Japan Day 7 Muroto to Kochi

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Day 7 Muroto to Kochi. 87k 30 ascent at 20kph

Shorts and shirt all day in mid 20's C. Great stuff. We hugged the coast all day and saw scores of tall towers for the population to rush onto in case of tsunami. Shogo, one of our young guides, was the height of fashion this morning with his fancy socks, as shown in the photograph. The coast around Muroto, and all the way to Kochi, is quite rugged with rocks and dashing, rolling waves. we could not understand why it is so quiet and the hotels are relatively empty. We were told that later this month is the 10 day Beach Festival and everyone then goes out and the season starts. We have found ourselves lucky with the blossom ,which we saw a few days ago, because the heavy rain two days ago washed much of it off and it now looks a poor substitute. Timing is everything. Following Route 55 was ok for most of the time as there was a cycleway alongside, although a bit bumpy in places. A good proportion of the ride was on old railway tracks, cycleways and quiet suburban roads. Again we passed rice paddies, but non ready for harvesting yet. Potato crops, onions and many green veg. Plus we passed fishing ports with many vessels tied up alongside and some fish markets which had just finished trading. The highlight this morning was our coffee and cake stop at a little cafe in a traditional building with wooden buildings and a small central yard with colourful plants
The cake was moist with pear juice and a piece of juicy pear alongside. Just to make the treat complete the man got out his guitar and his wife played the electric piano and we were all enthralled by their skill. Lunch was had at another great place in the middle of an area covered in greenhouses and arable crops on the edge of town. the food was excellent, as it has been all week. I have become a bit of an Anorac in Japan since I have been photographing man-hole covers. We found on our last visit that there are hundreds of different designs as each area has their own unique style and there are books on the subject for those daft enough to be interested-me. As we ended our journey we travelled over a narrow bridge with a 2' wide raised shoulder at each side, which we had to walk along to to the volume of traffic. At the other side was our hotel which was on top of a hill overlooking the bay. We have a room at the front and the view is incredible. First stop the Onsen for a soak in the hot bath until wrinkles appear before dinner.

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