Day 58: Hamamatsu to Kakegawa

Yesterday I left Hamamatsu and set my sights once again eastward to Kakegawa, some 30km away.

When I had arrived in Hamamatsu I had originally planned to stay only a couple of nights, but once I discovered my lodging was so comfortable, I extended my stay.

Like most places I stay along the way, I am going in mostly blind as to what I am going to find. I am mainly concerned with finding the most affordable place more than anything else.

In Hamamatsu, this ended up being a stay at "Dormy Inn global cabins", which I can best describe as what would happen if a hostel and a spa had a child.  Affordable but also surprisingly luxurious for a place where I was sleeping in a bunk bed.

But while the beds were nice, and the private space attached to it was a nice surprise, the real selling point was the onsen built into the facility.

I spent every night soaking here!

These tubs were amazing, and each filled to the brim with 42 C (107 F) water. Each time I entered a tub the water splashed out over the top and cascaded across the floor, ensuring I was always in a completely full tub. It also felt incredibly opulent as the water crashed on to the floor and rose up over my shoulder.

I bring this up as not only did it drive my decision to extend my stay, but I was also so impressed by the place that when I saw there was another Dormy Inn at my next stop in Kakegawa, I made sure to book myself in there for a few nights.

So, my goal was clear, and pre-paid in advance; the Dormy Inn 30km away in Kakegawa, and I had to make it!

Now, I've been doing a lot of walking, and even with my heavy pack, I can tell my legs are improving and able to handle more distance.  However 30km was a good measure farther than I have covered in a single section of walking. It was an aggressive goal that I took on to challenge myself.

I made sure to get up earlier than usual to have more time, with the plan being to cover the distance in 8 hours.  I would break the route up into three 10km sections, each taking approximately 2 hours, with 1 hour breaks between the first two sections to rest my feet and legs.

As with every day of walking I went through the same mental stages;

1. Early stages - "I could walk like this forever, today will be easy!"
2. Mid stages - "I'm doing good, just gotta keep focused and make the next rest point"
3. Late stages - "Holy fuck, what was that pain?! Why am I doing this to myself and when will it end?!??"

Those first 10km or so are all in the early stages, with everything feeling great. As the first rest point arrives far faster than expected, I question "Do I even really need to stop? I am going strong!" But I have been doing this long enough now to know that is a false confidence. If listened to, that misplaced enthusiasm lead me to ruin and have me stranded in the middle of nowhere. 

I have come to learn and respect the fact that my first break is just as important as my last one.  I have also been doing this long enough to know the value in listening to my feet very carefully. I now very clearly understand what it feels like to get a hotspot on my feet and the value of taking that seriously sooner rather than later, when it transforms into a nasty blister and screws up my plans.

About 15km to Kakegawa I felt that feeling on my right foot, directly on the ball on my foot. A hot, sore, pulsing feeling. I did not want to be stuck hobbling late into the night with a blister on the bottom of my foot, so I dropped my pack at the side of the road, fished out my first aid kit and set about cooling off and taping up as traffic streamed past. 

Leukotape is amazing!

With my foot tended to, the pain subsided and a serious and poorly placed blister was averted. I was back on track. 

My second rest eventually came into view and I was happy to see it.  While it can't be taken for granted that I will always be able to find a good rest point, this route was quite urban, so there was a convenience store at both break points.  And thankfully the second rest point was one with a seating area inside the store (also not a guarantee).

Along with all my other gear I am carrying a pad for sitting on the ground, and have put it to use many times, thankful to have it. But at that second rest point, ~20km on my legs for the day, they definitely appreciate a proper seat and not having to get up off the ground after my legs have cooled down and stiffened up.

My pace up to this point had been slower than I had hoped, as the path between the two cities was on a slight but constant incline. This put me in a situation I had hoped to avoid, I was racing the sun.

Aside from major streets in the centers of cities and towns, Japanese streets tend to be only sparsely lit at night. As such I prefer not to be walking after dark with my pack and tired legs, as it significantly increases the risk of trips/falls/injuries.  

I am not concerned about a 'bad element' coming out after dark, as Japan is extremely safe. I am far more worried about walking on already exhausted legs, and a left leg with nerve damage that causes my foot to droop, catching on the uneven and random walking surfaces and taking a hard fall on rough asphalt.

Knowing that the sun is setting earlier every day, and that my slower pace left me with only a few hours until sunset and still 10km left to my hotel, I cut my second break short and pressed on, determined to make the most of the light while I had it.

It is in these last 10km that I am definitely in the late stages, with my legs hurting in ever more creative and unexpected ways, and the mental fatigue truly setting in.  

At about the 27km mark my legs, and time itself, feel like pushing through thick molasses. Out of necessity my pace has slowed to manage the pain in my legs and hips, and the sun is setting before I am at my mark. 

Knowing I have 3 more kilometres left to cover in the dark, I elect to make a fourth rest point, as the race against the clock is now over and my legs feel like they have been repeatedly run over by a truck.  

The Pocari Sweat is to recharge my body, the ice cream is absolutely for my state of mind.

This break does not have seating, so I untie my ass-pad from my pack and and sit in the parking lot. I eat my ice cream and watch the last of the sunlight slip away.  With no time pressure I take the rest of my earlier break and sit long after the snacks have been consumed.

Finally, after a bit of stretching I am able to coerce my legs into standing and making one last push. This time with my headlamp on, I head forward, weaving through darkened side streets and listening to music to keep my legs moving.

These last few kilometres saw my pace drop dramatically, as I was more concerned with maintaining my legs and taking careful footing than anything else. It would take a little over an hour before the sweetest sight up until that point came into view;

My hotel, with its sign burning like a signal fire to draw me home.

I knew ahead of time that reaching my hotel would be a challenge. Up until this point I had done 27km at most in a single day, broken up through the day into many smaller pieces. As I arrived, leaning against the front desk, my final GPS count put me at 32km.  It felt pretty satisfying to have done so much.

However I also knew that the hotel held a sweet reward that motivated me through the pain of those last few kilometres; another onsen to soak away my aches and pains.

After finding my room and dropping my pack, I set about getting changed into the provided indoor clothes so I could enjoy the onsen, only to make a humorous discovery; all the walking had driven the glue through the leukotape and strongly bonded it with my sock!

After some slow and careful prying I was able to seperate my sock and foot without damage to either.  Though now that sock had more than one reason it needed to be washed!

It wasn't long after this that I was slowly making my way up to the top floor to the onsen. I had spent many a moment that day thinking about how good it would feel to slip into that hot water after such a long day, and I was not disappointed, even with these inflated expectations.

This onsen offered a sauna and two large communal pools to soak in. One pool was on the corner of the room with windowed views out across the city, albeit very steamy windows.  The other was located outside in the cool evening air.   I spent a good deal of time in both, and with each passing moment I could I could quite literally feel my pain melting away.  

While some may not like the idea of public nudity, or bathing with strangers, I have come to appreciate it. And in that moment, quite frankly, I could have been sat squeezed between two sumo wrestlers and I wouldn't have cared; I was incredibly relaxed. 

For me, the onsen is a wonderful and vital part of my time here. I cannot be guaranteed to have one each place I stay, but after long days like this one, I will go out of my way to find one of at all possible.  I slept like a log after this soak, with no trace of pain, and woke today ready to explore the city, casually walking another 10km without even realising it at the time.

Tomorrow I check out, with my next goal being to reach my next lodging in Iguchi, a comfortable 24km through some fairly rural areas.  So tonight I will take one last soak in the onsen while I run all of my clothes through the laundry.

I am making significantly better time towards Tokyo than I had originally planned. I revel in the very tangible progress I have made, originally planning for an average day being a 15km walk.

Tomorrow I hope to catch my first distant glimpses of Mount Fuji on the horizon, weather willing.