10-Oct
We decided to go a bit further south and do a circuit of the Yamada peninsular.
We caught the train from Miyako to Iwate-Funakoshi. There was a strong wind from the North East so we decided to start the walk on the South side of the peninsular to avoid this. More huge tsunami barriers and lots of fishing boats.
The track wound around the coast then climbed to a small peak. At the top was a beautiful garden and temple so we had to wander in.
One of the gardeners unlocked the temple for us and proudly showed us around the garden.
From the temple the trail dropped back to the ocean and around a narrow path just above high tide. Unfortunately for us the tide was in as was a big swell.
We had to backtrack and follow the high tide route.
11-Oct
Bucketed rain last night. The forecast is to clear by lunch.
There are lots of signs in the forrest about stealing mushrooms. The fines are substantial. We saw one shitake mushroom in the supermarket for au$27.
Translation of the above sign.
Request to forest visitors
This national forest area is an area where members of the association are allowed to harvest matsutake mushrooms, as a result of a contract between the Sanriku Northern Forest Office and the Matsutake Producers Association, which is based on the law.
Therefore, only members of the association can harvest matsutake mushrooms. If a non-member harvests matsutake mushrooms, he/she may be punished under the Forest Act (penalties: theft of produce – imprisonment of up to 3 years or a fine of up to 300,000 yen).
Sanriku Northern Forest Office Office Director
Head of the Matsutake Producers Association
They don’t want you to take mushrooms illegally!
The trail wound around through the forest and down to a small beach between two cliffs.
We camped in the forest back about a kilometre from the beach. We weren’t sure where the high tide mark was. The waves in this bay are awesome to watch. Lethal to swim in.
12-Oct
Up early and down to the beach for our usual noodle and miso breakfast. The waves are still spectacular.
We met a lovely guy who spoke a lot more English than we spoke Japanese. We chatted for a while. He offered us a place to stay if we had been going further south.
The track from here goes straight up to the top of Mt Kadogatake. 507m straight up. We passed the same girl hiking we had seen yesterday. Also met two women hiking the MCT but using hotels, so light packs.
At the summit we also met an older gentleman. Pauline gave him some chocolate and he reciprocated with a Japanese sweet made of red bean, brown sugar and agar. And a pear jelly desert.
After a long descent we ended up at the Oura fishing port for the night.
13-Oct
It was Sunday. So no chance to sleep in. The fishermen were launching boats from 5am onward. When they were all gone one of the locals wandered in for a chat. Bit hard when we don’t speak Japanese. After a while he headed off. So we had breakfast. Then he reappeared with a bowl of vegetable and noodle soup for us.
Oncs he left the volunteer gardening crew arrived.
We finally got away and hiked the 10km into Yamada for breakfast number 3 at the supermarket.
We wandered around Yamada for a while then caught the train back to Iwate-Funakoshi to camp for the night. We met the same girl again as we got off the train.