Cosy camp days: rain falls, the river rises and I don't walk

4 & 5 Oct 

(Tent) Akiha Jinja campground -> Akiha Jinja campground (tent)

Rain, rain, rain

Last night's rain did not let up and continued into the morning, it did stop at 8am and I was contemplating getting my walking shoes on, only for it to then it started pouring again 😞. So because I'm a wuss and don't want to be miserable walking up mt akiha in the rain I'm having a cosy camp day.

This means that I will be heading up to Akiha shrine tomorrow, a Saturday, so there might be some other people around and some life at the shrine (or maybe not as the forecast looks like rain again). I'm hoping to smash out 18km tomorrow and get to another sheltered camp spot for the night, so am aiming on starting early tomorrow.

I got word from Liam last night that he is on his way to Toyota today, and has also been receiving some lovely rainy weather.

The river appears to be higher and flowing more this morning after the sustained rain.

I also discovered that one of the many shrine cats peed on my tent last night - an unpleasant surprise.

There appears to be 3 restaurants and 2 cafes in this hamlet of haruno-cho. I walked to marunaru, the closest of them and had a lovely tempura and soba lunch. An elderly couple ran the venue, there were a few tables, a very chill vibe and a surprisingly high number of customers.

On my wander to lunch I came across another big nosed dude, this time he was hanging out on a giant geta shoe.

After checking the river depth, the gravel workmen moved back into the river at 1:30, hopefully a sign that the majority of the rain has passed.

It's a Friday night and despite the less than ideal weather 4 other groups have rocked up to camp, a single man in the undercover area with the whole kit and kaboodle, and groups of 20-something and 40/50-something guys are out in the open.

My undercover campmate told me that it will rain tomorrow as well but will get better on Sunday. I don't particularly want to walk in the rain, but hopefully if I start early I can hide out at the shrine if it gets real bad.

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So my fine weather window did not eventuate Saturday morning instead I woke to a steady drizzle that is forecast to continue the rest of the day. 

My campmate has offered to take me to a supermarket and onsen today (he also fed me roasted sweet potato and smoked cheese) so I guess I'm staying here another night.

After a day of just chilling and watching the river I can understand why Japanese people, often alone, just come and sit at a campground for a night or two with their beer, meat and fire - it is a lovely break from the fast pace and stresses of the world.

The outing to the local maxvalu supermarket and community bath (only ¥200 for entry!) was a very nice change of scenery. We also stopped at Japan's biggest tengu mask, whose nose is 4m long.

Back at camp there was a break in the weather so I went for a walk only to come back to find that the 4 sets of campers had multiplied to 20 or so. It's obviously a very popular weekend spot, a combination of the lovely location and very good price. The campers are also lovely, in addition to my onsen friend feeding me this morning, I also received sausage on a stick and bbq chicken from different groups (the vegetarian thing isn't sticking when faced with free food and a language barrier).