1-Oct
After our couple of days of resting in Hachinohe we had to get back to where we left the trail. It’s a 1.5 hour scenic rail trip on the JR Hachinoe line to Kuji.
We cought the train around midday expecting it to be empty. Took us a while to find a seat. We think most of the travellers were old tourists like us.
Kuji is a huge fishing port. Lots of big cranes and warfs everywhere.
We wandered along the coast for about 5km till we got to a nice campsite. Bit close to a main road and no tables or chairs but great otherwise.
5.1 km for the day.
2-Oct
Perfect start to today. Blue skies and no wind. The first half of today is an easy walk along the coast road to Kasode. Very beautiful rock formations all along the coast. In a couple of places the road goes through tunnels. The first had a footpath. The rest were much shorter so you had to be careful of the traffic.
The amount of engineering to build and maintain this road is staggering. The shore is all fortified with rock and concrete walls. The cliffs above are shot created or netted to stop rock falls.
At the next village is the famous Ama women divers. They have a whole tourist center devoted to it with a training pool adjacent. Of course there are lots of souvenirs including a really cute doll.
From here the track climbs to the top of the cliffs and follows them along. At each creek it descends a hundred meters or more. Then climbs back up. It’s a gruelling 10km of up and down. Pauline read in the notes it’s the most demanding section.
It took us much longer than expected. We arrived at the next village at about 4pm. There isn’t any campground so we just set up on a vacant block. This got a few enquiring looks from the locals.
All up 14.7km for the day.
3-Oct
Easy day today. A flat stroll into town along the road.
We must have looked tired. One lady pulled up next to us and gave us a box that we thought was garlic oil.
Then another pulled up and gave us a bag of roasted chestnuts.
The garlic oil turned out to be a vitamin drink alledgely made from garlic, carrots and other vitamins.
There was a big visitor center along the way. It had tables, seats and power. We hung out here for a couple of hours. Then walked the last 3km to the campsite. Nice open grass area. No power and the toilets are locked so bit of a disappointment.
Only 10.5km for the day.
4-Oct
We had a lot of rain overnight. Luckily we were camped under some big pine trees so very sheltered. The forecast was for drizzle most of the day. We had run out of food so it was time to do a resupply trip. The train line runs sort of parallel to the trail. So, it’s easy to catch one back to the nearest city with a big supermarket. We lucked out and ended up on a restored tourist train back to Kuji. Very luxurious!
Breakfast and ice cream in the Universe supermarket 😋 Then stock up with four days food.
While we were waiting for our train back we discovered why all the accommodation is booked out. One train arrived from Hachinohe full of a tour group. The tourist train that left before us was full of tourists. And our train had a group on it as well.
As it was midday before we headed back to the track we skipped a section and got the train to Fudai. I couldn’t see any where to camp along the section we skipped.
Fudai has some serious tsunami barriers in place. There is a whole story on the mayor who fought to have them installed. The towers lower gates over the river to prevent the tsunami from going upstream.
What you can’t see in the picture is where the most recent tsunami came up to. This is the line on the blue sign near the top at 23.6m in 2011. See the picture below. It is well above the wall and all of the barriers.
Just around from Fudai is the largest fishing port we have seen.
The trail heads around the coast from here provided the weather and swell is not too bad.
Of course it ends in yet another fishing port. From here it is a foot path carved out of the cliff face that ends in a tunnel to the next fishing port.
We had to decide if we should stay at the next port as there was a great hikers hut with toilets and power right by the ocean. The locals had built a display of characters from the junk that washed up in the port. Very inventive.
It was still early so we headed up from the port to the light house on the cliffs above. Turns out there is also Japanese style accommodation. We managed to get a bed for the night and use of the onsen😊.
Some interesting signs along the way
7.1km for the day.
5-Oct
Blue skies this morning and ocean views out the window. Full Japanese breakfast was at 8am. Nice trail to start the day. It had been cleared and was flat. Following the contours around the coastal cliffs. We stopped for a break at one of the viewing points. A few minutes later we could hear voices. Then about 10 runners came up the track. They stopped for a chat and to find out what we were doing and where we were from.
After the view points the trail dropped back down to the ocean and climbed back up a couple of times. To avoid this I navigated along the main road and joined the track again a few km south. We stopped for lunch when we got back on track.
After 10 mins we could hear voices again. It was the same runners again. Lots of looks of amazement at how we got in front of them. They thought we had a car or got a taxi. It was very funny.
Along our detour we passed through a wildlife refuge. Pauline spotted a Japanese Serow. It’s a native mammal that looks like a cross between a deer and a goat. It was endangered but is now protected by law.
The track had been a breeze so far today. That soon changed. It dropped down from the cliff tops to the ocean.
Then a short road tunnel led us to the next bay. We had to work our way along the rocky beach to a hand dug tunnel. It took a while to dig out our head torches as it was very dark. Pauline was concerned that the tide may be coming in. The tunnel went in and across to the next bay. About 100m long. Then it was a rocky beach to another longer tunnel. This also led to the next bay. This bay had really steep stairs back up to the top of the cliffs.
Another steep descent took us back down to the small fishing village of Tsukue-Hama. Nice toilets and a small visitor center. They also have a hikers rest cabin with tatami mat floor and wood heater. We were welcome to rest the sign said. I interpreted this as stay the night👍
6-Oct
We had a very pleasant night in the cabin at Tsukue.
Even the view leaving the village where we stayed is quite spectacular.
This morning I think we walked through 5 road tunnels. Some are quite long. One of them was about 500m and we had to get head torches out.
And of course we met up with our running group again. Lots of laughter as it is unbelievable that we keep bumping into them. They ran through the tunnel we didn’t!
There were a lot more tsunami barriers and gates. Some still under construction.
And a lot more road engineering
Of course the afternoon was a lot more challenging. Four significant climbs and descents and no easy way around.
Lots of flotsam and jetsam (nice name for rubbish) on the beaches. It’s mostly a mixture of fishing equipment, plastic drink bottles and bits of polystyrene.
Just up the coast from where we camped is the Unoso Cliff. We didn’t see it from the top. But had a great view from the bottom that most people don’t get to see.
