The Slow Way

Jeju, days 23 to 25

Thu, 15 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Day 23

Dropped by Olle trail info center to fetch my certificate, got interviewed and hung out a bit at the place before taking a bus to Jeju City.

Day 24

Just chilling, shopping some souvenirs, checking out the food places I’ve missed so far. Wrapping things up and getting ready for the flight.

Day 25

Lazy morning, then a few km walk through the city to the airport. This is it for this adventure. And a new adventure is coming.

Hallasan

Mon, 12 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Hallasan

Hallasan day. Out of all the trails that lead to the mountain there are only two that allow one to get to the actual mountain top. Both require the reservation. Luckily there was just one spot left free for me, so I was able to go at the convenient time.

Jeju Olle, day 19

Sun, 11 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Jeju Olle, Day 19

I booked the hotel room for a few days, to base in Seogwipo for now. So today for my final stretch of Olle trail, 7 and 7-1, I am going light, leaving the backpack in the hotel.

At the edge of the town I grabbed a kimbap in the local place. Had to explain what “vegetarian” means by showing with my hands what I want and what I don’t want in my kimbap. And then spent a nice chill time on a bench at the mountain top enjoying my food with the view to the Hallasan peak.

Jeju Olle, day 18

Sat, 10 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Jeju Olle, Day 18

Lazy early morning — woke up before the alarm clock as I had a good rest yesterday. But since there is no rush to start hiking early, I took my time eating some breakfast, slowly packing and so on.

The trail starts looking more like what I’ve seen on the first days — which makes sense, I am getting close to the starting point. The vertical cliffs and raging (not really) turquoise sea, waves crashing into black rocks.

Jeju Olle, day 17

Fri, 09 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Jeju Olle, Day 17

A full day of heavy rain. Pretty much spending the whole day in the room, watching the stormy ocean in the window.

Jeju Olle, day 16

Thu, 08 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Jeju Olle, Day 16

Slow morning, taking my time to wake up and pack. Today is only one longish section to hike and the check-in time at the next place is at 3pm. So I might aim to depart some time around 10am and then take things easy.

This next place I am staying at for two nights as tomorrow seems to be a day full of rain. And after that I will only have one day (two sections) of hike left to the starting point in Seogwipo. Still, will need to re-do section 7 and do section 7-1 but almost there.

Jeju Olle, day 15

Wed, 07 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Jeju Olle, Day 15

Suuuper late start. I got to hang out with some locals in the morning, so I only really hit the trail past noon. Thus had to hit hard to make it before the sunset.

Jeju Olle, day 14

Tue, 06 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Jeju Olle, Day 14

Lazy day. Went for a short walk to a nearby hill, but other than that just lazed around for a day.

Well, I do call it a hill. But actually it is a small (inactive) volcano cone called Sunrise Peak or Seongsan Ilchulbong in Korean. It is the easternmost point of Jeju island and allows one to peek inside the crater as well as opens beautiful views towards the town.

Jeju Olle, day 13

Mon, 05 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Jeju Olle, Day 13

The main drawback of the place I stayed for the night today is that there is nothing in the area. Even the closest convenience store is at least half an hour (walking) away. Normally it is fine, but doesn’t sound fun staying for a few rainy days. So the plan is simple — to do one short section in the morning before the rain starts and then to spend two nights with a bit more of a comfort and convenience.

Jeju Olle, day 12

Sun, 04 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Jeju Olle, Day 12

Could be a result of having plenty of rest, I woke up a bit before the alarm clock. The weather seems to be fine. Both on the forecast and in the window. Today is two sections hike again, so I’d better start earlier.

Jeju Olle, day 11

Sat, 03 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Jeju Olle, Day 11

Since I already hiked a significant part of this section yesterday, today is one of the shortest hikes so far. It only took a bit over two hours to get to my next accommodation, but that is good — there is a strong wind warning out there and rain in the afternoon on the forecast.

Jeju Olle, day 10

Fri, 02 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Jeju Olle, Day 10

I’ve started the day checking the area of historical government buildings (opens at 9am). The entry ticket of 1500 won is worth it if you haven’t been to places like that before. After exploring the site for about half an hour and taking a bunch of pictures, I went back to pick up my already packed backpack and start hiking.

Jeju Olle, day 9

Thu, 01 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Jeju Olle, Day 9

An early wake up was harsh but doable. A bit later than planned but still within the range of safe, I’ve got to the ferry terminal about 40 minutes before the departure. Just to learn that my entry stamp in the passport does not allow me to travel to Chuja islands. I annoyed with dumb questions the person selling the tickets, then he sent me to the immigration officer on site — the guy confirmed that he wouldn’t let me through even if I had a ticket. Since neither of them spoke any English, I couldn’t get any meaningful explanation why. But oh well, what can we do: no means no. Since I have a hotel booked for two nights anyway, I’ve returned to my room and took a nap.

Jeju Olle, day 8

Wed, 30 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Jeju Olle, Day 8

Another long day with the trail going into the mountains and returning to the coast, eventually leading into Jeju City, the main city of the island and the location of the island’s airport.

Jeju Olle, day 7

Tue, 29 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Jeju Olle, Day 7

While I woke up slightly before the alarm clock rang, somehow it still dragged into the late morning. So I am only leaving the accommodation around 8:30

Jeju Olle, day 6

Mon, 28 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Jeju Olle, Day 6

Rest day. Waking up late, I hit the trail around 10am. There were still traces of the night rain, but the trail was already in a good condition. Water goes quickly through the volcanic rocks.

The trail 14-1 is an auxiliary trail that is not connected to the main route. It goes through the forest of the mountainous part of the island — with no views behind the trees, and leads to Osulloc tea museum and plantations.

Jeju Olle, day 5

Sun, 27 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Jeju Olle, Day 5

My assumption was correct and I was the only one staying in the hostel this night. Woke up lazily, packed and hit the road a bit past 8am. The trail is short today, but I need to get to the accommodation before the rain starts in the evening.

Jeju Olle, day 4

Sat, 26 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Jeju Olle, Day 4

The next few sections are the long ones. So the plan is to do three sections in two days and then to have another rest day while doing 14-1 on Monday.

So early morning wake up and getting ready for the day.

Jeju Olle, day 3

Fri, 25 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Jeju Olle, Day 3

A chill day to rest and recover. In the morning I walked to the port, bought a ferry round trip ticket for Gapa island (Gapado) and after a bit of waiting and a short 10 minute ferry trip I was on the island.

Jeju Olle, day 2

Thu, 24 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Jeju Olle, Day 2

I’ve overslept after a good hike yesterday, so only starting walking around 9 am. The trail 9 follows a cute little path going up and down through the forest on the mountain. Sweet and cute. At the entrance to the mountain they had an insect repellent self-service station, which I believe is amazing. And on the trail rather than covering the whole mountain in stairs, they put some kind of rough carpet made of thick natural rope. It blends into the ground really fast. But it gives a nice footing — not slipping neither dry nor wet, and pleasantly soft under the feet.

Jeju Olle, day 1

Wed, 23 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Jeju Olle, Day 1

Early morning, packing, dropping extra luggage into the lock box. Ready to move out. Route 7 and if it goes well — Route 8 as well. We’ll see how it goes. 08:15.

Jeju, day 2

Tue, 22 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Day 2

Lazy morning with a nice chat during the breakfast. The government issued a heavy rain warning early in the morning. Thus I am chilling at the hostel and waiting for better weather in the afternoon.

The rain stopped by the afternoon and even some sun showed, so I went for a stroll. Checked a couple of museums — all closed. Thus just enjoyed a little walk around the area.

Jeju, day 1

Mon, 21 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Day 1

First full day that is also a dry day (according to the forecast). Thus waking up on the alarm clock early, so that I am up and downstairs around the start of the breakfast which is 7:30. No pictures of the breakfast by the way, as I forgot the phone in the room.

Started walking around 8:30, took me three hours to get to the trailhead, just to learn that the trail is closed because of the ice. Well, makes sense — yesterday it was raining down here, so it should have been snowing up there. So no climbing the highest mountain today.

Jeju, day 0

Sun, 20 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Day 0

The transit to Jeju was a bit hectic, but that’s a different story. Finally, after a full night of flights and transits I am on the island.

It could be thanks to our early arrival or thanks to the low season, but the airport was unexpectedly almost empty and going through all the controls only took so much time.

After walking a bit around the airport I finally asked the tourist info ladies where to get the transport card for the bus and they sent me towards the nearest convenience store on the premises. Overall, this was a day of practicing talking to random people and asking dumb questions. But it was surprisingly fun and easy as it gets when you add a language barrier, obviously foreign face and a bit of trust.

TSH, day 47

Tue, 01 Aug 2017 00:00:00 +0000

6:30 am — TSH, day 47

Around midnight the lightnings started to flash too often for me to sleep peacefully and I moved to a lower level of the structure.

In the morning I woke up with the sun, wore my still-completely-wet clothes, packed and started to walk a few minutes past 6am. There was no rain in the night and the morning was cloudy yet dry.

TSH, day 46

Mon, 31 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0000

1:30 pm — TSH, day 46

I woke up normally and started walking a bit past 6am. Thus I was able to walk all the streets of Kyoto to the mountains before the real heat started. The trail was nice and obvious and by 13.00 I was already at mt.Ponpon. After the day of rest walking is quite easy and comfortable, so I think I’ll try to reach Ryuo-san today to spend a night with a view of night Osaka.

TSH, day 45

Sun, 30 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0000

7:30 pm — Wrapping the day

Spending the day in the hostel and walking around the area. It is as touristy as it gets, which feels really weird. Bamboo forest with nice paths through it — some for walking and some for photoshooting, with a sign prohibiting people from walking there — so that there is a nice empty path on the background of the photo. Small boats touring the tourists on the river and lots, lots of souvenir shops.

TSH, day 44

Sat, 29 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0000

12:30 pm — TSH, day 44

Today I started walking around 7am. The trail went over beautiful places and was not difficult.

2:30 pm — Arashiyama

Around 13.00 I reached Kyoto. To be precise, Arashiyama. A place with a lot of tourists. A place with a lot of facilities for said tourists.

TSH, day 43

Fri, 28 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0000

4:30 pm — TSH, day 43

The day started normally. A bit later than I’d like but that’s ok. After several hours of hiking I got to a convenience store, ate my lunch, looked at the map and decided that today I’m a fish and don’t want to go anywhere. And about hiking through all those kilometers I’d have to hike today, I’ll think about it tomorrow.

Thus I booked a room in an inn just 2km off trail and went there… To find out that the door is closed, nobody inside, even though it is past their stated check-in time.

TSH, day 42

Thu, 27 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0000

12:00 pm — TSH, day 42

The day started late. Like, very late. First, I missed all the alarms and was right about it. When I woke up the rain was going. So I lazily went to eat my breakfast while chatting with my roommate. He turned out to be quite an interesting man (and we might meet once again in Kyoto) and thus I started to walk late. Considering the distance it was not wise yet I don’t regret it.

TSH, day 41

Wed, 26 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0000

6:00 pm — TSH, day 41

Otsu (大津市)

Just another hiking day. A bit of rain, a bit of mountains, a lot of walking, beautiful views and sore feet. Nothing special.

TSH, day 40

Tue, 25 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0000

7:00 am — TSH, day 40

The trail is just as beautiful as usual, with a bit fewer ridges and a bit more forests and lakes. At one section the rain washed out the path so much, that it was like walking in an over a meter deep trench. All good, but climbing out of it with the backpack wasn’t fun.

TSH, day 39

Mon, 24 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0000

7:00 am — TSH, day 39

Starting a day reasonably early, I’ve got another day of hiking ahead of me.

Wrapping the day

Getting close to Iga I start seeing random ninja here and there. Also, with the fatigue accumulated it is getting hard to keep writing every day. So you might see less text for now.

TSH, day 38

Sun, 23 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0000

TSH, day 38, Seki festival

As expected, it is no easy task to get out of a bed on the rest day. Still, I am curious, so by the sunset I’ve got back to Seki. And it was definitely worth it. Authentic matsuri with omikoshi pulled through the streets, people singing songs and plenty of booths with festive foods, games and other stuff.

TSH, day 37

Sat, 22 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0000

4:00 pm — TSH, day 37

Kameyama Station (亀山駅)

The morning was cloudy and a bit wet, yet pretty walkable. I started hiking around 6:30, a bit later than planned — it is really more difficult to wake up when sleeping in a dry room on a soft futon…

Most of the following day was just normal uneventful hiking over nice places.

TSH, day 36

Fri, 21 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0000

12:00 pm — TSH, day 36

The morning started with rain. Then followed rain, after that there was rain… At some point in time a rain-shower was so strong that puddles started to grow on the sand.

Later it turned into a drizzle and after some hesitation I decided not to spend the day in the tent and to start walking.

At this point Tom took a detour off the trail over the road. And considering the weather, I followed Tom’s lead. I don’t like to hike in the mountains in the strong rain, and on the road there are more possibilities to hide from it.

TSH, day 35

Thu, 20 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0000

7:00 am — TSH, day 35

Yesterday I went to sleep quite late and thus I was unwilling to wake up early. In the end, I reached Mino-Tsuya a bit later than 7am, which is an hour later than my usual start time lately. Still, my biggest challenge for today, a 700+ meters altitude gain, starts right from the station and I hope to pass it before it is too hot.

TSH, day 34

Wed, 19 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0000

3:30 pm — TSH, day 34

I woke up early, ate some light snacks, lazily packed and started to walk around 6am. Most of the day the trail ran through the mountain bases in parallel with streets. There were animal protection fences, a lot of them, and the trail jumped from one side to another making me go through more than a dozen of them. Tiring…

Several times I lost the trail and just followed a general direction by streets eventually returning to the trail.

TSH, day 33

Tue, 18 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0000

4:30 pm — TSH, day 33

Just as planned, I woke up early enough to see a beautiful sunrise. There was a rain around midnight but nothing serious and in the morning the tent was as wet as if it were just dew.

I quickly packed, ate some light snacks and started to hike even before 6am.

By carefully watching the live weather forecast and the sky above my head, I avoided a rain-shower and several regular rains. It felt like in an old console game: I was walking looking for “save points” where I could retreat to if the rain would suddenly start to pour. Thus by moving from one checkpoint to another I reached a convenience store and while I was eating my breakfast there the last rain for the morning passed by.

TSH, day 32

Mon, 17 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0000

9:30 am — TSH, day 32

This night can be called a “splash-test” for my tent. The rain was going most of the night, changing from a light drizzle to a full-force rain-shower. I did get some water in the tent. Partially because I set the tent quite loose, partially because I misunderstood some construction elements of the tent, partially just because the rain was too strong for this tent. Even though through the night I regularly woke up to check the “flooding level” in the tent and fix it a bit after discovering yet another way for water to get inside, in the morning I felt fresh. Since the forecast was very inaccurate today (I checked it during the night) I waited for half an hour after the rain stopped, packed the backpack inside the tent and then just quickly packed the tent and put it onto the external slot.

TSH, day 31

Sun, 16 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0000

12:30 pm — TSH, day 31

Since I had to walk quite the mileage through the city streets at 6am I was already walking. And at 9am it was already as hot as you can imagine.

Most of today’s trail was running over flat /shadowless/ valleys between mountains so the walk would be easy if it wasn’t that hot.

TSH, day 28--30

Thu, 13 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Mount Kinka

Lucky me, Kinkazan is just a short walk away from me. As one goes over the trails up the mount — beautiful views are opening to the eyes. I am fascinated by this combination of seemingly flat urban city with green mountains rising here and there.

TSH, day 27

Wed, 12 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0000

10:00 am — TSH, day 27

I’ve started walking really late, after 9am, and it was kind of a mistake. I had to walk for more than an hour over shadowless city streets and it was really hot. Yet the views of Inuyama castle were nice.

TSH, day 26

Tue, 11 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0000

6:00 am — TSH, day 26

JR Nagoya Station (JR 名古屋駅)

I woke up pretty late, about 6am, went out to discover that the spot with the food ticket vending machine is working, so I’m going to eat a decent breakfast.

11:00 am — Mirokuyama

The view from the top of mt.Miroku is fantastic. I might return here to spend a night on the top during my stay at Nagoya.

TSH, day 25

Mon, 10 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0000

8:00 am — TSH, day 25

JR Nagoya Station (JR 名古屋駅)

The night was uneasy, with hot stuffed and very humid air, bats flying around the tent, some animals fighting in the bushes etc. So in the morning I was still tired and started to pack around sunrise. The first hiker appeared around 5am while I was eating my breakfast and a bit later an English-speaking hiker came to have a rest at the resting place and I’ve delayed my start to have a chat with him. At the time I was leaving the spot the benches were half-full and some lady gave me a box of chocolate to eat on the way.

TSH, day 24

Sun, 09 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0000

2:00 pm — TSH, day 24

After a good dinner and great bath I was too unwilling to get out of the soft comfortable bed (futon, actually) so I overslept a bit and only started to go around 7am, and adding a long breakfast stop at 7eleven, you can safely say I started to hike for real around 8am. The trail went comfortably with soft altitude changes yet at the beginning of the day there were a few unmaintained sections and I lost my Koenji hat at one of them. I’m sad, I liked the hat and hoped it would survive at least till the end of the trail. Yet, going back for several kilometers to look for it was too much.

TSH, day 23

Sat, 08 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0000

10:00 am — TSH, day 23

Korankei (香嵐渓)

It was a bit hard to wake up this early after yesterday and I overslept a bit. Nevertheless at 6.30 I started to hike the trail (a good thing is that Kirara no Sato is literally on the trail and one doesn’t need to go off trail to get there at all).

Even though today the trail goes over some mountain tops, the trail has almost no steep parts on it. Thus I arrived at a planned destination point at 16.30 and checked-in from the first attempt. After I cleared my intention we quickly discussed amount of people (one), duration of stay (one night), that I won’t be fed there and the price.

TSH, day 22

Fri, 07 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0000

11:00 pm — TSH, day 22

In the morning while I was drinking my tea and packing a backpack Toshi-san offered to give me a ride to TSH. After some doubts I accepted his offer (it saved me later) and thus at 6am I was not only walking but actually continued the trail right from the spot I left it yesterday.

The way turned out at least as hard as yesterday, with even steeper and narrower stairs on it. Yeah, and with stunningly beautiful panoramas from the mountain tops I can not capture with my phone camera.

TSH, day 21

Thu, 06 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0000

7:00 am — TSH, day 21

Hiking time has started around 6.20, walking is nice except for callosities on my feet that do hurt in the boots…

I’m walking up the stairs directly to the temples and will continue TSH there.

TSH, day 20

Wed, 05 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0000

TSH, day 20

As the weather is still nice in the area, today I decided to go down to the railway station and take a train to an onsen place a couple of stations away.

TSH, day 19

Tue, 04 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0000

TSH, day 19

A lazy day of chilling in the ryokan and exploring the area. The weather is surprisingly nice, but I still wouldn’t risk hiking in the mountains with the typhoon warning in place.

TSH, day 18

Mon, 03 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0000

9:00 am — TSH, day 18

くんま水車の里かあさんの店

I’m out of my words how great this family is. I woke up around 6am, at the same time Sizan-san and Norimichi-san started chanting in the temple.

Later Sizan-san invited me to keep him company during morning exercises (radio-exercises) and let me make a few strokes with a calligraphy set. I believe I like calligraphy, I should try to practice it sometimes.

TSH, day 17

Sun, 02 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0000

10:00 am — TSH, day 17

The day started late again because I had to wait for someone to show at reception /and dry my tent a bit/. While I was slowly preparing for a day some mischievous tanuki stole all my sugar and thus I started to walk a bit frustrated.

The way up Akiha-san under a heavy sun was hard yet pleasant. Warm and dry conifer forest with gusts of cool wind is something nice and a bit forgotten with all these rains.

TSH, day 16

Sat, 01 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0000

8:00 am — TSH, day 16

The day started quite late, I only got to a trail around 8am. The shuttle bus unexpectedly cost me less than half of a train cost.

The day was a normal long tough hiking day with some lakes, mountains and shrines on the way.

TSH, day 15

Fri, 30 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000

2:00 pm — TSH, day 15

The morning started with the sound of rain hitting a tent. I decided to wait for the rain to end and thus started to pack quite late, around 8am. The rain at the time was just a formality, so I quickly moved my belongings under the “kitchen” roof and started to wait for some visibility because clouds were really low and Takane-san was completely closed.

TSH, day 14

Thu, 29 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000

7:00 am — TSH, day 14

Resting seems to be a right decision. Yesterday throughout a day there was a dripping rain in Shizuoka. And today my feet feel half-alive (instead of completely dead) and overall body feel is way better /except the tooth I broke yesterday/.

Thus I’m eager to continue the trail. Oh, and I’m following my plan now in terms of dates.

Paying attention to a public transport schedule worked just perfect. I came to a bus stop just 10 minutes before the first /and the only/ bus departure even though it meant to skip a hotel breakfast.

TSH, day 13

Wed, 28 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000

7:00 am — TSH, day 13

Shizuoka (静岡市)

I don’t like the feel of my legs, I think I’m nearing my limits and the next trail section is quite challenging in terms of distance. Thus I went down and asked for one more night of stay. I’m using that my extra day now to give my feet a bit of rest. Might spend most of the day in a bed.

TSH, day 12

Tue, 27 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000

10:30 am — TSH, day 12

Things didn’t turn out as I wanted them. I missed a bus by about 5 minutes and had to wait for the next one for an hour. Lesson to me, if I want to use public transportation I should take into account its schedule. And to check the schedule before doing anything else, potentially time-consuming.

Anyway, 10.45, I’m back on trail. Quite the late start yet I hope for a short day /btw, I don’t know how, but I’m still a day ahead of plan/. The sky is cloudy so I’m putting a raincover onto my backpack. It is hot and humid so I’m not putting a raincover onto myself.

TSH, day 11

Mon, 26 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000

7:00 am — TSH, day 11

Shizuoka (静岡市)

The day started with cloudy but nice weather. Part of the trail was closed due to a rockslide, thus I took a detour by paved road. And in an hour or two the road turned into a stair directly up into the clouds.

Btw, on my way I met several archleeches of lvl way higher than 80. I even have some pictures though I won’t put them here to save your sleep. Can send privately on request.

TSH, day 10

Sun, 25 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000

1:30 pm — TSH, day 10

The morning started with the rain. I’d packed my backpack inside the tent, put on rainwear and waited for about an hour to catch a pause in the rain to pack the tent. The pause was not a real pause, thus both me and my tent got quite wet.

Then the hours of hiking in the rain followed and they were just normal except for the leeches. Because of the rain there were hordes of leeches in the mountains, they literally swarmed on the boots. Yikes. No photos to save your nerve /and to be true, my nerve also/.

TSH, day 9

Sat, 24 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000

7:30 am — TSH, day 9

I woke up just before sunrise and was able to capture a nice timelapse of a morning Fuji-san. Around 5.45 I started to walk and, looking at the time, I see that my yesterday’s decision was right. The farthest I could possibly get yesterday before dark was the viewpoint at the top of Shishin. Might be also a nice spot if you are not worried about bears.

TSH, day 8

Fri, 23 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000

9:00 am — TSH, day 8

Today I woke up around 7am and at 8am I was already packed and ready to go. At 8.20 I was finally able to pay for a stay and move out. Thus the start was quite late, unfortunately as it turned out later.

TSH, day 7

Thu, 22 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000

9:30 am — TSH, day 7

The day was long yet pretty much uneventful. The trail went southwards and the landscape changed a lot over the course of the trail. Mountains at the beginning of the day first shrank to hills and then disappeared altogether, and closing to Tanuki lake grasslands gradually started to turn into marshlands.

TSH, day 6

Wed, 21 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000

2:30 pm — TSH, day 6

富士山絶景ポイント

The rain has started at night and it is pouring all the day long without stopping. So I am sleeping, eating, looking through manga magazines I’ve found in the room. In other words, I’m resting to my heart’s content. Remember, there is no wifi here.

Oh, and I can’t confirm if Fuji-san is visible from my room’s window ‘cause it is all cloudy and rainy. I hope I’ll be able to see it tomorrow morning.

TSH, day 5

Tue, 20 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000

7:30 am — TSH, day 5

富士山絶景ポイント

Today I let myself spend an extra hour in the bed, ate all the heavy (I mean weight) food I had left and moved out around 7am. The morning was great, the views were splendid and the road was more or less flat. All you need to enjoy a light morning hike.

TSH, day 4

Mon, 19 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000

8:00 am — TSH, day 4

Lake Yamanaka-ko (山中湖)

Today I decided to have a breakfast in the hut ‘cause outside was drenching wet after the night rain. I moved out around 8am to let the trees dry a little bit. And just a few hundred meters up the mountain I stumbled into a fantastic view of mt.Fuji. Since this point and for the next several days I may hike around the base of the mountain getting more of these views.

TSH, day 3

Sun, 18 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000

9:00 am — TSH, day 3

Yamakita Station (山北駅)

Yesterday before going to sleep I checked the map and found out that the only one shop on my way is a quite nearby “bus stop”. Thus the early bird plan was temporarily suspended and I set an alarm to 9am. Yet I woke up around 5am and while I was thinking if I want to wake up or not, the first visitor came to the hut. Both the girl and her backpack were in rain-covers and a quick look to the window showed a very cloudy sky. Thus I decided to sleep some more and soon the girl unpacked her sleeping bag and also went to sleep. A few hours later, when the girl was ready to go and a group of students started to laugh near the hut, I also decided to slowly pack. Soon the students moved inside the hut and while I was packing and having a quick snack they discussed something among themselves. They moved out about 10 minutes before me, as it later turned out, in the same direction. We passed each other about 5 times during the day.

TSH, day 2

Sat, 17 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000

7:30 am — TSH, day 2

相模湖休養村キャンプ場

The night passed well except that I was woken up several times by the loud sound of chestnuts falling on the roof and once it sounded like a small rockslide nearby.

The early-bird plan worked and I woke up with the sun, at 4am, quite before any alarms. Packing lazily with a quick snack took about an hour and at 5am I was walking. Un?fortunately I missed the right turn and thus skipped mt. Sekirozan by walking a road. It was still nice.

Tōkai Shizen Hodō, day 1

Fri, 16 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000

8:00 am — Tōkai Shizen Hodō, day 1

Morning started a bit later than I hoped, still within the frames of expectations. Riding a metro with several train changes convinced me yet again that the best way to get your way here is to ask. At Minami-Senju I found a nice guy who pressed all the buttons on the ticket machine for me. And at Nippori another guy saw my doubts and gave me all the directions I needed.

Tokyo, day 2

Thu, 15 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000

12:00 pm — Tokyo, day 2 morning

Edo Sakura Hotel

The “early bird” plan failed completely. Till 11 I’d spent in bed deciding where to go today /and secretly wishing for a “nowhere” as an answer/. Then with the force of willpower and an empty stomach I went in search of breakfast. Hurray to the food!

Tokyo, day 1

Wed, 14 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000

11:30 am — Tokyo, day 1 morning

牛角三ノ輪店

The morning started quite late, around 11 (am) which is expected considering that I hadn’t had a sleep in a bed for two nights.

Today I decided to commit a raid over several hiking gear shops in the central area of Tokyo. Thus I’m walking my way there, stopping near Minowa station in a small restaurant for a breakfast.

They have no English menu and staff speaks very little English. Yet after a few phrases the waiter went to the back room and returned with a tablet with translator there. Convenient and enough to order cheese pasta.

Tokyo, day 0

Tue, 13 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000

3:00 pm — Disembarkating

Minami-Senju Station (南千住駅)

Long story short, I’m in Japan.

The plane landed just in time, my backpack was one of the last to be dropped on the line, yet all that took less than half an hour. Passport control went without a hitch, no documents other than passport and short questionnaire (completed on board) asked, in less than a minute. Customs control went fast also.

Note: In Narita International Airport luggage claim goes BEFORE passport control and according to announcements transit passengers are required to claim their luggage before proceeding to the next flight.

On the way

Mon, 12 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000

7:00 am — Rome

Fiumicino Airport - Arrivals (Arrivo - Aeroporto di Fiumicino)

On my way to Tokyo I have an 8-hour stopover in Rome. And since yesterday we have no visa required to enter the EU zone, I’m trying to go for a short tour around the city.

So far Ukraine is not stated in the list of countries that require no visa and staff are directing me to the “other passports” counter, thus I’m staying in a really long line.

Tōkai Shizen Hodō

Tue, 06 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000

What Tōkai Shizen Hodō is

Tōkai Nature Trail

1697 km from Tokyo to Osaka

東海自然歩道

Prefectures of Kanagawa, Yamanashi, Shizuoka, Aichi, Shiga, Gifu, Mie, Kyōto and Nara

In 1969, the Japanese Ministry of Welfare (the Ministry of the Environment was not established until 1971) announced the Tōkai Trail plan as the first attempt to establish a long-distance trail system in Japan. The Tōkai Trail connects Tokyo to Osaka and was welcomed by the general public.

About

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Most travels are timed for arrival. Hours in airports, days at destinations, then back. There are also travels of another kind — where the path is the thing, not the destination. Walking from one place to another over days, weeks or months, on foot, not because it is faster (it is not) or harder (it can be), but because it is the way that lets the world arrive at human pace.