Ayumi and I woke up early this morning and climbed into the car to start our adventure to Kōchi Prefecture. The plan was to drive about 590km and reach a public campsite an hour or two before sunset so that we could set up the tent and enjoy a nice walk in the surrounding park. We did make it to the camp, but well after sunset. Setting up a tent in the darkness is not an impossible challenge, given the number of light-emitting devices I have available – including a proper flashlight – but I was surprised by the number of cats that were walking around and right up to people. These have clearly been fed and are not afraid. Unfortunately, this poses a bit of an unwelcome complication given Ayumi's propensity to seek new friends everywhere she goes. She does not yet understand that cats are not to be trusted and I would prefer that she does not learn the hard way when we're several hundred kilometres away from her vets.
That said, the trip has been incredibly enjoyable. Perfect blue skies were overhead while we made our way through the cities of Kyoto, Osaka, and Kobe. We stopped at a few places for some nice photos. We even had some ice cream for the first time in ages. Well … I had the ice cream. It was wakame1 flavoured and awesome. Ayumi had her own snacks.
While driving through the island of Shikoku I was struck by the cleanliness of the air and emptiness of the land. The land itself is used quite well, with farms and trees as far as the eye can see at times. But the population here is much smaller than I would expect for such a beautiful part of the country. Why don't more people live here? Is it due to jobs or something else?
All in all, this long drive has been incredibly rewarding. I love seeing tree-covered mountains and fields of green. The trip has been well worth the effort.
Tomorrow we will head to the south-western end of Kōchi, across the water from Kashiwajima. The next campsite requires reservations and mine was just confirmed a few hours ago. A spot has been set aside for us and there shouldn't be too many surprises. We do have a hard check-in time to meet, so we won't be missing the sunset again. This should also give us plenty of time to arrange a camera or two to capture the sun, as many people have commented about how beautiful the evenings are at that particular camp.
a type of sea weed