Narrows

I was the first one up, wide awake and ready to go. When I'm camping, its sometimes hard to sleep much past the light, and being in these woods, I wasn't the only one up early. The birds were all around me, calling to each other, the sounds so different from New England. Being by the sea you might expect sea gulls, but I didn't see a single one and instead is was all osprey.

I walked to the beach in the morning light. I sat in a tree. I lounged on the sand with my sketch book, but found myself just looking without wanting to capture. The early light cast sharp shadows on everything and I just, wandered. I enjoyed the way grass poked up through the sand, and needles twisted in every direction. I walked bare-foot on the moss and circled every tree. I listened to the sounds, and I smelled the salt.

When everyone else stirred, we broke camp, had some fruit, and packed up the car for more driving. We stopped at Nandan, at an information center for the Naruto whirlpools. It looked to be a busy fishing port. The whirlpools vary depending on tide and season, sometimes a swirling torrent, other times looking like a boat just went past and kicked up some bubbles. We didn't arrive at a good time for the tour boat, so back in the car and over the bridge to Shikoku. We stopped in Naruto for lunch, there were a lot of places to choose from, and we had some excellent indian food and picked up a nice map of the island. Onwards with more driving. There were beaches, and mountains, and towns as we kept going west. There was never a shortage of places to stop, as a Lawsons convenience was always right around the corner.

We were headed to a campsite in Iya Valley, and eventually turned off the main road. This was a road with number and prominent on the map, but like many roads in Japan, it was designed more like a one-way street. Cars in Japan tend to be narrow, which is good because on roads like these you need to squeeze past oncoming traffic and only at the extra wide spots. I'll paint a picture. You're driving 35mph on twisting, narrow roads, mountain wall on one side, steep drop-off on the other, as you approach the corner, you look at the pre-placed mirror to see if there's anyone coming from the other direction. If there is, hit the brakes, fast. Always watch ahead, if you see a car, stop immediately. If you're in a wide section, wait for them to squeeze past. If they're in a wide section, they will stop and you creep up to squeeze past, and give a slight beep of the horn in thanks for their consideration. Sometimes you're in a little town, and there are buildings and doors on both sides, or someone walking, or just standing partly in the road chatting. Seemed like ages before we were through the crazy twisting roads and making better time on the other side. I was very happy to be a passenger and not driving.

Setting aside the craziness of the roads, the scenery was incredible. We slowly climbed up the valley wall, a deep river below us, nothing but trees and rocks on the other side. We passed an onsen resort on the cliff side, with accommodations, a restaurant, and a natural outdoor hot spring. The spring is on the valley floor, so to get there you would take a cable car down, but it was too late to experience this. A little farther along we came to a scenic overview, of the valley, green slopes surrounding us. We stopped here for pictures.

It was full night by the time we reached the campsite. We had to drive down a long, steep, narrow road to the parking area, then maneuver into a small spot at the bottom. We could hear the river but not see it, and we set our tents where we could find room on the narrow strip of land provided. After some food, during which a nice japanese family gave us a big package of meat to grill, I went down to the river and laid on a rock. I listened to the water, watching the moonlit clouds pass in the sky and wondering at the silohuettes of the trees around me.