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Published: April 18th 2017
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Day 6 Hiwasa to Muroto 79km and a few steep climbs.
At the dinner last night we had a talk by Kenichi on the Buddhist Kaiku who started the Shikoku Pilgrimage and at the end I was presented with a white Pilgrim smock with ’Thank you Kaiku’ written on the back, in Japanese). What a nice gesture, and I am instructed to wear this all day on my bike. The rain had continued to lash down all night, beating against our widow overlookingi the ocean, which had a gap where it fitted the frame badly and continued to rattle forever. To make matters worse we had the fire alarm go off at quarter to one in the morning. We put on our Yukatas and went into the corridor only for it to stop, so off we went back to our room. Instantly it restarted so off we went again. This happened three times until it eventually gave up and off to bed we went. I don't think it could ever have burnt down with all the rain we had. Waking at 6.30 the sea was still bashing against the rocks and boiling up,but at least the rain had at least
given up its anger against us. By 7.15 there was a glimpse of sun and some hope for a good day on our travels south with this great group of travellers. We set off in warm, if cloudy, weather which turned into a sunny afternoon. We had a series of steepish hills to start and great descents of course to follow. Again not too much industry going on but the odd small farmer working on his plot of rice,or veg. Most of the rice was at an early stage with the land waterlogged and the plants just starting to grow.
We stopped at a decent restaurant for lunch and had Udon, which is noodles and a sort of soya pancake. There was a but of a panic as Phil never turned up for lunch. We eventually realised that he had missed the turn into the car park and gone past. Ken set off in the van and eventually found him riding onwards into the distance. At our afternoon break we saw the Tsunami Gate which hopefully stops the ocean from jumping onto the road. The coastline is very picturesque with rocky outcrops and islands with he sea thrashing into them.
A few of us got a move on for the last 10k and it reminds me of a similar day in Kyushu where Martyn and son Martin blew me into shreds. After our shower we saw a grasshopper climbing up our bedroom wall but had to give it flying lessons. My heart would not stand it dropping onto my bed at midnight. Before dinner Martyn and I went for a very pleasant walk along the sea paths in the warm sunshine looking out to the Pacific. The idea was for a climb up to the Temple but luckily we could not find it. Great dinner again and time left to do a but if blogging before bed. Forecast sunny and 23 degrees tomorrow for our 99k ride. Bring it on.
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