[BACK] [NEXT]
Letter 13
Saturday 24.08.13 66,20 km
I never saw a breakfast room, with SO many people in such little space, but
it is functioning. Today
I start with japanese style with rice, fish, meat, miso soup, vegetables aso.
They have a small version
of the salted apricots - hardly as strong as at Nori. The lady has shown me a
drinks machine and it's
free in the morning. I plan for once to have a cupof coffee. I choose Creamy
Café-o'lait. Klonk,
klonk! What was that in my cup?
I had ice coffee. That's not what I planned. When I've studied the machine from
my seat, I see that there's something written in a blue square on top in one side and in a red
square in the other.
I do get my warm coffee!
They have mini croissants, mini pain de chocolat and buns of different kinds. I
take them with the
coffee. There's a neatly folded piece of cloth on the table, so you can clean
it. And people do it -
me too.
I have different maps in the station and roll easy out of town 10.30am. Goes
around the harbour. If
their maps had been topographic all the next had never happened, but now it does.
I chose a route
that passes Kushiro Marsh Observatory and it's not just a tower somewhere in the
marsh, as I expected.
The tower is up on top of one of the green mountains. When I find out it's too
late. It's too far to go
back so I fight my way up there.
Besides exhibition on the devrlopment of the marsh and flora and fauna in the
tower itself, there
is a wooden path in the area. It's a huge disappointment. Besides some posters
telling what you
might see if you were down there, there's nothing. And that far the path never
goes. So the hundreds
of years old algea balls and some funny grasses I never see. But I get through
it in a hurry, because
there are mosqitoes and you can't stand still, that's the positive about it.
There are some view
points but you can see it from the tower as well. A funny thing is, that I'm the
only person, who
walks the path in the right direction - haha. I meet someone with a bell on the
backpack and remember
that that's what they recommend for areas with bears. The sound scares them away.
There is actually
also a poster telling when the last bear was seen here. There was one as well
when I was in the wood
to see the old railway bridge, said the guy from Hong Kong, Steve.
Now there's thunder ahead, so I wait and eat in a bus shelter that is conquered
by a greater relative
to the danish cross spider. They're some giants.
The mystic marsh
End up at road 243 that shall take me around the marsh and to the main road to
the north towards Akan
National Park. I go ahead right towards the thunderstorm. And in this flat land!
I'm lucky there's
also agriculture around here and for once I'm clever. When I arrive at a big
steel roof with bunches
of hay rolls I seek shelter BEFORE the rain starts.
And it does. Like cats and dogs. It looks as if it could go on all day. It's
hard to figure out.
When it doesn't rain THAT much I leave. A little later it gets violent again and
I seek shelter again,
this time among some cows. Though I'm on the other side of the fence.They're
just on their way to
eat what's lined up for them, but one of them is afraid of me and stops the
whole flock. I feel quite
bad about it. I can't stay. It's 4pm and it's 30 km to the town with the magic
name: Shibucha. Almost
like Shan-gri-la. If I shall make it before dark it's NOW!
Shelter for a small bicycle
Now I make no breaks, rain or not. The road that would lead me to one more view
point and then back to
the main road goes to Shibucha, but it also says Shibucha straight. It must be a
short cut, but across
the green mountains. One after the other. It's steep and it's hard. I climb
upwards - and speed down
the other side. Shi - bu - cha - Shi - bu -cha - it goes around my head for each
step upwards. But
I advance. I think it's at the forth mountain that it's less steep and where the
valley after has
widened. And so on. There're no people, no towns, only farms at the sides and a
few passing cars.
When I see the sign saying 2 km to the main road I know it's the last mountain.
When I reach the main
road it's getting dark and I hope there will be a bicycle lane? There is, a bad
kind. 5 km later the
lights start telling about a town to come. I go to a 7-eleven and ask: Hotel?
Yes, there is one in
town. He brings on a map and points and tells. I understand it all - or more
correctly: I know how
to read a map. I have to go on until a road passes the river. Then there'll be a
road to the right
first and at the next big road I turn left and it's some hundred meters....
It is as easy as it sounds.
And here I am, and they have wi-fi. Unfortunately the wheather looks bad for
tomorrow if a got the
wheather forecast right. But in Kyushui - it was much worse. That's a comfort.