulars and staff were like one big family, and the cafe had been in business for 44 years. Just as I was finishing my boiling hot cup of tea, near the end of my conversation with Tsutomu he said “I’m not sure about my pronunciation but recently I’ve been learning about ‘quantum physics'”!! My Japanese vocabulary definitely didn’t extend to this topic, but he explained in simple words why he’d developed an interest in it.

It was lightly spitting when I left the cafe, but quite a pleasant coastline to cycle along with not much traffic. I’d planned to have one more decent stop before getting to Cape Misaki. The odd drop of rain became more persistent though, and thinking it would pass I missed the critical window to put my rain pants on. The rain got heavier and it became colder, and there was nothing for it but to pick up the pace. I eventually found a henro (pilgrim) hut with no sides to have a quick look at the map, a quick snack and drink. Further on I came across a Japanese man waiting for the bus in the middle of nowhere who’d like me come too far to turn back.

Aware that I couldn’t afford to get any sicker, I needed another layer on and finally came across a wonderful bus shelter. I thought I’d lost my rain pants somehow but later found them in the other panniers. Some food would help I knew, even though I just wanted to get there asap. I still had 15km to go, and while the tail wind was helping me fly, it was absolutely miserable with grit and water flying up off the road on top of the rain. I took my mind to another place and gritted my teeth, and tried to be extra careful too thinking it was a likely time for an accident or mistake.

Finally the hotel came into sight and they warmly welcomed me with towels and newspaper to shove in my soaked shoes. It was just me staying tonight so they kindly said my bike could come into the lobby. A piping hot bath in a beautiful old wooden tub warmed me up, and then it was time for dinner. It was quite the spread, and took quite a long time for me to get through while I fought the urge to lie on the floor and close my eyes. Japanese TV kept me entertained though, and I enjoyed trying all the different bits and pieces.

My room had an ocean view and I saw plenty of boats pass by, and the lighthouse beam too. The hotel is a relic of a ryokan, past its glory days but at least still going unlike quite a few other dilapidated and abandoned ones I’d noticed today. It was warm and comfortable, with everything I needed, and very peaceful. My legs are feeling a bit tired today, and tomorrow is another long ride.