I spent a lot of energy yesterday and my legs were just not in the mood today. I knew I would be ending at the sea so overall I knew I would need to descend. After all, Lake Towada is a mountain lake.
However, after a brief descent along the beautiful Oirase River the road began to climb again. And even as I felt like I should be closing in on the coast I kept on going up. I felt as though I was stuck in Escher’s mind.
But still I knew, unless of course Aomori sits atop a huge cliff, I had to go back to sea level.
As I ascended what turned out to be the Hakkoda Mountains I was slowly engulfed by a giant marshmallow. A cold wet marshmallow. Luckily the road was effectively a tunnel through the trees and I was relatively sheltered save for the odd big blob from a leaf. Still, at the top, surrounded by water Chari and I took shelter in a wooden bus shelter. We both had a nap and when we woke up it was to blazing sunshine.
Just kidding…it was still raining.
From here it was downhill. At last! But the cold wet air chilled me to the bone and so when I arrived at Alex’s flat I reheated myself in the shower.
But that first section along the Oirase was just gorgeous.