2023 年 11 月 16 日
This post comes hot on the heels of the last one 💨
The Michinoku coastal trail is a long distance footpath stretching just over 1,000 kilometers through Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures. It is one of Japan’s longest and newest trails, having officially been completed in 2019 as part of the Tohoku region’s long-term efforts to rebuild after the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster.
So. How to actually get to it? I started by taking the Sanriku coast train to a little town called Tanohate. The train: a colourful affair.........
田の畑にハイキングに来ました。
.......left me by a quaint little station - a station which the flood waters reached in 2011, but did not substantially damage....although the photos back then show the track covered in debris. The waiting room (yes, those little rooms where once upon a time you could wait - no time for that now!) reminded me of my Hornby model train set when I was a little boy).
幸いなことに、2011 年には駅は被害を受けませんでした。
To find the trail I headed for the bridge over the river. This was not easy to miss, as a huge sluice gate had been built here...
ここに巨大な水門が建てられました
I inspected the emergency doors......marvels of technology....
非常ドア
An Emergency Exit........
The lowering mechanism.....機構
sea.......wall.....road
海……壁……道
All was calm. A few boats rocked at their moorings in the harbour.
穏やかな情景
I found the trail, climbing steeply into the forest.....(however, I could have done with some sort of sign, like you see on the South Downs Way, or the Rheinsteig....)
道を見つけた
....passing some unusual mushrooms on the way.......like little umbrellas....
小さな傘
.....and investigating a modest, rather weather-beaten, shinto shrine
風雨にさらされた神社
with the ever-present Gingko tree......
いちょう 銀杏
Part of the trail was on a road. I am so glad I was not driving a car. As it was, I could stop and savour the view....the next harbour around the corner was Raga, part of the Sanriku coast park....
....and around the next corner........
The little bay of Akedo.....
In the middle of the bay, part of the old sea wall has been left as a memorial.....
震災遺構 明戸海岸防潮堤
The tidal wave had easily washed over this rather modest defence. But it was the back wash, with all its rocks and debris, that had undermined its foundations. A tetrapod (one of those funny-looking geometrical concrete things), had been pushed up here....
Even in a little spot like this, a full reconstruction project has been finished, with a recently planted pine forest behind the new defences. The old wall / the sort of thing you see at under the chalk cliffs in Sussex, UK.
...walking away from these rather sombre relics, I stroll across the beach. The sun is hot. Really hot. I seek the shade of the cliff. Out come the sandwiches, and a bottle of green tea. I'm in heaven. When I run out of ideas around Frankfurt this could be my next "Meet-up" hike......"Meet at Frankfurt airport at 14.00 ok? Sorry, €49 tickets not valid......."
私はこれらのかなり陰鬱な遺跡から立ち去りました。 それは暑いです。 木陰を見つけてピクニックをします。ここはとても平和です
A fishing net float looks like some giant egg.....
巨大な卵？ いいえ
....and a limpet hangs on.......as limpets do....
かさがい笠貝 (?)
My mother would have called this "The meeting of the waters"...............
.....and an old tree lies on the sand like some discarded bone.......
骨？ 木？
However, here we see real bones.....
こっかく
The frenetic hurry of places like Tokyo and Yokohama seem far away......
東京と横浜は遠い
On my way back to Tanabe I take a short cut through a tunnel. It was refreshingly cool in there!
.......and get a caffeine shot from a 自動販売機。。。。a jidouhanbeiki......aka "automatic vending machine...."...these machines keep Japan running every day.....😉
except that it was not a Morning Shot but a late afternoon one....I didn't really want to go back to my hotel in Myako.....
ミャーコのホテルには帰りたくない……。
Before the day ends I ought to get some provisions.......err....asparagus....?
アスパラガス?
or, at the other end of the store they are selling pianos.....500,000 yen? ...let's see, will my holiday budget cover that?.......€3000.....hmmmmm....
🥾 Thank you for reading "..Michinoku Coastal Trail.."
"..みちのく潮風トレイル"を読んでんでくれてありがとう
🥾 Feel free to share the blog with friends.
よろしければ、リンクを友達と共有してください
🥾 And it would be nice to hear from you...!
そしてコメントしてください...
(Note: I started this blog in January 2022, a few weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine. I have written almost every week since then, and this post is Nr. 100. Thank you to everybody who has commented and given me feedback. I value it!)
THE END
🌲
終わり