The night was torturous. As a cooked my dinner last night a boar stopped by. He was quite a big boar, probably as big as a small Collie. He scratted around in the vegetation next to my tent and when I moved he stopped and stared. The light was fading and I couldn’t see his eyes but I could tell he watched me walk past. I took a long time washing the dishes in the hope he’d have moved on. He had. Slightly. There was enough space for me to get in the tent without disturbing him, so I dashed in and zipped myself away.
The morning was a continuation of the night. Sea and wind teaming up to roar at me. The cloud sucked the horizon. I had 5km to go to Cape Sata, and, looking at the tropical mounds that disappeared into the clouds in front of me, I had a feeling it wasn’t going to be easy.
On a breakfast of nuts and raisins I crawled hover the last three peaks to the cape.

Now it was time to begin. A final look south and then I began to pedal north. The road was like a zoo: two more boar dashing across the road like terrified civilians in Call of Duty; a gaggle of red-faced monkeys parted as I free wheeled and dashed into the trees. Up and down, up and down it continued until I reached the coast road. The smooth tarmac, the gradual inclines and descents. I’d been praying for it for 2 days.
But, seemingly replacing one demon with another, the rain came down heavier and heavier. I stopped to shelter at a police station and the officer came to talk to me. ‘Hokkaido? Wow, that’s great. Where are you heading today?’ ‘Actually I need to get the ferry from Nejime, do you know the times?’ ‘Let’s have a look, eh?’ He dillied and dallied and shuffled some paper. ‘Ah, here we go. 1 o’clock or 5.40. You should be able to make the 1 o’clock. Take care.’

Off I went, the rain now just drizzle and cruised into Nejime port at 12.30. ‘1 ticket for the 1 o’clock, please.’ ‘Next one’s at 3.’ ‘Dang Wangi! I’ll take one of those please.’
The ferry was like that scene from Wolf of Wall Street. I was pretty close to throwing up but just lay on my back as my stomach sloshed like a mini Kagoshima bay.

At Ibusuki came the highlight of my day. Stay tuned for a special post about sunamushi (hot sand onsen)!