Worried about track conditions after the heavy rain last night, but the
section I walked today was easy one with no issues, no stream crossings. Got
lost. When I was taking a close look on the map with a compass in my hand, a
farmer passing by showed me my way. TA signs are so small and not visible that
it is very easy to miss if not paying a good attention. Would have been a different
story if I have had a GPS that shows my location on the map every metres. It was a big challenge to me who relied on 1:50,000 topo map with a compass.
Most of the TA trail
runs on a rural road where any tourists are hardly seen, so it is very obvious
when a TA walker with a large pack is walking on the road. Yesterday a man said
me "Oh you are the first trail walker of this season. That makes me feel
spring has come around!". So far local people along the trail were very
warm - hope they will be like that when more walkers will be on a TA trail in the
future.
In Puhoi, stayed at a Air B&B backpacker. $25/night. It was only me
there and whole space was mine. Cooked wood ears (wild mushroom), which I
collected from a fallen tree on trail just before Puhoi, for dinner. My first
experience to eat fresh wood ears as they are sold dried at shops. At night my
friend shiatsu massage therapist Taka visited me and had a good treatment of my
body. He also instructed me an exercise to maintain my body in a good shape. Thank you very much Taka for visiting me long way from home late at night. Walked 18km today.
昨夜の大雨で登山道の状態を心配したが、今日歩いた箇所は渡渉もなく歩きやすい道で全く問題なし。しかし一度迷い、コンパスを片手に地図とにらめっこしていたら、近所の農家の人が見かけて道案内してくれた。TAの標識は小さく目立たないところが多く、油断しているとすぐ見落とし通り過ぎてしまう。数メートル単位で自分の位置が確認できるGPSがあればまた話は違うが、自分のように5万分の一の縮尺の地形図とコンパスだけが頼りだと時々四苦八苦する。
TAのコースは旅行者がまず訪れない田舎道を通ることが多く、大きなザックを背負って歩いているとすぐにそれと判るようだ。昨日も「お、キミが今シーズン見かける最初のトレイル・ウォーカーだよ。春になったって気がするね！」と季節の風物詩のような言われ方をされてしまった。今のところ、沿道の住民の我々TAウォーカーに対する視線はとても暖かい。この先利用者が増えても、今の状態が続くことを祈りたい。
プホイでは$25で民泊のバックパッカーに投宿。客は自分一人で広い部屋を独占。プホイ到着直前の山道の倒木にたくさん生えていたキクラゲを見つけ、収穫したのを夕食のおかずにした。初めての体験。夜、友人の指圧師タカさんに来てもらい、体のコンディションを整えてもらうとともに、今後のメンテナンスの仕方も教えてもらった。タカさん、夜遅くに遠いところを来てくれてどうもありがとう。本日の歩行18km。
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